...Well, actually, technically it's 100, but when I do my Christmas countdown I count down to Christmas Eve, so it's 99 days for me. I know it is probably terrifying to some people that I listen to Christmas music year-round, start shopping in September, and that my favorite movie of all time is Home Alone (which I consider to be a quintessential holiday film), but hey, that is me. There are worse things to have an addiction to than Christmas.
Another thing that is "me" is being obsessively organized to the point of absurdity. In this vein, for the last few years I've been taking part in OrganizedChristmas.com's holiday countdown plan. Starting in October, it is a six-week plan to get you ready for Christmas and keep you sane as the holidays approach. The key to this plan is budgeting and doing things a little bit at a time (like for instance, for each week of the plan you are supposed to buy gifts for a certain percent of your gift-giving list and write out a certain number of cards). I swear by this plan. I am telling you that it is the sole reason I can afford to spend so much time in December off the roads where snow + idiots driving = insanity, and instead be inside by the tree with some tea, the husband, the cat, and a Christmas movie. Without it, I would be lost.
In keeping with their plan, for the last couple of years I've been using a Christmas planning notebook to keep track of all the stuff I need to get done before the holidays, people I need to send cards to, etc. It's basically a red three-ring binder with sections inside it for all the categories I need to store info in (recipes, gifts, cards, etc). But recently, I went on Organized Christmas and saw that they had built a new sister site called ChristmasPlanner.com, so I went over there and basically reached nirvana. Christmas + organization + paper-craft project = happy Grace! Christmas Planner collects some really neat ideas from craft bloggers all over the web who have made nifty customized Christmas planners out of plain manila file folders, composition books, spiral-bound notebooks, and other things. These things are so cool. So, since I have infinite time to add another paper-crafting project to my life (can you detect the sarcasm up in here), I've decided to make one. I don't know if I will get it done in time for this Christmas, but I definitely want to have it finished by next year. Because in looking at the Christmas planner I've been using, while it is functional, it's not really "me". Yes, it has the lists and spreadsheets and stuff, but where are the sparkly scrapbook embellishments, fun paper, Home Alone and Christmas Vacation quotes, and photos to remind me of just how exactly I decorated the house last year?
So I am going to get started on this nifty project soon, hoping that my as-yet-incomplete wedding scrapbook, which is a HUGE project that I seriously need to devote more time to so I'll actually have it done by our 25th anniversary, will not fall by the wayside in the process. I'll try to post some pics as I work on it. Any suggestions or comments from people who have done something similar would be greatly appreciated!
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
And the Award for Worst Customer Service Goes To…
Yesterday I needed to go to the mall to find a dress for a friend’s wedding later this month. On my way, I realized that I had forgotten to buy a spool of thread at JoAnn Fabrics in Brookfield earlier this week for a sewing project I’m working on. So, I decided to stop at a fabric store near my house which is on the way to the mall, rather than driving all the way to Brookfield and back to buy one spool of thread.
Well, suffice it to say that I have now encountered the least pleasant store employees ever. I was appalled at the behavior of the sales clerk that waited on me, and being someone who has infinite patience for strangers, I was even more taken aback. Here is an account of what went down at this store (to which I will obviously never go again). We’ll call the clerk Mean Lady 1 (or ML1 for short), and there is also Mean Lady 2 (ML2, the other clerk working in the store). Here goes:
I am standing at the counter with my one spool of thread.
ML1: Is that all?
Me (making polite conversation): Yes…I didn’t want to drive all the way to JoAnn’s in Brookfield to buy one spool of thread!
ML1: That will be $2.50.
I take out my debit card and go to hand it to ML1.
ML1 (with an enormous sigh): Don’t you have any cash?
Me (looking through my wallet): No, I’m sorry, I don’t unfortunately.
ML1: You know the credit card companies charge us for these.
Me: I’m really sorry, I don’t have any cash.
ML1: Then I guess you should go to JoAnn’s.
Me: I’m sorry, I wasn’t aware you had a minimum purchase for cards.
ML1: I can hold this here while you go to an ATM. Or you can buy something else.
(Note the nearest ATM is IN THE MALL)
Me: Well, that’s really all I needed…
ML1: You know, I’m a mother…didn’t yours ever tell you not to travel without cash?
ML2 (helping another customer): What’s the problem? Does she only have a twenty?
ML1 (like this is the worst thing that has ever happened to her): No, she’s got a card.
ML2: Well, just let her use it so we can get out of here.
(ML1 grumbles while she rings me up and hands me the receipt)
Me: I’m really sorry about this, I feel really bad.
ML1: Well, just don’t let it happen again.
“Don’t let it happen again”?!?!?! WTF? Who the hell says that to a paying customer? I left the store with my spool of thread (which, I might add, is crappy quality – I SHOULD have just gone to JoAnn’s, I was trying to sew last night and it’s the kind of thread that doesn’t unravel easily so it puts undue tension on the needle on my machine while I’m sewing, which I hate, my sewing machine was expensive & I don’t want it to break!)
Once I’m in the car, I call Shawn at the store. Being the wife of someone who owns a retail establishment, and whose family has been part of the retail world for 4 generations, I wanted to ask him if he thought I was off base being pissed off at the way this lady treated me. Maybe I was the one in the wrong, for not having some cash on me? Shawn proceeds to tell me that the whole “minimum purchase” thing is bullshit, because while it’s not illegal for a store to say they have a minimum purchase for a customer to use a credit or debit card, it is usually against the credit card company’s contract with the merchant to do that. Furthermore:
1. There are like 6 fabric and sewing stores in Danbury. This one is the closest one to me. I specifically TOLD the woman, hey, I was going to go to one of the “craft big-box stores” (aka JoAnn’s) to buy my one spool of thread, but I CHOSE to come to your small mom-and-pop store instead. And you are rewarding me by lecturing me and treating me like an idiot. Wouldn’t you rather suck it up, deal with the small charge by the credit card company, and possibly gain yourself another loyal customer?
