Hey Sailor, Wanna Teach Me Oracle?

I decided that I felt good enough today to try to set up an appointment with a local university that I discovered recently has exactly the degree program I've been looking for. I'm hoping that most of my credits from the degree I already have will transfer and that I can take a few courses and get a second degree with very little fuss. I despise a fuss.

I've known about the program for a couple of weeks and probably should have tried to set this shit up before today, but I tend to put off most things that require communication with total strangers unless it's an emergency - or a pizza delivery.

I set out, as is my usual habit with all things informational, by pulling up the university website and trying to find a "Contact Us" button or link. There was none. I finally decided to click on a "Questions & Answers" link which brought up an e-form that I reluctantly started filling out.

First Name, Last Name, email address, Date of Birth, How did you find out about us, radio buttons to choose my interest in a bachelor's or graduate program that upon clicking opened up another e-form, which I also reluctantly started filling out and soon realized was similar to an admissions form.

Whoa! Slow down there Sailor. I barely know you. Can't we sit down and have a drink and some harmless flirtation before you feel me up?

At some point another little window popped up that asked me if I wanted to chat live with a university representative. I clicked the "Yes" button and started asking my questions via chat with "Angela", who was no help at all.

Angela: I will be happy to email you all the information you need.

She then proceeded to email me exactly the same useless shit that I already had looked at from their website.

Me: Can someone just call me?

Apparently this isn't how they do things. I have to fill out the forms and give them, my name, address, phone numbers, email, and left tit before anyone will be able to contact me to answer my questions.

Does this seem dubious to you? It felt wrong. It seemed cheap and impersonal and now I'm furious and sure I'm going to get a dozen spam emails a day from this place.

All I want is to ask some questions and possibly set up an appointment to meet with someone. How fucking hard is that?

Why do they need to know my birth date?

After I cooled down I looked them up in the good old fashioned phone book. There are about 10 numbers and I intend to call them all, one by one, until I speak to a real live human being who can answer my questions and convice me they are on the level and not trying to screw me before I agree to go there in person. Not today though. Tomorrow for sure.

Snow Day for a Grown Up Lady

As I was putting the finishing touches on my hair-do this morning the phone rang, like it always seems to do, just as I'm about to walk out the door. Thankfully, for a change, I didn't ignore it, because it was my recruiter guy calling to reschedule the 10am "orientation" appointment I was busily making myself beautiful for. The roads and driving conditions here are pretty bad today in the tundra.

So for the first time since I was in high school - I've got a snow day.

Weird.

I'm all made up. Hair done, eyes shining and no where to go. I'm tempted to head back into the bathroom and wash it all off, but I think I'll remain cute awhile longer.

Anyhoo... as I walked into the living room to put my outfit back in the closet I decided I liked the juxtaposition of the crisp tweed, cashmere and silk against the backdrop of our sloppy book shelves. It pretty much sums us up as a couple, and having my clothes all over the place is usually part of the mix.

You can see the beautiful raku vase made by my good friend Nature Boy (husband of my also good friend Madame La Prof) directly over top of my outfit. It's sitting next to MDH's fez that he bought at a yard sale that has been a featured tzchachki in our home since we first shacked up. MDH's military books and biographies are mixed in with my collection of fiction and a photo of my parents at our wedding.

I think I'll spend my snow day doing some terribly unproductive things that I would normally feel too guilty to do, like play the Sims and watch old movies I've been saving on the DVR for just such an occasion. Namely, and appropriately, The Lady Vanishes and The Lady Eve.

It's such a load off to spend a day with no job hunting.