Friday the 13th Wrap Up
So, it's hard to say in the final analysis if 7/13/07 was a particularly lucky or unlucky day for me. It had it's ups and it's downs, and some downs I succeeded in turning into ups, Shirley Temple style. Here's what went down:
yesterday after all the TCB-ing, I went downtown to pick up my new phone. Turns out, Verizon dude STONE COLD LIED to me! He did not in fact have a phone coming in for me at all! He did not in fact write down my name and phone number ANYWHERE that the people working on Thursday could find! He was straight up just trying to get rid of me, knowing that he would not be there on Thursday when I came back. What a jagoff.
The woman who was there, Kim, is my new favorite person. She was at first a little rough, but once I explained what had happened when I was there two days before, she went to great lengths to help me. She called the store manager in Monroeville and asked her to bring in a replacement phone to the downtown store in the morning, since she lives in the north side. I appreciated her help, but I was also pretty pissed off. But---these things happen. I talked to rebby on the phone and we decided to cook at the new home, so I stopped at the Market District to get some food things I might need. Oh! I don't know if I mentioned that I needed to be there today at 1pm to meet the security system sales rep---this will become important later in the story. OK--so, we get some boxes into the truck, and figure out our strategy(deciding to cook at the new house and then sleep at her old house and then she would drop me at the new house again in the morning)and then roll to the house to unload and cook and eat. I opened the door, only to be splashed upon the head by a drip coming through the antique lighting fixture in the entryway. GRRR!!! The linoleum in the entry way was covered with rusty water, and the ceiling paint around the fixture was bubbling. GRR! GRR! So much for our two week homeownin anniversary!
Rebby ran up to the pirate bathroom and shut off the water to the toilet, discovering that it had shifted enough when I used it last week to cause the bowl to leak into the floor(the home inspector had told us it needed to be re-sealed, but he didn't really say RESEAL BEFORE USING!!!!)So, no pirate privvy until we can get some sealant and fix it up. Then, we'll have to scrape and repaint the ceiling. Hopefully the light fixture didn't short out--I was too scared to check it. Luckily, it doesn't look like there's a lot of floor board damage---it pretty much just dripped through the boards to the ceiling below. GRRR.
That was a huge bummer, but we managed to recover enough to get dinner underway. She grilled up a flank steak and marinated veggies from our K-mann box (zucchini, yellow squash, onions, carrots, and fennel)and I made a marinated tomato and ricotta salata salad over baby lettuces. And garlic toast. It was a fantastic feast---and it was evey better because we were both able to work in the kitchen at the same time! Huzzah! After dinner we retired to the front room and had coffee and kahlua, and then packed up to go to the other house to sleep.
Up again at the crack of dawn...though the alarm didn't go off until 6:45, there was a really annoying bird right outside the window that woke me up at 6 with it's incessant jabbering. It didn't stop for about 20 minutes, and then right when I got back to sleep the alarm went off. Grr. We got ready and rebby dropped me off at the new house for my vigil.
I tuned in NPR because as you might remember, my telephone went blank and I had no way of telling the time other than the radio(there is a large pocket watch looking clock in the kitchen, but it is no where near the correct time. Hmm) Then I set about making myself some coffee and eggs for breakfast, with leftover garlic toast. Yum-my! I listened to NPR and had my breakfast and coffee at my kitchen table with the sunlight just starting to come through the windows....bliss! After breakfast I got busy moving things around, putting things away, and hanging things. I hung my crazy op art plastic curtain from ikea in the mod bathroom, where it matches perfectly. I tried to scrub the rust stains out of the green tub with lime-away, but it didn't really work. I think I am sort of stuck with them, but they are a bit less noticeable. Once I get the blue bath mat in there it should cover them up quite a bit. I hung the Surrender the Booty beach towel wall hanging over the pirate tub, and it looks great! Hung my "dishwashin jesus" last supper picture over the kitchen sink. I put a lot of knick knacks in their new homes, and I lit some incense to make it mellow and peaceful. Hauled boxes of clothes upstairs. And then I was TIRED! Took a lunch break for leftovers and then I sat on the couch to wait. While I waited, I WROTE A LETTER! (you'll get it soon---but you'll probably have read everything in it already here!) And then I started to get concerned. I called rebby and she gave me the number for the security place as it was 1:45pm and no call, no show. After a little run around, I learned that Priority One doesn't even have a Pittsburgh office--it's done through a subcontractor. And no one had apparently told the subcontractor about the appointment that had been scheduled and CONFIRMED the day before. Hmm.
