Having the crappiest day. Several companies are rewriting their stories, which is awful. But then they are insisting we run them, which is much worse.

I was reading Frank Bruni's recent NYT review of Union Square Cafe and had to share this paragraph, which I think is just brilliant:

It gives the best phone in the business, its staff so seemingly genuine in their yearning to accommodate you and their contrition when they can’t that Danny Meyer, the restaurateur who insists on this flamboyant hospitality, must be giving them either Method acting classes or major pharmaceuticals. Maybe both.

::snort::

And the woman on the phone in customer support WOULD NOT stop talking to me as though I were a three-year-old. Even after I asked her! Twice!

"Well, the thing is, ma'am, our policy, ma'am, is to have you blah blah blah, ma'am." In an unbelievably condescending tone. "Excuse me, Frigidaire CSR, but I was wondering if you realize that there's an actual person here on the other end of the phone who did not recently have a lobotomy!"

We bought three Frigidaire fridges from Best Buy for the apartments in Lynn. One of them, bought on May 1, died this week. Called Frigidaire to get repair company names, called all three, got one to come. She tried replacing the relay, no go, which means the compressor is gone. On a two-month-old appliance!

Tenant had just gone grocery shopping, of course.

Repair woman does not have equipment to fix compressor. Call another. Also does not have equipment to fix compressor. Call another, cannot come until next week. Call Frigidaire, perhaps they will just replace it since it's ONLY TWO MONTHS OLD AND SHOULD NOT HAVE DIED? No, they will not unless one of their repair people says it's not repairable. Call first woman, will she do this? No, it IS repairable, she just can't repair it.

@#$@%^%E$$@#!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Get more numbers of authorized repair people and call yet another. Yes, he can replace compressor. But not until next week. And even though a repair person has said it's not the relay, he has to come see for himself AND NOT FIX IT the first time. Then order the parts and wait a while and jack around and then finally come fix it.

We are buying the tenant a mini-fridge for the interim and paying for the groceries she lost. And D will have to come back early from our vacation to meet the repair person on Weds so he can look at--but not fix--the fridge. This is actually okay as he has a bunch of other work going on and really can't take a whole week off right now.

It's not the vacation part that I mind. It's the stupidity part.

I really like this guy's paintings. Yes, they're expensive.

If any of you watch Food Network, you'll appreciate this site. Very funny.

Just finished The Piano Teacher by Janice Y. K. Lee. Really worth reading. Well written, good characters, interesting setting. Hong Kong during WWII.

This article is very funny.

This Web site is appalling. Go ahead, look anyway.

Eew. Just eew.

A did two things this weekend she hasn't done in a very long time. First, she sat down and talked with me for about 15 minutes without asking me for anything. We talked about her summer reading requirements and her school schedule for next year. Second, she sat with S in S's room and chatted with her for about 30 minutes while they did their nails. She normally has no contact with S at all other than a few minutes during dinner with no real conversation.

She is obviously making an effort to act like a human. She did not complain when I told her she was on dish duty on Weds night. She left a few things for me to wash, of course, but hey, one step at a time, right?

Check out this cake. She made those bananas out of marzipan. She's amazing. Nuts, but amazing.

S and I went to the Boston Pops last night and had an incredible time. We were in the first row on the third balcony, and we could see anything. It was a tribute to Richard Rogers, the first half tunes from Rogers & Hart, and the second half was Rogers & Hammerstein. I had given S a few nights to choose from, and she chose this because she loves Broadway musicals. They had two major vocals (one male, one female), and large cast of secondary players. I had no idea there would be so much singing, and it was just perfect for S. The performances were excellent, and the girls wore beautiful silk gowns. My favorite number was Surrey With The Fringe On Top, an awesome arrangement in a swing style. We got to bed very late, and tonight is parent's night at her school, but it was worth it.

We had dinner at Betty's Noodle beforehand. The food was good, but it's really overpriced.

Back from Paris. Trip was great, flights were horrendous. Do not fly Aer Lingus--we had a three-hour Dublin layover on the way back that ended up being eight hours, and it was like 30 degrees in the cabin for the entire six-hour flight.

Here are some things we saw/did: rode to the top of the Eiffel Tower, spent a day at Versailles, walked along the St Martin Canal, went on a dinner cruise on a Bateau Mouche, climbed up Montmatre to see the Sacre Coeur, briefly toured the inside of Notre Dame.

Here are the museums we went to: Louvre, Rodin, L'Orangerie, and Musee D'Orsay. All kids under 18 get into museums for free--awesome! The D'Orsay is amazing not only for the art but the execution of turning a train station into a museum without making it seem like a very odd train station with art on the walls.

Here are food things we did: ate caramel ice cream at Bertillion (a top-five food experience), ate at two non-touristy bistros, bought macarons at Laduree (to die for), bought pastries at Pierre Herme (also to die for), bought caramels and chocolates at Jaques Genin (caramels awesome, chocolates we haven't eaten yet), had crepes made for us by a French man (my step-sister's fiance), ate crepes from several street vendors, went to an outdoor market, had a picnic in the Jardin de Luxembourg (so beautiful), and ate a six-course dinner at Dome du Marais.

The pictures are still in the camera, but I will post some this weekend.

Off to Atlanta tomorrow to speak at a magazine conference.

I really liked this post from John Halamka, who blog I read regularly for work. It's an interesting way to look at what's been going on in the world lately.

D has been working every weekend on the third-floor unit of the new house, and it's really coming along. He replaced one window, both entry doors and both bedroom doors. He also put bead-board up in one of the closets that was a mess and in the built-in pantry. I did some cleaning and some painting, and he'll be starting on the kitchen soon. Here's the living room before he started ripping things up.



Here's the kitchen now.



We'll replace that half cabinet with a regular-sized one so it won't look so stupid. The cabinets aren't the best quality, but they're new, so they'll stay. The countertop will be new (tiled) and extend around to the left in an L. New stove is coming, along with a fridge that will have to go on the other side of the kitchen because there's nowhere else to put it.

S played the witch in her school production of Into the Woods (junior). I know it's bragging, but she was the best one. For one thing, you could hear her (most of the kids talked and sang too softly). For another thing, she is really coming into her own in terms of being on stage, and she's got a great sense of comic timing. I attribute this to my dad, who taught everyone he loved about great humor. He would have been excited beyond belief to have seen her shine in this role because he was a huge Sondheim fan. Here she is in her wig and cape:



With her best friend, who played (obviously) Little Red Riding Hood.



The performance was a couple of weeks ago, and since then, S tried out for the local production of Annie and got the part of Lily St Regis. This is the woman who pretends to be Annie's mother, and in one of the movies, the part is played by Bernadette Peters--which is funny because Peters played the witch in Into the Woods on Broadway.

Yeah, so, no surprise--no closing today. It's extended until the 19th. Onward.

The P&S is signed. If everything goes according to plan, we'll close on the 13th and start renovating right away. Which means this weekend is my last chance to get anything done for a while. Like shop for spring clothes. Mall, anyone?

Of a three family in Lynn. Our offer was accepted, anyway. On to the P&S.

There is a great post at Eggbeater today on why cakes sink. If you're a baking junkie like me, you'll love this post.