Tues. Update: Well, the electrician I tried to hire can't get here for a month ... so I'm having to request a refund from Angie's List. I happened to be talking to my neighbor a couple hours ago and she has a nephew who does electric and plumbing (professional) and does stuff on the side, and has a call in to him to call her back. Hopefully he can come take a look.

The gas man just left and said he just turns stuff on, he's not a pipe man and can't attach the meter to the new pipe I ran. Hopefully the pipe guys will stop by tomorrow ....(lemme guess -- they're union ...)

Thanks mansized for the sympathy and well wishes, and yes, we're planning on doing a house smudge to get the karma back in balance. ... now to go buy a sage smudge stick ...