contemplating Dilbert
Scott knows. I'm not sure why he knows--probably from some horrible experience of his own, but one doesn't usually imagine these kinds of awkward situations between two men. Well, not outside the realm of Steve Martin comedy anyway--if that makes sense. It might not. It's early. I don't have coffee yet.
This strip made me giggle a lot. Most days Scott Adams is a ho-hum experience for me, but the theme of yesterday's strip into today's has struck a chord. (Click the little strip for full disclosure.)
It was probably because of that peculiar man in 99, and then reading about Christina's experience with "Paul who wouldn't go away" and the IRA man in Belfast. And, you know, being reminded of every other time some strange person got too much into my personal space or shared too much information in too short a span of time.
It's like that. And when it happens to me or my friends, it's creepy; but having it happen to Dilbert, and to such an absurd extreme, is hilarious.
Schadenfreude? Vielleicht.
the tax refund and a brief lament for yesterday's coffee
I keep checking my ING account for my direct deposit from Federal and Massachusetts.
Federal says it should get there by the 23 February (though, with a tiny-font post-script that "cannot guarantee the actual date"), but Massachusetts isn't making any promises at all.
Oh, well. I'll keep watching. [Edit 1125: It figures that the State refund would get there before Federal. Not that I'm complaining. It's a good refund. It's just kind of odd that the people giving me no sense of waiting time should get my money to me quickest. End edit.]
I want coffee sooooo bad right now. Hopefully it will be better than my sour-milk experience of yesterday. Ugh, that was horrible.
movies movies movies:
Having had some coffee (yes, a great improvement on yesterday's), I'll now write on upcoming entertainment.
First, this. I'm sorry, what?
WHAT?!?
John Travolta is NOT Edna Turnblad. At all. Ever. The end!
It's not even so much that they're re-making Hairspray that bothers me. That actually doesn't bother me at all. It's the Divine versus John Travolta thing that irks me.
Divine ... (Let that sink in.) ... Travolta? Eh?
Maybe it's not as ridiculous to somebody who's seen the stage production, but that seems really miscast to me. Other arguments are quite welcome.
So why did I hear about this? Because I've been checking the release calendar on IMDb to see how much the movies are going to set me back this summer. So far I have six must-see movies on my list:
*Harry Potter Part V (which is bumping up against the release of Deathly Hallows)
*Live Free or Die Hard (yes, it's probably going to be awful--and I don't see how they can top Bruce Willis and Sam L. Jackson running around NYC mouthing off at one another--but I'm faithful to this franchise, so I'm going to see it)
*Ocean's 13 (I've really enjoyed the last two, in spite of the fact that I went into them feeling dubious; I'll go into this one just as dubious, and hopefully be pleasantly surprised again)
*Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End (Hi. It's Johnny Depp. And Orlando Bloom. And PIRATES. Short of the theatre catching fire, nothing is going to keep me away ... and, in case of fire, I'll be running into the cinema to save the precious reels ... my preciousssss)
*Spiderman 3 (Peter. Parker. The end.)
*Transformers (Hey, it's a remnant of my childhood being made larger than life--I'd probably go see a movie about The Smurfs if they CGI'd it to death)
phone and television technology:
I'll just keep adding things as they come to me rather than creating a whole new entry; that way, people won't have to read any of the extras if they don't want to. Well, not that they have to read the original entry or any of my entries, but there it is.
My phone has now lost the ability to take a charge for more than thirty minutes. If it's not plugged into the wall, it'll die within half an hour. I don't know why. The battery is brand new (since November). My only guess is that the phone is going bad and sucking the power out of the battery at a quicker than normal rate.
It's frustrating. I never know what time it is (yeah, I should just wear a watch; but I never needed [and, so, do not own] a watch when my phone was working).
I think my parents have talked me into sticking with Sprint (it gets us a family rate and, I think, free phone calls between us), but they understand my desire for a new phone and are offering to get me said phone.
They won't tell me what they're considering, so I have no idea what to expect.
My dad is talking about getting a new phone too. Oh, and a new television. They have four televisions, three of them are ridiculously huge and really nice. the fourth is old, but it works. actually, they all work. And that's not including the 19" Sony in "my room" in the Durham house.
He needs an HD television, because "soon anything that isn't HD will be obsolete, and won't be able to receive the cable feed" ... so, what he's basically telling me is that ALL cable companies EVERYWHERE are going to expect ALL their customers to buy a $1000s+ television set.
For some reason, his logic doesn't fly with me. Cable companies and their advertisers want to be able to reach the lowest common denominator in society, because even poor people have television; and whatever little money they can save, you can be sure that big companies will want the chance to take it back through consumer spending--which happens most successfully if and when people are bombarded with advertisements. So I doubt that television is going to become HD-only any time soon; not unless HD becomes more affordable for the masses.
Also, you don't like your current televisions? Would you mind sending one to us? Because we'd LOVE to have a nice television for our living room. Thanks.
chores left unfinished:
*laundry
*vacuuming
And crafting too, but that's hardly a chore, is it? I swear that I'll at least make the effort to not go home and collapse today. I'll do a load of laundry and vacuum the floor by my wardrobe. There. Now I must do it.
Showing posts with label ranting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ranting. Show all posts
13 February 2007
part-time cutter
05 January 2007
deterred, in a few ways
--by weather.com.
I had all my credit card info entered into American Airlines' web-site. And then the thought occurred to me: It's January, and I'm thinking of going to London.
So I visited weather.com to check on the forecast. Rain. And rain. And--here's something new!--more rain.
I'd like to walk around and take pictures when I visit the city. That's likely to be impossible if it's raining all the time. And I should've expected that kind of weather initially, but I just wasn't thinking about it before. I'd feel better if there was a forecast of clear skies (or if I'd made these plans a month ago, and there just happened to be inclement weather, and I couldn't do anything about it), but that just isn't the case. I haven't paid for the tickets yet, and I don't have to go when the weather is shit.
It might be a rotten reason not to go, but no. I'll wait until the weather is improved, and I've a better chance of actually enjoying myself while there--not shut up indoors the whole time.
Or should I just buy a poncho and go with it? ...
Even regardless of getting around London without getting drenched, weather could prove a problem with flying (there and back). I'd rather not get stuck somewhere and end up trying to explain to my boss by long-distance phone or confusing e-mail why I can't come to work on Tuesday, thanks.
FedEx has the most obnoxious office location they could possibly have relative to where I live.
They tried to drop off my iPod AV kit yesterday at around 9:45 AM according to their tracking web site. But because I wasn't there to sign, they wouldn't leave it (just as well since the thing was expensive, and I'd prefer not to lose it or have it stolen). Instead, they left a door-hanger asking for me to sign for it indirectly or come and get it--at their hub in South Boston. My other option was that they would attempt to deliver it again today (with no clue as to when that is going to happen either).
Hi. I work, like normal people who have a rent to pay are wont to do. Don't try to deliver a package to me in the middle of the morning on a work day, and don't expect me to be home. Also, why can't FedEx have more delivery-holding offices around this city? It's not like they don't have the business to support it. Or why can't their main hub be in some central place--maybe near the Government Center? And, I know, South Boston has more warehouse space. Blah, blah, blah. I don't care. They could afford to have local offices (as the USPS does) if they wanted.
But, this rant aside, my flat-mate offered to drive me over there after work if they fail to show up at a more reasonable hour today.
So hopefully I'll have this thing by tonight; and hopefully it'll work with my television too.
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