Through The Looking Glass

Last week my outgoing email stopped working. The error emails I got were from AVG, not my email host, so I turned off AVG’s outgoing mail scans. It didn’t help, and the next day I wasn’t getting incoming email either. (I was able to check it on the server, but it wasn’t coming through to Outlook Express.) I requested assistance from my web host. Their response was decidedly not helpful.

I haven’t changed any settings whatsoever, except for the AVG email scanning.

I can’t send email (incoming mail is mysteriously functional again).

I am so annoyed!

Anyone have any ideas?

So I’m reading this blog I like, which is mostly about comics, and then I read this Bloggity-Blog-Blog-Blog post about a letter her husband received. Her husband happens to run the best Wizard Of Oz site I have ever seen, so I was intrigued. Right up to the point where my eyes started to glaze over.

Yeesh.

The building manager, who is a very nice guy, just stopped by. I showed him all of the damage and he told me that a roofing company is supposed to come next week. (Apparently they’re very busy, since every building in Los Angeles is poorly equipped for rain.) He promised to make repairs inside, and also (!) said that if we feel the need, we can move into an empty apartment across the building.

So I feel much better now. And also very full of tea, which I have been sucking down all day.

Ha ha ha, you’re older than me!

Story: MIDDLE AGE(S)

Ha ha.

Following is the stern letter we’ve left for our building manager. I wrote it intending to edit it severely, but Will thought it was good as is, and who am I to argue?

January 28, 2005

To Whom It May Concern:

We (William and Annika K) have lived in [Apartment number] at [name of building] since February 1st, 2003. Since October 18, 2004 we have had to call maintenance several times because of leaks in our ceiling. We understand that the amount of rain has been excessive and somewhat unexpected, but we feel that we have a right to expect that, in the nearly five months since the problems began, something would have been done to fix the roof and/or ceiling and eliminate the problem. The leaks are getting worse as time goes by. They have not been repaired, nor have we been told if there are any plans to repair them.

Several of our belongings have been damaged. Thus far nothing has been destroyed, but we are somewhat on edge, which is not a nice way to feel in one�s home. Today the bulbs in our lamp exploded from having water drip on them. There is glass all over the living room. This is a danger that could have been avoided had something been done to fix the problem.

We are tired of using our pots, pans and towels to collect water; they have purposes for which they are intended and we would like to use them in those fashions without having to disinfect them. We are tired of moving our furniture every time it rains; we like our furniture where it is. We are tired of worrying about our audio-visual equipment. And mostly, we are tired of paying rent for the privilege of fearing the destruction of our worldly possessions.

There are cracks and discoloration on our ceiling from water damage. This is both unsightly and nerve-wracking, as we fear that we may have something worse than water (such as the roof) falling into our home.

Most worrying is the mold that is growing on our walls and in the faux fireplace. This is a serious health risk.

We insist that permanent repairs be made.

In addition, something must be done about the tar that was poorly applied to our front balcony. The rains have spread it over the concrete and some of it has made its way onto our carpet. We will do our best to clean the carpet but it should not have been an issue in the first place.

We would like some sort of compensation for the state of our living space. Immediate repairs must happen. If we have not witnessed reasonable attempts to fix our ceiling and repair the damage done by the leaks by February 15, we will seek legal counsel.

We seek assurance, in writing, of your plan to make these repairs.

Thank you.

William K
Annika K

As angry and worried as I am, I think the whole thing is totally hilarious.

(With apologies to Jamie, who used nearly the same subject line recently)

I have just had the singular experience of a lamp exploding. The bulbs, to be specific.

Let me back up.

It started raining the night of our wedding. I mention this only for time frame – we were quite delighted to hear thunder from our honeymoon suite. (Not Honeymoon Suite, just the suite where we honeymooned.) It rained through most of October, and our ceiling began leaking. We kinda freaked out, management sent maintenance to check it out, it stopped raining, we put the furniture back in order, everything was fine. It rained again for most of December and January. We had leaks again, in new and exciting places! It sucked. Maintenance came by again. It eventually stopped raining.

