A Treasure Found at Home

some day i promise to write more about me and what’s happening in my life. but today… more links.

i was reading through random xkcd comics, as i do. swooning at the swoonful.  (which makes me think of when i worked with people who would send me mail from india and ask me to “please do the needful.”)

anyhow, i found this one: http://xkcd.com/78/ with garfield

which made me think of these: http://garfieldminusgarfield.tumblr.com/ without garfield

The Five of Swords card suggests that my power today lies in the upper hand. I can outwit or outlast and I choose my battles wisely. This puts me in a superior position. I know when it’s time to hold, fold, or walk away. I am a survivor and am not easily defeated. I am empowered to gain the advantage by turnabout and my virtue fair play.

monday i went to the dentist in the morning. since my appointment wasn’t first first thing, i stopped by the eye doctor to swap out glasses.

probably never a good idea if i want to be in a good mood. for those counting that’s picking up the green glasses after i sent them back once and sending the brown glasses away again. even if there was nothing wrong with the distance vision, i’d have had to send them back this many times because the bifocals have been distractingly wrong. they seem to have something against measuring. the woman who took my glasses this time wouldn’t remeasure. it’s crazy!

anyhow, with that to start my day i went to the dentist. i was exhausted, too. for no real particular reason that i can tell. i was wondering if i might fall asleep in the chair, i was so tired.

but, no such luck. as she was scraping the plaque off my teeth, she hit a super sensitive spot. and, really, the woman who cleans my teeth is wonderful. she’s very careful because she knows i have always had sensitive teeth. (a result of years of antibiotics when i was a toddler?) i guess hitting the spot on the side of the tooth set the whole thing to extra sensitive. when she balanced her gloved finger on it to use as a fulcrum for cleaning another tooth, the top was super sensitive too!

urgh.

so she tried not to touch that tooth or the one next to it as she cleaned the rest. but between the tired and the jumpy tooth i was having a hard time. i wasn’t crying or pulling away or saying “ouch!” … well, maybe i said “ow”. anyhow, she offered me the topical anesthetic. she said it sometimes helps with sensitivity. i agreed, it was worth a shot even though the topical i’d had several times as a child seemed to do nothing.

let me tell you, this was not the topical from my childhood! she slathered it on, and since it was a liquid it went dripping right down my throat. and it stung just a little but mostly tasted AWFUL! i coughed and she rinsed my throat for me and said, “well, this just isn’t your day, is it?”

no, it really wasn’t.

but, man that topical worked like crazy. not 30 seconds later the whole left half of my mouth was numb! she quick scraped the rest of my teeth and made a note to give me this stuff next time, too.  thank goodness for understanding dental technicians! the anesthetic has a really short half life, as well, so by the time i was back downtown and picking up a sammich i could feel my whole mouth again.

i stopped for cat food and sparkle food on the way home (yay! pb&j!) watched a little tv as i washed a load of clothes and went to bed early sleeping almost all the way through the night. the only time i woke was when galahad was startled into sitting bolt upright. i listened but couldn’t hear anything so i chalked it up to another cat walking by the window and went right back to sleep.

this morning i took a town car to work. turns out it’s less expensive than a cab from mom’s hotel. the driver and i started talking about other bay area drivers.

“they think they’re ok cause they have insurance. they don’t understand they have only one life.”

he just about summed it up with that.

for some reason this morning i’m remembering a commercial i shot in college. i was an ‘actor’ in the extremely low budget production for a newly developed electronic device which i never again saw or heard of. in fact, i can’t even remember what the thing was, really.

my friends and i were sitting on the steps outside one of the buildings having lunch when this two-person crew (one director, one camera guy) came up to us to ask if we’d be in their commercial. we agreed, and he gave us some lines to say. it was all about how cutting edge, cool, and easy to use their product was. he had a friend of mine talk about how helpful it was, then asked me (with my long, light hair) to say, ‘it’s so easy even i can use it!’

after he got what he wanted, my friend laughed and said how backward it seemed. the director asked what she meant and she told him that i was the technical one and was forever teaching her how to use technology better.

and this is the part i remember really well. the director got a funny look on his face, sort of pursed his lips and nodded. i remember thinking how odd it was. it doesn’t bother e and i that i am more tech inclined than she is, so what was bothering this guy? was he upset that he’d guessed wrong or did he think i’d be insulted for having to play the dumb blond? i really wonder what was going through that guy’s head just then.

