Tired kids

put the kibbosh on errands. At least that was the case today. Leapy and Reilly will both have to wait an extra day for the replenishment of their dwindling food supplies.

When I picked Banana up at the Farmer's Market--amazing what you can find amongst the organic vegetables and crafts--it was already clear that we were going to have a rough evening. There were bags under her eyes, and she was already a bit cranky with her mom. As resilient as she is, I think all the late nights in recent weeks and running around are finally catching up with her.

In any case, the market today yielded

arugula
cantelope
peppers
cucumbers
green beans
Italian sausage
ground beef
eggs

Stupid water

Apparently Aquafina has decided to admit that it is simply packaged tap water. I'd never noticed that the bottles were labeled PWS--Public Water Supply--and neither had many other people.

Thus continues one of the all-time ruses of consumer culture--bottled water. I've commented before on the absurdity of Deer Park's single-use "kid" bottles, but it's really the whole bottled water segment of the drink industry that blows my mind. And the fact that that segment represents $11B is even more mind-blowing.

Bottled water really seems like the snake oil of our contemporary culture. It may never have been marketed as directly better than tap water, but beverage companies have marketed the perception that water from a bottle is healthier. The reality, however, is that most tap water is not only safe, but better for you in some cases. Certainly, it is more economical and can be comfortably transported through faucets or refillable bottles.

What further disturbs me is the environmental impact. With the consumables come the trashables--tons of plastic bottles everywhere.

cheney's a robot

Dick Cheney had the battery in his built-in defibrillator replaced this weekend. This means his heart will continue to operate. This almost seems comic. Almost.

A Treefrog

Yesterday, I fulfilled my promise of Banana's birthday present--a new pet. Her first ideas were kittens and puppies. Those wouldn't do right now--a kitten because I'm not a cat person, and a puppy because I can't handle adding another mouth and set of vet bills to the mix. Failing that, she settled for a turtle. Then she changed her mind. She wanted a frog. Call it the Hopper Effect. Since frogs seem fairly low maintenance, I was okay with the idea.

The salesperson at PetSmart (the gender-neutral reference is essential, because I'm honestly not sure what this person's story was) gave me the rundown on what we would need to take care of a treefrog:

• 10 gal. aquarium $10


• screen $10


• clip-on light and bulb $10


• sediment for the bottom $10


• hiding place--in the case of a treefrog this also meant a climbing tree $15


• watering dish--opted to solve this with a waterfall $42


• crickets $2


• treefrog $18

This made for a rather pricey birthday present, but I'd made the promise. And the thing actually seemed kind of cool.

We are one day in now, and the frog still seems cool. It is named Leapy. Leapy has a voracious appetite for crickets. Leapy also needs a damper base than she (we know the gender) has. These facts mean that we will make another trip to PetSmart tomorrow for more crickets and a mister to dampen the aquarium.

Banana is overjoyed. Pictures will be forthcoming.

More cartoons

Remember this one?

my aching back

The first real injury I remember to my back came on an ice-slicked 6th Avenue, coming home from The Stoned Crow late one night about ten years ago. I imagine the spill was one of those comic moments when you're suspended mid-air for a moment before crashing to the ground. A cabbie stopped and asked if I was all right. I could barely breathe even the next day when I went to work--sitting all day at a computer in an agency bullpen. I had back issues before that too, but this is the first obvious injury I remember. The next came a year or so later when I hit a parked car while riding my bike. After that injury, I took the time to see a chiropractor who pointed out how messed up my back actually was at that point. Too much stress, too many locked-up muscles.

Sad to say, I never fully dealt with these things. My cavalier, invincible attitude is coming back to haunt me now. It's about time, I guess, as part of this lifehacking I'm doing to begin to take care of my body too.

I'm not getting any younger, right?

Saturday morning cartoons

Classic. That's all I can say. Classic.

Simplify

For three years, I have managed to juggle all of the responsibilities at work with a minimum of failure. Well, things are starting to break, and I'm losing the careful balance and structure I've tried to maintain. Who knew a quarter inch mistake could be such a problem...

Time to go to Hugh Mcleod for a simple explanation:

sporadic

It is my hope, my intention to get back to writing and posting on a regular basis. Now that the monster book is headed off to press at least one huge weight is off my shoulders (and my aching back). Given the time to organize at home (and figure out what to do with the box the dollhouse was shipped in), I really do hope to find time to spew words, pictures and randomness again.

Strange thing about this blogging thing: I miss it when I'm not keeping up with it.

birthdays, etc.

I'm officially exhausted after this weekend. A neighbor's party Friday night. A trip to the Virginia Living Museum yesterday. Friends and wine in the backyard last night. The pool, birthday time, and good food today.

Banana is now five. It's a great age. The know-it-all-ness, the arguing, the willfulness, the sometimes-hilarious reasoning. It's all great, really. still, all of the fun moments and all of the new developments really do make it all fun.

And now we have a massive dollhouse. And soon we will have frogs. This is my life.

