Chapter 18
The Song Remains the Same
Table of Contents
Days 493 & 494 - It�s the weekend.  Saturday is Yom Kippur.  I fast and get a terrible headache.
Day 492 � I don�t hear from anyone and I leave early because tonight is Kol Nidre, the start of Yom Kippur.
Day 491 � I call Gail at Quality Glass, to try and schedule the return engagement of the shower guys for October 1st.  She doesn�t call me back.  I call Joyce at Fordham Marble to see if someone can come and measure for the backsplash that day, too.  She doesn�t call me back.  Natalie from Dallek calls me and says the desk is ready.  Can they deliver it on October 1st?  Perfect.  I call Suzette at Smolka to mention an issue I had been avoiding�the bathtub enclosure in the back bathroom that is brushed aluminum and should have been nickel (See Day 238).  She says she will call Gail at Quality Glass.  She doesn�t call me back either.
Day 490 � Big day today!  At 8:15am, my buzzer rings.  It�s John and the window guys.  John comes up, then goes down to the side of the building to see about getting up to the vents.  Meanwhile, the window guys (Curly is here this time with someone else) replace the windows in the back bathroom.  Now they�re frosted.  Yay!  When I shower, these rings show up in the steam, but I think I just have to give them a good �Windex�ing.  They try to replace the ballasts in the big living room window.  Unfortunately, they attached the new ballasts to the wrong holes and broke them (the ballasts, not the window), so they replace the old ballasts.  Curly says it was completely his fault and they�ll have to order new ones and come back.  John has returned with the information that his 20-foot extension ladder is not long enough and the distance is more than he thought.  I say, �Yep, it�s pretty far.�  He says, there are two options�asking Ray (of Ray�s Pizza) for permission to walk through his yard or he can put a wood plank from my window to the roof next door (also Ray�s), walk over it, have someone pass his ladder to him, and he can lean it against the building to do the work.  I say, �Do it the second way.�  So, he�s coming back with his brother on October 1st.  If his brother can�t make it, Warren can help him, since he�ll be here for the electrical inspection.  John leaves and then the window guys go, too.  At 10:45am, John Wolf from Little Wolf Cabinetry comes and measures the space where the wall unit will go.  He�s done and gone by 10:55am.  The shower enclosure guy was supposed to come at around 10:30.  At 11:30, I call Gail at Quality Glass; she tries to reach him on his cell phone, but keeps getting his voice mail.  They come at 11:45.  The main guy was very nice and went out last night and bought glass drill bits.  I tell him my masking tape idea.  He says it won�t work.  He starts drilling, while his helper sprays Windex on the tile.  I leave.  He calls me back and tells me the tile cracked.  I say, try the tape and just drill the holes whether the tiles crack or not.  He says he he�ll try the tape.  I leave; I come back.  He�s not using the tape, but instead of Windex, they�re now spraying plain water on the tiles and they aren�t cracking.  They drill all the holes and only one out of six cracked; the first one.  Not bad.  The shower enclosure looks really good (except that it�s in the bathroom that I�ve come to despise).  It�s a huge actual and psychic leap forward in terms of having the apartment finished.  There�s really nothing more to do in the bathrooms (other than gut renovate the front one).  They have to come back because the plastic strip they brought (to keep water from leaking out the door, I think) is the wrong kind, and I can�t touch the glass for 48 hours.  No problem.  I�ll wait until they install the plastic strip, then I�ll Windex the whole thing and take a steam shower.  Hurray!  They leave at about 2:30pm.  At 4 o�clock, I meet Robert II at Manhattan Shade and Glass to pick out window treatments.  I�m going with solar shades throughout and blackout shades, in addition, in the two bedrooms.  They are coming to measure on Friday, October 1st-- my next big day!
Day 489 � John calls me and tells me he�ll be there on tomorrow at 8:30am the latest.  Aren�t you surprised?  I know I was.  He also tells me I have an electrical inspection set up for October 1st at 3pm.  O-o-okay.  Joy e-mails me and tells me Yoshida took care of the ceiling fan, Jorge wants to know what I mean when I say touch catches (i.e., the thingies that when you put them on the inside of handle-less cabinet doors, they pop open when you push them) and she asks if the threshold is going to be stone.  I reply by asking if Yoshida has been to the apartment today, because when I left in the morning, the fanlight wasn�t working.  I tell her I just want a plain wooden threshold, that I thought Jorge could put in, but she said that it was her �floor guy.�  Of course.  I tell her that at this point I�m thinking of going to Dyke�s Lumber, getting a piece of wood and nailing it down myself.  I explain what I mean about �touch catches� and tell her that I will open the cabinet doors, so Jorge can install them.  If I leave it up to Jorge to open, I�m afraid he�ll gently use a pick-ax.  I call Gail at Quality Glass, confirm the shower installation and tell her my idea of putting masking tape on the tiles so they don�t break or worse, shatter.  She thinks it�s a good idea, although we�re both still skeptical.
