Archive for April, 2007

When Crime Happens…

Published by Carol on April 24, 2007 in Baltimore. 1 Comment

So I’m feeling a little uncomfortable around some of my neighbors lately…and I’m trying really hard to stay away from conversations regarding the shooting of a man who lives around the corner from me (look under Southern District). I don’t know the man, have never met him.

While I understand that the shooting is a terrible thing…I’m at a loss as to why it’s worse than any other crime that occurs daily in this neighborhood. There was a stabbing on Ostend Street, and two shootings on Washington Boulevard… Is it because “we” live in a “nice” neighborhood and “they” (the people on Ostend and Washington, respectively) do not? Is that why we’re supposed to suddenly flee the city or rally around in the streets? Because one of “us” was shot on the street?

I don’t understand why this crime is so worthy of our attention and hand-wringing, when all the other crime…wasn’t. Keep in mind, I have no clue what the man looks like — so this isn’t about race, at least not to me. It’s purely economics. My neighborhood is considered a “good” neighborhood. The areas where the other killings occurred, well, they’re not considered “here”…they’re “over there” and I guess not worthy of our hand-wringing and furious messages on the community message board.

I look forward to the day when all of our community’s residents are equally important, not just the people who live in my neighborhood…and I look forward to the day when the city’s leaders decide that crime all over the city needs their immediate attention…not just in the places where “we” live.

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The Best Rock Band Ever.

Published by Carol on April 17, 2007 in Farkity Fark Fark. 0 Comments

Sometimes the links that show up on my gmail page are just too good to pass up. Want to join the best rock band ever?

Go here and email the guy. Ah, but only if you’re between the ages of 19 and 23. Because we all want to hear what 19 to 23 year olds feel about life ‘n shit. Meh.

I Couldn’t Help But Wonder Why He Capitalised Every Word In Every Sentence, But Maybe That’s Just Me. Maybe He’s Not Quite Right In The Head.

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Plan B

Published by Carol on April 16, 2007 in Farkity Fark Fark. 5 Comments

I think if the coffeehouse thing doesn’t work out, I have a new career plan: Breakup Message Deliverer. Like a little ray of sunshine, delivering messages door to door.

Pfft. Aack.

Relationships are just plain tricky. And what better way to end one than to have me show up on your soon-to-be-ex’s doorstep delivering the bad news for you? No fuss, no muss.

It’s good to know I have career choices.

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Bellydancing Is…

Published by Carol on April 15, 2007 in General Madness. 5 Comments

….Much harder than it looks.

Even for me, and I’m double-jointed in both hips. Ow. Gasp. Aack.

I should have just followed my original plan of reading the paper and going to bed.

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Fame Goes To My Head

Published by Carol on April 14, 2007 in Baltimore. 0 Comments

Some of you might think it’s cool to be mentioned in Slate….Slashdot….or even Go Fug Yourself. No, no no,losers.

You haven’t hit the big time until you’re mentioned in Bags In Trees. Seriously.

Admit it. You so wish you were me right now.

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Hmm. Pondering.

Published by Carol on April 12, 2007 in General Madness. 2 Comments

I’m thinking that the ideal relationship would be with someone who doesn’t live in the same house. Maintain separate residences and lives. Switch homes every week maybe. Or every few days. None of this “death do us part” nonsense. Could I perhaps be that non-traditional after all? Hmm.

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Just Another Bizarre Encounter…

Published by Carol on April 9, 2007 in General Madness. 2 Comments

…while calling the IRS.

I would swear I got into one of those offshore call centers. You know the ones…where everyone talks like John Wayne and has a name like “Tad” or “Rufus”.

So the guy starts out as John Wayne, kinda. Except he says “Actually, ma’am” in front of every sentence.

“Actually, ma’am, what is your name?” “Actually, ma’am, what is your social security number?”

Farkin’ annoying.

Then somehow an alarm must have sounded….”Wait, she’s from Baltimore. No John Wayne. Be ghetto.”

Me: So I redid 2001 and 2002 so I could find more deductions to reduce my overall payment before you started seizing my assets (half joking here…I don’t owe that much).

Him: Nobody seizin’ nothin’!

Me: Pardon me?

Him: The IRS be friendly!

Me: Excuse me? Yes, um, I guess so.

Him: Y’all can’t believe everything you hear about the IRS!

Me: Um, okay. Well I guess that’s it then. Thank you.

Him: Actually, ma’am (switching back to John Wayne) yes thank you!

It was completely creepy and bizarre and I couldn’t even remember why I called. Aack.

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10 Year Olds…

Published by Carol on April 7, 2007 in General Madness. 2 Comments

…covering Black Sabbath’s Paranoid. Okay, the vocals aren’t so hot, but damn. That little guy on the drums can rock.

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Uuuh-HUH, Mm-MMM!

Published by Carol on April 4, 2007 in General Madness. 0 Comments

She don’t get up till the sun goes down
She don’t come down till the sun comes up
She drinks her coffee from a broken cup
In her Jackie O sunglasses
She didn’t get to bed till 10am

Sad Eyed Lady Of The Lowlife, Alabama 3

Loving this song. Oooh yeah. Mm mm mm.

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Dual Blogs and Bad Customer Service…

Published by Carol on April 4, 2007 in General Madness. 0 Comments

So I’ve decided that the cafe blog will be for…just cafe stuff. Menu updates, specials, stuff like that. The day-to-day running of the restaurant, foibles with customers, supplier snafus — I’ll write about that here. Someone once called my cafe’s blog “self-serving” — um, duh. It’s called “advertising”…so for whatever reason, I’ve grown tired of updating it except for menu changes, and I’ll be writing more here.

So I called one of my bakery suppliers today (not Stone Mill, they’d never behave this way) to discuss some concerns I had regarding the quality of their product…specifically the lack of quality…and to see if they would be willing to up the quality of the ingredients a little for some of the items I’d order every week. I was even willing to pay more…a lot more, had she bothered to ask.

Nope. Not only was the salesperson unwilling to do anything, she acted like I was an idiot for even calling her in the first place. Great customer service, huh? So…I guess they’ll keep their low-end products and I’ll keep ordering from Stone Mill and baking my own items that I can’t get from Stone Mill. Jeez.

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