Furniture Construction Trip >>> Day 8 (Thursday, 18 May 2006) CRUNCH DAY!!! Time to panic …
I wake up in panic …lots to do, no time to do it. I even call Northwest Airlines to try to change my flight to Saturday or Sunday. I stay on hold 30 minutes and get no response. Their “elite flyer” service never picks up in this time. Crappy service. I hang up and start to prioritize to hit the necessities first, nice-to-haves second.
Priority one is cleaning. The place needs to be ready for renters, should we find some for June and July, when I leave. I start vacuuming and mopping and dusting like a madman. I’m making progress … and things start to look better … much better.
I haul “tons” of cardboard to the recycling bin this week, and half of it goes in today. And there’s still more to come.
I mopped the tile floors several times when I was here in March, but there is still a very fine, gritty, white dust from the plaster and stucco-like walls and ceilings. It is a bear to get off the floor. After a few more full moppings, I appear to have broken the back of the cleanup of the tile floors … finally.
I need to go grab a few items at the store. First, nuts and washers for the terrace umbrella, which were left out of the hardware packet that came with it. Then, storage containers to store “our stuff” in the box closet. One might think of this as an “owner’s closet” like in most seasonal rental apartments or condominiums, although just about every apartment building has these here. A hose, connectors, and nozzles for the terrace. Little things like that.
On the way there, I try to get the gas tank for the BBQ filled one last time. Success! I finally figure out the process. It’s not an exchange process, but you’re supposed to leave the tank one day, it’s sent to a service center, and it’s shipped back for pickup the next day. The attendant acts like we’re doing some kind of drug deal, tells me he’ll do it this one time, and fill it for me. E6.00 and I’m on my way. Now that I know the drill … no worries. My guess is that they test the tank at the center for safety purposes, which can’t be done at the gas station.
I get back to the apartment and continue cleaning like a crazy person. By 11:45 PM, I’m exhausted, but pretty much done. I’ve got to get up at 4 AM for a 6:45 AM flight to Munich, so I pack it in and hit the sack. I have no dinner but eat the remainder of a chuck of pecorino (and man, was it good) and a few glasses of wine.
I’d be remiss to finish this piece without adding something about the music I’ve listened to in order to make it through this week. I am a 47-year-old music freak. With my i-Pod jammed with thousands of songs (6,000+), I have quite a selection from which to choose. Thanks to Coldplay, Lynard Skynard, Randy Travis (gulp, I have no idea where that one came from, sorry!), OAR (a fabulous “new” band from my home town of Columbus, Ohio), Hootie & the Blowfish, Dave Matthews, James Blunt, The Fray (great new music), Oasis (why don’t I listen to them more often?), Matchbox 20, Vosco Rossi, and a bunch more I can’t remember, I made it through.
I also listened to RDS radio, which plays Italian Top 20 all day and all night (“cento percento … grande successo!” an inside joke) … which is radically different than US Top 20, let me tell you. I am no fan of Hip Hop (where did they get that name for it anyway?), and they’re just my kind of radio station. I have eclectic tastes in music, but get past the very few Hip Hop performers who do some mildly amusing crossover work and I get real tired of anything Hip Hop real fast. I can say that it is the only music I can’t stand to listen to … everything else, including country, heavy metal, classical, opera, techno, dance, blues, jazz, etc. etc. etc. are fine.
Oh yeah, here’s what the final result of all the work this week looks like:
http://www.italianrealestateassist.com/photo_gallery_rent.htm
What do you think?
Priority one is cleaning. The place needs to be ready for renters, should we find some for June and July, when I leave. I start vacuuming and mopping and dusting like a madman. I’m making progress … and things start to look better … much better.
I haul “tons” of cardboard to the recycling bin this week, and half of it goes in today. And there’s still more to come.
I mopped the tile floors several times when I was here in March, but there is still a very fine, gritty, white dust from the plaster and stucco-like walls and ceilings. It is a bear to get off the floor. After a few more full moppings, I appear to have broken the back of the cleanup of the tile floors … finally.
I need to go grab a few items at the store. First, nuts and washers for the terrace umbrella, which were left out of the hardware packet that came with it. Then, storage containers to store “our stuff” in the box closet. One might think of this as an “owner’s closet” like in most seasonal rental apartments or condominiums, although just about every apartment building has these here. A hose, connectors, and nozzles for the terrace. Little things like that.
On the way there, I try to get the gas tank for the BBQ filled one last time. Success! I finally figure out the process. It’s not an exchange process, but you’re supposed to leave the tank one day, it’s sent to a service center, and it’s shipped back for pickup the next day. The attendant acts like we’re doing some kind of drug deal, tells me he’ll do it this one time, and fill it for me. E6.00 and I’m on my way. Now that I know the drill … no worries. My guess is that they test the tank at the center for safety purposes, which can’t be done at the gas station.
I get back to the apartment and continue cleaning like a crazy person. By 11:45 PM, I’m exhausted, but pretty much done. I’ve got to get up at 4 AM for a 6:45 AM flight to Munich, so I pack it in and hit the sack. I have no dinner but eat the remainder of a chuck of pecorino (and man, was it good) and a few glasses of wine.
I’d be remiss to finish this piece without adding something about the music I’ve listened to in order to make it through this week. I am a 47-year-old music freak. With my i-Pod jammed with thousands of songs (6,000+), I have quite a selection from which to choose. Thanks to Coldplay, Lynard Skynard, Randy Travis (gulp, I have no idea where that one came from, sorry!), OAR (a fabulous “new” band from my home town of Columbus, Ohio), Hootie & the Blowfish, Dave Matthews, James Blunt, The Fray (great new music), Oasis (why don’t I listen to them more often?), Matchbox 20, Vosco Rossi, and a bunch more I can’t remember, I made it through.
I also listened to RDS radio, which plays Italian Top 20 all day and all night (“cento percento … grande successo!” an inside joke) … which is radically different than US Top 20, let me tell you. I am no fan of Hip Hop (where did they get that name for it anyway?), and they’re just my kind of radio station. I have eclectic tastes in music, but get past the very few Hip Hop performers who do some mildly amusing crossover work and I get real tired of anything Hip Hop real fast. I can say that it is the only music I can’t stand to listen to … everything else, including country, heavy metal, classical, opera, techno, dance, blues, jazz, etc. etc. etc. are fine.
Oh yeah, here’s what the final result of all the work this week looks like:
http://www.italianrealestateassist.com/photo_gallery_rent.htm
What do you think?
posted by Mark Pukita | 9:42 AM
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