bad news good news

well, the construction on the house is coming to an end, but as KO said to me this morning, the last 20% of the work is taking 80% of the time. he's waiting on the shutters, finish a few windows (including 2 of mine) and eventually, this phase of the project will be done. he mentioned to me the other week that he wanted to redo the walls/carpet on the stairs to the apartments, but i suggested that might be better off done in the spring. why ruin brand new carpeting as people tromp in and out with slushy snow covered boots this winter? he seemed receptive to the idea of waiting.

anyways, a few years ago, the rens bought me a nice Ryobi 14.4v drill that had a second battery. i've liked it a lot - the 14.4v provides enuff power to do what (little) i do (mostly putting screws in and out of things). but it also wasn't so unbalanced that it was awkward to use. (dad and i had a discussion about this when it was given to me - he has an 18v drill and didn't like it as much as he liked the 14.4v he has (couldn't tell you how many he has, but it's more than a few me thinks) as the battery on the larger one is just that, larger, so the balance is off on it. i agree, the 14.4v was nicely balanced). so knowing that people would be in my apartment during window replacement, i moved it around, but always kept it in a few locations. so i moved it out of the way (by my closet) when the first few windows were done and didn't think too much about it. then i remember putting it back so i could charge the battery, but that meant putting it back where i normally kept it.

well, the windows were finished and then the other weekend, i decided it was time to rehang some of my blinds, so i grab my drill and discover that the battery is dead. i look around for the charger and can't find it, but don't think too much about it at the time. prolly a saturday morning, close to M's arrival so i was distracted. a few days later (prolly our Wed. dinner night) M asked me about hanging the blinds (which were on the floor at the time) and i start to look for the charger again. but dinner is ready, so i make a mental note to look for it again later. promptly forget and then last weekend, she reminds me about the blinds. i start looking again, but still can't find it. at this point, i'm beginning to wonder if it's walked. we head out and on wednesday night, i decide it's time to start really look for it. i start looking everywhere, in boxes, under my couch, under my bed, in the closet, and it's nowhere to be found.

so yesterday morning, i resign myself to the fact that it has probably walked, and i'd like to believe that it was picked up accidentally when the windows were installed. frustration is setting in, in part because i didn't notice this sooner, but more because it was a gift, and at this moment in time, i have no way to charge the 1 remaining battery i do have. (the little 7.2v one has an adapter that plugs into the battery directly, no charging station. if i could do that, i'd grab my multi-DC adapter thing and use that) so what i'm left with is a gift, that has sentimental value that is currently useless. and to make matters worse, when i looked online, Ryobi no longer makes the 14.4v products. i couldn't find it listed anywhere on their website. (which didn't make me feel any better)

this morning, i finally get a chance to talk with KO about it and he mentions that they were using Ryobi stuff as they would leave them in his garage, so his belief is like mine, during clean-up, someone picked it up w/o realizing that it didn't belong to them. so he offered to pay for a replacement charger and battery, but i mentioned that they didn't seem to make them anymore. he then offered to pay for a replacement drill set, but i balked a little and explained that it was a gift, tugging at the heartstrings. he said he'd call them to see if they had an extra they didn't remember having, but if not, he'll pay for the replacement.

it's still frustrating as i'd like my stuff back, but at least i can get a replacement so he'll let me know if i will get it back or not. it's not critical right now, so i'll prolly wait a little while (next weekend) to pick up a replacement.

i wonder if i can get just a drill and battery set, or if i can only get the combo set that has all kinds of bits that go with it. i'll have to check...

so that's the bad news - i had my drill battery and charger swiped. the good news, KO is really cool and offered to pay for a replacement.

i like my landlords.