CafeChatNoir

We actually had what I would consider a good experience with Cox Communications today. The cable has been getting increasingly flaky of late, and the last straw was when Showtime became nothing more than a blank screen. I need my Weeds & Californication fix, dammit!

So, we call, they can’t find anything wrong on their end and they have to have a technician come out. Joy. Well, the tech made the window (granted, the very end of it, but he made it) and he pokes around and it seems the 20 year old cable that runs from the street to the house is falling apart and they’re going to have to replace it. This is where I fully expected to be told, “It sucks to be you, and you’re just going to have to wait for the new wire.” Nope - he futzed around with something at the box and things are working MUCH better already. Bonus: We don’t have to be here when they replace the wire.

Additionally, we discovered that adding on internet would be insanely easy - just a matter of putting a splitter in downstairs and little bro can handle that on his own. Which means it shouldn’t be much longer until I can get rid of the barely functioning DSL and actually have a working network!

Seems that I have a contract on my townhouse - with a completely different buyer. While realtor #1 decided to try to get into a pissing match with my guy, someone else came along with a better offer. So, everything has been signed and initialed and sent back and unless they find something absolutely horrid in the HOA docs in the next 3 days, things are good to go and closing set for October 12.

It’s a nice feeling.

Seems these folks put in an incredibly lowball offer over the weekend, which my realtor rejected immediately. (I don’t blame them for trying - you never know if you don’t ask.) They came back with something much more reasonable, but still want way too much for closing costs, so we’re countering with a lower subsidy and hopefully they’ll bite.

The good news is there are no contingencies, and they even included a letter from the lender saying this chick will in fact be able to finance the purchase.

Realtor was sending the counteroffer back this afternoon - figure I should know something this time tomorrow.

I might have an offer on the townhouse. My realtor got one offer this weekend that was apparently so far out in left field that he told them to sod off, and now it seems they’ve come back with something more realistic. He’s coming over in about an hour so we can go over it - let’s hope it’s something acceptable.

Seriously. I’m doing some minor rehabbing of the vanity/dressing area in the master bedroom and went out today just to get some ideas. That’s all, just ideas. No actual buying planned of any sort for anything. And yet, I came home with Greenspan’s new book and a handful of grapefruit lovlies from Pottery Barn.

Side note: Expo is also a bad, evil place to go.

For two bands who aren’t getting any younger, they’re still damn good. Saw them last night at Nissan Pavillion and other than the fact that it was a little on the chilly side for lawn seats, it was great.

Joan Jett opened, and opened with “Bad Reputation” which is one of my favorite songs that she does, so I was hooked in immediately. The gal has still got some serious pipes and sounded fantastic. Only downer was they didn’t use the monitors, and if you’re on the lawn, you can’t really see anything. No big deal for me, since I’ve always held that concerts are more for what you hear than what you see.

Aerosmith I was a touch more concerned about - c’mon, they’re not spring chickens anymore. Did I give up 3 hours of climate control for $10 beer and aging rockers who may not have it anymore? Fortunately, they still seem to have it. Tyler is looking a touch rough (note to producers: might want to not do the super closeups on him w/the cameras anymore) but sounded pretty damn good. They were also smart and stuck with their standards that made them popular in the first place. (Really, I swear the worst words to hear at a concert are, “And here is something off our latest CD”.) They closed with “Walk This Way” as they damn well should, given that easily half the audience wouldn’t know who they were had it not been for that little pairing they did with Run-DMC.

As far as Nissan Pavillion is concerned, I came away with mixed thoughts on it…

Took us near a half-hour to get through the gates - they really need to add a few more entrances since everyone goes through the gates one at a time. At least I now know that there is apparently no enforcement of the “rules” as far as the parking lot goes, despite all the signs. You can only bring in one sealed bottle of water and a gallon ziploc bag of food into the venue. OK, so yeah, it’s about revenue and they make it sound like it’s “security.” Of course, there is also a ban on illegal drugs in the venue, but the haze of pot smoke over the area seems to indicate it’s not really enforced either. The other strange thing? A grand lack of trash cans. Absolutely none at the top of the lawn area and really very few down in the main area. As far as the way it’s setup for shows? Fantastic. But I see why some refer to it as “Nazi Pavillion.”

