Liloia.com

Isabel from Sue

My friend Sue was caught in the fury of Isabel. Power was just restored to her home this week. Here's the story in her words:

What we survived is not something I ever gave any consideration to in the past. We fared better than many of our neighbors, with just an immense amount of tree debris to clean up. Several right here have trees that crashed through their homes, and huge trees down in their yards. The sound of chain saws and hammers from daybreak til darkness is now so common that I don’t even notice it. The streets are still littered with power company and phone company trucks and it’s impossible to explain was a comforting feel they bring with them. We have power companies from as far away as Canada, Texas and Louisiana helping. Our own was restored by a wonderful group from Alabama. Restoring power to 1.7 million here in Virginia is still not something I can even fathom.

Our small city, with an outage of 95% immediately after Isabel is indicative of the shape that all of Virginia is in. It is not an exaggeration to suggest that this looks like a place ravaged by war. Many of our merchants now have power, while some are still without, as are many residences. We were without power for 8 days, and everyday was a scramble to find the basics needed just to survive. We learned that you couldn’t take anything for granted. No longer was a bag of ice easily available, as well as water, batteries, propane, flashlights, candles, charcoal, etc. While for some, the experience brought out the worst, we were very fortunate to have a good network of neighbors. When one of us found something, we shared it with each other.

The most frightening period was losing all water pressure which occurred because of the lack of power. Never again will I take the small act of flushing a toilet for granted. Bottled water became a very precious commodity even for several days after the pumping station came up because the water was contaminated for another 48 hours. The federal and state agencies were slow to respond to the need for bottled water, but fortunately most of us had gotten in a good supply just prior to the storm, and we shared what we had with others.

When getting the basics really became an impossibility, we were blessed with “care” packages from as far away as Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Texas and California. Never before in my life was a UPS truck such a welcome sight. Fortunately we never lost our phone during or after the storm, and the many phone calls from all of you did much to lift morale and keep us going for another day. There was so much to deal with each day that my emotions often felt like a wild roller coaster ride.

My son Tony, his wife and two small children live in Elmont, a small rural community outside of Ashland, and unfortunately they are still without power. At least with our power back on, we are able to pour our support in their direction, along with the many generous things the rest of you have sent to help out. They may have up to another month before their power is restored, though we are all hoping that this prediction is off. The community supported agriculture farm, Free Earth, that Tony started up this past winter is pretty much lost to where there is no produce left nor any plant standing. Last Friday when I was finally able to go grocery shopping and there was no local produce of any kind to be had drove home just how devastating Isabel was to Virginia farmers. So, in addition to being without power, Tony’s income has dried up until aid that he’s applied for begins to flow in his direction. I am pleased to see that he hasn’t given up and is already beginning to talk about what needs to be done to get the fields ready for late winter and spring planting.

I can’t find enough thanks to express how much all of your support, in whatever form it took, has meant to us. Please continue to keep all of us in your thoughts and prayers as we rebuild our lives.

Chuck E. Cheese

On one hand it's a mind-numbingly maddening cacophony of light, sound, and smell. On the other hand, if you hit the Bonus Spot, you can win 256 tickets. It's almost enough for one of those erasers that's so plastic and hard that it doesn't actually erase.

Today we went to our second Chuck E. Cheese birthday party in two weeks and I have to say, they turn out rather well. The staff keeps the party moving, you don't have to clean your house before or after thirteen five-year-olds trash it, and it's relatively inexpensive. For around a hundred bucks you get tokens, play time, cake, and pizza for 8 kids. A kids indoor playground nearby wanted $25.00 per child for two hours of play time with no lunch.

Trevor is finally old enough to understand the concept of saving his tickets for bigger prizes. He doesn't absolutely have to get a tiny piece of crap just to spend the tickets that day. Which is good, because the bigger crap we can win, the better, right?

One other thing about Chuck E. Cheese. When kids go on that ride where they sit in the car and get their picture taken with Chuck E., they often leave the photo behind — they just want the ride. I collect the abandoned photos and write very short stories about their theoretical adult lives based on their expressions.