2. I was beyond pissed that this woman suggested I buy something else, when I specifically said I didn’t need anything else, in order to justify using my debit card. If it were a deli and they had a minimum purchase, that’s one thing – I’ll get a cookie or a drink or something. But not in any other kind of store, and not when I specifically told them I didn’t want anything else.
3. ML2 was helping another customer when she chimed in about “letting her use her card so we can get out of here”. So not only did she embarrass me in front of someone else, but she pretty much said, “We don’t really care about our customers, or our business, we just want to get through the work day and get the hell out of here.” That’s a great image to project to clients.
4. NOWHERE on the front counter by the cash register or anywhere did I see a sign posted about “Minimum purchase for credit cards: Such-and-such amount”. If that had been there, I WOULD have bought something else. But how dare you bust out with that obnoxious lecture and make me feel guilty about using a debit card when you don’t even have a sign up?
5. I was nothing but pleasant to this woman…very apologetic, very calm, I never once raised my voice. Hey, I know retail is hard. But guess what? If you’re going to be that much of a douche to your customers…YOU MIGHT NEED A NEW JOB.
So after that, I barely even felt like going to the mall anymore, but when I went into Express I encountered a very nice young man (oh my God, I sound old saying that) working at the register who made me feel a whole lot better about the whole thing. He is NC1 (Nice Clerk 1) and the other cashier is NC2 (Nice Clerk 2):
There were a couple of people in front of me online that were having trouble with a credit card & their transaction was taking a long time as a result.
NC1 (once I’m at the counter & the other customers are gone): I’m really sorry about the wait.
Me: Not a problem.
NC1: I swear, some days the credit card machine just isn’t working well and I feel like I spend all day apologizing to the other people in the line!
Me: Well, it’s a nice change of pace for someone like me who just experienced the worst customer service ever.
NC1: Why, what happened?
There was no one else on line and they weren’t busy so I briefly told the story.
NC1: Oh my God, that’s ridiculous, I can’t believe someone would treat a customer that way.
NC2: Yeah, seriously, what was her problem…a debit card is legal tender, she had no business giving you such a hard time about that!
NC1 proceeded to use his employee discount to give me almost $30 off my purchases. I was astonished that he did that and told him I didn’t want him to because I didn’t want him to get into trouble, but he insisted & wouldn’t take no for an answer. It was above and beyond the call of duty. And I left the store feeling like by and large, most people in the retail industry DO know how to treat customers…it is just a select few who are complete assholes.
BTW, I purposely left out the name of the fabric store, just in case. However, if you want to know which one it was, in case you want to boycott it as well (HEHEHEHE), send me a message & I will tell you.
Well, suffice it to say that I have now encountered the least pleasant store employees ever. I was appalled at the behavior of the sales clerk that waited on me, and being someone who has infinite patience for strangers, I was even more taken aback. Here is an account of what went down at this store (to which I will obviously never go again). We’ll call the clerk Mean Lady 1 (or ML1 for short), and there is also Mean Lady 2 (ML2, the other clerk working in the store). Here goes:
I am standing at the counter with my one spool of thread.
ML1: Is that all?
Me (making polite conversation): Yes…I didn’t want to drive all the way to JoAnn’s in Brookfield to buy one spool of thread!
ML1: That will be $2.50.
I take out my debit card and go to hand it to ML1.
ML1 (with an enormous sigh): Don’t you have any cash?
Me (looking through my wallet): No, I’m sorry, I don’t unfortunately.
ML1: You know the credit card companies charge us for these.
Me: I’m really sorry, I don’t have any cash.
ML1: Then I guess you should go to JoAnn’s.
Me: I’m sorry, I wasn’t aware you had a minimum purchase for cards.
ML1: I can hold this here while you go to an ATM. Or you can buy something else.
(Note the nearest ATM is IN THE MALL)
Me: Well, that’s really all I needed…
ML1: You know, I’m a mother…didn’t yours ever tell you not to travel without cash?
ML2 (helping another customer): What’s the problem? Does she only have a twenty?
ML1 (like this is the worst thing that has ever happened to her): No, she’s got a card.
ML2: Well, just let her use it so we can get out of here.
(ML1 grumbles while she rings me up and hands me the receipt)
Me: I’m really sorry about this, I feel really bad.
ML1: Well, just don’t let it happen again.
“Don’t let it happen again”?!?!?! WTF? Who the hell says that to a paying customer? I left the store with my spool of thread (which, I might add, is crappy quality – I SHOULD have just gone to JoAnn’s, I was trying to sew last night and it’s the kind of thread that doesn’t unravel easily so it puts undue tension on the needle on my machine while I’m sewing, which I hate, my sewing machine was expensive & I don’t want it to break!)
Once I’m in the car, I call Shawn at the store. Being the wife of someone who owns a retail establishment, and whose family has been part of the retail world for 4 generations, I wanted to ask him if he thought I was off base being pissed off at the way this lady treated me. Maybe I was the one in the wrong, for not having some cash on me? Shawn proceeds to tell me that the whole “minimum purchase” thing is bullshit, because while it’s not illegal for a store to say they have a minimum purchase for a customer to use a credit or debit card, it is usually against the credit card company’s contract with the merchant to do that. Furthermore:
1. There are like 6 fabric and sewing stores in Danbury. This one is the closest one to me. I specifically TOLD the woman, hey, I was going to go to one of the “craft big-box stores” (aka JoAnn’s) to buy my one spool of thread, but I CHOSE to come to your small mom-and-pop store instead. And you are rewarding me by lecturing me and treating me like an idiot. Wouldn’t you rather suck it up, deal with the small charge by the credit card company, and possibly gain yourself another loyal customer?
2. I was beyond pissed that this woman suggested I buy something else, when I specifically said I didn’t need anything else, in order to justify using my debit card. If it were a deli and they had a minimum purchase, that’s one thing – I’ll get a cookie or a drink or something. But not in any other kind of store, and not when I specifically told them I didn’t want anything else.
