One problem down...

Good news to report in terms of our furnace: it's fixed AND didn't need replaced. YES! We had to go about two days without central heat, but I was pleasantly surprised how warm we were able to keep the house in spite of that. Granted, it wasn't as good as having the furnace, but at least we weren't freezing or uncomfortable. It helped to have three space heaters and the oven going...not too efficient for the electricity, but it got the job done for the day and a half we had them. Turns out the furnace had some major blockage at the base of the chimney. Of course blockage like that can lead to carbon monoxide poisoning, but this furnace is designed to shut down if it detects blockage, which is exactly what it did (and yes, we also have a carbon monoxide detector in the house). The blockage was mostly dirt in the bottom of our chimney, which I got out with a garden shovel. We had the father of a friend of ours from church come over and look at it on Wednesday. While it wasn't free, it was much less expensive than if we had called the regular repairman or gone ahead and gotten a new furnace. I'm glad we don't have to worry about a new furnace for the time being. Not only is it not in the budget, but with the uncertainty of our future in this house, I'd hate to spend all that money on something like that and then lose the house.

I found it interesting that my dad had a comment on the furnace which I found out about via my grandmother yesterday when I was over there. I guess he told her the furnace isn't that old and shouldn't need replaced. While it isn't THAT old, it isn't exactly new anymore. I'm not sure exactly when we got it, but it was sometime while I was in elementary school and I finished there in 1993, so I'm guessing it was sometime around 1991 or 1992. The biggest problem it has, however, is that in January 1994 our basement flooded with nearly a foot of water after the basement drainage pipe collapsed and the snow melted. Because it was still the middle of winter, the furnace still had to run. The result was an incredibly damp and humid house at the time and now significant rusting in the furnace. On top of that the basement has always been a pretty damp place due to poor drainage and waterproofing, so that only contributes to the quicker deterioration of the metal and pretty much anything we store down there that isn't secured in plastic!

As for my grade issue, I have an appointment scheduled with the director of the School of Music on Tuesday at 11 AM. I checked my posted grades and the grade for this particular class is currently labeled as incomplete ("IN"). That's a good sign in that she has acknowledged my issue; however, she has not e-mailed me yet since that last one-liner about respect and appropriate tones, so I really don't have a choice but to go through a formal grade dispute with the director. On a side note, I noticed that KSU keeps my graduate and undergraduate grades separate, so I have two GPAs. I found it interesting-- and frustrating at the same time-- that the classes I liked the least and had the most trouble in were my undergrad classes. Most of my problems were due to simply how those classes were structured and what and how the material was covered. Let's just say I'm glad I never have to take an undergrad class ever again!