Like at the end of movies when they do that little paragraph:

Erin Brockovich went on to save the whales and the rainforests and the plankton and the Ocarina of Time and the planet and blah blah blah...

My own little found object art project. It's weird, I know. But it's also very funny.

Bunghole Liquors

Yeah, you read it correctly. Last night Tara, Trevor and I went out with some friends of mine from work (Paula, Ryan, Theresa, Dave, Ted, Shawn, and Moy) to Moy's restaurant in Peabody, Buddha's Tavern. We had a great time and it is a really great restaurant, you should check it out. Very casual bar atmosphere with plenty of TV's and music while serving some of the best Chinese food I have had since moving to Massachusetts.

On our way there we passed Bunghole Liquors. Yep, the name is correct. Of course I had to stop and take a picture of it, but because my phone doesn't have a flash on the camera, my picture came out really bad at night. Luckily enough they accept the fact that the name of their store sparks curiosity, controversy and the occasional camera snap, so they put up a website for Bunghole Liquors.

The place was named by...a priest! Go to their website and check out the history of the store, it is a pretty interesting tale.

Night of 1000 Gaffes

Tonight was the kind of night that reminds me of why I stopped watching Friends. Overplayed jokes (think Monica's hair), relationships with about as much sexual tension as George and Barbara Bush's marriage, and a complacency that doesn't lend itself to the bizarre situations in the script sucked all of the enjoyment out of the show. Matthew Perry still does great comedic work, but Courtney Cox should have stuck to being the straight man in the group. Normally vibrant Lisa Kudrow looked tired for most of the episode and that made me want a nap...

Will & Grace fared much better. Megan Mullally and Sean Hayes can always coax a laugh out of me when they get together on the screen. I'll admit that I was never a regular Will & Grace viewer. I watched when I had time in the early years, but not recently. I just have one question for the regular viewers... at what point did Grace become a complete airhead? Because she was a little flightly in the beginning, but there were definite signs of life on Planet Grace that seem to have become extinct lately.

Coupling was neither as shocking as some people feared, nor as enticing as I had hoped. Rent the original British version to see something a litttle more inspired (like a scary psychotic, yet strangely alluring Jane) and more clearly defined characters. Not to mention six more minutes of dialogue. It's a good thing we Americans get a full 8 minutes of commercials, no?

Finally, ER was a solid hour of good television. Over the years, every time a main character left that show, I thought, "That's it. ER is done for. It'll never be as good." Yet I find myself not really missing Anthony Edwards, Julianna Margulies, Eriq La Salle, and George Clooney — four people I didn't think the show could do without. Maura Tierney has really stepped up to the plate, bringing an intelligent complexity and vulnerable likeability to Abby that works well with Noah Wyle's John Carter. She's easily one of my favorite characters and they make a well-matched couple. The "tormented Carter" plotline is getting a little tired, but it'll work for another season or two before people get sick of it. And Paul McCrane tips the scales from love to hate and back again on Dr. Romano's incendiary character — really fun stuff!

Do Not Call List Blocked

Ugh. I am hoping that the recent ruling is overturned soon according to the statements made by the FTC. See the article linked below.

Do Not Call Registry Blocked

Sept 24 — Consumer groups say Tuesday’s federal court ruling that blocks the Do Not Call Registry is just a temporary legal setback, and won’t ultimately stop government agencies from preventing most dinner-time telephone interruptions. A U.S. judge has ruled that the Federal Trade Commission overstepped its authority in creating the national do-not-call list against telemarketers. The FTC asked a court to stay its decision while it appeals the ruling.

IN A LAST-MINUTE reprieve for telemarketers, U.S. District Judge Lee R. West granted a motion for summary judgment requested by the telemarketing industry that — for now — stops implementation of the Federal Trade Commission’s do-not-call list. Some 50 million phone numbers are registered on the list, which was to take effect Oct. 1. The telemarketing industry claims the list would cost $50 billion in sales if member firms were prevented from calling all of the telephone numbers.
West’s ruling leaned on a technicality. He said the FTC did not have authority to regulate the telemarketing industry. Instead, that authority rests with the Federal Communications Commission, he said.
Late Wednesday, the FTC said it had asked the court to stay its decision blocking its list while it appeals the case.
The FTC said that it had asked the U.S. District Court in Oklahoma City to prevent its ruling from taking effect while a higher court hears its appeal.
“This decision is clearly incorrect,” FTC Chairman Timothy Muris said earlier in a written statement. “We will seek every recourse to give American consumers a choice to stop unwanted telemarketing calls.”

