Up to the Minute Reporting... Ha!
Day 614 � 1/22/05 - Nothing.
Day 613 � 1/21/05 � Before I leave in the morning, I take the protective tape off the mirror in the back bathroom. The black frame looks nice.
Day 612 - 1/20/05 - When I get home in the evening, I take a steam shower. Aah.
Day 611 � 1/19/05 � I take a hot shower in the Master bathroom. Finally. I get dressed, have some coffee, flip on my fireplace, turn it off and leave for work.
Day 610 � 1/18/05 � Big Day! The plumbers come at 9am. One of them is the one who had been there before and knows gas valves. This time he knows about everything except the meters. I call Robin. She says she faxed a complete list of everything to their office. The plumber gets the gas fireplace working, fixes the shower so I have hot water, takes a look at the other shower and adjusts the thermostat (I never thought it was done correctly by John�s guy). While he�s fixing the front shower, he gets a call from his boss (who must have gotten a call from Robin), who tells him to go and look at the meters. He goes downstairs to the basement with Jefferson, m y super. Apparently, they would have to break walls downstairs or open the ceiling in my apartment and it would cost thousands and thousand of dollars. He says, �It should have been done when the walls were open.� Duh. Anyway, I decide I�ll pass on combining the meters and pay my $11 a month for the rest of my life (in this apartment) whether I use the gas or not. While the plumber is there the A/C return installers come. They start to put the return in and I ask, �Does that have a filter?� He says, �No. Maybe the filters in the unit.� It�s not. I call Robin. She says, �Why are they workin� my nerves like this?� Her nerves? The A/C guys take the return and leave. Someone has to come back with the correct kind with filter. The Tobron guys come at about 9:30am and put my lateral files together. It was three separate pieces�two silver two-drawer filing cabinets with a common black top. I ask if they are going to put it together or does it have to stay separate. They say they can put it together, if I want, but then if I ever want to separate them, there will be holes on the top of the files. I tell them to put it all together as one piece. They do. The floor guys come at about 10am and install my threshold. He was wondering what happened to me, since he hadn�t heard from me. I was wondering what happened to him, since I hadn�t gotten a price or had him scheduled. That�s what I�m paying $40 for. The cable guy comes. I tell him that except for one show not recording and showing up on the alphabetical listing of shows in black with the universal �No� sign , everything seemed to be working okay. He has never heard of that. Decides not to switch the box and suggests moving the HD-DVR up a shelf for better ventilation. The Desiron people come at about 1:30pm and put my dresser back. I test all the drawers. Smooth. Ken the stone man was supposed to come between 12 and 2pm. At 2:15pm, I call Robin. Ken�s workin� her nerves, too. She says, she�ll call Ken, but she doesn�t call me back. At 4pm, I call Robin again. She calls Ken and calls me back. He�s on 57th Street�he�s on his way. Ken comes at 4:50pm. He looks at the stone and says, if he finds it, he may have to buy a whole slab. If that�s the case, and I have to pay for a whole slab, I�m going a different route. I ask him about drilling the grommet. He doesn�t know anything about it. I call Robin to tell her that Ken has finally shown up and doesn�t know anything about the grommet. I can only imagine her nerves now. Ken says, even if he had his drill, he doesn�t have a bit for that size grommet. He takes a piece of the Azul Astral stone and says hopefully he�ll see me again�meaning that he�ll be able to find the stone. I say, �You�ll see me because you have to drill the grommet.� I�m getting skeptical about my getting this grommet hole drilled. After he leaves, I take my fake logs and my fake burning embers and set up my fake fireplace. All things considered, it looks pretty real.
Day 609 � Monday, January 17, 2005 � Martin Luther King, Jr. Day � I have a dream�
Days 607 & 608 � It�s the weekend. David and Karen drop off Jessi at about 11:30am. Fresh Direct comes at noon. Jessi and I put everything away and have a sumptuous lunch of Crispix with milk, then we take a walk in Central Park. It�s pretty chilly, so we go for some hot chocolate, browse in Barnes & Noble and then take in a movie ("Racing Stripes") at the Loews Lincoln Square 12. After the movie we go for dinner at Isola and then go home to read and watch TV before bedtime. On Sunday, we have a big bacon and egg breakfast at Jackson Hole, then go to the American Museum of Natural History, take a walk in Central Park and then home, where we place computer games and watch TV. David, Karen and my parents come in to have dinner and pick Jessi up. We all watch some HD TV on the Plasma television, checking out the individual snowflakes as they fall across the screen while we watch some of the football game. A very full and exciting weekend.
