Coming out of retirement to bring you this late breaking news...

The Pixies in concert are completely... underwhelming. I literally just left their show at D.A.R. Constitution Hall. They played Doolittle in its entirety and the show sounded exactly like the album... almost note for note. Kim Deal told us all exactly where we were in the album ("The first half is over!") like she couldn't wait to be done. I've seen introverted software developers in my office show more feeling than the Pixies did during that entire show.

Bottom line: If I had played the album really loud in my apartment, I could have saved myself 50 bucks. That said, the Pixies must be really hard up for cash to get up onstage and go through the motions of playing a good show. I hope that my contribution helps them to survive this recession. After all, they have written some amazing songs, including the one that I named this very blog after. It's just a shame that they have taken something that I loved so much and made it absolutely forgettable.

Is patience really a virtue?

I'm trying to be patient over here but I'm starting to think it's just not worth it. Does that make me any less virtuous? Does it matter?

Stupid society and its stupid rules. :)

I'm too old for this

I am about to turn 29 and I have one of the biggest zits ever on my chin. It dawned on me today that I have had bad skin for way too long... much more than half of my life. On Saturday night, I saw my best friend from fifth grade; fifth grade was when I got my first pimple. The coincidences continue, though. Right now I'm in the middle of the My So-Called Life box set. I haven't watched in a while but decided today was the perfect day for an episode. As luck would have it, I'm at the episode called "Zit," in which Angela* gets a huge pimple on her chin. Blech! I'm too old for this!

*who I used to seriously relate with

Bank of America can kiss my ass

I'm not one to swear on the blog but here's yet another reason why this day has been blah.

From my Facebook status updates:
8:04pm Elise has been on hold with Bank of America FOREVER!

8:25pm Elise is on hold at Bank of America AGAIN!

8:28pm Elise just spent 50 minutes on the line with Bank of America before they hung up on her.

8:40pm Elise is finally off the phone with Bank of America. 60 minutes of holding, 5 customer service reps, and no one could help me...


Stay tuned for tomorrow's story where my checking account is overdrawn because my stupid automatic bill pay was set at $1963.62 when my total credit card balance was just $1025.39. Why can't they have a "pay balance in full" option instead of a hard coded amount? Not THAT difficult!

I am hating life right now.

Elise's new obsession

I am so, so sorry that I haven't written in forever. Believe it or not, I have a lot less school work these days. That's been really great but still I don't seem to find the time to write. Why? Because all I do when I'm on the Internet is look up housing in DC. Do you know how hard it is to find a 2 bedroom, 2 bath in the city? Some places look really great and then I read an angry review and I'm right back to searching again. I won't be moving until the summer but I'm trying to get a feel for the market. Well, my friends, that feeling is not pretty. In Charlottesville, I rent a 3 bedroom, 2.5 bath, 3 floor townhouse for $1,300. This place would easily be more than $5,000 in DC.

And buying a place... well, those prices are out of control. Arghh! The things I'll do to live in the city.

Pet peeve

People talking on cell phones in the quiet section of the library. Come on people! This is a library!!!

This is not how it's supposed to be

I thought the second year of business school was supposed to be easier than the first. I don't think my school got the memo because I have a billion pages to read by tomorrow and it's just not happening.

And, on that note, I'm going to bed! Good night. :)

Why haven't I heard about this?

There's a racism case going on in Louisiana and I learned about it from a British newspaper article.

If you'd like to learn more about the Jena 6, please go to this NPR story.

Buy your own box

With the exception of some grammar mistakes, this WIRED blog post on the U.S. government subsidizing personal electronics is awesome.

Elise's Synopsis of the Post
Analog tv stops working in 2009 and millions of tv sets become useless unless those tvs are hooked up to converter boxes. Those with analog tvs can request a converter box voucher from the U.S. government. Oh, and my favorite part of the write-up: some folks are complaining that the price of the converter box is $70 when the voucher is only for $50. Entitlement is such a wonderful thing.

Don't believe the Hype!

When purchasing a commodity product, I follow the following rule: buy the cheapest brand.* That meant purchasing Hype!, a line of highlighters made by Staples, on my last office supply run. Well, don't believe the hype because these highlighters are crap. They don't move smoothly over paper and they run out of juice after what I consider to be very minimal use. I'm going back to Sharpies from now on. They might cost more but they work so well in comparison that I'm willing to fork over the extra dollar.

The myopic moral of this story: All highlighters are NOT created equal!

* There are always some exceptions, such as all natural toothpaste and comfortable toilet paper, of course!

Disgruntled

Today I had lunch with my dear friend Janel. At the very end of our 4-hour catch-up session she mentioned some horrible customer service she experienced at Lowes. Then I started re-capping two horrible experiences I had with Z. Cavaricci and Hot Topic (don't ask). Both of us had been disappointed with our products and really disappointed with the customer service we received when we tried to right the situation.

As I was driving home from lunch, I had what I think is a great idea. What if there was a website where people could vent their frustration about bad customer service while warning other customers about bad stores and bad companies? Now, this seems too obvious to me. I mean there must be something like this. Maybe E-pinions has it or the Better Business Bureau or Consumer Reports. I don't know. What I do want to know is if anybody out there has seen a sight like this and, if so, where is it? Tell me because I am pissed off and I want everyone to know about it.