Well, it's Election Tuesday. Oh, boy. Can't wait. SinSce everything and more happened after my predictions after the 2020 elections.
Can it get worse? Yes. Will it? We'll see. We're definitely heading to a depression of one flavor or another, and there's nothing anyone can do about it now. Except blame whomever has the titular power in Congress, since these days it's actually the bureaucrats who run this country.
Yeah, I'm in a gloomy mood. Does it show?
Since there's nothing I can do, other than voting and hoping my vote actually counts (which, though I live in Florida which is generally well run, I do live in Alachua County where too many powerful socialists and actual self-professed communists live so I have no idea how much leftist-steal policies are in power here.)
On top of the Election (hopefully not another Stealection) I have to prep for (checks notes) Tropical Storm Nicole, which actually looks like it might impact my area after it runs east-west over mid-lower Florida, then hooking back northeastwardly right about over... me and mine. Expecting 50mph winds or more and actual rain. The last hurricane went below us following the I-4 corridor so all we got were winds and a smattering of rain. This time we may actually get some serious rain.
As to preps, I've got water, fuel (butane cartridges for two butane stoves,) food and other stuff all ready (not one of those who preps at the last minute, nope, not that stupid.) But I do have to buy regular weekly groceries, which I usually do weekly on Thursday or Friday, but since those are the days we're expected to be affected by the effects of the storm, I have to go out on Tuesday. Why Tuesday? Because my apartment management has finally decided to do something about the dead dishwasher and the dying refrigerator. Which I reported in March to the second Landlady since I moved here. Which I re-reported to Landlady #3 in June after pothead LL #2 (she who transferred the phones to her apartment so she could smoke ganga 24/7) was relieved of duty. And then reported 2 weeks ago to Landlady #3 because LL #2 didn't process the evictions of a double handfull of scofflaws and layabouts and others who hadn't been paying their rents (LL#3 put out, on lots of doors, "Pay up or our attorneys will hound you to the ends of the Earth and if you don't pay up we'll evict you and our attorneys will still hound you to the ends of the Earth to get what you owe us anyways" notices. Which saw a small flurry of UHauls being loaded in the dark of night as some of said scofflaws, layabouts and no-pays all decided that the attorney threat was bupkis but they still needed to leave before the Sheriff enforced the new Get-Out order.
Having fun yet? Yeah, watching the potheads, drug dealers, domestic abusers and others who seem to have been able to afford all the booze, drugs and fast food but not afford a really low rent (really, for the area it is in, really low, like almost $300 less than surrounding apartments of the same size, and you bet that rent come releasing is going up a tad bit, just enough to wipe out any cost-of-living increases in pensions (especially Social Security, thanks to President Nixon signing said COL being attached to government reported inflation (which, if it was really truthfully reported, would be about 30-45% increase thanks to actual inflation being that high rather than the paltry 8.7% being reported by our bureaucratic 'masters' (hwack-ptoooie.))) (I really have to stop with the elipse-thingy, it's out of control (no, it isn't, it's still grammatically correct)(but sometimes oh, so confusing even to me (get over it)))
Got the air handler replaced in September, when it tried to walk off the shelf in March. Woke up sometime in March with said air handler trying to walk itself off due to a bearing going bad in the fan motor and the fan being loaded up with tons of garbage. So I opened up air handler and cleaned most of the rust and mold and filth off the fan as I could, at 3am in the morning, jammed a screwdriver under the frame to stop it from wiggling too much and then the next day reported it to LandLady #2 (she of the magic weed) who sent Larry the Incompetent AC Guy to fix it. Which he didn't. Which was reported to Landlady #2, who sent Larry the IACG to stop it from wiggling and he just shoved some foam wrapped in tape between the air handler and the wall. Which didn't work. As soon as he closed the door on the way out, the foam fell down and I shoved a dead toothbrush under the frame to stop it from wiggling. Why a dead toothbrush? Because Larry the IACG stole my cheap screwdriver, the rat bastide. Then I re-re-reported the whole situation to LandLady #3 and she came and took pictures of the chunk of foam (no, really, a piece of foam) and promised she'd do something. Couple weeks later I called right as the overall properies repair manager was in the office and he heard me complaining to LL #3 and so he scheduled the replacement with a new air handler. Which finally got replaced in... September.