A smart child and a messed-up back.

abstractions and war

According to General Petraeus on NPR this evening, "Our enemy is extremism." Translated, this means we are fighting an abstraction. Except that you can't fight an abstraction. Misunderstanding this reality may in fact be the saddest thing about our nation's misguided leadership.

busy

Sigh... It's been a busy week, but at least Verizon seems--finally--to have gotten my service issues corrected. Who wants to bet that the billing will be a fascinating journey?

Verizon, the saga continues

We are into day 7 of the Verizon comedy of errors now. Miss Green in Maryland has been working hard to get the situation wrapped up. She has involved her managers. A tech in Richmond assured me today that he would get things cleared up.

File this under "Computers are great until they're not" because apparently the only hitch is that the turnover of service has to pass through "the system" before the matter is fully resolved. I envision "The System" as some sadistic robot out of a sci fi novel, laughing at the mounting frustration of his human nemesis.

Meanwhile, I think I'd like an apology from the CSR who started all of this.

Verizon sucks, pts 5 and beyond

Note: I am still using poached wireless.

Ms. Green, my kindly CSR, assured me on Friday evening that everything was in place except for a final go-ahead on the TV. This would happen Monday morning, she assured me. I wasn't happy about having to go the weekend without service, but since the weekend promised to be busy and Banana would be with mommy, I dealt with it. I also had no choice.

Today--Monday--I left a couple of kind messages for Ms. Green, asking for updates. There was no return call this time. By 6:30 when we returned home from grocery shopping and what-not, I called again since the router still indicated no service. This time, Ms. Green's direct number was busy. Not a good sign.

I got on the phone with FiOS again to try to clear up matters. Or at least get a status update. The first CSR I get listens patiently, finds the account, and puts me on hold. a few minutes later, there is a click and the hold music changes drastically. I wait a few more minutes until I hear a recorded voice asking me to hold for a representative. Amazing that they managed to lose me as I'm trying to clear this up--again. I call back and explain the situation again. The CSR goes into another system and finds no records since the disconnect on 6/12. I rant. I really rant. Then I apologize when I remember it's not his fault.

At the end of the call, it is left that I need to call back in the morning again and speak to one of the account representatives.

And to think: This all started a week ago because I wanted to pay my bill.

Brooklyn days

Before I ever moved to Brooklyn years ago, I had developed a sort of preternatural nostalgia for Brooklyn's history. Videos like this remind me why.

ways to make airline travel even worse...

Horrible story--a mother kicked off a flight (on a stopover, mind you) because her toddler was talking and the flight attendant got annoyed. After an 11-hour delay.

via daddytypes and Consumerist.

Verizon, pt. 4

The latest CSR spent 45 minutes on the phone with me this morning trying to resolve the issues. She managed to track down and figure out where all the various orders happened. She also learned that the CSR yesterday understood me to say that I wanted to cancel all of my service--which is hard to believe. As the call ended, she gave me her name and direct line with the assurance that she would get the new account set up. She also agreed with my request that I not be billed for my service between May 29 and yesterday as a courtesy for the trouble. She also said she would call back when it was all resolved. (Where have I heard that before?)

Those were the assurances. Anybody want to place bets on whether this is, in fact, the resolution of it?

UPDATE: She actually called back! The situation isn't thoroughly resolved yet, but at least she called with new information.

a bit of fun

Soft and folky, yes, but she's a damn good songwriter.

identity crisis

navel-gazing moment

I'm still in the process of settling in to the new place. The latest stage involves going through boxes of files I haven't touched since 2004, at least. This includes all of my grad school files, tons of rough drafts of stories--some of which never even got typed up, edits galore, old job-search records, early portfolio stuff, source materials for the Coney book, memories, memories, and more memories.

Strangest finds so far include copies of my paternal grandparents' birth certificates. My Danish-immigrant great grandfather was a "horseshoer."

Verizon, pts 2 & 3

Note: I am writing this from poached wireless access.

Pt. 2

So, I called Verizon after I got to work this morning to resolve the matters. After several minutes of explaining the problem to a FiOS CSR, he contacted billing and transferred me to them.

The CSR in billing asked me to explain the situation again. I did so, at which point she told me that I had never ended my service at the old address. We went around on that issue for a few minutes until she understood what had happened. At that point, she assured me she would issue the cancellation for my old service. I carefully asked her whether that would mean the billing issues would be resolved and my current service at the new house would remain intact.

She assured me it would.

Pt. 3

Banana and I arrive home, and Banana wants to watch Angelina Ballerina. (She has just come from her first ballet lesson.) I flip on the TV, and realize that there is no service.

I get on the phone with FiOS, go through the story again, and the CSR finds my account easily this time. Unfortunately, both accounts had disconnect orders issued. At this point, I am just as amused as I am irritated. He puts me on hold for several minutes, comes back and confirms the service I should have (data and TV) and where I should have that service. He tells me he is going to resolve it, and that he will call me back.

fast forward two hours

I call back to find out the status of the issue. I go through the story with the latest CSR, and he is very sympathetic. He goes through the various accounts and orders that now exist, but can find no record of this afternoon's phone call. Great. Just fucking great.

This phone call, the latest phone call, ends with him telling me to call in the morning when the billing office is open.

Stay tuned...