As I still am without entire electricity, I have been looking up rental regulations for my area.

Would you guys read this:

Landlords of buildings with three or more apartments must keep the apartments and the buildings' public areas in "good repair" and clean and free of vermin, garbage or other offensive material. Landlords are required to maintain electrical, plumbing, sanitary, heating, ventilating systems and appliances landlords install, such as refrigerators and stoves in good and safe working order.

as saying that Landlords of buildings with TWO apartments DO NOT have to keep the electrical systems in good and safe working order?

Grrr

It isn't quite so bad these days since the Big Dig is only leaking, not being built.

The funny part is, they're still opening new parts right and left. I have no idea what the little connector-roads will look like every time I go driving through the city.

Until about this year, I did not really know what it meant to be a Boston giver-of-directions. I mean, I've gotten Boston directions before -- "take a left where that ice cream place used to be" to a tourist -- but a couple of weeks ago I said I'd meet somebody "by the bear". The FAO Schwartz bear, who is no longer at the corner of Boylston and Berkeley. He is someplace else in the city now, but we met at that corner, at the phantom bear.

History has weight! Or anyway, it throws directions all out of whack.

Sophia, I'd think the "three or more" applies only to the items listed in the first sentence - i.e., they aren't necessarily responsible for exterior upkeep. I can't imagine the the second sentence wouldn't apply to your LL.

In Boston? Use the turn signal and they speed up to make sure you don't.

On Thanksgiving, there was a guy swerving in and out of the right lane, just to fuck with the people driving by in the breakdown lane. We were pretty impressed, once we realized he was doing it on purpose (as we drove by in the breakdown lane....)

I have a fun new computer!! I have to fix all the settings and whatnot now.

Sophia, I'd think the "three or more" applies only to the items listed in the first sentence - i.e., they aren't necessarily responsible for exterior upkeep. I can't imagine the the second sentence wouldn't apply to your LL.

That's what I think too, but I was feeling grammatically challenged. Also, just plain annoyed.

We were pretty impressed, once we realized he was doing it on purpose (as we drove by in the breakdown lane....)

I kinda do that. My favourite was when the big rig behind me squatted cleanly on those lines. Unsurprisingly, folk that drive in that lane drive me batty. Rewardingly, there's one exit on my way home where the lane disappears right before the exit, so lawless hooligans will need to get back into the right lane to actually go any further (including taking the exit). I laugh and clap most prettily when that happens.

Oh, I forgot my addition to the sodomy conversation: the last time it came up in conversation with my parents (you know, like it does), we straddled the generation gap -- they broke into "Sodomy" from Hair, I started singing "La Vie Boheme" from Rent ("Sodomy, it's between god and me!")

Unsurprisingly, folk that drive in that lane drive me batty.

I generally Do Not Approve of it, but that Thanksgiving drive is something else -- it usually takes 45 minutes on a normal day, but this year on Tgiving, it took us 2.5 hours. And that was WITH saving the five minutes getting to our exit in the breakdown lane.

Sophia, did you try the "test" and "reset" buttons that DX mentioned, yesterday. That happened to us once at old house. And whatever triggered it didn't trip the button on the outlet, or the switch on the Circuit Breaker board.

In other words, it looked fine. I had to do the test and reset thingie and then go down cellar and flip the circuit breaker switch, even though whatever happened didn't make the breaker flip over like it had tripped (gah this would be better if I had the required vocabulary).

Trying again. It tripped internally, and so I had to switch it off and on again at the circuit board, and then do the test and reset thingie at the outlet.

Sorry if that makes no sense.

we straddled the generation gap -- they broke into "Sodomy" from Hair, I started singing "La Vie Boheme" from Rent ("Sodomy, it's between god and me!")

Okay, see -- my mother just found out (YESTERDAY) that the Beatles may have done drugs (she wonders why it's not made a big deal of), and although she has heard of Rick James (unlike my father), she didn't know he was black.

Oy. So luckily no singing.