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all these movies, and no TV
March 16, 2009
I finished dealing with the friggin' audit BS on Friday--I called them to ask just what the hell it was they wanted from me. Even that was a royal pain, though--the number they gave in the mailing is just a voice mail box for you to leave a message and they'll get back to you (yeah, right!)
But since I'm not an idiot or a sheep, I did a little investigating and figured out how to actually speak to a human being.
First, I did a bit of googling so I could call the office number, instead of the mailbox number they provided. Then, I did absolutely nothing until the automated system gave up and directed me to an operator. When operator answered, I told her I wanted to speak to someone about an audit, and I DID NOT WANT TO BE TRANSFERRED TO THE MAILBOX.
Once I got an actual human, I was able to make it clear that their request sucked, and I needed a real explanation of what would be considered acceptable proof. I have to admit that the woman I spoke with was quite nice and helpful. Bottom line, I was able to sent them a photocopy of our mortgage interest statement for last year (with all of the financial info heavily blacked out, of course). And if a federal government Form 1098 from my mortgage company, listing both of us as mortgagees and dated 12/31/2008 isn't good enough for them? Quite frankly, they can go fuck themselves and they will hear from my lawyer.
And incidentally--that cheap fucking non-postage envelope they included was so skimpy that I could barely get the three sheets of paper into it. I had to tape it shut.
Happy Friday the 13th, I guess. I got home from work on Friday to find that our 4-month-old TV had decided to go "phht"! A good thing I insisted we buy the "black tie" warranty. The Geek squad is supposed to come out tomorrow.
Meanwhile, we are straining our eyes on the little 19-inch we hauled out of the bedroom. Not optimal, but better than no TV at all. (When Spouse told them about it, Both his brother has his nephew immediately asked if we had a TV to watch, and stated their belif that if Spouse didn't have one for the weekend, he'd go stir-crazy and kill me.)
But we ended up keeping quite busy over the weekend, anyway, so it didn't matter as much. On Saturday, we took a little jaunt to the western 'burbs for some shopping--Spouse really wanted to go to Frys, the ginormous electronics store. He has a master plan to install a wireless print server so I can print from the laptop (HIS thing--I couldn't care less, myself). He'd heard good things about their geeky helpfulness, their wide range of products, and the size and extent of their DVD department, so we took a pleasant ride out to Downer's Grove to check them out. Spouse got the advice, and the print server he was looking for, plus a couple of movies. I picked up a neoprene sleeve case and a laptop cooling fan for myself, and found no less than 5 DVDs that I hade to have:
- "Dead Like Me--Life After Death". Squee! Even thought it's missing Rube, and they slid in a replacement Daisy, I've been wanting to see the DLM movie since I first heard they were making one.
- "Houseboat". Even a mediocre Sophia Loren/Cary Grant movie is pretty great, and this one was only $4.99.
- "Sliding Doors", which is a favorite of mine despite A) Gwyneth Paltrow, and A) Gwyneth Paltrow's English accent. John Hannah, John Lynch, and Jeanne Tripplehorn make it worthwhile. And for $4.99, it was time to upgrade from my old, secondhand VHS tape.
- "On a Clear Day, You Can See Forever". Added another musical to my collection; the movie's kind of messed up, but I love this one for Yves Montand, and for the songs. Got it for $8.99.
- "The Last of Sheila" Ooh, this was a find. They used to run this movie periodically on the old WLS Channel 7 "Three O'Clock Movie", and I always loved it. With a screenplay by Anthony Perkins (!) and Stephen Sondheim (!!), a cast that includes Richard Benjamin, Dyan Cannon, James Coburn, Joan Hackett, James Mason, Ian McShane, and Raquel Welch--and a $14.99 price tag, there was no way I wasn't getting this.
After we were thoroughly worn out by the sheer size of the place, we buzzed over to the nearest Portillo's for some sustenance. We scarfed beefs and fires, and hit the road back towards home, via the Meijer in . And Spouse, who considers himself the master navigator of the Greater Chicagoland Area, managed to ignore both me AND the GPS system...and he got lost. Yeah, big shock, right? By the time he got his bearings again, we decided to take a more easterly route home, and go through Glenview. He wanted to get a corned beef brisket for Sunday dinner, so we stopped at the Glenview Jewel--and ended up being very glad we did.
The briskets were genuine Vienna�, the Chef's Kitchen pizzas were well-stocked, they had bone-in strips and proterhouses for $4.79 a pound, and oh, gloriosky...they had Kosher Coke.
Kosher for Passover Coke, that is--which is the REAL "real thing". Made according to a 1935 recipe, which means made with sugar. No HFCS--which for me means no burning sensation in my chest when I drink it, no indigestion or headaches or generally poisonous feeling after. Imagine that--it's actually refreshing!
Spouse and I bought 8 liters. We've polished off one bottle, and we're fighting over the other 3 already.
Once we got home on Saturday, Spouse wrangled with the print server for several hours (without success, I might add)and I just lolled around, helping him at times, but otherwise not accomplishing much. I ended up staying up till midnight, for no good reason except I was skimming around the 'net. Then I forced myself to go to bed, because I knew I had a boatload of stuff to get done on Sunday.
Sunday was another beautiful day, weather-wise, and it was tempting to consider goofing off. But we had mega-chores we'd been neglecting, so we decided to kick into gear and get some stuff done. Spouse made breakfast, did the dishes, went on poo patrol in the yard, and did some of the vacuuming and dusting. Besides doing the usual Sunday mountain of wash, I cleaned the kitchen, mopped floors, shook rugs, did the rest of the vacuuming and dusting, and used my new steam cleaner to make the bathroom gleam. That little sucker is fabulous! I just love it.
Spouse decided he needed to get some grass seed down in the back yard, so after we'd gotten the house all nice, we cleaned up and ran to the hardware store. It's a good thing we'd picked up the steaks at Jewel on Saturday, because while we were out in the sunshine, Spouse decided it was far too nice a day to make the corned beef--he wanted to cook out, instead. Since I was having a rare "bake-free" Sunday, we picked up some ice cream for dessert, and ended up with a simple dinner of grilled steaks, Trader Joe's potato latkes, steamed sweet corn, and ice cream cones to finish.
Spouse disapeared to the bedroom computer after dinner, while I did the dishes and sat down to catch up on last week's "U.S. of Tara" before Big love came on.
Which, speaking of Big Love...Holy Mackinoley what an ep. And only one left to go before the season ends and we wait another freaking year for another one. This has just been an amazing season, and I could weep that we only get ten episodes.
And speaking of Tara--Marsh kissed Jason! Jason kissed Marsh back! Hmm...I still have to watch last night's ep, but do we think it went a little beyond kissing? Y'know--screw Ms. Dissociative Identity Disorder, Miss Angsty Teen, and fucked-up Aunt Charmie. I'm all about Marshall on this show. I adore that character and Keir Gilchrist is astonishingly good at making him real, as well as heartbreaking. I am now officially watching for Marshall. And for Patton Oswalt, who always makes me giggle.
Reading: "The Reluctant Journey of David Connors", by Don Locke.
Surfing: .
Listening: Heart, Gomez, Everlast.
At Random: click here
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