whatever he was realizing then about presumptions based on looks, i hope he remembered it.

when mom called just a little bit ago i looked at the clock and realized i have missed lunch AGAIN! grah, i hate when i do that.

anyhow, i went out into the parking lot to catch her up on things best not talked about in cubes (like how well i’m doing with the needles - rock on me). as i walked back to the building i passed a car and did not touch it. just with the power of my personality i set off the car alarm.

i… am a force to be reckoned with.

who knew car alarms could be such an ego boost?

i’ve just had the most horrible experience with the people at Budget Car Rental in Portland, OR. i told the manager there that she was losing a customer and that i would tell everyone i knew not to rent from Budget, and she said, “OK”.

i guess thinking isn’t really encouraged, and neither is customer retention or customer service.

i left my phone in the center console of the car i rented. i was distracted trying to get the attention of the check in agent who was helping the person who drove up behind me* instead of me and forgot to lean back in to grab it.

by the time i was at my gate and waiting to board the plane, i figured out that i’d forgotten the phone. i called Budget, and they told me that even though they’d cleaned the whole car** (and leased it out again) there was no phone in it and it was not in lost and found. but i could wait till the 14th, she said cheerily, and call back then to see if it’s found then.

i went to buy a new phone as soon as i got home. what’s a few hundred bucks to not having my phone for two weeks? but i was just a smidge too late and the storefronts were closed.

i called Budget again who again said i could just wait till the 14th. i asked if they couldn’t contact the people who had the car and was told THEY HAD NO WAY TO DO THAT. which i promptly revealed as a lie, and was told instead that they’re just not supposed to. then i was transferred to a manager who asked how she could get in touch with me. good question… without my phone….

i agreed to call back in a couple hours (and find out what my land line/emergency only/came with the internet phone number is in the meantime). when i called back i was told they DO have the phone, they’ve had it all along, it just didn’t occur to them to look in more than one of the three lost and found boxes.

i asked her to overnight it to me; that it is critical that i have my phone. we even talked about when it would get to me so i knew if i should give her my home phone or my office phone. we talked about how i’m only home on tuesdays, only available to receive packages at my home address on tuesday. in fact, she wrote that part down, but apparently didn’t think to write down the part about overnighting it.

so i checked my voicemail at home this morning and got a call from Budget Portland asking me if i wanted it overnighted since i was only home on tuesdays. and since i didn’t answer (since i’m only home on tuesdays) she dropped it in the regular mail, thinking $30 might be way too much for me to want to pay to get my phone back… the one i’d called about 3 or 4 times, the one they can’t reach me on cause they have it! she just wasn’t sure if i wanted it back that badly.

when i asked to speak again to a manager, that woman was baffled at what she could possibly do to make me happy at this point, even asking me what she should do. i can think of a lot of things i would do as a business owner: pay for the shipping of the phone send a coupon for a free day’s rental, send a coupon for a discounted rental… how hard could it be to think of something to do to retain a customer?

instead, i told her i would like to not have to tell her how to do customer support and that she’d just lost a customer. she seemed ok with that.

glad to see that the manager today at the Budget Rental Car company at the Portland International Airport is a-ok with losing customers and doesn’t mind if those unhappy customers tell everyone they know about the poor service.

so, the moral of the story: Do Not Rent from Budget Rental Car.

——

*the person behind me was also unhappy… about a bait and switch he’d experienced with them.

**i have to say the soda that was all over the console when i had the car indicated to me that cleaning isn’t their strong suit.

galahad is really getting into the nature shows that are happening in our living room. last night i was watching the mini series on discovery about the earth. i can’t recall the exact name, but i’m sure you’re aware of what i’m talking about.

they showed a clip of the birds of paradise doing a variety of mating dances and clearing spaces on the forest floor for said dances. galahad perked right up at that and started stalking the tv.

i’m sure he thinks i ruined it by petting him — which distracted him just long enough for that bird to get away. darn owner, never petting when he wants me to, always catching the birds and letting them go outside or distracting him while they escape.

i fell asleep on the couch right after the mating dances. good thing i was recording the show. for those of you playing along at home, that’s 8:30pm when i conked out. *sigh* i’m glad i have an acupressure appointment tomorrow; i hope it will help with this crazy exhaustion.