Your Mileage May Vary

Handbrake: Functioning

Background Noise: Hide and Seek
Last Visited: Starbucks
Random Thought: short cappuccinos really are better
Mood: ready to go running again

Grr.

So i had to add Gosford Park back to my amazon wishlist; why? Because even though the dvd case has been sitting on the shelf in my office since, well, i moved into this office, apparently the dvd hasn't been there. Because (while it is very possible i loaned it out) i don't remember letting anyone watch it; heck, i don't even remember the last time I watched it.

Which is sad, because seriously? Gosford Park is an awesome flick.

(Also new to my wishlist today A Farewell to Alms: A Brief Economic History of the World (Princeton Economic History of the Western World) though that isn't really the point.)

The reason i'm annoyed, really, is that a) i have too many empty dvd cases lying around with the dvds no where in sight and b) i'm starting to rip my dvds to put on my various iPortables and i'd really like my movies to go with me - especially the ones that aren't yet on iTMS.

Sigh.

Days like today are the ones that make me wish i was a bit more on top of my home library organizational skills... and while i'm thinking like that, i should clean out my closet, organize my various bookshelves, and remove the tv from my bedroom.

Maybe after i go for a little run.

ps: Go, Doyle!
pps: i am loving New York Magazine, especially for lines like this: [Spiderman's] Mary Jane (played by Kirsten Dunst with all the gusto of a narcoleptic carp) . Brilliant.

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Seriously.

Background Noise: Suddenly I See
Last Visited: UPS still sucks
Random Thought: Finder? Open my path please.
Mood: somewhere around utter exhaustion

How hard is it to answer a direct question like: "May i please have the address for ____?"

I don't want to hear your absolutely retarded directions from my home address (especially since i'm not there) that end in the street but not the address, i don't want the zip code of the location, i just want the address so i can call up Google Maps and see the relative location of where i'm going.

Oh, and how hard is it to put the addresses of your pick up locations... oh, i don't know... on your website? Your automated person will happily tell me that my package is at the pick up center, but not where it is. And your customer service person insists on not answering my direct question.

After those quickly spoken - bad - directions? I asked for the address again. He couldn't answer.

So i tried "So, the street is ___?"
"Yes," he says.
"What is the address again, please?"
"Oh, ___."

Was that so hard? Really?

... wow i'm crashing hard today. I'm exhausted. I was up like a shot at 3:20 this morning because i thought there was someone in my apartment (there wasn't) but... i was so hopped up on adrenaline by then there was no real prayer of sleeping even though i was so tired. Then work today has been... well, whatever. I need to get to the bank to get a tiny cashiers check because apparently my rent went up and then i get to go track down a package i don't want.

Fun.

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My Very Own Editorial Page

Background Noise: Say it Somehow, Light in the Piazza
Last Visited: My Soapbox
Random Thought: "...so the relation of the contrary should not be offensive." --Giraldus Cambrensis
Mood: redoing the world... again

Hi.

If you glance to the left side of the page and down a bit you'll find a new section "Vanity's Soapbox" that has a link to this mysterious thing called (imaginatively enough) The Soapbox. Think of the Soapbox as my personal Editorial Page, my own sandbox to toss around ideas, a "place where i can write things down so i can read them," or, as i prefer to think of it, a PC-Free Rant Zone of my Very Own.

Basically, while one might think that i don't hold my tongue in this blog, i do. I find myself not posting on subjects that i want to because i'm worried i'll offened or flat out piss off people who read this little section of the blogspace. And i don't really want to do that here. I don't want Vanity's Fair to be a deliberately provocative snark fest that seeks to push people's buttons.

Really. I want peace, man, i want balance... i want to be able to talk about what i'm doing or what i'm reading and have that not be peppered by arguments of whether or not the Stolen Sidekick website constitutes harassment.

So, from time to time i'll be writing over at the Soapbox. Read, or don't; i'm just going to consider this my warning that you might not like what i write... and i refuse to feel guilty about that.

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Please, no more writing...

