I don’t have a lot to say about the VTech shooting, mainly because it’s all been said, but also because it was my first year in high school when Columbine happened and everyone involved was older than I. This time, almost all of the students were my age or younger and that’s devastating to me. The coverage has been prolific, and deservedly so, even though I know the survivors feel it’s too much.

But survivors have felt that way in every tragedy.

April is a crappy, crappy month.

The Chop has a hard time with all the coverage, but not because he feels it’s intrusive. No, he’s instead upset that all the other human tragedies that are happening in the world are under-covered and that we as Americans are so involved when things happen in our space, yet unconcerned with the daily mass murders being perpetrated all over the world.

I understand where he’s coming from, but what I know is that I feel more personally involved with this shooting than with what is happening overseas. Not that I don’t think it should have equal coverage, but I understand how we (as Americans) want more information and feel more sadness about this than about anything that happens there. It’s here. It’s home. It was unexpected. It made no sense.

So that’s that.

I love This American Life on NPR. It is one of the best hours of commentary on radio and I adore it… especially now, because I can listen to the archives while I’m working.

They recently redesigned their website and included ALL of their archives since 1995. The best part? You can stream it free.

Good lord, I will never be bored at work again. 🙂

I swear.

Go watch his little short movie and I promise you’ll laugh.

We’ve been in the new place for a little over a week, and so far, we love it. 🙂

View from the front porch…

View from the driveway, looking toward the water.

View of the front porch.

The house, from the driveway.

View of the living room from the French doors (and Izzie)..

  Half view of the living room from the bathroom..
Kitchen

So it’s a bit messy, but all in all, it’s gorgeous.

For J’s birthday this year, we got her (and us) tickets to a Red Sox game.

So after four years here, I finally popped my Red Sox/Fenway cherry.

And now I am the proud owner of my very own hat. It’s brown, with a baby blue and white B (I’m in the middle). (thanks J!)

I’ve been getting my final bills from our utility companies, and overall, they haven’t been horrible… except for our final gas bill, which I just opened.

$205 for seven days.

Yeah. What the hell? The office is closed, so I can’t call, but does anyone have any ideas about why my gas bill would skyrocket? It’s been averaging about $100 per month, and now it’s $200 for a week? Seems very wrong to me.

I also received the claims forms for the furniture the movers damaged… and they suck on a huge level.

“If this form is not completely filled out IN FULL your claim will be DENIED. No exceptions.”

Oof… it says that three times.

I flip through the pages and find what I have to fill out.

I HAVE TO GET AN EFFING ESTIMATE?!

Hi, it’s an IKEA bed. And I am so not paying to have someone come in here, look at it, and say, “Yeah, that can’t be fixed. Now pay me $50 for giving you this estimate.”

I also need the receipt (which I could probably find.. it’s only two years old :P), pictures (yeah, I already took those) and all the paperwork I ever had with the movers.

Part of me is wondering if I should just give up on it. I mean, if I don’t have an estimate on how much the damages will cost to repair (does anyone even repair IKEA wood? lol), my claim is going to be denied anyway.

Should I really bother taking the time to hunt through two years of receipts for the bed receipt?

I can hear my mother saying, “Yes! It’s the principle!”.. so I know I probably will, but my god, does it really have to be this difficult? They broke it. They should fix it.

This is the second time I’ve dealt with movers, and let me just say, so far, a big thumbs down, F grade for all of them.

There’s an editor who I work with who, no matter how I phrase my emails, thinks I am attacking her to her very core.

She drives me batshit.

I have been dealing with her for months, but today, today I figured out how to deal with her.

I sent an email that actually did attack her.

Or rather, simply stated, “Look, I’m busy too. And this is for your magazine, so you better help me.”

So she apologized and agreed and said please and yada, yada.

Then, of course, not two seconds after I started typing this damn post, she emailed again saying, “Oh I don’t do that, and I do this and this and this.”

Honest to god, I want to smack her.

I make suggestions… they are NICE… I am exceedingly pleasant… yet no matter what, she always takes the defensive.

What the hell?

She’s from India. Could it be a cultural thing?

Anybody?

I bought my bed, hauled it from IKEA, dragged it up my stairs and put it together myself almost two years ago.

I never had a problem.

The damn movers dinged it while taking it apart and putting it back together.

Then, at oh, say, 3AM, our bed broke. It appears that two of the supports snapped.

And no, we were not having sex, thank you very much.

GODDAMN MOVERS!

We moved boxes and small stuff yesterday.. good friends, five cars, two trips and the entire kitchen was unpacked by five.

Then there was today.

Today was the worst. Our movers? Assholes, and also, one didn’t speak any English, compared to the other two who spoke spotty English.

Let’s see: they dinged two things, overcharged me by two hours (I have a complaint filed… I might have mentioned the BBB, but according to Chop, should have mentioned INS), smelled so bad I had to open all the windows and so just in general, FUCK.

Right now we’re attempting to maneuver furniture into place (the Chop hurt his back) and just generally trying to chill out.

I’ll post pictures.. the house is amazing. 🙂

Also, I promise to start posting more since I’m going to be less stressed. 🙂

Sooo.. this week in a nutshell.

Packing = ugh.
Work = ugh.
Calling utility bastards companies = triple ugh.
Work = motherf**king ugh.

We get the keys Thursday, plan to move boxes and light stuff Friday and the movers come Saturday.

And so, the silence of the blog has continued.

My deepest apologies, truly.

I know, I know, I haven’t written in ages.. I do apologize.

See, that place with the Scrabble? Has Monopoly too. And Sorry. And Battleship.

In other words, I’ve been a tad preoccupied… and we’re moving in a week, I’ve gotten quite a bit of contract work lately and I spent most of the weekend drinking with friends, lol.

But, I came across this little gem this morning… and it’s hysterical and so EXACTLY how it is that I had to share.