2024.04.20 08.36 100803 monday at centrepoint mall 100802 sunday with my folks 100511 zipcar Carr, Honda Civic 100308 i survived day zero 100212 mac and cheese posterity 100124 popeye 100102 small discoveries 091228 excellent new years dance 091227 power failed 091226 boxing day; nearly 2010 091212 my trip to MSI 091200 december 2009 090800 august 2009 090600 june 2009 090400 april 2009 090300 march 2009 index2006 back to 2005-2006 index2004 back to 2003-2004 archive unmodified old essays and pix

100308 survived day zero 1 Perhaps I've told you we have had water trouble of sorts in our basement apartment. It gets floods, the sewer backs up into our place. The sink has fecal waste coming up. Serious trouble here sometimes. 2 Not all at once. Not most of the time. 3 For some reason, each of the problems has happened while we are trying to celebrate Valentine's Day. For V day you don't really need a lot, but having sewer trouble, toilets working in reverse, or general flooding threatening to soak the bed really does interfere with any mood you might try to create for the occasion. 4 This year we had trouble, but somehow, since it has been the third time around, I can say it is not as traumatizing. The situation interfered with our ability to wash dishes in a timely way. We had to use the shower stall, or the bathroom sink if the items were small enough. 5 I held back rent money. But that did not help nor hurt our problem. Finally, concerned about the total silence between our landlord and us, I went upstairs and asked. I told Jo-Anne, the receptionist our woes. I told her we were hunting for a new place, as the plumbers said we could not actually live here while the heavy renovations were being done. She listened to everything, and said she would talk to The Man for us. 6 The very next day, the plumber comes to see us. He says he can do it with us here, but we need to vacate a full half of the apartment. He gets us permission to use the mechanical rooms, but this is not enough room for us. The permission is helpful so we can store things there as we sort it out, and move it to the truck and so we've been glad for that. 7 We coordinate on using the week starting Sunday March 08. I use the day for getting a truck, and packing it non-stop. The Monday the plumber would return with a crew of assorted specialists to get the wrecking, sewage and plumbing all rebuilt. 8 A few times since that meeting, but before yesterday, the plumber brought the bosses of each of these companies over to measure and check us out. 9 So as planned, Sunday I picked up the big 17 foot truck. I should have woken up at 11am, so I could get it for noon, so I could work and pack and everything until the end. What acually happened was I got up at 130pm and called my parents. They came over eventually, so I had the truck by 3pm. This is the same truck I've rented before. It has been rented by so many others it has scratches in every section. This is noteworthy because I have to tell them about each problem, lest they accuse me of it, and charge me for such repairs (which they don't actually conduct; they simply charge for the damages). This incomplete list includes a broken passenger mirror, missing gas cap, and very weak brakes. 10 We have been enjoying spring time here. So instead of going directly to work on my packing, I took us to Starbucks for coffee. And to go through the back lane for boxes we could use. (note to self- go get some more boxes right now) 11 After that we continued driving, simply to get some sun and tour around a bit. We went shopping at 8pm, not because we needed anything, but it was open at 8pm on Sunday, and that was reason enough to go inside. 12 So we get home at 9pm, and have to work. We have 12 hours to completely vacate the west side of the apartment. I want to go through each box, to see what has spoiled and discard it. It took the two of us all night long to get this done. We succeeded. We took breaks for food and water as needed, approximately every two hours. 13 By 9am, we were entirely washed out. The staff were coming in to work, so I moved the van as far to the right as possible, so it took up the least room. It was my intention that we would have a nice breakfast at Wimpy's before calling it "a night". What did happen was close, but not exactly that. 14 We grabbed a nap, knowing that the workers would knock or phone to let us know we were needed for something. I went to shower first, and afterwards, called our plumber. He said he was having trouble getting his workers and the permits required by the city, and would actually start working Tuesday morning. Yay!, we get to sleep without jackhammers. 15 We woke naturally around 3pm. I was sore and aching all over, especially my legs and shoulders, but all of me if I considered it. Still, I rushed us out of the place, and we walked to Wimpy's and ordered eggs, corned beef hash; hamburger, fries and gravy. 16 A quick stop to the pet food store, to get some favourite pellets for the rabbits. We call them "crack" since the rabbits will pick out these special ones from the other pellets (purchased from Wal-Mart). We could probably teach the bunnies to talk or diffuse bombs using these crack pellets. That's how much they love them. 17 We're back at home. I'm writing to you. And will get another nap soon, as I'm so tired I ache inside.

tell Dave to do this more often