love the timing
|
Posted:May 13, 2015 12:12 pm
Last Updated:May 14, 2015 5:19 am
5312 Views
|
Wow ...so I just finished doing my first major laundry run here at the condo laundry room. Funny thing, but I'm pretty sure they're all the same machines as when I lived here before, and they still work really really well (actually, there is one less washing machine)! I lived here once for eight years without a washer and dryer of my own, and the little laundry room was great back then. I always told myself that it was really nice to be able to do all the laundry in one fell swoop; just over an hour and ALL of it is out of the way. When you have your own machines, laundry CAN be an all day thing.
Of course, I also think that this is just what you tell yourself when stuck with using a laundromat. I miss the machines at Mom's and I never waited three weeks to do laundry, so the fact this does more in less time doesn't really mean as much.
One of the new downsides of the laundry room is my often insufferable little mutt. I didn't even mess with trying to carry the laundry basket ...I just stuck the tall laundry basket on my little dolly (hand truck, whatever). Of course the mutt comes along, and as I'm wheeling along, he decides that the patch of grass we're walking beside needs some scrutinizing. Or he just slows down until I nearly hit him with the dolly (that's as much hearing and vision related I'm sure). Muttifer complicates a lot of things, but I wouldn't trade the little goober for anything ...he's certainly in his golden years (around 15 years old), but it's nice seeing him so active at his age. I kind of procrastinated a bit even getting started on it today in anticipation of it, but I'm still glad I did it when I did.
Especially since it started pouring cats and dogs within moments of getting the basket upstairs (I fold 'em in the laundry room straight out of the hot dryer ...it's no so much efficiency as much as a blatant dislike of ironing). I hadn't paid much attention to the weather today, but it never rained yesterday and was supposed to, so my timing worked out really well doing it this morning. One tends to remember the times that it started raining while you were caught OUT of shelter, but it's sure nice when it works out like this too!
I cooked an actual meal last night for the first time in goodness knows when; did all the dishes and cleaned the kitchen afterward even. I think that I may be starting to settle in; I did some work in the bathroom yesterday afternoon and cleaned up my study so I can walk through without tripping over anything.
I still have a few projects on the to-do list, but I'm not too far away from beginning the scanning project. That's going to be a doozy, but ain't gonna start today!
|
|
|
1
comment
|
|
Not shocking at all
|
Posted:May 11, 2015 3:24 pm
Last Updated:May 29, 2024 7:38 am
5421 Views
|
Literally ...this morning my electricity went out; I heard a loud bang and there was a dead squirrel under the transformer closest to my place. Not sure if the dead squirrel was the culprit, because nearly the whole place seemed to be out (there are a few patios I walk the by that have fountains which were silent).
Really not a big deal with me ...these are the kind of things that just happen, and having been an avid camper once upon a time combined with being a computer geek now helps things along a little bit in this regard ...I grabbed a battery pack and power inverter and took a shower using a droplight. I'd been procrastinating on moving my cable modem into the second bedroom upstairs because my desktop down here has a really lousy antenna in the wireless card ...upstairs however, I have a fairly high capacity UPS for my desktop up there. I went ahead and moved the cable modem up there, and the UPS lasted almost 4 hours running it.
...strangely enough, the backup upstairs petered out almost to the minute of when the battery in my laptop decided it was done. If you haven't swapped to Solid State hard disk in your laptop, I highly recommend it; they last SO much longer in a power outage! (they also let you reboot your computer in less than 30 seconds ...freaking awesome!)
It worked out well; I had gotten everything done by that time that I had wanted on computer ...read a few chapters in a hard copy book (dummy here has forgotten to plug in his Nook since he moved in, but I just unpacked all my books on the weekend), then decided I might as well run to the store and get my shopping done. I keep a running text document on my phone as a grocery list (to-do as well) and it's been getting up enough to justify a Wally-run. I made it TO the store when I remembered I had a month old prescription that needed to be filled as well, so kudos to me for remembering (more kudos for keeping the prescription in the car).
The line for the prescription drop-off was absolutely ridiculous ...I can see a long line to pick up a prescription, but to drop one off?! The fact that they even needed to rope it off into a line threw me for a loop. Here in Irving, we have a heavily Hispanic population (I was reminded by the dual-label medicines being tuned to the Spanish sides rather than English) but there was in Plano as well and there were no roped off areas in the pharmacy for drop-offs(?!)
I dunno, but by the time I made it up to the lady working, my patience was getting a little thin. Dang ...much as I love to hate on Wally-world, I really gotta give it to the girl working: she was thorough! She changed my address in the system, tried to find additional discounts for my medication and then looked up the exact price (I have no insurance plan for medication). I don't know about the people before me, but if what I got was her standard of service, I guess I won't be too hard on them about the other.