Day 488 � Monday, September 20, 2004 � John calls and asks if we can make it another day; maybe Friday.  I say, �No,� and tell him I arranged the day because he was coming.  He says, he�ll see what he can work out and call me tomorrow.  I e-mail Joy my punch list (e.g., Fan light, touch catches for wall unit cabinet doors, den threshold, et al.).
Days 486 & 487 � It�s the weekend.  Sunday I clean all day.  I even put things away in the pantry!
Days 484 & 485 - Praying, eating, talking, eating, drinking.
Day 483 � Wed. (Erev Rosh Hashanah) - Robert and I meet at 8:15am and I give him the drawing.  He is hoping to meet with John from Little Wolf today.  I call Joy to see how she�s doing and wish her a Happy New Year.  She�s feeling much better.  We go over some things and she tells me to e-mail her what still needs to be done; she�s not in the office, she�s cooking for the holiday.  Joyce from Fordham Marble calls me back.  I tell her I�m ready for someone to come and measure for the backsplash and sill.  I also tell her that I left one piece of the backsplash and one sill in place and I ask whether she thinks it will match or if I should take it off.  She tells me she�s going to pull my file and call me back.  I don�t hear from her.  Robert II calls me back to clarify the drawing.  It�s supposed to project out slightly in the center and be recessed on each side, right?  Right.  Well, the drawing apparently didn�t show that.  Good catch.  Anyway, tonight starts the Jewish holidays.  La Shanah Tovah.  Happy New Year, 5765.
Day 482 � At 8:30am, I get a call from Robert II.  He says he hopes he isn�t calling too early.  I say, �Well, you called me at work, so you didn�t wake me.�  Anyway, sometime when I can take some time off, we�re going to do some Blitzkrieg shopping:  In, choose, order, pay and out in under an hour.  I also ask him to take over the wall unit project.  I have the initial plan from Lyric; now it has to get to Little Wolf, then they have to come and measure on-site, the plan has to be redrawn, taken back to Lyric for their okay, finalized, signed off on, built and installed.  I can�t deal with it, so Robert el Segundo is going to.  He�s going to meet me tomorrow to pick up the plan.  I get a call from Tina at Service All Windows and Doors; everything is in.  I make an appointment for them to come on Wednesday morning (when my shower enclosure is being installed) and request that Colin/Curly comes.  John calls me back.  He can�t come this week and he won�t be in the city on Monday or Tuesday of next week.  I ask if he can come on Wednesday morning.  He can. Perfect.  Any bets on whether he�ll cancel?  He tells me Warren is going to call him about the Electrical Inspection (I have been trying to get through to the Bureau of Electrical Control at the Department of Buildings for weeks now.   They never answer the phone).  He says, he�ll call me when he has more information.  I ask him, again, for a copy of the electrical permit.  �Oh,� he says, �I�ll ask Warren to fax it.�  I call Joyce from Fordham Marble and leave a message for her.  It would be too convenient for her guy to be able to come and measure for the new backsplash on Wednesday morning.  I forget to call Joy again.  I bring a small lamp into the back bedroom, so I don�t have to eat dinner in the dark.
Day 481 � Monday, September 13, 2004 � I call John and leave a message on his cell phone.  I meant to call Joy and tell her the fanlight isn�t working, but I get sidetracked and forget.  I don�t hear from John.
Days 479 & 480 - It's the weekend.
Day 478 � When I come home I see that Jorge has come and cleaned out all his stuff.  I can see most of the living room floor.  Someday, I�ll have furniture there.  I check out all the rooms; it�s kind of a ritual I have.  I walk into each room with dread to see what, if anything is wrong.  My latest fear is that, because of the placement of the kitchen water pipes in the outside wall of the building, the pipes are going to freeze and burst this winter.  I have this thought because in the summer my cold-water faucet ran very warm for a good while before it ran cold.  Only time will tell�  When I go to the back bedroom and turn on the ceiling fan/light, I find that the ceiling fan works, but the light doesn�t.  It was working the day before.  If you�ve been keeping up with the blog, you shouldn�t be surprised.  I know I wasn�t.
