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Dori

So I went home a few weeks ago. It was very exciting. But this little tale really illustrates how different I am from the rest of the family - I'm clearly delusional.

My flight was scheduled to leave around noon on Monday. I awoke early on Monday morning to the wake-up call that is my father pounding on the guest room door.

"Wake up! You need to call Red and Cuddles." (I'm changing the names to protect the guilty - you know who you are Cuddles.)

I will now share with you my actual reaction to this information.
Hmm.. I wonder what they want? They must want to say goodbye before I leave. Oh and I bet they used the fantastic Fekkai hair products I gave them for their (respective) birthdays. I bet they loved it.

I am delusional.

First I call Red. She says there's a crisis and Cuddles needs assistance - can I help? I call Cuddles. She asks me to send some things she forgot her haste to go (let's be honest here - flee) back home with children (screaming) and husband (also screaming) in tow the day before.

I say I'll do what I can and find a huge pile things on the kitchen counter that belong to Cuddles - or more appropriately Peanut, daughter of Cuddles.

I call Cuddles back.

"Uhm, what should I send?"

"I need the blanket and I need the Dori and my prescription and that jacket. Peanut won't sleep without the blanket and she's screaming for Dori."

"You are very lucky that I know what a Dori is." (I later learned that many of my childless friends did not.) "What do you want me to do with it?" I ask praying she won't suggest I figure out a way to do a handoff in Chicago during my brief layover between Indianapolis and Boston.

"Do you know how to Fedex?"

"Yes, I work in an office and I even went to college."

No mention of the carefully selected and delightful hair care products. Nope - she just needs the Dori.

I pile a bunch of stuff into a grocery bag and head to the Fedex station at the Post Office. I shove a blue fish, some prescription bottles, a jacket, a blanket and a DVD of the Blue Collar Tour (a gift from our sister Bangles - she's thoughtful like that) in two large envelopes. Grandmothers stare at me in confusion and offer advice about where I can find a box to ship things.

"No time for a box, Peanut needs her blanie and Dori tonight," I reply and seal the packages.

I am super-Auntie because I know how to Fedex.

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By: Alyssa | Wednesday, June 30, 2004 at Wednesday, June 30, 2004 | |


I believe I have found the reason why the house has not yet sold.  Posted by Hello

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By: Alyssa | Tuesday, June 29, 2004 at Tuesday, June 29, 2004 | |

Fahrenheit 9/11

Other people who are much smarter than me will write about the cultural, social, and societal impact of this film.

My reaction was of the visceral variety – when it was over I felt spent. I needed a drink, my head hurt and I stumbled out of the theater into a bright, blinding sunset that made me reach for my sunglasses. Then I dug around in my purse for a tissue.

At the time I wondered if this is what people felt like when they left The Passion. I can’t think of any other time I felt so disoriented when I left a movie.

I think a movie that has such a physical effect on a person is worth investigating. As I right that I don’t know if I will ever see The Passion. When I get into a movie that gets very intense and I find myself overwhelmed I immediately go to the "it’s just a movie" place to give myself a little emotional distance. That’s easier said than done with something like Moore’s most recent film. I tried it – it didn’t work for me.

So that’s my review – I think it’s worth seeing, regardless of whether you agree with the politics or not.

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By: Alyssa | Monday, June 28, 2004 at Monday, June 28, 2004 | |


Lazy blogger entries - Longfellow's Home on Brattle Street in Cambridge. The home was once occupied by George Washington during the Revolutionary War. It's open for tours during the summer. Posted by Hello

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By: Alyssa | at Monday, June 28, 2004 | |

What’s cooking?

So I got the call at the office last night – my husband alerted me he was leaving and could pick me up from the T station if I wanted. Then I told him he was in charge of dinner.

"Wha…?" he sputtered. I quickly hung up the phone.

Telling Deeps he’s in charge of dinner is not unlike throwing my cat into the bathtub. There may not be any water in there – but she’s going to freak out anyway.

An hour later I hopped into the waiting car and asked him what’s for dinner. He said he didn’t know, then he panicked for a second, then backpedaled. We drove to the schmancy deli-like place near our home.

We’re having chicken he said and marched through the store.

