Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Gravy


I have just utilized Triple-A for the first time and found it highly useful and very satisfactory.  They lived up to their reputation in a way that few things do.  I locked my keys in my car, which I knew even as I was doing it, that I was doing it.  I had paused for a few seconds to hear the end of a line of song on the radio, and when I snapped it off I was then juggling my umbrella and a couple bags and my purse.  As I got out of the car, I thought, several layers down, “There’s something I am doing wrong here, but…” and I popped down the Auto-Lock button, and closed the door.  And then stood there, as my feet grew increasingly damp, looking in the window at the shiny bundle of keys depending from the ignition. 

My first thought, heading down the road toward panic, was to break a window, and wrench my keys into my hand.  But I have allowed for this possibility by leaving bundles of keys with various friends and relations (not Rabbit’s) around town, so I told myself that in a scolding hiss, and then as I grew calmer, I thought, “Hey,”  I thought, “I’ll bet this is something I can do with my handy-dandy and never-before-used Triple-A card!”
 
So I called them.  And got a live person in under two seconds, who took my membership number, name, location and make of car, and told me someone would be there in half an hour.  I hung up the phone, drew a deep breath, and looked up to see the Triple-A van pulling into the parking lot.  Okay, so maybe I drew five breaths.  But I had not even considered going inside out of the very wet morning.  The man got out of his little small van, and stuck his little metal tool down inside my car door in probably thirty seconds, then checked my ID and waved his hand and away.  I was inside the building with the lights on and checking my e-mail before 9:30.   Now that is service. 

And since I have used the card once, I feel quite certain that it has paid for itself, especially since I am certain Joe has used it more than once.  Any other usages will be gravy.

Monday, October 1, 2012

Raising the Rent....

Through much labor and worry and chewing of fingernails, I have managed to put a few dollars into savings this past month.  I am not buying any alcohol, but waiting all month for the weekend with Mickey when she buys, I am not going to the movies, but borrowing DVDs from the library,  I am eating the foodbox food, and not going to the grocery store, and so on.   It hasn't been fun, and I'm not as light-hearted as usual, but it has been do-able, and I'm really quite pleased with myself.

And then I get the envelope in the mail, telling me that my rent is being raised again.  Fifty dollars a month, for the second year in a row.  So that wipes out the savings entirely, and makes me have to seriously question whether or not I can continue to live here.  If they are going to keep raising the rent once a year, I will soon be completely unable to afford to stay.  What is the deal?  Do they not like me?  Do they prefer to keep their tenants for only a year, and then want to dump them and find new ones?  There are currently four empty apartments in this building.  They really prefer that there be five?

And, at the moment, I cannot afford to move out, anyway.  The whole first/last month and security deposit thing.  But I guess I will begin looking.  This is just SUCH a perfect apartment!  Really.  I do NOT want to leave.