Thunder of Wade

First off – the futon part finally came in yesterday. I got it assembled and enjoyed sitting on it and reading. So, all is right in the realm of furniture – yea, me! I might still write an angry email, but it’s not quite as vital anymore.

So, this morning, I’m in the parking lot and headed for the door to the building. A woman I sort of know is at the door ahead of me and uses her card to swipe the door open. I’m a few steps behind, but she doesn’t even look back. I hustle and lunge at the door, but I’m slightly too slow – it slams in my face.

I then have to get out my wallet, get out my card, swipe open the door – all while trying to juggle my morning soda, a book, and my gloves. Nothing spills or drops, but I’m still annoyed.

Situation reversed – I would have held the door for her, even it she was still quite a ways further back than I was. It didn’t occur to her to look around and see if anyone else was there.

Well, I was. And I was a little pissed off.

I think I’ve harped on this before, but it’s all about focus. So many people around me are so totally in their little worlds that they miss out on tons of stuff, including the opportunity to be nice to other people. Makes me want to bust some heads, ironically.

Next time this happens, I’m going to shout to them and give them a mild lecture on courtesy.

And then maybe smack them too. “Dammit! Be nice or I’ll smack you again!”

Back to work…

——————-

(quick note: saved for posterity from the Blogger main page…

Resistance is Futile

This news article at Reuters says ‘Blog’ Tops U.S. Dictionary’s Words of the Year. We are the blog. Join us. – Biz [11/30/2004 03:13:51 PM]

———————

I love that. 🙂

The part wasn’t at my home when I got there on Sunday evening – wasn’t there yesterday when I got home either. So, I called up the company and asked what was up. They said it had been shipped out on the 24 and I can expect it in a couple of days. So, let’s run the timeline again.

1. Purchased on the 21st

2. Called on the 22nd (morning) – told “2-5 days”

3. Nothing on the 23rd

4. Shipped on 24th

5. In transit 25th-29th

So, 2-5 days from when they actually get around to shipping it. Skip 2 days in there for the holiday and Sunday. Still should have been here by now.

My living room is still a mess of cardboard – and I’m still cranky. I forgot the tracking number at home – I may go home at lunch and pick it up to check on things. Grumble, grumble. All this for a futon. Should have just built the damn thing myself.

Finished up watching season 4 of angel and then watched Bubba Ho-Tep, with Bruce Campbell. It was okay, I guess, kinda slow pacing. Interesting concept, but not all that well executed. 1 and 1/2 stars, but only cause I liked the actors.

Well, back to work….

While I could have logged on from my parents place, it didn’t seem worth the effort. Plus, I’d have to use AOL and I try to avoid that if possible.

So, let’s see here… Thanksgiving was pretty good. The food was good, Mom made too much, as usual. We watched a bunch of movies and Mom worked on the decorations. I put up a tree and lugged stuff around, so I did my part. Helped my sister with the tennis courts at the school where she’s a coach. Had to take down some nets and dismantle some things called “tidy courts” – aka, garbage cans. Took several hours, in the cold. Yes, I am the best big brother in the world. Did a little shopping, no gifts – just paper and stuff. Did the “Hanging of the Greens” at my parents church – and again, the serpette’s did the brunt of the work. Pizza was good, though.

Hurried back on Sunday to go to a wedding for one of my co-workers. Was running very late – church was 40 minutes away and the wedding offically started in 30. Made it right on time, and the ceremony was delayed anyway. Really nice ceremony – tear-jerker all the way. Got a little lost (on purpose) after the wedding to kill some time before the reception. Nearly forgot my card for them – but went back for it. We were seated at 6:00ish – didn’t get served until 8:00 (yikes!) and I left at about 8:45. Did a bunch of origami while we were waiting at the table to entertain the rest of the people sitting there. Surprised myself with a request for a cobra – managed to pull it off from scratch. I made do another one at some point and post it on my site.

And that was the flurry of my Thanksgiving holiday weekend. Oh, I spilled soda all over my car on the drive back home and I thought I lost my checkbook. Soda is contained and the checkbook was at home all along.

Still no futon piece – now I’m getting cross. I’ll call again this evening – and this time I’m going to speak to a manager if I’m not hearing the right answers.

Back to work…

Woke up early today – still pretty bleery. Wait..

Crap…

Sorry, one of my contacts slid out of place. Don’t you hate it when that happens? I know, intellectually, that it’s not going to slide around to the back of my eye – (though, would it make me think more clearly if if were closer to my brain?) – but it’s still worrisome and a little painful.

I’m okay now, if you were concerned.