It was about 10 minutes before closing time – all that was left were a few gnarled chicken legs and 3 white chunks masquerading as "roasted lemon potatoes".

"I veto your choice."

"Fine," he said huffily. We climbed back into the car. "Where to?"

"Just drive towards Arlington, I’m in the mood for Chinese."

"Do you have a place in mind? Do you want to look something up?"

"No – I’ll just point."

He rolled his eyes.

That’s what it has come to for us – he drives and I point. It’s scary and hasn’t really resulted in any positive outcomes.

We walked into the placed I deemed "least scary" and sat down in a booth. A pimply teenager wandered out. He handed us each a copy of the paper take-out menu.

Ok.

"Nice work," he snarked.

"I’m sure it will be okay – when we went to dives in Chicago it turned out okay. Remember the Pineyard….?"

It didn’t turn out okay. The kid kinda coughed on my husband’s food. Then all the food arrived in reverse order of the way you’d eat it. Appetizers arrived for dessert and soup came after entrees.

The food was bad and service was worse. I started to complain but then I got the look.

"Honestly, what did you expect? You asked me to drive up and down the street, you look for a hole in the ground, then look to the left of it and that’s where you choose to eat. We should have taken our chances with the hole."

I can’t veto food decisions anymore. We might need to hire someone to manage food for us. I panicked and I made a bad choice. Now I’m like the cat in the bathtub.

Bunnies among us

This isn't new, but it's still hilarious



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By: Alyssa | Thursday, June 24, 2004 at Thursday, June 24, 2004 | |

Super Tramp: A story from “back home”

I called home a few days before going to visit and caught my step-mother on the phone. It’s good to get her on the phone because she’s willing to chat on the phone and I can get a lot of good information about what is going on.

Your father got a wild hair, she told me. This is not so unusual anymore. He’s older and mellower now, he gets these creative ideas. Many of them come to fruition – the building of the woodshop in the basement and the multiple “water features” in the back yard. They are harmless and entertaining for him.

So, what’s the wild hair this time? A 12 foot trampoline. It looks something like this – except the net is a lot higher. Oh and the thing is bright purple.

I made the assumption that my father picked this up at an auction. All my parents (I have 2 sets in Indiana) enjoy going to the auctions and buying weird and delightful things. My mother is a fierce antique hunter, collector and seller. My father is interested in buying crap for the grandkids, and my step-mother has a shrewd eye for furniture.

Oh, so he got this at the auction? No – he shopped around for it and finally decided to get it at Galyan’s. Right, Dad paid retail. Dad paid retail?

I got the old man on the phone. What’s the deal with the trampoline? Apparently he’s been thinking about it for a few years – he thought it would be fun for the kids.

Boy does Gramps know his business.

My nieces and nephews arrived on Saturday and headed straight for the backyard. They spent the better part of the day jumping. They jumped and jumped and jumped.

Moms climbed inside. Even the wayward Aunt jumped for a while before the kids ganged up to knock her over and force her out of the trampoline to the sounds of, “There’s a fish caught in the net, Gramma!”

My nephew, who didn’t take his “focus” pill that morning, was in heaven. Peanut, who is still in the “toddler” stage, was happy to run around the trampoline with watchful Mom in tow or just run through the grass singing “Boing! Boing!” Alexa was staging shots to be photographed.

And then we realized that Gramps is a genius. You can leave the older kids out there, functionally in a cage to jump to their hearts content and post one “grown-up” outside to monitor them. Everyone else can retire to the cool, AC climates of the indoors where there’s food and TV. The kids will be tired when it’s all over.

Whenever that is – they were still jumping when the taxi came to pick me up two days later.

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By: Alyssa | Wednesday, June 23, 2004 at Wednesday, June 23, 2004 | |

My toes tell a story

I will reveal a deep dark secret about my marriage. On Sundays, we are sloth-like. We sleep late. We do not rise in a timely manner. The only communication that passes between us is usually in the form of grunts and clicks. There's a lot of slow shuffling in pajamas and lounging about on the couch for several hours before anyone gets dressed or attempts to face the day.

Until this morning.

