Like a Pig in a Blanket
Feb. 19th, 2001 09:47 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sanpaku_backupIt's a weird time of life. Every so often I lift myself out of the daily worried muddle and feel good. I am designing interesting things at work, we are almost making it financially, we're renting a nice house, I finished the PhD and can enjoy life a little.
Then the "Check Engine" light comes on.
Really, that is about the way things go. Last week was one of the worst in a long while. I survived the company risorgimento and am now in fact doing American history again, as I had thought. Even this was muffed by the company as we received a helpful email from the COO on Wednesday telling us about all the wonderful things the company was doing. One of the wonderful things is holding a mandatory company-wide meeting on a day I had planned to travel to a conference in Maryland, so that was all fucked up. Now our trip to see Josh & Dalit, which we had been looking forward to, was torpedoed. Anyway, we got an organization chart (new things all the time at the company, hm) and I was listed as "Western Civilization content developer". This would be completely in character for them: a decision from the top that made no sense and that I had no say in. You could feel the anxiety ripple across the room as people opened up this email. It turned out to be a mistake in my case. On the other hand, one of the people in my former department, who was really really good at what we did is now a "copy editor," a fucking demotion.
Anyway, the point is that, as my (now former) boss told me, I am the least affected of any of them by what's happened. I guess that Ph.D. does come in handy after all. Otherwise I'd probably be looking for a new job by now. There's all kinds of other nickel and dime kind of stuff but I won't bore with the details. Suffice to say that this email, which was probably meant to energize us, was pretty demoralizing to everyone, in part because it seems like there's all this churning at the top and goals are shifting rapidly, giving the impression that all this is a hail-mary act of desperation.
Anyway... yes, any security I feel about things is quickly dissipated by the albatross of the car. It has almost 90K on it so there's that $700 or so check coming up. Then the thieves at Sears fixed the brakes a month ago, yet the brakes still squeal and when you stop the car it sometimes literally grinds to a halt. Mrs. Sanpaku took it to Firestone and they said it needs new rotors and rear brake pads... hm, the Sears service slip says they did rear brakes. So one place or the other is lying. The rotors are remarkably inexpensive, actually, but the whole thing would be at least $250 on top of something like $500 already spent.
Then there is the aforementioned "Check Engine" light, which to be fair did go out and hasn't reappeared. But the car feels logey and clacks like a lawn mower when it's at idle. I think it needs a tune up or something.
I mean, it's an amazing thing. I can find out anything on the internet except an answer to the question "what does it mean when the car makes a sound like so-and-so." (It's amazing how little car advice there is on the web.) So you're completely at the mercy of people who have no concern for your money or time. I spent 30 minutes just waiting in line at the Sears (the brakes are supposed to have a warranty, 12K mileage). This takes so long because you wait there while they spend HOURS hitting things into the keyboard. I can only speculate as to what they are:
Has funny hairstyle Y/N: Y
Wears bad shoes Y/N: Y
Knows difference between pads and rotors Y/N: N
Knows what a camshaft is Y/N: N
Looks like a lawyer Y/N: N
...and so on, so they figure out how much money can be extracted from you. Anyway after all this wait of course he told me to leave the car all day (they are horrible about time there) so I said no thanks. I have a vacation day today that I need to do something with. I think I will go for a walk somewhere-- it's supposed to be mild-- and then go see the Coen brothers movie.
Anyway, what saved us over the weekend was finally finding two, maybe three, things that are good about Boston, as opposed to not bad. The first was a Greek restaurant in north Cambridge that we happened upon by accident. The phone book had 3 Greek restaurants listed in the entire city. The first one was overpriced and underwhelming, basically a bar. So we go out Saturday looking. The second is now something else. The third was in a hotel, no veggie entrees, almost got killed getting into the place (love making a left-hand turn from a 50 mph undivided 4 lane highway in the dark-- that's Boston!). We decide to drive around Cambridge a little and are about to give up when we find the place on Mass Ave about 7 or 8 minutes north of Harvard. Not Samos (Baltimore's greatest hidden treasure) but pretty good and cheap for here. The second, possibly good thing we found was a diner on the same road on the way home. Last week we had driven on this same road coming from the other direction and gave up just before we would have found it. Instead we went to a truly horrifying Chinese restaurant whose food reminded me of the second Indiana Jones movie.
The other great thing we found was Fall River. We went for a drive yesterday and it's just a place on the map. I was blown away. It is almost like a miniature San Francisco; you come in over a bay of the Atlantic and immediately start going very steep uphill until you're at the height of this huge ridge overlooking that bay. The town is perched above the bay overlooking the bridge; it's like Pittsburgh in that you go parallel to the ridge, except that the view to the right is all of bay and water. There are these huge parks on the hills too, framed by Victorian row houses.
I'm not sure why, but I think Fall River is considered kind of scuzzy in the local pecking order. There are mills all over the place, and northeastern mill towns and industrial centers are not in good shape generally. But it was definitely the neatest place I've been since moving here; my mind keeps going back to it and how great it was to drive along that ridge.
Anyway, back to earth. I got a frighteningly vague email from my friend Sam today, who tells me she's been hospitalized in Bangkok, the prognosis is "bleak," and her parents are flying to see her. "Nother dying come home Father" is what flashed through my mind (a Joyce allusion only she would get). She would be mad at me for posting here what I'm sure she considers an invasion of privacy, but god damn it I'm worried.
