What Cheer, Netop?

- The faint sounds of Loretta Lynn
- The strong smell of toast

Today some workmen came and replaced the fourteen windows in my apartment. This was quite welcome, as the old ones were not in very good shape and did not do a particularly good job keeping the elements out. (My landlord said that they were 110 years old.)

I took some pictures, so if you are interested in such things for some reason, here they are.

( pictures! )

The upshot is that my rent will be going up $50/month, but I think it will be worth it this winter, especially given what heating costs are likely to be.

- The pull switch for the light in my bathroom

- People who respond to email messages without reading them

- Hardware stores that close at 6 pm every day of the week, making it impossible to go to them

- No, seriously, the pull switch for the light in my bathroom is really ticking me off

(Apologies to christychristy.)

I kind of wish I knew how snow is getting in my bedroom window, but it seems to be pretty mysterious, apart from the general principle that my apartment is about as airtight as a screen door.

I actually have a theory or two, but they seem to violate physics.



A strategically placed towel will, I hope, prevent any additional snow from getting blown onto me as I sleep. I guess I should add 'talk to landlord about windows' to my list of things to do tomorrow.

(Folks with paid accounts may be interested to know that the above photo was uploaded using this new livejournal feature.)

As I started working this morning, I noticed that there was a strong smell of gasoline. This didn't seem like such a good thing.

I decided I'd take my laundry over to the corner laundromat and that while I was doing that I'd look around to see if there was any obvious source for the gas fumes. None of the nearby cars had any puddles of gas under them or anything, though, and in fact the smell seemed to pretty much disappear as soon as I went outside. (Actually, the smell seemed strongest in the stairwell outside my apartment.)

When I went back to my apartment I observed that the smell became very strong as soon as I entered the building. I decided to go up to the third floor apartment to see if they were also experiencing it and if so if they had any idea what its source might be.

In the stairwell outside the third floor apartment I found a collection of various items, including an open gas can. This I removed and put outside on the second-floor porch, leaving a note explaining that I had done so because I was worried about the fumes.

The gas can is now gone and so are the fumes. It's very nice.