Pretty Sights

Here, have some pretty pictures I took today.

Safely North

I made it! The trip was only the usual amount of annoying, and I spent part of the time like this, which helped.

Mind you, I had to rip out most of the started shawl when I saw I had messed it up, I tinked for a while, then looked at how much was left and frogged it instead. But I was able to pick up the stitches again where I wanted to, so though I was mentally prepared to start again from the beginning, I didn’t have to. Pretty pleased with myself that I managed this on a plane!

As we got closer to Boston, the sun was setting, which made for a pretty view.

My friend picked me up, and just like that, the visit has begun! I woke up way too early this morning, which is unfortunate, but never mind, it will be a good day anyway.

Oh, and the Bruins won last night! I look forward to watching the recording after I’m home again.

Working/Not Working

The elevator has been working, not working, working, not working.

[And the pool is still not working (algae, apparently).]

But as of tonight, I myself am not working for five days, and if I have to carry my luggage down the stairs in the morning, that’s what I’ll do.

Feels Weird

I’ll tell you something that feels strange: wearing a tank top and skirt, barefoot, with the air conditioning on, and stacking up long-sleeved layers and long underwear to pack. But every time I look at the forecast for my northern destination, it’s colder than the last—low of 35, are you kidding me? So there’s where I found myself today.

Maggie was giving me some deeply suspicious looks, too. I think she has an inkling of what’s coming.

She’s pretty cute.

Getting Things Done; Gripes

Not that I had my most productive weekend ever, but I did get some things done, including:

• I figured out who to vote for and filled out my absentee ballot. I'd been putting it off because it's not a small dance card this election--thirteen different judge-recall questions, for instance--but I finally reached the tipping point where I wanted to be done with it more than I didn't want to do it. Checked off the list. (I still have to drop it off, but early voting hasn't started yet. At least now I'm ready.)
• I started packing for my trip. I have been working on the packing list on and off for some time, but I started the pile-things-up stage. I don't leave until Thursday, so plenty of time to fine-tune it (aka "how many long sleeves can I fit in a carry-on").
• Trimmed Maggie's claws. Way overdue. She had some major pointies. She was unimpressed, but no blood was shed.
• Put the new registration sticker on the car. Hey, it's a thing, it needed doing, I did it.

Also, a few gripes:

• I strained a muscle in my leg last weekend (cleaning up garage stuff), the hamstring I guess (up the back of the leg to the butt), and then I aggravated it on Thursday, and it's so sore, and traveling with it is going to be so annoying. I'm trying to gently stretch it out, but it is not really responding to my efforts. Owie owie ow.
• It bugs me Every Single Time I get an email from my health insurance that says "A new Explanation of Benefits is ready for you" and when I go to the website, the term Explanation of Benefits is nowhere to be found. They talk about my "Claims." Why can they not use the same words in both places. WHY? (Also annoying: that they email me on 10/22 and say I have a new claim, but on the website, the most recent claims are from 10/11. It takes 11 days for you to tell me it's there?)
• The neverending elevator saga, part 87: Guess what, we heard this morning that tomorrow and possibly Wednesday, the elevator will be out of commission (AGAIN) while the floor is redone. There is NOTHING wrong with the floor. There are no cracks, no chips, no nothing. I guess it just isn't fancy enough. (Who cares? WHO CARES.)
• Speaking of building issues, the pool is still not back up and running. The pump was replaced last Thursday, how long does it take to get the chemicals balanced? I can't decide if I think it's more likely that it will be okayed tomorrow, when the elevator is out (hey, ccr, you can use the pool, if you're willing to add five flights of stairs to your exercise program) (with this hamstring? no), or after I leave for Boston on Thursday (you could use the pool, except you're not here). Place your bets!

Side Sleeper Problems; Pool; Cool

I am a side sleeper and a restless sleeper: I turn over and over all night. Sometimes I'll notice when I roll over that the shoulder I was lying on is sore, like I was on that side too long, but last night it went much further: I woke up and my left shoulder was on fire. I could not find a comfortable position! It just hurt so much. Gave me more sympathy for my mother, who is having trouble with her shoulder, and hers is not from sleeping on it. I mean, I wasn't unsympathetic before, but it was a vivid reminder of how much pain a shoulder can give.

