This has been a crazy week for me.  It started last Saturday with the move and the craziness we encountered from both Budget and Time Warner.

Then on Sunday afternoon, thirteen days after buying our house and one day after we moved in, our air conditioner broke.  I called some of the people in the yellow pages that advertised 24-hour service, to see what it would cost to send someone out at 10:00 pm.  That ranged from $129 to $199, just to send someone out (not counting any work they would have to do).  We opted to wait until the morning.

Side note: I had two phone calls that went something like this:

“Our air conditioner is broken and I was wondering how much it would cost to send someone out tonight and how soon they could get here”
“You want someone to come out now?”
“Well.. I mean, your ad says 24-hour service...”

That was a miserable night, it was at least 85 degrees, and very humid, inside our house, preventing anything that resembled sleep.  First thing in the morning we called someone out to fix it.  It turned out to be a problem with the tube that drains condensation being clogged, causing the unit to shut off (so that water does not overflow).  We may have a warranty that will cover the cost of the repairs, but we have to find that paper among the five hundred or so pieces of papers we signed.

So then Tuesday afternoon, on my way home from work, I got into a car accident.  Fortunately it was not serious, and I was hit from behind so it is not my fault, but we’re down to one car for a few days at least.  I’ll describe the accident with the aid of this diagram from the police report (what you see is this intersection):

So I’m car 2, and the guy who hit me is car 1.  Not shown is that there was a car in the eastbound lane of Poplar Tent Rd, waiting for an opportunity to turn left onto I-85.  I saw that this car would have to wait a while to make a left turn, so I started to make my turn.  But then another car heading east drove around the car turning left, in the shoulder, so I had to stop.  But the guy behind me thought I had gone and was looking left to see when he would get an opportunity to go as he moved forward, unaware that I had stopped.  He at least was cooperative, and didn’t raise a fuss when I said I wanted to get a police report (a police officer I know said to always do that, no matter how minor the incident, so that the other guy can’t change his story later).  We did have to wait about thirty minutes for the police officer to show up, and it was very hot while we waited.

You may not know this if you’re reading this from another part of the country, but we have had extremely hot and humid weather this week.  In fact, as I type this, it is 100°F, making this the third day in a row to hit 100.  And that’s not a heat index; that’s the actual temperature.  Yesterday it was 103, and it may get that hot again later this afternoon.

Something else I learned: lawyers and chiropractors are very quick to send you things in the mail after you get in an accident.  Our police report was made available at 9:00 AM on Wednesday, and we got things in the mail from two lawyers and one Chiropractor on Thursday, wanting to make sure they can cash in on our misfortune.  I anticipate many more such letters.

Lastly, if you’re feeling adventurous, view the Concord Police Department’s web page with Firefox.  Fantastic!  I’m guessing this is the result of a developmestuction environment.

All in all, quite a crazy week.