Potpourri

Posted By: Furniture Reporter  //  Category: News

I’ve been out of the groove for the past week or so and am now just getting back in. Hopefully I’ll be a little better at updating LG&E.

L. and I had tons of fun at Rusty’s place. We crammed a loI’ve been out of the groove for the past week or so and am now just getting back in. Hopefully I’ll be a little better at updating LG&E.

L. and I had tons of fun at Rusty’s place. We crammed a lot into our four days in Mooresville! On Saturday we visited Lowe’s Motor Speedway and took a tour. While we were checking out the track some people were out doing laps on it, and you really get a rush of adrenaline when they drive by where you’re standing. I can see why Rusty likes it! In the evening we went to Rusty’s church and then out for dinner. We went back to her place and I crashed since I had been up since 4:30 that morning.

On Sunday we bought tickets for a luxury home tour. Most of the homes were awesome, but one in particular was the most incredible house I’ve ever been in. It was $3.2 million, although in York it would cost twice that. The first thing you notice when you walk in the door is a big plate of glass (etched with grapes, no less) in the floor that looks down into the wine cellar. That’s the point when I knew this wasn’t a typical York County McMansion. The house boasted a walk-in beer cave (it’s exactly what it sounds like), a hot tub with a lowered edge that allowed water to cascade into the pool below, and a fireplace and big-screen TV in the master bathroom above the jacuzzi tub. I don’t know about you all, but I would be afraid that the TV would fall off the wall and into the tub, electrocuting me. The sinks in all the bathrooms were gorgeous and one of the bathrooms had pebbles inlaid in the floor which looked nice but hurt my feet. The kitchen, of course, was awesome and it had one of those faucets on the wall behind the stovetop that you can use to fill pots. The attention to detail in this house was incredible. I must say, however, that the decor was HIDEOUS!! Apparently you can’t buy taste.

That night we had dinner at Chili’s (no, I didn’t get Awesome Blossom with extra awesome) with Rusty’s friend Vanessa. She’s British and I could listen to her read the phone book. We headed over to Sonic where I got a chocolate malt which is my favorite sweet food after tiramisu. When we got home from that we sat outside and shot the shit for a couple hours and learned that L. is a quarter Jewish, which Rusty and I think is cool, but she doesn’t. If I had to belong to a religion, it would be Judaism. I’d want to be a ethnic Jew though, not just a convert. I definitely have the guilt part down and I love the Old Testament God; he was such a bastard.

On Monday we went to a race shop where they work on the cars that are used in NASCAR. It was much cleaner and quieter than my garage, and they probably don’t forget to put the oil cap back on when they change the oil like mine did. After checking that out, we drove to Charlotte, which is the cleanest, nicest city I’ve even visited. It seems like everything is more well cared for south of the Mason-Dixon line. I loved the tree-lined freeways and the flowers planted in the median down there. Up here our median is usually a concrete barrier. If we have grass in the median it’s covered in trash. Flowers? Forget about it. I don’t know how they would have the manpower to take care of things though, considering we have more roads per square mile than any other state and you can tell because they’re crap. If you were driving down I-83 with your eyes closed you’d be able tell when you crossed the Maryland line because the bumpiness stops. Anyway, I digress. Back to Charlotte. We checked out the Panthers’ stadium and even though football is probably the last sport I would ever want to watch, even after curling, it was sort of cool to see the field. I was amazed at how small it was (that’s what she said!).

On Tuesday we went to Rusty’s school and got to meet her class. I would have like to have more time with them, but unfortunately they had a boring-ass orientation for 6th grade. I wish those little bastards luck; 6th grade was the worst year of my life. I couldn’t be around 10- and 11-year-olds all day; they would drive me up the wall! Most of them were cute though. After school we headed straight to the airport, where security went through my bag of dirty underwear, and started our less than one hour journey home. It’s pretty amazing that sometimes it takes me longer to drive to work than it took us to fly to Charlotte.

I can’t forget the most important part of our trip! We ate a lot of good, fattening food, and I ingested more sugar in four days in sweet tea form than I ingest in a year at home. I majorly need to detox!

