Sunday, October 19, 2008

the good, the bad, and the odd....

I'm still settling in. I got all the boxes unpacked and things basically organized and then slowed way down. I'm still doing a little here and there. The biggest project left is hanging pictures. I don't think I'll be able to hang all of them, but that's okay. It's just a matter of deciding what to put where and then storing the others until such a time as I have more walls.

The good. Well, for the curious, I was able to rent my house in Texas. They moved in at the end of August. It wasn't planned, but my former place of work recently hired someone from Australia and she was still in a furnished apartment. So, I offered (which is so unlike me) and she accepted. Apparently Australia also has land that is prone to shifting, so my cracks weren't daunting to her. I expect sooner or later she'll find her own home, but until then, this benefits both of us.

In the meantime, home builder, Pulte, fired my Warranty rep and his manager, then created a spin off company, then hired one guy back to be in charge of the problems in my neighborhood. There are over 40 driveways to be repaired and probably four to six houses needing foundation work. I spoke with the warranty guy last week and the soil samples show that there has been movement on my foundation, so there will be repair work there. He also confirmed that they will fix all the damage, inside and outside, caused by the movement. Still don't have a time frame, but at least they are working on it and I guess having a guy focused on just this is for the good. Also, I'll come out of this with a lifetime warranty on the foundation, which should be a nice selling point when that time comes.

The bad. Not much really here except I've discovered I don't really like having no carpet. Really, I don't. Who knew? I could just carry the Swiffer around with me all the time. However, hopefully, once I find rugs or carpet remnants or something, it won't be as bad. I will say it's nicer to walk barefoot on that carpet after it's been down for a while. Also, I'm not real thrilled with the parking lot. But, that's life. For the most part the one I park in isn't crowded, but since visitor parking is street parking, it gets a little close on the street in front of my building. And, with the recent boat show (apparently a very big deal here), it was even tighter. I miss parking right in front of my door, but I keep telling myself that exercise never hurt anyone. Well see how that line goes down when there is snow and ice on the ground.

The odd. A couple of those. The stove being in the corner of the kitchen hasn't really posed a problem. Neither has the lack of drawers. I got a little four drawer cart and that's working out fine. The biggest odd is the dishwasher. I looked to make sure there was one. I even opened it. What I didn't notice is that when you open the dishwasher, you block the sink. So, if one is to rinse off dishes before putting them in, then one is leaning over to do it. Not a huge problem, but definitely something I'll pay attention to when looking for my next abode.

And then there's the heating and cooling. Apparently something needs to run all the time. The weather cooled off nicely, so I cut the air off. Got a nice musty smell, mostly in the bedroom, for my effort. My mom and several others have pointed out that this an old building. Okay. Then there's the humidity. If it gets humid outside, run something cause it will get humid inside. At one point I had 60 percent humidity inside. Ugh. Now it's cooled off, so I've kicked on the heat. Boy, does it work. It's gas heat and when it's running it blows some very hot air out of the vent in the living room! I got back from working out this morning and had to open a window a tad because it really warmed up the place. Really, if I say it's too hot, trust me it's too hot. I'm having to figure out exactly where to place the thermostat to not roast and to not freeze.

These are all minor and I'm sorta laughing at most of them. Mainly because every time I move I think I know what to look for based on previous moves and I'm finding that that ain't so.