This evening I head southward to visit my parents for the holiday weekend. Hoping for a low-stress visit, but I’m not sure that’s possible. One thing is for certain – I am not, I repeat, NOT going shopping with my sister the day after Thanksgiving. The crazy person can go by herself.

That’s it for me, back to work…

I’m liking the holidays a little less as I get older. There’s so much stress involved in travel plans – it makes me cranky. All the hoopla and commercialized good cheer – it just feels so fake. And if you aren’t on the bandwagon, then you’re a scrooge. That poor guy got such a bad rap. Yeah, he wasn’t the nicest guy, but really he just wanted to be left alone.

Okay, so, I’m not that bad. But my idea of a peaceful holiday is a hot cup of coco and some light and quiet christmas music. Not traipsing all over creation for the inevitable 5 minutes of catching up with relatives you haven’t seen in eons and then trying to figure out how to fill the rest of the time before you can leave and get on with your lives.

I think that people don’t get it. I really don’t like to travel. Really really. It’s one of the reasons I have so much vacation time built up.

I’m going to try and avoid as much of the travel as I can this year. Call me a hermit, call me a scrooge and I say to you… Bah, humbug!

Had a bad dream last night – I was a cop (or at least working with cops), trying to solve a murder. We had just figured out the connection to another murder and realized a pattern – and who the next person would be. We raced to the diner where we expeted to find the next victim, but discovered the guy still alive and on the run from a giant monster covered in blades. It was slow moving, so he was holding his own – but it didn’t tire. I, apparently, was also a target on the monster’s list, so I could confuse it a little bit since it was supposed to go in order. The two of us ran around the diner while the rest of the cops tried to figure out how to stop it since bullets didn’t even faze it.

Re: the Futon – customer service was anything but. Cold, unapoligetic – the person who finally got to me after some of the most painful hold music on record simply asked for my name and address. She said they would ship it out and it would arrive in 2-5 business days. I asked about overnight and she said they don’t do that. I got off the phone still pissed, but thwarted by the lack of emotion. Even a simple – “sorry we screwed up” would be enough to assuage me, but instead they just didn’t care. Maybe I should have suggested they call me the next time they have a computer problem – and then they’ll see how customer should be done.

Back to work…

So, not long ago I find myself in Kmart looking for an entertainment center. I don’t find one there (the one I wanted turns out to be at Walmat), but I do notice a nice futon. On Sunday, I decided I want to go ahead and get said futon, so I head back to that Kmart. The floor model is there, but according to the random employee we ask, who dutifully checks in the back, they are out of them. My friend Jeff suggests a trip to another kmart he knows about, but we call first.

After talking to 4 differnt people, we determine that yes, they do have them in stock. Yea! So, we head on over to this Kmart, find an employee, who tells us he’ll check in the back. A manager comes around and also offers to check in the back. Back and forth a few times they both proceed, until about 20 mintues later it’s determined that they are sold out. I’m starting to get a little bit pissed at this point, but the manager offers to call over to yet a third store to check. This phone call takes him at least 10 minutes – but he comes back and says they do have them in stock and that the manager will hold one for me. I should ask for Jim.

So, now we go to the third Kmart of the day and track down another employee who again offers to check in the back. They find Jim, Jim finds us, and he comes out with the futon – all boxed up – on a big-ass cart. I pay for the futon in Electronics (for some reason) and we take it out, load it up and head home.

Jeff manages to rip his finger open on the staples holding the box together (not a good omen) and then I start to unpack it and discover a part is missing. Not a nut or bolt, mind you – but the whole right hand side. You know, the arm-rest/legs to the whole deal. Ironically, this should have been part “A” – the first item in the instructions. So, now we’re totally stopped. And the company – VictoryLand Group (which sounds like a televangelest program) only has office hours Monday – Friday during the day. I have to call them and use my firm and slightly angry voice.

Despite all the snafus of the day, the only people really at fault are:

1. The twit at the second Kmart that told us they were in stock

2. The person that packaged up my futon

3. The person who was supposed to check that everything that got in the box.

Best case scenario – I talk to a friendly CSR at VictoryLand who apoligizes and promises to ship out the replacement part at no cost to my via overnight deliverly.

Worst case, I package this back up and take it back to Kmart for a full refund – and they find myself a Sauder catalog.

I’ll make the phone today, once I’m good and awake and a little fired up from some tedious work. Wish me luck…

Back to work…

I helped out my former room-mate’s mother and grandmother last evening.

1. Put up plastic over the sliding glass door.

2. Reset their fax machine

3. Assembled a set of shelves on wheels

4. Moved some boxes around.

“Did you see that one, God?” Good deeds – helping little old ladies. I want full credit on this one.