This morning it was sprinkling. While Will was driving to work, it started coming down much more heavily. I kept alert for drips. I heard a drip. I realized quite quickly that it was dripping into our standing lamp. I ran downstairs. In the time that it took me to get to the switch (about six seconds), both bulbs burst. Glass everywhere. And I mean everywhere. We’ll be finding shards for weeks. I put a plate over the lamp and something to catch the water on top of that. I called Will and cried, then called management and left a very stern message on the machine which won’t do any good because the assholes who own the place are certainly not likely to, oh I don’t know, FIX THE ROOF.

I am so angry, but all I want to do is cry.

Or possibly stressed out.

Maybe even both.

We had to go to court today and this morning I couldn’t eat anything. My mouth felt really dry and yucky. I drank lots of water and choked down what I could.

Got to courthouse. Felt faint. Got all flushed and hot after feeling quite cold. Had that feeling of needing to sit down immediately. Sat down.

The legal business is taken care of, not entirely to my satisfaction but I think it will be perfectly fine, and we settled which meant not having to stand in front of the judge (the standing being the possible problem, not the judge).

Came home. Will made me some tea. I was cold again, so turned on the heat despite it being in the 60s outside. I’m feeling all right, just a bit weak. I finally was able to eat, which surely helped.

Nap soon, or maybe bath.

My outgoing email seems to be kaput. I have been replying to people but apparently the replies have not gotten to their destination. I will try again when I am feeling more myself. My apologies, especially to Mindi who I owe feedback (I have been too busy and planned to write it up today, but that isn’t looking good).

So I was going through my box of wedding-related crap (to-be-organized, someday), looking for some paperwork for this ridiculous legal thing we have to deal with, and in a pile of cards I found a Best Buy gift card that I have never seen before. It must have fallen out of the card it was in. Luckily, it was still in the little Best Buy sheath, so I was able to determine who it was from (if Sean still reads this, THANK YOU!). Then I called the 800 number to find out how much it’s for so I can begin shopping in my head. It’s for a hundred smackers! Man, I love getting married. We are thinking of doing it every year. Combined with the leftover balance on the card Will got for his birthday, we have something like $220 to spend. Which is really, really nice. We already plan to buy Deadwood and The Shield (we still have not seen any of the third season!), but otherwise I’m stumped. Half my brain says we ought to catch up on Buffy and Angel, but the other half tells me that free-to-us or not, they are overpriced at Best Buy and we should wait to buy them from Amazon. I really want a scanner or a better printer, but if I get something for the computer it REALLY ought to be more memory. Or an external hard drive. Oops, I just drooled on myself.

So, what should we get? Movies and music are options too, of course.

8: the number of loads of laundry that I washed today

2: the number of washers that I used despite the fact that they were kind of gross (one was full of powdered detergent, which I painstakingly removed, one had a wet sock in it…I removed that too)

5: the number of dryers that were not broken

12: the number of dryers in total

3: the number of dryers I was able to use

1 the number of broken dryers someone else used out of what I assume was desperation

4: the number of people who were watching my dryers like hawks, waiting for me to take out my clothes so they could steal the dryer, despite the basket of wet clothing I had sitting right in front of the dryer

0: the number of times those vultures (hawks?) got away with it. I am quick!

5: the number of trips it took me to get my clean, dry, folded laundry back upstairs

ten billion: how tired I am right now

I was looking at the Crate & Barrel 2 website. Someone had linked to a particular item and while I was there I was browsing the Sales, because if you can’t afford to buy anything, the best thing to do is look at stuff that is closer to your price range but still unaffordable and depress yourself even more. Anyway, all of their Christmas items (excuse me, “holiday”) were onsale and I was admiring some ornaments and I started thinking about pretty little snowflake decorations. The ones that are like doilies. And I thought, “I can crochet that!” And I did. I’m making them up (no two alike) and I don’t know very many stitches, so I haven’t quite gotten any to come out just how I want, but I think they’re going to be pretty damn awesome when I’m finished. I’m going to go all 50s housewife and starch them. Um, where do I buy starch? Does it have instructions? Who the hell uses starch? Oh my goodness, what have I gotten myself into?