Journal -- July 10, 2022

Sunday, July 10, 2022 – A week of distractions, some pleasant and others not so much. Let’s catch up.

On Tuesday, my eye caught a curious stain next to the laundry washer and discovered a significant wall of mold upon moving it aside. In short order, I wrote a letter and went in person to the leasing office to request someone to come out.

Maintenance at my apartment has been extremely frustrating since moving in April 2021, with many tickets/issues left open and unresolved for months. I can’t let them slack on this. I will have to keep on them.

A repair man came by for a quick evaluation and attempted to fix some other open issues but not the mold. The next day after another letter and meeting, a second repair man came by and did some drywall removal. Best I can tell, he still needs to remove more drywall on the other side of the wall. He’ll also need to address the leaky faucet causing the issue. Unfortunately, he does not work here full time. I don’t think this will happen until next week. He’ll also need to reinstall the water heater as it was not installed properly (has an unsafe vent) in March by a since-fired maintenance repair man with whom I had many negative experiences.

I took the week’s events to reignite my plans to consider moving to a new place and spent a fair amount of time cataloging some options over the next few days. On Friday, I drove around to visit some apartments in person. While part of me is considering buying a house, I’m not sure if I am willing to commit to a specific location right now. Things feel fluid for me, so I’d be more comfortable thinking about this in terms of a 1-2 year apartment plan.

Otherwise, to all that, I did have a nice night at the Phillies game on Tuesday and a fun BBQ / pool day at a friend of my sister’s yesterday. My sister is over her COVID infection and testing negative again, which is fantastic.

Today was the weekly food order (done!), and I have plans for some apartment chores in the afternoon alongside having the Phillies game on in the background.

Tomorrow is my birthday! Planning breakfast with my sister in the morning and dinner with my aunts/uncles in the evening. Nothing too crazy, but I am a simple old man, and I’ll have it no other way.