Not that I'm complaining... Yes, I am. But the new air handler puts out about 4 times the actual air due to the fan being about 4 times larger than the old one (and not covered in rust and garbage helps) but then the outside heat pump wasn't keeping up. So LL #3 sent Larry the IACG to come fix that and he siad it was a warranty issue with the new air handler. So I got about a week of ever increasing interior temperatures until I bitched, I mean, reported the situation, and LL #3 sent NOT-Larry the IACG (now called 'Doug the very competent AC guy') and he diagnosed the issue in 3 minutes (t stumped Larry the IACG two hours to determine it was a warranty issue,) actually was a start capacitor in the outside heat pump. A $20.00 part. Common replacement. 20 minute fix. Yay, Doug!
Both the AC contractor who installed the new air handler and Doug recommended to LL #3 that the heat pump needs to be put out to pasture (or given to the local recycling trucks that drive around looking for scrap metal) and be replaced.
So when I went to LL #4 to give her the list of repairs needed, well, I brought out that I've been waiting since March for a new dishwasher (to replace the dead one) and since June for a new refrigerator (to replace the dying one) and that the AC contractor and NOT-Larry the IACG (whom I found out from her was named 'Doug') had said that the heat pump needed replacing soonest.
So, so LL #4 sent Doug out on Oct 30 to 'fix' the heat pump. Which I said, "No, you fixed it as much as you can, it needs replacing so please come when you replace it, hopefully before it dies in the middle of a heat wave." Yes, was feeling snarky. He came at 8am. I go to bed at 5ish am due to the weird schedule with Mrs. Andrew and a host of factors that frankly you don't need to know.
Bill, the repair guy, came last Thursday, thankfully in the afternoon, to tell me that he is going to put in for a new dishwasher and refrigerator that should be arriving on the next Wednesday or Thursday. Yay. Except Thursday we're supposed to be under a Tropical Storm, and that leaves Wednesday for the replacement. Which leaves me... Tuesday to do shopping for the week. See? I can get to the point.
Ah, apartment life is soooo much fun, isn't it? Still better than having a house fall down around my ears because I can't keep up with maintenance, so there's that.
Other than, let's see, politics and weather and waiting to see how long or short it is before we get a LL #5, things are going swimmingly.
Well, except for Mrs. Andrew getting dog-sick from this year's flu shot. Which, apparently, this year's flu shot is actually more deadly to people-at-risk than the flu. And a report by the CDC from 10 years ago has surfaced recently saying that the yearly flu shot is much more deadly to old people than the flus that the shots are designed to stop. So no more seasonal flu shots for us. Wow, our medical system lied to all of us for years. Whodathunk.
And, no, I will not give our Clot-Shot oppressors amnesty and forgiveness. (Referring to "The Atlantic" magazine article asking for amnesty and forgiveness.) No. I won't. Rotate y'all and the demon horses y'all rode in on.
Hey, at least I didn't make you look at moving pictures of a clown this time....
Psyche!!!
Yup,.this little pop-up hurricane has turned into a teeth-grinder for me. Not big enough to justify flying home, but not small enough to ignore (for me. My family, who are down there, remain blithely unconcerned which is making me nuts). Having just spent $7500 on unexpected AC replacement, I can sympathize with your AC torments, except that I need a mirror to find the person who made things more difficult for me.
ReplyDeleteWell, for the power it is showing, all that really is required is to pull in loose stuff out of the yard and maybe if you have easy hurricane shutters you can put them up. Eh, TS or Cat 1 winds are 'fun' but... Yeah, I know, it would be good for them to take notice if only as a practice run for when a big one comes.
DeleteMy idiot passed MIL, on the other hand, would sit outside on the lee side of the house in order to smoke during 100mph winds. Then again, she's the same idiot who, when visiting her even-bigger idiot of a son in North Ireland, would open the curtains ever so slightly at 3am to take photos of the British Military doing a neighborhood sweep. Damned English should have shot her.
Sigh. That sounds like a lot Beans. A good apartment manager makes all the difference in the world (as well as competent repair folk, apparently). Hopefully the storm is a non-event and you can enjoy your new refrigerator and dishwasher in peace.
ReplyDeleteThe Covidiocracy and the suspension of eviction by the Federales screwed a lot of apartments up bad. Before the Wu Ping cough LL #2 didn't openly flaunt that she was a ganga-head and people got tossed out regularly for not paying. But here comes evicgtionless times and... I secretly think she was getting paid under the table in weed.