Roger the subcontractor called me back and apologized profusely and rescheduled for Monday morning. Sigh.
I was bummed, but then again I had a really great morning hanging out in my house instead of my apartment, which I have come to loathe and resent. Unpacking is way more fun than packing. So I called the verizon place and learned that there was indeed a phone waiting for me, and then just as I was begining to close up the house to catch a bus....it started to pour down rain. And not just rain, but fearsome hailstones. In July. Eek.
So, I called rebby and she was just headed out the door from her job, so she agreed to come and get me to take me downtown. I believe I passed out on the couch while I waited for her to get there. We made our way downtown through the hailstorm and when I walked in Kim was helping someone else, but she remembered me and was very sweet. I ended up being helped by the store manager, who downloaded my phone book from the old phone (but sadly, not the ringtones or pictures) and handed me my new phone. It is two steps up from the one I had, with these improved features:
1)speaker turns on and off with one push, rather than having to hold the button down and pray to jesus
2)the front screen on the phone shows you what you are about to take a picture of (ie, if you are taking a self portrait, you see it before you click) HANDY!
3)the tools menu has a bunch of extra stuff, like a time zone calculator and a measurement converter. Sweet!
Since I had had such a shitty day (in some ways)I decided to treat myself to some new ringtones. I changed rebby's from "Lick It Up" by KISS to "Breakin the Law" by the Priest. I changed Sissy's from "Just Can't Get Enough" by Depeche Mode to "Don't Stop Me Now" by Queen. I changed Jennie's from "Love Will Tear Us Apart" by Joy Division to "Saved By Zero" by the Fixx. And.....my default tone is now "Dragula" by Rob Zombie. Please don't be offended if you call me and I don't answer the phone...I just LOVE the way that song sounds in MIDI. Super great!
So that's been my day. I have to go in super early tomorrow morning to get my wheat free jalapeno corn muffins and black bean and sweet potato enchiladas for catering done before I open the kitchen at 9am. Consequently there will be no packing tonight. Amen.
So, it's hard to say in the final analysis if 7/13/07 was a particularly lucky or unlucky day for me. It had it's ups and it's downs, and some downs I succeeded in turning into ups, Shirley Temple style. Here's what went down:
yesterday after all the TCB-ing, I went downtown to pick up my new phone. Turns out, Verizon dude STONE COLD LIED to me! He did not in fact have a phone coming in for me at all! He did not in fact write down my name and phone number ANYWHERE that the people working on Thursday could find! He was straight up just trying to get rid of me, knowing that he would not be there on Thursday when I came back. What a jagoff.
The woman who was there, Kim, is my new favorite person. She was at first a little rough, but once I explained what had happened when I was there two days before, she went to great lengths to help me. She called the store manager in Monroeville and asked her to bring in a replacement phone to the downtown store in the morning, since she lives in the north side. I appreciated her help, but I was also pretty pissed off. But---these things happen. I talked to rebby on the phone and we decided to cook at the new home, so I stopped at the Market District to get some food things I might need. Oh! I don't know if I mentioned that I needed to be there today at 1pm to meet the security system sales rep---this will become important later in the story. OK--so, we get some boxes into the truck, and figure out our strategy(deciding to cook at the new house and then sleep at her old house and then she would drop me at the new house again in the morning)and then roll to the house to unload and cook and eat. I opened the door, only to be splashed upon the head by a drip coming through the antique lighting fixture in the entryway. GRRR!!! The linoleum in the entry way was covered with rusty water, and the ceiling paint around the fixture was bubbling. GRR! GRR! So much for our two week homeownin anniversary!
Rebby ran up to the pirate bathroom and shut off the water to the toilet, discovering that it had shifted enough when I used it last week to cause the bowl to leak into the floor(the home inspector had told us it needed to be re-sealed, but he didn't really say RESEAL BEFORE USING!!!!)So, no pirate privvy until we can get some sealant and fix it up. Then, we'll have to scrape and repaint the ceiling. Hopefully the light fixture didn't short out--I was too scared to check it. Luckily, it doesn't look like there's a lot of floor board damage---it pretty much just dripped through the boards to the ceiling below. GRRR.
