Our houses are in disarray.
I had some problems with my new computer monitor, and I exchanged it last week. The new one arrived, and exhibited the same problem, so I exchanged the video card. That, too, didn’t fix the issue, so on Wednesday, I took my G5 to the Apple SoHo store for service. My friend (and fellow Buckeye fan) Craig, who works there, ran the Apple Hardware diagnosis CD, and found no problems. Then we hooked it up to the store’s 30″ display, hoping to see the same defect that I’d reported, but after about 20 minutes, everything still appeared to be fine. Craig went ahead and checked-in the computer, hoping that Apple’s behind-the-scenes hardware check would reveal a problem. It’s Friday now, and there’s no word yet. Most unfortunate, as I’m receiving my copy of Tiger, Mac’s new OS, this afternoon, and I’d sure love to install it.

Since I have no computer at my apartment, AEJ and I have been staying at her place for a few days. (AEJ, for those who don’t know, lives directly across the street from me.) The problem at her place is that there was a “boiler incident” about a month ago, and the gas for the building was shut off. They got the hot water working again within a few days, and the heat for the building working a few days after that, but there’s still no cooking gas. It turned out that ConEd found a problem with the building’s original gas lines, and had to run new lines throughout the building. This is a huge job, requiring drilling holes from apartment to apartment. AEJ has a great kitchen — a rarity in Manhattan for mere mortals — and rather than risk having everything covered with dust from the drilling, we covered most of the kitchen with plastic tarps. It’s worth it, as it saves us having to re-wash every dish after the work is done, but it means we can’t get to the sink, and opening the fridge means lifting the tarp and crawling under it. It all kind of looks like that scene from “E.T.”

So, my place has no computer. AEJ’s place has no kitchen. Which would you pick?