Deeps started mentioning that "we need stuff" - like food. Groceries to be precise. In a voice that will haunt his dreams for years to come I suggested he "write it down" and make a list. He did then he turned on me...er, to me.

"Put on some pants, we're going to the store," he said with such authority I actually started to comply. I was half dressed when I started asking questions - where are we going, for how long, how "presentable" I need to be.

I changed clothes; we grabbed the list and hit the road. An hour and $117.39 later we were home and the house was filled with food once more. Hooray for fresh fruit and bread and meat! We shall dine like kings.

Inspired by the lovely day and my wearing of clothes before 5 PM I struck out on my own to run errands and replace the duvet I ruined after an unfortunate laundry experiment last week. Hours later, I called home to report in.

"I'm getting a pedicure. I'll be home later."

I found the little place at the mall, it was bustling but the lady said she could do my feet in 15 minutes. I haven't had a good pedicure in a couple of months - and after intensive sandal wearing for more than 6 weeks, the dogs needed some care.

I finally sat in the massage chair thingy, flipped that bad boy on high, and soaked my feet in bubbling hot water that smelled like tea. I read Entertainment Weekly.

Some time passed, I reset the massage chair, the bubbles were less bubbly - I was moving into the stuff past the cover story. Finally, the pedi started.

I learned a couple of things today. One was that you can read EW in the time it takes to get a pedicure - the whole thing, even the Hot Sheet or whatever that crap is that Mullen writes. And if the people at the pedicure place make you wait too long you get "two free toes." That's what she told me. Then the next thing I knew, I had some stars and crap on my big toes. Two colors, on top of the garish purpley-red stuff I said I'd wear because I forgot to pick out a color. White stars with silver swooshes behind them.

When it was over (the pedicure was great, aside from the random toe art) I arrived home to find my husband sprawled out in the dining room reading, with the cat at his feet. He saw my feet.

"What happened?"
"I got two free toes," I replied. "What do you think?"
"It's kind of weird, is it supposed to tell some kind of story or something?"
"Yes, yes it does. My toes tell a story."

Apparently the cat agreed because within a few seconds of arrival she attempted to lick my toes and the chew them off. Luckily, I still had that issue of EW to swat her away.

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By: Alyssa | Sunday, June 20, 2004 at Sunday, June 20, 2004 | |

If you can dodge a wrench

So I made a list of movies that I’d like to see this summer. The summer movie list is short and made up almost entirely of Multiplex fare. But mmmm… it’s good: Dodgeball, Farenheit 9/11, Spiderman, Anchorman. I’m sure there are other movies on the list, but this list will keep me busy on Saturday’s for the next 4 weeks. Plus, I needed to buy some pants – so we headed to the mall. Deeps brought a book, I blazed around department stores looking for sales. FYI – apparently this is the week everyone puts their bras on sale if you’re looking to stock up.

Dodgeball was a matinee delight. It was fast, most of the jokes had a clear set-up and payoff (there were a few clunkers, but they are breezed over quickly) and the dodgeball action was fantastic. Plus – excellent use of two fantastic celebrity cameos. I won’t give them away, but the payoffs were hilarious.

As we drove home, we reflected on the movie.

Me: It was pretty funny.
Deeps: Did we pay matinee prices?
Me: Yep
Deeps: It was pretty funny for a matinee.
Me: I think Vince Vaughn could use a little eye cream.
Deeps: A little Ben Stiller goes a long way.
Me: Vince looked a little puffy and that haircut wasn’t doing him any favors.
Deeps: He doesn’t have so much range, the Stiller – he’s like Owen Wilson or George Clooney. As long as they stay in the comfort zone.
Me: Jason Bateman was sublime.
Deeps: Yeah – and you know, there’s really no way around the whole dodgeball thing – you just have to take shots to the head. Poor Justin Long. No stunt doubles and no CGI.
Me: Yeah, you’ve just got to take it. But still… it was good.

So there you have it. Good for a matinee – which is saying something people.

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By: Alyssa | at Sunday, June 20, 2004 | |

Mr. Sedaris will see you now

On Monday I flew home from Indianapolis. We had rough weather the entire weekend I was there - rain, lightening, thunderstorms, and stifling heat and humidity. So you may not be surprised to know that when I left for the airport on Monday morning everything was running on time. About 20 minutes later when I arrived that whole "on time" thing was no longer the case.

