Areas of Unrest

QOTD: "I have never yet seen a system, no matter how complicated, that when viewed from the proper persepctive can not be rendered more complicated." - Poul Anderson

Reading: Voltaire, Candide, Zadig, and Selected Stories

Listening to: Pierre Bensusan, Wu Wei

Decluttering accomplishments: unpacked more stuff, hung some pictures

29 September 2002 - In the Still of the Day

My current frustrations, just slightly distilled:

The den/office is still a total disaster area.

I still can't get my brokerage account to work on-line, despite having called customer service and having them allegedly set things up. I followed their instructions exactly and still got the "call customer service and have them reset things" error message.

I still get lost any time I try driving more than about 300 yards from home. There is apparently a law in Virginia that no sign indicating an off-ramp may be placed more than six inches from said off-ramp. Also, no two signs for a given road may use the same name for it. For example, if one sign points to "Lee Highway, next right," the actual right turn should have a sign reading "Route 29." Whenever possible, trees must be planted immediately in front of any sign that might actually be helpful. It's a good thing I take the Metro to work. I haven't gotten lost walking home from the Metro station since the first day I lived here and ended up on a trail through the woods that did eventually take me to Lee Highway. I only recognized it because the sign said "Route 29."

Speaking of the Metro, I was rather relieved to hear Kurt and Brady mention the other day that they both get on the wrong train home now and again. Otherwise, I would still think I was an idiot for having had to make the "Arlington Cemetery Walk of Shame" on Tuesday night. It seems that one is not to trust the light-up signs at the platform but must always check the train itself. (The Walk of Shame refers to having to cross over from the southbound to the northbound Blue Line platform to get back to Rosslyn and the Orange Line train home.)

I still haven't finished the Papua New Guinea travelogue, though I have written quite a bit. I have set myself a deadline of the end of the month. Unfortunately, the end of the month is tomorrow, so I ought to get cracking.

I inevitably still have more changes of address to send out.

I still don't have enough bookshelves. I am not convinced that there are enough bookshelves in the known universe.

My clothes still do not magically unwrinkle themselves without my having to iron them.

The Source of All Evil in the Universe is still in first place in the American League East. Given that the post-season is already set, there doesn't seem to be much I can do about this, but it does not bode well for the world situation.

I still have a ton of email to answer and phone calls to return and the like. Most of which has been waiting for me to finish the travelogue and finish unpacking more things.

I still need a lamp for the den. Or maybe not, since without one it's harder to tell what a disaster area it is in there.

I still can't decide where to go next on vacation. I also still can't decide what to do with my hair. I'm sure that everyone realizes how earth shattering these choices are.

I am still going to be racking up umpty ump frequent flyer miles. In the next six weeks, I have to make two trips to Los Angeles, one to Boulder and one to Houston. I am actually looking forward to Houston, simply because I've never been there before.

At least I can still make fun of myself.