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I almost got pulled over this morning going more than 90. I was passing some dumbass on the right. Luckily I knew to look for cops in this particular spot and as soon as I saw the top of those lights I slammed on the brakes. The dumbass was in the passing lane going about 75 which should have gotten him pulled over for A. speeding and B. driving in the left lane without intending to pass someone, but of course he didn’t. There’s no justice in the world.

I should probably be more cognizant of how I drive. I watched Murderball yesterday, and while those men are amazing, I would rather die than be paralyzed. I don’t have the strength, physically or mentally, to deal with that. It’s really disconcerting that one moment can change the course of your life forever. I almost cried at the end when the rugby team was explaining the game to the wounded vets. Damn PMS!

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Speaking of wounded vets, Laura Bush said on the Today Show that concerning the war in Iraq, no one is suffering more than she and George. What. The. Fuck?!?!?!?! I’m sorry, but haven’t 3,300 American soldiers died? Haven’t over 20,000 Americans been injured? What about Iraqis who have died? Here’s what this source says about total deaths (US and non-US) from the war: “Counting all civilians, military, contractors, insurgents, and non-Iraqi civilians, at least 70,000; to as many as 655,000+ total excess deaths due to the war (second Lancet survey of mortality).” Hey, Mrs. Bush. How about sending your daughters to Iraq, having one of them die and one lose her legs, and then you can tell the American public that your suffering is worse than theirs. Furthermore, there has been little to no outcry about this. I first read it in a little blurb in our paper. When John Kerry “insulted” (one of my feet is in the camp that he was trying to insult Bush but didn’t get it out quite right) the troops it was plastered all over every media outlet.

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I’m going back to my psychiatrist this Thursday. I don’t think I ever mentioned this, but about a year and a half ago I went and was put on Wellbutrin. I was happy for the first time in ages, had no desire to smoke, and had no appetite (I know that’s not a good side effect, but I was fine with it.). Life was good. But life’s not allowed to be good, so my body decided to give me hives that made me want to kill myself. I had them in my throat, on the bottom of my feet, my thighs were one big, red welt; it was horrible. My doctor asked me if I wanted to try something else, but at the time I didn’t because I was afraid of having another reaction. For some reason I’ve been in a pretty bad depression since about the beginning of this year, so I decided I should try meds again. I know it’s the easy way out, but it’s not like I haven’t tried therapy and self-talk and all that other stuff. Therapy doesn’t help me. My insight is good and I don’t need to be told obvious things. I know that if I hate my job I should get a new one or if I’m unhappy about my weight I should eat better and exercise more. I don’t need to pay to be told those things. I have a couple minor situational things going on and I’m hoping this will help me deal with them better. I’ve been in a really dark place for the past couple of months. That sounds a lot more melodramatic than it is, but I’m tired of being on the verge of tears all the time, having no motivation to do even the things I like, and feeling like I want to die.

News flash: Bidding farewell to La Belle Vie

Posted By: Furniture Reporter  //  Category: News

 No, this is not an April Fool’s post. I wish it were.

Zasa Rossini, the talented and well-loved proprietress of La Belle Vie has announced that the store will be closing its doors April 7. Time constraints (and RL, don’t you know) would prevent continuing the full-featured customer service to which Zasa has always been committed. Rather than serve her customers poorly, she has decided to close the doors.

Lovers of fine furnishings and outdoor accessories are the losers. But, if you tp over there before April 7, you can store up treasures in your closet to enjoy for a long time. After that, it’s all gone.

Thank you Zasa. It’s been a belle vie.

La Belle Vie 1

La Belle Vie 3

La Belle Vie 2

Magazine Rack Bench

Posted By: Furniture Reporter  //  Category: News

I think I mentioned before that I really like objects that have a dual function, which is why I like the Magazine Rack Bench. I especially like the grove detail at the back of the seat to store the book your currently reading.

Photobucket

Photobucket

I'm afraid I can't help you with any purchase information, but if you can read chinese (?) then here ya go

Magazine Rack Bench

Happy First Day of April!

Posted By: Furniture Reporter  //  Category: News

So this morning is the 1st of April which means a few things to me:

(one) the rent is due. This is never a happy thought - but knowing we have more than enough money to pay the rent IS a slightly happy thought - for a few months now we've been feeling a bit tight in the checkbook so things evening out is a very nice sight indeed!