I had the in the car, so I was a little more leery about taking TOO much time (before anyone starts in ...my is a nervous "separation anxiety" wreck if I leave him home alone, but he's delighted to wait in the car; if the weather allows ...I take him if I can). I picked up the new thermostat for the living room, and true to Wally-world's wildest wet dream, impulse shopped to death. I had nine items on my list and bought closer to 30. THIS is why I hate shopping ...especially at the evil empire.
I made it to the checkouts and remembered another thing I'm gonna miss like hell about Allen. They are understaffed and overworked in Irving. I was seldom ever in line for more than a minute or two in Allen.
I was in line and had two people behind me when the lady at the head of the line whipped out the newspaper ad with coupons. Holy crap ...felt my ears pop at the vacuum created by the people rushing away.
Once again ...I love hating on Wally, but once the cashier got "coupon lady" tallied out, I don't recall seeing a cashier move that efficiently in ages! Granted, the coupon lady took longer than the other lanes (they recirculated while I was waiting, but I still hold fast to the "the other line always moves faster" rule, along with the "Office Space" parody on what happens the moment you change lanes.
On the upside and the downside ...my prescription was ready once I was finished checking out.
Muttifer was fine in the car ...I came home, put up the groceries, walked the again, and installed the new thermostat. Amazing how much faster it goes when you know exactly what you are wanting to do ...the big problem is that they had the wrong thermostat in the wrong spot on the self. I ended up buying the one I did NOT want *grouse* but I don't have the energy or motivation to take it back. I had to make another trip to Lowe's to find a wall plate (muttifer is allowed in Lowe's, so much the better). In a less and less rare feat of idiocy for them ...I got sent to one department ...didn't find what I wanted and sent back to the other department, to be sent back to the one I came from. ...and ended up being "none of the above." I have no idea if they sell the wall-plate I needed, but it was a buck-thirty for the one I made work.
It's installed, it looks fine, it's working, and it isn't cycling every 60 seconds. Except for the power outage, the one upstairs has been friggin' awesome, so we'll see what the next few days will show with the new one downstairs.
cheers all!
|
|
|
0
Comments
|
|
how ya like them muffins?!
|
Posted:May 10, 2015 7:12 am
Last Updated:May 12, 2015 5:12 am
5251 Views
|
It's raining cats and dogs outside and there is actually a flash flood warning for my city (gotta love that obnoxious tone your cell phone puts out for weather warnings and Amber alerts). The dog, in his infinite alarm clock capacity woke me just before it started so he (we, actually) ended up with half a walk before the torrential stuff came. At least neither of us got soaked.
I'm not a big breakfast person, but I was really having a craving for breakfast of some shape or form this morning and muffins were about the easiest thing I could think of (that, and I loOOOooove moof-ins). I stepped on the scale the other day and weighed in at 195 ...no day over the last week have I been OVER the 200 mark, so I'm pretty close to where I want to be with my weight. I think I may need to start taking a little better care of myself now that the anxiety closet is getting cleared out a little bit. I believe I weighed about 235 or so the week of Mom's funeral, so this is a pretty substantial loss! I've never had blood pressure issues, but on my last two doctor visits, it's been really high ...over the last week it's been around 117/75 or so; I suspect the weight loss is as good for me as perhaps the "not taking care of myself" offsets it.
At least this way I have a whole ton of new clothes without having to buy them, right?! (lol, the shorts I bought just last year are falling off me now)
Oh gosh ...the thing I've been forgetting to blog about! The earthquakes!
When I first began looking in this area, I had many people being scared because of all the recent earthquakes ...and my condo is less than five miles from the epicenter.
One week ago, I found out about an earthquake that I was practically on top of about eight hours after the fact ...and from FB posts of the "OMG ...I was SoooOo scared!!!" variety! I semi-recall taking note of it when it happened and thinking it was a car-carrier unloading at the dealership across the fence. Seriously ....it wasn't even big enough to set off car alarms (and I've been hearing car alarms all morning because of the thunder from the storm)! Last week's was a 3.4 and the largest ever measured here was a 3.6 ...I ain't too worried. My best bud said he might have missed noting it had it not been for his freaking out a little bit ...my little guy never so much as noticed it to my knowledge.
Not the first time I've heard people from around here remarking about being scared, but I wonder if any of them would have made much notice if the news wasn't blaring about it? I mean seriously ...claps of thunder shake more than these things!
I might change my tune if we ever make it up to a 4, but until then I'm not even going to pay attention.
|
|
|
2
Comments
|
|
no more drips!
|
Posted:May 8, 2015 2:33 pm
Last Updated:Feb 20, 2019 9:12 am
5358 Views
|
Well, it's been over 48 hours and no more leaks from the AC; hopefully I can mark this little item off my anxiety list for a while. I'm almost embarrassed to admit that the problem actually causing the drip was so very minor, that I missed it. Of course, to be fair ...the licensed plumbers (as if that was a really big deal) missed it totally as well, but it was indeed what they had done that caused it. The rubber line that goes from the drain pan to the pipe in the wall was the culprit; when they blew air through it, they caused a tiny rupture that caused a slow but very steady drip. I replaced it and no more leaks, but I still have an unusual issue with the drainage that will eventually need to be addressed. I found the process for getting my hands on the plumbing schematics for my building, but it's likely to be a pain in the butt. It would certainly help in fixing the actual problem instead of simply bypassing it like the management lady recommended (and I'm now automatically skeptical of any suggestion she makes), but it means dealing with the city bureaucracy. bleh!