I was flying through Chicago where the thunderstorms were delaying everything going in and coming out. Frustrated, I dragged my rolling suitcase away to hunt for food and entertainment. I had the latest issue of The Economist - which is an informative, but scary read. I'm always a little depressed when I finish reading it.

I'm still thinking about subscribing.

I head over to the little book kiosk and find David Sedaris' new book . I plop down $26.37 to buy it - and head over to the trough where I might get an overpriced, greasy sandwich.

I start reading. I read and read. Then we fly to Chicago. I read and read more. I finish reading as we get on the plan in Chicago. I figure I'll start again. I read and read. By the time the plane lands in Boston, 10 hours after I've left Indianapolis, I've read the book fully twice.

I call home to alert my husband that I've made it home. He says that my friend Erin is on the other line - she has tickets to see David Sedaris the next day and would I like to go? I figure it's appropriate since I've just read his book - twice. Sure!

The next day we meet. It's kind of hot and humid. What I've learned about Boston is that a lot of building don't really have AC and if they do, it doesn't work that well. We make our way into the bookstore as she starts to explain to me the intricacies of the ticket process - there are three colors and then you wait and then....she trails off as we round the corner. There's a sea of people and we can't see anything. Plus - it's hot.

So the ticket didn't really mean anything. Erin was annoyed and I was tired. We waited. I had an excellent view of some OS X Jaguar Bibles and I think she could see a crazy woman with a blonde weave and pearl hair clips. The PA system was inadequate, as were the facilities for hosting that many people for a reading.

Erin was annoyed that the bookstore didn't consider that more than 10 people might turn out for a reading from the current NYT Bestselling author. His book hit #1 that morning. I was annoyed it was hot and I had flashbacks of O'Hare. We were surrounded and I started looking for escape routes.

Sedaris showed up - I never saw him or even glimpsed him. If I strained really hard and people were really, really quiet I could kind of hear him.

I'm leaving, I told her. I can't take it - it's too soon... after yesterday. Maybe if I hadn't been stuck in airports for so long, if I wasn't so tired. Maybe... I know that I'm lying. She does too. But, she understands and I race out of the store into the heat and the sky.

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By: Alyssa | Friday, June 18, 2004 at Friday, June 18, 2004 | |

Best Buy - final lob
After my pleasant, if bland and uninformative, exchange with "Rex" I wrote back one last time. Sadly, I've discovered that in the message I sent, I threw was overzealous with my "n" and "c" keys on the words cannot and occasional.
Curse these flimsy keyboard fingers!

Dear Rex:

Thank you for your prompt and delightful message.

I was a little disappointed that you did not include an autographed headshot or even a coupon for $1 off my next purchase.

Is this really the best that Best Buy (best is in your name!) can do? I don't want anything except action. I surely cannot be the only person in America who is frustrated by poor service. I know I am not. Just last week I read a lovely article in the Austin Statesman about someone who had a very similar, frustrating shopping experience at your store.

I wrote you a cogent letter outlining my concerns in a clear manner that informs and entertains. In response you sent me a canned response. Come now - I think we both know that such a letter merits a better response.

Is there perhaps a problem with the Best Buy Credit Card network that would result in the occasional delay when making a purchase with the card? Is there a problem with the cash registers in New England? Should I plan on only making purchases with cash in the future? Have you started accepting magic beans and I didn't know about it?

Please advise.

Alyssa

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By: Alyssa | Thursday, June 17, 2004 at Thursday, June 17, 2004 | |

Fresh Material
I think it might be sad that my friends relish my trips back home. They call as soon as I return because they want to "hear the stories" - I go home to get fresh material.

Before I delve into that "fresh" material (really people - there's a whole book there) I'm going to delve into the day-old stale topic of houses and apartments.

Here's the latest, for those playing the home game: 2 potential buyers, 2 offers, 2 accepting of the offers, no deals. Both times things just fell apart. I guess escrow really is harder that we heard.

