Service Disservice

So I got home yesterday to discover that the A/C service hadn't apparently been done. Now, I wasn't sure what they were doing so I had removed the filter and figured when I came home to find a filter that was proof they'd been there. There was no filter and the outside unit didn't look like it had been cleaned either. I dutifully took my pooch to Tower Grove park with me; where he peed on a variety of trees and thankfully didn't pee on anyone's stuff. He got a lot of love and attention from bystanders just like any small fluffy dog gets attention. It was interesting that he recognized my boyfriend from last summer and totally considered him to be "one of his people group" and whined every time he walked our way. Good thing we're on good terms!

This morning when I got to work I had a voicemail on my cell phone. (I don't get phone service in the elevator and it's not uncommon for me to get off the elevator to discover I have voicemail) It was the HVAC guy telling me that he'd be at my house this morning so could I lock up my dog. He called at 8:30 in the morning....Seriously? I called him back to notify him that I expected him yesterday and was already at work. He said he didn't get to it yesterday but it was no big deal, he could just come tomorrow. How does he get to decide if it's a big deal?

Since when do you just inconvenience people like that? I've never had a service person be that disrespectful. Geez! I told him to come in the morning and I'd put my dog in the bedroom when I left for work. I'm headed to a doctor's appointment with my dad in the afternoon so I'll swing by the place and let Oscar out of doggy jail. It means I have to come to work a little early; but I'm not putting him in the bedroom all day again.

It was actually kind of funny when I got home; he bolted from the room into the living room the moment I opened the door. Getting him to go back in there without phsically carrying him in the room should be interesting tomorrow morning.

The Gilded Dog Cage

My landlord called me yesterday afternoon and left me a message that he would be sending out maintenance to do A/C service today. He was notifying me because I have a dog.

Thus:

Taken on a rainy Saturday this month when I caught him napping under my throw on the couch. He wasn't sure why I was waking him up; but I suspect he hoped it was to go out.

So I had to shut him into a bedroom all day. Clearly, as illustrated above, he prefers to spend the day on my couch. Actually, I have no idea what he does when I'm gone. I know that there are toys in different spots than when I left and I've heard from some of  my friends who have dogs that he is in the window a lot looking out. We think he's part Tibetian Spaniel, and apparently sitting on a lofty perch watching the world outside is a common trait to those dogs. I had to choose what room to shut him in. I don't go in my spare bedroom much, even though that's where my yarn is stored and I do have a desk with a desktop computer in there. But I really only go in my bedroom to sleep and change clothes.

I chose the spare bedroom because he can get up on the bed and see out to the front (where he normally looks out) and to the side where there is a bench and some grass. I feel bad, although I remember a lot of times when I had to kennel my previous dog, Rex, and he spent most of the day in a much smaller space.

I do find that St. Louis is a pretty dog friendly town. Not as much as other places I've lived; but most people on the west side where I live seem to like and/or have dogs. I found it interesting when I was dating a guy from South county that people down there didn't seem to like dogs and were amused that I walked my dog even though my guy had a yard.

Tonight is softball in Tower Grove park and I plan on taking my dog with me. I figure that the smells and sights should make up for locking him in a room all day, no?

Sign of the times

Sometime this morning a really large piece of equipment appeared by our freight elevators at work. Whatever it is; it's in a big grey metal frame and we (me and a couple other engineers) decided it's some type of chiller for the computer room.

After lunch, I headed into the kitchen and noticed a guy sitting on the floor reading something which I assumed were instructions.

When I headed into the hallway a little later I noticed a sticker had been placed on both visible sides.

I have a thing for industrial signage....

I have no idea what I'd do with it but I want this sticker so bad. Of course, it would have been bad to take it as I'm sure the sticker is crucial when they're loading the large (think 4 industrial refrigerators side by side) equipment onto something. The stickers weren't in the physical center of the sides; so even removing them to photocopy them might have been bad if I didn't get them replaced correctly. I'm not sure what they're going to do with it because I don't think it'll fit in the freight elevator. I guess if I come in tomorrow and it's gone I'll know the little GSA gnomes carried it off.

Boys of summer...and spring and winter and fall....

I realized after my last post that I've not posted a picture of myself with makeup.

So I went searching around on my home computer - because I keep most of my photos on my work computer where I have better photo software - and found one from last spring.

That was my boyfriend at the time; he was a nice guy but really... well, really bland for lack of a better term. He later admitted to me that he didn't have much experience with dating (at age 40!).


He had horrible taste in clothes, furniture and in general. And he had no idea! I have no idea how you tell someone who just bought new furniture that it's ugly and uncomfortable. But the matching couch and loveseat - the reclined of course - looked like bad brown vinyl even though he swore that he paid a lot for nice leather. He also dressed really weird, wearing acid washed old jeans and a moonrise t-shirt or plain collared shirts. He was willing to take me to the symphony and the muny - in fact when I broke up with him I found out he'd bought season tickets to both for us....oops. He was also not so good in bed. I mean he wanted to learn; but I'm done with teaching. I've "trained" my share of guys, thanks.

As my niece said, vanilla is nice but I need a little more spumoni. He was willing to do stuff I liked; but seemed to have no passion to do anything other than take photos. He didn't follow the news, he didn't watch tv; he spent all his free time editing photos or going to the botanical garden and taking photos of flowers. He was crushed when I told him I was breaking up with him; and the guy I dated next turned out to be a big loser.

He wasn't bland; but he was laid off from his local freight delivery job and so I bought dinners and alcohol; unless I wanted to drink MGD from a tallboy can. But he was fun....at least until I realized that we'd never go to the muny or the symphony or probably even shakespeare in the park. Oh, but surely you could trade "favors" for those things, you say. Nope, he wasn't really interested. He disliked being in a relationship - calling to make plans for the next day was smothering - and he really wasn't into sex.

