Adventures in Gastronomy

Poor Randy. I think he’s working more hours than he did with the old job. Time-wise I think he may have spent more work-related hours at his previous job (as a result of all of the flying and waiting in airports). But I think that he is actually spending more time doing actual work at his current job.

Take the past few days for example. He had to be into work by 8AM yesterday for a meeting and didn’t get home until 9:30PM. This morning he had a 7AM conference call and has a pseudo-business dinner this evening. He has another 7AM call tomorrow morning.

And this has been pretty typical since taking the new job.

Last weekend we had plans to visit my friend, Pete, in Salem. After we’d made the plans, Randy said he’d rather stay home and read the paper/catch up on TV. I persuaded him into going…and I think he had some fun…but I can definitely tell he needs some downtime. Our trip to Las Vegas (Sunday!) is already chock-full of activities so I suspect his vacation won’t even be very restful. But since we don’t leave until Sunday, I may disappear on Saturday and give him some work-free, Karl-free, obligation-free, friend-free space.

February 13th, 2008
Categories: Uncategorized . Author: snarl . Comments: 1 Comment

I’ve always been impatient. And today my patience is being tested while waiting for the cable guy to show up (not Jim Carey, but an actual cable technician).  Over the past few weeks our internet has been dropping to slow (and even non-existent) speeds. At times it’s like being on dial-up again (doesn’t dial-up seem like some primitive technology from decades ago despite being common just 10 years ago?)

Well , they said they’d come this morning after 7:00AM so here I am. – watching the morning news and afraid to use the bathroom because I know the second I get in there the door bell will ring.

Damn, this is pretty tragic….can you tell that I have nothing to write about?

February 12th, 2008
Categories: Uncategorized . Author: snarl . Comments: 1 Comment

As always, we had a pretty social weekend. We had plans Friday night, Saturday night, and Sunday day. Poor Randy, though. He wanted to bail on the Sunday plans so he could have a day of rest, but I insisted he join me. He did, and I believe he had a reasonably good time, but the poor workaholic could use a break. I promised he could have next Saturday to himself. Though, we’re on vacation the next day so he may not need a day off (unless by “day off” he means a day off from me). And that’s fine, too – I can relate to that. My limitless charm does have the ability to exhaust people.

Anyway, Friday night we headed over to Pete’s house for dinner and Wii. After playing with mine (Wii game system, that is) Pete went and got one for himself. Good times.

On Saturday, we cleaned the house then headed up to our friend’s Scott place (in the middle of nowhere) where he cooked dinner for us and then we played a French card game. Well, at least the name is French. Randy won and poor Deano suffered a catstrophic loss and ended up with a negative score. Scott and I fell somewhere in between.

Finally came Sunday and we headed up to my old hood in Salem to have breakfast with Pete. I wanted to go to a place called “Taste of Thyme” that I recalled having the best pancakes and Belgian waffles. Pete originally wanted to go to a place called “Graziani’s” (known for their burned french toast). But a few days before, Pete said he’d rather eat at the Hawthorne Hotel. Well, I acquiesced and the three of us headed there. Fortunately, they were only doing some sort of fancy-schmancy brunch and we’d have had to eat in a tavern across the lobby and walk back to the restaurant to get our food. We left and ended up at Taste of Thyme! MMMMM – yummy.

After the breakfast, we headed back to Pete’s to play some Wii games. But it was most fun when he pulled out the PS3 and I got to rock out on Rock Band. I played some kick-ass drums to Radiohead’s “Creep” and to the Clash’s “Should I Stay or Should I Go.”

Karen Carpenter, eat your heart out.

February 11th, 2008
Categories: Uncategorized . Author: snarl . Comments: 3 Comments

After dealing with all of the bad news of the last few weeks (storms killing people in the south, the war in Iraq, economy spiraling into a recession, friends being laid off), we were all finally blessed with good news yesterday:

Mitt Romney is suspending his presidential campaign. It concerns me that it’s considered a suspension as opposed to a termination, but I’ll take what I can get. Upon hearing the news yesterday (less then 48 hours after a poor showing in the primary in which he claimed he’d continue to fight on*) I actually sighed audibly with relief. I smiled, and a sense of calm took over me.

To be honest, if I was a more motivated person I’d have emailed everybody I know locally (and asked them to email all of their local contacts, and so on and so on) for a celebration in front of the Romney for President headquarters in the North End. I had images of thousands of people cheering in the streets as Romney looked out the window.

