My Unfocused Life

My wife and I live in well to do town near Boston, and a few years ago we bought a condo near the “happening” part of town. Needless to say, we did not buy a cheap place. The people before us, did lots of renovations on their own, that we expected to fix over time. Case in point, one of the living room walls has a 1″ space between the studs and the plasterboard. Not the makings of a sturdy wall (I am now amazed that they hung a 50″ Plasma TV on this wall.)

As part of their “on the cheap” activities, they purchased a Maytag vertical stack washer dryer. This is not one of those new hifalutin’ models with the front load washer and any wrinkle steam dryers. No, this is your moms 1960 Kenmore, in a vertical arrangement. Our problem with this machine, is that it eats our clothes. All of my new T-shirts and winter pullovers have little chew marks at the bottom near the waist, and around the seams under the arms. Or plan was to use this machine for several years, and eventually replace it with a better system. We have already destroyed more clothes then the worth of the machine, so we decided that later should become sooner.

Our plan was to get a “high end” washer dryer that would fit in our current kitchen laundry area. The current monster overfills the current space. We wanted something that something that could be installed at counter depth (24″). So off we went to the high end appliance store in Wellesley and looked at Miele and Bosche systems. The Miele was just too f**king expensive, and the Bosche was missing important features. We settled on a washer / dryer set made by a Swedish company named Asko.

So in the middle of April, I plunked down the Amex card, and ordered the machines. After the charges went through to my card, they informed me that the optional little tray that sits between the washer and dryer ( a $250 item), was on backorder and would not be available for a few weeks. “Did I want the washer and dryer delivered anyway?”, they asked. “No”, I replied, “we really don’t have the space to let the units sit around until they are installed. We live a small condo and space is a premium.”

A few weeks later, they called my wife to let her know that the systems had arrived, but there was no room on the truck until the following Friday, my wife’s birthday. The salesman made a strong point to my wife, that i was my fault this was taking so long since I didn’t want the units delivered right way. “Are you fucking, kidding me?”, I asked her. I guess they are use to people who take delivery on major appliances that they won’t be able to use for a month because the distributer can’t get a critical component. The salesman did offer me the showroom display unit, but at full price. I decided I would rather wait for a new one.

So finally Friday arrived, and I took the day off to receive the appliances. The delivery showed up on time, but we noticed that the washer was “scrunched” (squished and crunched) when they removed it from the shipping carton. So now I will have to take another day off next week, to receive the unit. Meanwhile, I have already paid off the bill of the Amex card.

So this is a message to Asko, Miele, Bosche, Wolf, Sub Zero, and anyone else that makes high end appliances. WTF is wrong with you people? Haven’t you figured it out that people who buy your shit, are paying your high prices so we don’t have to deal with the trials and tribulations of Timmy the Maytag repair man.

Next time I am going to consider ordering my appliances through the Internet. The service can’t be any worse.

I was talking with a Russian acquaintance of mine today about the new immigration laws in Arizona. He said he was all for them. “Most of them are here illegally, anyways”, and then he added, “and if they are not, then what are they afraid of?”. I tried to point out to him that one of our civil rights is protection of harassment. It isn’t spelled out that way, but we are protected from unreasonable search and seizure. That means that there has to be probable cause for any police action against us. Allowing the police to “search” an individual because of his ethnic background does not pass the litmus test of probably cause.

I also read recently that a strong supporter of the Tea Party movement is “Ella” a Ukrainian immigrant who believes that all socialism is bad. She will fight against it even though she doesn’t understand the idea of individual civil rights and the responsibilities that go with them. She is also a staunch critic of organizations like the ACLU who “protect the socialists.”

My question to Ella and my friend is, who the fuck suddenly made you experts on freedom. You don’t have a fucking clue what you are talking about.

The people who ferreted your countries into communism were as pig headed and naive as you. It is unquestioning support of a personal belief that got them into trouble. It is the attitude of kill the people who disagree that opposes moderation and allows lunatics to run the show.

We need socialism. We need to collect taxes to pay for police, fire protection, regulations on water, food and drugs, and to keep the markets free and safe. At the moment, the free market is not working in our favor with healthcare. I don’t want Blue Cross or Kaiser Permanente deciding the fate of our healthcare. Neither would I trust Exxon or BP to regulate our natural resources, or Blackwater to provide protection of our citizens against terrorist plots.

