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get it?

Tuesday, August 30, 2005

62.5% isn't so bad...

So according to the only opinion I seem to be considering at the moment, there are several features the "perfect" man should have. I'm just now wondering how I fit into the equation. Am I perfect? We shall soon find out.

The qualities making up this particular recipe for the ideal man, in no particular order, are as follows:

1. The Perfect Man is Tall. This one I think I have covered, if "tall" means "noticeably taller than me" in the eyes of the surveyee. Granted, 6'1" is not really super tall these days, and the other night at Panini's--I mean McPharty's--there were 2 guys in front of me in the bar line who had to have a combined height of at least 13-1/2 feet. Now that's tall. But I think I qualify, nonetheless. Score: 8/10

2. The Perfect Man is Blonde. I claim to be blonde in much the same way I claim to be good at poker. There was one time several years ago when I played poker in the Scholars house and actually came away with more money than I went with. Mind you, this was just one time--it never happened before, and hasn't since. Likewise, there was one time a few more years ago when I was blonde for a short length of time. It never happened prior, and, I'm sorry to report, probably won't happen again. If you don't believe me, look here. Score: 1/10

3. The Perfect Man has Blue Eyes. Need I say more? Score: 10/10

4. The Perfect Man is Muscular. I don't know if I'll necessarily claim to be muscular. Athletic, maybe. Somewhere under all the muscle atrophy and apathy there's an athlete. And every now and then, he shows himself. And I'm sort of strong. Just not ostensibly so, most of the time. (Did you get your tickets to the *gun show*? I got nothin'.) So I guess I'm about average here. Score: 6/10

So on this particular Perfect Man scale, I appear to be weighing-in at about a 25/40. Not overly impressive, but there's room to grow, which has to count for something, doesn't it?

I'm sure there are more qualifications and stipulations to the Perfect Man test, but as of right now, I'll go with what I have for now.

So, did you get that, ladies?

I'm 62.5% Perfect!

Monday, August 29, 2005

figures

So I decided on Friday to take a vacation day today, which in itself is fantastic. However, as of yesterday, I've come down with a cold/sore throat/feeling crappy thing. Now, I won't say I'd rather be at work sick than at home sick...because I'll choose being home over being at work under pretty much any circumstances. But it's kind of bittersweet. Like "licking honey off a thorn." (Thanks, mep7!)

So it goes.

Friday, August 19, 2005

marvin gaye's a champ

I was down at Pickwick today to rehearse for my guest spot solo next Friday for The Midnight Martini Show (for which I need to find something to wear...let me know if you want to dress me, or undress me for that matter...), and to have my first lesson in handling-the-microphone-without-looking-like-a-tool. Apparently I got much, much better over the course of three runs of the song, so that's reassuring--I don't particularly want to be awful, you know.

I also got the first rehearsal CD with all my songs, although I won't tell you what they are yet...you'll have to come see the show. But most of them are from the 60s, if that gives you any idea, a few solos, a few duets, a couple big group numbers. Good stuff. And after listening to all the songs a couple times, I'm gonna be pretty hard-pressed to sing as high as some of these guys can for as long as they can. Granted I can hit the notes, we'll just have to work on making it not sound like crap. Most difficult is probably going to be me trying to be a Righteous Brother--holy cow do those guys have pipes! And Marvin Gaye? I don't think I can come close.

Tomorrow night I'm headed down to Blossom w/ Karen, et al., for the Beethoven Missa Solemnis, which should be fantastic. At least it had better be, they're taking on tour to Europe in about a week.

And Saturday, Laura's coming up in the afternoon, we're gonna hang out (GL Science Center? West Side Market? ideas?), go out to eat and then out on the town for the evening. She's staying over so we can go to the Tribe game Sunday afternoon, too. I'm excited--haven't had much brother-sister time in quite a while; I think we're due. :o)

Let me know if you want to be my fashion advisor....

Tuesday, August 16, 2005

thank goodness for wing night

The past week or so has been pretty rough at work, especially because I'm beginning to get fed up with the kind of work I'm doing and being overworked and underappreciated. So yesterday I sent out the figurative carrier pigeon with a message proposing: "Wing night tomorrow?" The reply echoed back resoundingly from the other end of the phone line, and it was on.

This is the point at which the Winking Lizard, in all its glory, begins to shine a light into the dimly lit space that is often my existence. I've never had a bad time there. I'll admit, I've had mediocre food, bad service, and some pitiful beers on occasion, but never a bad time overall. This I must attribute to the great friendship that surrounds this place. Friends, family, friends' families, friends who might as well be family...the list goes on and on with people who have brightened my day and each other's on any given Tuesday night. And sometimes, as if by some mystical plan, I'm surprised by seeing new faces around the table, faces belonging to new friends who make me laugh on the outside, and beam on the inside.

So this is my crude sort of tribute to Wing Night as it is, as it has been and as I hope it will continue to be: an incredible gathering of people growing ever-closer in the bond of friendship. May the drinks keep us merry, the food keep us full, and the thought of certain unforgettable new faces keep us awake until midnight, smiling and giddy, for many Tuesdays to come. Maybe that last part was just me tonight, but I'm really hoping there might be someone else out there who can't sleep...I suppose we'll find out soon enough. Anyway, cheers!

Sunday, August 14, 2005

just folk

So I've had a lot of fun this week, spending time with people I seldom see, and even some I've never really gotten to know. So, thanks to everyone for making it a fun one. I must say, blossom is definitely a different place when it's raining...although equally as fun. Arabica is cool too--visit www.jonahsage.com--he was there on thursday night. cool dude. Anyway, I'm off to sleep.

Oh, and good news...my fridge comes in the morning at like 9am. Hopefully it fits in the door without having to take the fridge door off. Probably not. We'll see when they get here, and i'm sure I'll write something about it.