3. ML2 was helping another customer when she chimed in about “letting her use her card so we can get out of here”. So not only did she embarrass me in front of someone else, but she pretty much said, “We don’t really care about our customers, or our business, we just want to get through the work day and get the hell out of here.” That’s a great image to project to clients.
4. NOWHERE on the front counter by the cash register or anywhere did I see a sign posted about “Minimum purchase for credit cards: Such-and-such amount”. If that had been there, I WOULD have bought something else. But how dare you bust out with that obnoxious lecture and make me feel guilty about using a debit card when you don’t even have a sign up?
5. I was nothing but pleasant to this woman…very apologetic, very calm, I never once raised my voice. Hey, I know retail is hard. But guess what? If you’re going to be that much of a douche to your customers…YOU MIGHT NEED A NEW JOB.
So after that, I barely even felt like going to the mall anymore, but when I went into Express I encountered a very nice young man (oh my God, I sound old saying that) working at the register who made me feel a whole lot better about the whole thing. He is NC1 (Nice Clerk 1) and the other cashier is NC2 (Nice Clerk 2):
There were a couple of people in front of me online that were having trouble with a credit card & their transaction was taking a long time as a result.
NC1 (once I’m at the counter & the other customers are gone): I’m really sorry about the wait.
Me: Not a problem.
NC1: I swear, some days the credit card machine just isn’t working well and I feel like I spend all day apologizing to the other people in the line!
Me: Well, it’s a nice change of pace for someone like me who just experienced the worst customer service ever.
NC1: Why, what happened?
There was no one else on line and they weren’t busy so I briefly told the story.
NC1: Oh my God, that’s ridiculous, I can’t believe someone would treat a customer that way.
NC2: Yeah, seriously, what was her problem…a debit card is legal tender, she had no business giving you such a hard time about that!
NC1 proceeded to use his employee discount to give me almost $30 off my purchases. I was astonished that he did that and told him I didn’t want him to because I didn’t want him to get into trouble, but he insisted & wouldn’t take no for an answer. It was above and beyond the call of duty. And I left the store feeling like by and large, most people in the retail industry DO know how to treat customers…it is just a select few who are complete assholes.
BTW, I purposely left out the name of the fabric store, just in case. However, if you want to know which one it was, in case you want to boycott it as well (HEHEHEHE), send me a message & I will tell you.
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
BLAST To Prevent Lyme Disease!
I don’t usually do public service announcements on my blog, but this is an important one so here we go!
It’s summer (though you wouldn’t know it from the lame weather we’ve been having)…summer means swimming, fun outside, BBQs, hanging out in the sun…and tick season. If you live in the Northeast, you probably know at least one person who has been bitten by a tick or had Lyme disease. This is an extremely prevalent disease if you live in this area, and the only cure for it is prevention.
I was diagnosed with Lyme disease last year after having a test ordered by my chiropractor. I had been suffering with pain in my left leg (behind my knee mostly but also in my upper calf) that my GP told me was due to a running injury I had had. I bought that diagnosis for about two weeks until I started feeling the same thing in the other leg, along with headaches and vision changes. My chiropractor encouraged me to get the test and sure enough, it was positive. I was immediately put on a three-week course of doxycycline, a really fun antibacterial drug. My symptoms went away for awhile, but came back about a month later and I was put on the doxy for another two weeks.
I never saw the tick, I never saw the rash. My doctor told me most people don’t.
So, I encourage everyone to BLAST!
B – Bathe as soon as possible after coming inside. Statistics show that people who shower soon after possible exposure to ticks have less likelihood of becoming infected with Lyme.
L – Look for ticks, and rashes possibly caused by a tick bite, on your body. If you find a tick, remove it properly by the mouth parts with special tick-removal tweezers and save it for identification by a professional. Blacklegged ticks (commonly called deer ticks) are the ones that spread Lyme. You can order a tick removal kit that comes with tweezers, antiseptic wipes, a mini-baggie to save the tick in, magnifying glass, and a tick identification card here.
A – Apply repellants, to skin and clothing. Obviously some people are not fans of chemical repellants, and that is a personal decision, but they have been proven effective. You can check out the National Pesticide Information Center’s website to read more about tick repellants.
S – Spray your yard. Studies have shown that applying pesticide to your lawn during the time of year when ticks are most abundant (aka NOW) can seriously reduce deer tick populations.
T – Treat your pets. My family’s beloved cat Bianca was an outdoor cat and we spent a lot of time pulling ticks off her as a result, which also meant that she was bringing them into the house. We started using the Frontline Plus medication every month and that worked well. You simply apply the liquid between your pet’s shoulder blades (where they can’t reach to lick) and they are protected from ticks and fleas for a month. Use it on indoor pets too, just in case (we do with our kitty.) You may also want to be careful, especially during this time of year, about letting your pets sleep with you.
Prevention is the key to wiping out Lyme disease. I’m telling you from firsthand experience, having it sucks ass, and I didn’t even have a serious case. If Lyme disease is left untreated, it can cause permanent muscle, nerve, and brain damage, paralysis, urinary incontinence, has been linked to MS, and tons of other things, and since it prevents with all kinds of symptoms that show up with tons of other illnesses, it is often misdiagnosed (as in my case). I personally believe that anyone who spends a lot of time outside, and goes to the doctor with muscle pain, headaches, and fatigue, should be tested for it, but many doctors don’t even think to do the test which is a problem.
Anyway, remember to BLAST and you can read more about Lyme disease at the links below:
Lyme Disease Foundation
Ridgefield, CT BLAST Home Page
Brookfield, CT Lyme Disease Task Force
Housatonic Valley Council of Elected Officials (HVCEO) Tick-borne Illness Resource Center
CDC Division of Vector-Borne Infectious Diseases Lyme Disease Page
It’s summer (though you wouldn’t know it from the lame weather we’ve been having)…summer means swimming, fun outside, BBQs, hanging out in the sun…and tick season. If you live in the Northeast, you probably know at least one person who has been bitten by a tick or had Lyme disease. This is an extremely prevalent disease if you live in this area, and the only cure for it is prevention.
