Keeps My Feet on the Ground II

The second philosophical question came up at dinner. Erin and I went out to celebrate our new endeavors at the only Italian restaurant in town, La Scalia. While the meal wasn't bad, it wasn't very good either. Looking around, Erin asked me if I thought it was sad when people say "this is the best meal I've ever had." Having had the great fortune of eating actual Italian food in Italy, as well as spectacular Italian food in New York and Boston as well, I think I would be sad if this meal was all that I had ever encountered. But of course, this is Plato's cave. If I hadn't had those experiences, would it still be sad? I suppose not, as I wouldn't know that there was something better out there. But as an onlooker, having had more authentic Italian food, is it my place to feel sorry for someone who hasn't and probably won't have the fortune of having such a meal in their life? Or, in some warped biological game, do the taste buds on his/her tongue react to this meal in such a way as there IS no better meal that he/she could have? I know for myself, I'd like my last meal to be homemade chicken nuggets and Open Pit BBQ sauce. Anyway, to reframe the argument another way, is it better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all? But I abhor a cliche.

Keeps my feet on the ground

So yesterday I wound up with two philosophical questions running through my head.

The first was in a conversation with my father about whether or not it all "happens for a reason." On the religious side, if there is a God, an all powerful, all knowing, yadda yadda God, then he COULDN'T abandon us here on this cold, lonely rock. It just wouldn't make sense to create something and then "leave" it. Beyond that, if God is everywhere, he couldn't leave anyway. The absence of God would be a cruel irony about his LACK of omnipotence. And why would any being create something just to leave it? The point of creation/procreation is to pass oneself on. According to Christianity, man was made in the likeness of God, and we are often referred to as his "children." In which case, Christianity, at the very least, posits a God that wishes to see us grow. While he might not directly interact with us, he has set us down a particular path just by the very act of creation.

Read more secularly, we might say that "everything happens for a reason" because the world itself is not chaotic. It can't be. There are certain rules that govern who we are, how we grow, how we interact. Everything that happens to us has a series of events that preceded it, and a series of consequences for whatever choice we make. Therefore, everything that has happened has been that way for a particular reason.

Now none of this is to say that we can discern, predict, or understand the plan. Just that there is a plan for a reason. I suppose it's up to you to decide if plans tend towards the happy (whatever doesn't kill us, makes us stronger) or the unhappy (all life ends in death, thus life is meaningless). But at the very least it's comforting to think that there is something out there that governs us all, be it God or nature.

Employed

It's hard to keep a good woman down. After one week, interviews with three different companies (and two more scheduled), Erin found her first salaried position. She'll be working in homes to help families reconnect with one another. For more specifics, ask her.

Erin and I went to see Stardust today. It was entertaining. A lot of funny moments throughout. I don't like Claire Danes much, but she did well. A sweet, heartfelt, romantic comedy. Incredibly cheesy and not "ground-breaking" in any way, but definitely enjoyable.

I don't really have a lot to say. I start orientation on Monday. We'll see what happens.

If you wanna go 'n take a ride wit me...

So here's a humorous little ditty from about a week ago that I never got around to telling.

I should have known from the start what evil humbuggery awaited me after the phone call from Geico. I told the salesman "I come from NY where we have the DMV, then moved to MA where we had the RMV. Where to now?" To which he laughingly responded "Indiana has a BMV. B for Bureau." A light rain started to fall. The sun of my heart was setting.

I rode to the BMV with Erin in tow. Every _MV trip needs a wing(wo)man; someone with whom to kvetch about the long wait; someone with whom to mock the ex-hippie cyclist with the leather jacket and no shirt. Today was no different.

The line stretched to the horizon, or what would pass for the horizon in these parts on a rain-soaked day such as this. We rode in like Joe Pesci and Marisa Tomei in "My Cousin Vinny" ( "Oh yeah, you blend"), hair tossed to the wind, freedom in front of us, a head full of bad memories behind...

The woman at the counter, the first counter that is, asked for my identification. While the drivers license itself was high on the list of priorities, I also needed to register my car in the state, so the two different transactions seemed to stimy the poor woman who must have had a sugar deficiency in her diet, or might have benefited from one, I suppose. After a few minutes of blank staring at the documents laid out in front of her, she finally decided to tackle the drivers license first.

Now, I come from NY and MA, two of the worst trafficed states in America. Both states have declared at one point or another that I am fit to operate a vehicle in some of the worst driving conditions known to modern transportation. However, in the state of Indiana, a state who just raised their speed limit to 70 mph, a state who boasts 10 stoplights across the vast abyss of a corn field they call a state, a state who, should nuclear winter hit, would show absolutely no signs of population or teraform change, in the great state of Indiana, in order to transfer my license over from MA to IN, I need to pass an eye exam (reasonable) as well as a 50-question written exam.

Now I'll be honest with you. I'm a book smart kind of guy. I test well. Not standardized tests, but test-tests... you know, legitimate ones. But when I first got my license in the mid 90s (in fact, exactly 11 years ago from last week), I passed a 6 question exam on the back of a Long John's Silver placemat in White Plains. Now, I'm not saying New York didn't have it's act together, but I will say that it's not like I studied for the written exam back then.

