Fire Update

There is no news, which in this case is not necessarily good news.

The builders are reported to have accepted the contract. However, they're
not returning my phone calls and emails, and they have not (as of Friday)
sent me the contract by mail. So for the life of me, I don't know.

I've thought of going to their office and standing in the doorway, yelling.
But it's a two-hour trip to get there, and there's no guarantee the right
people will be in the office. I am unusually patient, but this is getting
annoying.

Fire Update - Subhed Rebuilding

Well, part of the problem is that for the last two weeks, the insurance
agent, the insurance company adjuster, and the private adjuster have all
been on vacation. Not one of them told me they were leaving, but for the
first time I understand their earlier desire to have everything underway by
the end of August.

I haven't seen the contract, and I'll be going over it to see if a comma has
been misplaced. Before that happens, I'll see about the materials -- my
ceilings were lath and plaster, and all my doors were solid. I intend to be
very hands on during the building process.

Fire Update - Subhed Red Tape

Laydeeeeez and Gentlemen! In this hand, I hold two bright red slips of
paper, indicating that a Consolidated Edison Emergency Crew turned off the
electricity and gas service to my house at 3:18AM on May 9, a few minutes
after the fire department left.

In THIS hand, I hold a brand new ConEd utility bill, indicating that my
house used $63 worth of electricity and $46 worth of gas in the billing
period from 05/17/06 to 06/16/06.

Stay tuned for further tales of ass reaming.

Fire Update - Subhed Rebuilding

I scanned the contract and sent it to my brother-in-law to look over. He,
on his own initiative (and his own dime, bless him), showed it to his
lawyer. The lawyer agreed that with the exception of the "owner will
irrevocably transfer all insurance proceeds to the builder" section, it's
not a bad contract. The lawyer added some penalties for work delays, some
requirements to follow New York city and state labor laws, and to get all
permits. Nothing that I find too unreasonable. Now we have to see if the
builder agrees.

Fire Update - Subhed Rebuilding

The fundamental point -- and it's a shame the world has to be like this --
is "How can I make a contractor afraid of me?" Perhaps we can be nice and
replace the word "afraid" with "respect", but it all ends up in the same
place: how can I arrange things so a contractor won't even think of
doing me an injustice?


I'm seriously asking.

Fire Update - Subhed Rebuilding

"Owner hereby irrevocably assigns to Contractor any and all payments made
by Insurer in settlement of the Loss, and shall promptly execute all
documents required to enable Contractor to recieve said proceeds. Owner
specifically authorizes Contractor to execute and endorse Owner's name on
any and all documents required for the release directly to Contractor of
all proceds and advances paid by Insurer regarding the Loss"


Folks, if your house burns down just walk away and spend the rest of your
days roaming the Earth. Anything is better than dealing with this shit.

Fire Update - Subhed Posessions

A question from a friend: Is there anything you're secretly (or not so secretly) glad to have lost in that little house fire incident?

Lots of things. I've always been a bit of a magpie, storing everything with the rationale that I might need it someday. I never devoted the time or effort to clean it all out, and even if I had, the end result might have been the same: "I can't throw this away-- I might need it someday." So, in a way, this fire was a blessing because it did my cleaning for me. I've never denied that sometimes I need a push (or a disaster) to get started.

The loss of stuff can be broken into four categories:
A) Irreplaceable stuff I never looked at/used: It's a shame, but it's gone.
B) Replaceable stuff I never looked at/used: Who cares?
C) Irreplaceable stuff I frequently looked at/used: Losing this stuff hurts.
D) Replaceable stuff I frequently looked at/used: It can be replaced, so who cares?

Take for example my 700 videotapes. Some of these are homemade tapes, camcorder tapes, or extremely rare movies that are no longer available (or extremely difficult to find). I miss those. But am I really upset that I lost my copy of the Tribbles episode of Star Trek? Not in the least.

Same thing with my 2000 books. Some of those books are irreplaceable: an 1883 edition of Leaves of Grass, for instance. But my copy of Thomas L. Friedman's The World is Flat? No problem to replace.

The other thing is that not everything that can be replaced must be replaced. Do I need a copy of Thomas L. Friedman's The World is Flat? Probably not. Do I need a copy of the Tribbles episode of Star Trek? Not in the least. So, as I've known from about the week after the incident, this fire really might be a great gift.

Little fire incident?