Into Our New Home

5-28-13

The sunrise in the east is so pretty over the mountains behind me here in the study, through the study window, through the enclosed patio windows. The study is very comfortable with the beautiful cedar furniture and the arrangement I made on the desk with everything I need to keep in touch with the world and express myself in writing.

Sweeney-Poo and Nala seem to be getting used to their new home rather well. They spent the first night here sleeping in our bedroom on our king sized bed but last night I told Leona to throw them out and fend for themselves in the house. Sweeney-Poo tried tapping on the bedroom door outside the study to the right but I stopped him immediately and shooed him away so he wouldn’t wake Leona up. They are still learning to navigate around this much larger apartment. For Sweeney-Poo, he has to get used to his own patio and no longer going to the roof garden of the Beverly. When we return from Brooklyn, Gxd willing, we will landscape the patio. For now, we will bring the plants from the Beverly balcony.

The enclosed patio is empty now except for the small JVC stereo I put out there in lieu of the twenty year old jukebox that dickhead Mr. Hung wouldn’t sell for under $2600us. Leona could have bought me the AC/DC pinball machine for $6000 for my 6oth birthday present but, in hindsight, the $7500 was much better spent on the furniture and interior decorating of our new condo. The extra money will be better used for trips to America and elsewhere. In hindsight, that asshole Hung saved us a lot of money, shithead that he is with a warehouse full of broken arcade machines.

The cats’ litter box and the clothes hanger are out there, too, along with a step ladder and a few cans of used paint. The enclosed patio is like a sauna now with air temperatures outside reaching 33^o c (91.4 f.) ; inside the patio it must be 36^o (96.8 f) or more. Nobody would want to sit out there during the day but the evening is okay.

The sun is rising in the east behind the massive twenty-two year old fifteen story condominium complex off Dong-Shan Road that Leona and I saw earlier the same day we were introduced to our lovely home in the Renoir in March.

The Cable Guys

5-27-13

The cable guys came yesterday to activate our TV and internet services. One guy had come a few days ago without a drill to put the cable through the wall. Yesterday, two guys came without a drill to put the cable through the wall! The line from the cable box in the hall was good, unlike our next door neighbor who had to have an additional wire run from the box to their home. Initially, the line from the cable outlet in the living room to the cable outlet in the bedroom was blocked but there were able to extract a small rock that was blocking the canal; they didn’t have to run an unsightly wire through the house into the study. Instead, they were going to run an unsightly wire up the wall in the bedroom through the air-conditioner duct, six feet over the floor along the wall on the outside patio, through the whole drilled for the air-conditioner lines at the top of the enclosed patio, through the air con hole drilled into the study, down the wall behind the bookcases (I would have to move them) and across the floor to the corner where the hard drive will be kept.

 I told Leona not to let them do it! She argued with me again, taking the technicians side instead of the better judgment for taste, perhaps a little more expensive. Finally, she relented and called Jenny; the electrician would have to be called in to do it my way, the right way. The right way would be to drill a hole through the wall through the cable outlet box and along the base of the wall out of sight around the corner of the patio and through another hole drilled directly behind where the hard drive will be placed; no up and down and along walls; just three holes drilled through the concrete and filled with silicon to prevent leakage. The cable guys set up the cable and in the living room and internet in the study with enough wire (black wire, they didn’t have white) to facilitate the outside job. They then hooked us up with the wires indoors (they seemed to be ready to leave the wires through two open doors that wouldn’t be able to be closed) until the electrician comes in a day or two to set it up.

Dining Room, Moving In, Water Main Break, Air Con Drip

5-27-13 Mon.

             The dining room table and chairs are being delivered at 11:30am today. The living room, bedroom, and study furniture is coming at 2:00pm today. The cable/internet guy is coming to hook us up tomorrow. Tonight will be our last night sleeping at the Beverly. I’m not sure when we will bring the cats. The best things would be tomorrow morning but Shih-Dong has to go to work and there’ll be no car. He said he would help us move the TV and computer equipment. Perhaps this will happen tomorrow night when I get back from American Eagle. The last to be moved will be the living things, Sweeney-Poo and Nala.

             We were busy moving things from the Beverly all day yesterday. I packed all the books and binders into backpack and went back and forth to the new house on my bike seven times. After Leona and I had lunch, her brother came over with his mini-van and helped us move all the heavy items; microwave, lamp, end tables, luggage. The heaviest item was Leona’s vanity. It must weight over two-hundred pounds. It got scratched a little on two ends from being placed on the rough floor. It can be touched up. We didn’t finish moving until 5pm. Most of our things from the Beverly are in the Renoir, the name of the new building I learned from Leona yesterday. I don’t know about the building itself, but our condominium unit is really shaping up to be a Renoir.

 

             There was a water main pipe burst yesterday and half of Taichung, Miao-li, and some other places are without water until 4pm today. I was able to take a shower at 10pm with the leftover water from the tank on Beverly’s roof but in the middle of Leona’s shower, the water stopped running! She had to go to the bedroom bathroom where she had filled the bathtub with reserve water and take a shower the old-fashioned way, with a pot of water spilled over her head.

      Last evening Leona and I got drapes from the living room balcony and ‘yellow’ light bulbs to replace the white light bulbs in the enclosed patio. They are all the new mercury light bulbs that last forever. We’ll need two more for the tea room. Now we have to get a rod for the drapes and a table for the copy machine, then we’re set.

      I just emptied out a full bucket of water extracted from the air in the study by the air conditioner. The tube the technicians put into the Renoir Condominium’s water evacuation system in the enclosed patio didn’t work; the water came out through the electric outlet near the floor.