Vomit and Poo: A Double Whammy

To cut right to the chase, Trevor threw up all over me when I picked him up at school today -- much to the delight of his teachers who watched, but stayed a good ten feet away. I sort of cleaned us up in the car with baby wipes, but we were still icky. I figured that since the problem is a tickle in his throat from postnasal drip we needed Get Better Bears (cough drops on sticks for kids) to soothe the tickle and stop him from gagging. I stopped the car at CVS and an obnoxious teen ran up to the driver's side window before I even shut off the car. I was vomitous and pissy. I'm not usually this curt with people. Transcript follows:

"Would you like this free newspaper?"
"No, thanks."
"What? Why?"
"I don't read the paper."
"Where do you get the news then, lady?"
He called me "lady." I hate that and I'm pissed.
"Ever heard of the Internet?"
"Uh okay, but here -- just take the free paper."
I toss it on the seat and start rolling up the window.
"Wait! Do you want to help me go to college?"
"Not especially."
"But I really want to go to college and if you subscribe..."
"I told you I don't read the paper."
"But if you..."
"No."
"Well you just have to..."
"No."
"It's easy and I..."
"No."
At this point I throw the free paper back out of the window at him.
"Why don't you give this to someone who actually wants to send you to college, because I don't." (I can't believe I said that.)
He's floored.
"But it's free!"
I take it back from him.
"Well okay then."
I roll up the window and he runs to the other side of the parking lot. I think he saw the murderous glint in my eye. Whoever made the assertion that salespeople should never take no for an answer should be forced to sit in a car, covered in vomit while a teenager tries to sell you dead trees when you've got all of the world's newspapers at your fingertips on broadband. Oh and not to mention the fact that I work for a publishing company. There are usually a few daily papers hanging around the office. Like seventy.

Then, to add to my already whack day I start taking the empty trash cans in from the curb at home and someone -- some THING -- has taken a poo in our empty garbage can!

Was it a garbageman with an emergency?

A Republican neighbor?

A very large animal that can get in and out of a four-foot trash can without knocking it over -- like a giraffe?

And what do I do with the poo? It's already IN the garbage, so I don't have to throw it out, but it stinks to high heaven and it's obviously not bagged. It was trash day today, so that means the poo has to stay in that can for an entire week! Should I bury it somewhere? Try to bag it? What the hell was with the Universe today?!

A day in the life of Paula..

My friend Paula had a rough morning as shown by her email to me below. I was cracking up when I read this and felt that it was only fair to share it. This is an example of horrible customer service. Enjoy

(BTW - This is the actual text. We didn't change it to make it more interesting)

*************************************

From: Paula

Try to picture it in your mind.

Woke up with pretty bad leg pain (shins)
Got ready for work,
Walked down the street (maybe 1/3 - 1/2 mile, not sure) to my car that is parked in the spot that I pay $125 a month to park in. Keep in mind that every step I take, sends a shooting pain up my shin. I round the corner and realize that my car is GONE!!! (worst feeling ever) So after I collect myself, I call my good friends, B Towing (the same people that towed me from another apartment a while ago).

Here's the conversation:

Me: "Ummm, yeah, I believe that you towed me from the spot that I have a sticker for"

Them: "what do you mean you have a sticker?"

Me: "Am I not speaking English?"

Them: "we wouldn't have towed you if you didn't have a sticker, what kind of car is it?"

Me: "Oh yeah? why don't you go take a look at my windshield, it's a black Nissan Maxima"

Them: "ok, hold on, let me go look."

5 minutes later . . .

Them: "yeah, there's a sticker, but it's pretty hard to see, your windshield is a little tinted"

Me: "look buddy, I'm standing in a parking lot right now, it's gonna rain any second, and I need to get to work, I don't have time for this BS"

Them: "well, we'll do you a favor just this once and release the car to you"

Me: "a favor!?!? You towed my car for no f-ing reason!"

