Suburbia @ Large

Friday, February 04, 2005

Fox News Still Sucks

Thank you for all of your support in the stove saga. It has been "repaired", even though it was not in fact broken to begin with. In any case I have already wasted far too much time thinking about the stove and so, people, today we are moving on.

Today's hero is Judy Bachrach, contributing editor for Vanity Fair magazine.

In this fabulous video clip, she takes on some pin-headed Fox anchorwoman about the appropriateness of the most expensive inauguration in the history of this nation ... during a time of war and the time when the national debt is at an all-time high ... yeah, let's party!

Awesome video clip from Fox "news"

(When you get to this page, mouse over the URL and click it. The URL is located right above the red "rating" bar).

I haven't mentioned lately how much I hate the current administration for two reasons: first, I'm somewhat distracted by the miniature human doing the backstroke in my uterus, and secondly I'm trying to block its very existence out of my brain -- the adminstration's existence, not the human's.

So, for old times sake: I hate this administration and am nowhere near finished criticizing it.

For example, did you know that your president thinks that is great when "brown-skinned" people self-govern? Thanks to Fabulous Husband for the link to this truly unbelievable story.

Posted at 1:23 pm by Suburbia
Comments (2) Link here

Tuesday, February 01, 2005

Do NOT talk to me about the f-ing stove

Two months ago, our kitchen range began misbehaving. Specifically, the temperature gauge went haywire. For example, if I put something in the oven at 350 degrees the oven guage would maybe, if it felt like it, stretch it's sleepy little needle to reach 250 degrees.

Now, we could not simply fake out the temperature gauge by setting all food designed to bake at 350 to 450, thus making the assumption that the oven was 100 degrees shy of being correct. Because sometimes when we would use the oven, the oven would not heat up enough, and other times -- just to mix it up -- the oven would heat to a temeprature far beyond the temperature you'd initially set it to. Oh, what a jolly time was spent trying to crack that non-existent code.

Three times. The repairman came 3 times, each time replacing a new part. In the meantime 2 weeks have passed over the 3 visits and I do not have the use of an oven. There are only so many times you can make American Chop Suey (yes, Sandie, I know you're wincing) and soup before you bore even yourself. In the meantime, the cost of continuing to attempt to repair the oven inched toward the cost of purchasing a new one.

After it was clear that the 3rd repair attempt was a failure, I spent the next 10 days or so not talking to or about the f-ing oven. Very mature, I am.

As a middle-class suburbanite, I'm not beyond angling a brand new appliance out of what is clearly a bleak situation. But we have a baby on the way, and a gi-normous list of stuff to buy in preparation for the arrival of said baby, so the prospect of plunking down $800 for a new appliance is just beyond annoying.

Last Saturday we reluctantly headed to Sears (I know, a Republican party contributor ... but cheaper people. Cheaper is key right now) and select a new range.   I won't even tell you the side-story about Fabulous Husband's ... let's see, how to word this ... disengagement with the new range shopping process. Suffice to say that it did not make an already annoying situation that much more annoying. (He is a Fabulous Husband, but he wasn't feeling well that day). Stressed out and completely annoyed at the fact that we were forced to buy a new range, we picked one out in about 10 minutes. It took 10 full minutes to become $800 poorer. And it wasn't even fun.
Fast forward to the end of this saga. Of course they could not deliver the new range for another full week. Of course you have to hire a plumber to disconnect the gas from the old range before they deliver the new stove. Then you have to project-manage receiving the new stove, then you have to project manage the plumbers' return to reconnect the new stove. Another $100: gone. And by the way, do yo know that you have to get a town permit for all new appliances?  $35.00. All this over the course of another week without the use of the range.

Finally, as of yesterday we had the full use of the new range & oven. A great tide of relief washed over our little suburban home.

This morning? One of the burners does not work.

Did you get that? One of the burners suddenly DOES. NOT. WORK.

I'm trying to help Fabulous Husband understand why I REFUSE TO DISCUSS WHAT TO DO NEXT ABOUT THE F-ING STOVE.

Posted at 9:01 pm by Suburbia
Comments (8) Link here

Greetings from the cube farm

Sometimes I play a game where I pretend that I don't actually know anything about my job and see if I could, as a complete stranger, read my work e-mail and my calendar and have it make any sense at all.

Then I realized that YOU GUYS don't have my job! So maybe it would be fun for you to play this game as well! Everyone likes games, right?

Actual titles of meetings I've attended recently:

1. Best Practice TW PPQ (1 hour)
2. Good/Bad Characters & error messages (30 mins)
3. Copy vs. reference discussion (1.5 hours)
4. Get (re)acquainted (30 mins)
5. CIQ spec clarifications (1.5 hours)
5. Reviewing the CIQ interface's page def screen (1 hour)
6. Client ROI on AM (1 hour)

Is it not clear that I contribute to the betterment of humanity every single day?

Is it not clear that I cannot have a meaningful discussion with anyone outside of the cube farm about the daily goings-on at the cube farm?

This list of meetings represents six and one half hours of my life that I will never get back.

Posted at 7:45 pm by Suburbia
Add your thoughts here. Link here