Have a Nice Day!

I have just a few minutes until my car arrives to take me to the airport (yes, again) and I just had to take the opportunity for this quick blog entry:

This morning, I arrived at my office building and pressed the button to call the elevator. Within about 10 seconds, another woman rushed up to the elevator bank, looking generally mad at the world, grumbling and loudly sighing. She kept pressing the button on the wall even though it was already lit. A few seconds later, the elevator arrived and she practically hockey-checked me aside to get in the elevator first.

She pressed the button for the 42nd floor and before I was even completely in the elevator, she was already pressing the "close doors" button. As I reached up and pressed the button for the 37th floor, she glared at me and heaved another loud sigh.

The elevator stopped at my floor and before the doors even opened, she was once again furiously and repeatedly pressing the "close doors" button. I laughed good-naturedly and joked "Let me get out first!"

To which she replied with a loud "SHUT UP!" and another nasty glare.

As I exited the elevator, I turned to her and with the brightest smile I could muster, said "I hope your day gets a lot better!"

And after the doors closed behind me, I cursed her under my breath.

November was Lovely in June

Last weekend, Special K and I went to see David Mamet's new play, "November", on Broadway. Concerned that the performance would feature only understudies (since we went on the Sunday afternoon of the Tony Awards), we popped by the theater box office to to make sure the original cast would be performing. We were assured they would and as we turned to head back to TKTS to get tickets, a woman asked us if we needed two seats -- she had three tickets, but her two friends had been unable to come at the last minute. She gave us the two orchestra level seats for $50 each and the deal was done.

November was an absolute treat, as most David Mamet productions tend to be. The script was clever and witty, the audience punctuating the performance often with belly laughs. Nathan Lane was impeccable as a mostly clueless, but ironically shrewd, President Charles Smith whose biggest concern is why he's not going to have a library named after him (and how he's going to explain THAT to the First Lady). Both Laurie Metcalf and Dylan Baker were also excellent in their roles, portraying top level staffers with quirky personalities of their own.

We thoroughly enjoyed the performance and would highly recommend it. Such a refreshing theater experience after Grease the weekend before.

PS (I am finally off the phone with the cell phone company after 44 minutes of trying to solve a billing issue while intermittently being put on hold... with really bad Muzak.)

Yes, the Cable Company STILL Sucks

Just when I thought I couldn't have any wackier issues with my cable than I've already had, the cable company outdoes itself yet again. Out of the blue, last week while Special K was visiting, my cable service decided not to offer me any channels that didn't fall between 400 and 494 on the guide. Which means that basically ANY channel I wanted was not available. Sometimes, I could trick it into giving me another channel by keying in the number directly, but then as soon as I tried to navigate to another channel, I'd get a nasty "Video Signal Blocked" message scrolling ominously across my TV screen.

Before I called my buddies in customer service, I did all the things they normally suggest -- unplugging the unit from the wall, slamming it against the wall (just kidding) and waiting a few minutes to plug it back in. When I did get the cable company on the line, you will not be surprised to hear that they had NO IDEA what the problem was.

They are sending out a technician.

Sometime next year.

The end is near.

PS. (My cell phone company also sucks -- I have been on hold with their customer "service" division the entire time it took me to write this blog entry.)

Happy Father's Day!

A big Happy Father's Day to all you dads out there, especially all those new dads who get to celebrate Dad's Day for the very first time!

But an extra special shout out to my very own Dad in Calgary who's probably just about finished building an ark to escape all the rain they've had recently.

One of my favourite Dad memories is from when I was just a little girl -- I'd stand on my dad's feet (he'd be in shoes, me not) and he'd hold my hands as "we" walked around the house with me giggling my head off.

Thanks for everything, Dad!

Pure, Unadulterated Bliss

After weeks on end of airports, airplanes and hotels, I figured I deserved to pamper myself at least a little bit. So I pointed and clicked my way around BlissSpa.com and with the help of the booking agent on the phone, decided that this past Saturday, I would sign myself up for a treatment called the Oxygen Herbie. (Almost sounds a little bit inappropriate, doesn't it?)

Far from inappropriate or anything untoward, Herbie turned out to be a 105-minute facial (that's right, 105 minutes!) that started out with the esthetician rubbing down my body with scented oil and then wrapping me up like a burrito in shiny foil and hot towels where I remained for nearly the next two hours while she scrubbed, exfoliated, toned and moisturized my face.

And of course when she suggested an add-on moisturizing seaweed mask (with add-on charges of course), I simply smiled and nodded, knowing that the mask would just extend my own personal bliss for another 20 minutes or so.

Just over two hours after I arrived at Bliss Spa on 57th, I emerged with a fresh, glowing face... and lucky me, was then expelled into the 97 degree heat and my new "glow" was quickly replaced by plain, old sweat.

Spell-unking

In the last few days, I seem to have come across more random spelling mistakes and grammar usage issues than usual. (Part of it is due to the fact that I'm in the middle of reviewing resumes right now and it amazes me how many people do not either spellcheck nor proofread their resumes or cover letters.)

Here's a sample:

On a resume: "I want to work in a fast past environment."
(I really need candidates who want to work in the present.)

On another resume: "Created and implemented repoire and customer development techniques"
("Repoire"? Do you mean "rapport"? Not sure you can really implement rapport.... or repoire for that matter.)

On a giant poster in my gym, advertising the personal training services: "Positivily changing lives"
(Bet that was a $500 dollar spelling mistake.)

In one of the little stop-and-go restaurants on 9th that serves a variety of Japanese fare, this label was on a number of rolls in the cooler: "Phiradelphia rolls"
(That is just plain cute.)

And finally, at another restaurant on 9th, the handwritten portion of the menu that featured the specials also featured these gems: "Grill sparragus", "Calomatto olives" and "tamatoe mesclum salad".
(I really wanted to order the sparragus just to see what would actually be delivered to the table!)

Hot Town, Summer in the City

-- 100 degrees today.... in fact, it's still 87 degrees now at 10:00 at night. Ugh. As soon as you step outside, it just feels like you're walking in a hairdryer switched on to "high".

-- When it's 100 degrees outside, air conditioning helps, but not as much as you might think.

-- The city smells like urine, fermenting garbage and just plain old heat.

-- I don't know how people could possibly have been sitting outside on the patio of Maison (or anywhere) today for lunch. In this heat, you wilt even sitting still.

-- This heat is scheduled to last most of this week...