Kitchen Cabinet Makers & Cost of Living Room

5-25-13  Sat.

         Yesterday morning, while I rode up the Han River after bringing Sweeney-Poo upstairs for a while, Leona waited for a call from the cabinet makers as to when they would return to finish constructing the new kitchen. I met her at the new home at 11:30am.

The cabinet makers had started on Wednesday and they finished yesterday. It looks beautiful. My input with Leona was to tell them where to put the handles on the closet doors, in the center (their suggestion) or at the corner of the side that opened, horizontally or vertically. Leona and I decided to put it on the side that opened for convenience. Over the sink, there is a dish dryer. On either side of the dryer there are doors. I had them change the one on the left to swing to the left as the one on the right swings to the right; a matching pair. It took some convincing Leona who was on the workers’ side again and not mine. She finally saw the light. Four of the cabinets weren’t going to have handles put on them at all, “for standard beauty,” Taiwan style. How would one know then if the door opened to the left or right? I convinced Leona and the cabinet makers and five more handles are on order; they had only ordered as many as they thought they’d need.

Yesterday afternoon, the tile setter for the fireplace returned to finish cutting the ceramic faux slate tiles. His plan was to finish cutting the tiles and affix them today when no loud construction work is allowed at the building. He finished cutting and affixing all the tiles by 6:15pm when he left. I am to go back to the new home in a short while to let him in to finish off the job. It took one and a half boxes of tiles of the five they had delivered Monday; they rest will be returned. It has taken about eight hours so far to tile the fireplace. It took about six hours for the carpenter to build it. The teak mantle was cut and refined at another location. That piece itself was about $800us. The whole fireplace with $1,400 firebox, separate electric wiring and breaker, and the tiles and setting cost us about $4,000us, but it’s beautiful. All together, with sofa, lamp, coffee table, end table entertainment counter, vestibule shoe box and glass partition, the living room cost around $15,000us. Aside from the kitchen, it was the only room in the house we added our own interior decorating. The bedroom has new wardrobe doors, a paint job and a new bed and mattress. The study has three movable bookcases and a desk. Our total upgrade was $25,000us which is what we had budgeted. We paid only $3,600 for eight pieces of furniture; that’s what saved us from paying much more.

New Home Almost Ready

5-18 to 5-21-13

      Leona and I went to the new house yesterday There is a beautiful fragrant teak mantle on the skinny faux fireplace. The mantle hangs over the sides of the fireplace by a good three inches on the sides and the front. Just like the fireplace, the front edge has been shaped into two 45^o angles instead of one 90^o; Leona showed me the photo of the solid wood fireplace she got the idea from. The only problem is, it is much easier to shape two 45 angles from pieces of wood than from artificial slate ceramic tiles and have the grain match! The tile company will have to send two workmen to cut angles in the ceramic tiles and try to match them up logically. I pointed out to Leona that she didn’t ask my opinion before she chose the design and she was surprised she hadn’t. She or Jenny also didn’t run the shape of the fireplace by me before the carpenter put it together or I would have suggested they not make it so skinny. All I could do was catch the ugly electric wiring they laid up the wall and have them boxed so it looked like part of the interior decorating. The rest was fate.

      The crew chief didn’t like the paint company Leona and I chose the color of our bedroom from; he said it was too watery. He gave us a chart of colors form the paint company he wanted to use and Leona and I chose the shade of green closest to the mint green we had wanted. It turns out the green on the wall is a little darker than either of us really wanted. On the other hand, the white we chose for the touch up in the living room matches the living room off white perfectly. The holes drilled in the ceiling woodwork to lay the electric wiring for the firebox is disguised completely.

      I brought the cat door over to the new house in blind hope of using it but there is nowhere we could use it. It will be a waste of money and the thrill of seeing cats go.

      The two burner stove top removed from the kitchen is also extra and should be put on 591, Taiwan’s e-bay, for sale. We will have a three burner top installed in the kitchen with the cabinets this Wednesday.

      Friday, the saleswoman and two technicians from Domicil came to the condo to see how they could deliver the sofa we ordered. They decided to lift it four floors with a crane from the lane below, put it over the outdoor patio, through the tea room window and doors, and through the dining area into the living room. Delivery is included in the total price as it should well be!

      The shoebox on the left side of the four foot square vestibule we created will also be installed this week by Wednesday. Leona doesn’t quite remember where it will be affixed but I think I remember it is to be at least four inches from the threshold so to have room to maneuver when you get into the area. The question came up when Leona was plugging in the land-line telephones that we had transferred from the Beverly; we get to keep the same phone number. Leona called Jenny to discuss the positioning of the shoebox and seat but didn’t comment on the discussion.

 I also asked Leona to ask Jenny to be sure that the coffee-tinted color of the partition tempered glass was not so dark that it couldn’t be seen through, especially when the three panes are behind each other when the doors are opened. Jenny told her the tint was the lightest possible tint, but I wish I could see a sample of the actual glass instead of a computer driven 3D image of it. This will be fate, too.

Most importantly, Leona and I are both enjoying this experience of moving into our new home. We’ve had no fights and only a few disputes that were quickly settled. We agree on most of the decorating or convince each other if we don’t. I love the way our new home is shaping up and she does, too.

Leona called the furniture man to make arrangements to have him deliver our seven items this Friday. Leona also ordered another bookcase for the office as I had asked. The salesman asked to make sure there was enough room. He also suggested I take the unit with more shelf space and I agreed. It is amazing that the fine crafts- manship of the 35”x15”x79” bookcases cost only $300us! In Brooklyn, New York, our un-stained pine bookcase half the size, in the living room, was over $250us, plus tax, delivery extra, with tip, if I remember!

