Saturday, July 05, 2008

Planetary Alignment?

What a curious week I've had.

First off, I've gone down with a full blown cold. The really bad sort. I don't just have a runny nose. I have the sprint-y kind that would put Usain Bolt to shame.

Sigh...See, it all started when our water heater broke down. Three days ago, I was just lazing about in the house, enjoying the peace and quiet after a noisy and action packed trip back home for our wedding, idle hours filled with boisterous family dinners, reunions with friends, routine errands and a "wart-y party" (as labeled by my sister Dianne when we got our neighbor, a dermatologist, to do home service and zap out all our warts, which turned into a full-out bonding session for my family and the in-laws!) thrown in for good measure!

I was buzzed out of my lazy stupor by a loud knock on the door, followed by a bellowing "Maintenance!". Dressed in mismatched pajamas (at 3:00 - in the afternoon), I hurriedly opened the door and let in Emilio, the maintenance guy and Lisa, our leasing specialist. "Welcome back!" Lisa greets me warmly in her Jersey girl drawl. "Your water heater's leakin' and we've come to check it out!" she explains.

Apparently, our neighbors below complained that their ceiling was leaking, and the maintenance guy traced it to our water heater. Oh well! That being said, he proceeded to check on the water heater and declared it was due for replacement. Since he had replacement parts on hand, the worst that could happen would be for me to wait for him to just install it in an hour or two right? Wrong!

Because I was supposed to wait another hour before I could use the hot water. And that meant, not being able to take a bath until 5 PM. That would have been ok, if not for the dinner Dear Hubby and I were due for at well, 6 PM! A girl needs an hour at least to get ready and have enough minutes for travel time jeez!

Emilio finished at about 4, and again reminded me not to use the hot water until after an hour. "But I can run the taps with cold water right?" I asked, and he answered in the affirmative. So in my earnestness to get ready, I took an icy cold shower. Which caused said cold. And muscle aches.

Now if that wasn't enough. The following day, the new water tank continued to leak, the carpet soggier than it was when Emilio left it. So I called the leasing office and they again dispatched Emilio to work his magic on our heater. He shakes his head, not believing his luck. "It's a new heater, but it's defective. I'll just install a new one and have this sent back. It's a factory defect." he tells me, then proceeds to tinker at the water heater, cussing the manufacturer under his breath. I reminded him about the pond forming on our carpet, so he asks the other maintenance dude to get their wet/dry vacuum cleaner so they could suck out the water from the soggy carpet.

That night, with the water heater disaster highlighting my day, Dear Hubby and I found ourselves jolted by a screeching sound followed by the sound of metal crashing against metal. After a couple of seconds, we hear another clanging sound, and then...silence. Dear Hubby looked out the window and said an SUV just lost its front bumper. I was about to rise from the couch when he told me not to look. "You know how the mob gets back on crime scene witnesses?" he tells me. Well, I have to admit I was intrigued and excited by the thought of something as mysterious and thrilling as mobsters and crime scenes, but my sleepy eyes preferred the comfort of our couch so I didn't bother to peek out our window.

Which was fine. Because the next day, the 4th of July, we found out what that crashing sound was all about. A neighbor's car was pretty much banged up. How did we discover it? Well see, I forgot our house keys inside the apartment. Dear Hubby and I were locked out and we had to wait outside for emergency assistance from our leasing office, which was closed for the holidays. As we waited for the maintenance guy on call, who advised us that he was coming in half an hour as he lived quite a distance from our neighborhood, we thought we'd kill time by walking around our place, at least before the rain starts. That's when we saw the smashed car and figured that was what happened last night! Right then and there I told Dear Hubby I wish I saw that happen in real time! Then Dear Hubby put some sense into my head by saying, "You should feel ashamed of yourself, someone else's misfortune is not entertainment!"

Tsk tsk! Well, the phrase "watching a train wreck" wasn't coined for nothing!

So anyway, as Dear Hubby and I waited outside our building, the slight drizzle now turning into a heavy pitter patter, guess who was sent over to let us in our apartment?! Emilio! Of all the maintenance guys dispatched to help us, it was the hapless Emilio!

"I think our apartment likes you Emilio!" I greet him, trying to sound funny.

"Let's see what happens tomorrow!" Dear Hubby added humorously.

Emilio did not laugh.

But that was the least of our worries. With access to our apartment and a newfound appreciation for it, I was thankful for our dry (ok semi-dry, soggy carpet not withstanding) and warm shelter from the rain!

They say that trouble comes in threes. Well, the third one was up for today. Halfway on our way to sign up for Costco membership, I realized I forgot to bring our envelope filled with billing statements! Of course, Dear Hubby couldn't believe how forgetful I was and was understandably irritated. Well, I have a cold gosh darn it and with all the medicine I've been taking, I've been floating on a cloud lately. Hahaha!

After he let off steam and assured me he wasn't mad about me leaving all the documents, he tells me that "Getting locked out of the apartment is one of my bad dreams." I replied, "Then I'm your dream girl, because I make your dreams come true!"

We both laughed at our misadventures. But man, we sure are ready for the good stuff to come back our way!

Time for some big juicy good ones!

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

get well, ah-tay! lurve, trina

Anonymous said...

Get well soon, Tin! Miss you!

Vanessa said...

Oh my, CD! An interesting turn of events!

But, coincidentally, I, too, had a water heater problem this week (a-ha, a trend across the pond) and needed to report it for repairs and eventually replacement after having to deal with icy-cold showers in the morning. So not funny! And I had to do the explaining "Das ist kaputt!" situation entirely in Deutsch as the super did not speak a word of English. I sympathize with you.

Gute Besserung (get well soon)! :-)

cd_mfo said...

Awww, thanks trina and alisa!

Ahhh, the ill-fated water heaters! Thank goodness I need not learn another language to talk to our guy, you make me feel like I got the long end of the stick! Danke vanessa! =)

Mrs. Chai Tea said...

hi! like you i had a not-so-good weekend. but it wasn't apartment-related more like people flaking out on me hence ended up staying home on the 4th. hope things turn out better for us =) - chai

Anonymous said...

feel better, tin! all's well that ends well... :D

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