I also finally got on top of the thermostat issue. The upstairs thermostat was inoperative when I moved in ...it was either always on or always off. I bought a new thermostat, but the wiring instructions didn't cover the type of system I have, so I had to play it by ear.
I wired it up wrong. One of the downsides of "playing it by ear" I guess; it worked, but it wouldn't keep a steady temperature. Once upon a time, wiring and electrical was sort of my specialty, so I'm kicking myself for it taking so long to sink into my thick skull what I was doing wrong, but figure it out I did with the help of my good buddy g00gle. One thing is for certain ...if I'm having the problem, it's almost a given that somebody else has had it too. The trick is to phrase the question in such a way that you get the answer you are actually looking for instead of a bunch of irrelevant stuff. It's funny ...home thermostats' have 2-wire systems, 4-wire systems and 5-wire systems.
Mine had three wires.
Back when I did this sort of thing for a living, I always began reading the "theory and operation" section in the service manuals before I bothered with any "how to" information, and it served me well (most of the time, you don't even need the latter if you can understand the former). Turns out this wasn't all that different ...and now I'm thinking I might spring for another one for the downstairs unit. Now that it's wired up to do what it's supposed to do instead of what I wanted it to do, it's just so much more efficient than the older ones. The downstairs unit cycles on and off a little too often ...it doesn't hurt anything since there is no compressor, but it's annoying (and the new thermostats are only $20).
I've also been doing a bit of calling around about condo management companies. I've gotten two recommendations, but upon looking the referrals up ...the reviews would indicate it might be a move from bad to worse. Turns out that a complex of this size is a little bit more difficult to find people to handle. Daunting, but not impossible ...the search will continue.
Not much else up but the rain!
|
|
|
1
comment
|
|
just shoot me
|
Posted:May 5, 2015 10:11 am
Last Updated:May 8, 2015 5:32 am
5506 Views
|
Well, the new place is being ...well ...a fucking nightmare so far. Largely due to what, by all appearances, is a totally inept management company handling the property. More specifically, a property manager who missed her calling as a slumlord and appears to think that these are apartments and not condominiums; that we are renters and not property owners.
My upstairs AC unit hasn't worked in a week (one week tomorrow); this is following an inspection and routine maintenance that is supposed to be for prevention of the very problem that they ended up CAUSING!
Now ...my entire career was spent as an auto mechanic; I don't LIKE that these sorts of things happen, but I do understand that they DO happen whether I like it or not. What I have trouble with is an abysmal disregard for communication in any form.
Day one: They come over and did an inspection which includes blowing out the evaporator drain lines (the line that drains the little pan that sits under the central AC unit. They finished up and I left to run a few errands and came home a few hours later to find a huge pool of water soaking my (brand fucking new) carpet. I call the property managers, and they said I'd be their first stop the next morning at 9am.
Day two: 10 o'clock rolls around and nobody is here. I know they're supposed to be doing other units that are scheduled, and so I take the out for a walk, and there they are. I go find the property manager, and she says they're just going to finish this block of buildings and they'll be right over. Two more hours pass, and I take the out again, and they're on another block of buildings. One of the guys who was at my place the day before asks me how it's doing, and I reply that it would be doing a whole lot better if it wasn't overflowing onto my carpet. The head guy immediately calls two guys out to go over and take care of it. They blow more air through it and leave. About four hours goes by, and guess what? I call and they say they'll be there at 9am the next morning.
Day three: They actually show up on time. They do the usual blowing through the lines, but the guys apparently realize this time that they are dealing with an actual clog this time; they keep on blowing through it and this time grind up some bleach tabs and but them down the pipe in hopes that it might dissolve the clog and tell me that it's worth a try. They dismiss the idea of trying to run a snake through the line. What really rubbed me totally the wrong direction was when the property manager received a call from the person who had the appointment that I displaced. She told her minion to call her back and tell her that they were stalled in another unit and would be over when they were finished. Over an hour later the same person calls back asking to reschedule, and property manager tells her minion to call the person back and tell them she will be charged a $50 rescheduling fee if she leaves the unit before they get there.
WTF ...you miss the appointment, and tell the fucking resident you're going to charge THEM because YOU didn't make the appointment time?! Oh wait ...this is the same chick who threatened me with a fine if I replaced a door (with a hole in it large enough that I could nearly put my hand through) without approval from them.
As a brand new resident/owner, that was actually my first conversation with her. She apparently has some pretty major issues with "diplomacy" with the people who pay her fucking salary. Did I mention that she's the owner of the company?!