We could be sleeping in our new home in five days! Thursday we would have a moving van bring the items we have in the Beverly the half mile to our new digs. I am inclined to drink a bottle of sweet Taiwanese plum wine but we’ll probably get a nice bottle of Chilean Merlot or Spanish Rioja to celebrate.

Today, the tile men are coming to dress the cut-corner fireplace that Leona designed. She admits she didn’t realize how difficult it would be to match up the slate ceramic tiles they have to cut to fit four corners instead of two. I hope they do it well. It will be more expensive for them to do so than it would have been to tile two 90 degree angles instead of four 45 degree angles.

 

 

     The six panes of tempered glass were put into the partition doors yesterday. They look great. The fireplace tile guys won’t come until Thursday so Leona called back the furniture guy and changed the delivery date to Monday. The kitchen and bedroom work is supposed to be done tomorrow. The dining room set is supposed to be delivered next Monday, too.

     

      If Leona hadn’t postponed delivery of our furniture until Monday, we could move into our new home by Saturday. She said, “What’s the hurry?” but I say, “Why delay?” Anyway, a few days won’t make a difference.

      Today will be pivotal. The cabinet makers went to the condo yesterday and started assembling the kitchen cabinets, vestibule shoebox/seat, and bedroom wardrobe doors. They had to go around the electrical work in the kitchen; the outlet for the exhaust fan and dish dryer wasn’t done properly. They will be back today.

I’m glad I was on site yesterday to show the cabinet makers where to install the shoebox at the vestibule. Leona was no help in reminding them to put the box back six inches from the threshold to make room to maneuver when you get in the house; I had to show them. I also showed them how to move the covered outlet to the back of the shoebox so we could use it to plug in components from the entertainment center to its left.

Six boxes of tiles imported from Spain were delivered to outside the first floor elevator for use in lining the fireplace. The tile setters are to be there this morning. I don’t think they’ll need more than four boxes and even fewer if they didn’t have to match the sides of four 45 degree angles. There are five sides of the fireplace that need tiling instead of three because Leona thought cutting the corners would look nicer, and she’s not wrong, but it will be more expensive and difficult to match the four different artificial stone colors that come together on one set ceramic tile.

Once the tiles are done, the electric firebox can be installed.

All of the interior decorating could be done today.

Jukebox Hung Calls Back - Still Thinking

After a month’s absence, Leona got a phone call Wednesday (she didn’t tell me until Friday) from Mr. Hung from the jukebox place. Mr. Hung acted like he didn’t get my last e-mail I sent to his daughter with my refined final offer; 50,000 without refurbishing and 60,000NT with complete refurbishing, including a one-year guarantee for labor and parts and then labor alone for another few years. Leona called him back yesterday and repeated my offer. He told her he would think about it. After a month, I’ve gotten used to not having a jukebox but it has piqued my interest again, but only if it’s under $2000us with a one-year guarantee. I saw two of the same model Rowe jukeboxes on e-bay last night for around $700 before shipping, and not knowing the condition; the jukebox here in Taichung plays and I’ve heard it. There may be no other jukeboxes in Taiwan for sale and it would be ridiculous to ship a 400lb jukebox here from the States. Under $2000 would be still look good in the enclosed patio with shipping and servicing included in the price. I hope Mr. Hung sees it my way.

No word on whether Mr. Hung has finished thinking about selling me the jukebox for under 60,000NT. He said he’d think about it. Our land line is at our new home and any message would be received there. I’m taking it as it come

Mr. Hung from the jukebox/pinball place has ‘been thinking’ about my final offer for the Rowe jukebox since Leona called him back Saturday after he’d gotten back in touch with us last Wednesday, a month after we last corresponded. He’s going to be thinking about it for a long time as he ponders all the useless crap he hasn’t sold in his shitty warehouse. Clearly, the twenty year old used jukebox wouldn’t be worth more than $1000 (including delivery) in the States. It would only be worth more here because they’re rare in Taiwan, 12,000 miles away; perhaps under $2000 complete refurbished, certainly not a red NT more. I feel badly that he has to be so greedy; the jukebox would look good and sound nice on the enclosed patio. If I don’t hear from him by the weekend, I will put it out of my mind again.

Fixing Up The New Home

5-17-13 Fri.

The firebox from the fireplace was brought over by the one-man showroom from the only fireplace importer company in Taiwan. It fits in perfectly except the plate of the outlet built into the back of the firebox has to be removed because it hinders a perfect fit. I didn’t see them try the firebox out and turn it on because I was on the phone with Amanda when they came. Leona said it was beautiful. The wood covering the unnecessarily ugly electrical wiring running up the wall was matched on the right side of the fireplace wall to at least create symmetry. I wish they were both gone.

      I rode to our new home after my ride up the Han River. Leona said they were going to bring the tempered glass to put into the living room/dining room partition but she was wrong; they were only coming to measure it, and didn’t even do that. (Leona assumes and tells me things she doesn’t really know.) The crew chief did spackling of the bedroom walls and holes drilled into the living room ceiling to run the new electrical wiring through.

The crew chief spilled white glue all over his face, shirt, pants and floor when he tried to open the plastic container. Not wearing goggles, he was lucky not to get any glue in his eyes! He had to clean up the mess but ruined his clothes. He wore no protective clothes covering. Frankly, this ‘professional’ did no better than me.

