The bright side of a Moon
Did the weekly grocery shopping tonight.
Standing in the cookie aisle (gotta have snacks and goodies) I saw Mother’s Hawaiian Chocolate Chip cookies.
“Wha? Hawaiian? What makes them ‘Hawaiian?'”
The package spelled it out: chocolate chips… with a hint of coconut!
Ooooh…
And, yes, they’re delicious.
Ran today. Wanted to run outside, on the Three Parks run, which is around 3.5 miles, but it was raining.
So I went to the gym and ran on the treadmill. 3.5 miles, 34:12 total time, for a 9:46 pace. My longest and probably fastest run of the year so far. Yay, me.
I’m glad. Really. I’m going to be very ready for the Shamrock Run 5K this year.
In other running news, I asked Caleb what he thought of my toe, and Caleb’s response was “I don’t know.” Neither one of us is sure that I’m actually losing a toenail, but we’re reasonably sure that whatever it is has been caused by running. Maybe I should post a picture? Since I just paid over $200 for an office visit that did not get applied to my deductible, I don’t exactly want to go back in just to have to pay through the nose for a toe.
Sitting at lunch this week with an old friend that I hadn’t seen in a long time, I finally got a word in edgewise while she caught me up on all she’s been up to. She’d been rattling on about how much she remembered about me (more than I remembered about her, I’m afraid), paused to take a breath…
…and I leaned over and tapped the large gold band encrusted with diamonds on her left hand ring finger. “Is this for real,” I asked with a smirk, “or is it just to scare guys off?”
She looked down at it, laughed, embarrassed, started turning it around on her finger. “Yeah, it’s just to scare guys off” she admitted. “Well, plus, I’ve been filing. I normally wear it on this hand,” and she pulled it off, transferred it over to the ring finger on her other hand, “but it gets in the way.”
I leaned back and smiled knowingly. “Some guys” I sighed and shook my head in disbelief. “From what I remembered of you, you didn’t seem like the marrying kind.”
Score one for a direct question. I do learn, eventually.
Yeah! I’m losing a toenail!
They said this would happen when I started running. But… they said it would happen when I ran a marathon or something.
Maybe my shoes are too tight. Or… I dunno. Something.
Music I want to actually pay for:
Hmmm… any more suggestions? Comment away, commenting mofos!
Sorry, I keep updating this post with new stuff as I remember. Technically, I should be adding them in the comments myself, but it’s my site and I’ll do as I please…)
Intersection of two of my favorit-est things: Jhonen Vasquez and Penny Arcade.
Tycho and Gabe went to the Emerald City Comic Con last weekend, and Tycho (with whom I have exchanged email (about The Long Winters)) writes about the portent-filled meeting thusly:
The convention was pretty entertaining overall, though we had less visitors the next day. It seems like the set of people who attend comic conventions and the set of people who crave the Super Bowl (which I guess is basically the best bowl out there) would be fairly small, but I haven’t actually done a study. At any rate, I will tell you that the set of people who crave the Super Bowl (see above) and the people who crave Jhonen Vasquez is practically nonexistent. The man projects a line where no line existed – he sits down, and immediately the line goes woawrown. It was pretty interesting to hear stories from readers about monstrous things he’s done and his beastly acts toward them, and then a half an hour later to have him come over and ask us if we want shirts and hang out for like twenty minutes talking about videogames and Strawberry Shortcake. Of course, if he’s rooted in one spot for very long, there’s the woawrown again, and he has magically grafted his line to the front of our booth which gave us a real prestige. And there was this this sort of angelic autumn princess that would follow him, which made me follow them, just so I could hold the hem of her gossamer cape and think about decay.
He was really nice to us, by the way. Oh! And His name is pronounced Jonen, not Zhonen or Yonen or however the fuck I kept saying it when I was there. Eventually I realized that I had fucked it up (“That’s now how my name is pronounced”) but then I had to stick to it just to prove I was dedicated. It’s like, look Frenchy. I don’t know what the fuck kind of sound a J and an H make, okay? You’re rocking some Russian consonant activity.
He gave me an armful of Fillerbunny merchandise, and I was happy to give him everything his tubercular frame could support. I was particularly happy to hand over the Obsidian Spur, as even when I was writing it I thought the notion of a gothic line dancing troupe might appeal to him. Indeed, he might be the only person alive for whom such a concept has appeal.
Ah, thank you, Tycho; I’ve always wondered how to spell the sound a lightsaber makes. I need waaaaaaaay more practice making onomatopoeic words.
Not only does Tycho’s writing make me laugh, he reminds me that I still need to pick up the third Invader Zim DVD…
In related news, Jhonen Vasquez’s official site is both unfinished and very funny. But you probably knew that already.
I went to the Apple Store out in Washington Square and they actually had floor models of the Mac Minis. I played with them for a bit to compare their performance to the Dual 2.5 GHz PowerMacs and the iMacs. The Mac Mini is, um, slower.
