Mambo Taxi

I haven't received a reply to my email requesting cancellation from Harpers Magazine after 15 years, but I got a letter from their subscription department this week thanking me for my loyalty.

This feels like a good time for another followup, cc'd to the VP Subscription and the 2nd at the magazine under Rick MacArthur. Couldn't find MacArthur's address. Hope that's good enough for action.


Dear Shawn Green, Subscription Department, and Ellen Rosenbush,

It has now been three months since I sent my cancellation request in response to Rick MacArthur's appalling statements on the CBC in September. I have never received a reply. I do not want to receive another re-subscription letter from you. I am not a "loyal subscriber." My original statement on September 29 stands; I do not want to see the magazine in my house. Once again, please advise as to the resolution of this issue.

/s

Check behind all the sofas!

Historians Believe Michelangelo Painting Found Behind Sofa of Buffalo NY Family

[via mirabilis_syn]

http://www.myheritage.com/collage

No, I think Billy Bob Thorton isn't a likeness. So, gang, who do I look like: Chiang Kai-Shek? Or Tony Danza?

"What's funny to me," I said, "is the front doorknob to our house came off in my hand yesterday."

"Well, bad things usually come in threes," said the tow-truck driver.

"I'm hoping that the storm-door latch shattering a week earlier was number one. I really am."

Yup, I got my first tow-truck ride yesterday.

Welcome back to North America, melted_snowball! You've been experiencing the hour from 5:20pm to 4:20pm repeatedly since you left Tokyo 12 hours ago! As a special bonus for taking the da_lj Corolla Chariot back home, now you get to sit on the side of the 401 for an hour, after the muffler bracket decides it's had enough and now's the time to fall off. Whee!

Joining CAA this summer was a good idea. I called and they said they'd send someone ASAP, since the 401 isn't a safe place to be broken down. After a mix-up when the first CAA towtruck arrived just ten minutes after I called, and determined he was looking for another broken down car in roughly the same place (WTF?), it was a relief that the second CAA truck was actually going to stick around and help.

According to him, the only thing we need is the bracket and bolt which hold it on. He tried to wire it up with a coat-hanger, but the connections were difficult, so he had to put the car on a big dolly to tow us from Mississauga home.

And we made it home by 8pm, after d. and I acted like an old married couple when I was giving directions and dan woke up in the back seat and wanted to give slightly different directions. ;)

And the tire place on the corner, which we trust for minor fixes, can replace the bracket and bolt, I hope. I left them a voicemail. "The car that appeared in your lot on the weekend? That's us. Can you fix the muffler bracket? I'll call back early Monday."

--

The front door breaking, which feels anticlimactic now, was Friday's fun. Bleary morning routine: walk downstairs, get newspaper, make breakfast, deal with roverthedog. Fail step 2, open front door successfully: the handle pulled off in my hand, but without taking any of the innards with it. I'm like, "wait, there's a set of tabs sticking straight out inside the lock, which match the 4 slots in the handle, but... that doesn't look so easy to reattach." Blink. Blink. Hey, I need to get to Physio and to work. So I dealt with it in the evening. It turned out to be fixable, without even needing a trip to Home Hardware. And I also sanded down the top of the door, figuring that was the real cause of the failure. Only 8 years we've lived here, now we finally have a front door that doesn't stick.

--

What I'm (hopefully) calling failure number 1, almost two weeks ago now, was coming home to discover the latch for the storm-door had shattered into a pile of little metal shards on the front stoop. I haven't made it to the hardware store to see if a reasonable replacement can be found. Oddly enough, I feel busy otherwise.

I'm not sure what there is to learn here. Entropy happens? Replace stuff before it fails? Always have spares on hand? Have friends with good advice? I like that last one. If the muffler had actually fallen off, I liked the recommendation of one friend, who said "throw it in the trunk and drive on home. It'll be loud, but that's fine." I was tempted to just do that anyway, while we were waiting the hour for the CAA truck, but I'm glad d. convinced me not to, because I expect it would have cost a bunch more to reconnect the muffler.

So yeah. Just another boring weekend Chez nous.

melted_snowball and I were wondering about something this morning. Why do some autos have a metallic strap hanging down from the rear bumper onto the road?

I thought I read somewhere it was to prevent charge buildup in the car so the gas tank didn't explode. But oh, it's so much better than that.


09:48 <@dnm> They believe it cures motion sickness.
09:48 <@dnm> yarly.
09:48 <@dnm> (It doesn't.)
09:50 <@daniel> wait, I thought you were kidding still.
09:50 <@daniel> http://www.mizter.com/testimonials.htm


*boggles*