Thursday was the hottest day so far here — the temperature on our porch reached 98.6° that afternoon. I know that’s not so bad for some of you, but I tend to wilt in the heat. Anyway, I was thinking about how to get involved in something when I tried checking my email — no luck, the internet was down again. And when I checked the phone line the heavy static was back.
So, problem solved. I knew how I was going to spend the day. And I knew what today’s post would be about. I made a couple of phone calls through the static and still encountered some, “It’s not our responsibility, it’s theirs.” But it all turned out fine. The apartment management changed the phone jacks inside our apartment just in case. As we guessed, they weren’t the problem, but they were about 40 years old, so it wasn’t an unreasonable thing to try. Then I phoned the telephone company and signed up for some insurance — $6 a month plus taxes for the phone company to make house calls, no $85 a visit if they determined the problem wasn’t their responsibility.
They said the technician would be here sometime Friday morning, but he appeared at my door a couple of hours later. He said he was reasonably sure the problem was worn-out fuses in the phone box on the outside of the building. He had already changed them, and he thought that probably fixed the problem for good. We decided to keep the insurance for a few months just in case, then we’ll cancel it.
In the meantime I started on the cartoon above, so it was a productive day in spite of the heat. All in all, since the phone problem was bound to come back sometime, it had picked a great time to do it.
What about you? Do you have trouble with the heat? Have you ever experienced mutual, “It’s not our responsibility, it’s theirs?” Does blogging help you see minor hassles as adventures to be shared rather than just annoyances?
Oops. In fact we do have an air conditioner in our living room, so the heat wasn’t as bad as it sounds. Even so, we don’t have nearly as much zip this time of year. Probably because we don’t sleep as well at night.
It was 99° when we were in town on Thursday, 93° on our porch up here on the ridge. Unfortunately, I spent a good part of the day in the attic, rewiring and upgrading an electrical that had a short. I had a fan blowing directly on me, which helped, but it was hot air.
We have our thermostat set to drop the temperature down about 4 degrees at night. It helps for sleeping. The weather has shifted for us. It’s 63°F at 6:13 A.M., with a high of 82° forecast — a rare summer cool spell for the next week or so predicted.
Several years ago, our internet stopped working and I was pretty sure it was the phone company’s modem. Since I take care of everything between the outside jack and the modem, there is no “It’s not our responsibility, it’s theirs.” The tech rep had me go through a bunch of tests and checks before sending someone out to check everything at the house. It didn’t cost us anything as the problem was, as I thought, the modem.
I wilt in the heat too. I strip down to underwear fast. Tom complains. Our entry is windows from ceiling to floor & in the center of the house which I constantly pass through, though it’s enclosed with a high wall & patio outside. The mailman could be coming!!! 🙁 I change to shorts & a top. Not as comfortable, but respectable.
i’m with the wilter group.
but i have to say… my highest electric bill so far here was this past month’s… $46.51 !!! and that’s been running the a/c because of the high temperatures! i’m a happy camper!
wasn’t sure what to expect. because since moving in and loving the outdoor air so much i hadn’t really used much heat OR a/c. this complex is built amazingly well. the marine commented on the quality of construction. my house was poor. insulated. but apparently not well.
mike… thought of you in the attic and was awed and dismayed! in the ATTIC in that heat!!! danger danger!
men just do it. i would have hired someone. 🙂 … a man!
we do appreciate you guys.
spoken on behalf of all of us who wouldn’t dream of crawling up there to fix whatever in 98 degree heat.
Mike,
Yuck! The timing of your electrical problem sucked.
I’m glad you’re having a reprieve on the weather — so are we. The highs have been only in the mid-80’s, with some rain in the afternoon. Today there was even a little hail.
At night we shut off the a/c in the living room and have a big box fan blowing the air out in the living room, pulling air in the open windows in the other rooms. Usually it cools off enough to do some good.