I'm going to take shower, and then that walk. Probably in the woods in Dedham somewhere.
Then the "Check Engine" light comes on.
Really, that is about the way things go. Last week was one of the worst in a long while. I survived the company risorgimento and am now in fact doing American history again, as I had thought. Even this was muffed by the company as we received a helpful email from the COO on Wednesday telling us about all the wonderful things the company was doing. One of the wonderful things is holding a mandatory company-wide meeting on a day I had planned to travel to a conference in Maryland, so that was all fucked up. Now our trip to see Josh & Dalit, which we had been looking forward to, was torpedoed. Anyway, we got an organization chart (new things all the time at the company, hm) and I was listed as "Western Civilization content developer". This would be completely in character for them: a decision from the top that made no sense and that I had no say in. You could feel the anxiety ripple across the room as people opened up this email. It turned out to be a mistake in my case. On the other hand, one of the people in my former department, who was really really good at what we did is now a "copy editor," a fucking demotion.
Anyway, the point is that, as my (now former) boss told me, I am the least affected of any of them by what's happened. I guess that Ph.D. does come in handy after all. Otherwise I'd probably be looking for a new job by now. There's all kinds of other nickel and dime kind of stuff but I won't bore with the details. Suffice to say that this email, which was probably meant to energize us, was pretty demoralizing to everyone, in part because it seems like there's all this churning at the top and goals are shifting rapidly, giving the impression that all this is a hail-mary act of desperation.
Anyway... yes, any security I feel about things is quickly dissipated by the albatross of the car. It has almost 90K on it so there's that $700 or so check coming up. Then the thieves at Sears fixed the brakes a month ago, yet the brakes still squeal and when you stop the car it sometimes literally grinds to a halt. Mrs. Sanpaku took it to Firestone and they said it needs new rotors and rear brake pads... hm, the Sears service slip says they did rear brakes. So one place or the other is lying. The rotors are remarkably inexpensive, actually, but the whole thing would be at least $250 on top of something like $500 already spent.
Then there is the aforementioned "Check Engine" light, which to be fair did go out and hasn't reappeared. But the car feels logey and clacks like a lawn mower when it's at idle. I think it needs a tune up or something.
I mean, it's an amazing thing. I can find out anything on the internet except an answer to the question "what does it mean when the car makes a sound like so-and-so." (It's amazing how little car advice there is on the web.) So you're completely at the mercy of people who have no concern for your money or time. I spent 30 minutes just waiting in line at the Sears (the brakes are supposed to have a warranty, 12K mileage). This takes so long because you wait there while they spend HOURS hitting things into the keyboard. I can only speculate as to what they are:
Has funny hairstyle Y/N: Y
Wears bad shoes Y/N: Y
Knows difference between pads and rotors Y/N: N
Knows what a camshaft is Y/N: N
Looks like a lawyer Y/N: N
...and so on, so they figure out how much money can be extracted from you. Anyway after all this wait of course he told me to leave the car all day (they are horrible about time there) so I said no thanks. I have a vacation day today that I need to do something with. I think I will go for a walk somewhere-- it's supposed to be mild-- and then go see the Coen brothers movie.
Anyway, what saved us over the weekend was finally finding two, maybe three, things that are good about Boston, as opposed to not bad. The first was a Greek restaurant in north Cambridge that we happened upon by accident. The phone book had 3 Greek restaurants listed in the entire city. The first one was overpriced and underwhelming, basically a bar. So we go out Saturday looking. The second is now something else. The third was in a hotel, no veggie entrees, almost got killed getting into the place (love making a left-hand turn from a 50 mph undivided 4 lane highway in the dark-- that's Boston!). We decide to drive around Cambridge a little and are about to give up when we find the place on Mass Ave about 7 or 8 minutes north of Harvard. Not Samos (Baltimore's greatest hidden treasure) but pretty good and cheap for here. The second, possibly good thing we found was a diner on the same road on the way home. Last week we had driven on this same road coming from the other direction and gave up just before we would have found it. Instead we went to a truly horrifying Chinese restaurant whose food reminded me of the second Indiana Jones movie.
The other great thing we found was Fall River. We went for a drive yesterday and it's just a place on the map. I was blown away. It is almost like a miniature San Francisco; you come in over a bay of the Atlantic and immediately start going very steep uphill until you're at the height of this huge ridge overlooking that bay. The town is perched above the bay overlooking the bridge; it's like Pittsburgh in that you go parallel to the ridge, except that the view to the right is all of bay and water. There are these huge parks on the hills too, framed by Victorian row houses.
I'm not sure why, but I think Fall River is considered kind of scuzzy in the local pecking order. There are mills all over the place, and northeastern mill towns and industrial centers are not in good shape generally. But it was definitely the neatest place I've been since moving here; my mind keeps going back to it and how great it was to drive along that ridge.
Anyway, back to earth. I got a frighteningly vague email from my friend Sam today, who tells me she's been hospitalized in Bangkok, the prognosis is "bleak," and her parents are flying to see her. "Nother dying come home Father" is what flashed through my mind (a Joyce allusion only she would get). She would be mad at me for posting here what I'm sure she considers an invasion of privacy, but god damn it I'm worried.
I'm going to take shower, and then that walk. Probably in the woods in Dedham somewhere.
