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Chapter 12
Competence, like truth, beauty and contact lenses, is in the eye of the beholder

Table of Contents

Days 326 & 327 - It's the weekend. Saturday is glorious and I clean kitchen cabinets and windows. Sunday, I schlep some more stuff in from Queens.

Day 325 - Last night my parents brought in my old cable boxes, so I could take them over to Time Warner Cable and exchange them for digital boxes with DVR (i.e., Digital Video Recorder). So, I schlep them to work, call Time Warner Cable to make an appointment (the earliest I could get was Tuesday, April 12th between 10am and 2pm) and I find out that the cable guy has to come and exchange the equipment because I am transferring service from apartment 2D to apartment 2A and they have to come and do something, and come and get the old boxes. So, I schlep them back home. Of course, I can't find the remotes, so I'll be paying for those. Anyway, my parents also brought a bag of wires with cables, extension cords, etc. I had this brilliant idea (okay, not brilliant, but not bad), to use an extension cord and run it either from the hallway (I found out that one doesn't work, either) or the front bathroom into the front bedroom. this way I can have my radio in there and that's just what I do. There are pros and cons to each bedroom. The back bedroom is quieter in terms of street noise, but I have an inconsiderate cow living above me, who, BTW, took off her shoesat 12:30am Thursday night/Friday morning by dropping them on the floor. But the bedroom is in the back and she only really bothers me when I am asleep or trying to sleep and she is in her bedroom right above mine. The bedroom in the front of the apartment is larger and has a better configuration. There is more noise from the street; because of the sliding glass bathroom door, light comes in from the bathroom; and I can't keep the bedroom door open for two reasons. One is that the bedroom door is right near the front door and I would hear people (or animals-- dogs) going up or down the stairs, and there is this weird orange glow in the living room from the street lights that comes into the bedroom. I can alleviate most of this with window treatments. The front bedroom is in the middle of that part of the apartment, so when the guys upstairs Perry and Jeffrey walk from the living room to the bathroom or kitchen or into the bedroom, I can hear them (so much for Icynene). They're are both heavy footed, too, but they're nothing like the 3D Clydesdale and they are nice people, too. So, if their stomping bothers me, I can ask them to put down carpet or rugs. And I think they will without it becoming a problem. On the other hand, I will be sending the Co-op Board a letter requesting that the owner in 3D have her apartment 80% carpeted as required by our Proprietary Lease and House Rules. Anyway, I think I've made my mine up. For now.

Day 324 - Thurs. - My parents come up to the apartment in the evening. Jan and Reuben Mack, old family friends, come, too. I give them the Grand Tour, and they love the place. "It's going to be wonderful." We sit in the Den/Media room before going out to dinner. My first real guests. Sorry, Sally, Nevius and New Orleans Robert, but you were at a construction site, now it's my home. Plus, I have chairs!

Day 323 - I meet David at Lyric Hi-fi in the afternoon.. Since the original proposal (i.e., on June 5, 2003) from them, prices have gone down on some of the equipment, certain equipment has been discontinued and prices are higher are the new things. Lenny says he'll give me the newer models at the old prices. He's also going to terminate my wires (at no charge), because the proposal wasn't clear. I think my telling him I didn't trust him, made and impression on him. Good. He kept asking me if I felt comfortable with what he was saying and with what they were going to do. Anyway, I had decided to basically bite the bullet on everything (so it didn't matter if I was comfortable), except the plasma TV. Now they have a 50" one for just a little more... David came up to the apartment to see the "new" place (Jessi had raved about it-- when she has a sleepover she's "going to feel like a real princess, because it's so great."). I think everyone basically agrees, I need to get John out and my stuff in and I'll be happy. It's going to be a great place. He offers to help me move my futon to the front bedroom. I wanted to clean the floor a little better, so we don't move it. David leaves. I do something that I've been dreaming about forever. I do laundry in my apartment. It was as fantastic as I thought it would be. While my wash was running, I cleaned the floor of the bedroom. Later, I bundled up the futon (impossbible to do without the muslin straps) and haul it into the bedroom. I put a plastic garbage bag on the window, so the light wouldn't bother me and I bring all my things in to go to sleep.. I plug in the clock radio and notice that it doesn't light up. Hmm, no electricity at that outlet. Or the other one, or the third one in that room. I can't sleep without an alarm and I would rather not sleep (in a "new" place) without a radio. So, once again cursing John, I wrap up the futon (after trying to lift it without tying it up, that's how I know it's impossible) and move to the back bedroom.