About responsibility — the owner of our apartment complex says he doesn’t pay anything for telephone repair, that’s the responsibility of the phone company or tenant. At one point the phone company said the phone box was the responsibility of the owner. So when I phoned the apartment manager I said I thought the problem was in the phone box so could we have permission to fix it. Ack!! No way was she going to give us permission. That’s why she sent the maintenance men to see what they could do inside the apartment. We hadn’t checked the wall jacks, so I didn’t mind taking their time to replace them. It was a reasonable thing to try. When the telephone repairman came he said the phone box was the phone company’s, and we shouldn’t touch it. (I had him show me which wires belonged to our phone just in case.) But he also said with our line backer insurance the company would repair the wiring between the box and our apartment if that was ever necessary. But the paperwork the company sent me said just the opposite. And when I phoned to ask about that the fellow answering checked and said the repairman had been correct, so we should definitely keep the insurance. He couldn’t send me anything in writing, of course. What a hoot! 🙂 We don’t think it’s ever going to be a problem, but when something like this gets my attention I like to learn something from it.
bikehikebabe,
Years ago I used fans and wore damp T-shirts, but now we’re sold on our little air conditioner. Andy and I find our minds shut down when it gets too warm.
tammy,
It sounds as if your new apartment is a winner. Our electricity bills are somewhere around $45 a month without the a/c, and they go up to about $75 or so in July and August. Our apartment is not nearly as insulated as yours, and it is larger — 3 bedrooms, 1000 sq feet. We think the extra money is well worth it for health and quality of life. And I’m guessing in your case the health aspect is even more important. Good for you!
With bad heat we tend to resort to going to a shopping centre (mall).
I’ve found the worst ‘not our responsibility’ people are government departments.
Evan,
It looks as if the average daily high in February (warmest month) in Sydney is around 78-79°. What is the usual maximum high there? It’s those maximums that cause the trouble for some of us! We don’t complain at all when it’s cooler.
Many houses in New Zealand do not have centralised heating or cooling…instead appliances are plugged into the power circuit and then with thermostats on the objects you can hopefully get some sense of “play”
However, certain type of more expensive tools are being installed for heating (most electric), ceiling insulation and to some extent wall insulation is becoming the norm. Open fire places and similar are moving off and out.
If you want to keep cool in summer, you can have a portable fan or one connected to your lighting system/other.
As to phone/internet stuff, I finally had no internet recently and a technician came from Vodafone and cost me nil! Because I have both phone/Net bundled together with them…
I can tolerate any kind of weather bar the high heat high humidity combination that we get in some of our coastal cities/towns. For instance, I am very uncomfortable in Mumbai and try not to spend a night there and take my car which is air-conditioned rather than depend on local cabs most of which are not.
In India, if there is one phenomenon that is a constant, that is the pass the buck syndrome. Whether it is the private or the public sector, this is true. I often have the following conversation with the auto-rickshaw drivers when they go over a bump or go through a ditch. Driver – Sorry, that was a bump there. I – No, it was there alright, but the correct statement should be, Sorry, I did not see the bump. It is a losing battle.
I get stuck in the middle between the doctor’s office and the health insurance company. Wellness visits are supposed to be completely covered by insurance. Yet somehow there’s a bill from the doctor for a co-pay. “They used the wrong procedure code” “That’s covered only on a bienial basis, and you had that test last year.” It’s enough to make you sick!
Cathy,
It sounds as if your highest temperatures are lower than ours. Still, I would like a bit of a/c in addition to the fans. Ours isn’t centralized, it’s installed in the wall of the living room. Like the air conditioners most motels have here.
I’m glad you have good phone/internet service. Except for this one time our service is very reliable too. That means a lot.
Rummuser,
I can see that trying to get the drivers to take responsibility would be a losing battle. It reminds me of the book, Mistakes Were Made, But Not By Me. 🙂
Square Peg Guy,
That sounds like a real nuisance. If it was the wrong procedure code, won’t the doctor resubmit? Mine has in the past.
I’m having a problem receiving you. It seems to be stuck on a post called “Evan” but I get a 404 error when I go there. Got any ideas??
I got notified of a post called Evan in my feed reader but got a 404 when I clicked on it.
Dixie and Evan,
I’m sorry about that. I don’t know how it happened/what I did wrong, but suddenly an empty post entitled “Evan” appeared, so I deleted it. The trouble is once it’s published there’s no way to keep the system from telling people it was there.