He removed the 1’ long 1.5” deep square wood box near the air-conditioner outlet that the carpenter made around the same ugly corrugated plastic tube the electrician used for on the fireplace wall. He replaced it with more proper thinner heavy-duty co-axial cable and will paint and plaster it out of eyesore. Now, why couldn’t the electrician do the same thing for the ugly wire he put up along the fireplace wall? Still, Leona defended him saying that the ugly one inch thick plastic corrugated tubing was better than a 1/8 thick co-axial cable because ‘the nail holders weren’t pretty.’(!) It irks me that Leona takes their side over mine when they’re fucking up our house, just so no one loses face. Fuck their faces!

Leona said the paper work for my having half the house is complete as of yesterday but I haven’t seen any proof of it. I will ask her to show it to me before we move into the new home.

I decided how to arrange the desk and bookcases in the office; facing the window in the 13” niche of the beam on the left, three feet back from the window itself, and a utility table along the side wall to the window for a copy machine and supplies over the power strips near the outlet. The bookcases and wooden chair would be along the right side wall. I will need a comfortable swivel office chair for the desk. Almost three sides of the desk would be exposed.

I told Leona to call the furniture guy and order another bookcase for the office. She is not going to do it! She says we could buy it later if we need more furniture and go back there. I told her we could have one more bookcase delivered with the other items we purchased. She changed the subject.

 

We Bought The Domicil Sofa

5-15-13  Wed.

      On Sunday, Leona and I bought the sofa we saw on May 4^th, the Domicil sofa, from a company in Germany (assembled in China) has excellent features on their patented sofa modules. We bought the longer three-person, 252 cm (99 inch [8.2 foot]) sofa. With the soft white tweed fabric we wanted (which happened to be the most expensive) and a 104sm (41 inches [3.41 foot]) square hassock, it was 134,919NT ($4,497us.) We gave a 67,460NT ($2,248us) deposit. It would take more than two months (Aug. 17^th) to deliver the combination we want with the color and fabric we choose. When we get back from Brooklyn, they will loan us a sofa until ours arrives! The sofa has “… adjustable backrests and armrests, a solid timber frame with cross banded plywood, a no sag spring seat base, d/40 high-resilient polyurethane foam with fiber wrap seat cushion, robust elastic webbing back support, D40 high resilient polyurethane foam with fiber wrap back cushion, solid timber ht 55mm Wenge finish feet, and selection from Domicil’s exclusive leather and fabric selection.”

      The sofa is the single most expensive item we’ve bought for our new home -16% of our $30,000us interior decorating budget - perhaps the single most expensive item we’ve ever bought in our lives besides our car and houses! Still, it would have been cheaper than the AC/DC pinball machine I was contemplating getting. It is $1,000us more than the mattress and five hard-wood furniture items we got; entertainment center, coffee table, end table, office desk, and two bookcases. It is the same cost as the four Hitachi air-conditioners we bought. With a domestic sofa costing around $1500us with a Lazy Boy recliner we considered costing $1200us, we’re paying $1800us more than we would have, anyway, for, by far, the most comfortable sofa we’ve sat on in Taiwan, indeed, anywhere!

      Because of the size of the sofa, a technician has to come to our condo this week and see if they can get the sofa up to our fourth floor unit! The elevator height is 7 feet so the 8.2 foot sofa won’t fit in there. The sofa is 58cm deep (22.83 inches [1.9 feet]) and 40cm high (15.74 inches [1.31 feet]) .There would be two options; use a crane (which they’d rent) and lift it four floors to our patio and bring it in through our bedroom; the enclosed patio and kitchen having 27” door thresholds while the bedroom threshold is 32” but has a radical right turn into the short hall into the dining area/living room proper. The bottom line is if they can’t guarantee the sofa will fit into our condo unit, the deal is off.

Waiting for the electrician or someone like him

5-14-13  Tues.

The man, who shortly before changed something to make the flow of hot water to the sink and showers stronger, went to work, with his wife, designing the route to wiring that would power the firebox. Leona had told me that he would have no choice but to run a wire up the wall, through the carpentry on the ceiling and into the circuit breaker box in the tea room. That’s not exactly what happened. The man decided he could run the wire to the same outlet as the living room air-conditioner, which he said had a separate unused breaker to use. That is not the problem. The problem is the man used red and white wire through a one inch diameter plastic sheath, like a fat aluminum sheath electric wiring is encased in with wiring I’ve seen in the states. He ran the thick obtrusive tubing up the inside 45^o angle of the wall a few feet from the firebox in plain sight, and the tubing was affixed to the wall with raw nail holders.

      The same workman ran ugly wires on the outside of the tiles in the kitchen to make a second outlet on the right side of the kitchen. He just ran wires from outside the first outlet up to the ceiling, secured it with nail holders, and ran it in a loop sloppily seven feet to the corner of the kitchen and down the wall. I didn’t see the final product because I had to leave. Leona said the wire would be concealed  by the cabinets but I told Leona that the wire should be right over the cabinets, not up to the ceiling far away from the cabinets where they could be seen. Again, she actwed like I was complaining and she saw nothing wrong with it instead of simply saying that she would translate my concern to Jenny, the director of this project.

      I called Leona again from American Eagle during my break between classes. She said she had contacted Jenny and Jenny agreed that it would look ugly and something needed to be done. By then the issue had become why Leona was taking my concerns personally and arguing against me instead of sympathizing and relaying my concerns to Jenny, as if she knew better and I was being picky. It was her home too that was being compromised.

