I'll fill you in on all the "wonderful" things that happened today at some later point. First, I feel like sharing what just happened.
One of the things that got moved today was my bed. Since I'm still staying in Murfreesboro (I've still got a lot to do at the old place), I borrowed my dad's inflatable mattress to use in the interim. Before I left, Dad told me that I'd have to get new batteries for the inflater thingie. No problem.
So I get to Murfreesboro and get some batteries. I sit down to swap them out, and I notice that one of the old batteries is corroded. Not good, but it's just a simple matter of throwing it out (which I was going to do anyway). However, the new batteries weren't working. It looked like the thing wasn't sealing properly. Yadda yadda yadda, I spend a good 10 minutes trying to figure out what the hell is wrong. I end up deciding that the corrosion has done something to the pump, and that I've got no inflatable mattress for the night. Shit. So I put the pump back in it's box (with the new batteries in it) and the bad batteries in the trash.
Time for Plan B: clear off all the crap from the spare couch and sleep on that (I got the couch for free when I moved in, so I'm leaving it to pass it on in a similar fashion). It isn't terribly comfortable; my feet dangle off the edge, and the sofa covering isn't quite as smooth as a bedsheet (which is in Nashville). Oh well, I can deal with it.
So I get tucked in and relatively comfortable, trying to ignore the subtle noises coming from my neighbors (general talking and a very noisy cat meowing every 20 seconds). I figure I'd been laying there for about fifteen minutes when all of a sudden I hear this loud whirring sound, not entirely unlike a chainsaw in a horror movie. It freaks me the hell out before I realize what has happened: I left the pump turned "on" (since it wasn't working, I didn't know better). I turn on the lights and make a dive for the box; sure enough, there it goes, pumping air from nowhere into nothing. I turn it off, simultaneously cursing the fact that I just got the shit scared out of me and celebrating the fact that I can have an inflatable mattress now.
I unfold the mattress and hook it back up to the pump. I have power, but it doesn't appear to be inflating the mattress at all (I'm not being impatient; I've used it before, and it went a hell of a lot faster). *sigh* Since I'd already resigned myself to the fact that I'd be sleeping on the sofa, I simply put it all away; tomorrow, when I've got plenty of time to let it inflate oh-so-slowly, I'll give it a second shot.
The problem, though, is that I'm wide-awake; my hands are still shaking from the instant adrenaline rush that I got when the damn thing kicked on. I probably won't be able to sleep for another hour... *sigh*
Posted by Eric at October 8, 2005 12:20 AM*chortles* Commiserations and all, but that was too funny, especially considering all the other stuff you've got going on... *laughs again*
Posted by: Jillian at October 8, 2005 02:27 PMcouldn't you manually inflate the mattress? Just takes a little suck & blow :p
Posted by: Moo at October 8, 2005 06:18 PMI couldn't, actually; the mattress was designed specifically to use automated inflaters. Besides, my heart rate would have been sky-high after inflating the entire thing, so I would have been awake for another hour after that. :)
Posted by: EVula at October 13, 2005 02:03 PMah. I was thinking about camping air matresses, which you can manually inflate.
Posted by: Moo at October 13, 2005 05:54 PM