About 2 weeks ago we got a call saying Buyer 1 made an offer – a nice couple who wanted tenants, namely us, as part of the deal. We met briefly and they seemed nice. But then the inspection happened and they freaked out. The deal fell apart.

On Thursday I got a call telling me that a new buyer had made an offer and that said buyer did not want tenants. So our dreams of just rolling over into a new lease evaporated. We had been looking at apartments for about 2 weeks then suspended our search after offer Buyer 1 made an offer and it seemed like we could stay. We even lifted the moratorium on purchases because it seemed like things were going to work out with Buyer 1. (Lucky for us the "spending spree" ended with the purchase of a new, cheap printer and some bath mats from Target.)

Anyway, after the Buyer 1 deal fell apart we weren’t quite sure what to do. There was an ugly afternoon of lost productivity and bitterness. Do we stay and wait it out? Do we hope another buyer will let us keep renting? Do we move? The volatility index was high. We had wanted a firm answer from the houses current owners (our landlords) one way or another by June 1. By June 10 we still had no idea what would happen to us.

We'd been stalling a guy on a really great apartment we’d seen before Buyer 1 made an offer. The place was slightly larger than ours, had more closets, a better layout, and was a whopping $400 a month less. We called him to see if we could get in to see the place a second time. We did that Thursday night after we got the call about the Buyer 2 and his lack of interest in having tenants.

We signed a lease on Thursday night and handed over all of our money to the broker. On Friday afternoon we'd learned the deal with Buyer 2 had evaporated because the guy was just messing around. Weird. So we're out, there are still no buyers and I'll be annoyed that someone will rent our apartment for less money than we pay. But it's over. We’ve learned a valuable lesson. We can tolerate volatility in the markets but not about where we’re going to live. We're moving - it's going to be a magnificent summer.

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By: Alyssa | Tuesday, June 15, 2004 at Tuesday, June 15, 2004 | |


Back Home Again: A fine Hoosier sunset from my last night visiting the ol' homestead.  Posted by Hello

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By: Alyssa | at Tuesday, June 15, 2004 | |

Best Buy lobs one back
I admit, I don't really trust anything Rex is telling me. But he's good at making a canned response seem slightly more personal - what with his clever use of my first name. Below is the actual response I received.

Alyssa,

Thank you for contacting Best Buy about your recent experience with one
of our stores. I'm Rex with Customer Care.

We apologize for any frustration and inconvenience caused by the level
of service you experienced with our Watertown store. Best Buy takes
great pride in providing a fun and easy shopping experience for our
customers, and I have shared your comments with the management teams from the
appropriate departments who will review the situation for improvement
opportunities. Please be certain Best Buy will continue to focus on
satisfying our customers every chance we get.

Thank you for sharing your comments with Best Buy. Please don't
hesitate to contact us with additional questions or concerns.


Best wishes from Best Buy,
Rex and the Customer Care Team


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By: Alyssa | Friday, June 11, 2004 at Friday, June 11, 2004 | |

An open letter to Best Buy
Below is a letter I composed and sent to Best Buy this week. It's come to that - I'm the woman who writes angry letters. According to their Web site I might get a response in as soon as 72 hours! Any responses from Best Buy will be posted.

To whom it may concern:

I’ve been a customer for several years. My husband has a Best Buy card. We shop at your store because the prices are relatively low and frankly, we don’t have a lot of options if we want instant gratification.

It’s worth noting that I’ve been bypassing instant gratification more and more because my shopping experiences in your store have become exceedingly bad.

I can’t usually find anyone who can answer my specific technical questions. I usually get a hard sell on service plans. I don’t usually get straight answers. But the saddest part of my shopping process is always the check out.

My husband groans loudly when I suggest we might need to go to Best Buy to purchase something. I don’t blame him.

When we check out, invariably someone in front of us is paying with a rock or a handful of magic beans. Sometimes we get behind a guy who just wants to pay in cash. Most people are buying somewhat expensive items and pay with some form of credit/debit card.

A person trying to pay with rocks, some old gum and a bit of macaroni is not your fault. What is your fault: not placing clear pricing on products; having cashiers who are poorly trained to handle the receipt of payment in it’s many, complicated forms; the overall slowness of the checkout process; and with poor planning/staffing of the registers.

