Monday, May 01, 2006

Un Dia Sin Inmigrantes

In an effort to show my economic impact on the country, I stayed home today. Did you feel the ripple effect? I thought not. I wasn't protesting anything except the need to stay home and wait for Refrigerator Man, and Insurance Man, and Car Man.

First, the new refrigerator showed up (we bought the new refrigerator because our old one wasn't refrigeratin' anymore...it needed a new compressor). Ah, but the new one doesn't fit in the hole. My husband will be delighted to know that he gets to use his chain saw in the kitchen. ;-) AND, we do not have a water hook-up for the ice maker/water dispenser. Despite the fact that we told the sales clerk this at the store and she sold us a water supply-line hook-up kit and charged us extra for the water hook-up, Refrigerator Man is having none of that. Sooo, we must go back to the store and get a plumber out to the house for which I'm sure another day of waiting is required and for now, we have a refrigerator sitting in the middle of our kitchen.

After the refrigerator, we bought a new van because the old one was, well, hit by a Mack Truck a few years ago. This is nothing to get excited about unless you get excited about white Chevy work vans. But, after we signed all the papers on Saturday, we drove past another dealership that had just received a whole fleet of them and one in Navy Blue. MBH was practically doing somersaults over the blue van. So this morning, before the purchased van was delivered, I had to call up Johnny, the salesman, and inquire about the possibility of trading the van we bought Saturday for the van we saw down the street at a different dealership. Johnny agreed to jump through hoops only to come back and tell us that the engine on the van we thought we wanted was a much bigger V8 and we would only get 10 mpg. This, following the morning news that we can expect $3/gal to be the minimum for a few years out. Hmmm. I called MBH and gave him the bad news. So what will it be, color or fuel efficiency? An hour later, "we" decided to keep the one we had already bought.

So there was that.

Then, I worked some at home and waited for Insurance Man, who arrived a little late, but before the rain. He was to inspect our roof. We thought perhaps we had suffered some hail damage in the recent round of hail storms...golf ball sized hailstones! He noted a few missing shingles and a few dents in the gutters, but otherwise noted no damage. Guess we need to get a real roofer out here if we want a real assessment of any damage. So, more waiting.

The highlight of the day is that Map Stats tells me that someone (or something, I'm never sure how to interpret what Map Stats tells me, which is mostly not much) visited today from Kópavogur, Gullbringusysla, Iceland! How cool is that?! Cold even! I can't tell if they used a word search (Finland is close to Iceland, right?) to get here or if one of my "regular" readers just happens to be in Iceland for the day, but anyway, thought I'd share that tidbit. I don't got much else.

So did anyone miss the illegal immigrants today?

20 Comments:

At 10:37 PM, May 01, 2006, Anonymous Anonymous said...

i didn't know today was illegal immigrant day, or stay at home day, but i did both.

i'm so glad that you decided on the white van, that color is so very crisp and it runs better,?? i think anyway. it gets better miles to the oil change, because of the molecular structure of white vs. blue somehow the dynamics are configurated in such a way as to enable the wind velocity over the van in what we all like to refer to as "aerodynamics". perhaps you've heard of that.

thanks for visiting my blog, its always good to meet new people, old people and all sorts of in between people.

 
At 11:48 PM, May 01, 2006, Blogger Gwynne said...

Hi Suzie! Welcome! It's nice of you to drop in.

...but i did both

I'm still trying to figure out what that means...did you illegally immigrate to Iceland today, by chance?

perhaps you've heard of that

Consulting my high school chemistry text (no, wait, that was physics, no...I think we learned that in home ec). White is easier to keep clean too. ;-)

Thanks for visiting. I hope you'll visit often. There's nothing to see here, but I expect you'll want to take time out of your busy schedule to check in, just in case I get a wild hair and/or go off the deep end...it's just a matter of time and you won't want to miss it. That's the only reason I have any readers at all. ;-)

 
At 6:56 AM, May 02, 2006, Blogger beth said...

Plus, the white van is more non-descript, so when you're parked outside a bank just minding your own business, really officer!, and people come running out and hop in the van, well, maybe no one will have noticed you!

I did not miss immigrants, unfortunately. I was hoping that I would at least have lighter traffic - thereby showing that if we were to deport all the illegals, we would have a HUGE environmental impact in terms of fewer greenhouse gasses. But, alas, it was traffic as usual. Can't say that any other impact was felt either. Though I did think Jen's history of May day was hillarious and pointed out to Tim that May 1st is the traditional protest day for communists and anarchists. Hmmm....

