The main phone line to the house has been intermittent since the snow, and has been “busy” since last Monday. They’re scheduled to come in NEXT Monday to make sure we didn’t screw anything up. Well, I have the lines coming in from the outside dangling in free air so I think the problem is on their end. Calling the phone company involves the usual sorting through menus and waiting on hold, and it makes me mad. Not mad enough to change, since all telecom companies suck in the same sort of way.
Oh, and they wanted me to FAX a copy of my dad’s death certificate and take over the responsibility of paying for the bill, something I’ve been doing for the past 10 years or so. Too bad that after I did all the scanning and cutting and pasting, the number they gave me was wrong.
My other adventure for the day was borrowing my brother-in-law’s truck to help the gym move. I took the bus across town (no transfers, we’re on the same line) and that was actually a nice, boring ride. The ride back was not so boring. The truck is kind of a POS, good for moving and dump runs. The inside was completely fogged up and there aren’t any lights to show you how to adjust the heater in the dark. Fortunately, there’s a flashlight on my keychain, and the only hard part was maneuvering the behemoth through the city streets. Hard when you’re used to a Honda Civic. I was also told that the truck was a little too butch for me. I think I’d agree.
I got up this morning feeling like doodie. I didn’t sleep well and I was coughing. I suppose it was probably because the painters were here doing prep work and sanding, creating all sorts of dust that was kicked up when the furnace turned on in the morning. In any case, I didn’t feel very good today but I couldn’t just go home because the painters were here and the house was set to be full of fumes. In fact, the painters, being painters, left the windows closed all day instead of airing the place out. It still smells like stain right now.
The painting should be finished tomorrow, and then the tiling on Thursday and Friday. The shower door is supposed to go in on Thursday. And the plumbing might be in on Friday if I’m lucky. So that means, if all goes well, I can take my first shower in my new bathroom on Saturday.
I’m not sure I did all that much at work today, but I did do something and I actually survived. I hadn’t woken up this early for several weeks, so I was worried about walking around like a zombie. So far so good.
I guess I did have a bit of an adrenaline rush today because I had to call the phone company. They’re just so annoying that I really, truly, wanted to hurt someone. Our main phone line is out and they’re blaming us, of course, but I’ve disconnected the wires that come into the house and hooked a test set up to it and there’s no dial tone. Basically, the phone lines coming to our house are shorted somewhere. Ugh.
So, I guess I made it through the Monday workout at the gym as well. I’m wondering if I need to take more breaks, because Mondays are usually better days for me. Two days of sitting around and resting are probably the reason, but more sitting around isn’t one of my resolutions. I think I should try to go on at least one date a month. That means asking out at least enough women that someone might say yes. The baseline statistic I’ve heard of is 1 in 20, or maybe that was something else, but that’s a lot of work to do in a month. Hell, I probably don’t even know 20 single women I could ask out. I think I’ll have to come up with another plan here.
I’m still considering my resolutions for the next year. There has to be something I can do to change things around a bit. I should have some goals for my career and some for my social life. But really, am I just setting myself up for disappointment?
Speaking of disappointment, my bathroom should be finished soon. The electrician was in on January 1st. The tile guy is supposed to be in early this week. The painters as well. The sink and fixtures have been delivered to the wrong location, but should be in the local warehouse this week, so the plumber might be able to finish his work later this week. The toilet and washlet are working well. However, everyone who has dealt with contractors knows about delays and the shower door is probably another week out as well.
OK, so my first resolution: don’t worry so much about disappointment and just deal with it. How’s that?
I don’t have a lot of sense to begin with, and even when I’m trying to do something that makes sense, I don’t always do it. It was a co-worker’s 40th birthday party yesterday, and I hung out with his hockey buddies afterwards which, of course, didn’t make any sense at all. We went to two bars and I was in no shape to do anything but walk the 2 miles home. Unfortunately, that took me past another bar where some friends regularly shut the place down. I ended up talking to some older gentlemen I know from the neighborhood as well as everyone else in the bar. I don’t feel so bad right now, but I think that’s because I’m not awake enough to be hung over.
I think I need a keeper or something.
P.S. The Kobe beef burger at Rogue Brewery is worth resetting my no-cheeseburger counter.
This is a real vacation day for me, not one that I just kind of took. Nobody was online when I turned on my work computer, and I didn’t receive any new emails. So I watched a bunch of movies. Let’s Go to Prison (meh), Ten Ten (cute Japanese road-trip movie), Dead Alive (gory and campy), Tokyo Eyes, and Eagle Eye (better than I expected). I think I also finished watching the first season of Futurama.
Turning off cable didn’t get me very far from the TV. I probably should do something that gets me out of the house, but it’s been frigging cold and rainy lately, when it hasn’t been snowing. I suppose I was out 3 of the last 4 nights, so I’m not a complete shut-in.
The first day of the year, I went to a friend’s New Years Day party and had some great food. Unfortunately, a couple of beers was a enough to make me fall asleep at 9PM. That never works out for the best, of course, and I woke up at midnight feeling like I couldn’t get back to sleep. It was oddly bright outside, and I looked outside to see a couple of inches of snow. There really wasn’t anything to do but try to go back to sleep and hope it would be gone by the time I got up.
So now here it is, 2009, and I have to think of some resolutions. Resolution 1: think of some resolutions. Give me a chance.
I just got home and I suppose if I was a good friend, I would have left the party much earlier so my friend could have had more time with his ex (who in fact was looking much better than the last time I saw her). But no, I was busy drinking and talking nonsense with my friends. Several of them were drinking uncharacteristically as well and it was a lot more fun when you’re not the only one talking nonsense. In fact, one of my friends was purported to speak in Japanese when she is drunk, and I finally got to see it. Her husband had no idea what she was saying to him, which made it all the funnier to me.
The only bad part is that I’m supposed to be at the gym at 11AM tomorrow. I was feeling puny today after having two beers and I had several more than that tonight. Well, maybe it was last year. In any case, Happy New Year and it’s now time to restart our arbitrary clocks.
