Brilliant. The electrical problems of the weekend have worsened. Worsened so much so that there was the potential for a house fire yesterday afternoon. Mind you, I unplugged quite a bit and shut off more than a few power strips, but I guess that wasn’t enough to keep the insane power fluctuations from wreaking havoc. When I dropped off the rent check yesterday afternoon, I told them that we were having some pretty massive problems, and the girl there said our neighbors were likewise having some problems, so she’d put in a work order. She did say that they’re done doing whatever it was that they were doing in the yard so we could go back to using water like normal. To me, that meant a chance to do laundry since I’ve been out of work shirts for a while now. So I head home, toss a load in the washer and sit down in front of Buster. Other than those two devices, an alarm clock and the refrigerator were on.

After a few minutes of playing a video game (since the modem is completely dead and I can’t access the internet at home to check my pages; I tried turning it on and it failed to even respond to power), I heard a really loud pop and looked up to see a wisp of smoke curling up from behind the server. Fucking hell. I ran over and pulled the end table out of the way so I could yank the power cord and then moved everything off of it. The smell of ozone was really strong, and I grabbed my cell phone and called Ian hoping that he wasn’t still at the funeral or funeral dinner. I asked him if I should open the case or leave it alone, and after we talked a bit, we decided to leave it alone. The smoke had stopped almost as quickly as it had started, and the case wasn’t warm…but the thought that the electricity was now causing permanent damage to our place was unnerving enough to make me unplug everything including the nightlight in the bathroom and both the phones. Other than my alarm clock, the washer, dryer and fridge, nothing is plugged in. I even unplugged the lamp in the basement where we play DnD.

The apartment smelled like ozone for an uncomfortably long time, and I opened the windows to let some air in despite knowing that it would mean itchy eyes. The washer hadn’t been kicked off, so after it was done, I went to the basement to put it in the dryer. There was less water on the floor than usual, so I took that as a good sign that whatever they had done in the yard had worked. I tossed everything in the dryer and pushed the start button. The lights dimmed and the dryer whirred a little like it was trying to start up but just couldn’t, like a car that’s too cold. Bloody hell. With the dryer out of commission, I took all the laundry upstairs, hanging socks and shorts on the banister to dry and hanging all the shirts up in the guest room closet.

I spent the rest of the evening watching Star Trek: Voyager on Buster and playing on my DS. I couldn’t even recharge the DS when the battery got low because the charger acted like it couldn’t get any power from the wall socket. I gave up on it and just watched the computer, too pissed off to want to do anything else. I’m still pissed off and I’m worried about leaving the house all day despite the fact that everything is unplugged. I feel like I should have packed up the computers and other random items and stuck them in the car when I came to work…only then they would have been exposed to greenhouse-like heat. I dunno. I just can’t win. I don’t think this week could get any better. Maybe Kitty will throw up on my favorite pillow or I’ll develop a rash or get another kidney stone or someone will bust in the driver’s side window on the car or Ian will get a flat tire on his way into town. I wish I were back in bed.