They finish and I leave for an appointment, come home about three hours later and it's leaking yet again. It's still well within business hours and I call the management company who tells me that the AC people are still on site, she'll send them over just as soon as they finish the job they're on.
Five o'clock rolls past and nobody has shown up. I call the 24 hour number and am told someone will be there first thing.
Day four: 10 o'clock rolls around and nobody shows. I call the number and am told that they are stuck on another job, it'll be afternoon before they can make it (yeah, thanks for calling to tell me). A guy shows up around four and tells me that they can't work on it that day ...he doesn't have enough people (it's a two person job that they favor using four to five people for). He says they will be back Monday morning at 9am.
Day six: Nobody shows. I call the management company and they say somebody will be right over. Two hours pass, and I call again. Wow, didn't the manager call you?! I gave her your number ...let me call her back. Two more hours pass. She STILL hasn't called you?! Let me call her back. Two more hours pass, I call back ...she transfers me to the property managers office and it goes to voicemail.
I immediately hang up and call back, she transfers me to another manager: voicemail. I call back, transfer to voicemail again. I call again ...transfer to voicemail. Call again and tell the receptionist that she can keep on transferring me as many times as she pleases but I'm just going to keep calling until I get a real person.
She puts me on hold and finally the property manager picks up. she starts off trying to explain how the pipes work and I tell her I'm extremely familiar with how the pipes work. Then she goes on to tell me how the last guy did a bunch of his own work and since he wasn't licensed, there's just no telling what he might have messed up. I told her that I was intimately familiar with the last guys work: I've been fixing a ton of it. He was also very sloppy and it was very obvious what he had had his hands on, and the AC wasn't one of those things. I also mentioned that unless they are using unlicensed plumbers to do the maintenance ...it was licensed people that screwed mine up!
She kept making excuse after excuse, and I finally laid into her that I understood how these things happen ...what I could NOT understand was people not showing up for an appointment, and her returning NO phone calls to even tell me WHY. She said I needed to be a little more civil with her and calm down.
"You expect COURTESY?!? ...you haven't returned nearly 10 phone calls over four days, don't show up for an appointment, and you are trying to lecture ME about COURTESY?! ...are you out of your MIND?!"
And FINALLY, she fucking apologized. After all that ass-chewing, that was about all I really wanted (besides an AC that didn't leak all over my new carpet). She told me that I needed to have it fixed and told me that she would turn it in to be reimbursed, but doubted that the board would pay.
So basically, you caused the very problem that you claim to be trying to prevent, but I'm the one that has to clean up after you?! She kept rephrasing things over and over and I kept repeating over and over ...you broke it, and now I have to fix it. Eventually, she got the point that I just wanted her to SAY it ...yes, they weren't going to fix it.
I got off the phone as diplomatically as I could muster up. I ran down to Harbor Freight and bought a snake and Lowe's to buy some transparent plastic tubing to replace the junction that was too milky with age to see through.
I guess I really shouldn't work when I'm that flustered ...I attached the snake to the drill and promptly put a HUGE gouge between my pinky and ring finger on my left hand. I'm really bugged by the cut ...it's deep and probably would do better being stitched, but I'm not messing with it. I'm kind of freaked out at the almost complete lack of bleeding and the fact that it doesn't really hurt. The sensation is there, but the pain isn't ...and it's over a quarter inch deep. Too weird.
So now I'm playing a waiting game ...I snaked the pipe and blew through it and there is at least some air passing through, but I wish I could say that I was a little more confident about it. There's still something wrong with it, but it may still work well enough ...I ran a couple of gallons of water through the pipe, and it drained slow, but it DID drain, so maybe I'll get lucky.
I do know that eventually, I'm going to have some time on my hands. Pushing to replace a dysfunctional management company may become a project for me somewhere down the line.
|
|
|
2
Comments
|
|
Interior decorators gone wild, and more inept customer service
|
Posted:Apr 27, 2015 8:43 am
Last Updated:May 5, 2015 12:26 pm
5717 Views
|
After a totally grueling weekend and weeks or months of proclaiming how ready I am to have it all over with, I think the clearing of Mom's house is finally a done deal. I started at 8am Saturday morning and left at around 1am Sunday ...I really REALLY tried to talk myself out of the final trip Sunday afternoon but I'm so glad that I didn't listen to myself (myself is a dumbass sometimes). The painter started this morning, and has a clean and empty place to work on now. It was "mostly" done on Saturday, but there were quite a few minor details that needed to be ironed out. Nothing worse than that little nagging voice in the back of your head that won't rest until the final detail is out of the way.
My brother and his husband were pretty funny to watch throughout the day ...they brought a ton of new light fixtures and minor stuff to increase the appeal to prospective buyers, and it was like a new TV show "Interior Decorator's Gone Wild" or something. Two semi-nelly gay guys fussing over fixtures and drapes loudly exclaiming stuff like "take that outside and BURN IT NOW!!!" over stuff that probably looked awesome back in the 70's was pretty funny, but holy crap could those guys do some work! I really do have the best brother(s) in the world.
