Various Repairs and Maintenance

So a few things have gotten accomplished this week.

Wednesday, the guy from the fireplace company came out and installed the replacement receiver/controller for the gas fireplace.  He got it installed (nice fire and heat; truly a source of infrared radiation), and then I asked him about getting the heat upstairs.  He said that was an optional attachment.  I said that it was the installation of that blower that had caused the problem in the first place.  In talking on speakerphone with the property manager, we found that there is supposed to be a switch somewhere that turns on the fan to pump the air upstairs.  I told him I know where all of the switches are and what they do.  So we'll see what the future holds with that.

Today, I went for an eye exam.  I found out that my eyes haven't changed since the last time I had them checked.  it sure is nice to have some contacts again.  Plus maybe I can get some new glasses.  I'm very careful with the ones I have, but I think these are closing in on 8 years old, so even with great care, there are scratches showing up.

Now my appointment was at 5:30 in Richmond.  Today was also the day for my replacement stereo for my car to arrive via UPS.  Usually they come between 5:00 and 6:00, but on Friday's with traffic and other circumstances they're usually after 6:00.  I got out of the eye appointment right at 6:00, and checked the iPhone app, and saw there hadn't been a delivery attempt yet, so I kept saying all the way home that I wanted him to arrive at 6:30.  Even allowing for the traffic (I used the wonderful frontage road along the Emeryville Mudflats) I got home in 15 minutes.  Then I raced upstairs hoping he wouldn't arrive while I was en route.  And right at 6:30 the doorbell rang.

So tomorrow, I'll go by SoundSource in Oakland, and see if they can do the work, or if they'll have to talk to the insurance company about full compensation.  And if they have to talk to the insurance company, I'll have to wait for them to do the work on Monday.

Fuego!

So the San Francisco Bay Area is burning. Kind of.

Apparently there are two ways of looking at this.

1. We only do things half ass compared to southern California.
2. We know how to fight fires as opposed to southern California.

Either way the smell of brush fires has been around the Bay Area off and no for the past few weeks.

The Friday before we went to Key West, the hills above Santa Cruz were burning. Earlier this week there was a medium sized fire near Martinez. And this afternoon I got a bit of a scare when John told me about a fire in the Oakland hills. Fortunately it was near Hiller Highlands, and while it would have been scary for my parents when they lived off of Marlborough Terrace in Berkeley, they are safe down off of 13 in Oakland.

For an idea of how close this fire got to buildings, you can check out this blog.

According to my mom, this is pretty close to where the big bad fire started in the hills in October 1991. However, all is well and the fire is contained.