I'm back! Didja miss me? I had a lovely couple of days off - the weather couldn't have been nicer, and I relaxed and read and did a lot of work on the afghan I'm making, and blew my diet a little. So I had a good few days. I won't say that I'm really happy to be back at work, but at least I think I'm ready for it.
I dropped my car off to be inspected and have its oil changed this morning before work, and less than ten minutes after I got to work, they called me with the inspection results. To pass inspection, all I needed was a light bulb, but they told me one tire was badly worn and would need to be replaced inside of a month, so I told them to go ahead and replace that tire as well. They tried again to tell me I needed to have my serpentine belt replaced (this is a $300 job, because there's only the one belt for my entire engine) but I remember having it done already a couple of years ago, so I'm not due for a new belt until 2002 unless they find visible wear. Anyway, it looks like I'll get my car back for less than $100, which is good.
Matt and I dropped by our house site this weekend, and they've put in the foundation! Cinderblocks and mortar now define the outer walls of the house! Hurrah! We're a little disappointed with how low the foundation is in the back, though. Because of the steep slope of our lot, we had thought of eventually putting a deck on the back of the house, and building a storage shed into the area under the deck - in anticipation of eventually converting the garage to a den, you see. But at the back of the house, the foundation is only about five feet off the ground, which would make the ceiling to the shed only about four or four and a half feet high, and we're not sure we really want to deal with it being that low. It probably wouldn't be a problem for me, but Matt would have to bend almost double to get in and out. So we'll have to think of another solution to our shed dilemma. But we're thrilled that they're actually working on the house!
I'm really hungry this morning. Actually, I was hungry while I was asleep this morning, and I had this dream that I was at William and Mary campus, trying to remember where my desk was (because I keep a box of instant grits in my desk) and I just couldn't remember what building it was in. I kept running from building to building, and all over every floor of each building, thinking, "How can I have forgotten where my desk is?!?" Of course, I woke up and realized that my desk isn't at W&M at all - it's at work! Silly me.
On Thursday, I finally got my package from Silhouettes, which is a catalogue of clothing for larger women. I'd ordered this outfit like three months ago, and it finally arrived! I tried it on - and it was way too big. Especially the skirt. So now I have to send it back and exchange it for the next size smaller. As Jeremy told me, worse things have happened, but I wonder if it will be next spring before I get this outfit!
A very good, long-time friend of Matt's is getting married in two weeks. Matt and I decided this weekend that we would go to the store at which they registered and get them a gift. Our first surprise was that there are no retail versions of this store close than a 45-minute drive, and that store was located in a rather run-down, seedy mall. Joy. So we get to the store and at first everything is going smoothly - a clerk shows us to the registry computer, and the registry prints, and so far only one thing has been purchased from their list, so we have plenty of choices.
So, we go eat lunch and talk over the list and decide on a couple of items. We also decide that (since the bride and groom both live in Chicago) we will pay for the items and have the store ship them to Chicago for us - the groom's parents' address is listed on the registry, so we assume this is possible. We head back to the store, and hunt down a clerk, which is surprisingly easy. "We'd like to get these items and have them sent to this address." WHAM! It's like running into a brick wall. The clerk looks confused and tells us she thinks that isn't possible. Don't be silly, we think, of course a major department store has a shipping process! She calls someone, who transfers her at least twice, and the final consensus is reached: They don't ship. Matt and I are annoyed, but decide to go find the actual items we'd decided on, to see if we want to get them and ship them ourselves. Halfway down the escalator, Matt gets a fantastic idea: We'll get a catalogue for the store, and then when we call to order the items, we'll simply give them the correct shipping address! Hurrah! We find yet another sales clerk... who tells us that the store no longer has a catalogue. We explain our dilemma to this clerk, who gets on the phone and is transferred at least twice, and at least twice explains our situation incorrectly. I ask her what would be done if we went to buy the item and it wasn't in stock. She asked me when we wanted to come and pick it up. So they still don't ship, and she tells us that what we should do is go to the actual department which handles the item we wanted, and they'd be able to help us. Well, that was bullshit if I ever heard bullshit - she just wanted not to have to deal with us anymore, because it was rapidly becoming obvious that we were getting more than a little irritable. At this point, Matt and I decided to hell with it - we'll get the couple something that isn't on their list, or at least something from another store. (Actually, we came home and Matt tried their website, but it was just as useless.)
So we're never going back to that store again, and I have told my brother that if he and his fiancee register there that they won't get a present from us. And I don't even want to use the store's name here, but it rhymes with "Beers" - or maybe you know it as "Beers Throwbuck".
No comments:
Post a Comment