Why I'm a Mathematician Part II

I take back what I wrote the other day about limiting my home improvement to assembling Ikea furniture. Perhaps I should avoid that too.

Why I'm a Mathematician

I need to limit my home improvement to assembling Ikea furniture. I bought a new kitchen ceiling light to replace the boring and flat plastic fixture left by the previous tenant. I thought installing it would be easy, but it quickly became clear why I'm a mathematician and not an engineer.

The first task was to remove the old fixture. I couldn't find any screws along the base, so I figured there must be a base plate attached to the ceiling and the fixture just needed to be twisted to be removed. That must be it, I thought, since I read something about this on the internet just a few weeks ago. I twisted the fixture and off it came. What I didn't pay attention to was the crunching sound of the screws being ripped out of the ceiling. Oops... I guess there was no base plate.

The new fixture has a little plastic thing to attach a ground, L, and N wire. But what the heck is L and N? Do I attach the blue wire to L and the green to N, or vice-versa? I investigated further and learned that L and N stand for 'live' and 'neutral', but what difference does it make if we're using AC power? I called a friend to make sure that I wasn't being completely stupid, and surprisingly, I wasn't.

The screw holes of the new fixture didn't align with the existing holes, so I had to bore another. I used a little tool on the Swiss Army knife that nobody knows what to do with: You know, the pointy thing next to the cork screw. The ceiling is like a dry wall so it was easy to prepare for the plastic expansion screw. I put in the screws, attached the wires, and started to mount the fixture. I then noticed that the fixture didn't completely cover the hole in ceiling, which of course the old fixture did. I wasn't about to remove the expansion screws to reset it, so I'll just have to stucco the hole later.

I was now ready to test it. I turned the power back on, returned to the kitchen, and flicked on the light switch. *POOF* A spark shot out of the fixture and the circuit breaker broke. Am I that incompetent? I opened the fixture and noticed a wire having a tear in the plastic coating. Did I do that? I clipped the wire, reconnected everything, and tried again. Voila! Let there be light!

I now have four little spotlights on the kitchen ceiling that I can turn and tilt in different directions. It's kind of cool, but turning on the light has become a scary thing. Perhaps I'll get a friend to help me with the other four fixtures.

The First Week

I'm now living one week in the new apartment. It took a few days to orient myself around the kitchen and to locate stuff scattered around the place. There is still a laundry list of things that I need to get: Hangings for the wall, shelves for my books, a carpet for the living room, a barbecue, a big screen TV, and light fixtures. The weather looks poor this weekend so perhaps I'll make a visit to Ikea or Interio. Ah.. that can wait! The TV and barbecue come first!

The hand-off of the old apartment went smoothly. I've read and had people tell me that the inspection can be rigorous. As predicted, my landlady ran her fingers behind the heaters, along the top of the fireplace, and within the oven for any signs of dust or dirt. There were some small issues but the cleaners were present to quickly amend. I'm glad I hired them because I certainly could not have done what they did! The only concern is the wear on the floor that includes light water stains and scratches. My insurance company is now involved and I'll probably have to pay a small deductible to fix this. This isn't a big surprise.

Each morning I'm reminded of what a great decision this has been. I love the view from the balconies (see below) and the abundance of natural light. I somehow feel cheated that I didn't move earlier, but that's behind me now. This place changes everything.

Move and No Fasnacht!

The move went well and last night was my first night in the new apartment. With the help of a few friends, we started at 10:30 and completed the move by 12:00. I now have an apartment littered with boxes and bags and it'll be a week before I'm unpacked. The move was mostly painless, but I was reminded of how inexperienced I am at driving. A friend graciously loaned me his VW bus and I had a tricky time parking it in the narrow space outside the apartment. Perhaps I should hire movers next time.

The first night in a new apartment is the strangest. It's an odd feeling turning off the lights and realizing that you're in a foreign location in your own bed. Swiss law gives you a day off work to help with the move and I'll be using that today to run errands. Fasnacht has begun in St. Gallen and I couldn't be happier to be outside of the old town. Call me a Fasnacht Grinch, but there's little worse than being forced to listen to the same crappy gugge tune over and over again!

I've posted a few photos of the empty apartment and I may post more after I'm done unpacking.

From 44 to 93

This weekend I started packing my belongings in anticipation of the move. The moving day is February 11 and a few friends have already offered to help. I also have use of a Volkswagen van, which should be perfect for the tables, shelves, and bed.

Moving within Switzerland is probably not much different than moving anywhere else, but with the exception of the handover of your old apartment. In Canada you simply move out and leave the maintenance and cleaning of the place to your landlord who prepares it for the next tenant. In Switzerland you're required to thoroughly clean the place and pass an inspection. They can be quite fussy about this: A buddy recalls his landlord putting on a white glove and sliding his finger across the top of a door. "Schmutz!" I'll probably hire professional cleaners who guarantee their services. It'll be one thing less to worry about.

The inspection also assesses the condition of the apartment and lists maintenance issues such as wear on the floors and marks on the wall. The question is, who pays for this? It seems to depend on a number of factors, but ultimately the landlord makes a subjective decision if I'm negligent and need to pay. I also understand that my liability insurance may foot part of the bill. These uncertainties have definitely contributed to my fear of moving, so let's see how it goes and I'll write about it later.