Them: "yeah, that's why we're gonna do you a favor and release it to you for free"

Me: "you people are unbelievable, that's not a favor in my book"

Them: "look ma'am, we couldn't see your sticker, it's not our fault"

Me: "if you would have looked for it, you would have seen it, I've been parking there for a month"

Them: "why don't you just come and pick it up"

Me: "well, let me think about that, I don't have a car!!!"

Them: "take a cab"

Me: "why don't you send a driver to pick me up?"

Them: "we don't do that, you can take a cab"

Me: "so you're telling me that I have to pay for a cab to go get my car that was accidentally towed from a spot that I pay for!?"

Them: "yep, that's exactly what I'm telling you"

Me: "you're an a$$hole"

So being too stubborn (and cheap) to take a cab there, I decide to walk. It's a good 2 mile walk I would say. In pain the entire way.
So I get there and go up to the window, and when the guy saw how pissed I was, he immediately changed his tone and was like "feel free to take your car, you should move the sticker though"

ARE YOU FREAKIN KIDDING ME!!!!

So, I finally get to work, more than an hour after I had planned to, and I'm walking down the hall when my lunch bag bursts open and my lunch falls to the ground! What else could possibly happen!?

Firetruck.

Yesterday Trevor and I went for a walk into town. We have done this a few times over the last couple of weeks and it is pretty nice. Tara had called us while she was out and let us know that the town fire department which had just officially opened their new building was having an open house. They had the street blocked off and were giving people tours of the building as well as letting the kids climb all over the trucks. Trevor and I left almost immediately hoping to catch some of the fun.

Living about a mile or so from the station and walking with a 5 year old whose legs have great ambition but little else to back them up didn’t help things. It took us nearly 45 minutes to get there including three stops to Trevor could “power up” his legs. This kid has been watching too many video games with me behind the controller.

When we arrived at the station they had already put all the trucks away and were cleaning up. Damn. I hate disappointing him, it’s tough. He doesn’t quite understand yet that most of the time these kinds of things are beyond my control and that there really isn’t a whole lot that can be done about it. So, we didn’t let it stop us. There was still one truck parked outside so we crossed the street, and while letting Trevor know that we couldn’t go inside we looked at the one truck available.

Imagine the scene, four or five firemen milling about clearly having just cleaned up the event. A dad and son walk up to the driveway holding hands looking at the one truck left and trying not to intrude on their work by staying out on the sidewalk. It was only a matter of time. One of the firemen came out and sheepishly asked if we would like to come inside and look around. It was great! We got our own private time in the station without all the crowds and people bugging us. Trevor and I walked around and poked at all the trucks and gear. I explained what a fire pole was and he looked at me in disbelief with wide eyes. We laughed about all the hoses rolled up against one wall. (I don’t know why) Then we walked over to the police station and ogled a few Harley Davidson police motorcycles. I was pretty pleased with the whole event.

Trevor is a good kid and deserves all the time and playing with Mom and Dad in the world, but as most parents know that isn’t realistic. Work, home, bills, stuff…everything seems to get in the way of spending that time with him. Most of the time we can see that he handles it well, but from time to time it starts to show and he needs a little more attention. It was great to be able to focus only on him for a few solid hours yesterday.

Hold-a-thon

I am starting to think that I should stop making posts. This post and my last one are beginning to show that I cannot be trusted with sharp objects, puppies and small children. :)

Yesterday I was attending a meeting via teleconference from my desk. Most of the other attendees were all meeting in person and there were only three of us that had to join remotely. My boss (Pat) who was away in Europe at the time called me while I was on this call, and seeing her number come up on my caller ID, I knew that I needed to take it.

I should have just hung up from the conference call. I should have just hung up. Did I? Nope. I put them on hold. It sounds simple enough, except for the fact that when I put people on hold, my phone begins playing elevator music.

Elevator music. Ugh.