Day 322 - Nothing going on. Because it's Passover, of course.

Day 321 - Monday, April 5, 2004 - I see Louie in the morning. I show him that the radiator in the front bedroom is leaking a little. I put a takeout itn underneath the drip. I leave. I speak to John later. He and Robert have taken the stainless steel door jambs back to Master Kitchen Supply. They will cut an inch off for me. He asks me to make another "To do" list, because Louie and Otto are trying to take care of the little things, because there's not much left (the second wall unit and bending and hanging the last monorail don't count). John tells me they won't be working tomorrow or Wednesday, because it's Passover and Jefferson (my Super) will probably make them leave early. Uh-huh. He also tells me he won't be in on Thursday or Friday. Tonight is the first seder. I picture John as the recipient of plagues one through nine.

Days 319 & 320 - It's the weekend. On Saturday, I wake up, boil some water for my coffee (on my very own, "brand new" [it was delivered in mid-October 2003] cooktop), and then polish my stainless steel appliances until they shine.

Day 318 - I see Louie in the morning and ask him if he can take the broken bulb off of what's left of the pendant light, because small shards of glass keep falling. He does. I leave. When I get back in the evening, I see that they put the shelves in the wall unit, which means I now have a second bedroom! They switched the dimmer switches in the living room for me. Oh, did I mention that the Monorail was up? It's basically the way I wanted it, with a little "John" interpretation. It's fine. Although, the lights don't work. Hopefully, that's just a minor glitch that Warren can fix. I change the position of the dimmer switches to the way it makes sense to me (i.e., the lights closest to the wall unit are switched on by the dimmer closest to the wall unit, the light in the middle, by the switch in the middle, etc.) (D'oh). I'm actually getting quite handy with the electric screwdriver. I have to get me one of those.

Day 317 - Thursday, April 1, 2004 - Well, everything is done, John as taken out the rest of his stuff, he's agreed to pay for the entire assessment, and for redoing the front bathroom. Check the date... April Fool. Sorry, I couldn't help myself. Robert and Louie came in at the same time. Robert thinks the wall unit has a coat of polyurethane on it, because it is shiny. (it now has four coats of stain and is so dark and coated, that it almost looks painted. Not the effect I was going for, but, whatever... ). Louie says, no, it has no polyurethane, yet. Louie asks me if I like the wall unit. I say, yes, but I ask if when he puts on the polyurethane, if parts of it will look lighter, like the other day. He says, no. I tell him, I don't understand what happened, why the wall unit was stained nicely and then when it was polyurethaned, it had lighter patches. We go back and forth (in Spanish. Oy.), and finally Louie says, he made a mistake and sanded some spots before he put on the polyurethane. I don't really care (although, I liked how the wall unit looked before he sanded), but at least I'm not nuts (in this particular instance). John comes in, and we talk about various things. I ask if he brought in the instructions and warranties I asked him to look for and bring in. He forgot. I tell him I got the instructions for the radiant heat and I tell him that my floor reaches 114 degrees. I ask him where the sensor is placed, and he points to a spot on the floor in front of the toilet, which (as we know) is cold, and I tell him so. He says, they put the mats from about an inch away from the bathtub to about an inch from the opposite wall and it was definitely in front of the toilet. He says, maybe that section isn't working. I think the mats are a closed circuit and if any of it is broken or damaged, none of it will work. So, I'm skeptical. I think there's no mat in front of the toilet and the sensor is over there. Robert says, I'm not necessarily right, that it could be the thermostat, but he will call Warmly Yours. We go into the front bathroom and raise the thermostat on the radiant heat so it will go on and I put the thermometer down on the floor to see what is happening in there. John says they are going to install the Techlighting Monorail today and we go over how I want it. John has moved the entryhall light (which bled light onto the walls on either side) into the back bedroom. We thought it would be better there because the light would diffuse out and not hit the walls. In actuality, the light now leaks out the sides, highlighting all of the imperfections in the ceiling and hits the walls. It looks worse back there. I speak to John during the day and ask if the front bathroom is heating to the proper temperature and then stopping. He says, he's been in and out a dozen times and keeps forgetting to check. He tells me they're working on the Monorail. I ask if they are laying it out on the floor to show me (which is what he said he would do when we first discussed it), and then putting it up? "Oh, no. It's almost up, just a few more pieces." Great. I'm sure I'll love it. Robert spoke to the owner of Lighting by Gregory. They'll replace the pendant light fixture, no charge, but the other light is mine. Once it was installed, they won't take it back. The light leaking from the sides is a problem with that fixture and even though no one told us, they won't take it back. John is going to move the light back to the entryhall and see if he can do something to keep the light from leaking out. Robert also spoke to Warmly Yours, who said, if the floor is warm in one section and not in another, the cold section doesn't have a mat underneath it. It's impossible for part of the mat to heat up if there is a malfunction or damage in another part. Oh, and the sensor must not be near any heating elements if it's not registering the rise in temperature. I'm (unfortunately) right on both counts. Robert gives John this information, but tells him to call to see if they say anything different. Yeah, sure. Meanwhile, in the front bathroom,... the GFCI ("Ground Fault Circuit Interruptor") warning keeps going off. I don't know what that means, but it isn't good.