I was diagnosed with Lyme disease last year after having a test ordered by my chiropractor. I had been suffering with pain in my left leg (behind my knee mostly but also in my upper calf) that my GP told me was due to a running injury I had had. I bought that diagnosis for about two weeks until I started feeling the same thing in the other leg, along with headaches and vision changes. My chiropractor encouraged me to get the test and sure enough, it was positive. I was immediately put on a three-week course of doxycycline, a really fun antibacterial drug. My symptoms went away for awhile, but came back about a month later and I was put on the doxy for another two weeks.
I never saw the tick, I never saw the rash. My doctor told me most people don’t.
So, I encourage everyone to BLAST!
B – Bathe as soon as possible after coming inside. Statistics show that people who shower soon after possible exposure to ticks have less likelihood of becoming infected with Lyme.
L – Look for ticks, and rashes possibly caused by a tick bite, on your body. If you find a tick, remove it properly by the mouth parts with special tick-removal tweezers and save it for identification by a professional. Blacklegged ticks (commonly called deer ticks) are the ones that spread Lyme. You can order a tick removal kit that comes with tweezers, antiseptic wipes, a mini-baggie to save the tick in, magnifying glass, and a tick identification card here.
A – Apply repellants, to skin and clothing. Obviously some people are not fans of chemical repellants, and that is a personal decision, but they have been proven effective. You can check out the National Pesticide Information Center’s website to read more about tick repellants.
S – Spray your yard. Studies have shown that applying pesticide to your lawn during the time of year when ticks are most abundant (aka NOW) can seriously reduce deer tick populations.
T – Treat your pets. My family’s beloved cat Bianca was an outdoor cat and we spent a lot of time pulling ticks off her as a result, which also meant that she was bringing them into the house. We started using the Frontline Plus medication every month and that worked well. You simply apply the liquid between your pet’s shoulder blades (where they can’t reach to lick) and they are protected from ticks and fleas for a month. Use it on indoor pets too, just in case (we do with our kitty.) You may also want to be careful, especially during this time of year, about letting your pets sleep with you.
Prevention is the key to wiping out Lyme disease. I’m telling you from firsthand experience, having it sucks ass, and I didn’t even have a serious case. If Lyme disease is left untreated, it can cause permanent muscle, nerve, and brain damage, paralysis, urinary incontinence, has been linked to MS, and tons of other things, and since it prevents with all kinds of symptoms that show up with tons of other illnesses, it is often misdiagnosed (as in my case). I personally believe that anyone who spends a lot of time outside, and goes to the doctor with muscle pain, headaches, and fatigue, should be tested for it, but many doctors don’t even think to do the test which is a problem.
Anyway, remember to BLAST and you can read more about Lyme disease at the links below:
Lyme Disease Foundation
Ridgefield, CT BLAST Home Page
Brookfield, CT Lyme Disease Task Force
Housatonic Valley Council of Elected Officials (HVCEO) Tick-borne Illness Resource Center
CDC Division of Vector-Borne Infectious Diseases Lyme Disease Page
Monday, June 29, 2009
Monday Rant
I hate MS Office 2007. Like, really hate it. I bought my new desktop at home in January of 2007 and shortly thereafter, realized with much rage that MS Office 98 was no longer available to buy in stores. So I had to suck it up and install the new version, which fills me with such loathing every time I try to type a document at home that I want to go on a shooting spree.
In particular, I really can’t stand MS Word 2007. Normally I use Word a lot, both at the office and at home, and good God, it sucks in the new version. I hate the interface, I hate the dumb Calibri font that is the default (instead of Times New Roman like EVERY OTHER VERSION OF MS OFFICE IN HISTORY), I hate how the first time I used it it took me 20 minutes to figure out where the Print option was (because why would they keep the File menu around? It’s only the most standard dropdown menu in ALL THEIR OTHER PRODUCTS), and I hate how it takes you 612 clicks to do something that in an earlier version of Word took you 2 clicks. Have fun trying to insert a text box, WordArt, or a picture, folks!
However, for all my bitching about the rest of the product, at least I have not yet encountered Clippy the paper clip office assistant who tries to help you while you’re typing (for instance, you write “Goodbye cruel world” and he pops up and says “It looks like you’re writing a suicide note. Would you like help?”) Wikipedia tells me that Microsoft discontinued that feature for the new version of Office, and thank God, because man, do I hate that shit. I have NEVER found the office assistant to be useful, at all. Maybe he would have been helpful back in college if he had popped up to say, “It looks like your stupid drunk ass is writing a Spanish paper at 3 A.M. the night before it’s due, AGAIN. Would you like help finding meaning in yet another disturbing, pointless piece of Spanish literature that makes no sense? Or better yet, would you like me to take you back in time to the day you decided to minor in a language and remove the crack pipe from your hand?” Seriously, you type the word “Dear” anywhere in a document and the frigging thing pops up (taking up like a quarter of your usable screen space in Word, might I add) going “IT LOOKS LIKE YOU’RE TYPING A LETTER. PLEASE CAN I HELP PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PRETTY PLEASE I PROMISE I WILL BE EVER SO HELPFUL AND I WON’T ANNOY YOU AND YOU WILL NEVER REGRET PURCHASING A MICROSOFT WORD PROCESSING PRODUCT AT ALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
Seriously every time I use Office 2007 I get more and more pissed off and by the time I’m done typing my document I can barely write a coherent sentence anymore. Does anyone know if I can buy a new copy (legally) of Office 98 anywhere so I can uninstall the monstrosity that is Office 2007 on my machine at home?
Rant over. Happy Monday everyone!
