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May 31, 2006
Make it stop...Please
If I have to hear that Home Depot Jingle one more second, I think I just may hurl.
I just spent and hour and a half "on hold" with them. They apologized for the time frame due to their high volume of calls...more than once....recorded...over...and over....and over. Well that doesn't help me any now does it. If your website was working properly, then maybe I wouldn't have been onfreakinghold at all thus reducing your call volume by at least one!! ::::calming:::: At least I have ascertained I do have an order number which had concerned me in the first place. They show my shower door has been shipped...we'll see.
At least I had the foresight to use the speakerphone...while on hold, I read blogs, answered email, IMed, cleaned the kitchen, made some breakfast, cleaned the kitchen again, emptied the dishwasher, cleaned the litterboxes, emptied the trash, did my Iron Sudoku (I'll have 72 points as of tonight), did my USA Today Sudoku, harrassed Leo, looked for shower piece alternatives, won an eBay auction for a brushed nickel toilet tank lever, paid for that...
busy busy busy.....
Hhhhmmm....Leo is short one bullnose tile...actually 3/4 of a bullnose tile. sigh...
Oh yeah...my experiment at Barnes & Noble. Well, I certainly wasn't expecting to recoup much of the money I initially spent on the books and CDs but since I was going to buy some more books and CDs, it worked out reasonably well. I walked in with a bunch of books and CDs and I walked out with a bunch of books and CDs. I think in the future, I will do my trading at my used booked store, though. Bev is not only a small local book dealer but she's also an old neighbor and friend. I think if I'm essentially only going to recover a small fraction of my costs, I'd rather deal with her.
So now that I can move about more freely since I'm no longer "onfreakinghold", I'll go about my business. If I don't go out shopping, there will be a real cat food dish emergency!
Have a fine day all......
Posted by frani at 11:58 AM | Comments (1)
May 30, 2006
Less is more
One of my Grocery stores has changed the signage in their express checkouts. It now says : 14 items or fewer. Thank you, I'm sure the grammar police feel they have accomplished something.
Reminds me of our last trip to the DC area. I was listening to a radio station that had an ongoing announcement that also was using less/fewer incorrectly. I noticed while I was there that it was corrected from less to fewer. I wonder if more than a few people took time from their busy lives to call to correct their grammar. I suspect their grammar is less than perfect though... ;-D
Whew..I'm so glad we got that cleared up. It has stopped raining and flooding here but i didn't want to mention it earlier, ya know, don't want to temp the weather gods. Standing water is just the little incubator for mosquitoes though, I've been running around dumping anything I can find holding water, not much I can do about the driveway, though...oh wait, yes there is! THAT part of the driveway isn't really ours, I think it's time to call the town and ask for a little fill for the potholes when they have some extra. Update:Hrumph...where's Sonny when I need him. Being an old timer in the town doesnt help when you have to explain to the newbies in charge that the city really does maintain that part of your driveway. (Sonny is the retired Street Dept Super as well as now our State Representative. Fortunately I didn't have to call him) I supposed I shouldn't get too annoyed, small town/city is still an easy place to live and get things done.
Moving right along. Today, I'm going to our to our Barnes & Noble to resell some of our books and audio books; we have a used book/bargain section of our B&N which is great and I get a lot of good stuff in that section. This will be the first time I'll be reselling so I'll let you know how well it goes. I'm starting with some hardcovers and audio books. I have a few more paperbacks...another day.
Have a fine day all..........
Posted by frani at 07:31 AM | Comments (2)
May 24, 2006
The sun finally came out today......I like it. I think we were one day short of a record for continuous days of rain. No way could I live where it rained this much on a normal basis...Got that big brother (and BunnyBeth!)? I was definitely beginning to twitch.
Today's bathroom adventure: The side piece of the shower door is shattered. It only took 45 minutes on hold for sweet young thing to tell me I had 3 days from receipt to call for a replacement. (3 days was up last Friday) I asked her what she thought I should do about getting a replacement piece since *I* was not going to buy a whole shower door unit for $500+. In the old days, I think I would have said something like..oh well, my loss. My persistence lead her to call in her supervisor. ..or maybe it was the quiver in my voice mumbling something about 45 minutes on hold and shattered glass, and unfinished bathroom, of course we didn't need to open all of the packaging, and 13 straight days of rain.. whimper. Her supervisor was agreeable to a swap. I suspect neither one wanted to be the cause my my going over the edge..commitment has such a permanent ring to it. I still have to box up the WHOLE shower door unit for shipment back to them though. I think a baggie would do fine for the shattered pieces. Fortunately, Leo needed to check out that piece today instead of waiting until "installation day". We bought some wiggle room to get the new door here, I hope.