One would think, after my previous posts about the insurance fiasco, that I would mostly be done with shitty customer service for a while. The current one (which I've been able to wash my hands of and hand off to my sister) is fucking amazing. When we were there Saturday and I checked the mail, there were two letters from the utility companies which I assumed were bills. My sister had told me just the other day that she had changed the billing address so that the bills would be sent to her instead of the house (there really isn't much being sent there anymore), so I simply figured the change of billing hadn't made it to the billing department yet. I brought them home, and last night finally opened them to pay up (online banking is the shit, huh?!). The electric bill was cool, but the letter from the gas company was ...well, ummm
fucked up
They sent a disconnect notice. My sister calls to change the billing address so we can pay them, and they send a letter saying that since the previous occupant is verified as deceased they will cut services within 7 days if the identity of the current resident isn't established. I was able to use the automated menu and get the amount of the bill to write the check, but still.
I called this morning with the newsflash that there WAS NO CURRENT RESIDENT, hence the billing address change. The lady told me that they couldn't have a deceased person's name on the bill, so they needed to change it to MY name. I told her that wouldn't have been a problem when I was the one actually living there and writing the checks, but you didn't appear to fucking care THEN! Jesus lady ...WE CALLED YOU, and for that courtesy you send us a fucking disconnect notice?! Are you people insane?!
What kills me was how hard she dug her heels in on the matter. At one point I asked if having the name on the account was truly more important than being paid ...especially since the name on the checks matched the name on the bill?! She merely repeated that they couldn't have the name of a deceased person on the bill ...and when I pointed out that they didn't seem to care until WE CALLED TO INFORM THEM, exactly what difference was a month or two (at most) going to make?! She told me I needed to lower my voice and calm down; they were unable to have the name of a deceased person on the bill and if we didn't change the name on the account, service would be cut in 7 days.
Again, she pressed for my information and I told her my sister was the executor and I was no longer the one writing the checks, so she told me she would have to speak with my sister (again).
Before figuratively slamming the (cell) phone down, I told her that if they were the type of fucking idiots handling explosive gas, then I was glad my new place was all electric!
I texted my sister all the info (she's out of state at a conference), and she'll take it over from here (she's fuming about the whole thing as well). I scheduled the check to be paid, but suggested she go online and cancel it if they wouldn't budge; let collections deal with that fourteen fucking dollars that they apparently didn't want very badly in the first place. I guess the house can do without hot water for a few weeks if it all comes down to the name on a bill.
Wow, in our thoroughly red state who worships at the altar of free market, we should reward such incompetence by switching companies and let the free market take care of it.
...oh wait, that's right: there aren't any other companies.
fuckers.
|
|
|
2
Comments
|
|
Not so damnable after all
|
Posted:Apr 23, 2015 7:02 am
Last Updated:Apr 24, 2015 6:08 am
5970 Views
|
To my commenter's yesterday, you guys rock! I'd been with State Farm for 20 years, and I swapped to Progressive last year over what was, in retrospect, pretty minor stuff ...and they were slightly cheaper. State Farm proved I probably never should have left I guess.
I'm truly baffled by the girl from Progressive; my older brother works in management for a telephone customer service firm, and especially places like Progressive that depend almost exclusively on internet and telephone business ...they live and die by customer service ratings! My other brother suggested that I would be doing them a huge favor by reporting the girl, but I don't honestly feel like have anyone hounding me trying to "make it right." Everyone can have a bad day, but sometimes you just have to suck it up and realize what isn't the kind of thing you bounce back from. Panicking and demoralizing a first time homeowner with statements to the effect of "there's nobody alive that would write that place" is kinda at the top of that no-no list.
State Farm was absolutely delighted to have my business back and the rate was about what I had expected (I was hoping for lower, but c'est la vie). Even if the auto is a little bit higher around renewal time, the discount for multi-line was triple what Progressive touted, so it's a win win on a few levels. It took nearly 20 years for State Farm to aggravate me enough to even look around, and I've been with Progressive less than a year. Maybe they had a bad day, maybe she misconstrued something I said ...but that really isn't my problem. Hell, State Farm will even give me back my "longevity" with them since it'll have been less than a year.
All's well that ends well I suppose, but it really did freak me out!
|
|
|
1
comment
|
|
those damnable details
|
Posted:Apr 22, 2015 8:17 am
Last Updated:Apr 23, 2015 7:13 am
6014 Views
|
I've taken the last two days for "me" and worked on my own place for a change; who knew I had so much complete JUNK stored away! I managed to throw away a lot of stuff yesterday and the unpacking is slow going because I keep finding projects while in the midst of it (oh, this would go good over there ...oh wait, I should move this from the other room in here, but I will have to get rid of this to make it fit etc etc). Blah!
I spent most of yesterday morning on the phone changing my address with everyone important. While I was on with my car insurance, when they asked if I had gotten condo insurance yet I said no ...sure thing, I would LOVE a quote! So they transferred me and the homeowners lady started out being awesome ...asking all the pertinent questions until it came around to when the purchase actually took place. And when did you move (last weekend)?