In particular, I really can’t stand MS Word 2007. Normally I use Word a lot, both at the office and at home, and good God, it sucks in the new version. I hate the interface, I hate the dumb Calibri font that is the default (instead of Times New Roman like EVERY OTHER VERSION OF MS OFFICE IN HISTORY), I hate how the first time I used it it took me 20 minutes to figure out where the Print option was (because why would they keep the File menu around? It’s only the most standard dropdown menu in ALL THEIR OTHER PRODUCTS), and I hate how it takes you 612 clicks to do something that in an earlier version of Word took you 2 clicks. Have fun trying to insert a text box, WordArt, or a picture, folks!
However, for all my bitching about the rest of the product, at least I have not yet encountered Clippy the paper clip office assistant who tries to help you while you’re typing (for instance, you write “Goodbye cruel world” and he pops up and says “It looks like you’re writing a suicide note. Would you like help?”) Wikipedia tells me that Microsoft discontinued that feature for the new version of Office, and thank God, because man, do I hate that shit. I have NEVER found the office assistant to be useful, at all. Maybe he would have been helpful back in college if he had popped up to say, “It looks like your stupid drunk ass is writing a Spanish paper at 3 A.M. the night before it’s due, AGAIN. Would you like help finding meaning in yet another disturbing, pointless piece of Spanish literature that makes no sense? Or better yet, would you like me to take you back in time to the day you decided to minor in a language and remove the crack pipe from your hand?” Seriously, you type the word “Dear” anywhere in a document and the frigging thing pops up (taking up like a quarter of your usable screen space in Word, might I add) going “IT LOOKS LIKE YOU’RE TYPING A LETTER. PLEASE CAN I HELP PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PRETTY PLEASE I PROMISE I WILL BE EVER SO HELPFUL AND I WON’T ANNOY YOU AND YOU WILL NEVER REGRET PURCHASING A MICROSOFT WORD PROCESSING PRODUCT AT ALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
Seriously every time I use Office 2007 I get more and more pissed off and by the time I’m done typing my document I can barely write a coherent sentence anymore. Does anyone know if I can buy a new copy (legally) of Office 98 anywhere so I can uninstall the monstrosity that is Office 2007 on my machine at home?
Rant over. Happy Monday everyone!
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Ode to My Car
Recently (over Memorial Day Weekend I think), my car hit 150,000 miles. It got me reflecting on what a milestone that was – I don’t think we think about the amount of life events our cars go through with us, if we keep them around for awhile, and it really made me appreciate my little car even more for all the places it’s taken me to since I bought it in May of 2001.
As a bit of background, my car is a 1999 Mitsubishi Galant ES sedan. I bought it the summer after my sophomore year of college, when I finally had saved up enough money to get a car loan, since my sister was still in high school and driving my dad’s old Audi around, and I needed my own car since I had a summer job. I remember thinking that shopping for cars was easily the most annoying experience EVER – car dealers really do only care about your money and it was a lot of work finding one that I trusted enough to decide they weren’t ripping me off too much. In the end I bought my car from County Line Mitsubishi in Watertown and I have never regretted it since. It only had about 37,000 miles on it when I bought it, and soon enough I started racking up the mileage with trips to and from Bucknell a couple times a year (exactly 258 miles one way). But besides the miles, the car has faithfully rewarded me with almost 10 years of safe and comfortable driving. The only major repair I’ve had to do on it since I bought it (knock on wood) was to replace the radiator this year. And even though I don’t take near as good care of it as I should, like letting a couple more thousand miles pass after I’m due for an oil change, it still serves me perfectly well. I’ve always looked at it as more than a car, because it’s more than a way of getting me from A to B – it’s been with me when I’ve needed to escape from things, when I just feel like getting out and going for a drive, and has lasted me through many, many life events:
--Two years of college, carting my stuff to and from school
--One college graduation
--September 11th, driving home the weekend after it happened for my mom’s birthday
--Seven boyfriends (one of whom, who ended up becoming my husband, asked me out on our first official date while I was out for one of those nice relaxing drives)
--One fiancé
--One engagement
--One wedding
--Five jobs
--Four places of residence, including my first home bought with my own money
--Nonstop trips to and from Daytona Beach for spring break 2003
--One surgery (wisdom teeth)
I’ve cried, sneezed, and coughed on the steering wheel (don’t worry, I clean it often), soaked the upholstery with pool and lake water after going swimming, eaten dinner in it on the way from one color guard practice to another, slept in the backseat, sung along with the stereo, changed my clothes in the passenger’s seat, and screamed out the windows. I’ve been pulled over three times, gotten into three accidents, driven through major thunderstorms and snowstorms, and done a lot of thinking and talking in my car. I’ve gotten lost in it in Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Maryland, Hartford, Virginia Beach, and the Bronx.
I’ve taken apart the dashboard to replace a lightbulb only to discover that I didn’t have the right one, and had to put it back together again. I dropped a CD into the engine and electrocuted myself sticking my finger into the cell phone charger jack while the car was running. I’ve put the mats through the washing machine to clean them, thereby unraveling part of one. I rarely check the oil or tire pressure (bad, I know) and drive the thing on fumes (I know exactly how far I can drive with the gas needle below “E” before I’m in trouble). I stopped filling it up with premium gas a long time ago. I have had the same box of crap in my trunk since my senior year of college, and should really find a better place to store my expensive Marmot sleeping bag. I once had a bottle of antibacterial gel melt in the cup holder. The driver’s side mirror snapped off when a 2x4 came flying out of the flatbed of an oncoming pick-up truck and hit it, and the amount of dead bugs and tree sap on the front bumper will probably never come off completely no matter how hard I try. But it keeps kicking and keeps running smoothly – when I turn on the AC or heat, the car takes about a minute to reach my desired temperature, and the stereo sounds great no matter how high I turn up the volume, and really that’s all I need.
So here’s to you, Car. Thank you for 150,000 awesome miles, and may we have another 150,000 together that are just as awesome.
