What a perfect way to start the day. With a good ol’, “What’s that smell?” when you step off the elevators. Our building’s trash chutes are still off-limits to us, so we’re still carting our trash and recyclables down behind the basement entrance. Makes Spring Cleaning oh so much fun, lemme tell ya. But some people see fit to leave their bags outside overnight, perhaps as a reminder to grab them in the morning and take them out. And this could be from an older resident since the board was kind enough to say that they don’t expect them to make that trip all the time, but still not what I want to run into on my way out to work.

Looks like more wibbly-wobbly weather with rain on the way… maybe. I’ll just keep popping my pills for the time being. I’m hoping for some good weather this weekend though so I can head outside and build up a tolerance. My co-worker mentioned that today feels like Friday for her, but I feel a day behind and thought it was Hump Day when I woke up. Regardless, bring on the weekend already! The office definitely has a vibe of weariness to it today and people are ready for a break.

I think part of my building may have just been on fire…

I got home and had barely sat down when I heard sirens outside along 16th St. It’s pretty common so I didn’t give it much thought until I heard the very urgent siren/horn combo of a truck trying to get through traffic except that it didn’t fade off into the distance as usual. I looked out the window and the street below was completely clear except for three fire trucks and one emergency services vehicle. A truck was spooling out hose behind it and two firemen were running after it. I took the stairs down and there was another fire truck behind our building. I didn’t see or smell smoke, there was no excessive heat, and I saw other residents who also had no clue what was happening. Some firemen rushed in past us, but the officer at the door didn’t respond that we needed to evacuate just yet. The building’s fire alarm wasn’t going off.

Of course I grabbed my camera, but left my cell phone behind. And after being down there for a few mins, I saw Jhim and Richard on the sidewalk. Jhim was trying to call me to let me know that my building might be on fire. After a bit of chatting, I walked back upstairs and ran into Ms. Lee who is the keeper of the spare unit keys. She and Raul were helping the firemen check apartments.

Apparently a unit on the 6th floor, not directly below me, was where the incident started. I imagine they were able to contain it as there was no call for anyone to evacuate and now the trucks and personnel have all left. Still, a very odd thing to come home to. And of course I’m down there thinking, “You have got to be kidding me, barely a week after I buy a new tv and the building’s about to catch on fire!”

Everything seems fine now, though I’m sure there will be some messages passing back and forth across the condo’s e-mail list.

I have no idea what this is an ad or announcement for. Possibly a band, but hey what a name!

It’s been a pretty quite and easygoing day, I had a late night last night so planned on playing hooky today. While I usually use days off to be “productive” I realized that a lot of my usual chores are done, laundry’s good, still plenty of shirts laundered, the grocery stores didn’t really have any of my usual staple on sale, so I ended up staying around the house, catching up on tv, tidying up a little bit and succumbing to plenty of naps!

I did run into Jhim when I headed out to pick up some food for lunch, it’s probably the first time I’ve been walking along Mt. Pleasant and was stopped by someone I actually know. Even though he’s just living right up the street, it’s easy to forget he’s nearby when our schedules don’t mesh.

I watched the first season of Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! It’s hard to say exactly why the show is so funny. It’s very surreal, not at all like Tom Goes to the Mayor, but includes some of the live-action stuff seen on screens in the show.

Another in a long line of crazy condo board decisions is going into effect tomorrow. They’re closing the trash rooms on each floor and in the basement. This is in an effort to get the pest and rodent infestation under control. We haven’t really had any word on whether the other efforts have borne fruit, but we’re still without a storage area and it’s been more than a few months. Now taking out trash and recyclables will mean a trip down to the trash cans behind the building. Generally when I do chore/tidy days, a lot of that is bagging up trash and clutter and tossing it out, so it’s nice to have it right across the hall. Now it’s just going to be a pain.

The best part is the last part of the letter advising all that they understand it will be an inconvenience for some, but a hardship for others. Namely our elderly or otherwise incapacitated residents, who I would imagine are not pleased about this at all. Add to all of this that we’re still down to one elevator. The second elevator keeps appearing to be repaired, but not. Tuesday afternoon, a neighbor and I got on the car and pressed the buttons for our floors and the door closed and the elevator just sat there. Took us a moment to realize that it wasn’t moving, but at least the door open button was working so we weren’t trapped. That wouldn’t have made for a fun evening at all.

I’m ready for the weekend now, please!

Today is turning out somewhat productive. It took a while to hunt down Raul and get into the elevator pit, which is a scary place, lemme tell ya. One could host a creepy Halloween party in that room and I was picking spiderweb out of my hair for the next hour. Still, I got my keys back — result!

I wasn’t sure how the keys were gonna go down actually, so I planned to have the day off. Once I was back in possession of them, I did what I usually do on mental health days when I don’t sleep in. I felt guilty about not being in the office, so I got busy around the house. Did tons of laundry, took in a large amount of shirts and sweaters to be dry cleaned after tossing a bunch that I don’t wear and don’t need. It’ll be a hefty bill, but that doesn’t happen all so often, so it’s worth it.

I’m just sorting out dinner, and planning for a good settled-in evening to watch Heroes and then hopefully head to bed shortly afterwards.

To whoever absconded with my proper October weather… We’ve all had a laugh now, and yes it was very clever to give us back a little taste of Summer well after Fall began, but that’s enough playing around. Return it this instant!

I gotta tell ya, it’s very annoying to be unable to cool down my apartment because the entire building has been switched over to heat!

If anyone needs me after work, I’ll be in front of my open fridge in my boxers (or briefs, it depends on my mood) with a hand fan.

Clearly the heat is making me delusional. No one ever needs me after work.