Oy!

Because I'm a good sort, I've been springing for the internet and cable at the house formerly known as mine. Makes me feel like I'm doing something for my fellow co-residents, part of the we are one big happy circle thing. Signed up for paperless billing. You'd think a big telecommunications conglomerate would be able to send an email. You'd think that wouldn't be an issue. You'd think that failing that, they could get something in the actual mail in a timely manner, you'd think they would find a way to get in touch with you. If only, there was some kind of telephonic device that I could carry with me, that would permit us to talk...whenever they friggen need to. You'd think being the shameless capitalistic pigs that they are, they would want to talk to make sure the flow of funds kept a rolling.

Oh no, gentle reader, you'd be incorrect. Without word one to anybody, the darling system at the communications giant deprovisioned my former spouse's modem. I arrive at my abode and discover a you will be disconnected on May 10th letter. Its arrival on the 11th makes it art. In their "defense,' they wrote it on the 5th, apparently sitting on it for gestational sake for a few days.

Foolish mortals, with a wave of the credit card, my mighty trio and their lovely mom were able to connect back with the latest "What kind of comic book villiain are you" poll that might have appeared in their 9 hour absence from cyber space.

Which I guess is the latter day equivalent of "making it all better."

It's not often you get a round of cheers from two blocks away.

Rounded up the youngins and we broke bread at Amy's place last night. It was the first time I had been there in ages and omigod it was so worth it. I don't what kept me away for so long, but I won't make that mistake again. I had a business lunch on Friday that left my digestive tract in a state and thanks to Amy's Place, my insides are speaking to me once more. Chicken Kabob breakfast nearly put me in a state of afterglow.

My lovely middle child wants to see Star Trek bad enough, that she is even willing to come to the Imax expedition on Saturday and be seen in-wait for it-in my company. So, I snagged another ticket at Fandango's stupidly marked up prices.

So, I can't be doing all that badly.

Should I be a little concerned that a tv show hostess went through a lot of time and effort to make really sure that I got an autographed picture? Probably reading too much into that. It just seemed like an unusual gesture, but again, I'm thinking too hard.

Hey (e:paul) , if there are 100 estrip bumper stickers left over, I can utilize them for some grassroots promotion if you like. My office is having a small intimate gathering of 2400 people at the Zoo in July. 100 of those will be VIPs who get goodie bags along with their larger admission fee. We can put the stickers in if you are interested in promotion.

Not sure why this fascinates me so, but it does

The caller-id on tv from Time Warner can be a mixed blessing. I do most of my calling with my cell phone, but when the TW phone rang and displayed my older sister's number on Tuesday night, I couldn't help but cringe. Love her dearly, but she makes me nuts. It's a call I knew I had to deal with but I wasn't looking forward to it.

She is in epic streak of bad luck. She is in the graphic arts/printing industry in Manhattan. Her firm got sold and the new owners started running the business into the ground by bouncing her in late 07. The industry is both changing and rapidly deserting NYC. She hooked on with another firm for a while and booted around this time last year. Since she is by herself, that wasn't an immediate source of panic. This was before the economy took its current swan dive.

Unemployment and 401K draws later, so drastic steps have to be taken. She was busy holding out for the miracle offer and associating way too much with coming back to our parents house. It's for a few months and a chance to attack the job problem from another angle and a little more support, not to mention some relief from the pressure of looking for work around NYC while living in New York.

She had herself wrapped up that coming home meant the end, that she envisioned returning to Buffalo to take care of an ailing parent (which we don't have) or our disabled brother. He has a job and his own place. Somebody had to be an asshole and tell her to prioritize, that those past couple of sentences don't exist as issues, that our younger sister lives in Harlem and has all kinds of experiences in subletting, so she keeps the place, she had their place to stay for interviews as the economy improves and yields more chances. She just needs to accept the offers.

So, a little respect as I took one for the team. She got rolling today and enable my dad and younger sis to get the ball rolling with local storage of her stuff in NYC, getting going with a sublet, prioritizing what to bring to Buffalo for the summer, and more.

I'm still tired from the one man intervention, but if you need a short term sublet -- I know a 2 bed room in Chelsea that could be had for the summer for a comparitive steal.

Sometimes it pays to be the jerk.