Thursday, July 27, 2006

Greg Vs. Water

Water and I generally get along very well. I've always been a pretty good swimmer and I take a shower almost everyday whether I need it or not. I drink lots of water too, of course most of it is in the form of coffee or beer. Thats why I can't figure out why water has been out to get me lately.

First, I suppose, is the water in the form of humidity this Summer. I don't do well with humidity and I've been known to sweat in very well air conditioned buildings. Perhaps I'm working too hard. Its felt like our Summer has been replaced with the Summer from Florida or swampy Washington, D.C. The temperature only goes down to about 75 at night and there haven't been many breezes, except during the massive thunderstorms.

So of course in the midst of all this heat what is the worst thing that could happen to me? That's right - the air conditioning in my condo goes out. But its not really that simple. A few weeks ago I noticed some water near the bathroom door on the tiles and carpet. I immediatly accused my friend Pete of being responsible somehow becuase I couldn't figure out where it came from (The theme for this entry was his idea by the way) Within a few days lots of water ws dripping from the top of the door frame and I investigated the problem via the access panel in the ceiling above. The Air conditioner air handler is up there and it seems fine, but I found a pipe off to the side that is leaking- mostly becuase it is open on the end and not attached to anything. I look around to see if it has detached from some where but I couldn't see anything. The pipe keeps filling up with water and dipping down into the wall and soaking my carpet. I was able to stop the drip for a little while by siphoning off some of the water and angling the pipe up to stem the tide. This seemed to work for a little while, but when I came back from Harrisburg (See previous entry) the problem was obviously back. The carpet was wet again and the house smelled like cat pee.

When I finally get the plumbing and A/C guy to come check out the problem he is a bit perplexed. Why is there an open pipe here? It makes no sense? I kind of figured that but it was nice to have it confirmed. We knew it was a "condensate drain" - because Air conditioners sweat even more than I do, but my A/C had been off - where was this torrent of condensate coming from? The plumber thought it was from my upstairs neighbors' unit. This is not even my pipe that has been raining on me for a week. To stop the leak he did the sensible thing and capped off the pipe. Leak stopped. A/C back on again. But of course when I told my Dad the architecht what the plumber had done he knew that the water had to go somewhere and within a few hours the leak had been "transferred" up to my neighbors' condo. Of course it was her leak to beign with but I still felt bad for her.

The plumber did come back to fix my neighbors' problem. A few times in fact. These guys are getting very tired of coming to this building. Not two days after everything is "fixed" and the carpet is almost dry (thank you wet / dry vac) I come home to find I have no air conditioning.
I hope against hope that it isn't a big problem. I let it run for a while and adjust the thermostat- but the room temperature stays at 81. I went up to the roof to check the heat pump unit- its running but not doing anything. Fortunately I was going away for the weekend to go camping so it would have to wait till next week to find out what was up now.

Of course camping is great -being out in nature and the fresh air and cooking stuff over a fire- but its also sort of the Murphy's Law of vacations - anything that can go wrong will. Our first night was fine - we cooked and drank our prohibited beer. Saturday morning we got in the car to go check out Hickory Run State Park's big attraction- the boulder field. Apparently the boulders were left there by an unthinking glacier probably a long time ago. But it sounds kind of cool and its more exciting than another field of grass so off we went. As soon as we stopped in the parking lot by the field the skies opened up as if on cue. It was one of those rains you get in the movies - as if someone had just flipped a switch. Pete and I did manage to get out of the car to check out the rocks, which actually were kind of interesting in the mist and pouring rain. Perhaps needless to say we got hit by a few more torrential down pours on Saturday causing us to cut and run, our camping experiment only lasting one night. So it was back to the relative comfort of my city apartment- not as wet but still a bit steamy. It would still be almost two weeks before my air was working again.

Saturday, July 15, 2006

Tripping

I have been in the finance and accounting related field for almost ten years now. I have had the types of jobs which keep me chained to my desk, accounts payable, payroll, general ledger reconciliation. It hasn't given me any good opportunities to go on all those fun business trips I get to see everyone else take. The Finance department is usually like the "parents" of an organization- we give the money and stay at home waving when everyone else goes off to, well, to not sit at their desks.

In my current job our people go all over fundraising, attending Chemical conferences and interviewing people for oral histories. They usually get to go to good places like Chicago, Florida, San Francisco and even Martha's Vineyard. Of course when I was with the Philadelphia Orchestra my co-workers literally travelled all over the globe. I could never convince them that they should send a finance person with them to handle expenses (I was mostly joking, but then again the expenses would always come back tied in elaborate knots- I really could have helped) I would usually get a nice gift from one of the exotic locations they visited- including a replica of that statue in Brussels that pees into the fountain- yes it even does pee (Thanks A.)

When my Boss suggested that I go to a certain Payroll Seminar I figured, why don't I actually go? I've found that Bosses like it when you do things they ask you to. I figured I'd be able to go to the seminar here in Philadelphia, probably at some airport hotel. When I checked it out I found the seminar wasn't coming to town until next year some time and I had to know about Payroll now-considering I've been doing it for a year already. Checking the locations for the upcoming seminars and knowing my bosses, the Controller and the CFO, wouldn't want me to spend too much money, I determined that I would get to take my first "real" business trip to beautiful Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. In July.

Of course the conference wasn't at some big hotel in happening downtown Harrisburg (actual slogan- "We're near Hershey Park!") no it was at some non-descript hotel off of a suburban highway exit. I took Amtrak to Harrisburg (only $19.00 one way) so I had to take a cab to the hotel (almost as much as the train). I've never really stayed in a fancy hotel, so I wasn't all that upset with the accomodations. The room was fine, it was quiet and there was even a pool. There was a Irish Pub type restaurant attached to the hotel that actually had an unuusally good beer list for a pub in a hotel off a highway exit. They had a few kinds of Troeggs, a few Victory beers - including Hop Devil and even Lindemanns Framboise all on tap. The only problem really was that I was there monday and tuesday nights and the place was dead.

