For my Dad's 75th birthday party, a bunch of his friends pooled together to buy him a $150 gift certificate to Bay Wolf, a restaurant I have always wanted to try and whose cookbook I love. Since my parents feel like they'd never be able to spend $150 at an expensive restaruant, they've invited me to go with them for dinner tomorrow night. Tony and I cut out the upscale restaurants years ago. We used to go several times a month to Dona Tomas or Tamarindo or Soi 4 in Oakland, but we went cold turkey on that. So this is my first nice restaurant meal in a long time and I can't wait. What should I order?
My poor Tony. He went to the US Consulate in Rio on Monday, paid the $165 fee and filled out the paperwork so he could be issued temporarly travel authorization documents so he could return to the US (because his green card was lost along with his wallet). He is scheduled to fly back home on Tuesday, and as of today (Thursday) his document still hasn't been "approved." Apparently it has to be approved by the Department of Homeland Security and that is where the delay is. It's interesting though, the form letter that the consulate gives out to people in this situation says that, depending on how much information you are able to provide, they may be able to issue the document the same day, or it can take "several weeks." I don't know what information they are talking about - Tony even happened to have a color copy of his actual green card with him which he handed over to them. Tony went to the consulate this morning with high hopes that they'd have his paperwork ready, only to be told its not ready yet and to check again at 2pm. He told me all this through a sobbing phone call at 6:15am this morning. I thought it sounded hopeful that they said to call back at 2pm, like they expected to actually have something by then, but then I got to work and checked email.
They originally told Tony they would email him when his document was ready. Since he has limited access to email, I emailed the consulate as well, asking them if they could also email me when it is ready. That was on Monday. Today I get an email from them saying "Nothing is yet approved for Mr. Contreras. Please check with us again NEXT WEEK" (emphasis is mine). This is really breaking my heart. My poor Tony.
Anyone out there in my lvast egions of readers have an "in" with the Department of Homeland Security or the US Consulate in Rio?
1. Why is Cat Cora an iron chef? I mean, she's a good, maybe even a great chef, but an iron chef? Correct me if I'm wrong, but did she ever have a big name restaurant? A cooking show? Where did she come from? And on a side note, can we do away with the pink himalayan salt blocks as a serving device? I hate that.
2. Why is Michael Jackson's family so attached to this idea that he was murdered? Today on the radio I heard their spokesperson saying that they want justice for Michael. I understand being upset with the doctor, and maybe even bringing some sort of charges against him, but murder? The last thing this doctor wanted was for Michael Jackson to DIE. That just fucks up his life and dries up a hefty paycheck just for putting some guy under sedation every night. At the guys REQUEST.
3. Why do lattes cost so much? I've never been a latte person, but about a month ago a coworker (and one of my closest friends, Meghan) asked me to get her a latte while she was tied up on a call and said to buy one for myself, and for some reaon I loved it. Its the regular non-fat latte from Caffe Centro in South Park. I've tried non fat lattes at other places since then (never at Starbucks!) and I just don't enjoy them as much as the Caffe Centro version. But the Caffe Centro version is $2.75, and the "regular" latte is pretty small. It just seems pretty pricey, so I am trying to stay away. Today I tried making one in the kitchen at work with the little Flavia machine, using the creamy topping pack with a dark espresso roast pack and it was nasty.
After a tough summer money-wise, with Tony not working nearly as much as during the school year, money is tight already as we head into the end of August. I was looking forward to the start of the school year and the resumption of regular somewhat decent paychecks coming in from the other half. Unfortunately, this was the year that Tony had to go the the ABADA Capoeria retreat in Brazil for two weeks. Luckily they bought the ticket and are taking it out of his paychecks over time, but still, timing on this trip is not great. I was able to scrape together $200 cash for him to take with him, with another $600 being transferred over from another account (after a three day hold) that he would be able to access starting today with his ATM/Debit card. So of course, 2am on Saturday night, I get a call from Brazil, that yes, big surprise coming, Tony lost his wallet! Also his green card, but we'll get to that later. So given that our account is already overdrawn by $100, I figure the card will be declined should anyone try to use it, at least until i transfer the $600 over on Monday. So since it is 2am and I'm a bit groggy, I decide I am safe to wait until the morning to cancel the card. So I come into work this morning, pull up our bank account and lo and behold, it is $900 overdrawn! Someone has put through four charges for $200 something each and I am now $900 in the hole. So I call the bank and dispute all the charges after Saturday morning (the last time Tony used the card) and they will most likely be credited back to me, but its going to take a while. So now I am stuck with the problem of how to get Tony some money, because he has none, and first off he needs $165 to give to the US Consulate to process travel pass he can use in lieu of his green card. Which could also take up to 15 days. So needless to say, it's been f-ing stressful today. And poor Tony is down there with no money, no green card, and no idea when he'll be able to leave the country. As we've learned, a US citizen losing a passport in a foreigh country is a much lighter load than a "resident alien" losing a green card. Of course I'm mad at him for losing his wallet (again), but I feel awful for the stress he's under. Usually these problems are just handed over to me to deal with and he's not used to doing it on his own. I really feel for him and feel helpless. I hope this all works out ok. Meanwhile I have to dip into my meager emergency savings to cover for this $900 until the bank drops the charges. Looks like bean and cheese burritos for me the next two weeks.
