Post #1 (Morning): I'm at home today, having received a 6am wakeup call from a surly plumber telling me that my new hot water heater will be installed between 12pm and 4pm today. I love those windows of time installation professionals can use. I'd like to be able to tell people at my job that they could meet with me "between 1pm and 5pm" and just have them sit in their offices until I arrived. Maybe when I work my way up the corporate ladder, I'll do just that. (Absolute power currupts absolutely...and I can't wait!)

Tara took Bonnie away with her. They're moving to Tara's sister's house which is very far away, so Tara left very early this morning (I wasn't even awake) and so I woke up to an empty dog crate and a very quiet house. Rita the Cat seems overjoyed. I felt a little sad, but Bonnie was so thrilled to see her mom last night that I'm glad they're together again. Plus, I don't have the time to look after a dog. I'm glad I got to foster Bonnie so I could realize that. If I had a big backyard, I could have a dog, because I could let him/her play outside whenever I was home, but I have no backyard at all, and walking around my neighborhood just isn't as much fun as it sounds like.

Now I don't have to rush home to put the dog out before I go out for the evening. I don't have to fit two walks (somehow, Bonnie trained me into walking her before and after I got dressed for work) in before heading out for work. I don't have to find shoes and a plastic poop baggie at 11pm because she didn't quite finish her business at 10:30, when I thought we'd taken our final walk of the evening.

But I will miss a wagging tail and a little presence following me around the house when I go about my business. She's a cute dog, and I'm glad she's happy.

Post #2 (Later that day)

I was called at 6am last week by the installation company for my hot water heater, telling me that they'd be in that very day to do the installation. Considering the fact that I had no warning and had stuff to do at work that couldn't be put off, I asked them when I could reschedule. I was told, "We'll call you when we can come back, but it can't be any sooner than Tuesday."

This morning, I got another 6am call, letting me know that the installers would be in between 12 and 4. I said okay, and have waited. Promptly at 4pm, I called the installers, and I was told they ran into problems on the first two installations ("you know, these things happen," she said), and there were two jobs ahead of mine, so I could reschedule for another time, or they'd show up as soon as they could, "Probably late tonight."

Considering I've already taken one day off work, I was not enthused about the idea. I asked what time the installers would be here and got, "Well, they're really backed up, so like I said, it'll be late tonight."

I said I'd like a timeframe, and was told that they couldn't give me one, considering they had two jobs ahead of me. I bitched at the customer service woman, and she put me on with the dispatcher, who urged me to reschedule, since the installers were so backed up. I told him that I wasn't going to reschedule, and they needed to come today.

He's currently calling the installers to find out when they can arrive. I called Sears about it, and they said that once the hot water heater is sold, it's not Sears' responsibility to set a time for installation. No recompense, they wash their hands. The customer service woman at Sears, Brandee, said "these things happen," as well.

I'm beyond pissed right now.

30 minutes later: I called the installation company back, and the dispatcher was very polite & apologetic. He said that he had the hot water heater switched from one truck to another, and the installer would be there before 6. Amazing what happens when you make enough noise.

Post #3 (Self-explanatory):

The installers arrived. They asked how the original hot water tank got in the basement. I said, "I don't know, because I just bought the house."

"We can't get the old tank out or the new tank in," the more neanderthal-like installer guy said.

"Umm..." I said.

"There's no way." He went outside and talked on the phone for a few minutes. When he came back in, he said, "We're going to have to try and find you something that'll fit down those stairs. How many people live here?"

"Just me," I said.

"You're gonna need something really small," he said. (Note: I have a 30-gallon hot water tank in the basement right now, which apparently was installed less than 10 years ago BY MAGIC!) "We're going to have to look into it and call you back when we get a replacement that'll fit. We won't be able to remove your old tank, either."

"When will that happen?" I said.

"We'll call you," he said.

And then, as if in passing, he said, "The boss says that there's going to be a service charge for this trip." Before I could speak, he held up one hand, "I'm not getting into it with you. Bring it up with him."

Of course.

I'm going to go hang myself in the shower, because that's all it's good for right now.

Obviously, I didn't hang myself in the shower (I don't have rope in the house). Instead, I got a call from Scott, who listened to my tale of woe, made the right tut-tut noises, and then said that we should have fun and have our DVD date anyway.

He had bought Saw II, but hadn't seen the original Saw, which I own, so I brought it with me. Also, in case he was kind of squicked out by the gore in the first movie, I brought along a Margaret Cho DVD.

Halfway through the first movie, the most amazing lightning storm ran across the sky. We went up to his upstairs screened-in porch (a "sleeping porch", it's called) and watched the chain lightning. Scott grabbed his camera and got a little bit irritated that he couldn't snap pictures of the lightning. I suggested he use the video function, and he caught a couple of beautiful bolts of lightning. His cats (Dusty and Misty) were intrigued by the storm, and sat in the windows watching the show.

I gave him his birthday present, a Josh Simpson paperweight. His taste in decor is a 180-degree turn from mine (he loves Victoriana, which I also love, but I also love to purge, so I can't really stuff the house to the gills like it should be for that style). The planet is much more a "thing about me" gift that'll fit into his house than a "thing about you" gift that tells him how much I know about him. And since we've just known each other for a couple of weeks.

His birthday is tomorrow. He's going to his sister's house on the beach for the day (and I think overnight). Happy Birthday, Scott!