Jolly and Joyous

I am presently sitting on the couch in the dark, slightly chilly living room, typing away at a collapsable TV table.  Why am I not in my traditional place at my desk in the sunny, warm ktichen, you ask? It’s complicated, I reply.  Once upon a time, this apartment and the one downstairs were connected.  Consequently, the electrical system is a mess.  Our landlord has made a couple of attempts to get it all straightened out.  The last time he had an electrician come, he came to the conclusion that in order to get it right, the whole house would have to be rewired.  Rather than do all that, they separated what they could, and only one of our outlets remained connected to the one downstairs.  The one in the kitchen that the computer, printer, desk lamp, and phone chargers are on. 

Well, as it happens, our new downstairs neighbors aren’t exactly the classiest people I’ve ever met.  The mom is about 30, her oldest daughter is 14, and the younger ones are 8 and 6.  I don’t think any of them have the same father.  I hate to sound critical, but I was particularly put off by the mom when she one day complained about her kids playing outside alone because she wasn’t too sure about the neighborhood. Yeeeeah.  This is not a bad neighborhood in the least.  Well, since our previous neighbors moved out, Mike and Carmela spent an awful lot of time working on the house.  One day Carmela said something to Alan about United Illuminating calling her about an overdue bill.  A pretty big one, apparently.  And suddenly we have no power on that one outlet.  Alan went downstairs (we’re the only ones in the house with access to the basement), and checked the breakers. Nothing.  Well, as it turns out, there’s a big tag on their electric meter saying that their electricity has been turned off. Super.

And to make it even better, the ladies downstairs have vanished.  Alan’s theory is that they’ve retreated to Grandma’s house until they get the power turned back on. Their stuff is still there, at least as far as we can tell, so hopefully they haven’t completely skipped out.  Still, until they’ve paid their months-overdue bill, we have no power on that side of the kitchen.

And just as happily, UConn has persisted in torturing me, despite the fact that I haven’t gone there in 5 years.  Amazing.  I sent a transcript request last Wednesday and got a call from the registrar’s office on Monday afternoon saying that I had a hold on my account for unpaid parking tickets.  She told me to call accounts receivable, who told me to call Parking Services, who weren’t answering the phone either Monday afternoon or all of Tuesday morning.  I finally got a hold of the woman there and was told (eventually) that I had paid the tickets on a black Jeep in September of 2007, and that she would contact the DMV to see who the vehicle is actually registered to.  Excuse me, but why the FUCK wasn’t that the standard operating procedure in the first place?! You mean to tell me that if a regular cop issues a parking ticket and leaves it on the windshield, and it doesn’t get paid, they would do anything other than sending the ticket to the registered owner??  She finally called yesterday and said that there was another Elizabeth Austin and that it was all a big mistake and she was really sorry. I should fucking hope so!  Of course, this is what I told her when I called the first time. I’ve known for a long time that there is another Elizabeth Austin who actually lives in Mansfield.  Not to mention the fact that Elizabeth is among the top 10 most popular names almost every year for the last 50 or so.  And Austin is something like the 210th most common surname in the country.  So it’s a pretty common name.

At least, it’s all straightened out now.  I hope.  They should be sending the transcripts. Fortunately, I requested that they send one to me, as well, so theoretically, when I get it, I’ll know that the daycare has it as well. Yay! I think I’ll also call to explain to Elisa what happened, so she knows it’s on its way.  Maybe I’ll have a job soon.  I continue to hope.

Alan has decided that he wants to send out photo Christmas cards this year, so we have an appointment at the Sears portrait studio for Friday. I didn’t want to use summer wedding photos for a winter card, after all.  Plus it’s nice to have "formal" pictures other than of our wedding.  Maybe we could do one every year. A way to mark the passing years. ^_^

Anyway, I think it’s time to blow dry my hair. It’s chilly sitting here with a wet head. 😛

~Liz