I did finally fall asleep again, and in the morning it was no more than usually stiff. But whoa.

Yeah, I don't know why I felt I had to share that. Thrilling, isn't it? You're welcome.

I'm going to switch up the pillows tonight.

We have made progress on the pool issue, btw, as the new pool pump is in and running, We aren't supposed to use it yet, but I'm hoping it won't be long.

Of course, I go out of town next Thursday for a few days, so watch it not be useable until Wednesday.

We had a bit of a cool snap this week, by Florida standards, and it was an unusually precipitous drop of about 20 degrees from Tuesday (when I was wearing a tank top and skort) to Wednesday (when I had on a short-sleeve shirt, long-sleeve shirt, leggings, socks, and slippers). Thursday was better because at least there was some sun, and today wasn't bad either, but it still wasn't our usual for the time of year. I mean, the lower humidity was very nice, but if it's too chilly to open the windows, I don't appreciate turning off the air conditioning as much.

Still, it was good practice with layers, which I will need for my trip. I'm going to freeze. 

Look There Instead: Cat Bath, Cable TV Issue Update

Last night's Bruins game was a weird one, and I don't just mean that it was their first loss of the season. The goal scoring went like this:

• Ottawa scored three times
• The Bruins scored the next three
• Ottawa scored three more times
• The Bruins scored the next two

So that was 6-5 after two periods. If you don't follow the NHL, let me just say, that is a LOT of goals! And very up-and-down.

Which is why I chose to photograph the cat bath on the footstool instead. (And also why I turned the game off in the third, when it was 7-5.)

I am so jealous of her flexibility.

Meanwhile, I do have an update on the issue I was having where our cable company wasn't getting me the NHL Network. I decided to call again yesterday and escalate to a manager/supervisor, in hopes that would kick things into motion. The first person went through it all again (sigh), though it was kind of funny (not-so-funny) when he suggested, from reading the notes, that "the last time I got an update from them" was last Wednesday. First of all, I called them for an update on Wednesday, when I got no new info; second of all, don't skip over the whole weird Saturday Twitter-vent-and-call part of the story!

Anyway, he then passed me to a supervisor, a nice man named Chris who was very sympathetic (he's a Tampa Bay Lightning fan). He told me that the problem wasn't with Summit's equipment, that they had rebooted this and that and it was all fine, so it was a problem on the NHL Network side, that they were getting daily updates but had no resolution so far. He also said that another customer had found that he couldn't get the station on his TV with the set-top box, but he could see it if he used the watch-it-anywhere thing on his tablet. So that's super-weird!

The call as a whole was frustrating, since the bottom line was that they didn't know anything about why it was a problem or when it would be fixed. So it was a surprise to get a call back less than an hour later, saying it was working! I turned the TV on, and what do you know, it was. So weird! 

What an amazing coincidence, eh? I do wonder if it would have come on then anyway, even if I hadn't called. But I'm glad to have it back at last.

He Raised My Hopes

As I mentioned before, a week ago Sunday I turned on the TV and the NHL Network wouldn't come on. It doesn't say I'm not subscribed to it, it just cycles for a few minutes and then pops up an error code. I've called them a few times, they say "the engineers" are working on it, but no progress yet.

On Saturday I checked again, and when it wasn't up, I vented my frustration on Twitter that it had been out all week, I'm paying extra to get this channel, and right at the start of hockey season, nothing: it's very annoying.

Fifteen minutes later, my mom's landline rang and it was someone from Summit Broadband following up. Well! I told him the story, he checked it on his end (yes, sir, I know it's not working, that was my point; it's nothing I'm doing wrong). He said that he would make a few calls and get back to me. I thanked him.

And since then, complete silence. I guess he was monitoring social media this weekend and was bored enough to call, but not to actually worry about fixing the problem. Great.

1-0

It’s just one game, and it wasn’t perfect, but it had its moments!

The Bruins apparently have 20% of the Czech players currently in the NHL, and they had a night! More, please.

Go Bruins!

It's another season that kicks off tonight, and I had to pop in to say go Bruins!

