How Things Work

How Things Work - well, we're working that out LOL

When we first looked at our apartment, we laughed at this half-dishwasher - it has a half-oven above...

But! It turns out, it is nearly perfect for us - who knew?

We also were *certain* that this little under-counter refrigerator would not work long-term. I frankly expected that we would buy a larger one and cram it in somehow. But I'm actually getting used to it!

And this is the washing machine - it does a medium sized load at a go. Since there is no dryer (gasp!), I hang out the clothes on the loggia - meaning I only get one load of wash done in any given day =-O

(and did you notice the pipes? Water pipes just go where they need to - no hiding them in walls or floors)

Figuring out the fuses was another fun experience - we had to reconnect a fallen wall sconce - part of that (naturally) involved switching off the circuit breaker (nicely labeled though, right?):

And this is a supposed 3-way switch (em, no...)

Here's a plug (now really! Who could resist that smile?)

And a phone jack

The great bit happened today - a plumber came to inspect our gas (yep). He explained all about how
- the main line to the building could sense a problem and auto-shutoff
- to easily turn off the gas if we go away a long time (and how to safely turn it back on)
- turning the water temperature *down* was the way to get rid of our experienced hysterisis in the shower! It turns out that our on-demand gas water heater senses the water temperature and the setting - if the setting is too high, it guns the heat (making it too hot), then overcompensates by shutting off (making it too cold), and so on, hot/cold - so frustrating...

How did this plumber visit happen? The gas company notified us that an annual inspection of the gas system is required for safety. Well, that was fine, but we had just had someone out to fix the system when we moved in, and doesn't that count? Well, yes and no... The apartment had been unoccupied, with the gas off, for 6 months (amazing how you finally find out things like this), and so they would send a technician out free of charge (!!!) to verify that all was well. What next? They will send us a report - if anything happens, our insurance will see that it was inspected, and go from there...

What else works, if differently? Elections! More on that later, I suppose...