Day 606 � 1/14/05 � I straighten up the apartment a little getting ready for my big sleepover with my niece!
Day 605 � 1/13/05 � I get a call from someone at Tobron. My lateral files are ready. I schedule them to come on Tuesday, January 18th. She�ll check. One of the TV shows I tried to record didn�t, so I call Time Warner Cable and schedule a cable guy to come on January 18th, too. Things are coming together.
Day 604 � Wed. - 1/12/05 � Nothing.
Day 603 � 1/11/05 � I call Kathy at Desiron and see if they can redeliver my dresser on Tuesday, January 18th when everyone else is coming. She thinks that�s possible.
Day 602 � Monday, January 10, 2005 � I order food from Fresh Direct and after consultation with Jessi (do you want the food there when you get to the apartment or do you want it to come while you�re here to help me put it away? She wants to help me put it away), I schedule the delivery for Saturday, January 15th between 11am and 1pm. My first Fresh Direct delivery� I�m a little excited. They�ve been delivering to the Upper West Side so long; they no longer have the $50 free on your first delivery. Oh well. Better late than never.
Days 600 & 601 � 1/8 & 1/9/05 - It�s the weekend. Six hundred days. No comment.
Day 599 � 1/7/05 � I check my HD-DVR. It seems to be working. It doesn�t give me the �There maybe a problem with your hard drive� error. That seems positive.
Day 598 � Thurs. - 1/6/05 � After some deliberation and venting, and knowing full well that $240 is outrageous for something that I could probably do myself, I e-mail Robin and give the okay for the threshold. I call Time Warner Cable and tell the man I can�t tape on my HD-DVR. He says they have nothing to do with that. I said, �What?!? It�s your box!� He says, �Oh, oh, wait! I thought you were talking about a DVD player� Anyway, he says, there looks like there�s a code that�s wrong. He changes it and says, �Try it now.� Unfortunately, I�m not home.
Day 597 � 1/5/05 � It�s pouring. One of the Desiron pickup guys comes at about 9:15am, but the truck isn�t there, yet. He calls the guy with the truck. He�ll be in about twenty minutes. The truck comes about 10 o�clock. Pickup guy number one has already wrapped and taken the dresser out of the apartment, so it�s good to go. I get an e-mail from Robin, with the invoice attached for the threshold-- $240. Aack. That�s $200 for the threshold and $40 for their �Profit and Overhead.� That�s for calling the guy and scheduling him to come.
Day 596 � 1/4/05 -I had noticed that one of the drawers on my dresser didn�t slide in properly, and finally decided, it wasn�t fixing itself, so I called Desiron. Kathy was very nice, said they would pick it up, when could I be home. I said, �If you can come before ten in the morning, anytime!� She checks with her delivery guys�they�re coming tomorrow. I get an e-mail from Robin, she is trying to schedule everyone (i.e., plumber, stone man, A/C man, and floor man) for next Monday. This was not really put as a question, but as a done deal. I e-mail her and tell her that, normally I would be thrilled by the speed in which she was scheduling these people, but Monday is really bad for me. She will try to reschedule for the following Tuesday, December 18th.
Day 595 � Monday, January 3, 2005 � Apartment-wise, nothing doing. I ask Karen when if we can schedule a weekend when Jessi can come and sleepover (before her busy Birthday season kicks into high gear). We�re set for Saturday, January 15th. I have to go shopping for food.
Days 593 & 594 � It�s the weekend. Ugh. Another year. Saturday is New Year�s Day 2005. Happy New Year.
Day 592 � Friday, December 31, 2004 � New Year�s Eve
Day 591- 12/30/04 - Thurs. � Nothing.
Day 590 � 12/29/04 - I finally get an e-mail from Robin with and outstanding invoice attached, saying she can would like to schedule the A/C guy to come and put in the return, everyone else is working with skeleton crews. I respond to her that the A/C return is not crucial at the moment and I would like to schedule a few people to come at the same time. If the A/C man hasn�t come before, I suggest we schedule him for early May. Robin says I will be at the top of the list for after the New Year.
Day 589 � 12/28/04 - My mom stays over (or as she calls it �camps out�), so she can be here for the Desiron delivery. At about 10:30am, my mom calls�the furniture is there and looks really nice. When I get home in the evening, I wipe out the drawers and put my socks and underwear away. Sweet.
Day 588 � Monday, December 27, 2004 - I get a call from Desiron. My dresser and night tables are ready�can they deliver on Wednesday? I say, �Absolutely!