Always frustrating

Dealing with local government. I got cited for some code violations a while ago, which I have been busy correcting. Repaired the driveway, put in a handrail for the stairs going down from the front porch, sealed in my garage so that the items i had in there were no longer visible. Inspection was supposed to be this morning. It is now 2:40 PM, and no one has shown up yet. I bet they are going to claim that they appeared first thing this morning. Hah. I was here from 8:15 on, and have not heard a thing--no knock, no doorbell. And I can hear the doorbell from downstairs with no difficulty at all.

Same thing happened last time, people just don't ring doorbells. They knock (softly) and go away.

Dammit!

Shocking

Well, the electric job is done. Pat finished up around 5 today, leaving me with 3 gfci outlets in the kitchen, plus about 14 more outlets scattered throughout the house. something like $80 per outlet, but what a difference it will make. Flexiblity! If I'm smart I will take photos. (esp now that i have found the camera, it is time to put it to use!)

The wallet is back

Now for the pair of shoes. Hope rebounds. Well, there is one other thing. The basket that holds the coffee filters, the one with the fine mesh. Missing since sometime last week. Those two are minor worries. Now I have to figure out if the newest round of security measures will flub up my travel from STL to ORD to FRA to BUD. I tried to put a good time cushion in at both Chicago and Frankfurt, but one never knows. Not looking forward to being trapped in Chicago. Or Frankfurt, for that matter.

But it's too early to start fretting. Right now I'm just working on the laundry (clean and stash) and slowly chipping away at the stuff that needs to get stowed away--papers, books, cd's, stereo, tv, etc.

Mysteries of Life

Missing object found yields known object disappeared. The camera was rediscovered yesterday, nestled under the black nylon trash bag, invisible for the last week since its black leather cover caused it to merge completely with the larger container. Ah, relief, $90 not wasted after all, not pitched thoughtlessly into a trash container. Now if I could only find my wallet, missing since yesterday noon. I know I had it when I came in, because the keys to the house are chained to the wallet. And the door was locked, I am sure, I remember having to unlock the door. But where did the damn thing go? I have gone around the house three times looking at every plausible surface, even checking the fridge to see if by chance I dropped the wallet in a bag and then pitched it all onto the lower shelf. At least I have a spare set of car keys and a $10 bill. And then there is the issue of the other pair of black leather shoes.

to start at the beginning

11 January is the departure date. I am supposed to be headed for Tata, Hungary. That's my understanding, anyway. The envelope with the official letter and all that has yet to arrive, even though it was supposed to be here on the 17th or 18th of December. Did it get lost in a snowstorm? Or is there some misunderstanding? Is this beginning of a bureaucratic nightmare? Will all be revealed in a later program? Right now I am going to just carry on with the issues at hand: laundry (clean everything, sort into Take, Leave, and Who Knows), the kitchen update project (electrical about 95%, countertops are just in the design stage). the wall repair project (plaster repair, then repaint), and the What To Do About The Apartment project. Decisions need to be made soon.