As a bit of background, my car is a 1999 Mitsubishi Galant ES sedan. I bought it the summer after my sophomore year of college, when I finally had saved up enough money to get a car loan, since my sister was still in high school and driving my dad’s old Audi around, and I needed my own car since I had a summer job. I remember thinking that shopping for cars was easily the most annoying experience EVER – car dealers really do only care about your money and it was a lot of work finding one that I trusted enough to decide they weren’t ripping me off too much. In the end I bought my car from County Line Mitsubishi in Watertown and I have never regretted it since. It only had about 37,000 miles on it when I bought it, and soon enough I started racking up the mileage with trips to and from Bucknell a couple times a year (exactly 258 miles one way). But besides the miles, the car has faithfully rewarded me with almost 10 years of safe and comfortable driving. The only major repair I’ve had to do on it since I bought it (knock on wood) was to replace the radiator this year. And even though I don’t take near as good care of it as I should, like letting a couple more thousand miles pass after I’m due for an oil change, it still serves me perfectly well. I’ve always looked at it as more than a car, because it’s more than a way of getting me from A to B – it’s been with me when I’ve needed to escape from things, when I just feel like getting out and going for a drive, and has lasted me through many, many life events:
--Two years of college, carting my stuff to and from school
--One college graduation
--September 11th, driving home the weekend after it happened for my mom’s birthday
--Seven boyfriends (one of whom, who ended up becoming my husband, asked me out on our first official date while I was out for one of those nice relaxing drives)
--One fiancé
--One engagement
--One wedding
--Five jobs
--Four places of residence, including my first home bought with my own money
--Nonstop trips to and from Daytona Beach for spring break 2003
--One surgery (wisdom teeth)
I’ve cried, sneezed, and coughed on the steering wheel (don’t worry, I clean it often), soaked the upholstery with pool and lake water after going swimming, eaten dinner in it on the way from one color guard practice to another, slept in the backseat, sung along with the stereo, changed my clothes in the passenger’s seat, and screamed out the windows. I’ve been pulled over three times, gotten into three accidents, driven through major thunderstorms and snowstorms, and done a lot of thinking and talking in my car. I’ve gotten lost in it in Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Maryland, Hartford, Virginia Beach, and the Bronx.
I’ve taken apart the dashboard to replace a lightbulb only to discover that I didn’t have the right one, and had to put it back together again. I dropped a CD into the engine and electrocuted myself sticking my finger into the cell phone charger jack while the car was running. I’ve put the mats through the washing machine to clean them, thereby unraveling part of one. I rarely check the oil or tire pressure (bad, I know) and drive the thing on fumes (I know exactly how far I can drive with the gas needle below “E” before I’m in trouble). I stopped filling it up with premium gas a long time ago. I have had the same box of crap in my trunk since my senior year of college, and should really find a better place to store my expensive Marmot sleeping bag. I once had a bottle of antibacterial gel melt in the cup holder. The driver’s side mirror snapped off when a 2x4 came flying out of the flatbed of an oncoming pick-up truck and hit it, and the amount of dead bugs and tree sap on the front bumper will probably never come off completely no matter how hard I try. But it keeps kicking and keeps running smoothly – when I turn on the AC or heat, the car takes about a minute to reach my desired temperature, and the stereo sounds great no matter how high I turn up the volume, and really that’s all I need.
So here’s to you, Car. Thank you for 150,000 awesome miles, and may we have another 150,000 together that are just as awesome.
Thursday, April 23, 2009
I want a new...pet
Anyone who has spoken to me in the last, um, YEAR knows I want a dog. Like, REALLY bad. But unfortunately, Husband says no, not until we have a house with a yard and I guess I’m inclined to think he’s right. Also, at this point I don’t think Psycho Cat would be able to handle it, and since I love Psycho Cat (despite the fact that she attacked my hand last night and wouldn’t let go and I had to slather on the Neosporin and spray her with water to get her to stop), I don’t want to do anything to make her more disturbed than she already is.
So, we have been discussing another pet we could get that we could keep out of Smokey’s reach but would still be really fun to have. I am not picky…I love any critter provided it’s not a spider. Husband loves birds, so that was the logical conclusion. He had pet crows growing up (their names were Randall and Flagg, after a Stephen King bad guy) and he loved them. Since I don’t think we’ll be able to get crows (since the Federal Migratory Bird Act of 1918 prevents you from taking them from the wild anyway), we thought about other types of birds we could get. Parrots are too big, too noisy, too mean, and live FOREVER. Cockatoos, same thing. We kind of felt “meh” about parakeets and budgies, so we started doing research on myna birds.
We want a bird that is intelligent, that we can train, and that is big enough that we can take it out of the cage and walk around with it. We also want a bird that is ok living by itself (i.e. not with a mate or other birds to keep it company). Turns out that myna birds fit pretty well with all these requirements. They are very smart and can mimic most human sounds and develop vocabularies of more than 100 words. If you hand-raise them from babies, they are affectionate and will be happy to be out of their cage and cuddle with you. They are not too big, not too small (about 10 – 12 inches) and are very pretty as well. I did a substantial amount of research on the web and found that there is a breeder in Connecticut, and his contact info lists an (860) area code so he might be close by.
Last night we walked around the house for about a half hour trying to decide where we’d put a cage, and discussing how fun it would be to teach a bird phrases like “HA-ha” ala Nelson in The Simpsons, the Futurama – Dr. Zoidberg escape sound, and assorted other things we quote/say a lot. And if we kept our bird in the guest room, where my home office is located, it would be hilarious for me to be on a conference call or something and hear the bird bust out with the name of a drug class like “HIV-1 nucleoside and nonnucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors” or something! LOL.
So what do people think? Does anyone own a myna bird, or know someone who owns one?
So, we have been discussing another pet we could get that we could keep out of Smokey’s reach but would still be really fun to have. I am not picky…I love any critter provided it’s not a spider. Husband loves birds, so that was the logical conclusion. He had pet crows growing up (their names were Randall and Flagg, after a Stephen King bad guy) and he loved them. Since I don’t think we’ll be able to get crows (since the Federal Migratory Bird Act of 1918 prevents you from taking them from the wild anyway), we thought about other types of birds we could get. Parrots are too big, too noisy, too mean, and live FOREVER. Cockatoos, same thing. We kind of felt “meh” about parakeets and budgies, so we started doing research on myna birds.