      What should have been done, and what I thought we were going to do before we bough any condo, was contact an electrician to check out the wiring and make sure everything was okay Leona didn’t do that. Now she says it wouldn’t have mattered because the previous owner would have said to take it or leave it. The wiring in our new home had some issues as I result that we had no recourse to rectify or be compensated for. Most of the outlets don’t have a third grounding hole. One outlet didn’t even have the wires connected. The firebox was purchased before an electrician could tell us if it would be feasible.

      The electrician/plumber made five three-inch holes and one five inch hole through the dropped ceiling so he could run the wire through it to the fireplace from the air conditioner outlet. I told Leona that she should make sure that they use tape and plaster and sand it down to reseal the holes to make them look like they weren’t there. This is a problem because the carpenters who put up the dropped ceiling and beautiful round medallion in the dining area had neglected to tape and plaster and sand the seams so that the seams in the wood cracked as soon as there was our first 6.0 earthquake a month or so ago.

      The third issue I have with the interior decorating is a matter of aesthetics; the three rails for the partition between the living room and dining area had fixtures for the partitions in the first and third rail. I pointed it out to Leona and Jenny when she was over Sunday. Even Jenny thought the fixtures were placed incorrectly and agreed they would have to be altered. It turns out that the woodwork which the carpenter was building right in our living room (the house was noisy and full of saw dust) to hold the glass partitions was making them so thick, at least 1 1/2”, that it would need the first and third rails to hold it. In answer to a question I posed to Jenny Sunday, this is why a jut was added on the inside of the movable partition; the stationary glass partition would be affixed there.

      Leona said she had told me the partitions would be wood. I amended that fact to reflect she’d only told me so a few days earlier. No one thought that they would be so thick. I had originally thought they would be painted aluminum, not pine with plastic wood veneer. To this day, Leona has not forwarded me the 3D images Jenny generated and sent to her.

      The neighbors complained to the doorman about the workers not following the 12:00 noon to 1:30 curfew; they had started again ripping apart the bedroom and sawing at 1pm today despite knowing the house rules, probably so they could finish and go home early.

      I told Leona to get a new electrician but she isn’t going to take me seriously. I refuse to bite the bullet and look at something I feel was done incorrectly and is not nice to look at. (I don’t mention my complaint about the shape of the faux fireplace because it was apparently Leona’s idea directly to do so.) I suggested she ask the electrician to use different wiring and hide it better perhaps along the side of the balcony sliding doors that would be concealed by drapes. We’ll see what happens. It is a major problem in Taiwan that I am not able to communicate fluently with the workers and have to depend on Leona who may or may not relate my concerns.

 

 

Working on a Groovy Fireplace

5-11-13  Sat.

    The carpenter set up a workshop in the new living room and was busy cutting and assembling the framework for the fireplace around the firebox. He also installed the rail on the ceiling between the living room and dining area that will hold the two sliding partition doors. This morning, Leona and I will take the scooter to the Westside to see a selection of faux stone tiles for the exterior of the fireplace. In the afternoon, we will probably go to some furniture showrooms to see if we can get a locally made fabric sofa and possibly a recliner chair.

      Thursday, a worker paid by the last owner came by to see about the waterproofing of two leaks in the enclosed patio, one on the far left by the window and the other a crack that appeared on the right side just near the wash room. He went up on the patio roof and used silicon to caulk any holes he saw. I hope it works.

Yesterday morning Leona and I rode to the Westside to the tile place Jenny suggested to do our fireplace; real stone would cost 100,000NT ($3,333us) according to Leona. The imitation brown and beige slate tile, each 15”x6” (?) will be less expensive though not realistic. Apparently Leona decided to not make 90^o angles at the corners of the faux fireplace; instead there’s a 3” dog-ear at the corners. I was not consulted about this modification or I would have nixed it. I don’t know how they’re going to bevel the edge of the tiles to make the three sided corners match! Because of the cut-off, there’s only a three inch face on the left and right side of the firebox with a two foot face above. It doesn’t look very authentic in my mind but it’s too late to change it and I dare not complain publically. Leona is happy with it and that’s good enough for me.

Ugly Furniture Store- Beautiful Solid Wood Furniture

5-7-13  Tues.

Yesterday afternoon, Leona’s cousin drove us to the furniture store her mother urged us to visit. She learned of it through her boyfriend who had his home furnished by and is friends with the owner of the furniture factory of which this store is a wholesale outlet. I felt like I was in a fantasy land where your greatest furniture dreams all come true! By the end of our visit, our host, the wonderful lovable salesman /manager had to tell us to calm down and not order too much furniture just like a medic at Woodstock would tell a hippie to lay off the Purple Haze for a while until he comes down. When all was said and done, the tens of thousands of dollars we would have to pay in America for the furniture we bought!

      The first item we looked for was an entertainment center, a long low table on which to place the flat screen TV, DVD player, and iPod player. Later on when we retrieve it from Brooklyn, we will put Bose speakers on it and, under the top, a record turn table, amplifier, and CD carousel. We found a beautiful 83” long solid chestnut wood entertainment center.

      The second piece we looked for was a coffee table. We found a solid beech wood coffee table, about 4.5’x3’ (I was too excited to measure it then) with open bottom shelf of slats. It came with the third piece, a matching 3’x3’end table which we could place opposite the front door between the sofa and concrete beam that divides the living room from the dining area. On it we could put the figurine lap we have on our marble table in Brooklyn.

      With those items chosen from a selection of a dozen others, we were led upstairs when we said we also needed a bed. Low and behold, at the top of the staircase was a selection of five of the very brand and style of bed that we love in our bedroom in the Beverly; Roberta Colum VAL International Japan, and we purchased the king-sized 6’x6’ mattress and headboard. We left the bottom mattress out, it being overpriced and irrelevant to the comfort of the upper mattress; a custom made baseboard instead . I don’t have the receipt with the price break-down but I believe we paid around $1500us for what would be a $5000us mattress set in Bloomingdale’s in New York City!