Does that make me a bad person?

* flip-flop much, Mitt?

February 8th, 2008
Categories: Uncategorized . Author: snarl . Comments: 3 Comments

…you retirement account loses over 10% of it’s value in just the first two weeks of the year.

…the interest in your savings account drops a whole percentage point (from 5.05% to 4.05%) at the same time as you retirement account dwindling.

…two people you know get laid off within one month of each other. First came Randy in January, then came another friend yesterday. Unlike Randy, though, our other friend’s severance package sucks (just 2 weeks as opposed to Randy’s 10 weeks) and it doesn’t appear that another manager at his company will scoop him up for re-hiring.

I’ve only known one person in my entire life who got laid off (including the early 90’s recession and the early 00’s recession). And we weren’t even close (would that make him just an acquaintance?) Anyway, for TWO people to have this happen so close together makes me think that the times, they are a’changing.

…and fast.

There’s only one solution: make my millions in the slot machines and blackjack tables in Las Vegas in two weeks! Hell, I imagine that wouldn’t be much more of a gamble than the stock market right now.

February 7th, 2008
Categories: Uncategorized . Author: snarl . Comments: 1 Comment

That’s all I can say about the results of last night’s primary. Particularly in Massachusetts, I’m in shock. Granted, this is Massachusetts and there aren’t nearly as many republicans as there are democrats…but every single republican I’ve spoken to indicated complete and utter disgust with Mitt Romney and claimed they were voting for McCain.

I equate Romney to the manipulative bully in elementary school. Here’s what I mean.

You’re in school and a bully you’ve avoided forever comes up and starts telling you and your friends that he’s a decent kid. Then he proceeds to tell you how much you have in common (both like picking your noses, both like Pixie Stix). Next thing you know, he’s one of your friends whether you like it or not. But then you hear that he’s got his sights set on the popular kids. Suddently, he no longer likes picking his nose. He prefers to hang out by the swingset making new friends and chewing gum. But it gets worse…now he’s talking about you behind your back, mocking his old friends by saying that Pixie sticks are for losers.

Now let’s replace a few words:

You’re in MASSACHUSETTS and a SENATE CANDIDATE you REMEMBER FROM THE 90’S RUNS FOR GOVERNOR and starts telling you and your STATE that he’s a decent GUY. Then he proceeds to tell you how much you have in common (both PRO-CHOICE, both AGREE ON GAY EQUALITY). Next thing you know, he’s YOUR GOVERNOR whether you like it or not. But then you hear that he’s got his sights set on the PRESIDENCY. Suddently, he no longer likes THE GAYS AND THE LIBERALS. He prefers to hang out DOWN SOUTH making new friends. But it gets worse…now he’s talking about you behind your back, mocking his constituents by saying THEY’RE OUT OF TOUCH.

And despite all that you still vote for him? He’s changed his mind (or catered to his new demographic) just to get votes. He’s made fun of you nationally. He was an absentee governor for the final year of his term. He’s lied about his record in this state (yeah, he may have never raised taxes but he raised countless fees – it’s the same damn thing with a different name).

Ugh.

February 6th, 2008
Categories: Uncategorized . Author: snarl . Comments: 1 Comment

I apparently voted in the 1948 election this morning. Lord, what a primitive set-up they have in somerville. It takes place a thousand miles away in a low income senior citizen housing complex with limited parking (real smart considering it’s nowhere near any bus or subway lines). You enter the building, give your address and name, grab a ballot and go to a counter (they weren’t really booths, though there were pseudo-partitions).

The ballot arrived in a cardboard sleeve with a window cut through it. Stupidly, I was thinking that the window was there so you could slide the ballot up and down inside it so that just the cateogry you’re voting on appears. Nope. The window serves no purpose. Nor does the pocket, actually. You remove the ballot from the pocket, fill it out, slide it back into the pocket, walk to the ballot drop off place, remove it from the pocket, hand the pocket to a cop, and slide the ballot into the ballot box. Now, what exactly is the purpose of the pocket? Privacy? If that’s their concern, don’t you think they’d provide voting “booths” instead of a communal counter with practically no partitions?

And the ballots were hilarious. The front side had the presidency choice on it. And the back side had a list of people to vote for to represent my “ward” in Somerville. You had to pick 33 people.

THIRTY THREE!