We want a bird that is intelligent, that we can train, and that is big enough that we can take it out of the cage and walk around with it. We also want a bird that is ok living by itself (i.e. not with a mate or other birds to keep it company). Turns out that myna birds fit pretty well with all these requirements. They are very smart and can mimic most human sounds and develop vocabularies of more than 100 words. If you hand-raise them from babies, they are affectionate and will be happy to be out of their cage and cuddle with you. They are not too big, not too small (about 10 – 12 inches) and are very pretty as well. I did a substantial amount of research on the web and found that there is a breeder in Connecticut, and his contact info lists an (860) area code so he might be close by.
Last night we walked around the house for about a half hour trying to decide where we’d put a cage, and discussing how fun it would be to teach a bird phrases like “HA-ha” ala Nelson in The Simpsons, the Futurama – Dr. Zoidberg escape sound, and assorted other things we quote/say a lot. And if we kept our bird in the guest room, where my home office is located, it would be hilarious for me to be on a conference call or something and hear the bird bust out with the name of a drug class like “HIV-1 nucleoside and nonnucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors” or something! LOL.
So what do people think? Does anyone own a myna bird, or know someone who owns one?
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Crazy Tsunami Dream
So, I gotta blog about this crazy dream I had last night before I get too wrapped up in stuff and forget to do it. To preface this, I don’t know what the story is with me, but for the last couple of months I’ve dreamed almost every night, and add that to the fact that I’ve always had very vivid dreams that I almost always remember in near-perfect detail. This was one of the more wacked-out ones. I don’t know if it’s the medicine I’m on or what, but like I said, recently I’ve been dreaming way more than usual. This one was a doozy.
The dream started out with me watching TV. The president comes on and starts telling the nation about how the Cumbre Vieja volcano on La Palma in the Canary Islands erupted, and as a result the side of the volcano collapsed and slid into the Atlantic Ocean, which caused a huge tsunami that will travel across the Atlantic and hit the Eastern Seaboard (Aside: normal people dream about tsunamis. Only geologists dream about tsunamis AND the geological reasons why they happen) (Another aside: if you ever hear about Cumbre Vieja erupting, and you live on the Eastern Seaboard, turn off the TV, pack your shit, get the family, get in the car, and drive inland. There is a lot of debate among geologists about the likelihood of this event happening, about projected wave sizes, etc., but better to be safe than sorry, I say. You don’t want to F with a tsunami.)
So anyway, back to my dream. After I hear the president talking, I freak out and start to cry. Then I call my parents and tell them what’s going on, and they tell me to get Shawn, pack some stuff up, and come over and we’ll all drive to our vaca house in upstate NY together. But, we’re only allowed to bring one suitcase. So, Shawn and I start packing up, and strangely we’re in our house, but it looks like my parents’ house, which is where we’re going when we’re done packing, but whatevs.
I grab my suitcase and start throwing stuff into it. I put my unfinished wedding scrapbook and all my scrapbooking supplies in there, and somehow they fit. (The only reason I can think of for these random items going into the suitcase in my dream is that I generally fall asleep thinking about craft projects, e.g. scrapbooking, so I probably had it on my mind when the dream started.) Then I throw in a couple of my favorite outfits, some jewelry, one or two bags, my hairdryer (I don’t know why, but I guess if you live through a tsunami you’ll prob. need a hairdryer at some point), the firesafe from under our bed where we keep all our important documents, and last but not least, my two favorite stuffed animals, Slean the reindeer and Mr. Seal.
Next thing that comes up is that I start freaking out about the cat, crying to Shawn that we can’t leave her behind. Shawn goes downstairs to get the cat carrier and we get Smokey in there, and we throw all our stuff in the car and next thing we know we’re in my room at my parents’ house. My parents and my sister are running around like crazy trying to pack up their stuff, and also there is this random Chinese lady at their house who just showed up there and my parents, being hospitable in times of national crises, offer to bring her upstate with us. And of course my parents have two cats, so we’re trying to get the two of them into their carriers. Shawn and I have left Smokey and all our crap in the car, which is parked outside. Everyone’s scared out of their minds and so am I, but I’m trying to tell them at the same time that it’s very unlikely that the tsunami will wash that far inland, and if it does, it will be a pretty small wave.
Well, I’m wrong. We’re all packed up and ready to go and standing in the garage, just about to get into our cars, when we notice drops of water falling from the sky. At first we think it’s rain but we realize it’s sunny out, and then we get a glimpse of this huge gray wave coming over the horizon and we barely have time to close the garage door (like that would help) when the tsunami hits.
This is where the dream got really freaky. At this point it was so vivid, that I actually felt like I was surrounded by rushing water and was being jostled around and holding my breath and praying that I wouldn’t drown and that my family would be safe. The side wall of the garage is blown out and we’re all pushed outside by the water. My brain conveniently chose this time to wake up, thankfully, and I missed the rest of the tsunami actually hitting while I tried to remember where the hell I was, and I think I either poked Shawn in the back or smacked him in my half-asleep state to make sure he was real and not soaking wet with tsunami-water. Sorry, Husband!
A few minutes later I fell back to sleep. The dream picked up right where it left off, which I hate when that happens, especially when said dream is actually a nightmare like this one. Now it’s the aftermath of the tsunami. We can see the damage the tsunami has caused to the neighborhood. Cars smashed into each other on the street, trees and houses washed away, except for ours which is miraculously still standing (but doesn’t look like my parents’ house at all…more like the mansion from Psycho). At this point we start cheering and yelling, “Yay house! You rock!” before Shawn and I realize that OMG, we left poor Smokey in the car! We see Shawn’s Monte Carlo facing the wrong way across the street (although it looks like it’s in pretty good shape for having just been hit by a tsunami). We run over and look through one of the side windows and there’s Smokey in her carrier, alive but soaking wet and looking totally terrified. We pick her up in a towel and cuddle her and calm her down, and then I woke up again.