 It was so ironic that the day before, after Leona couldn’t find a showroom for the mattress we liked, we found a full showroom in this nondescript warehouse showroom that we had thought wouldn’t even have any of the furniture we wanted. It turned out to have it all and better than either Leona or I even imagined it would be.

With the solid wood entertainment center, coffee table, end table, and mattress set, that would have been enough to call the day successful, but there was more, and the icing on the cake, indeed! A beautiful, beautiful solid wood (some Japanese wood that the salesman/manager didn’t know how to translate into Chinese nor English) 52”x26” desk with fragrant cedar drawers. And that wasn’t all! There were two matching 35”wide x15”deep x77” high sold wood (same Japanese unknown wood source) bookcases, with glass doors, drawers, and such lovely lines and features, the desk and these bookcases would look natural in the office of the president of Harvard University! And here is the amazing thing about all of these purchases. The one, two, three, four, five, six, seven pieces of furniture and mattress set could be had for a meager 108,000NT ($3,600us) what would have cost at least $25,000 in New York!!! It is hard to believe that we can see this wonderful workmanship in our home, daily!

 

Domicil Sofa

5-5-13Sun.

       Leona and I got a lot done towards moving into our new home. Friday evening, while I was teaching at American Eagle, the agent from U-Trust realty who is adding my name to the title/deed came by to pick up the paperwork from Leona.

      Saturday, after I rode up the Han, Leona and I went to Ching Hua Casa, the place we got our night tables and vanity, to buy a dining room set. We’re paying 27,000NT ($900us) for a rectangular man-made alabaster stone table (that becomes round with side slats lifted) and six chairs (four fabric and two wooden, custom-made.) The table was on clearance for $300, actually cheaper than the chairs that were $100 each!

      While we were there, we went into another nearby furniture store mall and looked at the sofas and recliner chairs. We saw La-Z-Boy at one place with chairs over $1000us and none that we really liked.

We then went into another store called Domicil, a company from Germany, which had excellent features on their patented sofa modules. The one we looked at, 192cm long, was 76,950NT ($2565us) after a 5% Mothers’ Day promotion. A 104sm square hassock was 19,238NT ($641us) It would take more than two months to assemble the exact combination we want with the color and fabric we choose. In the meantime, they would loan us a sofa! The sofa has “… adjustable backrests and armrests, a solid timber frame with cross banded plywood, a no sag spring seat base, d/40 high-resilient polyurethane foam with fiber wrap seat cushion, robust elastic webbing back support, D40 high resilient polyurethane foam with fiber wrap back cushion, solid timber ht 55mm Wenge finish feet, and selection from Domicil’s exclusive leather and fabric selection.” It was really comfortable for both me and Leona, more comfortable than any other sofa we tried out. We both liked it. However, it is rather expensive.

If we got the Domicil, we wouldn’t need a $1,000+ recliner since the unit we tried out is so comfortable with the adjustable head and arm rest and hassock. We would save even more money if we could find a local substitute for their $641us hassock!

Before we make up our minds, we will go to see other furniture store selections. Leona’s aunt wants us to go to one store in particular where she has connections and can get us a 30% discount. We will go there this afternoon with Leona’s cousin.

After we left the furniture stores, we had dinner in the neighborhood and went home to relax. We checked the mattress of our bed that is so comfortable and discovered the brand was “Roberta Colum VAL International Japan.” Leona discovered that it is assembled here in Taiwan but she couldn’t find a showroom yet. 

Welcome Home! Renoir Condominium

4-25-13

Leona was at the real estate office signing the final papers and getting all the keys to our new home! Welcome home!

 

Leona went to the new home last evening while I was at American Eagle and spoke with the doorman about us moving in. She checked the home and the mechanical parking space in the basement. There’s still a leak in the enclosed patio but the parking space life works well, not that it matters since we don’t have a car; it will only be used for guests who wish to park there.

Leona got some details about the building’s history from the doorman. There are fifty-five units but only two have children. Most residents have lived there since the condominium was built twenty-one years ago. Originally, the building was to have twelve floors and underground parking space was provided as such but due to a lack of buyers, the building was topped at seven floors! This may also be why our patio space is large in proportion to the rest of the building. No damage was caused by the 1999 earthquake or recent 6.0 quake, maybe because the building was built to withstand damage for five more floors with a deeper foundation. Nothing strange has happened at the building complex.

Leona also got an extra electronic entry for herself and will give the smaller one to me. The key will be necessary to enter the building after 8pm when the doorman leaves for the night. Today, Leona will go to a locksmith and get keys for the two entry doors to our unit. I will remind her that we also should get a stronger lock for the bedroom patio doors and, perhaps, balcony and inside patio doors. We should also look into surveillance cameras.

I will chain my bicycle to the banister on the stairs in front of our unit; the neighbor to the left of the elevator does so along with a hallway shoebox. Every time I use the bicycle, I will have to unlock it, bring it down in the elevator, carry it down a flight of seven steps, and bring it through the lobby to exit the building.

I won’t bring Sweeney-Poo out to the roof anymore. In the morning, after I feed the cats, I will open the enclosed patio door and let them out. Once the cat door is installed, they can even go through it to the outside patio if they wish, or I can lock the cat door just the same. The balcony door in the living room behind the sofa will remain closed with only some tropical plants outside to be seen through the drapes

Dimplex Electric Firebox

4-26-13 Fri.