I was recently in a Best Buy store where a cash register inexplicably malfunctioned when someone tried to pay with a debit card. The register shut down and we waited a few minutes before being rerouted to another line. The cashier asked the man in front of me how he’d be paying. The man’s response: Whatever gets me out of here fastest.

Is this the kind of shopping experience you want to foster?

I wish I could say that I’ve only experienced this one time and in one store. But as far as I can tell, this is a systematic problem that I have experienced at stores in the Boston, Chicago and Indianapolis-metro areas.

This week we bought a new printer for our computer in your Watertown, MA. I really wanted to order it online but we needed it quickly. We used our Best Buy card to make the purchase – I think it would have been faster to pay if we had used and out of state check and had no ID. The cashier had to call another cashier and then another guy and then someone on the phone and then wait on hold.

The people in the queue were restless, dirty looks were shot in all directions, comments muttered – it was not pretty. I think it took over 10 minutes just to process this transaction. This level of “security” for a purchase – the checking, double checking, the accessing of phone numbers and social security numbers and a note from one’s mother is what I’ve come to expect at the airport (and now according to the Boston Globe the bus and train stations). I do not expect it from a giant box store where I wander around looking for a longer USB cord and the Freaks and Geeks box set.

Sincerely,
Alyssa

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By: Alyssa | Thursday, June 10, 2004 at Thursday, June 10, 2004 | |

J.Lo's Man Society

I was laughing in the living room. My husband came wandering out of the bedroom.

DEEPS: What are you laughing about?

ME: Matt Lauer – that poor schlub is asking Marc Anthony questions about J.Lo’s wedding.

DEEPS: Did she marry him?

ME: Yeah…

DEEPS: I knew she was married, I just didn’t know who she married…. I just knew that my number wasn’t up.

ME: What?

DEEPS: Well, we all get a number and I wasn’t called. It’s like the way the National Guard used to be.

ME: hysterical laughter

DEEPS: You see, at the annual Man meeting we all get a number and you may be called upon to marry Jennifer Lopez at any time. You serve for a couple of weeks and then you’re done.

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By: Alyssa | Tuesday, June 08, 2004 at Tuesday, June 08, 2004 | |

Round up
First, I should say that if you came here to read about Ronald Regan, then there's probably something wrong with you. That's what CNN and the New York Times are for!

Regan came into office as I started first grade. Basically, I spent a lot of time being very scared - not of Regan per se but all things political. I worried a lot about war and nuclear bombs and dying. I also was tremendously traumatized by the assassination attempt. I thought the country would end. I wrote long essays about being afraid of being blown up by nuclear weapons. Red Dawn just about pushed me over the edge.

So that's my Regan memories - not really warm and fuzzy. But that was the kind of kid I was.

HP
I saw the new Harry Potter movie this weekend because I desperately wanted to get out of the house on a glum, rainy day. And I wanted those gross movie nachos.

The movie was okay, overly long in the middle - but an improvement for me (as an "adult" viewer) over the previous. I enjoyed the grittier look to Hogwarts. I mean, if you were a kid there, I think you would be equally struck with wonder and seriously freaked out. The movies have never really captured the freaked out part of the experience.

I heard more restlessness from the audience this time during the long second act. I think the kids are a little tired of long movie experiences that clock in close to 3 hours. I also realized that a whole generation of people (kids) are growing up watching commercials (20 minutes!) before the previews (another 20 minutes) even start and they think that's okay. They also respond to commercials like they would to a trailer - they oooh'd and ahhh'd and laughed and once even clapped.

I think it's a sad day. No wonder the kids are restless.

Don't mix your starches
We caught an early show and as such, hadn't really eaten what one would call "lunch" or for that matter "breakfast".

So we hit the theater and ordered an ungodly amount of food: nachos, popcorn, Milk Duds and soda to the tune of $15. We shared and swapped and munched in silence. In the end, I think Deeps got the worst part of the deal. I left him with most of the nachos and popcorn. After the movie we fled out the front of the theater and down a fire exit ramp. I never felt so sick in my life. In fact, we couldn't bring ourselves to eat anything else for another 7 hours. We caved then because we knew that we should eat food that had some nutritional content.