There was a mall a few parking lots over on the highway so I decided to go explore the mall for dinner, knowing that I would be stuck in the hotel for most of the next few days. There were many exciting dining options over there - I don't get to go to chain restaurants too much here in the city so I was excited to get to eat at Denny's and the Outback SteakHouse. There was also a place called "Panera" there that I have heard Todd rave about, but that looked too French. There was also a Christian bookstore in the mall - quite a difference from where I grew up where we have gay and lesbian bookstores and Harry's Occult Shop.

The seminar itself was quite informative. I now know all about "Exempt" vs. "non-Exempt" employees, Federal Fair Labor standards and de minimus gifts. They also tried to sell us some books at the seminar which cost three times as much as the seminar itself- how many accounting types would buy a book that is such a poor value?? I really found out that the payroll that I do is quite easy most of the time and I'm pretty lucky.

We were let go a bit early the first day and I had a chance to go to check out one of the local attractions. I knew about it because there was a highway billboard for it outside my hotel window- World Famous Bass Pro Shop Outdoor Outlet. Don't be fooled - this isn't just a fishing store. It's a huge space filled with every kind of outdoor gear you could want from the sea to the mountains. Lots of camping equipment for my upcoming trip - I even got a lamp that will attach to my hat (they had several kinds). Of course this being nearly central Pennsylvania they also had huge displays of guns and NASCAR gear- you don't see that stuff in Philadelphia. This is definitely the Alabama part of Pennsylvania.

This was the most exciting part of my trip. That and waiting for taxis for at least 30 minutes each time. I think our lawmakers there in the Capitol of the Commonwealth should take that pay raise they had to give back and get a few more cabs on the street. I don't think it would cause gridlock.

Monday, July 03, 2006

Raining cats and dogs

Sorry for the long delay between posts but I've been busy as you'll see:

So, we've got a nice four day holiday weekend. What are you doing? Fireworks? Barbecues? Going downa shore? Me I was working. No, not at my real job- a harder one. I somehow got stuck feeding and walking my brother and sister in law's dog and two cats. Now Alex and Missy are clever enough to not only go on vacation for four days and get someone else to take care of their pets, but also have the pets stay in someone else's house the whole time. They are in the process of selling their house so the cats already live at my mom's. My mom, who claims to be allergic to cats, although we had them for over twenty years growing up.

So instead of bringing the cats back to their house and letting me take care of the animals there - they decided to bring the dog to mom's house. Why have your house get defecated on when it can be someone elses? They did offer to let me stay in their house with the dog the whole weekend- like their house was some kind of palace with a pool, a hot tub and a home theater system. They don't even have central Air. I actually like my place- its not a vacation for me to go live a few blocks away. So I got the directions about what to feed and when to walk and how to give the cat his pill. Yes, I'm a pharmacist and nurse too.

Now the cats- Bart and Lisa (yes very clever - ha ha) - are really not a problem. They usually use their litter box and are very pleasant. Except for Bart when you have to give him his pill. Apparently Bart needs a pill so he doesn't pee all over the house even more than usual. Alex showed me how to give him his pill by wrestling him onto his back, grabbing him by the scruff of his neck, prying open his mouth with your finger and then dropping the pill down his throat. Fun, right? If you're lucky you won't get scratched up too bad.

The dog, Mogul, is a different story. He an amiable sort, very old now - something like a hundred in people years and three hundred in dog years. He's skinny, got a bit of a grey beard and a weird hump on one shoulder. When you're walking around with him people ask questions like "Are you sure he's all right? " and "What kind of dog did he used to be?" He is not the kind of dog you can use to pick up chicks. Unfortunately he's way past the "Aww, cute" stage. Mogul doesn't walk very fast and he has trouble climbing steps. His most unusual habit however, is the walking poop and pee. Yes, he kind of squats a little and then moves along as he lets it go. You have to follow him down the block with the plastic bags instead of just picking up a nice little pile. When he pees he'll stop for a second to water a tree, but then continue to pee as he walks away - often hitting himself. Poor guy. Maybe he needs doggy diapers. We made a few trips to the very nice local dog park. Once we went over with a special guest Todd's dog (who is not named Tippy
http://http://popculturesnob.blogspot.com/2005/08/cry-havoc-and-let-slip-war-over-dog.html
Now Todd's dog is almost a year old and is full of energy. He will run and fetch a ball for you all day long. Sometimes he will even bring it back! You throw a ball for Mogul and he will kind of watch it and say "Hey- nice throw- what do you want me to do about it?"

Of course Mogul is also afraid of thunderstorms and Fireworks. What did we have July 4th weekend? That's right - both - sometimes on the same night. I went over about 10:30 on Sunday night to walk the dog but he was no where to be found. He is always right there waiting by the door, ready to pee. I didn't see him anywhere on the first floor and this worried me because, as I mentioned - he doesn't climb stairs too well. So of course I did the natural thing and asked the cats where Mogul was. I was sure they would show me I was hoping he was OK because I didn't want to be blamed for losing a whole dog. I ran up to the second floor and called for him and looked under the beds. Just then I heard a slow clippity-clop coming down the stairs from the third floor. Somehow this dog made it all the way upstairs to hide from the thunderstorm. Of course he was only getting closer to the noise he was afraid of, but, well you know.

At least all the pets (and me) made it through the weekend. Anybody have a bunch of plastic bags you aren't using? I seem to be running out.