February 20, 2014
It’s 3 am.
Doggle’s migrated yet again out of his crate, he has a nightly rotation with more cycles in and out of the thing the later I keep him up with my confounded lights and electronics, sleep growling and barking like, in his dreams, he’s a real, fully fledged dog. (I warrant you he is not. He’s a dog-cat-camel.)
I finally stopped working at midnight tonight, leaving half a pile of things undone because I was just too tired to keep going. It’s an early night, so of course my mind and body conspire to keep me awake. Having dutifully re-read Elizabeth Moon’s Once A Hero to ready my eyes for sleep and clear my head, I turned in only to discover my mind was just waiting to race with all the other things still undone.
It’s been a rough several weeks, feels like months, since things at work kinda went smash.
Every work day, and every day is a work day, has spanned two days. Starting mid-morning, I’ve worked straight through to 2 am, til at the end of each week I’m only pretty sure I know what names are but I couldn’t properly use one. The dog has been patiently waiting for me to come to bed most nights, even disregarding the fact that his precious master had long since stumbled off to bed first. Canine pity. You know it’s bad when that kicks in.
It was just last year I was saying that I couldn’t do business school or a graduate program; I don’t have the energy to repeat the feats of my 20s, working round the clock, stumbling out of bed at six or seven am and falling back into it after 1 or 2 am. Granted, I’m eking out a few hours more this time around but, unshrouded by the invincibility of youth, it feels a whole lot worse!
This will pass, not soon enough for me, but I will survive. Thanks to a husband who does his share around the house and in the kitchen when he comes home to a cold and semi-lighted home, his spouse glued to the computer, we still get fed on the really rough days and don’t worry too much about the other details til we can.
In the meantime, I can lay here and mull over those follies of youth, presumably the price you pay for having the kind of energy that we old ‘uns can only remember fondly.
Why I’d never want to be 19 again….
When I bought my first car, I knew enough to dicker for it, but not enough to avoid the usual moneymaking dodges like GAP insurance or being heavily overcharged for insurance on my own policy. The best part, though, the moment I realized that maybe I was in over my head and shouldn’t have done everything on my own, was the moment of taking ownership. I slid into the new seat, shut the new door, buckled the new seatbelt, turned to roll down the windows and gasped to my best friend in the passenger seat, horrified: where are the window controls?!?
For a long panicked moment, we both thought I’d managed to buy a car with no window controls at all, let alone power.
Of course I hadn’t. But that sheer lack of experience and knowledge at that age crystallized for me in that moment.
I like to pretend I made up for these shame by paying the car off in 3 years instead of 5 but I think we all know that’s not true.
At 19 I was faced with a sick mother and a bedridden grandparent, a partially employed father, an idiotic older sibling spending money like it came with an expiration date, newly dating a boy who’d never love me til I left him (and then couldn’t scrape him off my boots for two years as he tried to show the dedication he couldn’t muster in the same amount of time we dated), still morally and absolutely certain that if I just worked hard enough it would all come out in the end. Because that’s totally how the world works.
Sure, something came out of something’s rear end but I can assure you it wasn’t my happy resolution with a bow on top. But you probably couldn’t have told me that in any words that I’d believe back then.
Ahh youth. Blindly optimistic youth. I would never go back. Not for all the lovely lovely energy that came with it.
There are a dozen more stories of inexperience and stupidity I could share but in the spirit of generosity, how about y’all share instead? (she said, cajolingly) Would you ever go back?
December 16, 2013
Pacific Rim came out in theaters a while ago, and I have no idea how well it did but it was one of the few movies that appealed enough that I wanted to see it in theaters. When the DVD later went on sale for $8, I snapped that right up. Not because it was $8, I don’t try to own media unless I LOVE it and am willing to watch it 200 times so nothing’s just taking up space. But this movie got a wholehearted double victory fists YES. It’s a quick watch at 131 minutes, fast-paced and light fare, stuffed with plenty of good fun.
By grace of this stubborn cold or flu or whatever I have, I’ve only had the brainpower to sit around and stare so we’ve played the DVD 4 times in the last 2 days. PiC humors me so much.