Let me just point out, Ella, that over the years we didn’t drive our country into fucking socialism. That would be your country This country has been working just fine without you. You want to take a stand? Then read the fucking constitution and its amendments. They are the foundation for our system of beliefs. Understand what works and what is failing before you try to institute change.. You appear to be naive and your new political friends are likely taking advantage of you. It’s kind of like Mother Küsters in Fassbinder’s film “Mother Küsters’ Trip to Heaven”: Personal tragedy has Mother Küsters searching for meaning in an un-familiar world, and the everyone with an agenda exploits her for their own purposes.

In 1991 I went to Cancun Mexico on vacation. It was my first trip to a third world country, and it lived up to its reputation. The airport was set up so Taxi’s were not allowed to enter the arrival area of the Airport. As travelers we were forced to take a “hotel shuttle”, where the staff stole my suit bag (yes, people use to travel with suit bags).

The first rule, posted at the hotel, was that the water was not potable. Nicer establishments posted signs letter you know that their ice was made from bottled water. There were instructions our room telling us how to take a shower. “Keep you mouth tightly closed during your shower”, they commanded. Bottled water was in ample supply for 10 cents per bottle.

Cancun boasted about being an “international” city. It was abound with restaurants of all types and ethnicities. Prices were high, close to Boston restaurant prices, but the wait staff was not the same caliber. Besides the language difficulties, the wait staff was not proficient. They could not keep orders straight or remember requests. There was always something amiss at each meal.

I only mention all this, because 20 years later Cancun is still the same. It’s Boston that has fallen from grace. Last weekend Alla and I took Zoie to the Museum of Fine Arts for “family day.” Afterwards, we dined in the museum cafe. The wait staff couldn’t communicate well in English,. When finally, after much effort, we came to an understanding with our waiter, our orders arrived incorrectly. The shrimp salad was replaced with chicken salad. As we waited for our corrected order, we noticed many sandwiches returning to the kitchen, carried by confused looking waiters. Seems like a scene from “Cancun meets the MFA.”

But wait, that’s not all. On Saturday, a 7 year old feat of engineering MWRA (Mass Water Resources Authority) water pipe burst requiring the state to tap into the emergency water supply. Read emergency as “dirty.” Suddenly, everyone was buying bottled water. Restaurants were posting little signs about the clean source of their water for brewing coffee and making ice. The MWRA web site instructed us to use bottled water or rapid boil our drinking water for at least 1 minute. There were even instructions about how to keep your mouth shut while taking a shower.

I was stressed out by the unclean water. Dishes had to be sanitized once removed from the dishwasher. In a moment of my darkness, Alla tried to put a humorous spin on the weekends events. “Pretend we are on vacation in Mexico”, she quipped. I respond with, “I don’t have to pretend, I think we live there.”

I remember when flying was fun. When the entire process of flying made me feel important and special, except for airline food. Now I hate everything about flying. I hate the airlines, the security lines, and the pompous policies. I especially hate the delineation between priority and normal flyers. It’s as if we’ve taken a giant step backward in our quality of life. Airlines treat their special customers better then the rest of us schmucks, but only slightly. The orts of privilege they bestow upon their frequent flyers still makes them feel special. The same offerings make me feel like a sap.

I say this while sitting in the Admirals club at SFO waiting for my flight. This is one of the few benefits I receive from my platinum American Express card. Even with this benefit, American airlines distinguishes between their “special” customers and the poor saps, like me, who come in through the back door. I don’t get free internet like the regular folks. Well fuck you American Airlines, I have Sprint 4G.

I have this strange feeling that all will work out in the end. Somehow American Airlines will reap what they sow. I realize they are just trying to survive this economy like the rest of us. I just hope my survival doesn’t make people hate me, like I hate American. Do they think that all of this ill will is go unnoticed. If I were one of the fucking idiots who own American stock, I would be rethinking my investment strategy. It is very hard to make a profit in the service industry when people hate you.

I still fly when I have to, but it doesn’t mean I have to like it.

That is why Rupert Murdoch just pulled Sean Hannity from speaking at a tea party rally in Cincinnati saying that Fox should not be supporting any political party. Of course, Rupert makes no comment about Fox’s constant mantra of “Republican Good, Democrat Bad.” Sources close to Fox say that Murdoch was disturbed by the financial arrangement between Hannity and the Tea Party. Seems that Murdoch wasn’t getting his fair share.

