Susan's Scribblings the Blog

Monthly Archives: September 2010

• Sandal Sadness

  Posted at 1:26 am by kayewer, on September 26, 2010

  The company summer dress code goes away Thursday.  That means sandals will be forbidden as of Friday, along with mid-length pants and sleeveless tops.  The hosiery comes out again, along with clunky shoes.  Since it doesn’t feel like autumn quite yet, this change causes quite a few complaints.

  I finally got a pair of sandals I really like, and I’ve worn them this summer.  The toenails got painted, too, which I never did before.  Of course,  just because the toes will be hidden in shoes doesn’t mean I still can’t paint them, but what would be the point if nobody sees them but my shoes and me?

  As a woman, I’ve accepted the fact that I must suffer some discomfort when wearing shoes, because they must look nothing like one’s feet to be considered fashionable, and they never really feel good even when they’re fitted well.  Since the caveman days, the best footwear is soft buckskin, and you just can’t wear them to the office.

  Dress codes are challenged daily when office personnel feel that their naturalized American freedoms are being repressed, so I don’t know what will be done with the new open toe boots coming into fashion this year.  Will lopped-off toe caps be allowed in a non public contact office environment, or will unfortunate wearers be sent home to change into unsullied boots with pointy enclosed end pieces?

  I don’t intend to buy a pair of those trendy boots.  Trends have too short a shelf life for my wallet.  I will, however, stock up on more sandals for next May, when the toes can legally come out of hiding again.  Meanwhile it’s time to break out the clunky shoes and make Dr. Scholl’s retirement fund grow again.

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• The Cell Phone Madness

  Posted at 1:38 am by kayewer, on September 19, 2010

  I went to the cell phone store to update my plan.  In the old days, you called the phone company and they did it all for you, but nowadays the phone is more like a Barbie:  once you get one, you spend months or years loading up on the accessories.  You also have to do it yourself.

  I must admit that my phone is for emergencies only, so over the years I’ve only had to upgrade it once, and I never worry about using up the minutes I’m allotted.  The fellow next to me at the massive eight-register counter, on the other hand, had gone over his texting and call limits, and his bill was the cost of a new television.  He didn’t seem to mind.

  Mine carried a balance, and this caused me a problem.

  There is a limit on how much of a balance one can bank on the cell phone plan.  The most cost-effective way to load minutes is by the year, so that’s what I wanted to do.  The computer, unfortunately,  wouldn’t let me do that because I would have had a few dollars more than the balance limits.

  The customer service rep was pleasant and apologized for the wait while he hashed out the problem with the headquarters office.  I wound up being in the store for about 45 minutes for what could have taken five.

  The final solution was that the phone company had to remove the amount that would have put me over the balance limit, and they will give it back to me in a few days.  Their recommendation was that I use the phone a lot between now and then.  I laughed.

  I suppose I could blame myself for not having a life, since I obviously don’t use the phone often enough to hack away at the balance, but if one uses a cell phone for emergencies only, why should the cost be so astronomical and the limits so incapacitating?  Sure there are plans for $10 a month, but this was better than that plan and I don’t feel I should have to pay for a convenience I truly need.

  Of course they won’t give me any of that money back, so I’m stuck with money I don’t use, and heaven knows what will happen next year this time.

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• Table Tomes by the Ton

  Posted at 11:51 pm by kayewer, on September 12, 2010

  Whoever invented the “coffee table book” probably didn’t mean for them to be portable.  These days people seem to scoff at any book weighing more than a Kindle.  The over-sized hardcover book is still a part of literary and decorating culture, but obviously books that are the size of small blackboards or containing more than 1000 pages add some inconvenience to the package.

  I’m taking a class and just got my textbook.  The questions came up as soon as I walked in the door from work:  how many books did you order?  When my reply was one, there was doubt.  As I picked it up to release it from the usual Amazon sparingly effective packaging, I realized I had a heavy one, weighing somewhere in the range of a bowling ball (I used to use an eight pounder).  Taking it to the bathroom scale, I found that the textbook weighed nine pounds.

  So I have to attend classes each week toting the equivalent of a hefty newborn.  Maybe I should have bought two, so both arms could get a workout.  I always use totes rather than backpacks,  and probably in this case that is a good idea:  can you imagine the spinal agony I’d be courting if I dropped this literary piece of lead into a backpack?

  I hope we use every one of the 2,000 pages in this literary behemoth.  I’ll be 2,000 pages smarter and, with the workout, maybe 20 pounds lighter.

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• A Relaxing Drive

  Posted at 1:08 am by kayewer, on September 5, 2010

  The problems with the I-295 construction aren’t in the repair work itself, but in the people driving through it.  Miles of the major highway through New Jersey have been blocked off and squeezed in for repaving and other repairs continuing into 2012.  The posted speed limit is 45 in most of the construction zones; outside it’s a harrowing 65.

  People, however, pay little heed to signs.  Since the police can’t do an effective job at stopping the masses of law breakers (how could they get into a lane to chase down somebody in a five-mile construction zone with no pulloff zones?), cars and trucks zoom through tight two-lane work areas at various speeds, and none under the posted one.  Even the truckers, who should know better, make commuting a death-defying feat.  On one memorable trip, a semi ahead of me in the right lane actually scraped the guardrails, and the smell and sounds of abused metal filled the cabin of my car.  The rails had only been in service about two months, and already they look 20 years old.

  Yesterday, however, I had the most enjoyable trip using I-295.  Not only could I stay under 45 in the construction zone, but I also barely nudged my speed past 55-60 the rest of the way.  The difference was the lack of rush hour traffic at the start of a holiday weekend.  Sure, just about everybody passed me, because well established habits don’t get broken easily, but I was happy for a break from the stress of the Indy 500 in disguise.

  I do feel for the commuters who hate driving the road on any day of the week.  I also feel for the officers who really should be allowed to put pace cars in front of the traffic to get it down to a reasonable speed.  I doubt anybody will consciously slow their cars down when the unpredictability of construction is putting such a measurable damper on the timing of their trips from day to day, but the only way to control what is out there is to set the example.  As long as everybody goes along, nobody will have the benefit of a relaxing drive on a major highway, with or without construction.

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