The fancy tiles have an "up" side to them as well as a particular placement in the scheme of things. I drew graphs..then I modified them then I miscounted fancy tiles needed, then Leo bellowed to me to question my graphs...ooppsss never mind. He discovered he had the graph upside down, *I* discovered he had the wrong wall graph. All is well and the tiles are going up albeit slowly. What's done looks good.
Oh yeah, I fixed the upstairs toilet so it doesn't leak anymore. Hmmm...I bought new innards because I couldn't get the pieces I thought I needed. Installing them made me aware of the fact that whoever installed the old pieces, probably put the washer in upside down. I also suspect that "whoever" was me. sigh.
We may not get more rain for a day or two which means I may not have to gnaw off one or more of my limbs...I have to admit to getting a little on the crazed side. In the meantime the cats have been crazed, Knoel has a big scab on his head and ~Elmo has been limping for nearly 2 weeks now. I can't find anything really visible wrong so I'm thinking he has a sprain. Wonder how long I should wait for it to heal.
I think I need to go outside for a bit..have a fine evening all...
Posted by frani at 04:25 PM | Comments (1)
May 19, 2006
Dripping Wet Dorks...
It's still raining; I may have to hurt someone soon......enough said.
Laura Bush was in town today to raise money for "would be Congresswoman" Martha Rainville. Of course Liz and I wouldn't cough up $200 or the more intimate setting fee of $5000 to see her but we thought a little trip to the airport to see her plane was in order. Needless to say it was small...probably "Air Force Thirty Seven" or some such. Parked across the tarmac over by the Air Guard buildings, we couldn't even make out the words "United States of America" on it until it finally moved on down the runway. One of the local TV stations sent camera crews to film it's take off...good grief, I thought the poor camera guy was going to have a heart attack after sprinting up the steps to the observation tower..he got the footage though.
So if you were on Dork Patrol today you'd also catch Liz and I on the evening news...yup..they wanted to interview us. Liz talked me into it but I moved to the background and let her talk about how we didn't have anything else better to do this rainy afternoon. Dorks. Of course as we were driving out of the parking garage we thought of all sorts of witty things to say...hhmmm ..on second thought, our witticisms probably wouldn't have been fit for the news anyway. We do have fun out and about on our adventures and I'm sure we have quite a few more good years of adventuring left in us.
I told you the rain was getting to us...at least we didn't hurt anyone. Have a good weekend all....
Posted by frani at 01:57 PM | Comments (5)
May 16, 2006
Weather Report...and such
Whew, our rivers and streams up here are pretty full and we've got some flooding but nothing like the areas north of Boston in MA where water is reported to be bubbling up from toilets, tubs and sinks because it just has no where else to go! Ok, that is totally a case of water being where it doesn't belong...gives me the willies. I can report I'm getting a wee bit crazed by all the rain and clouds though..gggrrr but I'll take it over water where it doesn't belong.
Speaking of which..the upstairs toilet tank is leaking; I think it is envious of the downstairs makeover. In time, in time. Stop leaking already!
So you all know I have this um er...visualization issue, right? Leo mentioned "those" nasty words to me yesterday. Yup, I have to make a decision about wall color but worst than that, he wants to me lay out a grid for placement of the "special" wall tiles! OMG! Is it not bad enough I have to decide whether they go on the wall vertically or horizontally??? Why oh why did I not see this coming with 10x8 tiles...or are they 8X10? Graph paper? Shading? what? How does that help the visually impaired? Solution...you'll be able to "see" the walls in their many forms laid on on the living room floor during the course of today..feel free to drop in and offer suggestions. Ooooh,I can sooooo do floor puzzles. Sort of...At any rate, it will help me make decisions and then I can transfer it to paper for Leo. I just might take advantage of those little paint can samples though when it comes to picking the wall color, though. Woe is me...you know how daunting a task this is for me when you know there is just a gazillion shades of just white paint, getting into color..OMG I feel faint.
