Of course, most things malfunction (at least in our world, where best buddy B. has recently speculated about Mallett "ju ju" problems!) but, usually, John is around to take the lead on figuring out the problem and fixing it. I appreciate his skills and willingness to shoulder these burdens which include maintaining/fixing: cars, boats, homes, hot tubs, lawn mowers, household appliances and, the biggest bugbear...computers (and, due to our lifestyle, we have four - all quite new and high powered, but each with its own glitches and idiosyncracies).
John has mostly been up at our cottage since we got home from Mexico in April; he's trying to make headway on our large addition that started getting built 2 years ago. Completion is looking like another 2 years away. Anyway, he's got his hands full.
I am back and forth to Victoria each week for work, and to manage some things that ordinarily I would rely on John to handle. I've had to cope, on my own, with two of my biggest areas of weakness - construction repairs and computers. Okay, I admit I usually resort to getting John on speakerphone at the first sign of problems, but it's either that or have a raving crying fit.
Sewer back-up flood repairs are nearing completion on our Victoria condo (it's been almost 4 months). The lower kitchen cabinets in one section were all replaced and I stopped by to check on how they looked (we knew colour matching could be a problem). Here is what I saw - a "two-toned" kitchen with creamy-white lower (new) cabinets compared to the creamy-yellow tones on the original upper cabinets. Not acceptable, yet there they were - installed.
So, I had to raise the ruckus, point out the mis-match, meet with the restoration company, and have the insurance adjustor come and look as well. The restoration services guy apparently didn't agree with me that there was a problem (but didn't tell me that, the chicken) but, luckily, the insurance adjustor wasn't colour blind and actually agreed with me. The cabinets were taken out and are being redone now - fingers crossed.
Then there's been the whole back and forth about proper reinstallation of our built-in dishwasher which has taken 3 times to get nearly right, and it's still not there. Those conversations have been painful in the extreme. WTF - it's NOT rocket science! I can explain what I want and what's wrong with how they've done it but the guy focuses on asking me questions about how it was installed 9 years before...how the " H - E - double toothpicks" would I know or remember anything about that?! Like I said, I have John on speed dial for these moments and he always has the answer and keeps me out of the newspaper headlines for assaulting a repair guy.
The other bane of my existence is computers. The new one we took to Mexico last winter had some weird, undiagnosable/unfixable, problem with the screen - it would turn reverse black and white, like an old photographic negative. Of course it would never do this for the repair technician! I finally took a picture of the problem laptop side-by-side with the monitor we use for our TV screen and was able to provide that as proof of the existence of a problem.
We ended up getting a replacement laptop, and it's now going in for servicing already. It turns on by itself at all hours (which is a fire hazard, especially when it turns on in the confined space of a briefcase) and the screen acts up as well (flickers and goes black). Big sigh.
And I spent almost a day and half this week trying to diagnose and fix the fact that, suddenly, I could not send e-mail from the hotel where we have been living for almost 4 months. This involved lots of time on the phone with John, the tech guy for the hotel (outgoing server) and my internet service provider (incoming server). Everyone else (apart from John) is so quick to suspect your computer and not their server, so I had to learn about and then jump through all the diagnostic hoops and fixes within my control first, before I could convince them they needed to look into this. Have I emphasized enough that this is my definition of hell?
I must say, I learned a lot and am more functional now in some key areas re: setting up e-mail accounts and checking things, but it was painful and frustrating because I despise having to deal with this stuff (my usual contribution to diagnosing and fixing is just to wail "John, there's something wrong with the computer!"). I can only imagine John's pain and frustration having to deal with helping me long distance by phone, but he managed it!
And, it turned out the whole problem was with the hotel's server and their internet service provider (ISP) which had shut down the flow of mail (just via Outlook) due to detecting a virus unleashed by one of the hotel guests who had been spamming...but did they think to tell anyone the system was locked down?? So there I am calling the front desk, asking if anything has changed (because I can't send e-mail) and they keep telling me no, and that I am the only one complaining. The nice hotel computer tech guy didn't even know the ISP had cut off the service. Sheesh, sometimes it really feels like the world is out to make me doubt my sanity.
And, did I mention I am handling all this stress without my beloved red wine? Yup, I have been sticking to my zero alcohol and zero refined carbs regime. With those things eliminated and all the kitchen condo/computer stress, I MUST have lost some weight this week! Please, something good has to result from my suffering!
Todo bien. (It's all good.)
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