Mr Murdoch, why don’t you fucking go back to Australia with the rest of the weirdos? At least there it is legal to censor information and lie to people.

Do you drive a Nissan car or truck and if so are you easily distracted and impatient? I was just wondering, because I commute 40 miles each day and I noticed that Nissan drivers drive like asshole. They are either 1) driving way to fast for conditions in a somewhat erratic fashion, or 2) are driving much too slowly in the left lane relative to the rest of traffic, or 3) they are really, really rude. It is as if they want to be driving BMWs, but can’t afford them.

In case you are from the West Coast, we reserve the left most lane for fast driving. This is left over from the days where it was illegal to pass on the right – even on a freeway.

I really don’t know much about the Tea Party movement, but they really sound like a bunch of selfish whiney pussies.

Until we divest ourselves of the high military spending due to multiple war fronts (military actions?), whining about big government is waisting our time and resources. I don’t advocate ending our military actions, I just don’t want to listen to you whine about government spending.

Ron Paul wants us to return to the governing principles of our founding fathers. As I recall, that meant making money by feeding the slave trade and wiping the indigenous Americans off the continent in the name of progress. Ron, I’d rather have healthcare you fucking pussy hypocrite.

I got a really nice letter from Reckitt Benckiser North America in response to the email I sent them yesterday about their new Quantumatic product. I was surprised they were so pleasant after I told them that Quantumatic was one of the the fucking stupidest idea for a product in recent memory. Thank you Rocco Farrelli for your kind words. They were most appreciated.

I also got an email from statcounter.org informing me of their new tracking services, so I reinstalled statcounter and discovered that 5 people found their way to my blog. Statcounter is awesome.

A few more hits and I may have to start acting civilized.

In one of my rare moments, I was watching television tonight and saw an ad for a new product from Reckitt-Benckiser for their new Finish Quantumatic detergent dispenser. Apparently it is a gigantic canister that you put in your dishwasher that dispenses 12 days worth of detergent without a refill. I guess they feel that Americans are so fucking lazy, that they can’t open the dispenser and fill it with dishwasher detergent. They already have a time saving tablet product that saves you the time and effort of pouring the detergent from the box into the dispenser. I use that product and my life is so much more complete now that I don’t have pour out the detergent into the pre-measured dispenser cup. . In fact, we are so lazy, that my wife and I argue over whose turn it is to put the tablet into the dishwasher and press the start button. “Oh honey, I put the tablet in the dishwasher and it was so much work that I am too tired to push the start button.”, she would say. “Why don’t we buy the new Quantumatic dispenser ‘cuz I can bear to put anymore tablets into the dishwasher.”

Well that’s all for now, I have to go. It is my turn to push the start button.

Please think hard about your repeal and replace policy. Yes, it is true that none of us are happy with the current healthcare plan, but make no mistake we don’t want the likes of you fucking with it. You had your chance. You had almost 20 years of republican controlledlegislatures. In that time you did fucking nothing about healthcare. I take that back. You killed any change of healthcare reform in 1993 because you didn’t like the way Hillary did things.

When we finally had a champion of healthcare reform, you chose a policy of obstructionism against this champion. You flooded us with lies and innuendos for your own political gain at the cost of us lowly taxpayers. Although we don’t like the healthcare plan, we know who is the cause of its piss poor outcome. You Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, the mother fucker of all bad politicians.

I am not a political heavy. I just believe everyone has the right to a comfortable life. It’s kind of like your anti abortion policies, where you say everyone unborn child has a right to life. Only, if you force an anti abortion policy, then you have to take care of the unwanted children who are thrust into this world. You can’t have it both ways. Taking care of unwanted children means not abandoning them when they turn into adults. You have to ensure that they have food, a place to live, and healthcare. You see, a right to life policy must apply to everyone, old and young. Otherwise, you are a hypocrite.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, you are a fucking hypocrite. A big fucking hypocrite. And under no circumstances will I forget that. Not even when I think the Democrats are so full of shit that their eyes are brown.

Here in Massachusetts we have a newly elected republican senator. I didn’t vote for him, but I now stand behind him. I will be watching closely. If he begins to spout the nonsense that seems to permeate your party, then I will do everything in my power to get him out of office in two years. If, on the other hand, he follows a policy of conscience and reason then I will stand behind him.

Your party needs people like Scott Brown, because right now, it is a party of fucking stupid assholes.