Yay for new fridges! What kind is it? :) (I'm a kitchen appliance weenie, so if you think you can just mention a new fridge and not give specs...well, it's just mean. That's what it is!)

 
At 9:23 AM, May 02, 2006, Anonymous Anonymous said...

i agree with beth. we will need the rank, serial number etc of the fridge. is it the 60 cubic foot? the one that you can fit your recent costco purchases in? or just the weenie 22 cubic foot, that actually fits in a house. what color is it?

i'll stick around, observing people going off the deep end is definitely something I can relate too. I've been down here forever waiting for company!!!!!

 
At 12:14 PM, May 02, 2006, Blogger Gwynne said...

You know, Beth, we did talk about how we could use it to transport illegal immigrants across the border. It's a white, non-descript, cargo van (and at this point has no tools in it so lots of room for bodies). ;-)

I'll have to fill ya'll in on the fridge specs later. I have no idea, other than it's a Samsung (25 cubic feet I think...yes, Susie, we should have gone for the Costco sized 60-footer, but, well, let me just first show you the pictures of what we did to our cabinetry last night in order to fit this one in, okay?)

Of course, the repairman told us to stay away from Maytags (that's what we just threw away) and stick with Whirlpool. "Whirlpool is far and away the most reliable," I think were his words. We are not prone to listening to people who might actually know what they are talking about. Instead, we went with the Samsung, because it looked a lot cooler, and the 18 year-old sales clerk told us it was better than the Whirlpool we were considering. And really, who wants a boring old Whirlpool anyway? This one doesn't come with a TeeVee in the door, but it has a very special glow-in-the-dark screen to tell us what the temperatures are and to serve water without turning on the lights. We check the temperature at least twice a night, just to make sure it's still where we want it to be. It's good to be in control of these things. ;-)

Oh, and it's white. I know that much. And much as I like the new stainless appliances, that wouldn't have gone with the rest of our appliances. And I think white is the new stainless anyway. ;-)

 
At 12:18 PM, May 02, 2006, Blogger Gwynne said...

Sheesh, I should have just done a post on the stupid refrigerator. :-\ That was what I call subterranean posting. You need an archeological degree to access my blog, really.

 
At 12:45 PM, May 02, 2006, Blogger Gwynne said...

Oh, and Beth? When I mentioned the transportation of illegal immigrants across the border, you understood that I meant transporting them out of the United States, right? I don't need the INS on my back right now. ;-)

 
At 3:49 PM, May 02, 2006, Blogger Gwynne said...

Eric, that's what I loved about the phrase being bantied about by the sinning immigrants themselves. I wonder if they realize the irony in that. Thanks for pointing it out (not that any of them read here, but still). ;-)

 
At 4:30 PM, May 02, 2006, Blogger beth said...

Yeah - well see...in order to not support illegal immigrants, I learned German. The German part is true. The rest I might've made up. But Ich spreche keine Spanish. In fact, I dont' even know the German word for Spanish (as you see.) And it's been 15 years since I really sprecht any kind of German, so don't expect grammar to be anything. (15 years ago you shouldn't have expected it either, but that's beside the point.)

As for subterrainian posting - it's lucky for me then that there was a guy in college who liked me who I thought I was just good friends with who is now an archaeologist. I kid you not. Just like Indiana Jones. Without the Nazis. And not as cute as Harrison Ford. And maybe (hopefully?) without the snakes.

I love my fridge - mine is white too - totally with you on the white-is-the-new-stainless idea. I'm going to coopt that if it's ok. My fridge has 3 doors. 3! It rocks. (French door top fridge with bottom drawer freezer. Best thing in the universe. Well, as fridges go.)

I assumed you meant to carry them back home in the white van. Have you named it yet? (Or even decided if it's a him or a her?) Or am I the only female living who names her cars? I know guys do, but I've always named mine. Currently I drive Sassy - she's a red Toyota convertible. And she is.

And there you have experienced the after-work ramblings of Beth. I will now go and stop taking up all the space in your comments.

 
At 5:30 PM, May 02, 2006, Blogger Gwynne said...

Beth, you're always welcome to take up space in my comments. I've got lots of it, feel free. ;-)

Let's see. As for naming my cars, and the van in particular, of course. That goes without saying. Her name is Patches, as in a spotted workhorse, only without the spots. My husband is a painter. She'll get her spots soon enough. My green Bug is named Grasshopper (and you have to say that with a Foo Man Chu accent). My very first Bug was named Toto, because he came from Kansas (and I lived in California at the time). I have a good Toto story to tell, someday, when things get really slow around here. Like now? No, later. (I love having conversations with myself...that's the best part of blogging, isn't it? Yes.)

