|
Bookshelf:Recently Read & Reviewed: Currently Reading: Next Up:
|
Gettin' ReadyWe're gradually making progress in getting Debbi moved in. Her cats are basically already living here; she's decided not to take them back and forth anymore. (Have I mentioned that they hate travelling in the car?) So to that end this weekend we went to her apartment and bought down both their cat tree, and the IKEA rocking chair that Debbi bought a few years ago and covered with a comfy red blanket. So it's been open cat season here since then: All four cats are fascinated by the cat tree. My cats are like, "What is this?", and Debbi's cats are like, "How the heck did this get down here?" Jefferson is staking a claim to the top tier, and several cats have climbed into the cubbyhole (and played the whappity game with other cats). And everyone loved scratching on it, of course! The red chair has been an even bigger hit with my cats, both of whom have spent a lot of time snoozing in it. It's replaced a chair that Jefferson and Roulette liked to sleep in, and I think Roulette is curling up in the papasan downstairs instead. Maybe she'll warm up to both the chair and the tree soon; I don't think she likes a whole lot of change in her life.
 A week ago we went out to rent a storage locker, since we're going to be putting much of Debbi's furniture as well as other odds-and-ends into storage until we get a larger place. I live in "storage central", with over half a dozen storage complexes within a couple of miles of my house. Naturally we started with the two places just a few blocks from my house, and then checked one other just for a little balance. We ended up going with the nearby Public Storage unit. Although we appreciated the service at the complexes which weren't part of big corporations, PS had the advantage of having several nonstandard unit sizes, and it turned out that a 6-1/2-by-10 foot unit cost about the same as a 5-by-10 unit there and elsewhere, and we were concerned that 5-by-10 would be a little too small. Why is the larger unit about the same size? Our theory is that many people rent units from Public Storage's web site, which only seems to list the standard sizes. So the nonstandard sizes are in less demand because the only way to rent one is to go to the site, see what they've got, and rent it. Plus I suspect that corporate - which sets the prices - just doesn't think about it too hard. Anyway, it's a good deal for us! So we've started moving stuff around. We put some kitchen stuff and clothes into storage, and will gradually move some more items there. We're planning The Big Move for the weekend after next, so that will fill the rest of the unit, I imagine.
We had a little mishap on the trip to get the cat stuff on Sunday: We stopped off at Wendy's for lunch (yes, yes, I know: bad Michael, no biscuit), and as we were pulling onto the street from the parking lot we heard a CRUNCH! from underneath the car. It turns out we somehow missed the ramp to the street and drove right off the curb! Debbi was really kicking herself, as it was in her fairly-new car (only 18 months old!). We drove to her apartment, and she had to go back to the car to get the suitcase we'd brought. She came back and said, "I think I broke my car! It's leaking something!" Gah! So we hurriedly finished gathering stuff to put in the car so we could hopefully drive back to my house before something bad happened (like, say, if it were brake fluid leaking out). Debbi backed up and I examined the stuff which was dripped; it seemed to be water, as it was colorless and odorless (no, I didn't taste it). So that meant it wasn't oil, but I don't know what transmission fluid, brake fluid or A/C coolant looks like. And heck, it might be radiator fluid, since I know water can be used as radiator coolant. We got back to my place without any trouble, so now we had my car at our disposal, which gave us options. The dealer we take our cars to is closed on Sunday, so we planned to call Monday morning to bring it in. Meanwhile, I checked under the car several times, and it was no longer dripping. Very strange. Well, as you may have guessed, the story has a happy ending: Debbi took her car in this morning, and they found no sign of any leak. It was probably just condensation from the A/C or the radiator or something. She didn't really do any damage to the undercarriage, and certainly nowhere near enough to hurt anything vital. So it was all a false alarm. Which was the best possible outcome - just an inconvenience and source of worry. Oh, and my friend Syd tells me: Brake fluid is green, transmission fluid is red, and A/C coolant is a gas. I'm not sure I believe him on that last one, but now I know. He says it's not a good idea to use water in your radiator either, as it ages the system more rapidly, presumably through rust. Gee, if only I'd known that with my old Civic; I put water in it all the time as coolant. Well, except during the winter, of course.
Bummer of the day: As the sidebar says, I'm reading Charles Stross' Accelerando. I thumbed to the back of the book tonight, and found that the last page was page 389, which oddly was the page which was glued to the rear panel of the hardcover. And no, page 389 is not the last page of the story - Amazon says the book runs 400 pages. Yes, my copy is defective. Grr! I bought it from Amazon in July, so I contacted them about exchanging it. We'll see what they say. But I guess I'll be a little delayed in finishing it.
|
||
