Reading and Whatnot
Dec. 13th, 2017 01:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lydamorehouse It's Wednesday! I actually spent a good portion of this morning reading so that I could report that I have FINISHED all 21 volumes of Nana by Ai Yazawa. Whoo! Of course, I raced to the end only to find out that the mangaka is on indefinite hiatus and the end wasn't the end, but sort of just stopped due to her illness. :-P Eh, the non-ending ending was traumatizing, but it was still a good (highly-addictive, very soap opera-y) series. 10/10 would recommend.
In other news, I feel fairly productive in a complaining sort of way. When I went out with the kitty litter, I discovered that our recycling bin had not been emptied. I called Eureka and talked to a very diligent person, who seemed very concerned. We've been missed a number of times, so we'll see if anything will actually be done. He promised to have the drivers tag us next time, if somehow the missed pick-up is our fault. I will be very pissed off if they say it is, however. BECAUSE our recycling is so particular, I make it part of my Monday morning routine to make sure that the bin is situated properly. They have these stupid robotic arms and so they say they have to have two feet or some crazy distance around the bin for them in order to pick it up. So, after dropping Mason and Shawn off, I always go to the back and pull in our garbage can (they ALSO come on Monday, but are capable of actually just pulling the thing around to dump into their truck) and double-check to make sure the recycling bin is close to the alley and unobstructed. It's stupid and a hassle, but it sucks more when we run out of room in the bin because they miss us for weeks at a time.
But, having had a mostly successful conversation with Eureka, I finally wrote a letter to my city council person, Russ Stark, about the parking situation in our neighborhood. We don't have a working garage. We never have, but that's never been much of a problem in the past, oh, 15 years or so. There was always plenty of room on our block to park in front of our house. These last few years, it's become really difficult.... in the middle of the day. I suspect Russ is NOT getting a ton of complaints about this, because many people come home AFTER the parking clears up. But, I will often come home at 8 am and there will be no place for me to park.
A lot of it, ironically, is due to the fact that we're a block from the Fairview Green Line stop. I don't know what is appealing about our neighborhood, but people come here to leave their cars and then take the train into work. I've watched them do it. One time I ended up sitting in my car for an extra fifteen minutes listening to the end of a radio program, and sure enough I watched THREE different people park their cars and walk to the train station.
The rest of the traffic belongs to employees of the businesses on the end of our block. I wish that the businesses had been required to provide parking for their employees, but for some reason they weren't. The irony is that there's a huge parking lot at the end of our block. It belongs to Wendy's and the Russian Tea House. The Russian Tea House has rented out some of their space, because the energy company parks their vans behind the tea house. But, I wish Wendy's would make a deal with the other employers. The lot sits empty and our block fills up.
At any rate, I asked Russ to consider permit parking. It would, at the very least, cut down on the ditch and ride people. (If you're going to commit to public transportation, you should go all the way!)
We'll see, once again, if anything comes from my complaint. But, hey, I've only been putting it off for months. I'm glad I at least wrote something finally.
I don't know if it's the weather or the fact that my usual Wednesday group has moved to Friday, but I'm feeling a little down today. I should be happier. Mason told us about the win in Alabama last night. But, but somehow I'm just feeling low. And work called. They want me in New Brighton from 5 to 8pm. It's only three hours, so I said yes. It'll probably be good for me to go out and earn a little money, too.
In other news, I feel fairly productive in a complaining sort of way. When I went out with the kitty litter, I discovered that our recycling bin had not been emptied. I called Eureka and talked to a very diligent person, who seemed very concerned. We've been missed a number of times, so we'll see if anything will actually be done. He promised to have the drivers tag us next time, if somehow the missed pick-up is our fault. I will be very pissed off if they say it is, however. BECAUSE our recycling is so particular, I make it part of my Monday morning routine to make sure that the bin is situated properly. They have these stupid robotic arms and so they say they have to have two feet or some crazy distance around the bin for them in order to pick it up. So, after dropping Mason and Shawn off, I always go to the back and pull in our garbage can (they ALSO come on Monday, but are capable of actually just pulling the thing around to dump into their truck) and double-check to make sure the recycling bin is close to the alley and unobstructed. It's stupid and a hassle, but it sucks more when we run out of room in the bin because they miss us for weeks at a time.
But, having had a mostly successful conversation with Eureka, I finally wrote a letter to my city council person, Russ Stark, about the parking situation in our neighborhood. We don't have a working garage. We never have, but that's never been much of a problem in the past, oh, 15 years or so. There was always plenty of room on our block to park in front of our house. These last few years, it's become really difficult.... in the middle of the day. I suspect Russ is NOT getting a ton of complaints about this, because many people come home AFTER the parking clears up. But, I will often come home at 8 am and there will be no place for me to park.
A lot of it, ironically, is due to the fact that we're a block from the Fairview Green Line stop. I don't know what is appealing about our neighborhood, but people come here to leave their cars and then take the train into work. I've watched them do it. One time I ended up sitting in my car for an extra fifteen minutes listening to the end of a radio program, and sure enough I watched THREE different people park their cars and walk to the train station.
The rest of the traffic belongs to employees of the businesses on the end of our block. I wish that the businesses had been required to provide parking for their employees, but for some reason they weren't. The irony is that there's a huge parking lot at the end of our block. It belongs to Wendy's and the Russian Tea House. The Russian Tea House has rented out some of their space, because the energy company parks their vans behind the tea house. But, I wish Wendy's would make a deal with the other employers. The lot sits empty and our block fills up.
At any rate, I asked Russ to consider permit parking. It would, at the very least, cut down on the ditch and ride people. (If you're going to commit to public transportation, you should go all the way!)
We'll see, once again, if anything comes from my complaint. But, hey, I've only been putting it off for months. I'm glad I at least wrote something finally.
I don't know if it's the weather or the fact that my usual Wednesday group has moved to Friday, but I'm feeling a little down today. I should be happier. Mason told us about the win in Alabama last night. But, but somehow I'm just feeling low. And work called. They want me in New Brighton from 5 to 8pm. It's only three hours, so I said yes. It'll probably be good for me to go out and earn a little money, too.
no subject
Date: 2017-12-14 01:46 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-12-18 03:10 am (UTC)(If you already knew that, forgive the redundant info. ^^;)
I love Nana dearly, and I hope to see it wrap up properly someday. I haven't heard any mention of Yazawa's health in quite a while, though.
no subject
Date: 2017-12-18 03:34 pm (UTC)When I looked up Yazawa-sensei on Wikipedia, I discovered she's EXACTLY my age. 50. I don't know what to make of that, other than it made me feel a certain amount of random kinship. Sort of like if someone shared your name. ;-)