August 11, 2015 The Second Day at Westview
Late yesterday afternoon both Eric and the drywallers assured me that they would both be working on the renovation by 830am. However, it's after 10am and they haven't arrived on the scene, but the guy from U-verse/ATT showed promptly at 855am, and his scheduled appointment was between nine and eleven am so he's very much ahead of the game. It's now after 10am and the U-verse/ATT guy hasn't even been in the house. He checked the box on the back of the house, stared at the pole in the neighbor's yard, and then drove away. He also informed me that he was only here to connect the Internet, the change of phone service was not included in his order. It's not clear as to whether both orders can be done today. I can't believe that you can have Internet without phone service, but he acts as if this is quite common.
It's a beautiful day and I would love to go for a run as the temperature is only in the low 70's without a trace of humidity, but I've got to be present as long as U-verse is here. Once the connection is made, I'm outta here!
I spent some time trying to get the storm windows up and the screens down, but this doesn't look like it will be possible. Wherever they are now seems to be the way that they'll stay. ...One fun at a time... I'm still trying to boil water, but my thirty dollar pot won't recognize the signal from the stove. I can't describe how much I miss my relatively new gas stove. 'Cutting Edge' does NOT mean that you need to consult a manual to turn the appliance ON. I did manage to get the microwave to operator, but to change the time seems to be a graduate level endeavour.
I hope that Ernie is painting the downstairs at the condo. I still don't know what to do about the basement leak. I'll email Joe as soon as the guy from U-verse/ATT gets things running, but we're already into extra innings. And, still no sign of the construction crews on the basement renovation.
At 1025am another truck from ATT has arrived on the scene. Just a few minutes ago I saw the first guy in the backyard with crime scene tape(?), mark off an area, and then he threw up his hands. My confidence is evaporating quickly. On the bright side, the Boze radio in the kitchen is picking up the signal from 90.9 FM in Champaign perfectly, but he stereo in the living room can't seem to grasp it (at all).
1035am- Anderson Construction has arrived.
1045am- The Drywallers are here.
ATT guy has informed me that a temporary line will be installed along the fence on the south side of the property. Sometime later they will bury this cable. Apparently when the brick patio was built, the line was cut. This repair is of no cost to me, and I don't have to be present when the work is done. I wonder what type of Internet service the Rabbs' had, because it was certainly NOT ATT.
The easiest way to put in the Internet is to connect the modem to the exiting wires in the living room. He assures me that this would be easier than routing a connection to the back bedroom. Buddy shows little interest in the computer wiring, and I hope the same holds true for the modem.
I took a few moments to make sure that the Blu Ray/TV connection is working, and it is. A guy from ATT is now at the pole in the southeast corner of the alley (I don't really have an alley, but there seems to be a break in the property lines from the houses on the street directly east).
Eric's plan was to spray paint the ceiling before the drywallers started sanding. Sounds risky to me....dust in fresh paint?, but Eric assures me that this is quite normal, and I think that he hopes that it's quick drying paint.
Two hours and fifteen minutes since the first guy arrived, and no Internet and I don't hear much activity below decks. However, we all heard some colorful swearing from Eric. He and his helper are out on the street by the Anderson van.
1120am- The drywallers have just left the scene. Are they done? These guys have been on the job for eight days, and I don't think they have done even eight hours of work. The feeling seems to be that most of their 'work' involves 'waiting for things to dry'. Nice work if you can get it.
U-verse guy says that since I'm using the same modem, everything should be the same as it was before. But, we'll see. The PC has a wireless connection and before, the modem was hooked to the laptop which doesn't have wifi.
I connected all of my devices to the Internet by 1215pm. The U-verse tech is now in his truck finding out when I can get Phone service. It's cheaper for me to get the dial tone from the modem, I wasn't aware of this and he told me it's called 'voip'. The downside is that during a power outage I would not have phone service, but a small price to pay.
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