They really really are just a bit bigger than 5 or 6 CD jewel cases stacked up. TINY. In fact, when I walked up, I thought it was the power brick for the 23″ Apple Cinema Display it was connected to!
If I wasn’t jonesing for a DVD burner, I’d have cancelled my order and bought one on the spot. (SuperDrive is a build-to-order option only, more’s the pity).
I made sure and asked every sales person I saw if they had any iPod Shuffles in stock. The looks I got from the staff were priceless.
Those who follow this space closely (which is all of you, right?) will realize that my “Picture of the Week” has been the same for two weeks.
Normally I change it on Saturday or Sunday. But I haven’t changed it for a while because there’s some controversy over how it should work.
I haven’t made any of the suggested changes yet, but I wanted you all to know that I will be changing the picture. It’s going to work the same as it’s always worked.
Also, I can’t keep up with Friday Night Cat Blogging. Just too much stuff going on on Fridays for that.
Running update:
I ran. I ran so far away.
I ran at least 3 miles, three times this week. I ran at around a 10:00 pace, not great, but there you have it. I’m trying not to keep track of pace and just run in whatever my “aerobic zone” is, or keep time with the music (I’m loving the running with music and will be happy when my iPod Shuffle shows up and I can run outside with a soundtrack), but when I’m running on a treadmill it’s hard not to keep track since there’s a damned timer right there in front of me. Did I say “dammit” already?
I’m working on distance more than pace right now. Although this month’s Runner’s World talks about incorporating speedwork once per week. Maybe I’ll do that.
As a side note, there are so many great ideas in Runner’s World each and every month, and each and every month I read the articles and think, “Yeah, I should do that.” And then I think about it, and maybe try it a couple of times, but before I know it next month’s issue arrives, with a completely different new idea, and the cycle starts anew. So hard to just stick to one idea for a while.
It’d be cool if I could have “side notes” actually appear over there on the side. Y’know, considering how often I use the phrase “side note” (A search turned up four posts where I’ve used it on this blog but I’d swear there were more). Maybe I’ll implement “side notes” in Lunar Obverse 2.0. Which I am still working on, I promise.
In my mail this morning was a brand-new credit card, from Direct Merchants Bank. I thought they couldn’t send out cards like that anymore? Oh, silly me, I forgot. We have a Republican in the White House.
Don’t they know I’m trying to pay these things off? Sheesh. It’s like they feed off my attempts to strengthen myself. Evil.
I looked over the terms: starting me out with $600 credit limit. No annual fee; that’s nice. And after searching through the paperwork thoroughly (why do they bury that stuff) I found that it’s got no interest for the first 3 months, then I start paying a 16.74% variable APR after that.
That might seem high to some folk, but it’s actually better terms than my other MasterCard, my one from Household Bank. My Household MC has the same credit limit, but a $59.00 annual fee and an 19.99% variable APR.
What’s interesting is that I had, in the last month, sent Household an email asking for a better interest rate and for them to waive the annual fee, since I had just completely paid off the card. I was going to use my miniscule amount of leverage to either get rid of them or get a better deal. But the answer came back; no dice. Take it or leave it.
My choice, then, was clear.
I’ll dump the worse card. Or at least try to talk them into matching the terms.
Called the number for Household on the back of my card (hey! it’s a local number; area code 503), after navigating through the voice mail maze, I finally reached Tammy. After she pulled up my information she asked me how she could assist me today.
I explained that I was looking to cancel my card, and when she asked me why, I told her about the great new card that I was already holding in my hands with which I would replace theirs.
(Side note: I also told her about asking the bank for better terms through email. Her reply was, “The online folks don’t have the authority to waive annual fees.”
“Oh,” I said, “Then wouldn’t it have been better if they had just said that?” She demurred, “Well, they were just telling you what they could do for you.”
I don’t know; you be the judge:
Dear Brian Moon,
We understand your concern regarding this matter.
Unfortunately, we are unable to remove the annual membership fee from your account. According to your Cardmember Agreement and Disclosure Statement, an annual fee will be billed to your account on the open date and on the anniversary date each year the account is open. This fee allows us to continue to provide quality service to our customers.
We have also received your request for a reduced annual percentage rate; however, a lower rate is not currently available.
If you wish to close your account, please call the number on the back of your credit card to reach our Customer Care Department.
Thank you for using our online services.
Sincerely,
Email-monkey
Household Bank Customer Care
So, she messed around on her computer for a bit, looked at my account (perfect payment history for as long as I’ve had the card), and offered to credit my account with half of the annual fee. I pointed out, again, that the new card has no annual fee, ever. She typed some keys again, and then said that she would be able to waive the annual fee entirely for the current year. When I pressed on the interest rate (which, considering my goal of paying it off in full every month, is less important but still a good thing to ask for) she said that she would not be able to change that.
Looks like I’m no longer a Household Bank customer. I did give them a chance to retain my business, though. Buh-bye.