Now the entire meeting was listening to this horrible music. I ended up being on the phone with Pat for almost 20 minutes having left them on hold and because I was on the other line they couldn't get through to me in order to ask me to hang up. I received a few voicemail messages from people asking me to hang up during that time. *so embarrassed*

When I did finally return to the call (which by the way lasted almost 3 hours) I apologized to them profusely expecting people to be pretty upset with me for having done that. I was quickly reminded that I work almost exclusively with chemists, microbiologists and technology people. Essentially all geeks like me (potentially even geekier), who told me that the biggest problem with the music was that some people in the room decided to sing along. Freaks.

I love working with scientists. On Monday mornings no one talks about the big game or NOMAH. If there are 9 people on a committee they are less likely to make a joke about how we have enough people to play baseball and more likely to state that we need to liberate one individual so that we can create a more stable valence shell of electrons. :)

I am a bonehead

For as much as the Liloia household is totally focused on being tech-heads and the geekiest people on our block we haven't yet upgraded to broadband internet access. That is all about to change.

This past weekend we signed up for broadband access with our local company. Our town has it's own electric company and recently added a cable TV service as well as broadband access. Some of the profits go back into the town so I am more than happy to support it by using them as my provider.

I am also very excited that we will finally be able to get rid of our land line. I hate it. Due to the new "Do Not Call" list we rarely get any solicitors anymore, and we rarely use it. Within the last six months I also got Tara moved over to my cell phone plan, so all of our calls are basically made using those phones. Not to mention that we can get rid of that bill which will more than cover the difference in adding broadband service.

In an effort to get things rolling for our installation (not scheduled to occur until next week) I called up our phone company Verizon and had them turn off the phone on Tuesday morning. I felt very efficient and productive.

Tuesday morning I receive a call from Tara who is at home.

T - "Hi, did you turn off the phone?"
D - "Yeah, it's all set!"
T - "That's great. Just great. Can I ask you a question?"
D - "Sure. Shoot!"
T - "How am I supposed to go online or check my work email without the phone?"
D - "Doh! Aw crap."
T - "Yeah"

I have to thank Tara for not killing me. It really could have gone either way with that one and I lucked out. Thankfully I was able to call Verizon and they were not far enough along in the process so they could pull the work order back. I don't know how they did it since the phone was already off, but they did. Big thanks to Jeff at Verizon who took care of that. I am such a bonehead.

Verisign: The Biggest Squatter

Verisign gets greedy for those 20 million people a day who can't spell.

Internet Software Consortium to the rescue.

Postal Service

It was probably not a great idea to listen to Postal Service on dark, rainy morning. Great album, but a little sad. Now I need to check out Death Cab for Cutie.

Whoa.

I was Googling liloia.com today and came across this:

Typing for a good cause

Apparently MSNBC linked to us when Tara and I were doing the Blogathon. Neat!

Titanic sinks...again?

This weekend was the first "Norwood Day" in our town. (Note that I did not say 'First Annual'.) Normally on this weekend in September we attend Natick Day out closer to where Tara works and it is a good time. This year Norwood got into the mix and for their first year, I think they actually beat Natick on size and selection. The time we spent there (albeit short) was fun and it was nice to be out with the fam.

I snagged this priceless picture with the camera phone. It's an inflated kids climber in the shape of the Titanic sinking into the water. The ride alone was hysterical. What you can't tell is right before I took the picture one of the air pumps cut out and the entire setup began to list to one side and fall into the sidewalk. I nearly collapsed with laughter.

I ran over so that I could grab this piece of local irony only to see that in the collapse of the ride, a small boy fell off the side of the ride. He was sitting on the sidewalk crying, and was surrounded by friends and family. He ended up being ok, but I couldn't bring myself to take the picture of him next to the sinking Titanic ride.

Tara says I will never be a hard hitting news reporter. I think I am ok with that. :)

Time shift

I'm not perfect relating to work, but this killed me. I was on the shuttle this morning heading into work with some of my co-workers. None of them were people that I actually work with, but we all show up to the same place everyday.

Here we are at 8:05 riding into the office, not even starting work and they are discussing when they are going to meet later that afternoon so that they can hop onto the train together. No problem yet.