I saw absolutely nothing in the promo trailers, for a wonder, except ROBOTS and MONSTERS (which is absolutely all it took for me to be in) and so had zero expectations except for fighting robots and monsters. Which I got in spades.
1. Idris Elba as the Marshal. He. Was. Awesome.
2. Idris Elba with the best shut downs ever. When Raleigh tried to walk away from the recruitment. When Mako tried to persuade him that it was her turn. When Raleigh laid hands on him (whoa).
3. The loving father-daughter relationship between the Marshal and Mako, caring moments entwined with their professional relationship without getting weird.
4. Mako’s willingness to confront Raleigh with what she perceives to be his weakness. Her confidence in the ring.
5. Raleigh’s balance as a character: he’s been deeply hurt, he’s been out on his own, but he doesn’t hold any dramatic bitterness when he decides to come back. He doesn’t lash out at the barbs that could have triggered a forced outburst: Newt’s groupiness, Chuck’s arrogance at the dinner table. He does protest things that are protest-worthy but he’s not melodramatic.
6. No schmucky love story! This was hands down my favorite part. A male-female set of leads that battle together, obviously care about each other’s well being, but don’t fall into a stupid love thing that wouldn’t be believable. Doesn’t stop Hollywood from shoehorning in gratuitous love stories in countless movies, but I have no love for them.
7. GIANT ROBOTS! Shades of Veritech, echoes of Transformers, ghosts of Voltron gone by, all the massive fabulous robots! Called Jaegers! Piloted by Rangers! Could you possibly appeal to my 80s loves any more?
8. Why yes, with GIANT MONSTERS! Hello, decades of Godzilla fandom come to life! In shark form, in dactyl form, in classic romping, stomping land form.
9. Chuck getting a well deserved stomping. Ranger or no, he was a jerk.
10. The Ops guy always in his bow tie. Because “bow ties are cool”. (All together now, who says that?)
11. Bulldog!
12. Bonus: Wonderful soundtrack.
And of course my money questions:
What havoc did the constant attacks wreak on the world economy? The Jaeger program required a lot of support but they were “only” dying 2 Rangers at a time. In the meantime, you have a huge defenseless population relying entirely on the mobile robots and a hell of a mess to pick up after each battle, regardless of who won.
Whose bright idea was the wall? Was it meant to be a jobs creator despite the sheer stupidity of the idea?
Politically, who were those politicians running things and making the predictably stupid decisions?
Where did all the materials to build the 250 foot Jaegers come from? Where did the money come from?
Does insurance even exist in the post-Kaiju world??
January 10, 2013
Specifically, the Dominos in Millbrae.
Last Friday, I had an overwhelming craving for pizza. This happens. What hasn’t happened in a while is that I specifically wanted to give Domino’s up here in the Bay Area a try. I have a tried and true place in Southern California and that’s what gave me the idea: we have several Domino’s competitors much closer to us but I remembered my good old days of ordering a Domino’s pizza (or two … I was a hungry teenager) once or twice a month and it felt like a good time to go back to the classics.
Bad Call.
We went well out of our way during a night full of errands to pick up two pizzas (because two people, two pizzas, right?)
It took us a fair while to finish the errands, get home, unload the car, walk the dog, get the rest of dinner on the table. When we finally sat down to eat, it was pretty cold but best of all: PiC found hair in the pizza!
All together now: GROSS. I couldn’t believe I’d sent positive reviews via the online app before eating but I’d never ever had this happen over a lifetime of a whole LOT of pizzas so I didn’t think to wait until we were done. Almost bemusedly, mostly horrified, I watched him pick out the hairs, and I sent a new message about the hair, nearly automatically.
After a few minutes I realized, well, that’s not going to do anything. I called the store, explained what happened and asked for a refund.
The female taking the call interrupted me to talk to someone else, then came back: what?
I couldn’t tell if the “what?” was for the explanation, the refund, or just a general ambiguous blanket “I really wasn’t listening,” so I asked if she’d caught anything I’d just said at all. “Umm, no.”
