On the Brink of Another Weekend
It was bound to occur sooner or later. I rounded a corner at work today and ran into someone who was clutching a cup. Luckily for me it was only filled with cold water and the wad of documents that I had in my hands dutifully took on the liquid's wrath. We just looked at each other and started laughing. Sucks, but what can you do?
Someone mentioned to me this week that they never took me as a person who would enjoy reading in my free time. That's pretty funny.
Friday, June 11, 2004
Tuesday, June 08, 2004
A Lesson in Humility....Courtesy of FedEx
Our local FedEx delivery guy brought my new printer to the door the other day. Unfortunately, we were all out so he decided to leave my packages at the home of our next door neighbors. The first thing I thought upon return was....what the heck?....aren't these things supposed to be signed for by the recipient? To make matters more difficult, the printer was dropped off with the chinese family to the left of our house. The one that pretty much hates our guts b/c of a long running feud.
Long story short. They think we are too loud (which we are at times). They think we put trash into their cans (which I have done once...b/c it was trash day anyways and we were overloaded from a weekend party). They don't like us parking in the street space in front of their house (which by virtue of a Capitol treaty we do our best to honor now). The house complaint makes absolutely no sense. Basically they think that since the number of their home is painted on the curb, obviously for ID purposes, this means that they own sole parking rights to the property and no one else can claim it. Crazy right?
I've always maintained a level of politeness with them and will periodically chat with the father about casual things. Still though, my mind started to frazzle at the thought of having to interact with them directly this time around.
Here is how God humbled me.
The mom opened the door and instantly smiled right at me. She had a limited grasp of the english language, yet still kept trying to appologize for accepting my package. Apparently, the grandmother also lives with them and mistakenly took it. The daughter needed some help lifting the boxes down as they were quite heavy. Then the grandmother came down to check out who was at the door and just kind of smiled and bowed her head up and down like chinese grandmothers do.
I thought of my own family. Of my grandparents. Of my sister and I when we were younger. If we had to live next to a bunch of guys like us back then, it likely would have been ugly and stressful.
Still though....
We'll probably try to tone things down a little around here and be more considerate of their comforts. Perhaps we'll write them a note with our home number on it so they can call us in really dire times to request volume adjustments.
All this b/c the FedEx deliver guy was lazy and ignorant of the regulations.
Thankful.
Our local FedEx delivery guy brought my new printer to the door the other day. Unfortunately, we were all out so he decided to leave my packages at the home of our next door neighbors. The first thing I thought upon return was....what the heck?....aren't these things supposed to be signed for by the recipient? To make matters more difficult, the printer was dropped off with the chinese family to the left of our house. The one that pretty much hates our guts b/c of a long running feud.
Long story short. They think we are too loud (which we are at times). They think we put trash into their cans (which I have done once...b/c it was trash day anyways and we were overloaded from a weekend party). They don't like us parking in the street space in front of their house (which by virtue of a Capitol treaty we do our best to honor now). The house complaint makes absolutely no sense. Basically they think that since the number of their home is painted on the curb, obviously for ID purposes, this means that they own sole parking rights to the property and no one else can claim it. Crazy right?
I've always maintained a level of politeness with them and will periodically chat with the father about casual things. Still though, my mind started to frazzle at the thought of having to interact with them directly this time around.
Here is how God humbled me.
The mom opened the door and instantly smiled right at me. She had a limited grasp of the english language, yet still kept trying to appologize for accepting my package. Apparently, the grandmother also lives with them and mistakenly took it. The daughter needed some help lifting the boxes down as they were quite heavy. Then the grandmother came down to check out who was at the door and just kind of smiled and bowed her head up and down like chinese grandmothers do.
I thought of my own family. Of my grandparents. Of my sister and I when we were younger. If we had to live next to a bunch of guys like us back then, it likely would have been ugly and stressful.
Still though....
We'll probably try to tone things down a little around here and be more considerate of their comforts. Perhaps we'll write them a note with our home number on it so they can call us in really dire times to request volume adjustments.
All this b/c the FedEx deliver guy was lazy and ignorant of the regulations.
Thankful.
Monday, June 07, 2004
What a Deal! What a Deal!
Guess what I got for 14 bucks at Ikea?
-Nice suction sealed jar with a silver lid. Gonna fill this bad boy up with jellybellys and keep them on my desk.
-100 mini tealight candles. Didn't really need them, but for $2.99 they couldn't be passed up. Holler if you need some.
-Wooden picture frame with double sided glass plates for transparent viewing. This was the prize. The screw apart design will allow me to stain the frame for more robust coloring. Already have an idea of how it can be used.
-6 pack of wine glasses. HandSome made fun of our household at the last party b/c people had to drink wine out of coffee mugs and regular cups. Might need to pick up a few more down the line just in case.
Pretty sweet right?
Guess what I got at Target for 7 dollars? Correction....$6.69? Answer: The most broken and nonfunctional iron ever made by man. While strolling down the appropriate aisle looking at all the mid level models of irons, Jedimaster noticed a moderately priced unit tucked meekly into a corner (there were ALOT of them!).
Long story short....of my own accord....I bought the value iron and went home slightly proud in finding another seemingly sweet deal.
Boy was I mistaken.
This piece of junk ended up leaking water when filled to the required capacity. It also inaccurately kept track of the temperature so our ironing board (and a piece of my shirt) ended up getting burned a little bit. CHKLHG mentioned something about how pressing a $40 shirt with a $7 dollar iron just didn't make sense. Now I agree.
Kind of like the time I got a haircut at the $2.99 hair cut place back in Houston. They seriously messed me up and took a piece of my ear off with the clippers as well. My parents ended up sharing an old chinese saying when hearing my complaints upon return. Basically it came out to: A load of money. A load of goods
Meaning: You get what you pay for.
Too true. 7 dollar iron....man, what was I thinking?
Guess what I got for 14 bucks at Ikea?
-Nice suction sealed jar with a silver lid. Gonna fill this bad boy up with jellybellys and keep them on my desk.
-100 mini tealight candles. Didn't really need them, but for $2.99 they couldn't be passed up. Holler if you need some.
-Wooden picture frame with double sided glass plates for transparent viewing. This was the prize. The screw apart design will allow me to stain the frame for more robust coloring. Already have an idea of how it can be used.
-6 pack of wine glasses. HandSome made fun of our household at the last party b/c people had to drink wine out of coffee mugs and regular cups. Might need to pick up a few more down the line just in case.
Pretty sweet right?
Guess what I got at Target for 7 dollars? Correction....$6.69? Answer: The most broken and nonfunctional iron ever made by man. While strolling down the appropriate aisle looking at all the mid level models of irons, Jedimaster noticed a moderately priced unit tucked meekly into a corner (there were ALOT of them!).
Long story short....of my own accord....I bought the value iron and went home slightly proud in finding another seemingly sweet deal.
Boy was I mistaken.
This piece of junk ended up leaking water when filled to the required capacity. It also inaccurately kept track of the temperature so our ironing board (and a piece of my shirt) ended up getting burned a little bit. CHKLHG mentioned something about how pressing a $40 shirt with a $7 dollar iron just didn't make sense. Now I agree.
Kind of like the time I got a haircut at the $2.99 hair cut place back in Houston. They seriously messed me up and took a piece of my ear off with the clippers as well. My parents ended up sharing an old chinese saying when hearing my complaints upon return. Basically it came out to: A load of money. A load of goods
Meaning: You get what you pay for.
Too true. 7 dollar iron....man, what was I thinking?