Ohhhh and in the don't do me any favors category..check this! I will have ample opportunity to play with the tiles today because I will have no car. Greg has one with him and mine is at the repair shop. Apparently there is a finite number of times one can put off the "service theft alarm" notification that has sometimes popped up on my info panel on my dash. I was planning on mentioning it when I brought the car in for it's tire change...really I was. Anyway, the theft deterrent mechanism works...too well, it seems. *I* was unable to start my car yesterday when I went to leave the grocery store parking lot. (Yes, Cori, the infamous Grand Union parking lot where I ditched you all many years ago) it would seem to me that my car should be able to recognize the woman with the key and should allow me to start my own damn car...I am NOT a thief! ( uummm those words sound familiar) I was very much annoyed...I hate it when things are put in place "for my own protection" thanks fellas...you just protected me from stealing my own car! You gonna pay the tow truck?? ...and no I don't want any crap from the peanut gallery about heeding the "service theft alarm" warning light...How was I to know it would lock ME out! Me!? I OWN the car! Well, would be thieves be advised; up for grabs will be a slightly used 1999 Saab 9-5 because I am going to have them disconnect the theft alarm device. Cripes, I don't even lock my car door, why the hell do I need a theft alarm?? Snort...bet today's thieves can't even drive a standard transmission anyway, so there! Babies....
Moving right along, if you need to find me today, I'll be the one in the living room, covered in paint chips, moving tiles around on the carpet.
Have a fine day all.....
Posted by frani at 07:07 AM | Comments (1)
May 11, 2006
Round-up..
Nah...not like in herding cats or anything remotely entertaining..just stuff that's been going on this week.
Leo is on week 3 of the bathroom re-do. Seems the electrical work and the plumbing of the 4 shower jets gave him fits. I swear we have the quiet-est fan they make; I might even use it! Yesterday we made another trip out for supplies. This time it was for the tile...I think we are now close to done buying the big pieces.
We decided it was safe to remove the snow tires from the cars...I know I know..it's still May and anything can happen but we did have a mild winter.
Things people do in the car when they don't think (or care) if anyone can see them: the person in front of me this morning was grooming his/her hair...by yanking out a couple or three that must have been amok or gray. Goodness..I didn't need to see that. ouch.
It appears as though my lilacs are indeed going to come back...I chopped them all down so Leo could rebuild the sun room. whew...nice to see them poking up through the violets and lilies of the valley...ummm, I think it may be a few years before we see flowers from them.
I'm not happy with the new spam I'm receiving, yeah I'll be putting my retirement funds into those stock tips the spammers are sending me...yup yup yup..I'll get right on that. sigh.
Snort...then there is the Microsoft Lottery winners...for $5 million...it lists all the winners by name but when it comes to my winning listing it says "5. You" Hhmmm I might be suspicious there is something not quite right about this one.
So obviously I'm not making up all the excitement from this week. Have a fine day all...I have a hair appointment soon and I have to go change my shirt before going. I have yet again spilled something down my front. It doesn't look as if I've really missed getting stuff into my mouth very often but when I do, it lands on my front. My shirts are certainly a visual mapping of foods I eat; I thought this didn't happen until one was in the home. Sigh, this morning it was coffee spilled drinking while walking...I used to be more co-ordinated too.
Posted by frani at 08:30 AM | Comments (4)
May 05, 2006
Happy Birthday, Leo!!!!!
He said I needed to get a life but I think he was secretly pleased...he did pose blowing out the candles, now, didn't he.
Posted by frani at 09:13 AM | Comments (1)
May 01, 2006
The Six Amigos
Here we all are...The real person on the right is our buddy Dick from Arizona. He's one the bestest people in the whole world. Anyway, we stopped by these 3 Amigos on our way out to watch the mini rodeo. Cute.
I don't think anyone realizes just how long I've waited to see a real armadillo. Ever since we went to Houston regularly in 1997, we've been waiting to see an armadillo. We even went to the zoo in Houston to see one but he was on vacation at some other zoo. I've seen more empty armadillo homes with children's renderings of armadillos than I'd care to count. So not only did I see one, I saw 5-6 of them, I played with them, I held one AND I raced one. I happen to think they are kind of cute. This is a photo of the baby one...I raced the big daddy one...I think it was a rigged race, though, but I'll accept my prize anyway: a shot glass with an armadillo figure in the bottom playing a guitar. Tasteful.
Posted by frani at 07:46 AM | Comments (2)