So why didn't you get insurance before? Umm ...I'm a first time homeowner, I paid a years premium on insurance through the HOA, and I need something to cover the actual unit now. But why didn't you do this before, you've had over a month!? Umm ...frankly, I've been frazzled beyond belief between the move and trying to get my mother's estate in order ...I've barely been here at all until now; it honestly never even occurred to me that this was so time sensitive. I've spent nearly 10K in renovations, it isn't as though there's much left for me to try to file a claim on!
She launched into me that there wasn't an underwriter out there that would write a policy on a condo a month after the purchase. Hells bells, I had contractors going for the first two plus weeks ...I've had a million other things going on ...Jesus lady, I'm just today getting around to doing my change of addresses!
Needless to say, now that any hint of cordiality was gone there wasn't much point in continuing. I got off the phone and made some phone calls, and now it's a waiting game. Holy crap, I've always done renters policies in the past, but never counted on such a time sensitive nature of homeowners insurance. They will fucking well be losing my auto policy when renewal time comes around though. My sister's agent told me that I may have been mistaking the lack or cordiality with mere frustration on the agents part for the companies policies, but it sure didn't feel like it. It sure felt snide, accusatory and condescending.
I've got to be at Mom's early tomorrow for the Salvation Army to pick up a ton of furniture and stuff, and I'm trying to decide if I want to head over today as well to work a little bit on the garage (that and the laundry room are the only rooms left to clean out), but don't know if the time would be better spent here. The trouble is, there always ends up being MORE that we missed and I hate to take chances. Bleh ...but for the weekend, my brother and his partner will be there to help with the last of it too, so maybe I'm okay.
One more big work weekend ...then contractors start coming in on Monday. Hopefully after next week, life will start leveling out again. This is such a stressing and heart-wrenching time; I'm just SO ready to have it over with.
|
|
|
0
Comments
|
|
trudge, plod, push
|
Posted:Apr 20, 2015 8:59 am
Last Updated:Jan 3, 2021 9:12 am
6057 Views
|
Next time I say something silly like "Well, I think the worst of it is over with" ...somebody just kick me.
I've always liked the saying: "No matter how bad things get, you can always look back to those times when you didn't think things could get any worse."
I'm really not complaining (TOO much), but I'm grouchy, exhausted (mentally, physically and emotionally) and ...how to put this? "Foggy" might be the word; tired and not thinking clearly, wrung out, beat (and I have many miles to go before I sleep).
My moving weekend sucked. It was great to get it DONE, but the "getting done" is going to be ongoing. There is SO much to do here, and after this weekend I have so many more boxes of "stuff" to figure out what to do with. As much as I hate looking at them, it may take a while to decide. Finding the right order to do it in is also a "thing." I have to admit though, it's fucking awesome being here (again); when all the extenuating circumstances are past, I suspect I'll love it here.
Previous weekend was moving ...exhausting, frustrating, I wasn't as prepared as I should have been given the amount of time I had to do it, but we got it done with no casualties (I suspect there were some close calls with my brother's hubby wanting to throttle me on more than one occasion). It was stressful and exhausting, but we MADE it.
Oh wait ...not quite. We still have Mom's house.
We had planned to just sell to an investor and try to have it all over with sooner rather than later. After the initial two "as is" offers, we quickly reached the conclusion that since we HAVE the money to put into the minor repair and cosmetics, that we should go ahead and do it. There is a reason that investors buy cheap and fix up ...the offers are about half what the houses have been selling for when listed, so they have a hell of a profit margin. Insurance is covering a new roof (hail damage from last year), and we have the money in the house accounts to cover a fair bit of fix-up so the decision was made to fix it up and list it. My brother's husband is a (professional and high-end) interior designer, so talk about getting the ultimate bang for the buck too!
Anything negative I've had to say about any of my siblings, I have to say that for all of our faults, it's sure amazing what we can accomplish when we all pull together. This weekend my brother, sister and myself worked all weekend on cleaning out Mom's stuff. I have SIX more sizable boxes of photo's in addition to a totally full bookcase of photo albums that came with the initial move. We found some boxes of very old pictures that none of us had seen even; my brother has done a great deal of genealogy on Dad's side, and he was ecstatic over some of them. My scanning project will be monumental, but I will most certainly procrastinate a while on that until I can get other affairs in order.
Amazing that as difficult as it is ...especially for me ...to get rid of her stuff, it's sure a lot easier when it's all of us. Spending the weekend doing it together helped smooth out a lot of ruffled feathers that have accumulated over the last decade and a half as well. My sister and brother have barely even spoken in a decade, and I don't know if it qualifies as "reconciliation" but I definitely saw a comfort level in them with each other that I haven't seen in years and years. She and I have been on the outs for a while as well, and I think we pushed through that as well; we both really needed it ...that anger is poisonous over time, and she and I had been quite close. I don't like being angry ...it doesn't suit me at all.