DeleteLL #3 was a 19 year employee of the management company so she should have been able to sweep in, kick people out and fix things, but, no, she apparently had a rectal-cranial infarction, so "Buh-bye!"
The current one, well, if she was playing pool all the balls would be shattered, if you get my drift. Very no-nonsense.
The complex isn't bad. Perfect for retirees and pensioneers and older people who just want to work and be left alone, which is what is in 12 of 16 of the units in my section. It's the other 4 that are steaming piles of druggies, drug sellers, idiots and morons. Tweaking (that shaking ass thingy) at 4am in the morning. Loud music all the time. Openly drug dealing.
Why is it okay for them to play their music really loud but I can't shoot my shotgun in the yard? Hmm?
Beans, in my experience the no-nonsense ones make it and are the best - thus, as an idealist, I would never do well.
DeletePerhaps a fair revenge would be to provide them with their own tweaking show at 4 AM. I am pretty sure what looks "good" on a mid-twenty year old is appalling in our age bracket, which might solve the problem entirely.
First, I don't tweak. Nobody wants to see this body twirk. Second, no, I just report it to landlady and she'll take care of it.
DeleteInteresting chain of thoughts you posted. I could enjoy sitting at a bar and drinking a beer while you play the raconteur. :-)
ReplyDeleteApartment dwelling does tend to leave one to the mercies of chance. Good maintenance guy or bad maintenance guy? Nothing gripes me more than incompetence. If, however, the person is competent and hard working, I make the time to send a short letter of appreciation to the owner of the business.
-Barry
Bill the new maintenance guy is great. He really wants to fix things. Doug the very competent AC guy is great. He really wants to fix things. Unfortunately the over-management company wants to minimize moneys spent on repairs. Which is annoying.
DeleteBut it's still better than not being able to fix a house and having to mow a yard and all that stuff. Found out I didn't need all that much room to be happy.
Good idea about the letter. Will do it forthwith.
That's quite the apartment complex there Beans and good luck with the approaching storm. Another Puddles vid?.....(shudder)
ReplyDeleteAs stated above, before the Eviction moratorium (illegal, but then again, what hasn't the current fed administration done that hasn't been?) the complex was okay. It's cheap, but okay. Covid stupidity brought out the worst in certain people, as they saw no need to pay the rent and could spend all that money on more and more mood-altering drugs.
DeleteHopefully current rules and current management will chase the riff-raff out of here.
I'd like to wish you luck as I sit here just offshore on a sand bar in the Gulf with (essentially) one bridge connecting me to the mainland. Heh!
ReplyDeleteLived for years on a barrier island on the East Coast, so I know what you mean. Only one piddly semi hurricane came close while I lived there. Moved to the center of North Florida and I get hit by them every 5 years or so. While surrounded by lots and lots of trees. What's with that? At least the apartment is, though a ground-floor one, above the surrounding area by about 4 feet so it's not floodable, much.
DeleteI'll let you know how it looks, as it hits here first. Just did the A/C as well. What's with that? Good luck in the blow, my digital friend. God bless all who might be affected.
ReplyDeleteI got rid of my inlaws, who came for 2 weeks and didn't leave for 3 years, when their damned cigarette smoke killed the house a/c and I 'fixed' it by buying a window unit for my bedroom only. Suddenly the need to move struck them.
DeleteThe A/C issue here at the apartment was due to previous tenants smoking too much and the previous management not being too preventative with their maintenance (no yearly freon checkup etc.) So the air handler grew fuzzy and nasty. The new handler rea.lly needs to be paired with a new heat pump, hopefully something with a SEER in the teens.
I think the Covid stupidity put the squeeze on management getting things done. That and having a drug-addled landlady who didn't push for repairs.
Did the civic duty thing, had a couple of Dems running unopposed, cast my ballot for "Anyone but that person."
ReplyDeleteLittle Rhody is so blue it's depressing.
Ah, well, there's always Florida as long as you don't move to Broward, Orange or Alachua, or anywhere near Tallahassee.
DeleteJust got back from the civic duty thingy. Had a worthless pile of hippo-squeeze shout out against my service dog, saying something like said service dog will poop everywhere. Mrs. Andrew shouted said clown down, and the poll workers apologized to her and me over said ass-hat. Some days I hate living in the Democratic People's County of Alachuacountystan, capital city Gainesgrad. On the other hand, looks like we're maybe electing an actual conservative (for values of conservativism) as mayor so there's that.