Three (3) THREE! doors?! And French ones at that (oh, I took French in school, as opposed to Spanish...je ne parle Spanish...I don't know the French for Spanish either...but I'm not siding with the French either)! Feel free to coopt anything of value you can find in this here blog. If you find it, it's yours. ;-)

I know a guy from high school who is an archeologist also. But he never liked me, and I didn't like him. Not that we disliked each other, understand. I used to want to be an archeologist. My brother and I did a lot of fossil hunting in our youth. There were rock quarries near our home and there were lots of those bamboo type plant fossils. We poked needles through the center and made choker necklaces out of them. Which goes far in explaining my subterranean blogging tendancies, I'm sure.

And so concludes yet another rambling post comment (because God forbid I get hung up in the meaningful conversation going on in your comments right now. ;-)

 
At 6:03 PM, May 02, 2006, Blogger beth said...

Yep - 3 doors. It's this one. I love it.

Oooh...Grasshopper - very nice. And can you actually say that word without putting a Fu Man Chu accent on it?

Can't wait to hear about Toto...always like them (you know, the band? Or are they in the same category as the band that shall not be named?)

Are you trying to say this isn't meaningful? :)

 
At 7:25 PM, May 02, 2006, Blogger Gwynne said...

Meaningful, in the most meaningful way, truly. ;-)

Nice refrigerator! We thought hard about the freezer on the bottom, but ultimately decided we didn't want to bend over. The backs and knees are the first to go. You wouldn't understand. ;-)

Toto, yes! Toto was good. They were much less "pop" than the band which shall not be named. I actually owned a few of their albums (but sold them in a garage sale...so much for my hearty endorsement, eh?). Good 80's stuff.

Bamoe! That's my captcha...now we're talking!

 
At 7:35 PM, May 02, 2006, Blogger Gwynne said...

Oh, Eric, you'll note too that the post title (which I just copied from the Fox News headline...I've added a link) also misspells "immigrantes" in such a way as to infer their illegal status. I thought that part was funny too, but probably unintentional. I need to quit leaving so much open for interpretation. I can see that now. ;-)

 
At 8:34 PM, May 02, 2006, Blogger Gwynne said...

Heh. You haven't witnessed my reality yet, have you?

No, you're right. As always.

 
At 9:06 PM, May 02, 2006, Blogger Rae said...

I know what you mean about waiting around. I postponed a lunch date so that I could wait around for a courier after lunch (it was a half day) only to have it there when I got home - Go figure!

I've never heard of map stats so I'll have to have a look see!

 
At 6:29 AM, May 03, 2006, Blogger beth said...

Typically bottom freezers are considered better for the "elderly" ;) Because if you think about the amount of time you spend going in and out of the fridge part vs. the freezer part, you spend less time bending over if the fridge is up at eye level (even my veggie drawers are right there - maybe waist level) and I only bend to get in the freezer. It's a good ice cream deterrent as well :) But hey, YMMV, and if you like the new fridgie, then that's all that matters!

 
At 10:04 AM, May 03, 2006, Blogger Foo said...

Ah well... too bad about the van.

But look at it this way: White reflects heat, which is a Good Thing™ in our part of the country. White is more visible to cell phone talkin', DVD-watchin', giant bloated Lincoln Navigator drivin'... uh... drivers. So maybe this one won't get squashed. And when it gets dirty, it makes for more literary fun than a double pack of refrigerator magnets.

 
At 10:51 AM, May 03, 2006, Blogger Gwynne said...

Well, if it's not Foo Man Chu himself! Welcome, Mr. Foo!

Yes, white is a good thing in our part of the country also. But the last one was white and that didn't stop the Trash Man from plowing into the back of it. In his case, it was not the cell phone, or dvd watchin,' it was the alcohol levels (and the fact that he did not have a driver's license). ;-)

I think Navy Blue might offer up more literary fun than White since we live on a gravel road and dust is aplenty. But a double pack of magnets would double the fun, I think, regardless of the color. We'll have to get some of those.

 
At 8:24 AM, May 04, 2006, Blogger Foo said...

Hrm. Fridge magnets on the side of the van. It's new, different... fun. I like it!

 
At 8:49 PM, May 04, 2006, Blogger Gwynne said...

Yes, I think my husband's van would look a lot more fun if we used those colorful plastic alphabet magnets to write his company name across the side. And then some magnetic poetry on the back. And Michaelangelo's Dress David on the other side. I'll submit the proposal tonight. ;-)

 

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