Date: Mon, 27 Sep 2004 00:34:44 -0400 (EDT)
From: "Keith F. Lynch" <kfl at KeithLynch.net>
To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at WSFA.org>
Subject: [WSFA] Re: An extra day!
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at WSFA.org>

"Madeleine Yeh" <myeh at wap.org> wrote:

> Keith I'm really sorry about the flooding.  Was it very bad?

No.  Water has come down from there several times before.  So I know
not to have anything valuable under it.  This time, however, I was
able to confirm that my upstairs neighbors are blameless.  So where is
the water coming from?  A leaking pipe?  But whoever heard of a pipe
that leaks for a few minutes once every month or two, then stops?  And
does so from two different places?  (I'm pretty sure that several other
places water has come down from *are* due to my upstairs neighbors.)

So the apartment management wants to tear a big hole in my ceiling,
to figure out what's going on.  Presumably they'll want me to move my
furniture.  Most of which is nailed in place.  And presumably they'll
want to be in here during my normal sleeping hours.  (I'm on a night
schedule.)

I'm just hoping that after all that hassle, they won't shrug their
shoulders, ignore the problem, and make cosmetic repairs to the
ceiling.  Such repairs would be likely to cause the water to come
down somewhere else next time.  Possibly on top of something valuable.

It's just all a bit much coming on top of the loss of my father, my
rapidly deteriorating financial situation, and producing two WSFA
Journals in two weeks.

Not to mention the incessant election coverage, in which neither
candidate seems to care about the enormous loss of freedom in the US
since 9/11.  See http://www.stupidsecurity.com for the latest batch
of horror stories, most of them airline-related.  It's pretty much
certain that for the first time in fifteen years, I won't be going
to next year's Worldcon, unless I can find a relatively quick and
inexpensive way to get there by ship, which seems unlikely.  Until
the current insanity ends, I will not be flying.