It is 76 degrees now going up to 84 degrees but it is very humid with clouds and fog and dew on the street. I may go ride the bicycle before the pre-school class downstairs at 10am.

By noon, we will go to the simulated fireplace showroom on the Westside, hopefully it won’t be raining then while we ride Leona’s scooter. In the afternoon, we will go to our new home to inform the doorman that we’ve arrived and let him we’ll be doing interior decorating work. We have to tell the condo board and get involved with their decision making. We also have to contact the electronics store and make arrangements to deliver and install the items we ordered.

[     Entertainment Center     ]  Vestibule I                                        I Electric                                 IPARTITION Fireplace                                I                   dining area                 Coffee table             I             Recliner +Pole Lamp [       Sofa      ] Figurine Lamp I Recliner   [    Sofa     ]  Figurine lamp

We are buying a Dimplex DF2608 26” Electric Firebox for 47,600NT ($1,586us) plus the cost of simulated fireplace to encase it. The encasement cost is part of the cost for the vestibule and living room divider Jenny is designing for us. I see it as the centerpiece of our new living room:

American Medication to Taiwan

I’m paying over $3,000 a year for health care in the USA even though I’m living here. Until Amanda has her own health care, I have to continue doing this. If Leona is going to continue getting her liver medication from Dr. Tracer, I have to continue doing this. If I can continue to get my medication and check-ups here, I don’t need my American health care anymore with universal care but I will keep it anyway for my family and just to be safe. When we go back to Brooklyn, we should get checked up by Dr.’s K and Tracer as well as going to Dr. Benjamin for a dental check up and cleaning. I don’t think I will go to Dr. Reiser for my prostate as I had biopsies from him three times in three years before we moved here.

We’re waiting for a response from Express Scripts that notified me yesterday Leona’s medication from Dr. Tracer was being sent to 1210 Ave Y, but it looks like they were only sending a one month supply (with five refills) for $40 each! Leona had been getting three months for $30 before and we don’t know why it’s shorter and more expensive now; is it Express-Scripts fault or Dr. Tracer forgot to order it?

        “Based on my research, prescription number 931763991 was entered as having been written for a 30 day supply. Your co pays are based on the method of service, rather than quantity or day supply, so each fill from this prescription will result in a $40.00 co-pay. Based on a coverage check, the maximum covered day supply per fill of this medication is a 60 day supply. I recommend that you ask your doctor to write future prescriptions for a 60 day supply to maximize on your benefits, as a 60 day supply of this medication would process at the same $40.00 co-pay.”

      Just as I suspected, Dr. Tracer gave Leona a one-month supply of her liver medicine forgetting we are living in Taiwan. Express Script responded to my inquiry with this information. We can save 50% co-payment, plus having to ask Orlando to mail the medicine from Brooklyn every month. We have to call his secretary (he is disengaged) and hope she tells him the right thing to do.

 

Shuang-Wen JHS Singing Contest

4-24-13

In the afternoon, Leona will go with me as I judge an English singing contest being conducted by her older Feng-Yuan cousin’s publishing company. They needed someone in an emergency as the regular judge stiffed them. They will pay me 800NT ($26us) an hour and I’ll be there from 1-3:30pm. Her cousin will pick us up and drop us off back home.

I had an interesting experience yesterday at Shuang-Wen Junior High School. I was one of eight judges (three of them Caucasian) of an English song choral singing contest. The winner will represent their school in a city-wide contest. We were seated at a table in the front of the large auditorium where at least sixteen classes with more than five hundred students carried in little blue folding chairs on the gym floor and balcony to watch their classmates sing and wait their turn to sing themselves. We had to judge the groups based on pronunciation (50%) tune (30%) “liveliness (sic.) and creativity of the content” (10%) and team spirit (10%). The best team sang “Were All in This Together” and got a 90% from me; they were my best team, too. The funniest teams sang “Beauty and the Beast,” the Beast a young man with duct-tape x-ed across his nipples (taboo) and a group dressed in black incinerator bags to look like monks and nuns who sang “I Will Follow Him,” reverently and then rocked out! At the end of the performance, each judge had to use the microphone to address the audience with our reaction and advice. I gave my two-minute review of their pronunciation (watch the high vowel sounds and word linkage”) in Mandarin. I guess they understood me!

      Leona’s male cousin from Feng-Yuan picked us up and drove us back. The publishing company he works for was one of the sponsors of the contest.

 

In Kaohsiung -Buena Vista Social Club Concert

4-22-13  Mon.

I’m sitting on a promenade on the west bank of the Love River in Kaohsiung. The hotel we stayed in last night is just behind me overlooking the river and a side canal.

Leona is still upstairs in the hotel trying to sleep. Neither of us slept well. I had three hours of sleep. We came to Kaohsiung yesterday to see the 2013 edition of The Sound of Buena Vista, direct from Cuba. I wish Taiwan was like Cuba in socialism and independence. At least in music it was last evening. This is our second trip to Kaohsiung since moving to Taichung. The weather here is fine; a little cool and cloudy.

      We came down yesterday by HSR and arrived at 4:30pm. Luckily, it had just stopped raining. We walked straight to our hotel which was a fifteen minutes from the local Kaohsiung subway station. But we didn’t stay in the hotel room very long. We had to be off to have dinner before the show started at 7:30pm. I left the choice up to Leona and she decided we would have dinner at Outback steak house. I was pleased with her choice. We walked ten minutes along Love River and arrived at Outback on the same west bank promenade. She had baby back ribs. I had prime rib. We shared a ‘Bloomin’ Onion’ and each had alcoholic drink. We had leftovers which we brought along with us.

