A rabbi, a priest and an electrician...
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| Chapter 3 A rabbi, a priest and an electrician... |
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| Table of Contents | |||||||||||
| Day 91 - The plumber returns and fixes the mistakes that his colleague made. Lenny, the stereo guy comes and says that Warren made a couple of mistakes in wiring, so John (who is actually there) fixes them. John sketches a plan of where we want to put the air conditioning condensers (which my Co-op Board asked for about a week ago), but forgets to leave it at the apartment for me. Until we show the Board this plan, we can't put the condensers anywhere. | |||||||||||
| Day 90 - Tues, Aug. 19 - It's my Mom's Birthday. My parents come into the city to go out to dinner and see the apartment. They say they notice all the work that has been done. Aren't they nice? I realize that the air conditioner compressor is in my bedroom closet. Remember me, the one that put insulation EVERYWHERE to keep the noise down? Good move. Hopefully , it's "whisper quiet." HVAC ducting and electric wiring continues... | |||||||||||
| Day 89 - Monday, August 18, 2003 - I stop by in the morning to go over air conditioner register placement and bathroom tile size with Robert. I'm told the place will be a beehive of activity again today and from what I hear, it was. I left at about 9:30am, but Chris and Leonardo, Warren the electrician, the plumber, HVAC, and telephone guys all came. Supposedly, I now have telephone capability, that is the telephone wire from outside comes into my apartment. How it knows what number to be, I don't know. | |||||||||||
| Days 87 & 88 - It's the weekend. Nothing much to say. Oh, BLACKOUT 2003 is over and it rained on Sunday. | |||||||||||
| Day 86 - Fri. - BLACKOUT 2003 continues... | |||||||||||
| Day 85 - Thursday, August 15, 2003. Let me preface this by saying that this was the day of BLACKOUT 2003 (cue appropriate music). I'd like to apologize to everyone on the Grid, as I think Warren, the electrician, running most of the remaining wires (finally) had something to do with it. Sorry. Anyway,... my apartment was actually a beehive of activity today (until BLACKOUT 2003 [music, please] struck)! As I said, Warren was there, the HVAC guys were there and put in one of the condensers and some of the ductwork, Chris and Leonardo did some framing, the telephone company guys came and didn't know what to do, so they're sending other people (but they came!) and Robert and John were there most of the day, too! I hope you were sitting down when you read that. The only one that bailed was the plumber. He said he would come Friday instead (I don't think so, because it was still BLACKOUT 2003 [music]). As an aside, I'd like to thank Chris for being a chatty guy. If it wasn't for him, I would have been on the subway when the lights went out in BLACKOUT 2003 (ahem, music). Thanks, Chris! I'd also very much like to thank my brother, for the delightful sleeping accommodations on his office floor. Thank you, David! | |||||||||||
| Day 84 - Wed. - Apparently, it was a day off and nobody told me. I went to work. Didn't you? Supposedly, EVERYONE is coming tomorrow. What can I say, there's a sucker born every minute. | |||||||||||
| Day 83 - Tues. - Well, I still fell for it. I went to the apartment and expected to see everyone there. Robert was there and the plumber was there. Not bad. Warren, the electrician didn't come, but when he was told the telephone company was coming to meet with him, he showed up. Unfortunately, the telephone company didn't. But, Warren stayed and did some wiring. Yay! The plumber had some issues with hooking up the bathtub plumbing, but decided to do what ever John wants. As always, I'm hoping for the best. I'm not sure who's coming tomorrow. We'll see. | |||||||||||
| Day 82 - Monday, August 11, 2003 - (I thought I should start giving the year, just in case). Let's see... the plumber didn't come, the electrician didn't come, the HVAC guy didn't come. That's the bad news. The good news is, Apple Windows admits that the window problems are all their fault and they are going to replace all the windows, just the way I want them. Yay! Oh, and did I mention that the leak in 3A wasn't fixed, and they thought it was the WASTE PIPE leaking (eww)? Well, it wasn't (whew!). It was a window air conditioner in that apartment. So, everything is fixed, there are all new pipes, etc. above me, and I can close up the ceiling. Yay, again! David, my brother, came and checked out the wiring for computer hooking up (his job at a later date), and was happy. He also thought the place looked further along (really?) than my BLOG suggests. Bear that in mind, Reader. And guess what? John came and started cementing the bathroom floors and put up the bracket for my range hood! Could things finally be moving forward? I dare not hope. Supposedly, everyone is coming tomorrow. Yeah, yeah, sure, sure. | |||||||||||
