Slumlords

I'm one of those people who needs the change in seasons. I could never be happy living in a place where it never snows, or never reaches 90 degrees. By the end of one season, I'm almost always ready for the next. So I'm happy that the weather is getting colder. It means breaking out my cozy sweaters and snuggling on the couch under a blanket. It means crunching leaves and smelling fireplaces. And because apparently everyone in Allentown has a fireplace and actually uses them, the town smells like winter for months on end. It's wonderful. But the change in season also means turning on the heat, always interesting in a centuries old house.

I'm pretty sure our radiators are original and our thermostat is much older than me. On Monday, our landlord came to replace the antiquated thermostat with a new, digital one. I came home from work yesterday to a bright, shiny new thermostat. I could hardly contain my excitement. Our landlord had left a note for us. He had programmed it for us. Now, we have an interesting situation. Since our apartment and the one above us used to be a one family house, there is only one thermostat for both apartments, and we control that thermostat. It's a lot of power, frankly, and I'm very uncomfortable with it. On the one hand, I don't want to waste heat and money (we pay our landlord a flat fee each month for heat), but on the other hand, I don't want to come off as the evil slumlord who won't crank up the heat. Apparently, we are the latter. In response to a note to our neighbor (let us know if it's ever too hot or cold!), we received the note (crank it up!). Fair enough. The problem? Kurt and I like it cooler. But whatever, I've been fighting Kurt on it and sneaking over to the thermostat to turn it up while he opens the windows. So I was very hopeful when we got our pretty, new, programmable thermostat. No more slumlords! On Tuesday morning though, I woke up freezing. I went over to the thermostat immediately. It was set at 62 degrees. 62 degrees?? Seriously? Of course, that meant our poor neighbor was probably freezing too without any control over it whatsoever. Needless to say, I felt awful. Also needless to say, we will be reprogramming the pretty, new thermostat.

We watched Land of the Lost last night. I've decided Will Ferrell should rule the world. How much better would the world be if he was in charge? The only problem I foresee would be worldwide stomach cramps from laughter.