It's that time once again when my thoughts inexorably turn to...

Kinkos.

I started with high hopes for this Family Calendar Season. I even got a 20% off coupon from Kinkos good through December 15. Too bad their calendar maker interface sucks so bad. I had the fleeting thought maybe this year everybody could collaborate by picking a month or two and uploading and laying out their own photos. So I went to start a new calendar under my account so I could tell them how to get there. Sounds simple so far.

Some things never change. But why does it always seem to be the bad things?

First off, Kinkos' online calendar creator still doesn't support the Mac. But luckily, my PC was already on since Ikea's kitchen planner also only runs on Windows. (Argh!) So I pop over to my PC, which naturally is running Firefox. Strike two!



Ok, fine. I launch IE and start to remember all the other things about Kinkos I learned the hard way. Like, there's no obvious way to sign-in, and they don't force you to until it's time to pay. So if you want to come back to your project later (or let other people work on it), you have to be on the same computer.

So I figure out how to log in (seriously, the interface still really sucks -- I have complained to them about this at least two years in a row) and find there is nothing saved in my account. Fine, who cares. Just because Kodak still has the calendar I created there back when they were Ofoto doesn't mean I actually need it, but somehow it does give you a warm fuzzy feeling I could really use about now. I mean, do I really have to add everybody's birthday year after year? And am I really signed in? It's so hard to tell. I click on Update My Account and get this confidence-building message:



Yeah. Merry fucking Christmas.

Anyway, I also have a 20% off coupon for Kodak. Their interface is WAY better, but their coupon expires November 20. If anybody wants to make a personalized 12 month photo calendar, I can give you the coupon codes.

Speaking of print jobs, the guy who's doing my kitchen and bathroom put together this nifty folder of information for me. Although I admit I might have been even more impressed if he spelled my name right. And the name of my street. Oh well, what the hell does that matter anyway? Although it did throw me to read one of the items I'm supposed to furnish is any and all "wayne's scott." Who? What? Luckily he mentioned it before I had to ask. As soon as I heard him pronounce it I knew what he meant. Ha! That's cute.



p.s. - I'm still looking for a handyman boyfriend. Good spelling not required, haha.

It's funny how one Apple Care Case can ruin your whole day. Ok, just my afternoon. But now I feel like I'm a whole day behind on things I didn't even know about until an hour ago. All because my freakin' MAIL client stopped retrieving mail for my main account starting around 9:44 pm PST Sunday November 12. And here I just thought nobody loved me any more!

The funny thing is, it kept retrieving mail for my lwist account on the same server, so I didn't realize anything was wrong at first. If my junk mail had come to a grinding halt, I would have known something was wrong, haha.

Maybe I'm masochistic, but I like to ask why, Why, WHY did this happen, and why now? This was a particularly bad time for a setback because I have to get my kitchen and bathroom plans finalized to submit to the city tomorrow. I felt kind of on top of things this morning, but I really wanted to run all the options I've been thinking about by Mark. Yeah, it's great not to have to answer to anybody else about your decisions, but it's also scary as hell not to have a second opinion you trust and some sense of consensus on that final plan.

Anyway, after talking to Mark, and realizing the links he was sending were not coming through, and discovering I had a day and half worth of email on my server I didn't even know about, I got off the phone with him post haste, did some debugging, and decided to put my Apple Care service to use.

I guess all's well that ends well, but I so do not have time for this now. I'm going to see the Damned tonight, and little did I know all kinds of dinner plans have been made beforehand, so now I really have to get going. Plus, the Adored are opening, so I have to catch that! Thanks for the tip, e:Leetee,201 .

p.s. -- I wish I could go see NY Dolls with y'all! I was supposed to see them last Thursday at the Independent, but they sold out before Larry could get tickets.

(New usersound in honor of the English Beat show last night.)

I saw this on laughing squid and had to check it out: One-Day Interactive Installations of Grass Couches Across San Francisco



I walked up to the one in Alamo Square park and even let them take my picture. I should have brought Pookie along. He's so photogenic!

In case you're wondering, they used Ikea couches for the base and covered them in sod. Although they include instructions for sprouting your own from scratch on the photo frame. I remember that article from readymade magazine. Although I think I'd wait until the installation is over to see if I could get a display model cheap, haha.

p.s. -- English Beat were great last night! I can't believe I couldn't get anyone to come with me. Ok, maybe I should have asked more than one person, but still. Oh well, it's fun to go stag every once in a while.

p.p.s. -- speaking of grass, (omg, I can't believe I just said that), the opening band (local reggae favorite Native Elements) had the crowd singing along with their tribute to proposition 215. How can you not love this town? Come to think of it, maybe the letsgreenthiscity.com folks should consider some cross-pollination for their couches, haha.

UPDATe:

Ha! Josiah (Mr. Coffee) just sent me this pic of him on the grass couch at Civic Center. Small world!



Does anybody in SF actually have a day job?