Well, the BART thing worked out, so no worries about that anymore. The MacBook thing worked out too, sort of. I went to the genius bar at the Bay Street Apple store in Emeryville. A very helpful she-male took care of me. The hard drive is dead. Since I've never had any repairs done to my MacBook, and even though it was no longer under warranty, they offered to replace the hard drive with a new one at no charge. I guess that's good. I tell you though, I would not want to be one of those genius guys. The stuff they have to put up with! These idiots who know nothing at all about using a computer - I mean not even the basics - but are unhappy with the way their computer is working. I can't go into the details, but this idiotic woman next to me was not going to be happy unless her computer was "fixed" immediately. It was painful to listen to her. They told her it would be 2-3 days before she could pick up her computer and she was not having it. Then they told her for $100 she could by some Mac Care plan that would move her to the front of the line, but she still wouldn't have it back until the next day. She refused to pay the $100 because of all the "frustration" she has been through and refused to accept anything other than getting it fixed same day. She kept saying this annoying line "you are dealing with a red head here." I was so sick of listening to her.
3:30 on Friday before a BART strike and no new talks scheduled. Great. It takes a lot of balls to turn down a contract after the two other unions agreed to it. And by the way, my BART fares have gone up almost every year for the past four, but my salary has not budged. Monday is going to suck.
Can someone tell me how much it costs to ride the AC Transit F bus into the city? It picks up two blocks from my house. I'm too lazy to look it up.
So Tony called this morning to tell me that the screen on our macbook just shows a big question mark and he can't get it to do anything. Great. Another to do on my list. So I have an appoinment at the "genius" bar for Sunday at 1:45. I hope this is fixable, because this MacBook is just three years old. Or maybe that is the life-expectancy for the top of the line macbook? And all Tony freaks out about is the $4000 worth of music on it.
Javi now has his own "crew" that works with him. Pretty shoddy work. I'm not sure what to do, since Tony already paid him $400 in advance to do the work. It is cool to see the attic cleaned out and the floors down, although I wish Javi would have glued the subfloor down instead of just screwing it. I'm going to have him just finish the basic work and then hire dad's guy ($20) an hour to frame in the other side of the attic and figure out how to support the floor. Once it's all framed in I'll have the electrical done, then I can either sheetrock it myself or hire Javi for that. Then the upstairs will be done!
So my weekend of relaxation while Tony is in Seattle now consists of borrowing my mom's truck to buy the insulation for Javi to install, going to the genius bar and dragging all the junk that was in the attic out to the street for curbside pickup on Monday. Oh, and BART strike will be fun to deal with!!!
These phone scams regarding the copy machine are really starting to get out of hand! Just received this call:
Me: "Porter Novelli"
Him: "Hi, this is Jim, the service guy for your copier"
Me: "I don't have a service guy for my copier."
Him: "Blow me."
click.
So we've had these two small urns/vases overflowing with about ten year's worth of change plus another bowl or two full in the kitchen. Tony's been hassling me for year's to take it to a coinstar and turn it into money, but it seems like whenever I think of it the coinstar is "out of order." So yesterday, Tony and Javier (yes, he's back, more on that in a minute) took all the change to the Coinstar at Pak 'n Save and netted $387 in cash! Which Tony proceeded to hand over to Javi so he can "get started" on building out our upstairs master suite. See, new neighbors moved into the apartment building next door and they tend to have the tv or music on late at night. I think they are pretty good about keeping the volume down and have no problem sleeping, but Mr. Oreja Sensitiva on the other side of the bed can't sleep and has to move to the living room. So he is convinced that if we move upstairs it will be quieter (despite the fact that the apartment dwellers are on the second floor, and us moving to the second floor actually puts us even closer to them). OK, I give him the fact that we will not have windows on that side of the room on the second floor and that the other windows up there are new, double-paned and quieter, and that we can really heavily insulate and put in some soundproofing. Anyway, Tony has been on me for months about getting the upstairs done, and I just don't have time, so he started talking about having Javi do the work. I told him two things: one, we won't be able to pay Javi until the school year starts and tony is back to full time work and two, I only want Javi doing the cosmetic work, the structural stuff I am going to need to do myself with Dad's guidance (or hire someone with more experience than Javi). So of course, Tony starts calling me at work saying Javi is over and wants to know "what the plan is." I don't really have a plan because there's some structural stuff that needs to be figured out, but I told Tony that Javi could start by removing and filling in the windows on the apartment side of the building. AFTER September, when I have money to pay him. Hence the $387 to Javi yesterday so he can start now. But I have to buy the materials, which I do not have money for right now. Tony seems to think he can just project manage the upstairs himself with Javi doing the labor. I don't have a good feeling about that, especially when I hear that Javi knows an electrician.
