We have the best landlady ever. I’ve been a renter for eleven years and this is the first time I have ever received a Christmas card from a landlord. I think this is her first experience in the role. She used to live in the condo we now rent, and kept everything very nice. I emailed her recently to politely complain about a problem with the washing machine. Two weeks later, we have a brand-new, high-efficiency front loader with a new matched dryer with a moisture sensor. She apologized about the long wait.

I guess she doesn’t realize that landlords in our rental bracket are supposed to delay, delay, delay; then blame it on us; then send a sloppy contractor for a faux repair; then finally replace the item with the cheapest, loudest, most energy-wasting model on the market.

I think back to the guy who, when I complained about catching nine mice in the kitchen, said I must be leaving the door open to let them in. I think back to the year-long struggle to get an A/C repaired. To the painted-over bug parts in the back of a cabinet and lacquered-over dirt in the corners of a hardwood floor. To the woman who stole my phone out of my locked room under the assumption that I was trying to steal from her. To a doorbell catching on fire under the ministrations of an inept electrician’s apprentice. I think on all these things and feel like hugging my current landlady. She’s friendly but I don’t know how she would take it.

Kirk Cameron is popping up everywhere! We saw him on TV as a member of the Tribulation Force last week, and now he’s the subject of the latest fake Christian news from Lark News.

News on the job front looks pretty good. That interview I had just before Christmas has turned into part-time contract work for six weeks, to make sure we like each other, to be followed by an offer of full-time employment, if we do. That place I blogged about, wondering why they didn’t call me when their ad described me perfectly, finally called. They want me to interview for a more senior position next month, if nothing else works out before then. Until the full-time stuff happens, I’ve got my two days a week at the non-profit, am teaching one or possibly two classes, and may help develop a new website. If all the maybes and possiblys come to fruition, the blogging will slow dow a bit.

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