(two) MLM is turning 2 in just SIX more days! That means I need to wrap presents, clean the apartment and make a final decision on what kind of cake I am making - plain old cake or cupcakes, teenie tiny Elmo face cupcakes, gigantic Elmo Face cake, a Lego Cake? Can I do all of the above, but magically have it all done in an hour or so? Can I have the kitchen of my dreams that has all spices, frosting, sprinkles, and zest I could ever need, a built in cooling rack system, several ovens, plenty of counter space and a spiffy decor? This kitchen of course will never get dirty or need cleaning because all messes made will magically evaporate into thin air as they hit the surfaces of this dreamy dream kitchen. Two will also mean getting ready for things like potty training, thinking about toddler beds, lots of new words, ABC's, him getting smarter than I could ever imagine, and this Fall, me trying to have a second baby... what, oh yeah. That's right. More on that later though. Moving on...

(three) I also have a baby shower to throw VERY soon AND a good friend moving back to the state after moving away for quite some time. The circumstances surrounding the move may not be happy, but having her back for awhile will be happy-making indeed!

(four) And yes, yes, it's April Fools. Which means I'll be reading tons of bogus blogs and news articles and frequently find myself saying, "Huh? Wha...oh right. April Fools... whatev..." Maybe my sense of humor needs some oiling, but this day has never felt terribly funny to me - the only time it was ever that big of a deal was in college when the newspaper I ran would do a big April Fools issue which was always fantastically fun to put together. But now it's just me and my two year old who has no idea that it's a Big Prank Day (thank god, I may be in serious trouble in a few years when he catches on).

Anyway, Happy April Fools Day to everyone who likes that kind of thing, and for the rest of us, don't worry, only 13 more hours to go, then it can just be "Yay, it's April, now maybe the weather will get better!!!"

What Kevin Lyman can learn about Gerrit de Boer’s experience

Posted By: Furniture Reporter  //  Category: News

With the Warped Tour "officially" being held at Downsview Park, it seems that massive people are going to be packed in the thousands. The problem is will the Warped Tour suffer the same effects as it had on World Youth Day back in 2002? Well, i'll tell you. Gerrit de Boer, the owner of the Idomo furniture store suffered some substantial losses to his business after as many of 32,000 metric litres of raw sewage has flooded his basement during the World Youth Day festivities back in July 2002. The store was closed as a result and it took up to six months to have all the sewage cleaned out and everything well ventilated. The store did not open until January of 2003. The costs range between from $12 million and $14 million in 2003 dollars.

Five months after the stores reopening, Gerrit de Boer has another concern in his hands - a SARS benefit concert featuring the Rolling Stones. de Boer and his owners are scrambling what to do to prevent from his store from a repeat occurrence as it had for World Youth Day back in 2002, so acting as night watchmen, de Boer and his owners spent tirelessly for two days guarding their store from any potential attack. This time, the occurrence didn't happen. Mr. de Boer, if you are reading my blog right now as I speak, what a interesting ordeal you guys had lived upon. I wonder how will you guys deal with this year with the Warped Tour being held at Downsview Park, along with Edgefest (sponsored by the Edge 102 radio station). If you want to know how to get to Downsview Park by Public Transit, please go here. For my flashback page featuring the store's owner, please click here.

If Mr. Lyman were to read my blog right now as I speak, he will probably learn the lessons that Mr. de Boer had faced during World Youth Day back in 2002. Hopefully, organizers at the Warped Tour are planning to develop a plan for all businesses within the vicinity of the venue. Presales are now taking place at http://www.musictoday.com.  However, the presale site is listed in U.S. dollars, but comes with a bonus. One of them is a CD compilation featuring the artists' of this years Warped Tour. If you decided to wait for the general sales via TicketMaster, they will take place this Friday. I wonder how people in Barrie will feel about their substantial loss of the Warped Tour not being held in their home turf.  It's anyone's guess.

References:

http://www.wcr.ab.ca/news/2003/0113/wyd-flood011303.shtml 

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20030125/deboer_store_opening_030125?s_name=&no_ads= 

http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/article/407753

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