there are currently three main irritations in my life.

one. the white dog. i actually like working there, more or less. as far as restaurants go, it's a nice place to work. i'm really not making enough money though. grrr. soon, hopefully, i'll get some dinner shifts, and can make a few more bucks per outing. today wasn't bad--i made $65 in tips, and walked with $53 (after a $12 tip out to the bar, the busser, and the food runner, in case you were wondering). my most interesting table was two little old ladies of the very wealthy persuasion. they ordered a half carafe of wine, cups of soup, entrees, one dessert, and coffee. lovely ladies, though perhaps a bit too chatty (um hello? do you not see that i have 8 other tables that need water refills and more bread? oh, maybe you don't. you did, after all, pull out a big ol' magnifying glass to read the menu). lovely, that is, until it came time for the check. they fought over it more than any other two people i've ever seen, including two wealthy middle-aged men dining with a younger, more female, colleague. the one lady (let's call her agatha), whispers to me (or, at least, i assume she was trying to whisper. i suspect her hearing is about as good as her eyesight) to bring her the check and to not, under any circumstances, give the check to her companion (who i will call mildred). mildred, of course, hears agatha "whisper" and demands that i give the check to her. agatha grabs me by the arm (she's strong for an old broad) and insists that if i give the check to mildred, she's going to leave the restaurant and walk home (why this "threat" should work on me, i don't know). agatha then tells me (still holding on to my arm) that mildred has been kind enough to drive up from new jersey to take her to the doctor, and thus, deserves to be treated to lunch at the very least. at this point, i have to agree--sounds like agatha owes mildred lunch. agatha forces the credit card into my hand and pushes me away while mildred is still fumbling around in her bag. as they are leaving, mildred pulls me aside and says "can you tear up that check?" um, no. sorry. credit card already rung through and signed for. ah, well, says mildred, i'll just have to sneak some money into her bag.

two. research. i had a committee meeting yesterday with my dissertation committee. as usual, i didn't give enough background/theoretical stuff for them. whatever. i have new data, or rather, newly analyzed data, that we looked at together for the first time. there are some weird, unexpected effects happening, and the committee were unanimous that i need to figure out what the heck's going on. this figuring is going to require much tedious sifting through the data to see if some things were perhaps mis-marked, and, if things are kosher, some creative thinking to explain these strange graphs i've got. sigh. all this tedium, plus the extreme loathing i have for lit reviews, makes me more sure that academia is not for me. too bad. except for that, i think i would quite like academia.

three. landlord. he's still at it. karl and i deducted 9 days rent from october's check because we couldn't move in until 9 days after our lease started, and we had paid september in full. the landlord doesn't think we're entitled to a full 9 days because, basically, i was storing my stuff there since 31 august when i moved out of my old place. hello? excuse me? when he said i could store my stuff there, he said *nothing* about there being a charge associated. and he keeps harping on the idea that we don't understand how inconvenienced *he's* been by all this--that is, he had to spend extra money ($2000, he claims) on renovations because my stuff was in the apartment. the contractors had to re-rent the floor buffer and the paint sprayer. that, i gather, is his arguement. but he certainly doesn't have the market on inconvenience cornered. no sir. we had to wait 9 days to move in, all the while living with karl's brother. even after we moved in, we had to wait 3 days for a fridge. the phone jacks *still* don't work. and when the gas company guy came out tuesday to turn on our cooking gas, he discovered that the contractors had put a flex connector through the cabinets, which is apparently illegal because it's a fire hazard. i asked him, and he said this is something that contractors should know. so, the landlord has to get someone to come out and put rigid pipe around the flex connector, and then we can call the gas company again and schedule another day when i have to stay home from work to meet him. lucky me. so, *ahem* mister landlord man, but i don't think you have any business saying that you've been inconvenienced more than us. thank you very much.

anyhow, we've been emailing back and forth with the landlord about this 9 days' rent thing. he insists we pay more, we insist we're not gonna. he blames us for broken plumbing and garbage disposal, we say we're not gonna take his crap (not in those exact words, of course. we are the model of grace and respect, natch). karl's currently investigating tenants's rights web sites, and is going to contact someone (some pennsylvania tenants' rights assn) for advice. grrr.

okay, there's gotta be some stuff that's going well. ... i'm enjoying riding (every tuesday). the apartment is shaping up. buffy and the west wing are good. miss fergusson is doing well (she's got another vet appointment on monday, since she didn't grow back all her hair after they shot her up with hormones).

i'd really like things to settle a bit, so i can spend evenings curled up with tea and a book.