Summer of Change XVIII
So, the burners on stove needed to be repaired, because the wouldn’t self-ignite, in order to satisfy the physicalinspection list for selling the house. I have a call scheduled for
Thursday when I will be home.
At 2pm yesterday, I get a call from a guy who tells me that he’s on the way to the house to fix the xkzcj;ljkahssdf;jh. I say what? He says that he’s on the way to the house to fix the adlkjfa;ldsfja;lkdjf. Huh? The a;dlfja;ldfja;lsdffj. I finally figure out that he means the stove. I tell him, no, that appointment is for Thursday. He says, no, it’s for today, and he’d be at the house in ten minutes.
I said, Crap. Those who know me well know what I really said.
Here I am preparing for a meeting that I am supposed to run that starts in half-an-hour. But, I want the stove fixed right (the realtor’s handyman fixed it yesterday, but it is under warranty, so Iwanted them to look at it). So, I turn over everything ASOK our intern, tell him to tell my boss that I’ve skipped town, to shut my laptop and stuff down at the end of the meeting and lock it all in my
office. He says, “Uh huh.” Actually, his name is Andrew, and he’s a very sharp guy that I like a lot.
I rush home, and the guy is waiting. He has a funny accent. Damned funny accents. I unlock the door, and he comes in and starts looking at the burner. He says, “Did they explain the rate structure to you?” “What?” “A flat-rate of $129.00/hour, plus parts.” “It’s under warranty.” “What?” “I called Best Buy because we have a warranty through them.” “Oh.” “They set this all up.” “Do you have your
warranty agreement?” “No. I’m moving. The paperwork went down a hole. So, I called Best Buy; we figured it out; and, you’re here to fix it.”
Brian, that was his name, picks up his phone an calls his boss and explains it all to him. After some give and take, he gets off the phone and tells mee that the call center at Best Buy screwed up and
didn’t schedule the appointment according to procedure. Hence, the confusion regarding the appointment. “It’s just as well,” he says. “I don’t have the parts to fix it anyway. I’ll have to order them.” “What?!” “I’ll order them, we’ll reschedule, I’ll fix it.” “If you can’t fix it by Thursday, this is a complete waste of time.” *What are you nuts* (that was how he looked at me), “There is no way this is being fixed by Thursday.” “I told Best Buy that if I had to have it
fixed by Thursday because I am moving out of the house on Thursday. They said, no problem.”
He gets back on the phone. He gets off the phone. “I guess we can just cancel the call.” “I guess we can.”
Luckily, as I said, the handyman got it to work yesterday. I just wanted it “officially” fixed. So, if you face this problem, where your electric igniter will not lite your gas stove…take a wire brush…clean the burner with it…brush the two screws beneath the burner…lightly brush the igniter tip. The burner acts as a ground for the electric igniter. If the ground is dirty, then it won’t work.
People who cook get dirty burners. Imagine that. The burner will now light.
Summer of Change XVII
Down to crunch time.
I need to be out of the house on Thursday. So, when I leave work, I go home, and I pack. I will be taking all day Thursday off, and I’ll be finishing up stuff and getting it into the truck. As soon, and I mean just as soon, as I finish packing the truck, I am going to start driving the truck north. I’m going to drive until I simply can’t drive anymore, then pull over, get a room, and sleep for a few hours. Then, I’m going to get up, start driving, and drive until I ended up at my new home in Oregon.
Escrow closes on Monday.
I fly back to SD on Monday with Cristina. We’ll have no house, so we’re bumming for a week. Cristina’s going to spend the week down here finishing up some details, then she’s going home on Saturday. On Saturday, I will begin staying with my son. That should be interesting. 
On Thursday, he and I drive to Cottage Grove, sharing the driving so we can drive straight through. On Friday, for once and for all, I’ll be able to call Cottage Grove home. Yay!!
Carole King – The Living Room Tour
My introduction to Carole King came in my sixth grade music class way back in 1971. Our teacher tried to interest us in the idea of singing for pleasure by having us sing lyrics contemporary for the time from handwritten charts that she hung on the wall at the front of the class. Sometimes, she’d sit down at the piano and play the song as we sang; other times, she’d put the LP (those vinyl things, kids) on the record player, and we’d sing along with whatever artist she’d chosen to play.
One of the LPs that we just about wore out that year was Carole King’s quintessential pop masterpiece Tapestry. The very first song we sang from that album was “I Feel The Earth Move.” Somewhat more illicitly, since the lyrics were considered a bit inappropriate for eleven- and twelve-year-olds, we knew every word of “Smackwater Jack” and its murderous tale. Thirty-four years later, I still find myself breaking out into a forgetful version of one or both of these songs. I know I’m not the only one, either.
The longevity of Carole King’s pop standards – dare I use that term? – are one of the key points in history that ties those of us over forty back to our childhood. I suppose that’s one of the inviting aspects of her newly released CD, The Living Room Years, a compilation of live performances in three separate venues across the United States: Cape Cod Melody Tent in Hyannis, Massachussetts; Auditorium Theatre in Chicago; and the very famous Greek Theatre in Los Angeles. Perhaps the most engaging aspect of this 2-disc set is just how intimate the recordings come across…it would be easy to believe that one was actually in a small bar listening to her play her piano, or, as she puts it to the audience, right there in someone’s living room.
For the most part, the songs are all of the old ones…many of them straight off of the Tapestry album, but with a more comfortable casualness that one might expect if a group of old friends got together to sing at a party. Not every single note is perfect, and there is more than one example of improvisation – but, it’s all fun stuff. There’s no self-aware modifications to the lyrics or the melody itself, it’s just a singer and a crowd having fun together.
This is an excellent CD, available at a fine Starbucks coffee shop near you. I recommend it for your collection and a gentle, warm, comfortable evening with an old friend.