| Days 80 & 81 - It's the weekend. It's raining on and off. | |||||||||||
| Day 79 - Fri.- Well, I was right to be nervous about the kitchen windows, but in the wrong way. I thought they were going to be too big, but, no, they are too small and the panel that was made to shorten the window to the correct height is too big. Long story short, I cannot live with this, and will have to have the windows replaced. I am hoping that Apple Windows made the mistake, so they will have to eat it. I go up to the apartment to wait for a UPS delivery that was attempted twice before (my Washlet). No one has been there today. I check out the windows (cringing in the kitchen) and notice that the Master Bathroom window is very nice, white on the inside, as I wanted it, but the glass is CLEAR. Aren't bathroom windows usually FROSTED? I think we have a few things to discuss with the window people. I decide to leave at about 5:45pm, because I am sure the UPS guy isn't coming anymore, when I see a UPS truck (actually my father sees) (my parents came up to see the place). I walk over, and lo and behold, my Washlet is there. I promptly sign for it and take it up to the apartment. A happy ending to a not so great day. | |||||||||||
| Day 78- Thurs. - I panic about my faucet decision, so I meet Robert at Waterworks to look at my options. I change my decision. I feel better. Unfortunately, the plumber isn't coming today. Or tomorrow. The window guys are finishing up today. So are the insulation guys. Finally! John is there too, supervising, I guess. I would like to go up and see all this activity. Everyone is gone by 2 o'clock, so I don't go up. | |||||||||||
| Day 77 - Wed.- I go up to the apartment in the afternoon, to finally witness the "beehive" of activity. Only Chris and Leonardo (the other one of Sherwood's guys) are there. The window installers had been there, but they were on a break. I have a gaping hole in the front living room, so I hope they come back. The kitchen windows don't look right (they look like they're going to be exactly the same height as the old ones), but I'm told there's a panel that goes below and they will be fine. I'm skeptical and nervous. The plumber had been there; put my tub in the bathroom (horizontally this time!), realized he didn't know how and where I wanted the faucets placed in the shower and bathtub walls, so he left. I meet Robert, we discuss faucet placement. I make a spur of the moment decision so the plumber can come tomorrow. | |||||||||||
| Day 76 - Robert an I meet at the apartment in the morning to go over a few things. I find out they also tried to deliver the flooring yesterday, but no one was there for that, either. While we're there, Sherwood and his guys show up (Chris and someone else). They are going to do whatever framing they can, wait for the Icynene guys to come and finish the insulation, and the plumber to install the bathtub. We discuss where they are and what's holding them up. Among the things holding them up are the electrician, the plumber, the HVAC guy and John. Hopefully, all of these people will be in this week and get their stuff done so Sherwood's merry men can start sheetrocking and spackling soon. Later in the day I speak to John, who tells me the Icynene guys came in the afternoon, but couldn't park, so they left. The plumber came and did some "prep work" and then he left. Supposedly, everyone is coming back tomorrow along with the redelivery of the flooring, the window installer and the HVAC guy. We'll see. | |||||||||||
| Day 75 - Monday, August 4th - I was told my apartment was going to be a "beehive" of activity this week. I speak to Robert late in the day. He met the fancy Italian glass door people for them to do some measuring (see Tre Piu). Everything has to be EXACTLY right for them. I shudder to think, but everything seemed to go okay. Small changes, but nothing insurmountable or costly. No, really! I found out that the plumber came this morning to install the bathtub, but no one was there to let him in. Bummer. Was that my job? Rhetorical question. It wasn't. | |||||||||||
| Days 73 & 74 - It's the weekend. It's raining. | |||||||||||
| Day 72 - Friday, August 1st - I meet with Robert, Warren, Lenny, and Lenny's assistant (I never catch her name). We go over TV, stereo, speaker, IR (Infrared), and touchpad/volume control placement. I will have the most "remotely accessible" apartment on the Upper West Side. I have just about decided to go for the whole stereo kit-and-kaboodle. This way I have no more decisions to make. The freight train is rolling... On another note, I notice my bathtub is in the apartment! It will be tough to take a bath though. | |||||||||||
