Saturday 9

Saturday 9: Daddy's Back

If you're not familiar with today's song, you can hear it here. 

1) Crazy Sam's dad often traveled for business, and always remembered to bring her the little complimentary soaps or body lotions he got from the hotel. When you travel, do you bring back souvenirs? Send post cards? I send cards. My nephew, age 13, tells me I'm the only person he has ever received a postcard from. I think that's kind of sad. I also try to bring back something little for everyone at the office. It helps us feel a little more like a team.

 
2) When you fly, do you prefer window or aisle? Or doesn't it matter? Aisle. Gotta be aisle.

 

  3) According to Askmen.com, Jim Anderson (Robert Young) of Father Knows Best is the best TV dad ever. Who is your favorite TV (or movie) dad? I always wished Sheriff Andy was my father. He listened to Opie and seemed to enjoy his son so much.

 
4) Sam's father was the family disciplinarian. What about you? Do you consider yourself a rule maker, a rule follower, or a rule breaker? I live by myself, so I guess I'm all three.

 
5) Sam's father was the one who gave her driving lessons. Think back to your first few times behind the wheel. Were you a naturally good driver? Oh, I sucked. I'm a terrible driver.

 
6) This week's featured artist, Kenny Loggins, was born in Washington state. Have you ever lived in, or traveled to, any of our northern border states? (For those of you not as well versed in geography as Crazy Sam, that's AK, WA, MT, ND, MN, WI, MI PA, NY, VT, and ME.) Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania and New York.

  7) As part of the duo Loggins and Messina, Loggins performed the song "House at Pooh Corner." Do you have a favorite character from the Winnie the Pooh books/movies? Eeyore. No contest.

 
8) The mercury is going to start rising. How hot is too hot for you? 85º? 95º? Or are you one of those  "the hotter the better" people? I HATE hot weather. If I was in charge of the universe, the mercury would never top 80º.

 
9) To celebrate Father's Day, Sam is giving away her father's favorite candy: LifeSavers. Would you prefer a roll of Wild Cherry, or Butter Rum, or Winter Green or Peppermint?  Wild Cherry, please.

It arrived!

My futon arrived today, safe and sound, and I'm very happy with it. (I'm sitting on it right now, in fact.) But I spent so much time fixating on how much to tip the delivery men. They agreed to haul my old sofa to the dumpster in exchange for "a couple bucks." How much is "a couple bucks?"

This is why I hate tipping!

I asked around at work and the guy in the next office said he always tips workmen $20, or $10/guy. That seemed a little low to me. But then again, they didn't specify what "a couple bucks" meant. So I gave them each $13. That's $26 for taking my sofa and cushions (which were embarrassingly filthy, btw) down to the dumpster.

$13 doesn't sound that much better than $10, but $26 sounds more fair than $20. WHO MAKES UP THE RULES FOR TIPPING?

Image courtesy of jannoon028, FreeDigitalPhotos.net

"Checking in."

"Hi. Haven't heard from you in a while." So began this afternoon's email from my best friend.

I always wondered, in a purely intellectual way, how his sulks end. I mean, I can't be the only one he
goes silent with when he's angry or upset. But, when he's done this with me in the past, I have always gone out of my way to keep the lines of communication open, to make it easy for him to resume contact. This time I didn't. We've played this game too many times, he and I.

It isn't that I don't still admire his moral compass in business matters, his dedication to his daughters, his clear-eyed way of viewing my problems and all the other things that make him wonderful. It's just that at times, he can be soooo oversensitive, so high maintenance, that he leaves me weary.

Oh well, after almost a month, he's back in touch. That's the important thing. I guess I can be just as childish.

Twice in one day

Twice yesterday I completely misjudged people I casually came in contact with. I'm alternately ashamed of myself and grateful for the opportunity to view my world a little differently.

The first was at the health club. Let me premise this by saying I'm 5'2 and wear a size 16. So I'm fat. But the woman I encountered at the club yesterday was obese. HUGE! Between her wide ass and her gym bag, 2/3 of the bench in front of the lockers was gone. I hate that! I was just thinking that I wished I could dress in the same zip code as my locker when I noticed her awful dignity. It took her soooo long to change into her workout clothes. And she was so pitifully vulnerable in the fluorescent lights with her rolls of flesh exposed. She apologized for leaving her locker open -- as if those few inches of space would alleviate my distress -- and it hit me that the very act of coming to the club was courageous for her.

And then there was the family who got on the el. Mom, Dad, baby in stroller and toddler boy. Oh, GOD! There would be crying and fidgeting and scolding ... I need this noise on the way home? Instead, the kids were completely adorable. The little boy especially. He kept pointing in wide-eyed wonder and high-fiving his father. I'd forgotten how amazing it truly is to ride home on railings high above the traffic. I should try to retain that little boy's attitude every day when I board the train.