And also to complain that this week, of all the weeks of the year, had to be the one where our cable company has somehow screwed up the NHL Network, which hasn't come in all week. Great timing!

Air, Conditioned

Somewhat lost in all the hurricane BS is how our air conditioner died last Tuesday afternoon, as Ian was bearing down on us. The nice man came to check it out, pronounced the motor dead, and promised to get a new one in as soon as possible--it isn't a model (or brand?) that they have in stock, and of course with the hurricane, things would be disrupted. It was hardly our biggest worry that day.

When I opened the door to him today, the first words out of his mouth were "I am so sorry!" I told him that it was fine, the weather had been remarkably good*, but that we would be glad to have it back for when we needed it. 

*Fun fact: my mother read somewhere that after a hurricane goes through, it pulls the humid air with it, and you get a week of lower humidity after. Good thing!

It was in fact feeling a tad more humid today, and I wasn't sorry to have it run for a bit. The weather honestly has been pleasant, and I enjoy when the weather permits windows open, and we can smell the fresh air. But it's also good to have the a/c when you do need it.

And our electric bill for the month should be noticeably lower!

Maggie

Maggie was on my lap, slightly alert:

But then she put her head down for a rest, and then she fell deeply asleep and her head dropped between my feet:

And she was conked out that way, paws twitching, for a good ten minutes:

Before she jerked awake, with no idea what time or day it was, or which was up.

Shake it off!

In Summary: We Were So, So Lucky

We were so, so lucky.

Mom, Maggie, and I are fine.

We were so, so lucky.

The condo is fine. We had to throw out virtually everything in the fridge and freezer (Coke cans fine, mayo not so much). Had to figure out how to remove the ice-maker bin thing from the freezer so that the blob of melted and refrozen ice could be cleaned out. Honestly, a sad waste of food but not that big a deal. And while we still don't have air conditioning, the weather has been cool (by our standards) and pleasant, not hot and sticky, so it's a good time to be without it.

We were so, so lucky.

The garage got six inches of water, so that was a bit of a mess and some things had to be thrown out. We did have a lot of things in rubbermaid totes or on pallets and shelves, but not everything (it's very easy to just "throw that in the garage" to deal with later--plus, bottom shelves shouldn't really count as shelves in this kind of event). We've been talking about tidying up in there for a while; well, now we have to. And although all the food in the chest freezer had to be thrown out, somehow the freezer itself is still working! How? Again: six inches of water, per the muck line on this bin. 

It's a mystery.

We were so, so lucky.

The building overall was not badly damaged. The pool was completely under water, so the pool pump died and needs to be replaced, and the pool itself has to be pumped out as it's full of muck. Very fixable. Some screens ripped, there was water in the common area, and the lime tree (that was planted after Irma killed the old one five years ago) may not recover.

We were so, so lucky.

We have a great property management company. They had people here Sunday power-washing the drive. They will get the pool pump replaced. They're on top of it, all of it.

We were so, so lucky.

We have such good neighbors. One came down from Maryland on Friday and spent days fixing and cleaning, reporting on power (back on Friday evening) and the elevator (Saturday midday). He helped me get some of the bigger trash out of the garage (I overdid it yesterday, even with help, and my hands are still in bad shape today, stupid arthritis.) He did everything, cheerfully, turning away thanks. Then someone else's son-in-law comes down tomorrow and is eagerly offering any help we might need.

We were so, so lucky.

I think the last time I was this tired, mentally and physically, was when I moved. And maybe the stress this time was worse? A million decisions, large and small, and worries and plans and replans, all in the space of a week: this situation did not play to my strengths. I hurt in places I didn't know I had, and my brain is mush. But I'm here. And we were so, so lucky.

Home

Safe. 

Exhausted.

Condo fine. 

Still no air conditioning, but the weather is good, not too hot.

Had to throw out everything in the fridge and freezer.

Garage had six inches of water, so that was a mess.

Cleaning it out today, even with a neighbor’s very kind help, has me so tired and sore that I can hardly raise my arms, my hands ache like mad, and my back, whoa.

But we’re home, we’re safe, and we were so, so lucky.