Queen of Rambles

I’m all packed, except for morning things. Yikes! You should feel how heavy my diaper bag is. I am going to need a wheelchair to haul myself, Erik and The Bag around. I think it weighs more than Erik. I’ve got the new DVD player in it, along with a couple of wooden puzzles. I just hope the DVD player keeps him as entranced in midair as it has around here.

I will have Internet access on the trip, though it is dial-up. I hate dial-up.

Today was quite the day of conflict. Conflict makes good blog fodder, but it’s not so good for the health of my stomach lining.

First, I finally contacted Dell about setting up service to get my DVD drive and missing eight key fixed. Mike paid a whole bunch of money for a couple of different types of warranties. I am not a warranty buyer because I feel like people always try to wiggle out of it (case in point: our car warranty company went bankrupt), but Mike likes the protection.

I used the chat function, since it is supposed to be faster. The guy in India was not very good at his job. I couldn’t even understand his English, and this was in writing. What does, “First, we resolved the two issues now” mean?

He told me I had to fix the things myself and gave me a link to a diagram showing how to take my computer apart. Excuse me? I am not a computer tech! That’s why I have a warranty! Doesn’t opening up the computer yourself void the warranty anyway?

I was pissed, but Mike was even more pissed. I heard Mike furiously typing on his keyboard and suddenly we had a call from India from a guy who apologized profusely in the formal way that his culture demands and now my computer will be fixed while I’m gone. If I had realized they send a tech out to the house I would have done it months ago!

Then I had a stupid neighbor encounter. Our neighbor’s college daughter has a total jackass boyfriend with a souped up car that he drives like a maniac. We have a little copse of woods right behind that house that kids dart out of and I’m concerned that he’ll hit one of them or hit Erik when Erik bolts (though I always grab Erik when I see this guy coming). One day he even spun some donuts in the parking lot and there simply isn’t room to do that safely.

I have been stewing and fretting over it, wondering if a call to the office would do me any good. I know that in situations like that you are usually asked if you talked to the person directly about the problem, so I decided I am a grown-up and can deal with a little confrontation. I talked to the girl this afternoon and she was polite about it.

Then I saw the boy.

I couldn’t just talk to the girlfriend and then ignore the issue when I saw the boy, so I politely asked him if he could slow down when he’s driving in here.

Hooooo boy.

He went apeshit. He was yelling at me that I crash into cars in the parking lot (wtf????) and that he never drives fast and all kinds of crazy stuff. The funniest line: “it’s not nice to talk about people in front of their faces!” Ummmmm . . . dude? Yes, it is. It’s called being an adult and addressing a problem. I asked him if he’d rather I went behind his back and called the office and he went apeshit again. He didn’t understand that it was a hypothetical questions, not a threat. I know he was so defensive because he knows it’s true. I was as non-threatening and polite as possible, just trying to draw his attention to the fact that lots of little kids run around in the parking lot and don’t always watch for cars. He was too crazed to see that. I’m so very glad I decided to be an adult and solve the problem face to face instead of contacting some sort of authority and being a tattle-tale. NOT!

And speaking of bad drivers! I almost saw a horrible wreck this morning.

Erik and I were driving home from the gym on a big four lane road. The light was totally red, not even a hint of green or yellow. The car in the lane next to me just kept right on going. In fact, I think it sped up. When we approached the light no cars were moving, but the car next to me didn’t even slow down to assess the situation. It was like it didn’t even realize there was a light or that it applied to him. Suddenly the light to our right let their cars go and the car next to me had to squeal to a sudden stop. It was about 3 inches from totally slamming right into a woman’s door. I could see the woman’s face as she saw the car approaching. The look of terror was a sight to behold. I don’t blame her! I thought it was going to be awful and bloody.

Whew! Big day, huh?

The good news is that Erik was much, much better behaved. Mike was home, after pulling an all-nighter at work. It always helps to have daddy taking up the slack.

Also, in a totally random moment of thinking, I am SO GLAD I bought a cookie dough scooper last year. It keeps my fingers clean and gives a perfect amount of dough. My cookies are so pretty! I don’t make cookies often, so have only used it once since last Christmas. I would say I need to make more cookies just so I can use it, but my spare tire says no. I like to travel with pumpkin cookies. They taste like little pumpkin pies and I am delusion because I feel like they are even semi-healthy since they have a vegetable in them.

I also used my new Pampered Chef small batter bowl and have to admit it is also totally awesome. It’s deep and steep with a handle, spout and lid. It’s the perfect size for cookies and really easy to handle. It wasn’t even all that expensive and supposedly can go in the freezer, microwave and oven.

My poor friend that had the Pampered Chef party got stung by her consultant. She was actually thinking of becoming a consultant and I tried to discourage her without being a raging psychopath about it. After the party her consultant became a nuisance with the calling and bugging of all the friends. Also, she was able to see that thought the line is that selling those things is an easy, non-time consuming way to earn money, the consultant spent five hours at her house doing prep and cleanup for just one party. That “one hour” of work is not anywhere NEAR one hour.

At least I didn’t get any calls from the woman. When she handed out cards for us to fill out I refused to do so. I don’t think she has that happen very often and she was really taken aback. Then when I placed my order I obviously had to give her my info, but I was pretty short with her and told her I didn’t want any contact unless it was regarding my order. She asked if I wanted to be a consultant and I told her no very emphatically. I guess she got the message. Normally I wouldn’t be so rude, but after my experience with Mary Kay I learned that the only way to get these people off your back is to cut out all the normal societal pleasantries and be very, very blunt. Anything less will be interpreted as a possibility to exploit. I know there are nice people out there who sell these things and don’t become maniacs, but I am not willing to take that chance. I don’t need to be stalked.

I guess I better sign off and get to bed! It is going to be an early morning tomorrow. I do not like 4 am.

This entry was posted on Friday, September 21st, 2007 at 8:47 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.