The sky overhead rumbled with thunder and the pitter patter of rain on the roof of the shack they called a "bureau" was palpable. So I sit down in the dank asylum, pencil in hand, and rummage through the questions. I give you a sample question, paraphrased, but as close to the actual question I can get:

What do you do when a school bus stops in front of you:

1. Zoom past like you would any car that stops in front of you
2. Ignore it, the stop sign on the side of the bus is not for you
3. Come to a complete stop and wait for the bus to turn off it's flashers and proceed.
4. All of the above

While the absurdity of such a simplistic question is apparent, I just want to know one thing: who chooses answer 4?

Long story short, I failed. I got all the questions right in the first part, but missed a number of "signs" questions. Apparently I didn't know the difference between a "regulatory" sign and an "informational" sign, and as such, I am unqualified to get a license in the state of Indiana. So they handed me back my paperwork, told me i could retake the test tomorrow, and gave me back my MA driver's license.

I got back in my car and drove home.

Anyone else see the flaw in the system here? Also, there was no rain. It was a metaphor for the raging storm within my soul. It works on a few levels. Think about it.

He grows up... one mp3 at a time

About a year ago when I got my new computer, I decided that it was high time for me, a working man, to start paying for his anti-virus software rather than finding freeware copies whenever he could. While this worked in college and Grad school, I thought I should grow up and start paying for the services I use.

In the same vein, about two months ago, I decided I would start paying for music downloads. Today, however, marks the first day I actually want to download a song. I have since met a problem: I don't know where to go to legally download music.

Here's what I'm looking for:

• A pay site, not a pay software (like Limewire)
• A LEGAL site
• Something with no restrictions on how/where I use the songs i.e. the computer, an mp3 player etc. (unlike iTunes that doesn't give "mp3" files)
• Preferably a place where I can listen to clips of the songs before I download them
• And finally, a site with an extensive library of songs, both of modern rock as well as standards, classical, classic rock, etc.

I ask for your suggestions. Thanks.

Hail to the Chief

So for those new around these parts, I’ll tell a quick story. Erin and I adopted a kitten back in October. She was sick when we got her, and we named her Squints (or Echo, on her official documentation). She was a delightful kitten, very social, always friendly, she liked to put on a show whenever we had visitors. Unfortunately, she was too sick and wound up succumbing to her illnesses a few months later.

After moving to Indiana, we decided we still needed that fuzzy presence in our lives. We found a cute little “squidge” at the humane society in Indianapolis and adopted her. She’s a bit crazy (she nips toes), and also a little sick (she has a cold), but she’s quite cute.

Erin and I are having a debate about what to call her. She likes to sit on her hind legs with her front legs up, so Erin wants to call her Roo. However, she also swings from the couch cushions, so I wanted to call her Coco (like the monkey). Although, with her cold, I have started calling her Wheezer lately. So we can take votes on the better name in the comment section.

To conclude today’s post, I will share a story from Jason regarding his move with Available Movers, scheduled for tomorrow. Available Movers apparently called Jason and cancelled his move tomorrow. A day before the move. This is after they had already asked to postpone his move. How is this company still running?

Dust in the Wind (or Cardboard in Brooklyn)

So Erin and I walk up the steps to our new apartment taking bets on whether or not our stuff was delivered. We resign ourselves to the idea we’ll be on the air mattress again. It’s 11:00pm when we walk in the door to be greeted by: OUR STUFF!!!

I’m not really the type to sleep when there’s a job to do, so I quickly set to work unpacking what I could. The movers did not put together all the stuff that they had taken apart, despite the fact they were obligated to. It seems they took their tip, drank our Gatorade, and left. Around 2am, Erin tells me it’s time to stop. We head into the bedroom and Erin plops down on the bed. We start to move it and here a pop. All four bed leg screws have been bent and the bed is now unstable. I can’t take them out of their plates because the screws are slightly stripped and completely bent. Erin and I take about 30 minutes unscrewing the plates from the frame, assuming we’ll just rest the frame on the floor and deal with it in the morning. When we get the plates off and lay the frame down, the cross beam that runs up the center of the bed is about 2 inches lower than the rest of the frame, and the bed rocks back and forth. Once again, we throw the mattress on the floor, prop the frame on the wall, and go to bed.

The next day, Erin and I finished unpacking the boxes and I get the suspicion we’re missing things. Sure enough, we’re missing between one and three boxes. And of course every box of books makes it, but the one “important” box, is MIA. Contents of said box:
All knick knacks sitting around the apartment (decorative)
Coasters
A number of toiletries including my razor
All of our framed pictures
Bucknell Diplomas
Erin’s engagement ring certification
Aunt Doris’s hand-made quilt
And of course, Erin’s jewelry box…

After another phone call to the movers, I’m fairly certain we’ll never see that stuff again.

So here’s our Visa commercial:

Miles Traveled by land: 4880 miles
Cost of moving: $2500
Cost of lost/damaged objects: $2000
Miles traveled by air: 1800 miles
Times someone mentioned the similarity of our names: 31
Phone calls placed to the mover: 27
Days living on the kindness of family/friends: 20
Number of total pages of blog posting describing the trip: 14
Number of states: 10
Wedding sites visited: 7
Number of shark attacks: 0 (despite it being shark week on the discovery channel!)
Sharing this experience with the love of my life: Priceless

Tune in tomorrow for our new friend.