Oh no Plank, I'm sorry. Judging by the care that seems to have gone into decorating your home, you seem as attached to your own space as I am. That must be a terrible experience.

Faulty dishwasher.

I've been renting this condo for almost 6 years, and had a call into the management company for some mild flooding coming from the dishwasher. They were very slow to respond, and basically shrugged it off. I figured out it was a clog in the kitchen drain where the two meet, so I unclogged the drain myself and used the dishwasher successfully the day before. I figured I'd flush it out one more time to get the backed up gunk out, so I set it, waited for it to drain as it should, then headed out to my friends house. That's something I've always done with this thing, since it's kinda loud. It's old and has always made a bunch of noise, so I'll turn it on and go somewhere else when I do dishes. About 45 minutes later I got a call from my neighbor telling me my place was on fire and that there were a bunch of fire trucks and first responders there. I raced home to find the devastation.

...and thank you. It's been surreal so far. Funny thing is that I design fire training structures and facilities for a living, but I've never been on the receiving end of it until now. Some of the guys putting the fire out were more than likely trained in one of our units.

That's so terrible, Plank - thank God no one was hurt. As Marie said, you've put so much care into your home and I'm sure that makes this doubly devastating to you. We had a similar situation happen last month, on a much smaller scale, in which our entire bathroom ceiling caved in and crashed to the floor - fortunately, no one was in the bathroom at the time. But nothing nearly as devastating as your situation. I'm so sorry. :(

Also, Steph, thats gotta be rough to go through and my heart goes out to you. Some people just can't be empathetic enough to allow others to grieve. To put that on you on top of everything else is just terrible.

Oh my freaking God... so much time and money spent going to different stores, picking out just the right components, saving, waiting, moving, rearranging, and creating the space I wanted. Not to mention the one-of-a-kind artwork created by my daughter I had on the walls. I had it just about perfect for what I wanted and it took me every bit of those 5 years to get there. Now, I'm back to square one.

Christ almighty. Originally I thought you were showing us renovation before-and-after pictures, then when it got to the one with all the smoke I thought uh...

What a tragedy! But as others have said, thank the Great Pixie nobody was injured or even killed. And thankfully your music survived. The question was asked, but if answered I didn't see it, so do you have insurance? Have you somewhere to live now? Holy leaping lizards, that's one hell of a thing to happen. Glad you're all right though. Can you sue the makers of the dishwasher? Or the landlord?

Wow, sorry to hear, Plankton. I'm glad everyone is alright. Are you staying somewhere else in the meantime?

Since I was a renter and didn't have renters insurance, it will fall on the owner/management company's insurance for compensation, since the liability lies with them. There's some grey area there, but the way I feel about it right now I don't care if I get compensated or not. I am still in a bit of shock though, so we'll see how this all plays out. I have quite a few different people telling me to take inventory of everything, and I'm inclined to do so, but it's still fresh and I'm still digging through things.

I'm staying at my lady friends place for now, but that same ^ insurance coverage is going to help with relocation, which there's no grey area in that aspect of it all.

I apologize if I'm being short with responses, I'm spread a bit thin right now. I just wanted to let everyone know here whats going on if my posts are sparse from here on out.

i shaved and got a haircut

i look like a little boy agian .... and Not homeless