So there are many miles to go, but I'm getting there. Time to get started on my day now though.
cheers!
|
|
|
1
comment
|
|
I guess it pours
|
Posted:Apr 14, 2015 7:06 am
Last Updated:Jan 3, 2021 9:14 am
6438 Views
|
I was scanning back through the previous entries, and one of the "bucket list" items for yesterday was also an item on the "when it rains" blog a couple entries down.
The ice maker that I bought at Lowe's on the day they apparently actively worked at fucking up every single thing they touched. I thought I had what I needed narrowed down to one of two, but of those two ...only one was on the shelf, and the guy told me that I needed something different than what I had narrowed down to.
Well yeah ...of COURSE it was not the one I needed. Or actually, it was part of what I needed, but not ALL of what I needed. The box called it a "kit" but that open box with stuff missing that I initially got handed? ...nothing was missing. It was labeled a kit, but it was actually just a replacement for the main mechanism: no water valve, no hardware, no fill tube. The two models numbers that I had initially looked at? Same ones ...one is simply the superseded part number for the other. I couldn't understand why I was getting two part numbers for the same model refrigerator, and that was why.
I exchanged the unit yesterday for the correct one. No problems, they were very easy to get along with. When I made it back home last night I opened the box and had a look ...it looks exactly like what I need and includes everything I need to install it (including the water line, which I had already bought more of). Moreover, the main unit looked absolutely identical to the one from the previous box that I returned. But here's the kicker ...I got money back! The part number with EVERYTHING included was a buck cheaper than the one with only the single part! They don't sell just the water valve, but even it costs almost as much individually from online retailers as the entire kit did. crazy!
Yesterday ended up being a pretty productive day at Mom's and if the rain will stay away for just a little while longer, I'll make another trip and mow the lawn and pick up some more stuff ...but I got the larger part of the stuff that was left over yesterday. I'm kind of pissed that I managed to forget this with the moving truck, but I forgot my toolbox and I'll need a pickup for it. Ironic that I have a pickup parked right there in the garage beside it, but there is no way I would use a show truck to even attempt that sort of thing ...especially in Dallas traffic.
I have my very first homeowners meeting to attend tonight, so I'd better get cracking!
|
|
|
1
comment
|
|
moving SUCKS!
|
Posted:Apr 13, 2015 10:05 am
Last Updated:Jan 3, 2021 9:15 am
6141 Views
|
A few years ago, my mother's boss and her husband helped me move ...and they actually LIKED the entire moving process; in fact, she told me that two years was about ideal for the "clearinghouse" aspect of things. She and her husband were former military and I guess it takes all kinds to make a world ...but I still think that people who LIKE this sort of thing are out of their minds.
So I'm mostly in the new place. It's raining cats and dogs right now, so I'm procrastinating a little bit on the next trip to the house. I probably have three more trips to make with the car to have the last of the stuff I need, but all the big stuff is largely here and the unpacking is underway.
I'm overwhelmed. I absolutely hate to admit this, but there's so much left to do and I'm just beyond exhaustion. I went well over 48 hours with no sleep at all, and my insomnia isn't improving much as of last night (but I have to admit that sleeping here feels pretty awesome, even if I only manage an hour or three at a time). I'm not QUITE so worried about this place as I am Mom's house, and finishing up there; I'm going to have all kinds of time for here (I can always still wish for everything to be unpacked and put away ...like yesterday).
I guess the important part is that I survived the MAJOR part of the move at least. I think I'm going to really enjoy being back here ...a few of the people I knew from "way back when" have said I'm the talk of the neighborhood (and in a good way, if you can believe that).
One rather funny thing ...my Mom had a rather ratty old recliner that was mostly the same color as mine and at least somewhat "matches" things, but it has a few years of being used as a scratching post by Mom's cat. Since she passed away though ...my little muttifer totally adopted the thing. I think the couch is even in worse shape, but I decided to go ahead and bring both of them along until the house sells, and then I'll probably go shopping yet again. So anyway ...the chair was mostly for the mutt ...but since moving, not only has he not sat in it a single time, he has totally adopted the couch now instead.
It occurs to me that since he no longer hears very well, the chair at Mom's afforded a perfect view out the patio door ...and now at the condo, the couch gives the same view out the patio door here. All the time I thought it was the chair he loved (or maybe even the smell of Mom on it), and now I'm starting to think it was just the view.
Dogs are funny ...but I wouldn't trade the old goober for anything.
|
|
|
1
comment
|
|
zero day has arrived
|
Posted:Apr 10, 2015 8:02 am
Last Updated:Apr 11, 2015 5:33 am
5841 Views
|
Well hell ...the brother comes up this evening and tomorrow is the big day; U-haul just called to confirm my reservation for the truck.