That was a huge bummer, but we managed to recover enough to get dinner underway. She grilled up a flank steak and marinated veggies from our K-mann box (zucchini, yellow squash, onions, carrots, and fennel)and I made a marinated tomato and ricotta salata salad over baby lettuces. And garlic toast. It was a fantastic feast---and it was evey better because we were both able to work in the kitchen at the same time! Huzzah! After dinner we retired to the front room and had coffee and kahlua, and then packed up to go to the other house to sleep.
Up again at the crack of dawn...though the alarm didn't go off until 6:45, there was a really annoying bird right outside the window that woke me up at 6 with it's incessant jabbering. It didn't stop for about 20 minutes, and then right when I got back to sleep the alarm went off. Grr. We got ready and rebby dropped me off at the new house for my vigil.
I tuned in NPR because as you might remember, my telephone went blank and I had no way of telling the time other than the radio(there is a large pocket watch looking clock in the kitchen, but it is no where near the correct time. Hmm) Then I set about making myself some coffee and eggs for breakfast, with leftover garlic toast. Yum-my! I listened to NPR and had my breakfast and coffee at my kitchen table with the sunlight just starting to come through the windows....bliss! After breakfast I got busy moving things around, putting things away, and hanging things. I hung my crazy op art plastic curtain from ikea in the mod bathroom, where it matches perfectly. I tried to scrub the rust stains out of the green tub with lime-away, but it didn't really work. I think I am sort of stuck with them, but they are a bit less noticeable. Once I get the blue bath mat in there it should cover them up quite a bit. I hung the Surrender the Booty beach towel wall hanging over the pirate tub, and it looks great! Hung my "dishwashin jesus" last supper picture over the kitchen sink. I put a lot of knick knacks in their new homes, and I lit some incense to make it mellow and peaceful. Hauled boxes of clothes upstairs. And then I was TIRED! Took a lunch break for leftovers and then I sat on the couch to wait. While I waited, I WROTE A LETTER! (you'll get it soon---but you'll probably have read everything in it already here!) And then I started to get concerned. I called rebby and she gave me the number for the security place as it was 1:45pm and no call, no show. After a little run around, I learned that Priority One doesn't even have a Pittsburgh office--it's done through a subcontractor. And no one had apparently told the subcontractor about the appointment that had been scheduled and CONFIRMED the day before. Hmm.
Roger the subcontractor called me back and apologized profusely and rescheduled for Monday morning. Sigh.
I was bummed, but then again I had a really great morning hanging out in my house instead of my apartment, which I have come to loathe and resent. Unpacking is way more fun than packing. So I called the verizon place and learned that there was indeed a phone waiting for me, and then just as I was begining to close up the house to catch a bus....it started to pour down rain. And not just rain, but fearsome hailstones. In July. Eek.
So, I called rebby and she was just headed out the door from her job, so she agreed to come and get me to take me downtown. I believe I passed out on the couch while I waited for her to get there. We made our way downtown through the hailstorm and when I walked in Kim was helping someone else, but she remembered me and was very sweet. I ended up being helped by the store manager, who downloaded my phone book from the old phone (but sadly, not the ringtones or pictures) and handed me my new phone. It is two steps up from the one I had, with these improved features:
1)speaker turns on and off with one push, rather than having to hold the button down and pray to jesus
2)the front screen on the phone shows you what you are about to take a picture of (ie, if you are taking a self portrait, you see it before you click) HANDY!
3)the tools menu has a bunch of extra stuff, like a time zone calculator and a measurement converter. Sweet!
Since I had had such a shitty day (in some ways)I decided to treat myself to some new ringtones. I changed rebby's from "Lick It Up" by KISS to "Breakin the Law" by the Priest. I changed Sissy's from "Just Can't Get Enough" by Depeche Mode to "Don't Stop Me Now" by Queen. I changed Jennie's from "Love Will Tear Us Apart" by Joy Division to "Saved By Zero" by the Fixx. And.....my default tone is now "Dragula" by Rob Zombie. Please don't be offended if you call me and I don't answer the phone...I just LOVE the way that song sounds in MIDI. Super great!
So that's been my day. I have to go in super early tomorrow morning to get my wheat free jalapeno corn muffins and black bean and sweet potato enchiladas for catering done before I open the kitchen at 9am. Consequently there will be no packing tonight. Amen.
posted by sheryl at 8:37 PM
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