---What a week! You want to know a good way to get my temperature up REAL QUICK??? Just tell me my rent is late...three days after I've already PAID IT!!!

My rent is not considered late until the 3rd, which this month was on a Sunday. On Friday afternoon, I picked up an Amscot money order (thank God for Payday Advance!) to cover what I didn't have. After filling it out I place it, plus a personal check into an envelope which I placed in the rent drop after arriving from a 12 hour overtime workday Saturday evening.

Like the banner said on the USS Abraham Lincoln when George W. Bush made his grand appearance, "Mission Accomplished", right? WRONG!

Tuesday, I get a form letter...a three day notice to present my rent with a $50 late charge or vacate. Needless to say, I called the community office, but it took three times to reach the manager. She informed me that I had to call back with the check/money order numbers (which she would not have anyway if she had not received payment!). I've got them in hand, so she will have them first thing today. I also said I ain't paying the late fee, I it was actually ON TIME!

The type envelope I used (a brown 6" x 9" clasp) would be kinda hard to ignore. I can only suggest someone either had a blond moment, or there's a thief in the office. Let's just hope it's the former, and not the latter.

---The big money types in Polk County get bigger money, while the working grunts lag behind.

The Board of County Commissioners only found enough in their new $999.9 million budget to give county employees a two percent raise, but County Manager Mike Herr and County Attorney Joseph Jarrett get TEN PERCENT raises; Herr to $132,000 and Jarrett to $121,000. This is one of the few times that Commissioner Randy Wilkinson --- Yes, Commissioner Four Square, Commissioner Four and One, the eccentric one --- may have actually been somewhat right. He favoured the same two percent raise that other employees received, but once again was on the wrong side of the four-and-one vote.

Granted, Herr and Jarrett did rate well in their evaluations, and Herr's performance during the recent hurricane crises was exceptional. But if the BOCC would concentrate on giving less of a raise to senior staff and more to the working grunts who actually make the county services function; actually give them a living wage...you get the picture!

---And what's this with Howard Stern moving on the satellite radio service Sirius when his contract with Infinity Broadcasting expires in 15 months? He and his fans will be happy in that he'll be able to do the type of radio show he wants without restraints regarding language or other content. It's just that his listeners will have to pay for the privilege. Good riddince!