I wanted to discuss three matters before I let go of the subject. One was the difference between rules and the rulers, or as Beagles calls it on paper vs the real world, another was my personal reaction to all this, and the third is the mysterious character of the board. Looking back I think that I have already discussed the the first point plenty so I will move on to the other two.
I don't know what I expected when I first faced the board. I think I just expected to shoot my mouth off and then have the board go on about its business. As the date approached I got more and more sure of my cause and developed a whole set of arguments, imagined myself standing up before the board and declaiming my cause like Mr Smith gone to Washington, but then I had to keep telling myself to calm down so I didn't look like some raving crank
The big surprise for me at that meeting was that the board was divided on the matter, so suddenly there was some hope. I was sorely disappointed by their refusal to do a survey, and I think that was when the idea of the petition first came to me. I wasn't sure if it was even legal by board rules but when I brought it up the board shrugged. Still I had trepidations. I thought about it. That meeting was on a Thursday and I didn't get into the hallway until Tuesday. I half expected some condo board thug to come out and tell me to stop that right away if I knew what was good for me. But nobody interfered with me and the people I pressed with my petition where mostly favorable. In my own eyes I had become their champion, fighting for their rights. A few pressed me about replacing those awful rugs in the elevators, but I remained a single issue man.
But there was a problem of mission creep. When the Clean Slate took over one of their issues was transparency. When we vote on new board members they each submit a campaign page and they almost always stress transparency, but there is mostly just the appearance of transparency, everything is mired with boring gobbledegook, and nobody outside the board knows what is going on. If Beagles were in the condo I guess he would pore over that crap, but we don't have many like Beagles. I would like us to have some kind of interactive website where unit owners and board members could interact. But again I am not going to push for that until this Christmas lights thing is over.
The other matter is the mysterious nature of the board. Who is on it because they love Marina City and the residents? Who is in it because they are natural social climbers and they aim to get to the top? Who is in it because they want to control what is going on to make more money on their investment? What are the the cliques and blocs among them? I can see where some of these ex-congressmen and senators who become lobbyists would come in handy for some lobby. If you want to press your cause you need to know where the chutes and ladders are.
My cornbread was successful enough. My sister gave me some tins for Christmas so my muffins came out looking like proper mini muffins rather than something dredged out of the catbox. I made some plain because some people like vanilla ice cream. I did add some canned corn which I had previously resisted and it gave them a nice crunch and moistness. The black olives did not overwhelm the olive jalapeno muffins. I used the jalapeno slices in the jar and added some of the oil they were pickled and that gave the muffins a pleasant hotness, not the hotness that burns your lips as you bite into it, bu the hotness that you don't notice so much until you have already had a few bites and then it comes from the back of your throat.
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