Yet Another Adventure

Today was yet another adventurous day. Amanda (friend from middle school from CT) and her boyfriend came to visit me in the city today. It was, like everything else in this place has proven to be, an adventure. Matt had offered to help me install (pick up and install) an AC unit for my room. What a great guy, right? Boy did he not realize what he was signing up for! :) We all jumped on the train (having to go uptown some before going downtown yet again) and trecked down to the Target in Brooklyn once more. We finally got there and realized that not only do they not have any ACs but they were not ordering any more. GRRRRR!! I called around to some different places around town, and after finding out that everywhere else is way expensive, I decided to forgo the idea of AC and just deal. As we were walking out of the Target, we saw a sign for the appliance store across the street advertising that they had ACs and they were on sale! Huzzah!! YAY! So we wandered over there and got one. It was even about the same price as Target...double yay! As we were leaving, a man greeted us at the door and asked if we needed a taxi. In fact we did. So, he lead us over to his car. It was completely unmarked and he did not even have a LTS plate (Limo/Taxi Service) on it, so we decided to pass and find a Yellow Cab...just seemed safer. When we flagged one down, we got in and told the driver where we were going. He then hemmed and hawed and decided it would be too much work to turn around and go the direction we needed. And get this...he kicked us OUT!! WTF! Yeah! So we crossed the street and got another one. His loss, cuz that was a big fare. Anyway, we made it home again safely and in one piece. Now it's time to figure out how to install this thing. Matt assured me that it was pretty simple, and he was confident he could do it. He's mechanically inclined, so I trusted him.

When we got the thing out of the box (which halfway required an engineering degree with all that crap in it), we heard a rattling of a loose screw. It sounded like one had dropped into the unit and was rattling around. O well. Once it's in, it will be stable and won't hear it, right? Ok. So we plugged it in and OMG! It sounded like a small plane was trying to take off out of my room! We quickly unplugged it and Matt set to work to disassemble and find that screw! Obviously it was causing more problems than anticipated. Once Matt had torn apart the cover, he found the screw and removed it. Yay! Fixed! We plugged it back in, but no avail...still a Cessna. Ok, Matt...have at it. He dug deeper and found out that the little screw had knocked some small piece of plastic loose inside that was hitting the belt or something like that and was causing the awful noise. Once he removed this and fixed it, we tried a third time...success! He reassembled my machine and again tried putting it in the window. It now sits there quite beautifully and cools VERY well. Thanks, Matt!!!

After a rest and enjoying the AC for a bit, we set out to go back downtown (up a few first, of course). Once we made it downtown, we had some Nathan's for dinner (mmm) and it was time to go to the train station to say goodbye. Upon arrival, though, we realized that the Amtrak to get Amanda and Matt home had been "indefinitely suspended" due to downed wires on the track. Great. Just what this day needed. So, we schleped it over to the Port Authority Bus Depot and tried to find a bus for them to get home tonight. Luckily they made it and are on their way home now.

Overall, a successful day but quite an adventure, indeed!