Year: 2004

My life seems to revolve around appointments for service calls lately. The cable guy, the delivery of the fridge & the washing machine, the dryer delivery (they were backordered), the cable guy (who no-showed), the cable guy (who arrived between 2-4 as scheduled. Yeah!), and the delivery of a new fridge.

Yes, a new fridge. The first one had some relatively minor scratches on the front, but I knew they would bug me every time I looked at the fridge. Originally, they offered us a refund or a new fridge. We considered the refund, but then I realized just how much it would bug me, and the delivery of the new fridge was set up. We discovered later that the one we currently have has a tendency to turn off the fridge side every once in awhile – you will open up the door and the light won’t come on and you can tell it’s not running – so it seems we made the best decision after all.

Last night was yet another night of being wide awake way too late. Weeks on end now – I just can’t take it any more. I finally fell asleep somewhere around 4 am. At 8:30 am, the Best Buy delivery guys called to say they would be here in about 20 minutes. I was, of course, sound asleep. I ran around, got dressed, and emptied out the entire refrigerator, just in time for their arrival.

The delivery guy moved the current fridge away from the wall. He turned off the water line for the icemaker. He started to unscrew the water … and it started to spray everywhere. The water valve won’t turn off. Gah! I brought him towels, and he tried one more time – just in case he didn’t get it turned all the way off. No go. It still started to spray.

So the old fridge is still here, and now I have to wait for yet another service call from Vito Services – a local plumber to put in a new valve! Then they will bring me back a new fridge. Really, does the fun ever end?

Last week I had to call information to get the phone number for the Newman Center where I was baptized at NDSU in Fargo, North Dakota. Now, I realize that Fargo is not a huge tourist attraction or anything like that. But the operator that I got had no clue at all.

Her: “What city please?”
Me: “Hi! Fargo, North Dakota. I need the number for the Newman Center at North Dakota State University.”
Her: “What city?”
Me: “Fargo, North Dakota.”
Her: “What city? (With an increasingly confused tone to her voice.)”
Me: “FAR-go. Fargo. F-a-r-g-o. North Dakota.”

She never had a clue what I was saying. She gave me the number for a Newman Center in some other state. Great, real help there. Fargo. There was even a movie named “Fargo,” so how hard can it be?

Last night was the big Tiara Happy Hour celebration to bring in Emily’s birthday today. As a very special treat, Mac came all the way to Houston to see Sarah and to celebrate with us in our shiny, sparkly tiaras.

It wasn’t as large of a turnout as we have had in the past, but I’m the type that likes that – I had more quality time to visit with everyone. It was a simply fabulous good time, and now it’s Emily’s birthday – we even had a countdown for her at midnight!

I’m still giddy about finally getting to meet Mac in person. Way, way giddy. And now I get to head to Austin for Julie’s wedding, which will be wonderful! I can’t wait!

We all have words that trip us up every time we go to use them. For me, it is definitely. I have to stop and think about it every time – it always seems like it should be “definately”. But I work hard to remember to spell it correctly.

That is the driving force behind my need to clear this up. Ridiculous. The word is not spelled “rediculous” – it is ridiculous. This drives me batty every time I see it, and I see it spelled incorrectly a lot.

Ridiculous.

You may turn red when you feel ridiculous, but there is no “red” in the word.

Thank you. That concludes this public service announcement.