Background Noise: All My Loving
Last Visited: umm... apparently nothing memorable
Random Thought: apparently if i get up early my brain crashes earlier than normal. crazy.
Mood: la la la... naptime? crap, meeting time.

Ahh, now i remember why i hate SBC. Or communication monopolies in general.

Why do i have to get a phone line turned on just for DSL? I don't want a land line phone. I don't want caller-id and voicemail... because i already have caller-id and voicemail: on my cellphone!.

It's actually kind of amusing, SBC or AT&T powered by SBC or whatever the phone company is calling itself today doesn't actually want to give you a deal on DSL. I thought they did - i looked at them specifically because they were offering decent DSL for $14.95/month with the first month free. Not bad.

Here's the catch: you have to have a phone line with them first.

I really shouldn't be surprised. They have this magic number - $30 / month - that they want all of their customers to hit for their base level of service.

Say you just want a bare bones local line - just enough to have DSL. Then you don't get the deal price for DSL, you get to pay $24.95 / month, with $5.70/month for the phone line. But if you get a jazzy phone line with 2 options (the fuck? is this a chineese take out place ?) for $15.95/month then dsl is just $14.95/month.

See? $30.

I suppose it's still better than comcasts $40/month for cable, but at least they let me get just the cable modem.

Grr. Arg.

I'm quickly remembering why i've liked this whole no utilties for my apartment deal. Too bad i'm coming around to being wired again. $30/month. What a racket.

Expression:

Byte Me

Background Noise: ETrade hold music. I'm not amused.
Last Visited: the news / blog rounds while on hold for the second time; they hung up on me the first time around.
Random Thought: they're making me hold until after 11 when it's too late for them to send out my wire, aren't they.
Mood: grr, arg, and kept from being productive

I've ranted about ETrade before, so if you fear a repeat, look away now. You've been warned.

Why is it so fucking hard to sell stock and have the proceeds sent to my bank account on the day they promise it will be there? I sold monday, they said the money would be in my account on friday so i could pay for my trip to London but this morning i get an email saying i'll get the money within two business days. And while that could in theory mean today, it most likely means next week - which is too late for me to pay for London.

So what do i do?

I'm on hold with them to see what the status of my wire is. I've been on hold for more than an hour now - well, actually this is the second time i've been on hold - they hung up on me the first time!. The problem with this is it's not after 11am, so if they haven't sent my wire by now they can't send it today because it all goes by east coast time even though we're in California so it wouldn't get to the bank by 5, which is crazy because it shouldn't take 3 fucking hours to do an automatic transfer.

Damnit.

So when i actually get to speak to a human - who i will be annoyed with even though they personally haven't done anything bad to me - they will either tell me i don't have to worry, or they'll tell me tough luck. Bastards.

Which means if i still want to go to London, which i do, especially after i found a great travel bag just for my trip (on sale too!), i'll have to get a float from Dave. Which, while practical, makes me feel like a jackass. But i have to pay for my trip today.

I have to call British Airways back one way or the other, and i don't want to have to say "i'm sorry, etrade sucks so i can't use my own money to do what i want." Then i'd have to call Kathy and Al who are excited i'm going and tell them the trip is off. Then i'd have to tell my mother who would shake her head and yell at me for not having good fiscal planning.

GAR!

So, if i hear they didn't send me my wire today as promised i'll have to take Dave up on his very generous and geniunely nice offer, but feel like a putz in the process. Again.

... Sometimes i think things would be easier if i actually had a credit card. I wouldn't have to worry about this shit because i could float the money myself. But i don't have a credit card, so that isn't an option. And i know i'm not mature enough to have one and not float too much money - again - and get in trouble with it - again - so for now i'm sticking with my no-credit policy. At least it keeps me mostly out of trouble.

Until i want to travel.

Damnit.

The problem is, while ETrade appears to be a fully electronic-document based company, it still pushes paper by hand. Which means that if someone is having a bad day and being lazy and talked too much around the water cooler and didn't fax something in time, i don't get my money.

I don't want to hear that my call is important to them another time. This is seriously driving me bonkers. What an amazing waste of time.

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