There were four or five males in the shop and one female when I left it, none of them wearing hairnets mind you, she picks up the phone but can’t be bothered to listen to the caller?
I explain again: we picked up our order about an hour and a half ago, but we found hair in the pizza. I’d like a refund.
“Well, first of all, we don’t give refunds anyway, but you waited two hours to call.”
Oh, yes, I delayed my call because I wanted to spend some time with my hair laden pizza. And that totally invalidates the fact that there was hair in my pizza. That ticked me off. And she wasn’t really listening to me anymore so I doubt she noticed I got frosty when she asked if I wanted to talk to the manager. I just took the number and hung up. At that point, I was livid.
Because, hi, fine print of Dominos:
What’s that? You have a guarantee?
“If you are not completely satisfied with your Domino’s Pizza experience, we will make it right or refund your money.”
I’ll tell you what, what I like even better than unhygienic pizza? Being lied to.
It was late, I was fed up with that crap. I didn’t want to speak to another person over the phone so I (politely) wrote to Corporate. And I get a response saying (summary):
Oh we’re so sorry, we have to let the location know, so please wait three days for them to respond. If you don’t hear back, let us know.
I was angry but not totally unreasonable. I waited three days. Silence. I wrote back to Corporate informing them of the silence. The onus was now on them to “make it right.” By refunding my money at this point. A “we’ve passed this note on” confirmation came back.
Days later: still silence. I’m done waiting.
Domino’s: This location definitely no longer has my business or my support. But since the company has gone silent and hasn’t bothered to honor their guarantee I don’t see why they should have my business either. Considering my household spent over $3000 eating out alone last year, a cut of that might have been nice but in this booming economy, who needs another customer, right?
And I’d like my money back, thanks.
December 5, 2012
According to USA Today, the new Starbucks gift card that costs $450 but only comes with $400 spending value on it will be available on Gilt.com and the quoted cultural anthropologist says, “Not everyone is impressed” by the appeal to snobbery and exclusivity that this card represents.
No kidding?
Is anyone?
Supposedly it comes with free perks but none are touted in the report which is all about the potential “collector value” of the thing. I wouldn’t be surprised if it doesn’t come with very much more than the standard Starbucks program attached to all gift cards. And of course the VP of card and payments suggests he’d buy one for his Mom – it’d be more than his job’s worth not to tell a journalist anything different.
But I’ll point out the key thing that makes this thing no more worth the steel it’s carved out of and that’s the quote from Starbucks’s selling partner, Gilt’s executive VP: “When you’re waiting in line at Starbucks, the next person in line won’t have it.”
So, this super exclusive, limited run, card doesn’t get you out of waiting in line? Then believe me when I say, no one in line cares what card you pull out of your wallet.
December 2, 2012
Testing
June 18, 2012
I’ve been getting mysterious phone calls from individuals naming themselves employees of Greg Adams and Associates for the last two months. The area code is associated with a Florida area code and they’ve left the following sorts of messages:
“Good afternoon, this is Melanie Steinberg representing the firm of Gregory Adams and Associates. I’m calling in regards to allegations that are being filed out of my office attached to your social security number. At this point in time, you are a person of interest, however, if I do not hear from yourself or some type of representing counsel, I will have to file this out as willful evasion and proceed in favor of the client. My number here is 561-210-4826. Thank you and please govern yourself accordingly.”
Sounds appropriately alarming.
She:
1. Mentions a law firm that can be found on the Better Business Bureau site,
2. Mentions a social security number,
3. And makes a threat to proceed to something that goes against my putative interests.
Except wait – she never once identifies me by name, I’ve never received any official notification of what this matter is about, she never says what this matter is regarding in the message, she doesn’t mention her client’s name, she doesn’t identify herself as a lawyer or a paralegal, and how does she get to determine that I’m willfully evading anything? I do believe that would be up to the judge and court to accuse me of evasion of summons if it got to that, would it not?
When I received the first phone call, I did a Google search on the incoming phone number, which matched the verbally given return phone number and found a list of complaints that other people had received the same sort of phone calls with the same language. It sounded fishy and now it sounded phishy.
