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Moving week: Tuesday

20 July 2010. On today's agenda:

  • Left over from yesterday...
  • Programming of new deadbolt
  • New...
  • Cleaning
  • Delivery of new TV
  • Fix plumbing at dishwasher
  • Replace missing smoke detector in master bedroom
  • Replace burned out light bulb in recessed ceiling lights

button check mark The *%$#! deadbolt

The fine folks at Schlage included an insert in the box, printed on bright yellow paper, suggesting that if you "Need Help?" you should go to their website, specifically: http://consumer.schlage.com/customerservice/howto.asp. There one would find, or so they promise, video clips on how to install and program, downloadable PDF instructions, and answers to commonly asked questions.

Wonderful. Everything except the Product section of the website returns a 403 Forbidden error!

Nevertheless, I am sure I can figure this out. After all, I can read all three languages the instructions are written in, and I have advanced degrees.... After about the 13th attempt, I finally manage to program in one code. In the meantime, I have erased the preset user codes. Argh!!!!

button check mark Cleaning

Anna's Cleaning Service will give the house a good scrub before I move all my stuff in. Actually, that sounds worse than it will be — the house has been left in near-immaculate condition, and cleaning will consist mostly of refreshing the house after sitting vacant for some time: wiping down the surfaces and freshening up the bathrooms.

Anna and her helper Maria arrived with all their cleaning paraphernalia and set to work making the place spic and span. It smells so lemony fresh!

TV delivery

The TV is supposed to arrive from Los Angeles sometime between 12 and 6pm. Of course, if it were being delivered from Ontario, where the box actually started its journey, instead of first being sent to LAX, they might be able to provide a narrower time window.

and...

button check mark Dishwasher

The dishwasher was still here, but it was all disconnected. Maybe the previous owner was going to take it and for whatever reason didn't. Or maybe the previous owner took a brand new dishwasher and replaced it with a different one. At any rate, when Réal and I hooked it up last Saturday, water spewed all over the place from where the hose connects to the plumbing. Being more than I want to attempt, I've called Preferred Plumbing to do the fix.

and...

button check mark Smoke detector

  • Why would someone clearing out of a house take one smoke detector and leave the other five? I don't get it.
  • I picked up another smoke detector at Lowe's and then tried to figure out how to install it. These are AC-powered ones, not battery operated, so there was this wiring harness to contend with and connecting the proper color wires with the existing wires in the outlet box.
  • Got it installed without getting electrocuted. Tested successfully.

    • button check mark Light bulb

    Learn something new every day — when I looked up at the flood lights in the ceiling, I noticed that they had those little spiral flourescents inside. Oh, yeah, said Réal, that's the kind we use at the resort. The only thing is, they don't work on a dimmer.

    Darn. I was thinking of putting all the kitchen floods on a dimmer. Oh well. When I got back from Lowe's and opened the bulb's packaging, inside was a little paper label that had been twisted behind the bulb — dimmable. Hot damn! I can use a dimmer. (Note to self: add to next month's to-do list.)