And I didn’t know a single name on there. I never counted the number of candidates running, but it looked like it could have only been about 33 people. I left it completely blank. I know Somerville is the most densely populated city in Masschusetts, but do we really need to vote for 33 people to represent my ward? It’s not THAT dense.

February 5th, 2008
Categories: Uncategorized . Author: snarl . Comments: 4 Comments

I notice this more and more whenever I visit my parents. Randy and I went to the Cape this weekend for some family bonding. All in all, it went well. I had a good time (and I think Randy did, too). But two things inevitably happen every time we go down there now:

1 – my parents request our assistance in fixing something on their computer
2 – my father drives everybody crazy.

We love him – don’t get me wrong. He’s not a bad person. He just has these traits that are prone to annoy people. for example:

1 – he hums non-stop
2 – he rambles
3 – he follows you around the house
4 – he says words incorrectly (when playing Uno, he pronounces it “You-Know”…when talking about Yahoo! on the computer he calls it “Yoo-Hoo”). Unfortunately, he’s not trying to be cute. It’s just that after 30 years of playing Uno, he still can’t say “Uno” when he has one card left.

I suppose those traits in themselves are annoying enough. But when you realize that you possess each and every one of those traits yourself? That’s when you realize you’re in trouble.

It’s also when you realize that your boyfriend has the patience of a saint.

Fortunately, I’m not as bad as my father…yet. It’s like I’m “pre-annoying” to my father’s “post-annoying.” But I’m going to fight tooth and nail to not end up continuing in that direction. I really believe this all came about once my father retired. When he was working and being social, he was being kept in line by society since he had to follow society’s rules. Now he doesn’t work. He doesn’t leave the house unless going somewhere with my mother. When he walks the dog he gets cranky if people stop to chat. It wasn’t always this way. The more home-bound he became, the worse he became.

And I think living alone for three years after breaking up with Matt (the first time in my life I ever lived alone) has started the process with me. Perhaps is selfishness. Maybe it’s a slight loss of sanity/reality from not having to interact with others intimately.

It’s like Michael Jackson syndrome. Yeah, he’s not alone since he’s got servants and hired help around him 24/7. But I wouldn’t call those folks his friends and I’m sure he only keeps the ones around who are willing to go along with everything he says. Consequently, he was in a status all his own in the 80’s and became more and more eccentric since there wasn’t anybody there to say “Dude, you’re getting a bit quirky. Lay of the bleach.”

Anyway, hopefully moving in with Randy and having somebody there to let me know when I’m being eccentric (a much nicer word than annoying, don’t you think?) will reverse my trend. If not, I’m in trouble.

February 4th, 2008
Categories: Uncategorized . Author: snarl . Comments: 2 Comments

Some friends of ours gave us a gift certificate to a well-known ticketing agency* as a Christmas present. Since Randy and I are heading to Las Vegas in two weeks, with our friends Chris and Pete, we decided to see one of the Cirque de Soleil shows. After reviewing the options we picked “O” (the water-oriented one…which also is the most expensive).

I tried ordering the tickets on Wednesday. As I walked through the steps towards making the purchase, an option to use a gift certificate never popped up. The next thing I knew, the transaction was complete, my credit card was charged, and my gift certificate remained un-used.

I immediately called Blicket ASSter to look into getting my gift certificate redeemed. I gave the customer service representative my confirmation number and she said that they have no record of my transaction. In fact, my confirmation had too many digits for their system. She said my best option was to use the Blicket ASSter website’s email function and email my request.

I did that, only to get a response that I needed to call the Bellagio ticketing office directly to fix my problem.

I called the Bellagio and the woman said “no problem.” She said she’d cancel my order and re-place it, taking the gift certificate into account. However, after cancelling it, she realized that my gift certificate wasn’t valid if I re-purchase the tickets directly through her. I’d have to go back to Blicket ASSter.

I called Blicket ASSter and got connected with the rudest, surliest, least professional “customer service” representative I’ve ever had to deal with in my life. After explaining the situation, he said that I was calling the wrong company since I never placed an order with Blicket ASSter since my confirmation number doesn’t macth his. He said that I was lying and got the Blicket ASSter website confused with another website. I told him I had a printed confirmation with the Blicket ASSter name and logo across the top but he would hear nothing of it. I asked to speak to a manager and he said no.

Yep, he denied my request. I asked to speak to another service representative and he said no again. At that point, I started getting surly. I ranted a bit and kept demanding a manager and he kept refusing. He then put me on hold while he spoke with a supervisor, but before doing so, he threatened that he had a few choice words for me when he got back on the line.

