it's math...or not.

I've been meaning to bring this up for eons but I always forget. The morning traffic reports that I hear on WAMU in D.C. always report morning traffic in this manner: "I-95 from the Beltway to the 14th St. bridge is taking about 19 minutes; that's 14 minutes than normal." Normal what? I've driven that fur piece of road any number of times on weekends or late evenings and it's a good four or five miles. Is 'normal' what it would take me to get from one end t'other at 1am on Tuesday when I can drive 60mph? Methinks that is the case. If I'm some K St. lawyer sitting on I-95 every weekday morning at 8am there is never a time when I'd consider five minutes to be normal. Normal is 19 minutes. If it's more than that what I want to hear is this, "I-95 from the Beltway to the 14th St. bridge is taking about 75 minutes because some jackhole in a HUMMER rubbed the barrier, careened right, and crushed a fucking Prius. That's 59 minutes more than normal. Now back to Steve Inskeep."

Along with my banking issues we are in the midst of swap to AT&T since The Hilltop falls into the fair service area for our old service. Of course, there's no easy way to move from bank-to-bank or cell service-to-cell service without death-and-destruction crossing your mind. Maybe if you added in an attempt at sorting out amalgam vs. composite filling within my dental insurance you could make my head explode.

My pal Buzz was working out in Denver this week and realized, belatedly (as Buzz is), that the Caps are in Denver tonight but he's flying out today. You can't teach kids anything.

I'm on hold with AT&T since my (and L.'s) new phones will dial out but not accept calls. Wish me luck; I'm going in...

love to all,

t

into a dark hole, out of a dark hole

Most of our snow disappeared over the last few days and that worked out well for woodstacking activities. X ordered a cord of firewood yesterday and it greeted us upon my arrival home from work. The boys and I managed to get about three-quarters the way through the drive-to-porch wood stacking so there’s not much left for today or tomorrow. We only worked for 40 minutes – with varying levels of “this is going to take forever” ringing about The Hilltop – before we headed inside so I could make dinner (salmon steaks, rice, and broccoli with homemade cheese sauce for them). As I was washing my hands I asked H. if he had change for a $20 bill, which he did, and I paid both $10 for the 2/3-hour worth of work. I think the surprise of getting paid – I think of stacking wood as a little more than normal work – seemed to salve their misery of work. Of course, they immediately wanted to know when we might do the rest; work suddenly not seeming so bad. The problem now is that I think they “owe” someone make-up work and I believe I’ve been told that finishing the woodstacking is going to said make up, payment be damned. I’ve been clued in to not tell them they won’t be getting any money until after they finish. I’m not sure I’m overly interested in this soon-to-be endless debate.

Part of the reason money has become an issue for them is they’ve discovered a Friday Night Magic club/tournament in Falls Church which may or may not involved buy-ins or card purchases. Magic – The Gathering (as all true players refer to it) is a fantasy card game that involves something about monsters, fairies, lands, weapons, evolution, booster cards, blah, blah, and blah. I have no idea how it’s played since fantasy isn’t anything that interests me but the boys are literally shaking in anticipation of being a part of it all. I’m sure they’ll have a blast even if the 9:15pm starting time will lead to sleepy Saturday mornings.

I've finally bitten the bullet and started to change banks from USAA, or as I call them, "The Devil", to a local bank. USAA has a bit of a monopoly on military and retired military and they really suck as far a pure banking goes. The insurances and whatnot seem better but who knows; if I die maybe we'll have that answer. I despise them like I despise all huge banks that are making more money on fees and jackassery than actual banking. Fuck 'em all.

Nice ending, eh?

Love

t