Day 316 - 114.2�F. That's how hot my floors get. Give or take a few degrees, this was not a scientifically calibrated thermometer. But, still. I leave before anybody gets there. I speak with John later. He saw the broken glass and thinks the bulb might have gotten too hot and the light fixture exploded. Okay. He seems a little defensive. I say, I'm not blaming anybody. I have no idea how it happened. Anyway, he tells me he, Louie and Otto are going to fix some of the small things and finish staining the shelves, then put the last coat of polyurethane on the floor right before they leave for the day. When I get home in the evening, the wall unit is even darker and not splotchy at all, they have cleaned the windows, taken the plastic protection off of all appliances (Why? They're who the plastic is protecting against and I wanted to do it.), and fixed some of the small things (e.g., the bump on the wall in the little hallway is gone!).

Day 315 - Something happened with the stain on the wall unit. It looks like Louie sanded it down to apply more stain or something. Louie says no. He just applied the polyurethane. It now has a rustic look to it. I'm not convinced he didn't sand parts of it and then apply the polyurethane. Hmm. Sometimes I think they're "gaslighting" me, but I think that's just my paranoia talking. Anyway, I apologize for not noticing it before he polyurethaned, and ask him to satin it again. He says, "no problem, the important thing is that I'm happy." Hmm. The plumbers are supposed to come today. I think the plumbing inspector is coming and there are a sealed set of plans for him to sign off on. Hopefully, they'll be able to turn on the gas and I will be able to boil water. When I get home that night, I see that Louie has stained the wall unit again and now it looks like it did the other day, except darker, a litle shiny, but even-toned. It looks good. The plumbers didn't come today. On my way home, I stopped and bought a thermometer. I called Warmly Yours and got the instructions for the radiant heat and they say that the default comfort temperature 82� F, which is what mine is set at, but it feels awfully hot. So, I bought a thermometer. I have a sneaking/sinking suspicion that something is wrong. For one, the tile in front of the toilet doesn't get warm at all, and when you get up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, that's where you want it to be warm, no? I turn the thermostat to 82� F and I leave the thermometer on the floor. It started at 75.6� F when the Warmly Yours' thermostat read 76� F, a good sign, I think. When I check it for the last time before going to bed, it's up to 100.3� F. I decide to leave it on all night, to see just how high it can go. I walk into the kitchen to take something for dinner and I notice something shiny on the floor. It's a piece of glass. Then I see another piece. I look around. Now remember, I have to walk through the kitchen to get to the back bedroom. What I didn't notice the first time (or two), was that one of the pendant lights above the counter had exploded/smashed/fallen(?) onto the counter, spraying glass all over the kitchen. The glass ranged from complete, whole sections of the light to pulverized glass powder. I spent the next 45 minutes cleaning it all up. I'm not that hungry anymore.

