1.29.2006

best hair day ever!

That isn't actually today, it was yesterday.

I went to the Aveda Institute to get my hair cut, and got the best haircut of my life. Now, granted, I average about one haircut a year, where I take off the six-eight inches that have grown since my last haircut, so it's not like I've actually had a huge number of haircuts before.

But anyway, my hair's now shoulder-length, and layered, and THINNED (They can thin it? Who knew? And why did no one suggest this before?). Now the trick will be to actually style it the way it's supposed to be occasionally.

1.22.2006

Ode to my five-year-old Timex

Oh, Timex, I thought this afternoon it was over.

When I turned that corner too tight and knocked my wrist (and you) against the doorframe, and noticed an hour later that you were covered in streaks of white paint, I thought, this is it — I am going to have to put poor old Timex in a forgotten drawer of my jewelry box and go to Target to plunk down $24.99 for a replacement. I think this is how much a replacement you costs at Target. Obviously it has been awhile since I bought a new watch.

I tried to wipe off the streaks with my shirt and then a tissue, but they wouldn't budge. Poor little Timex, I thought you'd be felled in your prime. You're only five (or maybe six, or seven) years old, and only on your third battery!

I've had you so long I can't remember when I got you. I know there was another watch sometime around my freshman or sophomore year of college — I can remember the strap breaking and a futile search in the steps and lawn of Harbourt Hall. Clearly, that watch was not as durable as you.

Because when I tried eyeglass cleaner spray, the streaks came off, and your face was as good as new. How resilient you are!

I have to admit I was relieved. Sure, you're, like, the greatest watch of all time, so Target still carries your model. But it wouldn't be the same. We've got a lot of history, Timex. You let me know when I was strolling into my undergrad classes 15 minutes late. You lit up your little Indiglo face in countless dark clubs and movie theaters. You got me to job interviews on time. We've been swimming in my grungy apartment pool and the beautiful blue Caribbean together (because you're waterproof, not water resistant!).

I know you've seen the new watch I got for Christmas, the pretty beaded one. I know you might be jealous, but you don't need to worry. Sure, it's pretty, and I'll wear it sometimes when I want to dress up, but, really, you need a break occasionally. You don't need to worry about your place in the watch hierarchy — you're still the functional little master of time around this apartment.

About that ramming you into doorframes every once and awhile...you know I don't mean to do it, right? You know I'm just not very careful with my appendages when I turn corners sometimes. After all, it's not always you getting hit. Sometimes it's my elbow, or my thumb, or my knee, or my toe. I'll try to be more careful in the future, though.

Here's to five (or maybe six, or seven) more years together.

1.15.2006

lemony...fresh?

For anyone who hasn't been following my Hyundai Lemon Saga, and I'm not sure if there actually IS anyone, as I think I've whined to nearly the whole free world about it...

Tuesday two weeks ago, the car stalled on the interstate again. I pulled over to the side of the road and was able to start after 10-15 minutes, and took it in to Hyundai the next day, where they replaced the crankshaft sensor AGAIN.

I sent a lemon letter in to Hyundai on Monday.

Then this Friday, yep, you guessed it, stalled out again. The plus side of this, if there is a plus side, is I am getting very good at coasting on the interstate. This time I had to cross three lanes of traffic while stalled. I took it in to the dealer and they puttered around with it all day and called Hyundai's central tech people. And did nothing. I also called Hyundai's consumer center to tell them they might want to hurry along that lemon stuff since my car is a DEATH TRAP.

I'll find out more about this lemon stuff early next week, hopefully.

In happier news, my new Sony Psyc over-ear headphones that I got from Target are working out quite nicely. The iPod also is working out nicely. I watched an episode of Prison Break while I was waiting for them to fix the crankshaft sensor and I felt like I was too cool for the Superior Hyundai waiting room. Hee.

I have some issues with iTunes, though. I have always thought that the idea behind syncing a device with your computer is so that all of the settings and files match up. iTunes, though, thinks that syncing means you dump all the new shit on the device, without clearing out anything that's been deleted from iTunes. As a result, my iPod is already starting to get bloated. I know you can delete songs manually, but that would take eons.

Also, I have realized that my My Music folder has become bloated itself, with crappy songs, and crappily labeled songs, and duplicates of both crappy songs and crappily labeled songs. I'm not quite sure how that happened. So now I'm trying to go through and clean it out, which sucks on about five different levels. But then once everything is nice and clean, I'll reformat the iPod and start again, with all the crap gone.