Day 477 � John left a message at my office at 8:30 last night.  I call him back, but don�t hear from him.  I speak to Gail from Quality Glass.  Another nice woman who is just trying to help me out.  She says her guy was there to install the shower enclosure last week.  I said I knew nothing about it.  She tells me she called and left messages on two different numbers.  I ask her what the numbers were.  As I suspected they were The Bailer�s office and cell phone numbers, and I told her so.  She asked, �Didn�t you fire him?�  I said, �No, he walked out on me.�  She appropriately responded, �Well, screw him.�  Anyway, apparently when the installer saw that the tiles were glass, he called his office and told them.  He (and everyone else) is afraid that the tiles will crack, at least, if not shatter, when he drills into them to install the enclosure.  Gail told him not to do anything until she spoke to me.  So, here we are� We talk about it and I tell her I�m going to call Waterworks to see if they have any suggestions.  I call Dana, who agrees that the tiles will probably crack and tells me the holes were supposed to be marked and pre-drilled, before the tiles were installed.  Well, that ship has sailed�  So, my options are few.   I can have them try and drill the holes into the tiles and hope that they don�t crack (HA!), and when they do (and they will), if they don�t crack badly, I can just leave it or if they crack badly, I can remove those tiles and replace them with pre-drilled tiles.  At this point, I don�t care if the tiles are the same dye lot.  This bathroom is a fiasco and the thought occurred to me just to scrap it now and start over.  There are two problems with that plan:  1) I can�t live like this anymore; and 2) unless I get the same furshlugginah glass tiles, the shower enclosure won�t fit.  I call Gail back and after deciding that basically, I am so screwed, they are coming on Wednesday, September 22 to install the shower enclosure.  When I get home, I see that my walls are all closed up and painted, I have two working ceiling fans, my replacement pendant light is hung and the fixture from my bedroom is now in the little front entry hall.  I�m not sure I like it there.  I sleep well, with the A/C on low and the fan on high.
Day 476 � I don�t speak to anyone and I don�t go home, so I don�t know what�s doing�
Day 475 � Tuesday, September 7, 2004 � I spoke to Suzette.  She thought the installation of the shower enclosure was done last week.  Not that I noticed.  She gave me the number of Gail at Quality Glass.  I called there and asked for Gail.  She�s not in today.  I don�t leave a message.  I call John and leave a message for him.  I want him to come and secure the exhaust vents to the building before winter sets in.
Days 472, 473 & 474 � It�s Labor Day weekend.  My Mom�s having a luncheon on Wednesday and I have offered my services to cook for it.  I spend part of Labor Day weekend laboring in the kitchen, cooking and listening to music.  I am happy.  I have no idea what went on in my apartment.  I do not go back in on Monday night and will not be there on Tuesday night either.  The thought that I�m avoiding my apartment occurs to me.
Day 471 � Yoshida and Alex I come at 8:30am.  I show them where I want everything, and then I leave.  A �B� train comes right away and I get on.  As the doors are closing at 72nd Street, I start thinking about the possible height of the ceiling fans, which Yoshida and I never discussed.  My ceilings are nine feet and I want the fans as close to the ceiling as possible.  At 59th Street, I get off and go back to the apartment.  When I get there I see the hallway floor is covered in front of my apartment.  Yoshida doesn�t need to do that.  I open the door and see that Jorge�s guys are there.  I look in the front bedroom and see that the ceiling fan is already hung and at the proper height.  I see Yoshida, who has no idea why I am back, nor does he care.  I mumble something about the fan height to him, tell him it looks good and then I leave.  Again.  I haven�t heard from Suzette at Smolka and my enclosure apprehension returns.
Day 470 � I e-mail Robin about the blue tape on the mirrors and the scraped hearth.  Joy e-mails back.  The tape is to help hold it in place until the silicone sets and she will come and take a look at the hearth when she is feeling a little better.  She has a herniated disc, which she got doing Hip Hop aerobics (not yoga) at a spa.  As Joy put it, white woman (no mention of her age) should not do Hip Hop aerobics.  When I get home, I see that Jorge and his guys had been there.  Everyday, for months, I have put a king-sized sheet on top of my bed to keep the dust off, just in case someone comes to do something.  This morning I didn�t.  They came, put plastic on the bed; the same plastic they use each time, so the underside is dusty.  So, my bed was dusty.  I brushed it off and changed the pillowcase, but I didn�t sleep very well.
