Goldfrapp

Fun music, light, funky enough, not too much to think about, likable. Enjoy.

Tonight's the SAG Awards!

And?

Heath.

It just popped up on CNN, Heath Ledger is dead at 28 years old. Possibly a drug overdose. I'm stunned. And then I'm stunned that I'm stunned. I mean, we watch as "stars" slowly self destruct on an almost daily basis. Stories about Britney and Lindsay no longer shock and scandalize. The creeping pace at which they destroy their lives makes their decline seem acceptable, inevitable, even morally correct. Even Owen Wilson's attempted suicide didn't seem all that serious, primarily because he survived. It didn't make sense, but at least it wasn't final. The fact that it was an "attempt" makes it seem like Wilson didn't really "want" to kill himself, like his problems were bad but surmountable. Stories about Heath Ledger, on the other hand, were always about his success, showing him smiling and waving, laughing with the camera. I wasn't a big fan, but I did think that he had a lot going for him. I guess I was wrong.

I'll Be Chaperoning Another Student Trip in February.

I'm sure it will be rough...

Car Rental

Recently, I had a bad experience renting a from Enterprise. It's an experience which has yet to resolve itself, incredibly. I went with National this time, reserving an SUV for the weekend and expecting a much better experience. I took the subway up to National's 12th Street location, having called in only two hours earlier to ensure that my car would be available. When I arrived, I was told that there were no SUVs available. I told the woman helping me that that was simply unacceptable and settled in to getting pissed off about the fact that things were going wrong. While she worked on trying to find a suitable car, I realized that I should try working with her and told her that I was heading up to the snow and would really appreciate her fixing the problem for me. She found and released an SUV that was due to go back to the dealer. It was oversized, made me feel like I was crushing the environment under its tires, but we were covered in the event of a huge snow fall. Thank you, Mary, at National Car Rental's 12th Street, New York City location!

Visited Vermont this weekend.

Bought a nice amount of work clothes at the the Brooks Brother's outlet, played games like Clue and Mille Bornes, romped in the snow, visited art galleries. You know, the usual. The BF's mother made some kick-ass Chicken Asopao which has come back to New York and will make my lunch tomorrow.

This Just In: Vermont is COLD!

Inspiration at Last!

So the BF and I arrive at SFO and pick up our rental car from Enterprise. I've had bad experiences with Enterprise before, enough for me to have sworn off them. However, I was drawn back by a low reediculously low price which I saw on Orbitz, and decided to rent from them again. After all, I needed to get the BF and myself along with all our bags to Mom's for the holidays and a one-way rental was an easy solution. With Hertz, it's always a sure thing that they'll let you rent the car at the airport but return it to a local lot. However, when I asked about returning it to a different location the agent quoted me an additional $100 fee. I figured that I'd just have to make a trip back the next day. (LIttle did I know that the situation would solve itself.)

So the BF and I jump into our new Focus, (marked as having almost no emissions!) and hit Rubio's for lunch before heading into the East Bay. As we headed up the hill towards the Berkeley Tunnel I pressed on the accelerator to pass another car and felt... nothing. I started to pump the gas but nothing was happening. I looked to the dashboard and saw that the car had stalled out on the freeway! We pulled over to the shoulder, such as it was, and after a couple of tries the car turned over again. We limped off the freeway with a sputtering engine and stopped in Rockridge. Then things got nasty. After speaking with several Enterprise representatives on the phone, being cut off instead of put on hold, and several long waits, I finally got what I asked for, my retnal fee waived and a cab ride to Mom's... or so I thought. Despite the assurance from the Enterprise representative on the phone and an additional committment by a representative that I called, the rental showed up on my credit card a week later, for almost twice the rate on my signed contract. After calling my credit card I called Enterprise again, only to be asked with incredulity, "So you think you shouldn't have to pay for this rental?" After explaining to the agent that since their faulty product didn't do what I'd paid for and since it put me and my passenger in possible danger for our lives, I thought that having my fee waived was the very least I could ask for. She agreed and promised to remove the charge.

It's been four days and I'm still waiting for it to disappear from my online statement. However, I must thank Enterprise for giving me a reason to blog again!

Will We Become an Obama-nation?

Because the fact that the title itself would piss off conservative Bible-thumpers seems like reason enough for me to vote for him.


This should not be seen as a true endorsement of Obama, although at the moment I don't find myself opposed to the idea of having him as president.