      The water on the Love River, which is actually a canal half the width of Sheepshead Bay and perhaps three times longer, is glassy and flat with only a slight ripple caused by the wind and outgoing tide south to Kaohsiung Harbor. There are no boats on the river and the three traffic bridges I can see are so low a boat couldn’t pass under. Two bridges down, to my right, is the old city hall, scene of a bloodbath on 228 and now a museum where, last trip here, we saw the classic Taiwanese record exhibit.

      Leona and I did a lot of dancing near our seats in the first row of the balcony. A staffer had to come and ask the folk in our row not to lean over. Teresa Garcia Catarla (Tete) the elderly Cuban singer, prompted most of the audience to get up and after the balcony people saw Leona and I get up first, they all followed. Leona and I had a wonderful time. One thing we miss here in Taiwan is the choice of western concerts so when there is a good performance, we go. Linkin Park will be here this fall but that’s about all.

Overpriced Jukebox in Taichung

4-17-13Wed.

      80,000 ($2,666us) is what  Hung wants for the jukebox now. He had told Leona he wanted it for $2,000us (60,000NT) and I was ready to pay, but he changed his mind. I told him I was not willing to pay more than 50,000NT ($1,666us) for it. I may have to say goodbye to it. He also wants $6000 (180,000NT) for the AC/DC Pinball Machine I already told him I no longer want; I will have to invest in nice speakers instead and use the iPod which has all my CD’s anyway. He saved me the trouble of shipping one thousand CD’s from Brooklyn. The jukebox only holds one hundred at a time.

I didn’t hear from Esther Hung yesterday after I sent her an e-mail refusing to pay $2,600 for a refurbished twenty-year-old bowling alley juke box with three hundred thousand plays. The machine could die at any time and would be a waste of money without a commitment by Hung to include changed parts and repairs for at least a year. He’d sell it to me as-is for $2,000 but it isn’t worth it without a warranty. He has to change the motor for the revolving discs on top and the rubber washer he showed me under the CD player for it to worth $2000us. I can get a motor myself, paint and clean up the rest for $1,000. I will have to let it pass. Perhaps I can find my own juke box in a bowling alley in Taiwan somewhere.

Two days later, there is no response from Mr. Hung. I can kiss the juke box goodbye because I didn’t want to pay $2600us for it refurbished and he wouldn’t touch it for $2,000 which he was ready to sell, with no servicing or parts. You know what? I don’t need it. I have a CD player to play my CD’s, and a turntable to play my 45’s and what’s left of my albums. I have an iPod with 26,000 songs and another MP3 player with more music. If Mr. Hung agreed to $1000-1500 as is, I’d say okay. For $2,000 he must fix the rotating decorative CD’s on top and the rubber washer he said needed replacement. He must give me a one year service contract with parts included, as I said in my last and final offer:

“If the 1994 Rowe jukebox is in good playing condition, with all motors working properly, without being refurbished, it is within my affordable range, 50,000-60,000NT ($1,666-2,000us). Please indicate exactly what parts will be replaced. For example, your dad said a new motor was needed to spin the three CD discs on top and a rubber washer was needed to balance the playback mechanism. It must be in working order with a guarantee for labor and parts one year, and labor alone (parts excluded) for two to five years.”

That Mr. Hung is going to have another piece of junk in his little warehouse until he dies. His daughter and  wife will be left to throw his junk away. They can call me then. Hung could have made a fair deal with me to get the jukebox off his hands in exchange for $2,000us if he could see fit to put it in working order and repair it the first year. I just saved $2,600us not wasting my money on it. That’s the way I see it. The music never left me.

 

The Trouble with American Bank Cards in Taiwan

4-15-13  Mon.

      Leona and I spent three hours in the electronics store on Dongshan Road buying four air-conditioners, one refrigerator, and one washing machine, all Hitachi, all made in Japan. We also got a number of small appliances as gifts from Hitachi as well as a gift from the electronics store that was holding a 10% clearance sale. One of the three hours we spent in the store was consumed with trying to pay for the items we purchase. Leona was going to use the Cathay bank card she had but I suggested we use the TD bank card. However, I warned her that we should wait until I could call the bank and alert them that we were making a large purchase. Didn’t realize we could call 24/7 so I told her to wait until the bank opened unless she wanted to try it anyway. She did try it, and the card was rejected. After the fact, Leona noticed the back of the card had a 24/7 phone number so I called and spoke to an operator. I tried to straighten it out but instead gave her the wrong password. Finally, we straightened it out; we would have $2500 limit on debit and $5000 on credit. I went in to tell Leona who tried to put the card through again and again it wasn’t accepted! I called back the bank again and then the operator told me it would take twenty minutes to two hours for them to reset our credit/debit! They didn’t tell me that the first time I called! That’s when Leona decided to use the Cathay card, anyway, to at least leave a down payment. Meanwhile, I went outside from the noisy store to contact Capital One bank to see if we could use their card. By calling in advance, I freed our debit up to $2000 and credit up to $5000 for a month. When I went in to tell Leona the good news it was good that I did because Cathay bank also rejected Leona’s attempt to give a down-payment! I handed the clerk the Capital One credit card and, lo and behold, it worked! It wasn’t until after we left the store that Leona said she had used Capital One only to give a $2500us down- payment. Why? She said $5000 wasn’t enough for the full purchase! So why did she tell me $5000 was enough when I asked her? She said she didn’t tell me that. I let it go at that. She would pay the balance from a cash transfer and withdrawal she’ll make to Cathay bank today. We will transfer funds from Capital One debit to checking on-line.