Then I hear them say that they intend to meet at around 3:45 to walk to the bus stop. And that they are going to set this as their new departure time every day. Hold on...that comes out to like only 7 hours assuming that they don't take a lunch at all. Less if they do. Am I wrong to assume that we are supposed to be at work for something close to 8 hours a day? Perhaps I misunderstood. I would love to leave work at 3:45 in the afternoon.

By the way, these are also the people that screamed when my company started laying people off. I can't possibly imagine why. (That was sarcasm if you missed it) I realize that some people have different needs and schedules and that I also take advantage of a flexible schedule sometimes on a Friday afternoon in July, and also that the very writing of this post while at work negates everything I just said. It just seemed really gutsy to me that they would do something like that.

Maybe I can ride the bus with them...

Sure. We believe you.

An East Hampton, NY resident attempting to refute claims that her vocal dislike of local backyard volleyball games are the result of racist attitudes toward her Latino neighbors (NYT, free registration):

"They say we're bigoted. That's not true. I don't care who lives here. Normally, I could care less what my neighbors do, but I don't think they should be playing, not in the backyards. Backyards are for children."

Of course, backyards aren't for playing. Any white person knows that.

Pizza bomb guy not as dumb as originally thought...

...FBI still as dumb as ever.

"FBI agent Ken McCabe said today on ABCNEWS' Good Morning America that evidence has investigators leaning more toward the theories that Brian Wells was either a willing participant in the robbery, or was forced into committing the robbery by someone who put the bomb on his neck."

As opposed to the theory that he cleverly that he blew off his own head in an attempt to evade arrest? 'Cause there are better ways to evade police capture, I think. Ways that don't involve decaptiation.

We got front-row tickets to the end of the earth!

This news story had me listening to the Armageddon soundtrack all afternoon. Bruce Willis, will you save us?

David Blaine, public masochist

On his latest gimmick, being suspended without food for 44 days in a glass box from a crane near Tower Bridge in London:

"This could easily be the last thing I ever do."

God, we can only hope.

Peter Kay Observations

Some funny observations from British comedian Peter Kay

1) Triangular sandwiches taste better than square ones.

2) At the end of every party there is always a girl crying.

3) One of the most awkward things that can happen in a pub is when your pint-to-toilet cycle gets synchronised with a complete stranger.

4) You've never quite sure whether it's ok to eat green crisps.

5) Everyone who grew up in the 80's has entered the digits 55378008 into a calculator.

6) Reading when you're drunk is horrible.

7) Sharpening a pencil with a knife makes you feel really manly.

8) You're never quite sure whether it's against the law or not to have a fire in your back garden.

10) Nobody ever dares make cup-a-soup in a bowl.

11) You never know where to look when eating a banana.

12) Its impossible to describe the smell of a wet cat.

13) Prodding a fire with a stick makes you feel manly.

14) Rummaging in an overgrown garden will always turn up a bouncy ball.

15) You always feel a bit scared when stroking horses.

16) Everyone always remembers the day a dog ran into your school.

17) The most embarrassing thing you can do as schoolchild is to call your teacher mum or dad.

18) The smaller the monkey the more it looks like it would kill you at the first given opportunity.

19) Some days you see lots of people on crutches.

20) Every bloke has at some stage while taking a pee flushed half way through and then raced against the flush.

21) Old women with mobile phones look wrong!

22) It's impossible to look cool whilst picking up a Frisbee.

23) Driving through a tunnel makes you feel excited.

24) You never ever run out of salt.

25) Old ladies can eat more than you think.

26) You can't respect a man who carries a dog.

27) There's no panic like the panic you momentarily feel when you've got your hand or head stuck in something.

28) No one knows the origins of their metal coat hangers.

29) Despite constant warning, you have never met anybody who has had their arm broken by a swan.

30) The most painful household incident is wearing socks and stepping on an upturned plug.

31) People who don't drive slam car doors too hard

32) You've turned into your dad the day you put aside a thin piece of wood specifically to stir paint with.

33) Everyone had an uncle who tried to steal their nose.

34) Bricks are horrible to carry.

35) In every plate of chips there is a bad chip.