...gang aft agley.

I chose an appropriate enough motto for the previous post because the ending certainly came true yesterday.

One of the crews broke a car window.  Another crew broke a classroom window.  Another crew got a mower stuck in a hole.  Another crew got a truck stuck.  Yet another crew broke a bolt on a mower wheel.  (If I had a nickel for each time one of our mechanics said, "I've never seen that happen before," I'd be rich -- and I've been here only a month.)  The arborist clogged the expelling chute of the chipper.  The phones in the main office conked out right as I walked in the door.  Worst of all, I got a voice mail that there has been "a delay" with my POD delivery, and it won't be here until Tuesday.  (I'm not holding my breath.)  That's a pity, since there is beautiful weather up through Tuesday, which would've been great for unloading and moving in.

Still, I picked up my apartment keys, so one good thing did happen.  I took more detailed measurements, so I could plan how to arrange my living room and dining room furniture.  (The bed has to go in one spot in the bedroom, as that's the only wall where a king size bed and two nightstands will fit.)  I performed my move-in inspection.  (If the place had been cleaned by the previous tenant, it certainly wasn't up to my standards.)  A serious concern is the "skin" of the drywall ceiling loose and crumbling right above the shower head.  (I'll mention that to the office on Monday, as they had closed for the weekend by the time I finished my inspection.)  Plus, I have to buy some of these very effective air fresheners because the previous tenant apparently was a smoker.  (The landlord has a policy against candles of any sort because they are flammable.  Go figure.)

I cleaned the sink, toilet, counter, and floor in the bathroom, and the appliances, sink, counters, and floor in the kitchen.  There still are stains on top of the refrigerator, so I might need to get some more effective cleaner or use some sort of scrubby thing.  I decided to hold off on cleaning the cabinets until tomorrow, as I was in a pretty good mood and didn't want to spoil it.

I'm settled on the arrangement of the living room furniture.  It will work quite well with the placement of outlets.  My only question is where to put the bookcase.  I'm thinking against one of the dining room walls, but that might not leave adequate room to pass the table on the way to or from the kitchen.  It also might fit in the bedroom (with a similar narrowing of the space between closet and bed).  What I think I'll do is get all the other furniture spaced first and then decide where to put the bookcase.  (Since it's in the front corner of the POD, it's conveniently placed to stay there until last.)

I picked up some shelf paper and other necessities at a discount department store, and I was waylaid by the flowers they had out front.  I had thought some magenta geraniums might contrast well with the gray walls outside the apartment, and they had some – but some red salvia and yellow marigolds would look good, too, as would those dark red nicotiana.  If I had my POD today, I could've bought them all and planted some in the ground and the rest in my flower pots.  Oh well, the silver lining of the inconvenience is that I didn't spend more money.

As it turns out, my weekend has suddenly become quite "flexible".  I had planned on treating myself to dinner and dessert (and maybe even a Dr. Pepper) on Saturday at Freddy's, but should I hold off on that until my POD arrives and I have something to celebrate?  At this time, I'm still planning on heading over there, since it's only a few blocks from the mall where I have to buy the air fresheners.  (Convenient, no?)

Oh, yeah, and the hotel didn't have internet connectivity again yesterday.  That's some pretty powerful agley, don't you think?