QOTD: "All great civilizations have been based on loitering." - Jean Renoir
Reading: Diane Mott Davidson, The Main Corpse
Listening to: a mix CD
Decluttering accomplishments: filed away a bunch of papers
First, I finally updated my life list. It's a pretty minor update, but I did link to the Jeopardy! story. And I'd been meaning to do the update for a couple of months now, since the last item I finished on it. (You all know how long it took me to get around to writing the ice hotel story.)
Secondly, there was majorly scandalous news this week. Two Air Force officers from the organization I used to work with were court martialed. One (who I didn't know) was a woman in her early 20's who got involved with drugs. That's reasonably understandable - kids make bad decisions all the time. The other, however, was a guy who was about 30ish who got seven years for child molestation. I knew him slightly and found that totally shocking.
Then, on Friday I found out that another officer back there was arrested and charged with sexual assault and kidnapping. I don't think I knew him, but one of the other people I work with apparently knew him well. He's being held in the county jail for over two million dollars bail. Again, I've only heard bits of the story but it's pretty mindboggling.
My life is quite a bit less scandalous, particularly as most of my focus over the past week or so has been on getting things fixed. I'd been meaning to close out one bank account for a while and had to endure lots of particularly awful hold button muzak and transfers between people to find out how to do so. Essentially, they wanted me to come in to a branch in person, which is a bit difficult as the reason that I want to close the account is that they don't have any branches within a couple of thousand miles of where I live now. After having had my brain numbed by enough "light classics" they consented to give me an address to write to. Incidentally, their other suggestion was that I just write a check for the balance. That would work were it not an interest bearing account. They told me that if the balance left were less than a dollar, that would close the account, suggesting I shouldn't worry about the interest. But they'd keep that balance. It may be insignificant to me, but that can obviously add up to a fair windfall for them.
Apple Computer has far better music on their hold buttons. I actually brought my ibook into the store when it refused to recognize the AC adapter or to charge the battery. The phone recording, which I'd had to listen to in between the music when I called to find out where the Apple Store is, suggested looking at their web site, which is a bit hard to do when your computer isn't working. (Admittedly, on a work day, I could have checked from that computer. But, still.) When it failed to work at the store, they shipped it off for repairs, which miraculously happened quickly. Instead of the 7-10 business days they suggested, it only took 5. All is well now, but I'd had to deal with the hold button (world beat fare) because of a screwup in registering the extended warranty. It was taken care of simply enough (faxing the proof of coverage to them) and everything is well. I did, however, conclude that I'm not cool enough to own my computer. The Apple Store is staffed by trendy people with shaved heads and multiple piercings. Even if I have compatible musical tastes, it's amazing that they're willing to let in the likes of business suited, non-tatooed, non-pierced me.
Not having a functioning computer at home for several days let me do a bunch of reading, notably Alexander McCall Smith's "No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency" series, which is thoroughly charming, even though it made me go around saying "Molepolole" several times a day. That is a real place in Botswana, by the way. And I got to sleep a lot earlier than normal, which is good.
The other repairs of the week involved my car. I brought it in for routine service, but they found a cracked serpentine belt, as well. One has to expect the need to replace parts in a nine and a half year old car, so it's not a big deal. The way I look at it, I spend a couple of hundred bucks a year on car repairs, which is a lot less than a new car would cost. The annoying part of the experience has nothing to do with the repairs themselves, but with the pedestrian unfriendliness of Fairfax Circle. The car place is about a mile from where I live. So my strategy is to drop the car off after work one day and walk home. They work on it the next day and I walk over from the train station after work, and then drive it home. As I said, the walk is about a mile, which should be quite pleasant. And it is, except for the need to cross eight lanes of traffic where there isn't any nearby traffic light. Walking back there was better, because I'd figured out that I could do this most easily by taking a route that only involved two detours (one through a parking lot because there's no sidewalk on that side of the street; the other to cross the raging torrent of cars a couple of blocks beyond the car place). You keep reading about how we need to move people out of their cars and how we all need more exercise and everything, but then there's urban planning like this which is just downright hostile to pedestrians. I believe that a lot of the problem comes about because the traffic circle in question is also where two jurisdictions meet and neither one has figured out who's responsible there, but that doesn't make it any less annoying.
Anyway, things are more or less back to normal. Can I please have a week without scandal or breakage?
Copyright 2003 Miriam H. Nadel