Smarter, Not Harder

Being a first-time voter, finding it so easy to fill in the ballot, drop it off at a “official” official box ─ not that GOP trick box, I was looking at the news this morning, seeing all these folks in line waiting to vote, I can’t but wonder WHY?

Under the theory of doing things "smarter, not harder", why put yourself through a long line when there was an easier option?

I also saw on the news that ─ if No. 45 doesn’t come up with a way to avoid doing so, there’s to be another debate. I of course won’t be watching, but thought I’d share with you the clever way a friend of a friend on facebook came up with to stomach No. 45 at the last debate.
 

Nothing new on the drama between Bicycle Boy and Apache. I’ve not seen either one since, but The Baker ─ whom I ran into as I was returning from the Pain Cave, said Bicycle Boy is maintaining a low profile. Not speaking to anyone ... as if anyone cares.

Monday was roof gutter cleaning day around here. There were men climbing long ladders to gain access to the roof, knocking down all kinds of debris onto the patio.

I was totally expecting to have a mess to clean up but, once done with an area, the guys actually climbed onto the patio and used a leaf blower to clean up the mess.

That was thoughtful. Obviously, a separate service from our maintenance people, who couldn’t care less, as witnessed by the smoke detector still dangling from the ceiling since well-before the pandemic prevented maintenance entering units.

Believe it or not, the situation may get rectified this Friday, because notices were posted to our doors that Friday is “inspection and testing to ensure all smoke detectors are working properly and identifying whether your heating/air conditioning unit require a new air filter”.

It’s going to take great willpower not to go postal on the guys if they ask me something stupid like, “When did this happen” or “What happened here” because I’ve told them and told them and told them there’s something wrong with the detector ─ beeping every few days, with there being hours and hours and hours of beeping torture before maintenance shows up to change the battery they’d changed just the week before.

And not only have I repeatedly complained about the detector being faulty but, at the Residents/Management meeting we had in February, I brought up the issue the detector had gone off at 3:30 a.m. one morning AND not wanting to be tortured all morning and half the day until Head Maintenance Guy showed up with his lazy arse to put in yet another battery, I figured it out and put in a battery my own self. However, in the process, that the detector had dislodged from the ceiling.

So, they knew. Said “We’ll look into it”. Never did. So don’t ask me What, When, How.

At any rate, the detector has been working just fine since it dislodged from the ceiling, Which tells me, rather than Maintenance, an Electrician is required. It also tells me, once Maintenance reposition the thing, whatever is wrong with the wiring will cause the beeping to start up again.

If it does, I’ll just accidently cause it to dangle again and hope management will get in really hot water if and when the fire department follows up with its annual inspection.

I’m actually not too thrilled about the guys coming into my place after visiting other units, but the notice indicates the guys will be wearing protective equipment, that “includes a face covering, shoe coverings and gloves” And that they’ll be “changing protective equipment after each apartment inspection”.

We’ll see. But my plan is to mask myself, step outside onto the patio until they're gone, and then to Lysol spray the heck out of the unit once they leave, before I unmask to the inside air.

So, anyway, after the gutter cleaners finished their work in my area yesterday, I headed off to the Pain Cave and spotted a white dove on the railing across the quad.

Dislodged from its resting place by the commotion on the roof, thought I.

I wanted to stop and film the rare sight, but was running late.

Lo and behold, the dove waited for me to return.

 

 I’ve been watching for the dove to reappear since, but I guess his/her performance was for one day only.

The weather is cooling, so the plan for tomorrow is to get up early, head to a different mall ─ still miles away, complete the DC Batman 5K.