Day 5 of No Hot Water

It's not so bad. I am getting used to every orifice on my body puckering up at the first touch of ice cold water early in the morning. Really.

So we may have our gas back sometime this week. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday at the latest. Turns out the gas company is requiring us to replace the gas line. The "kid" who came out on Saturday will be the person doing it. Good news is that they won't be digging a trench. There is a procedure where they drill into the soil in selected spots and slide the pipe in. After seeing all the landscaping (including a fence) that they would have to dismantle to dig the trench, the "kid" favored this technique because it is less destructive and I'm sure much less work for him. He actually has been very good. Apologetic about the fact that we have no gas. The whole procedure is going to cost $3,200. The insurance that we were carrying will cover $2,000 of it. Guess that $5 per month turned out to be worth it.

I bought a tent for my very first outdoor show. It came....with no canopy in the box. I called the company. After waiting 30 minutes for a customer service agent...she told me since this is a new design...they have no replacement parts for it yet. I told her I had an art show on the 19th and that pretty well meant I was screwed. She took pity on me and told me to hold on while she contacted her manager....then she disconnected me. Back on the phone for another 10 mintues of waiting. She must have a computerized phone system...cause she picked up the phone an immediately apologized. She refered me to the Inventory Supervisor...who wasn't in the office. So I left a voice message. They arent' getting it that I don't want a replacement part....I just want the original part that I was suppose to get. We'll see what happens. In the meantime I need to call the show promoter to see if they can help me out with getting a tent for show day.

"Well, Jane, it just goes to show you, it's always something." ..... Gilda Radner as Roseanne Roseannadanna.

What Next?

What an awful week. At work we installed the computer upgrade from hell. Some of the big boys were threatened with their jobs so they rammed this upgrade down our throats. They then proceeded to send e-mails out congratulating everyone on the successful go-live. None of the adminstrators could access their accounts on the first day, most of the end-users in the labs couldn't log on...turns out they reset all the passwords and didn't tell anyone. Then in the conversion, some of the accounts that people should have had access to were lost. How does that happen??? And the congratulatory e-mails kept coming. Never being one to keep my mouth shut...my family will attest to that...I take after my mother...I e-mail one of the big boys to tell him the upgrade was less than successful. I didn't hear back from him. He knows me too well...he's ignoring me. If it weren't for the wonderful Gretchen and Lila...I wouldn't have survived the week. They are consultants from the software company and came to my rescue all week long. They are amazing, beautiful, and do it all on 3-4" heels. These two were born on heels. They even went to a baseball game in heels. I guess I am too old...my feet won't tolerate anything more than a kitten heel anymore.

Then...on Thursday...Lou calls to tell me he is at home and the gas company has shut the gas off. Seems someone in the neighborhood smelled gas and they narrowed it down to our house. They shut off the gas. So I can't cook...no big deal...I don't cook that much and I can use the grill and microwave to get us through. I have to wash dishes and clothes in cold water... that's OK too. But I can't dry the clothes cause I have a gas dryer. My living room has become a makeshift laundry line. I have shirts and pants hanging anywhere I can drape them...underwear hanging from the chandelier...hope company doesn't stop by...it will look like Lou and I have been having an orgy. But that's not the worst of it...we have to shower in cold water...oh my god....you can hear my screams down the block. So I am heating up water in the microwave and putting it into a kettle and using that in the shower to lessen the sting of the cold water. Good news is we have some type of insurance that we pay for in our monthly gas bill....Lou thinks I am brilliant for doing this...I didn't know that we were paying for it...don't tell him...I like it when he thinks I'm brilliant. So the plumbing company that holds the insurance sends a "kid" out on Saturday to measure the pressure He confirmed that we have a leak..NSS..he tells us that normally they fix this by puttng some type of sleeve down the line to seal the leak...fairly easy. But...because our pipe is 1.5"...he doesn't know if the gas company will approve it being sleeved and we might have to have the gas line dug up and replaced. Not so bad except it is on the property line where we have a nice wooden fence, a beautiful moss rock wall and all types of wonderful flowers. If this is the route we have to go...all that will be ripped up...as well as a patio that we have on the side of the house. They will be ripping up not only our landscaping...but our neighbors as well. And...there is a question of whether the gas line is on our property or the neighbors...and the "kid" tells us he may not be able to replace the gas line because it might be on our neighbors property. OK...so what the hell are we suppose to do???? Go without gas??? THANKFULLY...our neighbor is so wonderful. She was outside and we called her over to discuss this...she said we should do what we have to do. If this is what it comes to...I am just going to hire a landscaper to rebuild the rock wall and redo the landscaping on both sides of the fence.

So it's back to work on Monday..today since it's 1 AM... where I have to meet a moving truck from California that is delivering the contents of lab that is transferring here, deal with the on-going upgrade from hell, get my budget package for 2008 which is due in 3 weeks and integrate a new center into our department.

There is light at the end of the tunnel and I am running towards it no matter what.....that light..no it's not an on-coming train...it's 45 days until we leave for PARIS.

Can you say...Sexy French Firefighter....

I am obsessed with reading French Blogs in preparation for our trip there in September. But this pic really gives me something to be obsessed about. Oh Yeah....I salivate just looking at this guy...I'm speechless. Apparently on the eve of Bastille day, certain firestations open up and host parties...all for charity of course. The event is called Bals des Pompiers. Note to self...plan a trip to Paris aournd Bastille Day!!!

Lest we think they are nothing but pretty faces.... here is a shot showing them in action. If you ask me...firemen and policemen are the severely underpaid.

I have a fireman story...when I was in my late 20's, I went skiing in Vail with 3 girlfriends. Our week consisted of skiing all day, partying all night and very little to eat. After a week of this we were ready to leave and rushing around trying to get to our shuttle stop which was just downstairs from our condo. Sitting there waiting for the shuttle, I passed out. And I mean OUT. One of the girls ran to call 911. I didn't regain consiousness until the firetruck and paramedics arrived and they pulled out the smelling salts. I woke up looking at 2 gorgeous guys. One was holding my hand and the other was shielding the sunlight from my eyes. I looked up and asked...."Am I in Heaven?". They sent my friends off to buy me something sugary to eat. By this time the shuttle pulled up and they were nice enough to wait for a few minutes while the guys checked me out. They didn't want to let me go. They weren't sure I was OK. I told my friends..."Go on...go without me...I'll be OK" They wouldn't leave without me...DAMN. So we all got on the shuttle to Denver and home. I love firemen :))

Warehouse District Street Festival

I just found out that I will be exhibiting at the 4th Annual Warehouse District Street Festival in Cleveland. My first outdoor summer show. It is August 19th from Noon-8PM. Save the date. There is food and drinks, enertainment on 2 stages, open houses from the lofts and condos downtown and much more. Should be interesting. It's making me take that step into the outdoor arean. So I bought a tent and 4 bags that will hold 40lbs. of sand each so it doesn't blow away. I told Lou that he has to come with me. I need the moral support and the muscles.

We're headed down to the Indians game tonight. They play Kansas City. Hopefully it won't rain. We haven't been to a game in a couple of years.

Indians lost. But what a great night. The weather was perfect except for about 2 minutes of rain.