No, really, it was no big deal. They appreciated the help and I was glad to do it. And they’ve promised me breakfast one of these weekend mornings.

Worked on a project last night, played some video games, and went back into work to upload some files. I dunno what I ate that caused it, but I also spent some quality time visiting the facilites. Good excuse to read a bunch of comics, so I guess that’s okay too.

I may be buying a futon this weekend, we’ll see how that goes.

That’s all folks…back to work…

Did a little more work on my ultra-super secret project last evening – but was too lazy to go out and get the final component. I initially rejected using it during my planning process, but I think it needs it. So, a trip to Michael’s is in order for this evening, after I do the plastic on the windows at my former room-mate’s mother’s house.

Yeah, I don’t entirely get it either.

Well, I’m not dizzy today, so I gues it was just a passing thing. May try to re-arrange my apartment tonight and move my stuff into the big bedroom. Might as well spread out – I could even keep my old room as a library.

Had a lot of trouble getting up this morning – so I ended up being late for work. I need to get busy to get caught up so its…

Back to work for me…

Had a weird dream (aren’t they all?) last night. My room-mate and his boys came back and simply wouldn’t leave. I finally had to get out my sword and grabbed the phone for a 911 call before they would budge. Not sure what triggered this dream, though it may have been the call from his mom. She called last evening and asked if I would come over to her place and put plastic on her windows. Not sure why she called me about this and not her son, though it could be because I’m more reliable.

So, I’ll go over there on Thursday and put up the plastic. A minor good deed, should only take an hour or so. I’ve got no quarrel with her and I do like to help people. Plus, I couldn’t come up with an excuse to get myself out of it quickly enough. 🙂

Got an extra set of A/V cables last evening and a switcher – now I can go from Playstation to DVD in one click of a button. Excellent!

The trip to radio shack was not good, however. Went in there and found a section of A/V cables – the very expensive kind. We were looking through the chart on prices and models of switches when the sales girl came over and asked if we needed help. I said “No, I think we’re in the right section”

To which she replied, “Good, cause I’m new here and I don’t know anything about these, but I’m supposed to ask anyway”

She then wandered off. The switcher was what I needed, but I was looking for cheaper cables. So, we found her again and asked if they had any other cables. I was just hoping for a differnt section to be pointed out to us. She said she didn’t know, but she’s go ask. She disappeared into the backroom and we kept looking around by ourselves – ultimately finding the cables I needed at a reasonable price. By the time she emerges from the backroom, we’ve already gotten the cables in hand and I’m ready to checkout. She has trouble with the cash register, answers the phone in the middle of the transaction making me wait, and then hands me the receipt but nearly tries to keep the bag. She apoligised and said she was a little scatterbrained. I’m thinking “A little?” – but keep it to myself to facilitate getting the heck out of there.

Apparently, she was too new to have watched the video “Customer Service and You! How not to screw up when dealing with people”

Oh, and in an unrelated note – I’ve been dizzy for a while now. Started last evening, mildly dizzy like when you get up too fast. Except it didn’t go away. I was a little dizzy when I went to bed and a little dizzy when I got up to take a shower this morning. It’s not affecting my movements or focus, but it just feels a little odd. If it keeps up, I’ll go get it checked out.

Well, back to work…

The goals last evening were to set up an entertainment center and put my TV/DVD player/Stereo/Playstation on it. Lofty goals to be sure.

Jeff volunteered to help me out (the fool) – and we set to work. Or rather, I set to work and was making good progress on the -ec- before he got there. We were going along just fine, and then it was time for hinges. Hinges for a door that I don’t really need, but I decided to install anyway. We messed around with it for about a thousand years, then read the instructions. Following the instructions actually made it worse, so pretty much gave up. I swore, tried it one last time, and then got it fairly close to level. At least the bottom of the door doesn’t rub on the base anymore.

Close enough = good enough.

Then came the set up of the actual entertainment. Trying to get the right sequence of cables to get sound to the stereo and video to the TV was just this side of impossible. We finally pulled a cable from the CD changer he had if my stereo didn’t work out and finally got things routed correctly. But then the Playstation didn’t work. Another 10 minutes of trying to be polite and maintain our respective cools before I finally thought to check the wonky cable coming out of the back of the playstation. And then it worked perfectly.

I did a little more swearing and we pronounced it done. But by then it was too late for me to stay up and play my games, so I just went to bed.

Today, though. Today many demons will be slain. Many robots will be trounced. Many villanous creatures will have their evil butts handed to them on a silver platter. And all this will be done….

In stereo.

Back to work…