Day 469 � C�sar (another one of Jorge�s guys) comes at 8:35am and starts laying down the tarps on the floor of the apartment.  I ask if Jorge is coming.  He says, yes.  At 9:15am, Michelle the appraiser from Chubb Insurance comes to appraise the apartment for insurance purposes.  Thinking it was Jorge, C�sar just buzzes her in.  I apologize for the state of things.  No problem.  Apparently, she�s gone to other people�s residences when there is even more construction left to do and more workers milling around.  She does her thing, measuring, taking pictures, asking me questions, and after about 45 minutes, she leaves.  In the meantime, Alex II (Jorge�s Alex) has come in.  I ask C�sar again if Jorge is coming.  He says, he should be there soon.  I tell him I have to go and show him some things I want fixed and ask him to tell Jorge.  I leave.  As I go down the stairs of my stoop, I hear, �Miss Solomon.�  I turn around.  It�s Jorge.  Back I go to show Jorge what I just showed C�sar.  Again, I leave.  The glass guy�s suppose to come this afternoon.  Robin calls me to say Yoshida can come on Friday.  He�ll come at 8:30am and he wants me to be there to show him what goes where.  When I get home, I see the holes are plastered up, but not yet painted.  That�s good since I think the plaster has to dry before you paint it.  The glass is in the kitchen cabinets and looks very good and I have two huge mirrors on the back of the doors to my walk-in closet, that seem to be held up by low-tack blue painter�s tape.  Jorge �fixed� the counter island ledge (as I asked him), so that it wouldn�t be tilted.  Now there�s a larger gap between the bottom of the ledge and one of the brackets.  It still needs to be shimmed.  I don�t understand this, as the brackets are right angles, that is, 90 degrees.  If the ledge was parallel to the floor and perpendicular to the support, it would form a right angle and there shouldn�t be a gap.  Jorge installed one of the brackets higher than the support.    I should know better than to ask for things that are okay, but not quite right to be �fixed.�  I go into the living room to see what they did in there and I see that the slate hearth is scraped again.  Terrific.
Day 468 � I call Suzette and leave a message.  Robin calls.  Among other things, they want money.  She also asks if Yoshida can come on Labor Day Monday.  I say, no, but on reflection, I tell her, if Yoshida is quiet he can come, but there will be no one who can let him in, and I can�t ask Jefferson to do it, because he�s not supposed to be there.  She tells me Jorge is coming tomorrow to finish up.  Since he has to close up more holes, then paint, I think he�ll be back at least once more.  I ask when the glass will be ready.  Robin says, she�ll check.  I say I know Joy is on vacation, but ask whether she�ll be coming to check on the apartment before we�re all done and I�m all paid up.  Robin tells me Joy is back early.  Apparently, she went rock climbing, hiking, mountain biking, etc.,� and slipped on some water while she was doing yoga or something and broke her back.  She�s in back in New York, in a brace, nicely medicated and waiting for her MRI results to come back.
Day 467 � Monday, August 30, 2004 � Jorge came today and started fixing the walls.  Cement or something like it fills the holes.  There are still more holes to be filled and I�m not sure why he didn�t do them all at once.  I guess he didn�t have time
Days 465 & 466 � It�s the weekend.  Dad left bright and early to catch his train.  There�s heightened security because the Republicans are in town for the convention (see my window display for the RNC), so he left at about 6am.  Uff.  As there�s nothing to do in Manhattan, my mother and I left at about 10am.  Whereupon, after a brief shopping trip to Lord & Taylor to see if they were showing wool suits, yet, I went back to my parents� house and slept the rest of the day away in my hammock.  On Sunday, Mom and I went in early to make sure we were there when Dad came back to the apartment after his trip.
Day 464 � Fri. - I have not heard from Gail at Quality Glass, yet.  I will speak to Suzette next week.  My Dad is going to Washington, DC by train tomorrow at 8am from Penn Station, so I have my first overnight guests!  Yes, Mom and Dad stayed over.  They stayed in the Guest Wing at the back of the Manse; I was in the Master Suite in the front.  I christened the Toto Washlet (only as a toilet), because with three people, there was too much traffic in the back.
Day 463 � I speak to Suzette (whew!).  She tells me she called Quality Glass yesterday and Gail from Quality Glass will be calling me directly to set up a date to install my shower enclosure.  Joy is on vacation this week, but I e-mail Robin.  I ask whether and when Jorge is coming, tell her that I have the ceiling fans and pendant light for Yoshida to install, when he gets a chance and ask for Ken the stone man�s telephone number.  I want to ask him what they did to the absolute black sink top, because since they did whatever they did, unless I wipe it down every time there�s a drop of water, it leaves a water stain, that I can�t get off.  So, I�d like to ask how I�m supposed to take care of it.  I do not want to have to wipe down my sink after every use and ask my guests to do the same.  Every choice I made in this apartment, for better or worse, was for ease of cleaning and caring for it.  Well, apparently not.
Day 462 � Wed. - It was rumored that Jorge might come back today, to start finishing up.  But, no.  No word from Suzette.  Cr�pe! (Groan).  I�m beginning to have a bad feeling about my shower enclosure.
Day 461 � Zip.
Day 460 � Monday, August 23, 2004 � I call Suzette from Smolka.  They have my original message and (hopefully, supposedly) give Suzette another one, but she doesn�t call me back.
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