and using very bad puns. You see, about 3 weeks ago, there appeared some signs in the elevators instructing us lowly inhabitants that on the 24th of June there would be no hot water for several hours and that in the beginning of July they would be doing work that involved replacing 2 water heaters. No biggie. I thought it was smart to put these signs in the elevator.

June 24 came and hadn’t realized it so I tried to run the hot water to no avail. It coughed at me, perhaps released a spray of water, I recalled the date and was content to wait it out. No biggie.

But after the water was supposed to be back, to the point of 12 hours later, we were having issues. Initially, turning on the water did nothing. Then it released grossly yellow water in a fit of coughing. Out of the bathroom sink came something that appeared to be some sort of seal for the faucet. It came out in several smaller pieces and then finally one big chunk. I do not think this is “normal.”

Eventually, after running the water from all sinks (the kitchen faucet seemed like it was about to fly off but it has a history of doing that), which at first meant coughing fits that made the surrounding areas quite wet with yellow water, the coughing and discolouration stopped and we appeared to have normal water.

Almost.

The issue we continue to have is that our hot water is not working very well. You cannot wash your hands in hot water in the bathroom unless you turn the water on 5 minutes before you even realize you need to use the facilities which is just silly and wasteful.

The shower/tub is another thing altogether. Our solution so far is to turn the water to the hottest setting, letting it get hot and gradually turn it back down to comfortable. Turning it to comfortable from the beginning means it doesn’t get hot at all. Sometimes this doesn’t work, though, and it just stays scalding hot. I’ve found that, occasionally if I turn the cold water-that-should-be-hot off and then back on, it works. It’s all guesswork.

The kitchen tap takes a bit longer to become hot but doesn’t seem to have any of the more serious issues of the other 2.

To add insult to injury, they expect us to give them 2 more days – for a total of 8 hours – where we cannot use hot water because they’re swapping out steam something or anothers. Hell, I’m not even sure what they did the first day!

I guess I can’t complain. I can’t even use hot water now so maybe I won’t even notice the difference.

Not to be confused with “Save the Date” which is a ridiculous concept. No, I’m talking about on your blog. Please, for the love of all that is good, show the damned date for your posts! I want to know when you wrote this, especially if I’m coming from an outside link that doesn’t show it. I am absolutely amazed by how many sites do not do this. Absurd!

Just a thought – I finally tried Sake. I figured I had to before I left and Ben said, so too! I was really.. unimpressed. I tried it cold and it tasted like a mix of beer and soy sauce. Now, I don’t mind the soy sauce but I’ve never liked beer. I grinned and bore down 3 shots before giving up. Oh well!

I know this is a little irrelevant now as we’re assuming Obama is our democratic candidate which, if true, is awesome for him but I’d noticed something of interest. I was perusing the political macros site, PunditKitchen, not too long ago and, of course, many of the macros focused on our presidential candidates: McCain who looks older than Grandpa Simpson, Clinton who has a vagina and Obama who is chocolate coloured.

Not surprisingly, Clinton and Obama were the most popular subjects as their now-defunct rivalry raged on. I noticed certain trends among these humourous images, trends that were slightly less subtle than Hillary’s breasts of Obama’s skin but interesting trends nonetheless.

Both candidates have a particular look in these macros and one could easily say that opponents would pick specific types of images to fuel their argument but I believe that there are simply an abundance of photos which show Obama and Clinton in stereotypical roles.

So what roles do I speak of?

In Clinton’s case, she often looks angry or irate, desperate, snobby and indignant. Obviously, much of this was due to her downhill battle, a battle she never expected to have to fight in the first place. Regardless of the reasons, it leaves me with a bad taste in my mouth. It also doesn’t help that she is and looks older than Obama. I cannot blame her age, with it comes (hopefully) experience, wisdom and many good years. I applaud her for not being botoxed to hell (although I suspect there is some work done) and she generally keeps herself neat but there is no hiding the fact that she is no longer a young woman and, on top of these qualities she is broadcasting, this makes a very unflattering portrait, one which makes me dubious of Clinton as a person.

On the other hand, Obama rarely looks these things. If anything, Obama frequently looks happy and sometimes, yes, even silly. The latter is what I think some of those opposed to Obama would see the latter as a weakness to be exploited, but I disagree. To me, it’s comforting to see someone who spends time with his family and doesn’t act as though he’s above everyone else. If Obama sometimes falters, so what? We all do. This simply makes it easier to relate to him as a human, a man like everyone else. I continually have the feeling that Obama could be my neighbour, just another person I could rely on in a time of need, someone to be respected.

Now, one could argue that perhaps Obama is really a good liar, an actor that is worth million in Hollywood. I cannot, without any doubts, argue this. I don’t know. However, I suspect this isn’t the case and that is simply because of the frequency that he is smiling in photos. This man seems genuinely happy with himself and his position in life. Of course, it probably helps that he was winning and felt confident in his campaign, I cannot belittle that, but it seems like that it far from the only factor. Obama gave the impression that he would remain happy whether or not he claimed the candidacy.

I just can’t see someone who appears so content as a liar. Neither could I see someone so indignant as the president. However, as a team, they would be a powerhouse. Still, we’ll have to wait and see on that one.

is only works if you seal it. Glad food storage bags show this excellently; the zip turns colours after it’s sealed. We don’t have any colour changing magic in this household, nosirreebob. You see, this concept is completely lost on my husband. I don’t know if it’s too difficult for him (sorry, love) or if, because it’s a kitchen thing, it falls under the realm of “woman’s stuff” but he just doesn’t get it.

Anything we buy that comes in any sort of zip bag will only remain sealed under 2 conditions: 1) It has not yet been opened and 2) I seal it. Unless we somehow have unzipping gnomes in our pantry and fridge (which seems like a pretty serious problem to me!), Ryan just sucks as sealing these bags.

Cheese, chicken strips, tortillas, hot dogs and other snacks all remain open, as is. By the time I get to them, they’re stale, freezer burned, hard or otherwise not any good to eat. Of course, he sometimes “closes” these bags with clothes pins (much cheaper than chip clips, I guess, but totally not as effective) so I’d like to give him props for effort cause, you know, maybe I can still eat a tiny part of the food that’s protected from that. Not.

I am somehow more evolved? Does he have selective vision? Are his poor fingers somehow less equipped to handle this strange mechanism? These questions all pale in comparison to this “big one.”

Will he mend his ways once he sees I’ve brought to light this issue for the world to see?

Tune in next week, folks!