Day 314 - Monday, March 29, 2004 - (Happy Birthday David!) - I apologized to John this morning. I know, you're thinking, "For what?" I told him maybe I had been rushing him to put the floor in. He didn't care. It's not that he didn't care that I apologized, it's that he was completely over it and it was like it never happened. He didn't even want my explanation, but I gave it to him anyway, as my reason was that I want the Co-op Board to stop the assessment and I want him to know that they're assessing me and that I (at least) am concerned about it. He said, "No problem. I was mad and said some things, too." I have never met anyone who is so unfazed by things. We go over a few things (e.g., relaying the cork tiles and polyurethaning them, polyurethaning the wall unit, switching light fixtures, etc.). I ask him if he has the instructions for the Warmly Yours radiant heat. I tried programming it without the instructions (John took them home or threw them out), now the floor temperature goes up to 82� F and it's too hot to walk on. He says he'll look, if not I'll get it off the Internet, or try and get my feet more callused. He tells me he's going to be in late tomorrow (Rachel has a recital), so he'll take the peepholes over to SL Metals (to be plated the same color as the door hardware), and he'll take the granite backsplashes and cut them down to the correct size. I say, "great." Since he hadn't taken the peepholes to be done, yet, could he take something other than the front doorknob to use to get a finish match? He says, sure, he'll take a hinge or something. Wow, I'll have two fully working, locking doors with doorknobs (inside and out)!

Days 312 & 313 - It's the weekend. My first weekend in my apartment in over ten months! Saturday is beautiful. I sit outside on my front stoop, taking in the day. A bird shits on my head. They say it's good luck. What else can "they" say. I wash my hair again. You're not going to believe this (maybe you will), but it's great to be back. Karen and Jessi came into the City and came up to the apartment. They both loved it. I know I will too once John and all his stuff is out and I can enjoy it.

Day 311 - I call John at about 6:30am to see if he's coming in today. I leave a message on his voice mail. He calls me back at about 8am and says he's almost in the City, but he has to stop off somewhere else first. I can't wait until he gets here at 9:30 or 10am, so I start going over things over the phone (e.g., the spot in the small hallway that I thought was a large smudge of dirt is actually a shadow from a bump on the wall, the spot on the cork tile that had a small puddle of dried polyurethane on it, that I showed Louie, who then cut it off, leaving an unpolyurethaned spot, etc.). He says he'll have Louie and Otto take care of it. I tell him I don't think we should repolyurethane the whole floor until we're sure that no more tiles need to come out. John agrees and says he brought a rubber mallet to work on the small bumps today. John asks me how I like the wall unit. I tell him It looks very good and I'd like it as dark as possible. They are going to put on at least two coats of stain. I mention to him that the stainless looks like it's underneath a little more, but it's not in completely. He says, that's because he, Louie and Otto were working on it when Warren came in and they got distracted. They'll finish it up today. After I hang up with John, I notice that one of the dark tiles was damaged as they tried to wedge the stainless in. Louie comes in and he asks me how I like the wall unit. I tell him it looks great and I prefer it with two coats of stain. He agrees with me. We go into the kitchen and I show him the bald (unpolyurethaned) spot on the tile and the damaged tile. Louie tells me again that he thinks that we should remove the tiles in front of the island to put the stainless in. I tell him I'll speak to John. I speak to John later, make this suggestion and he goes off on me. He tells me I rushed him to get the floor in, he never wanted anything to do with the measurements and now it's his time and labor to correct it. I tell him I had always thought the kitchen floor should be the last thing we do. He says he's not going to sit here and argue with me. I can hear him snapping his fingers in the background. He says he'll take care of it and as a parting shot, he tells me the door jambs are too tall and don't fit and I can do what I want with them. I tell him Robert's coming and he can speak with him about all this. He was pretty pissed. I speak to Robert and warn him. He tells me that I had been telling him to get the floor in, so I could move in. The more I thought about it, maybe I had been saying that. I wanted to move in, but more than that, I wanted the Co-op Board to see that we were really finished with the construction and they should stop assessing me. Anyway, Robert calls me later, tells me the stainless is in and they removed some of the tiles in front of the island. He says it looks good and fits very well. It does fit very well. It could be professionally polished, though. John told Robert that he had gotten pretty mad, but had calmed down. It's a good thing Robert got there about two hours after I spoke to John.

