Tuesday, June 29, 2010
My apartments: putting the "tech" in "technologically retarded."
There's really no update on how my diet is going. Not really a diet at this point since the food is largely irrelevant and the exercise is the main thing.
Three mile runs continue to take me 27-28 minutes and that's about it.
I was excited over the weekend to buy a new belt -- with a 36" waist for the first time in a long time.
This update is really about my experience with the maintenance people at my complex. Now, for anyone who has ever lived in an apartment you'll be familiar with the band-aid approach to repairs. If medical progress relied on similar methods, we'd still be drilling holes in skulls and applying leeches.
So my A/C hasn't worked for weeks. In order to make it go, I have to use the breaker switch in the fuse-box. Which is fine until you realize I live in Atlanta where it's been over 90 degrees for a month now, and will get hotter for another month or so. Which means that leaving my home at 8am to go to work and turning the A/C to off results in my returning to an apartment that is a lot like an oven.
I knew that the problem was the thermostat, so I called the leasing office. They sent someone on Friday. I told them I was pretty sure it's the thermostat. They insisted it's the relay, which they replaced, and things seemed okay...
...until after the maintenance office was closed for the weekend. Which is when the A/C unit proceeded to make a noise like it was being beaten by sticks every time it made a change from on to off, or off to on.
If you add to this that I was dog-sitting for the weekend with Murphy, who'd never spent time at my place, so she was really twitchy. And every 20 minutes or so when the clanging and thumping would begin, she would think it was a break-in. And bark. A lot.
One weekend of broken sleep later, I tell the leasing office that they need to send someone out to actually fix the thermostat, which, you might recall, was what I thought the problem was to begin with.
So they said someone would be there at 2pm on Monday.
Maybe they meant 2pm Pacific, in which case, they were 10 minutes early.
“It’s the thermostat. It’s broken in some way, probably electronic signals are being sent multiple times or on a delay so that many go out in a short space of time.”
“That’s the relay — I can get someone to replace it, but it’s gonna be tomorrow”
“No, the whole board was replaced on Friday, and whatever it takes, I’m not waiting till tomorrow - I doubt it’s the relay that was just replaced. The relay gets a signal from the board in the thermostat, I’d start there.”
“Okay, we’ll have someone come out and replace the thermostat.”
“Isn’t that what you were supposed to be doing anyway?”
“No, I assess the repair, I’ll send the guy out, he’ll be here in about an hour.”
Twenty minutes later the guy arrives.
“So what’s the problem?”
“It’s the thermostat.”
“Well see, you have it turned up to 95 degrees”
“Okay, 1. It’s supposed to work at that temperature isn’t it? 2. It’s nobody’s business how warm or cool I want this apartment to be.”
“Okay, so I’ll just go ahead and replace it.”
Proceeds to replace the mechanical front part.
“I’m not sure that’s going to work since I have a really strong suspicion that it’s an electrical problem.”
He ignores me and replaces the front
“Oh, that’s better, you got your air back”
“My air never went away, I just couldn’t control it, and it was making horrible noises and...”
Flicks temp slider left and right...
“Shouldn’t it be clicking on and off somewhere? I have the air back, but now it won’t turn off. Maybe it’s the electronics.”
“Well, I guess I’ll just go ahead and replace that, too”
So eventually the guy replaces the thermostat's guts and...like magic it works.
If they dude had done this ten minute repair on Friday it would have saved me spending hours waiting for technicians, it would have saved them somewhere around two hours of wasting time arguing with me.
In the personal news...
...because I know it's why you really tune in, skinny jeans...
...Jen is heading out of town again and has asked me to dog sit at her place for a few days over the weekend. It's not odd anymore, calling the house that was "our place" "her place." I'm going to go have dinner there tonight and see if Jen wants to work on a list of repairs and maintenance for the coming weeks and months.
It's good to feel useful, it's good to feel like I'm finally doing the things I promised to do long ago. It's not a debt I'm paying to Jen, it's to myself. There's a kind of man I want to be, and she's giving me the chance to be him. I think I'm up to the task, whatever it looks like.
Heart, meet sleeve...
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