It Takes a Village to Get a Refrigerator

Yesterday was a day all about refrigerators. First off, my friend Lucia found an apartment, and the landlords had even purchased a new refrigerator for it, though it was sitting in a store and needed to be picked up. Lucia doesn't have power at this point, so the refrigerator is sorta theoretical, but we didn't want to take the chance that someone else might come along and offer the store twice as much money so they could have it. Also, Gavin and Allison had ordered one and it was ready to be picked up as well. They tried to have it delivered, but when they asked when that would happen, they were told, "Uh, December?" Okay, so, no delivery, no problem, just assemble the troops and go to it. We spent all day driving around in this rental truck that Gavin and Allison drove in from Houston picking up refrigerators, which were unbelievably heavy to put on the truck, and unbelievably heavier to get off, since we didn't have the help of the guys at the store at that point. Nonetheless, it was very exciting and all the neighbors would come out to offer help and marvel over the working refrigerator, like we live in the Third World where the whole village would come over and throw a party because some tribal elder managed to get his hands on one.
As if that weren't enough, yesterday I ordered a whole pizza at Slice on St. Charles for myself because I wanted the leftovers. The waitress was boxing it up for me and said, "So, you've got a working refrigerator?" I told her I did and she told me about how her landlord expected her to deal with the old one AND to buy a new one, which is just an unbelievably crappy move on the landlord's part. There wasn't much I could do, so I gave her a seven dollar tip on an $18 bill. Lucia later told me that what the landlord is doing is illegal (and she's a lawyer, so she knows), so if I see that waitress again, I'll tell her to call the bar association.
Here's a fun science project for the kids - unplug the refrigerator and leave it that way for five weeks. No fair emptying it out first; that's cheating. Then, open it up if you dare, and see what's grown on the inside. I recommend wearing a respirator and heavy gloves, and arming yourself with some serious bug spray. Discover wonderful new smells! Next, take samples and try to identify all the different kinds of molds and fungi that now call your refrigerator home. It's fun for the whole family and you'll learn all kinds of interesting stuff! Bonus points if you duck tape it closed and put it out in front of your house for three more weeks and live out of a cooler for that real New Orleans feel.