Day 310 - I leave early in the morning before the guys come. John's not coming today (Parent/Teacher Conference). When I get back in the evening, I see some actual progress. The wall unit is completely stained; one section is done twice, so I can see if I like it darker. I do. I don't know what they would have done if I didn't. The shelves are laying on cardboard on the floor of the front bedroom. Louie has also set my accents tiles in the slate in the entryway. Just an aside about these "accent tiles"-- they are aluminum tiles with pineapples on them. I had them custom-made for me by Sallie Trout of Trout Studios, a very nice woman who lives outside of Austin, Texas. She used to live in Berkeley, California and says that Austin isn't part of Bush's "cowboy up" Texas, so I like her immediately. Anyway, I looked everywhere for ready-made pineapple tiles and couldn't find them. I found Trout Studios on the internet and they had neat, metallic tiles in other designs, so I gave Sallie a call. She said she could make it, but if I did my own model, she would cast it and have the tiles made, and it would be cheaper that way. So, being the artsy, creative sort that I am and now thinking how nice it would be to have something that I made myself in the apartment, I went out and bought modeling clay and modeling tools and made a few prototypes. I sent down the two I liked best and Sallie called me when she received them. The bad news was, that she would have to do so much work on my pineapple models (either one) to get them to cast well, that she suggested I try again and she told me what to do to get them to come out better. The good news was, she realized that it would be much easier for her if she just did it herself, so she suggested that to me and kept the price the same. After I got over the "I won't have anything in the apartment that I made myself" way of thinking, I took her up on it and they look great. Everyone says, I can say that I made them, but I'm pouring my soul out here, and I might as well tell the truth. Now, why pineapples you ask? (I know you didn't, but you know I'm going to tell you anyway.). For one, pineapples are a symbol of "Welcome" in many parts of the world and B) when I lived in Washington, DC, I lived in an apartment building that had pineapples over the archways of the building entrance. There were four arches, but only three pineapples and I always thought, if I were the tenant in the apartment behind the missing pineapple arch, I would put a real pineapple there. So, I have a thing for Welcoming Pineapples. But I digress..., so back to today... Louie also put in four new cork tiles where he had removed the old ones and taped off the area so he could polyurethane them without getting polyurethane on the rest of the tiles. We'll see how it goes. He also worked on the bumps with a little roller. Durodesign suggested a rubber mallet. Maybe tomorrow.

Day 309 - I met with John and Robert in the morning. I handed John a new "To Do" list (e.g., get my telephone working, fix the backsplash (did I mention they got the 4th piece of granite off without breaking it?), stain the wall unit, etc.), not that he's finished with the old list. The stainless steel island front is standing in front of the island. It seems like it might not fit. Nevius took his measurements before the floor was in. That and the fact that the island front is a teensy bit taller than the measurements he gave, may make the difference in whether it can be installed. Louie thinks we should take out all of the tiles in front of the island. John thinks he, Louie, Otto, and maybe Warren and his helper can get it in by slightly lifting the island and sliding it in. Robert has picked up a doorstop and I show John where I want it positioned in the bathroom, so the robe hook doesn't hit the wall tile. He talks to himself, ticking off all the things we talked about and what he and everyone else is going to do today. Robert and I leave, and I tell Robert that every time we meet with John, even now, I have a good feeling, like "Yeah, he gets it. Things are going to get done." Robert say, he knows exactly how I feel. John's a master at this. Although, now, I have this other accompanying nauseous feeling in the pit of my stomach, too. I come back in the evening and survey what's been done. As far as I can tell, the boxes for my intercoms are in the wall and one cabinet (out of eight) in the wall unit is stained. Oh, and John put in my doorstop.

Day 308 - John came in today. I hope you were sitting down. He picked up the stainless steel things (i.e., island front, door jambs) from Master Kitchen Supply, and then came up to the apartment, but don't worry, he left at one o'clock. They moved the crap from in front of the wall unit to the other side of the room, so there's a chance they'll start staining it tomorrow. Louie took out two of the mottled, "waterstained" tiles. My guess is he didn't take out more, because he could only find two loose tiles to replace them with. I hid the rest because I didn't want anyone doing anything before I talked to Durodesign and then to them.

Day 307 - Monday, March 22, 2004 - How do I say this? I'll just blurt it out. There are bumps in some of my cork tiles. That's right. After begging John to make sure the floor was glassy smooth, there are bumps. My guess is, some of the tiles had grit on the backs of them and in another spot (four tiles in front of the sink), it looks like the glue didn't take correctly, so the tiles look sort of bumpy and mottled, almost waterstained. Louie comes in the morning (and I'm sure he was surprised he couldn't just push the door open. Somehow, the strikeplate was put back wrong again. Huh.). I show Louie the bumps and he does seem surprised. He tells me, he swept, sanded, swept some more, put down the floor prep, sanded, swept, waited, applied the glue, and then started tiling. Well, there are lumps.

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