You know that I mentioned that the weather had got a little colder recently? Well, there is a cold front bearing down on us, and it is pretty parky outside I can tell you!! It's snowing in the high areas of northern Virginia, and I'm glad we're not living there....as we switched on the heat the other night and the furnace made the most horrendous grinding, crunching, wheezing noise I have ever heard. It turned out to be its death rattle. We got the furnace company out yesterday and there was a lot of teeth sucking. It's 22 years only, and the guy was saying it would be difficult to get parts. Basically it was going to be around a $1000 to repair it, or $2600 to replace it.
Stephen phoned me in work, asking my where our landlady's phone number is, so he could call her and discuss the options. It was a frustrating phone call between me and him! I knew the phone number was going to be in one of three places (my piles of filing!), but Stephen is rubbish at looking for things!! He will lift one piece of paper, then go "I can't find it"...which is basically what he did yesterday (maybe he lifted two pieces!). I'm on the phone in the office, explaining exactly what he was looking for, and trying not to get annoyed with him every time he went "ach, I can't find it" (every few seconds!). When I hung up Paul (the boss) appeared out of his office and dangled his car keys and said "if you want...". (A brave man to offer they keys of his BMW Z3!!!).
Stephen phoned back a few minutes later to say he had found the phone number, and had left messages for Caryn and her brother (who runs the property management company, and who left our front door open). When they phoned back Caryn agreed immediately that replacement was the best option (she said she had hoped to get another couple of years out of it, which implied she knew that it was on the verge of death!). The good news is that a new until will be quieter - the current one sounded like having a jet engine in the cupboard off the den! The bad news is that the company can't replace the unit until Wednesday...
Rudy was really kind, and offered us a place to stay if it all got too cold. We were joking that he would have to hide the good wine and whisky, and put out the plonk! I don't think we'll have to take him up on the offer. The top floor of the house (the master suite) has a separate heating system, so it's toasty up there, and we have wood fires in the Den and Sitting Room. Of course, we had wood fires, but nothing to burn on them! We had to make a run to Target and Lowes this morning to get fire starters, a poker set, a log basket, logs...plus the stuff for winter...de-icer, a long handled scraper, some de-icing granules for the paths. It was quite a haul!!
We bought firelogs as well as proper logs, as these light in 5 minutes without hassle. Not having lit many open fires in my lifetime (and last time I did it involved paper twists, kindling and prayers that it would take!) we wanted an easy option for when we get home from work. I'm prepared to put the time in lighting a proper one at the weekends, but after work I want instant heat! Stephen remembered that there are often flaps that need to be opened in the chimney, so was soon on his knees with his head up the chimney. Then he was on his back with his arms up the chimney, swearing! The flap was broken at one side, so it wouldn't stay open... It took a few minutes of swearing, thumping, swearing, jiggling, swearing, but eventually he got it open. My hero! He was absolutely black with soot when he was finished, but we now have fire!!
Stephen has now gone off to Summers restaurant to watch the Scotland soccer match. They're playing Italy in the Euro2008 qualifiers. One of the guys in the UK sent Stephen a link to the game trailer on YouTube - it was really good!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAFA_X-iMHY&feature=related I only hope that the game lives up to the hype!
We have had a lot of problems in work this week with the US servers going down. I could still connect using my UK laptop, so I was okay but the US folks were getting rather frustrated that they couldn't communicate with the outside world. It's amazing how much you rely on e-mail and internet!! Turns out that someone has been unplugging us from our port. When it went down again yesterday Dawn was in the lift and downstairs to the server room in a trice. There was a technician in there, swearing blind that our port was his port. I wouldn't have wanted to be in his shoes! Dawn was looking pretty fierce!
As it was POETS day, Paul suggested that the office close early and we all go over the road to Jaleo for a drink. What a laugh! Dawn said something so funny that Paul literally spit his beer all over her!! We headed home after a couple and pretty much went straight out as we were cold! I don't know what I was thinking when I got ready! Instead of pulling on my warm coat, I pulled on my little wool jacket. Within 3 blocks I was frozen, my teeth were actually chattering!! We had a super hot Thai curry to warm me up...but the service was a little rushed (massive understatement!). They actually whipped my starter plate away whilst I was lifting the food to my mouth!! The food was good , but there was no chance to enjoy it! We popped into the Jazz bar (or the QQ weekend office as we now call it!) for an hour. The band were good, but my only slight whinge was that the band leader played bass guitar, so every song had a minimum of 2 bass guitar solos - superb musicianship - but still - yawn!! On the very plus side, we discovered that a gallon of Baileys was only a dollar more expensive that a glass of wine!!!
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