Deadline, Baby
It is just less than 16 hours before my plane leaves for Dallas, Tx, where I'll meet up with Dad (providing my flight is on time) and then head out to San Diego. An overnight there, to catch up from spending the day in airports and on planes, and then Friday we board the ship and cruise on down to Mexico for 10 days. Plus we got an opportunity to grab a deluxe suite for less than $300 more per person and we, well rather Dad, took it. This after we'd already gotten $200 back on our original price and an upgrade. So in the end for a big whopping $98 more than what we'd originally reserved we are now in a deluxe veranda suite. Which is twice as big as our previous cabin assignment. This kind of thing does not happen often - I'm sure the recession is to blame, at least in part. Oh and the opportunity? Came last night at 6:30 pm!
Woke this morning to no heat. Sometime in the early morning hours not too much before my alarm went off the furnace died. There was panic but it was all internal. I managed to call the heating people and schedule to have them come out this morning, call work to let them know I was starting my vacation a day early, and call Dad to let him know the latest - all without freaking out. I was freaked but I managed to stay outwardly calm because really, what else was I going to do? It had to be fixed, and fixed NOW, because I can't leave for two weeks with no heat, not living in Indiana. Luckily the furnace guy was here about an hour later and found the problem - the ignitor had gone kaput.
Here's the fun thing about my house for those of you just joining us. My place is a small house, a little under 1400 square feet, and was built about 15 years ago. One previous owner. Who never fixed anything the way it was supposed to be fixed. I swear this woman either had her son do the repairs or hired a really crappy handyman. Most of the things I've had to fix in the last two years have been because the previous repair was crappy or worse. If a repair was done it was half-assed or jerry-rigged, or the wrong part was used, or in the process of doing the fix they screwed up something else. In all other cases no repair was done - things were just turned off and ignored. Slowly but surely I'm finding all these things and getting them fixed but I wish they'd been found on the inspection. The previous owner would not have fixed them - she balked at fixing any of the things that did show up on the inspection or providing any money at closing so that I could do the repairs (In the end the realtors forwent some of their commission to get the repairs done and the seller paid me $$$ at closing for the dishwasher that didn't work but she refused to fix or replace). So yeah, even if these things had been found I doubt she would have been willing to fix them and she was not open to negotiating $$ at closing - it took her realtor (also her son-in-law) to convince her that if she didn't pony up for the dishwasher I was going to walk away from the deal that there was nothing she'd be able to do about it because she wasn't negotiating in good faith and had lied about the damn thing - saying it worked then after then inspection came in admitting she'd known for months that it didn't work.
So, back to the furnace. The heating guy finds that the ignitor has gone bad and when he pulls it out....it is the wrong part for my furnace. And it has been "made" to fit. He was amazed that the damn thing had been working for the last couple of years since I bought the place. He was surprised - I was not. And we both crossed out fingers that the correct part would still fit and he'd be able to fix the thing. Thankfully the crappy-ass job the previous owner had done didn't screw things up too badly (a first!) and the correct part works. I have heat again! YAY! A little over two hours and $210 dollar later everything was fixed and I was back to doing laundry, working a little bit from home, and packing.
Way more excitement than I ever wanted the day before leaving town. Really. I'll be happy if something like this never happens again.
Now I'm going to kick back, drink a well-earned beer, and go to bed early since I have to be at the airport at an ungodly hour of the morning.
Possible entries and maybe pics while I'm gone. There will definitely be both once I get back.
Woke this morning to no heat. Sometime in the early morning hours not too much before my alarm went off the furnace died. There was panic but it was all internal. I managed to call the heating people and schedule to have them come out this morning, call work to let them know I was starting my vacation a day early, and call Dad to let him know the latest - all without freaking out. I was freaked but I managed to stay outwardly calm because really, what else was I going to do? It had to be fixed, and fixed NOW, because I can't leave for two weeks with no heat, not living in Indiana. Luckily the furnace guy was here about an hour later and found the problem - the ignitor had gone kaput.
Here's the fun thing about my house for those of you just joining us. My place is a small house, a little under 1400 square feet, and was built about 15 years ago. One previous owner. Who never fixed anything the way it was supposed to be fixed. I swear this woman either had her son do the repairs or hired a really crappy handyman. Most of the things I've had to fix in the last two years have been because the previous repair was crappy or worse. If a repair was done it was half-assed or jerry-rigged, or the wrong part was used, or in the process of doing the fix they screwed up something else. In all other cases no repair was done - things were just turned off and ignored. Slowly but surely I'm finding all these things and getting them fixed but I wish they'd been found on the inspection. The previous owner would not have fixed them - she balked at fixing any of the things that did show up on the inspection or providing any money at closing so that I could do the repairs (In the end the realtors forwent some of their commission to get the repairs done and the seller paid me $$$ at closing for the dishwasher that didn't work but she refused to fix or replace). So yeah, even if these things had been found I doubt she would have been willing to fix them and she was not open to negotiating $$ at closing - it took her realtor (also her son-in-law) to convince her that if she didn't pony up for the dishwasher I was going to walk away from the deal that there was nothing she'd be able to do about it because she wasn't negotiating in good faith and had lied about the damn thing - saying it worked then after then inspection came in admitting she'd known for months that it didn't work.
So, back to the furnace. The heating guy finds that the ignitor has gone bad and when he pulls it out....it is the wrong part for my furnace. And it has been "made" to fit. He was amazed that the damn thing had been working for the last couple of years since I bought the place. He was surprised - I was not. And we both crossed out fingers that the correct part would still fit and he'd be able to fix the thing. Thankfully the crappy-ass job the previous owner had done didn't screw things up too badly (a first!) and the correct part works. I have heat again! YAY! A little over two hours and $210 dollar later everything was fixed and I was back to doing laundry, working a little bit from home, and packing.
Way more excitement than I ever wanted the day before leaving town. Really. I'll be happy if something like this never happens again.
Now I'm going to kick back, drink a well-earned beer, and go to bed early since I have to be at the airport at an ungodly hour of the morning.
Possible entries and maybe pics while I'm gone. There will definitely be both once I get back.