...and I'm still not ready. I'm ready to BE moved, just not ready for the actual move. So much packing still to do, but at least I have the whole day to do it. I'm still working on coffee and not moving terribly fast; I had a doctors appointment on Monday, and she was a bit concerned about a few things ...the 25lbs I've dropped since our last visit always makes them sit up and take notice a little bit, but a host of other things such as not being very good about taking my meds came up. So I'm trying to be a little better ...I've slept better the last few nights and hurt a lot less when I take pain medication if you can imagine.
I can now declare the condo ready to move into though. The painter came in again yesterday and did some minor touch-up stuff ...mostly cleaning up after the carpet guy, but all really minor things. The HOA lady came around and left a can a paint for the front door and I just put it in the corner; my painter already had the first coat on by the time I got there (I never even asked him to do it ...he said he just saw the paint and did it for me; THAT sort of thing is why I will recommend this guy to anyone who asks). He was remarking to me about how dramatic the difference was in the place since I bought it; the bathroom was the most dramatic, but the kitchen is pretty impressive too. I replaced all the (rusted out) light fixtures, outlet and switch plates and installed a shower door that looks a lot nicer than I had expected. I still need to replace the towel rods and I bought some cabinet thingies that I haven't installed yet, but it looks really nice ...especially on that "compared to" scale.
He helped me cart the refrigerator upstairs even, so even THAT is out of the way. I had been a little concerned about how it was going to look as well as how much space it would eat up, but it really isn't all that bad. I KNOW I'll like having all the extra fridge/freezer space, even if I don't know how much I'll actually utilize it.
There is a TON of work to do here at the house even after I get MY move out of the way (blah), but one day at a time. I think I'll feel a lot better about things come Monday though.
Time to get back to packing!
|
|
|
0
Comments
|
|
...productivity sucks!
|
Posted:Apr 7, 2015 2:45 pm
Last Updated:May 29, 2024 7:38 am
5984 Views
|
Well ...crud. I haven't been back to the condo since Saturday; it rained all day Sunday, and yesterday was wall-to-wall busy with other stuff. One of the items on yesterdays bucket was the roof here at Mom's ...turns out that it WAS indeed damaged enough by the hailstorm last year that it merits replacement under insurance. I also had some 'splaining to do to my doctor about the 25lbs I've lost since my last visit. Amazing how uptight they get about that kind of weight loss; I just told her "10 lbs to go."
I really crushed a little bit on the hot insurance adjuster even though she set my gaydar off in a big way (wish it were a bit less developed suddenly). I thought she was cute as hell and was most certainly the "type" I'd be friends with. As insurance adjusters go (AKA: the evil enemies), she was nine kinds of awesome and more critical of the damage than ANY of the Jehovah's Wit --er, "roofers" have been to date.
My plans had been to head to the condo and put in the shower door, window blinds and install that fitting for the dishwasher. Maybe put down shelving paper in the kitchen. Instead, I've got the u-haul set up for the weekend and began the packing here. I also called the evil organization that has initials that correspond with the name Time Warner Cable.
I remember a Southpark episode a while back that really dug into TWC, and it really does crack me up that no matter how outlandish the stereotype is, sometimes the reality is just SO much worse. I had to bite and point out and contest every charge every step of the way. On the initial "estimate" for service (all of which is paid for under my HOA), they still managed to try to charge over a hundred bucks a month. I got them down to $29 for the internet and will be taking it down further later on ...but they really are un-fucking-believable and I'm astounded that they still haven't managed to be broken up under the anti-trust act. They have NO competition ...and I REMEMBER the days of "Ma Bell" and their customer service was FAR superior. Sad that in this day and age that "get what you pay for" is trumped by "what we can get away with."
I feel bad for people who A) don't know what they are paying for, thus don't know the right questions to ask and  pay things without asking at least a couple of questions along the way. They obviously take advantage of that.
I had planned of leasing the cable modem through them, but since I was in my last apartment ...the modem lease has apparently quadrupled (while the price of modems has dropped substantially). Hell, he even tried to tag on a charge for using wi-fi with it ...I was honestly astounded with all the crap that they TRIED to add in. Granted, as soon as I contested it they took it off, but like I said above ...how many DON'T know better?
It'll be nice to have all this over with, and I'm sure it'll come soon enough, just not soon soon enough for ME!
Gotta zoom now, but just have to throw in the quick remark about running to a pizza buffet yesterday after the doctor. It was absolutely crazy ...anyone ever been to a "buffet" that only had cheese pizza and pepperoni pizza? That was seriously all they had!
cheerzall
|
|
|
0
Comments
|
|
To link to this blog (Canus2011) use [blog Canus2011] in your messages.
|
|
|
| Sun |
Mon |
Tue |
Wed |
Thu |
Fri |
Sat |
| |
|
|
|
1
|
2
|
3
|
4
|
5
|
6
|
7
|
81
|
91
|
10
|
11
|
12
|
13
|
141
|
15
|
161
|
17
|
18
|
191
|
20
|
21
|
22
|
23
|
24
|
25
|
261
|
27
|
28
|
29
|
30
|
31
|
|