Friday, August 12, 2005

i hate incompetance

My refrigerator--the one from the basement of Warrensville which I brought with me to replace the crappy one that was here in my house on Memphis--just crapped out. Although when I say "just," what I really mean is "just 3 weeks ago." That's a long time to go without frozen things (read: ice cream and tv dinners). So yesterday I went out and bought a new one. You might say I'm crazy to spend the money for a new fridge instead of reverting to the old one that was here, but if you saw it and you know how much I like to cook and am obsessed with having nice kitchen stuff, you'd understand.

So this whole refrigerator ordeal has caused a great deal of turmoil in my life, and made me pretty upset with Frigidaire and it's parent company, Electrolux Home Products, which I will explain in the following paragraphs. If you don't care about this, stop reading now...because I start to rant a little bit.

I called an ordinary repair company, who came out to look at the fridge on Thu 7/21, after it had been not freezing things for a couple days. He told me it should be under the 5-year manufacturers warranty, which covers the sealed system (compressor, condenser, etc.), but that I'd have to get an authorized repair agent to make that call. So almost 2 weeks later, after having the authorized guys reschedule on me twice, they finally sent a repair guy on Wed 8/3, who then told me that the fridge was unrepairable, and that I should call Frigidaire to find out what to do next. Aside from the rescheduling, everything is fine up to this point.

So I call Frigidaire, and the first option for me to choose sounds something like this, in a nice, pleasant, clear speaking voice:

"For English, press or say 'one.' Para Español, oprima o diga 'dos.'"

Now, you would think that they would give you this option because they want to provide you with the best service depending on what language you speak. But as it turns out, I should have pressed 2 and taken my chances. I was, after all, a Spanish major.

So naturally, after selecting English as my language of choice, I'm transferred to India, where I speak with Simone, whose favorite phrase is "Thank you for this piece of information, sir," which I heard after everything I told her. To make a longer story less long, I'll cut to the chase. By the end of the conversation, I was under the impression that the manufacturer's warranty would cover the fridge, even though I'm not the original owner, thereby entitling me to a rebate receipt for 30% off the price of a new Frigidaire refrigerator, up to the value of the one I'm replacing. This is acceptable. But alas, she tells me she is having a computer problem, and that I should call back in 15 minutes and explain to whomever answers what she had told me and it will be just fine. I call back in 20 minutes and the call center is closed. Fuckers.

About 2 days later, I call back, and speak with someone else, who is, in her broken English, entirely unable to confirm anything Simone told me, and asks me to have the authorized service provider to fax the service invoice to them. I try to get more information on what has to happen next, and I get told, essentially "just have them fax the invoice [click]." That's right. The bitch hung up on me. (It was just about 5:30 pm ET--at which point the service center closes. So the next day I call the servicer to have them fax the invoice, which they did.

Now I'm pissed. I call back about two days later and speak with a lady with a southern drawl--music to my ears! She tells me there's nothing in my claim file about being a secondary owner of the fridge. Nothing. Nada. So she asks for the best number to reach me, and says her supervisor will contact me in the next day or so. Well, I got a call back about an hour later (at this point, it's almost 7pm mind you...when the hours are 8am-5:30pm...) from someone else, asking for the exact same information I told this southern woman, because apparently none of it made it into the file. Well, this all gets sorted out, and I'm told I'll really be getting a call from a manager within a day.

Next day (yesterday, 8/11): I get a call, but I miss it because I'm working. I call back after work, and speak with someone who again has no idea what's going on. She transfers me to a supervisor, who then tells me because I got the fridge used, it's not covered under any warranty--I'm screwed, in other words.

I went to Lowe's. Bought a fridge. Got the extended (10 yr) warranty, and specifically asked if the warranty is transferable. And it is--but only the Lowe's extension, not the 1-year manufacturer's warranty. That's fine with me. I'd much rather drive to Lowe's and be able to punch someone in the face if they claim to speak English but don't understand a word I say, instead of having to be continuously more and more frustrated with incompetant people on the other end of a 12,000 mile-long phone line.

Moral of the story: If you get transferred to someone who doesn't speak your language, just hang up. Call back, select another language, and hire a translator. It'll be much less stressful. Fuckin' outsourcing.

Monday, August 08, 2005

late nights can be good nights

I'm up a little later than usual today, but I had a nice chat with someone with whom I haven't talked in quite a while, "ages" even. It's definitely good to try to keep in touch, especially now that I'm living on my own. It could get pretty lonely if I don't keep reaching out and seeing actual people that aren't my coworkers or landlady. :o)

Nasa TV live is pretty cool. The shuttle lands tonight (this morning) at about 3:45 am ET, I think. Maybe I'll set an alarm and try to watch it land. Probably not. (And even if I do set an alarm, will I really get out of bed to watch it? I'll let that question answer itself.)

For now, I think it's definitely time to sleep, as I should have done about 3 hours ago...so it goes.

Tuesday, August 02, 2005

hooray for español

Well, it turns out I'm not horrible at speaking spanish, as I found out today in my first ever gathering w/ the Cleveland Spanish Language Meetup (spanish.meetup.com). It's a cool group of varying-level spanish speakers, from extreme beginner to native speaker. i'm somewhere in the middle.

I like studying. I get sort of engrossed in note-taking and whatnot. Why I didn't ever do that during college is beyond me. Yesterday I read my freshman chem book for like 3 hours, and got through 130 pages. Not too bad, even though it's all review.

NASA is cool--the other night at Blossom I think i saw the shuttle/space station go across the sky. Then again, it could have been just a satellite. But I'll just assume it was the space station and be done with it.

Now that I have a schedule to keep with my studying, perhaps I'll get into a pattern with these entries. I bet not. Hopefully I'll prove me wrong.