POWER STRUGGLE

I lost power last week. Then I got it back, sort of. I got power back to my living room and my kitchen, but not to my bedroom or my bathroom. I thought it was an issue with fuses somewhere in the building. Nope. It was a problem with the power lines coming into the building. This is trange to me because it means my apartment receives its power from two different external sources. Why would you wire an apartment like that? I understand the need for multiple sources for the building, but for my individual apartment?

One theory, the one that is most flattering to the builders, suggests that wiring an apartment to two different power sources means the renter won't lose all power unless both sources are interrupted. But then again, it also means that the renter is guaranteed to lose at least some power every time either source is affected. The situation reminds me of a question my high school boss once asked my brother: If the neighborhood kids are playing baseball, and you are worried that they might break your window, do you open the window, or close it? The answer doesn't matter: if you open the window, you reduce the chance that it will be struck by the ball by half, but double the damage a hit would cause.

In any case, I don't think that's what the builders were doing. I think they just didn't think about it. That would certainly fit the general trend of apparent carelessness.

I like my apartment. It's just the right size for me, in a decent location, and has plenty of parking. However, the general construction and maintenance leaves a little to be desired. For starters, there's basic maintenance carelessness, such as paint on all the hinges, light switches, and electrical outlets (all of which is very easy to avoid). It's been my experience that this is fairly common in apartments, but knowing that does not make it any less disappointing.

Besides the maintenance concerns, however, there's also the matter of the rather strange wiring decisions. For instance, the wiring in the bathroom baffles me. There are two outlets in the bathroom - one attached to the light switch, and one attached to the light. The outlet next to the switch is at the right location for a night light, but not for anything else, not without running an electrical cord across the toilet at any rate. The outlet attached to the light is directly above the sink and so could be used for charging my electric shaver or, if I were so inclined, running a hair dryer or curlers. It is also a pretty good spot for a night light. The problem is this: they are both activated by the light switch. That pretty much eliminates the whole night light idea - and thus any reason to use the outlet next to the switch. It also means I have to leave the bathroom light on if I want to charge my shaver. I'd rather not waste the electricity, so I plug the shaver into the dining room outlet. Since I'm not much for hair dryers or curlers, I haven't used either of the bathroom outlets since I moved in (although there are certainly times I would have appreciated the night light).

Another frustration, I have no real control over my heater or AC. Oh, there's a thermostat, but that just controls a blower. That's useful enough in the summer. In the winter, however, my apartment tends to stay in the eighties with the blowers off and there's nothing I can do about it, besides open the windows. I thought I'd left that behind with college dorms. Oh well.

As I said, I like my apartment, but I'm starting to look forward to a change. I think I'll be getting out of here at just the right time. I'm taking notes on all the little things that bug me about it so I can keep an eye out for them when I go apartment searching in Atlanta.

P.S. Apparently there is yet a third power source for the building that remains unfixed - it is the supply for the air conditioner chiller. Ugh. Yup, looking forward to a new place.