When I finally fell back to sleep, the dream AGAIN picked up where it left off, although it made a little less sense. I’m fighting with my dad because I want him to get my suitcase so I can make sure all my stuff is ok, and finally he does and by some miracle everything is dry and undamaged. Then I’m talking to Shawn saying, gee, I wish we had soaped up the car before the tsunami hit, it would have gotten nice and clean (like that makes any sense). Then, all of a sudden, we’re all looking at this book that is covered in jewels and is talking about how the whole world has changed because of the tsunami and we need to go to this random office for some reason. So we all head to the office and we’re wondering where Smokey went, until we get to the receptionist’s desk and there is a rhino behind it and we realize that Smokey has become a rhino (which, if you’ve ever met my cat, is not too much of a stretch – she is large, gray, and ill-tempered.) And that was the end of the dream. Craziness, no????
The dream started out with me watching TV. The president comes on and starts telling the nation about how the Cumbre Vieja volcano on La Palma in the Canary Islands erupted, and as a result the side of the volcano collapsed and slid into the Atlantic Ocean, which caused a huge tsunami that will travel across the Atlantic and hit the Eastern Seaboard (Aside: normal people dream about tsunamis. Only geologists dream about tsunamis AND the geological reasons why they happen) (Another aside: if you ever hear about Cumbre Vieja erupting, and you live on the Eastern Seaboard, turn off the TV, pack your shit, get the family, get in the car, and drive inland. There is a lot of debate among geologists about the likelihood of this event happening, about projected wave sizes, etc., but better to be safe than sorry, I say. You don’t want to F with a tsunami.)
So anyway, back to my dream. After I hear the president talking, I freak out and start to cry. Then I call my parents and tell them what’s going on, and they tell me to get Shawn, pack some stuff up, and come over and we’ll all drive to our vaca house in upstate NY together. But, we’re only allowed to bring one suitcase. So, Shawn and I start packing up, and strangely we’re in our house, but it looks like my parents’ house, which is where we’re going when we’re done packing, but whatevs.
I grab my suitcase and start throwing stuff into it. I put my unfinished wedding scrapbook and all my scrapbooking supplies in there, and somehow they fit. (The only reason I can think of for these random items going into the suitcase in my dream is that I generally fall asleep thinking about craft projects, e.g. scrapbooking, so I probably had it on my mind when the dream started.) Then I throw in a couple of my favorite outfits, some jewelry, one or two bags, my hairdryer (I don’t know why, but I guess if you live through a tsunami you’ll prob. need a hairdryer at some point), the firesafe from under our bed where we keep all our important documents, and last but not least, my two favorite stuffed animals, Slean the reindeer and Mr. Seal.
Next thing that comes up is that I start freaking out about the cat, crying to Shawn that we can’t leave her behind. Shawn goes downstairs to get the cat carrier and we get Smokey in there, and we throw all our stuff in the car and next thing we know we’re in my room at my parents’ house. My parents and my sister are running around like crazy trying to pack up their stuff, and also there is this random Chinese lady at their house who just showed up there and my parents, being hospitable in times of national crises, offer to bring her upstate with us. And of course my parents have two cats, so we’re trying to get the two of them into their carriers. Shawn and I have left Smokey and all our crap in the car, which is parked outside. Everyone’s scared out of their minds and so am I, but I’m trying to tell them at the same time that it’s very unlikely that the tsunami will wash that far inland, and if it does, it will be a pretty small wave.
Well, I’m wrong. We’re all packed up and ready to go and standing in the garage, just about to get into our cars, when we notice drops of water falling from the sky. At first we think it’s rain but we realize it’s sunny out, and then we get a glimpse of this huge gray wave coming over the horizon and we barely have time to close the garage door (like that would help) when the tsunami hits.
This is where the dream got really freaky. At this point it was so vivid, that I actually felt like I was surrounded by rushing water and was being jostled around and holding my breath and praying that I wouldn’t drown and that my family would be safe. The side wall of the garage is blown out and we’re all pushed outside by the water. My brain conveniently chose this time to wake up, thankfully, and I missed the rest of the tsunami actually hitting while I tried to remember where the hell I was, and I think I either poked Shawn in the back or smacked him in my half-asleep state to make sure he was real and not soaking wet with tsunami-water. Sorry, Husband!
A few minutes later I fell back to sleep. The dream picked up right where it left off, which I hate when that happens, especially when said dream is actually a nightmare like this one. Now it’s the aftermath of the tsunami. We can see the damage the tsunami has caused to the neighborhood. Cars smashed into each other on the street, trees and houses washed away, except for ours which is miraculously still standing (but doesn’t look like my parents’ house at all…more like the mansion from Psycho). At this point we start cheering and yelling, “Yay house! You rock!” before Shawn and I realize that OMG, we left poor Smokey in the car! We see Shawn’s Monte Carlo facing the wrong way across the street (although it looks like it’s in pretty good shape for having just been hit by a tsunami). We run over and look through one of the side windows and there’s Smokey in her carrier, alive but soaking wet and looking totally terrified. We pick her up in a towel and cuddle her and calm her down, and then I woke up again.
When I finally fell back to sleep, the dream AGAIN picked up where it left off, although it made a little less sense. I’m fighting with my dad because I want him to get my suitcase so I can make sure all my stuff is ok, and finally he does and by some miracle everything is dry and undamaged. Then I’m talking to Shawn saying, gee, I wish we had soaped up the car before the tsunami hit, it would have gotten nice and clean (like that makes any sense). Then, all of a sudden, we’re all looking at this book that is covered in jewels and is talking about how the whole world has changed because of the tsunami and we need to go to this random office for some reason. So we all head to the office and we’re wondering where Smokey went, until we get to the receptionist’s desk and there is a rhino behind it and we realize that Smokey has become a rhino (which, if you’ve ever met my cat, is not too much of a stretch – she is large, gray, and ill-tempered.) And that was the end of the dream. Craziness, no????
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