Best two lines of the night:

“Honey, that’s pot.”
and
“They say drugs are bad for you, but look at what he’s done with his life!”

Being a Navy brat, I’ve walked through more homes for sale than I can count. The rules were very simple - you go in, look around, leave and the only evidence of your presence is your real estate agent’s calling card left on a counter.

Well, etiquette has apparently changed.

Couple weeks ago, it was black scuff marks all over the kitchen floor. Always fun to try to get those off.

Today I went over to do a quick onceover (even vacant, dust still manages to show up) and whack at the yard. Discoveries…

- A half consumed bottle of water sitting in the kitchen sink
- Dirt tracked halfway across the basement floor
- Every swingin’ door in the place left open. Sure, open the doors, find the closets, but effin’ close them when you’re done. How is that hard?
- A knob of some sort left in the middle of the basement floor. I don’t recognize it from anywhere in the house, so hopefully it’s not something important for continued functionality of the mechanical systems.

For cryin’ out loud - this is not your home. You are a guest. You buy the place, make as much of a mess as you want. In the meantime, show a little freakin’ courtesy.

I don’t know who at Entertainment Weekly had to sell their soul to Satan to get Stephen King as a regular columnist, but it was worth it.

The Great Escape

I must have slept in a weird position last night, because this morning there is not enough Advil in the world to make my back stop hurting. It’s extra annoying because who really wants to admit that they screwed up their back by sleeping?

Was talking w/someone last night about the marijuana bust over in Centreville (let’s face it, there isn’t a lot going on around town, so of course it’s a topic of conversation) and then of course we launched into this long discussion on “where did they go wrong” and managed to get caught. It occured to me later that god help us if there is an off duty cop sitting around when we have these discussions - it probably just doesn’t look good.

CNN ran an interesting piece on the continued poppy/opium farming in Afghanistan. I can only describe it as an exceptionally messed up situation. The government has tried to give them “alternate livelihoods” via assistance with growing other crops, but there is no market for them. So, they’ve gone back to poppy cultivation because it’s pretty much the only way they can eat. If you’re a farmer and you’ve got the choice of growing something that is actually going to put food on your table, or growing something that is just going to sit around and never be sold - which way are you going to go? I can’t help but think that with the amount of money that has been spent on eradication and such, just saying “Look, whatever the Taliban or local druglord is paying you to grow opium, we’ll give you twice as much NOT to do it” - might be cheaper and more effective in the end.

But, as long as there is a market for the drugs, (and I can’t imagine a day ever when there won’t be a market somewhere in the world) and people that need money that can’t earn it with other farm crops, they’re going to continue to grow.

Makes me wonder if maybe we should just legalize it and take the all the money spent and put it into prevention and rehab. Some days I don’t think the result would be a whole lot worse than things are now.

I do have to wonder what the future holds for Afghanistan - they have such a rich history and culture, and all I can see is the place just completely imploding in on itself at some point.

Your weed dealer may be having some supply issues in the immediate future…

It’s good to know that Union City, Georgia has absolutely no other crime problems whatsoever…

Patently absurd.

I will never die.  (SFW)

I came home from the pub to discover that Luciano Pavarotti has left us.

I had heard earlier today that things were not looking good, but for whatever reason I thought he’d come back from it.

I wouldn’t say that I was an opera aficionado, but I do like it, and I always liked what I had heard of Pavarotti’s work, and I probably heard more of his work than anyone else’s given his stature. Even as an opera-hack, which is the most favorable way I could ever describe myself, I can say this is a huge loss.

Upon hearing the news, I had to break open a bottle of Notturno Sangiovese, which given my luck is probably from a rival village from his, but to me, the death of a true operatic singer deserves a toast from a true Italian wine.

Il sig. Pavarotti, sarete mancati.

Tomorrow I will go see my Italian wine buddy to offer my condolences and find out what is truly the proper wine to toast him with.

Current Music: La Boheme, “Che gelda manina”, Pavarotti.