Festival

So, it’s been about a year since I moved out.  I know because the annual festival that came to my street when I moved in has just come again.  I wasn’t all that impressed with the festival this time around.  Sure, they had the pineapple drink that I loved from last year, but that was about it.  Other than that, just expensive tacos and rigged carnival games.

It was an inconvenience more than anything.  They blocked off the road in front of the apartment, so I had to park four blocks from home.  I found out monday when I went to work that there was no parking in that spot, even though there was no sign, even snapped some photos.  I plan on fighting the parking ticket… I swear, sometimes I think the city of Chicago lives to give me parking tickets for stupid things.

My apartment had the bad fortune of being directly in front of a booth selling CD’s, which meant it had to blast it’s bass from dawn until dusk.  To add to the cacophony, various other musics from the festival joined the bass.

But the weekend was far from bad, however.  I decided to buy a high-definition television.  I had been holding off because I saw absolutely nothing wrong with the television I had, a thirty-five inch tube.  However, my purchase of an X-Box 360 forced me into a corner.  See, the system is designed for high-definition, so the image is slightly blurry on a tube.  So when there’s text on the screen (as is common in RPG’s, the games I play the most), I can’t read it.

I’m not sure why this was done.  Surely Microsoft could have put a feature that could make the text readable on tubes?  One could say it was to spur people to buy high-definition televisions, but Microsoft doesn’t make televisions… so I’m not sure why it was done.

I hunted for the perfect television.  Best Buy was way too expensive, and Wal-Mart had nothing but cheap brands (not that I would buy from the land of blue vests, anyhow).  I stopped at Grant’s Electronics and found a nice deal on a 42″ Toshiba for $1259.  I signed up for their 90-day no interest plan and was turned down on the account of not having had my current job long enough.  Sure, I could have handed over my debit card and paid for it all right there, but it’s the principle of the thing.  I left feeling dejected and a little insulted, as I’ve worked pretty hard to get out of debt and keep my good credit.

The next day I went to Sam’s Club (owned by Wal-Mart, I know, but their bulk supplies actually HELP small businesses, so I’m less against them) and found a 42″ Magnavox for only $1049.  It was a good deal, so I signed up for their no-interest plan (and was approved, go figure), and brought the TV home.

I spent a few hours after that behind my television stand, straightening out wires and hooking up the new TV.  I finally got rid of my VCR, which had been causing some static in my signal anyway.  I discovered that my surround sound system is too primitive for my TV, lacking a digital sound jack, which is the only sound output on the television.  Part of me is considering purchasing a new amplifier, whereas another part feels the speakers on the television (admittedly much louder and clearer than the old) will more than suffice.

Admittedly, ditching the surround sound will save a lot of cables….

Monday was an interesting day.  I drove to work hitting an especially bad stretch of traffic, arriving about fifteen minutes late.  When I arrived I noticed a lot of people leaving the building, which is very odd for that time of the morning.  When I reached the elevator the security guard stopped me, “Go home, you’re closed.”

This was admittedly a shock, “What for?” I ask.

“All floors,” he responds, obviously mishearing me, but I decide to let it go.  I leave the building and find out from someone who works on the floor above me that there was a power outage.

I call one of my co-workers to warn him, as he’s probably just getting on the road now.  I says that he’s aware and that one of the bosses already sent out texts letting us know.  I apparently was not on that list.

So, I shrug and get back in my car, and use the time to get some things done I’ve been meaning to do.  Got some things for my car, cleared up some business at my bank, and went home.

At about eleven o’clock or so my boss sends me a text reminding me to put in my timesheet, so I pulled out my laptop, connected to the work network, and submitted it.  I also checked my email, which had a couple notifications for the power outage and a number to call the next day to see if it’s been resolved.

The next day I call the number and am informed that power has been restored, so I head in at the normal time.  At my desk phone, there’s a message on my voicemail.  A co-worker called and told me to report to the Elgin facility the day before.  Obviously, I didn’t get the message because security wouldn’t let me upstairs.

Apparently, everyone in IT received similar instructions, and were even wondering why I didn’t show up.  And yet… NOBODY bothered to contact me on my work cell phone I had on my person the entire day.  So, there was some jokes made the following day, them asking if I enjoyed my day off, and me asking why no one bothered to call me, even when the boss specifically texted me to put my timesheet in.

It’s good that I work in an environment where honest mistakes can be laughed off.

Zel-kun out.