Tip of the day: ovens and renting

If you're like me, you're still stuck on the final legs of renting as you prepare to invest in your own palatial estate. Here's one thing to watch:

When you move into a new place, open up that compartment below the main oven chamber where many people store baking sheets, etc. Maybe, just maybe, some creative folk inhabited the apartment before you and thought it might serve as a nice receptacle for a stack of papers. Really, who could blame them? Then maybe, just maybe, you'll turn on your gas stove for a few minutes and soon find your apartment engulfed in heavy smoke. Perhaps next you'll attempt, unsuccessfully, to control the smoke and see the pleasant warm glow of orange flames issue forth from underneath your gas stove. Ooooh, delicious! In a wild, wacky, cool-aid style twist of events, maybe you'll then get the opportunity to visit with the local firefighters as they isolate and quench this nifty fire.

I've heard these stories so, kids, always keep an eye out for those little practical jokes your lovable ex-tenants might have concocted.