Changes on the Homefront
Chavez's mention of maintenance reminds me of a big change concerning my apartment building. When I got back from vacation Sunday there was a note stuck in my door from my landlord. It was a form note; he'd left one for everybody. It said that because his other business and family obligations had been taking up so much of his time, as of August 1, he was turning the building over to a real estate management company.
Monday after work I was going back out to go to the grocery store, and I saw a middle-aged woman in a lime-green with white trim jacket/skirt combo coming down the hall. She was attaching another note to everyone's doorknob with a rubber band. I figured this was the woman from the real estate management company, so I introduced myself to her. She was pretty nice, and she encouraged me to call her "for any little thing."
However, she gave me a weird eye, looking at me over her glasses, like she was trying to judge what sort of person I am.
I am now supposed to mail my rent to the management company, and with August's rent I included a letter telling what my new air conditioner's condensation had done to my bedroom wall.
So we'll see.
At first I was glad my landlord handed the place over to a management company, but then I thought, you know, my landlord did pick the company. I mean, the elevator still isn't working.
On another subject, I can't believe how many apartments still have both the landord's note and the management woman's note on their door, five days later. Where are these people? I thought I took a long vacation.
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Is anybody else having lots of problems with the internet and their workplace's computer systems today? Nothing is working. If I ever get this post posted it will be a miracle.
When I got to work this morning, the new catalogue was down. I called the uni where I'm in library school to ask why I got a letter stating my academic progess was not sufficient to allot me any financial aid, and they couldn't tell me anything because their system was down. And now I can't post this freakin' post.
Argh.

Back in the Grind
My vacation was good. Heck, it was necessary.
We spent three nights at the Peaks of Otter Lodge. After the first day, the fog and the rain rolled in. The rooms there have no televisions or telephones, so the view of the lake and the mountains, or more often, the view of the fog, was it. But it was cool because as soon as it got dark deer came out of the woods and grazed on the lawn.
The we stayed two nights at the Eseeola Lodge. That place is super nice, but I think we were the only people under sixty staying there. The rooms had televisions (and thank God, because the premier of "Amish in the City" was on. I'm kidding.) No deer there.
Then the plan was to camp out for three nights at the Linville Falls camprgound. But Rob wanted a tent he could stand up in, and he bought one right before we left. The first night at the campground, it rained. This wasn't too bad because we'd eaten in a restaurant (although we were planning to cook over the fire eventually) and we'd strung up a tarp over the table. But atfer we went to bed, it got stormy. The tent collpased. I have to be honest. I never woke up (refer to Ed's definition of "camping"). Rob had to go out and re-set up the tent in the dark and the rain.
Then on Friday we went down to Hickory to eat lunch at a place called the Tap Room. When we got back to the campsite that afternoon, another storm had come through. The tent had collapsed again. Everything we'd left in there was soaked. There was water standing in the tent.
We went to a motel at Little Switzerland. Quite a switch from the Eseeola.
Rob's taking that tent back to the store.
On Saturday I went to a family reunion. It was my mother's family. There's a rift between her and them so it was a little weird to be there. My last surviving great uncle was there, and he was sad that my mother didn't come.
I suppose it's another thing I cn't do anything about.