I'll be skipping the popcorn and nachos and probably (though it pains me) the Milk Duds in the future.

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By: Alyssa | Monday, June 07, 2004 at Monday, June 07, 2004 | |

Twitchy

So I have this friend, EK, who has had a recurring eye twitch for about 2 years. She confessed to me about the eye twitch sometime in 2002. I laughed and laughed because I am a good friend.

She was dealing with a tremendous amount of work (as was I) and working really closely with me to get out a new product. We were busting our tails to make this project fly. So the stress triggered this eye twitch.

Two years later she's about to sail off to Portugal for a long vacation and I am saddled with the eye twitch.

Not so funny now, is it? EK would never say that, but I suspect she's thinking it.

It started a few days ago. I thought it was allergies - there are crazy things flying around the air in Boston, it's not a bad guess. But what started as a slight annoyance blossomed into a full-blown twitch this morning.

I am not alone in the twitch. Despite cutting back considerably on the caffeine, I guess I might need to go off of it for a few days. What triggered the twitch? Apparently the housing limbo was too much for my little eye to bear. Giant, looming, gut wrenching projects with impossible deadlines barely make the eyeball blink. But moving - ye gods, I twitch mightily.

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By: Alyssa | Thursday, June 03, 2004 at Thursday, June 03, 2004 | |


I always enjoy interesting architecture. I shot this in Paris last fall. At the time, I remember wondering if any of the monks went mad. The chapel is huge and there's tremendous amounts of glass. So they were huddled together - maybe working by candle light, with the lead and the high ceilings and the fine, delicate work. Plus I figure if they painted anything by hand, the pain was probably toxic. It was totally worth the price of admission to see St. Chappelle - even if I did get boondoggled by a bunch of old ladies.
 Posted by Hello

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By: Alyssa | at Thursday, June 03, 2004 | |

When it makes the national news, it's serious

This is the rule of thumb I apply to news from my homeland of Indiana. When bad things happen in Indiana, you don't usually hear about it. The Hoosiers, as a group, have a gift for understatement. They don't want to be a bother or a burden.

So when you hear about tornadoes racing across the city of Indianapolis then you know that bad things happened. Well, at least I do.

None of the family was injured (as near as I can tell) and there wasn't any major damage to any of their stuff. But a neighborhood we lived in many moons ago on the Southside of the city was all but wiped out. Tornadoes apparently touched down within a few blocks of the speedway, where they were having a little thing called the Indy 500.

My parents, again with the understatement, said they just hung out in the basement with the neighbors until the sirens stopped. That's right people - I can't tell you how many summers I spent down in the basement waiting for the sirens to go off.

Living as I do on the East Coast - most people don't know about tornadoes. Once, when I first moved here I heard the eerie siren and started looking for shelter. My roommates were baffled. I finally called the police to ask what the siren was about. The guy laughed when I asked about a tornado. He said it was for a bad crash up on the mountain and it alerted neighboring towns to send more help.

I'm going to guess that he didn't laugh so hard when tornadoes hit MA a few weeks later - in those same mountains no less.

So there you have it. Tornadoes are bad and scary and come out of no where and go just as quickly. They're not just for trailer parks anymore.

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By: Alyssa | Wednesday, June 02, 2004 at Wednesday, June 02, 2004 | |

A New Apartment Screener for a New Day

Well, you know that we're serious now because I've redesigned the checklist. I would consider the first Apartment Screener as very comprehensive for the purposes of relocating from one community to another (let's just say... over 50 miles). You need to know more because it's new environment.

The new screener is what I like to think of as the "light" version which is useful if you're just moving from one neighborhood or building to another. It's not such a dramatic change.

By the way, the power of the checklist is still the same. It's unnerving to some (weird brokers) and admired by others (smart landlords). Enough talk - I now give you the new PDF'd version of The Modified Apartment Checklist. (You'll need Adobe Acrobat Reader - it's free to download to read the file.)

Please enjoy and use it wisely.

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By: Alyssa | Tuesday, June 01, 2004 at Tuesday, June 01, 2004 | |

 
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