Harrowing Day

And I am not even stressing or freaking. No students today - district in-service, which took me to Bellevue Baptist...if you are not familiar with Memphis, it is like a stadium that is also a church. TONS of meeting rooms from thousands to dozens of people. The sessions were not bad, learned a few things, that's about it.

Then about 7:30 I get asked by wife and youngest if a circuit breaker tripped, because the computer and cable went out in the living room. Nope, no breaker tripped. But no power either. So I go in with my testers and see that the indicators for that outlet say that there is a problem - ground and live are mis-matched. Well, I know that is impossible, but I open it up and mess around and find that I hate the electrician who wired it, since they disregarded the wire colors (black for live, white for neutral) and put black tape on the two live wires. Took me some experimenting, and walks back and forth to the circuit box. Even though the plug works, it is still not powering the surge protector, and the two other outlets on the circuit are not powered. However, the lights in the living room and dining room (also on the circuit) are fine. I spend literally an hour in the dark trying different connections when I finally just give up and say "let's call the electrician" - because I have no clue. Everything has worked fine in that room for 9 years, and tonight something happens and it is all screwed up.

Then I notice an outlet, not on the wall where I have been working, but where we had the Christmas tree plugged in. The top plug is browned and melted on the left side. And the wife and daughter had been complaining a few weeks ago about a melty plastic smell, which at the time we assigned to the electric fireplace. The wiring in that room has always worried me, as the room is a bonus room and I have little to no confidence in the construction of it - as we have discovered in bits and pieces over the years - mainly from having a tree drop on the corner and having repairs. Things like a live, uncapped wire in one wall. A floor that has a crawl space, but insufficient shoring (also termites, but that was discovered at that same time, as we were having a french double door put in). Anyhow, this is going to cost, and cost big, I am sure. Minimum I want the room re-wired - six grounded outlets on a circuit separate from the lights. Probably should have the ancient breaker box replaced, too. *sigh*