Hasslemania

I took the day off today to do some last-minute painting and other work on the house before we move in on Saturday. The duct cleaners were supposed to come this morning, but cancelled with less than a day's notice. Typical, I guess. They want to reschedule for Tuesday. Of course, they don't work on weekends or after 5pm, so I'll need to take more time off.

Is it me or has life in the last few years been more full of hassle than previously? It seems that nothing I buy works exactly like it's supposed to out of the box, without six calls to "customer service" (which, these days, is a massive oxymoron if ever there were one). And it's rare to find a company that follows through on its committments. I put a lot of the blame for this on the rise of the corporate machine in America. Companies merge, merge, merge until they are so big that the right hand doesn't know what the left is doing anymore and the customer gets caught up in the comflicting policies and practices of different company divisions, which are many times remnants of the pre-merger firms that have been gobbled up.

I'm "that" guy.

singer
Originally uploaded by Xose.

You know, the one who sings along to the iPod only he can hear. The one who doesn't even know all the words to the song he's singing along to, making him all that much more annoying. Yeah, that's me.

I can't help it, I'm sorry. I'm in my own little world when those cute, little earbuds plug up my auditory canals (I'm sure that the people next to me want to plug up another canal with my earbuds, but so be it) and I can't escape the music's hypnotic lure...sing along...you're a star...sing along....

Except I'm not a star. I'm just another out-of-tune, annoying bump in your commute, and for that I apologize.

I do make a conscious effort to not sing inside the subway car itself, although I'm not always successful. The walk to and from the station though? That's an every day "Star Search" moment.

Today's snippet of song for the woman walking next to me on the way to the Metro:
"They caught and drowned the front man...of the world's worst rock and roll band...he was out of luck...because nobody gave a fuck."

Sorry lady. The Archers of Loaf in my head just can't be stopped.

Fun weekend!

This weekend started out with a great party at our friend Julia's apartment. We met her at a Kerry fundraiser last fall, and she lives directly across the street from the National Cathedral...the view, of course, is amazing! Met many friendly folks and I drank some super yum Marques de Cáceres Reserva (Jenny had ginger ale, per usual).

On Saturday we were pretty much in hibernation, hiding from the (lighter-than-expected) snow. We used that indoor time to begin the ever-hated process of packing up all of our stuff for Saturday's move.

Painted the baby's room on Sunday, so now that's done, leaving the study (aka bedroom #3) and the hallway o' death to be completed. Whew.