Two weeks later, I get a message from the following phone number 954-345-4786:
“Hi yes, this is David Zimmerman with Greg Adams and Associates. This is my second attempt to make contact with you at the number linked to the case in my office. Please contact my office at 561-288-1193 before end of business day today. If I don’t hear from you I have to assume you are evading the matter and will be forced to make decisions on your own behalf without your knowledge. Again this is David Zimmerman at Greg Adams and Associates. Thank you.”
Interesting. They do keep track of their calls enough to know which number they’re on at least, and use appropriately threatening language but assume I don’t know that they actually don’t have power of attorney and aren’t allowed to make any decisions for me without my permission, forget without my knowledge.
Eight days later, 305-222-7826 calls, irritably:
“Yes this is David Zimmerman calling on behalf of the firm Greg Adams and Associates. We’ve been more than accommodating by issuing not only one but two Notice of Intent, uh, your state only requires one to be issued ten business days before we commence with filing in your local county. Not so sure if in fact I have the correct number or not but if I do, I understand that things happen but based on the seriousness of these allegations attached to your social security number it would be advantageous for you to return this call to the firm’s direct office immediately 305-222-7826. Thank you and please govern yourself accordingly.
The cheek! You’re annoyed with ME?
Honestly, these folks haven’t once identified the supposed allegation(s), they haven’t mailed anything directly, they haven’t proven they even know my name. They repeatedly talk about my social security number but if they knew it, they would know how to reach me by other means, not just by phone.
Generally, these phone calls are just annoying because I’m not bothering to return any of them. It would be great to pursue some form of recourse to make them stop because they are disruptive but so long as they’re limited to my cell phone, it’s limited harm done. Still, I would be concerned for anyone who did call back without any skepticism and fell down that rabbit hole – I’m sure they’re looking to nab identities, social security numbers, bank accounts, etc.
Has anyone else received these calls or similar such?
April 13, 2012
TeacHer Finance’s attempts to find her frugal again had me laughing over my similar attempts to find my own sanity, financial and otherwise.
I was just chastising myself the other night for craving some really lovely luggage as shared by Feather Factor here. That was after wanting to book a pricey Michelin star restaurant for a surprise for PiC. That plan was junked, btw, because it’s nearly impossible to get a reservation and he’d gone and bought himself concert tickets. Then there were sales. Lots of sales. Ignore. Never mind the new dog bed. Rental cars, hotel rooms, more travel for other obligations.
Clearly my brain’d gone, just back from a trip (pictures to come) where the cost of living was astronomical, I think my impulse control on spending and being sensible had just gone kaput. As usual, this mouse was fed a cookie and, and, and ….!
Anyway, I talked myself off that particular tower when I remembered what kind of traveler I really am: prone to dropping/tripping over/leaning on/pushing over things, going into dirty dusty outdoorsy or urban places, business traveling or back-to-home traveling, not glamorous destination vacationy traveling. That’s not the sort of person who has gorgeous luggage! That’s the sort of person who stuffs up a duffel and a pack and rolls on out the door having forgotten two essential things. (Five, this last trip.)
Aspirationally I’d love to be that fabulously coiffed, trimmed traveler with the good shined up luggage, I mentally shop like Sarah (Paranoid Asteroid) but at the end of the day, we both know that, unless someone else is doing up my hair and scrubbing out the stains in my cargos that I just dumped PiC’s coffee all over, as you do before a five hour road trip, I’m not going anywhere as anyone’s pretty little lady.
Nor will I be any kind of a power careerist simply because I’m dressed to the nines. If I am. I’m doing well just to be not-terribly-mismatched during the work week but as that in itself is a chore, I often find myself reverting to trying to buy a sense of style and fashion through the insights of the petite fashion bloggers.
Admittedly, I might succumb to a sale this weekend for a staple piece or two but the best part of valor may really be to shut off the valve of spending entirely and not even try this halfhearted resistance. We all know it barely works on me.
Besides, I have bigger things to save for, like Comic-Con!