So hopefully, I've found a happy middle ground now. This guy doesn't like to go out to eat; but can be coaxed into it. He has a variety of hobbies and loves to do spur of the moment things; but appreciates when we make tentative plans so we don't miss out on stuff. I don't want to jinx it; but I will say he makes me happy. I guess that's all we really want, huh?

Makeup-free

I was just in the restroom talking to one of my co-workers about makeup and I came up stairs and found this: Bloggers without Makeup Day where bloggers are posting photos of themselves on their blogs or on twitter without makeup. I'm up for it so I've rummaged around and found the photo here from 2008 I think.

It was funny because we were talking about how we'll wear makeup out  whether it's with our parents or our significant others; but we don't always wear makeup at work. I fessed up to her that I pretty much always wear at least mascara out of the house because mine are so fine. I even keep a small mascara in my purse in case, I sweat it off when I'm outside working. In fact, I had a hard time finding a picture of me without it. The only reason this one exists is because I had a bad haircut and spent too much time that morning trying to fix it; I finally resorted to tucking it behind my ears.

I love my current chin length bob and I also love the fact that in the last two years my desk has a much larger pile on it. Ah, that's government life!

Sucky sucky

It's kind of funny that I found myself contemplating vacuum cleaners on Mother's Day. As a child, I didn't have chores to do. On the weekends, I'd help mom with the dusting or the laundry; in the spring I'd help with washing windows. I really didn't have any regular chores though.

The one chore I really didn't mind was vacuuming. It was the one chore my mom really hated though. Growing up we had a really heavy old Hoover with a metal head and a vinyl bag. OMG, that thing was like dragging a body around the living room. (We had hardwood floors in the other rooms) (Actually, there's hardwood in the living room too, but my mom has a carpet in there that covers the whole room except for about a foot around the edges)

When I moved out on my own, I had a vacuum we bought at a garage sale. It was a panasonic and worked pretty well. It actually came with me for 15 years as I moved around. I took it apart several times and cleaned dog hair out of it. (I had a Sheltie so there was a lot of long hair. A lot.) When I moved back to St. Louis of course the vacuum came too. Unfortunately, it had quit working about two weeks before I moved. I borrowed the apartment's vacuum to clean my carpets when I left. So my dad took my vacuum to a repair shop and had it repaired. It worked for about a year and then quit again.

In the meantime, mom had bought herself a lighter weight vacuum. A dirt devil that cleans well and is a lot lighter for her to haul around. So mom and I went in search of a new vacuum. Our first stop was Linens and Things - which was going out of business. I ended up with a Bissell Healthy Home - mainly because I'm a sucker for advertising. I have to say though, it's been awesome. That thing really can suck my carpets clean - I now have a spaniel mix who has long hair. I heard that it had the same technology as a Dyson because Dyson's patent ran out and now others can use it.

What I was thinking about this morning was the fact that almost all the boys I've dated over the years have an old Rainbow or Kirby that weighs a ton and that they swear is the best machine ever. Yet they all have kind of nasty carpets. Maybe they're just bad at cleaning but I suspect that those old vacuums just aren't that good compared to today's technology.

I get that both of these claim to be able to do all kinds of things other than vacuum. But I'm guessing that cleaning tile in the bathroom is quicker and easier with a scrub brush and some bleach than with a giant metal machine that you have to haul in there. And cleaning the kitchen floor? It probably gets cleaner with a scrub brush too. I love my Swiffer; but it doesn't get floors really clean. I once cleaned a boyfriend's floor with a scrub brush after he'd spilled some turkey brining solution and wet swiffered it clean. It was so sticky that I got out the scrub brush and bucket. That water was so dirty, I've not used my swiffer wet since then.

I'm not a clean freak; but if I'm putting the effort into cleaning it should be worth it. Who wants to spend their free time cleaning? No-one.

Mean Girls

Except in my office, it's not the girls; it's mostly the boys who are mean. We have a lunch table where my group always eats together. It's one of the first things I learned about working here; everyone eats at the table together. For the first couple years I worked here, I didn't eat with the group much because I went to lunch with my boyfriend. But something I've noticed about eating at the table is that there's a core group of "Cool Kids" that make fun of people not at the table. Of course, like most groups they also make fun of members in the group that aren't there that day.


Last week, one guy wasn't there and I sat down with my lunch right in the middle of the group going off about how odd he was. Granted, the guy is a bit of an odd duck. He totally over-prepares for any outing; so much so that he almost sank his little flat boat last time he went fishing. But he's very smart and there's something to be said for overpreparing when you'll be outside. So the talk eventually ended with one of the guys saying that this guy is a loser. Not a nerd or a dork - "He's a loser" is what the guy said.

I know they talk about me when I'm not here; I don't want to know what they say. We're a bunch of science nerds; we're not fashionistas or trend-whores.... The guy who made the proclaimation is probably 125# soaking wet and has bad hair that has too much gel and dresses in plaid shirt, jeans and an outsized (at least for the city) belt buckle every day. He's no great catch! So I piped up and said, "That's kinda mean." Honestly, I couldn't have been more spineless because I didn't say it loud; but I'm far from being in the in-crowd. Then, when I got a couple rounds of "Well, he is." from skinny boy I said it was harsh. No-one else  said anything more.

Geez, you'd think I work at a highschool with a bunch of teenagers. Most of my co-workers are in their late 20s and early 30s; and being that they were in band and all sciency you'd think they have a little more sympathy.