Seriously!

He came back to the phone and said his supervisor refused to speak with me and there was nothing they could (or would) do. However, he did say (rudely) that tickets to “O” are through another company that the Blicket ASSter connects to (without notifying the buyer, I might add). He said to go to that other company’s website.

I went to that website and it was all in French (since Cirque de Soleil is based in Quebec so this organization’s website was in French). Luckily, I’d been to Montreal and Paris enough to find my through the website to the “contactez nous” link and found a number to call.

The customer service representative there was incredibly friendly (I love Canada). However, she said that their organization ceased selling “O” tickets 3 years ago and she couldn’t help me. She even spoke to a manager to see what she could do. They suggested contacting Blicket ASSter again (but was so apologetic that it had calmed me down a bit).

Instead of calling Blicket ASSter, I emaled them again. This time detailing my 6 previous attempts at customer service (via emails and phone calls). They responded that you can only use a Blicket ASSter gift certificate if you order through Blicket ASSter. WHICH I DID! They refered me to yet another ticketing agency in Las Vegas (email only, no phone).

I emailed that agency, now detailing my 7 previous attempts at customer service. Finally they offered to let me order the tickets again, but explained that since they aren’t Blicket ASSter I can’t use the gift certificate.

You know, this is crazy. Why does Blicket ASSter have these tickets listed as available through them…and even let you purchase them through their website…if they aren’t being sold through their company? Why doesn’t their website do what they should legally do and have a notice saying “you are now leaving the Blicket ASSter website” before linking you to a purchase screen that is essentially an entirely different company (though still with the Blicket ASSter logo at the top)? I don’t get it at all.

It’s funny – I’ve always hated Blicket ASSter since I was in college and went to concerts fairly frequently. I thought it was a monopoly and that it was obscene how much they charged for fees and such. And back then, in the pre-internet days, I always found their customer service lacking. It’d been so long since I’d ordered tickets that I’d forgotten how much I hated them. I was slightly reminded when we opened the gift certificates at Christmas….but I couldn’t figure out where that brief rush of anxiety came from.

Now I know.

*I won’t list their name here in case they search for themselves and change their mind about my refund. However, I’ll give them the code name of Blicket ASSter. You figure it out.

February 1st, 2008
Categories: Uncategorized . Author: snarl . Comments: 2 Comments

Remember the days when your house had only one telephone? It was attached to the wall and you only had to dial 5 digits to make a local phone call? Ours was in the kitchen and came with a long enough cord that you could reach the stove AND fridge. Amazing! There were only two area codes in Massachusetts back then (617 for eastern MA and 413 for western MA) and it was most exciting when that new feature, call-waiting, was introduced (even though it managed to confuse my parents to no end).

Well, those days are long gong. A local call now requires the memorization of ten digits, not five. We have overlapping area codes in the same parts of the state and you’re no longer relegated to the kitchen to make a phone call (you can be in the car, on a train, out for a walk). Most people call this progress.

I call it hell.

I hate phones. I hate talking on phones. I hate the sound of telephones ringing. I hate listening to other peoples’ phone conversations. I don’t even have a home phone. But here’s the problem:

My cell phone contract is expiring on Monday. My current phone is a simple flip-phone (though, I must admit it overwhelmed me two years ago when I got it). Randy has offered to have me join his contract – which will only cost $10/month. A deal! But switching from Verizon to Cingular – I mean, “the new” AT&T – requires that I get a new phone. And not to sound like my 79 year old father, but they just don’t make them like they used to.

Since I hate speaking on the phone, I figured I wanted one that would be easier for text messaging (which, in itself, is something so high-tech compared to my childhood rotary dial phone). Randy picked one out for me and a Samsung Blackjack arrived in the mail this week. Oh, it sure is pretty. In the space of about 1 centimeter they’ve appeared to squeeze in practically an entire computer keyboard, monitor, and camera. The problem is I can barely find the numbers to place phone calls – they’re mixed in with the letters of the keyboard.

Randy says I just need to take my current address book (which is in an old-fashioned paper address book, thank you very much) and type it into Outlook Express. Then I’ll import the Outlook Express version into my cell phone. Then I won’t have to dial numbers, I’ll just have to search my database of phone numbers to place a call.

That’s progress?

January 31st, 2008
Categories: Uncategorized . Author: snarl . Comments: 4 Comments