desh ([personal profile] desh) wrote2009-11-04 09:18 pm

three stories

For the first 21 months I've lived in this apartment, I've struggled to get my newspaper delivered without it being stolen before I can get it. I imagine it was being stolen out front, by someone passing by or waiting at the bus stop near my apartment. I've since lowered my delivery schedule to weekends only, and was still only getting a paper about a third of the time.

After finally speaking to a delivery manager at the newspaper company, we decided to have the delivery person put my paper inside the bars lining my living room window. The window starts maybe 6.5 or 7 feet from street level, relatively easily reached. The paper would be harder to see by passers-by, we figured, with it resting between the glass and the bars.

It worked great. I've gotten my paper consistently in the few weeks we've tried it. My roommate even figured out that the paper could be accessed through the window, making it even more convenient than if it were somehow delivered to the front door of the apartment. And I even got complacent about the successful deliveries to the point that I didn't cancel my delivery this weekend when I was away, and I left the papers, still in their plastic bags, in the window until today.

I was walking home from dinner, when I saw someone at the front door of my building, so I turned around*. As I was waiting, some guy on the street asked me if the newspapers were mine. (I have no idea how he knew that I was waiting to go into my building, or that the front apartment was mine, or anything like that.) Dumbfounded, I said yes.

He said I should do something about them, because someone had been trying to set them on fire.

---

I ate dinner in a restaurant tonight that I'd never tried before. The food was good. After dinner, I asked for a manager. I told him that I would probably not be returning there, because all of the chairs and booths in the establishment had such low backs that I couldn't comfortably sit anywhere there. (I generally need good, straight back support at least up to mid-back, though so high that I can't tilt my head backwards is problematic.)

He thanked me, though wasn't able to offer any solutions. He didn't even bring up the idea of take-out until I mentioned it.

---

I've corresponded with Brad Goebel twice regarding my fantasy football team named after him. It's my first time playing fantasy football. My team is 6-2, tops in the league. As of a week ago, his team was, he said, 2-5 in his league. He cited my obviously superior skill as the reason why he would not offer me advice on how to run my fantasy team, when I had offered to ask him questions along those lines if he'd be interested.

I'm trying to think of who I should name my team after next year. Kurt Gouveia is the main idea to come to mind so far, though he might not have been obscure enough.

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*I don't like entering my building when someone else is. I don't know any of my neighbors, and I certainly don't know their guests. I don't want to compromise security by letting them in, and I don't want to be rude by walking past them but then slamming the door in their face. So I usually go somewhere else for 20 seconds until the moment passes.

[identity profile] smarriveurr.livejournal.com 2009-11-05 03:56 am (UTC)(link)
I don't like entering my building when someone else is...

I totally understand this. I used to hate passing the RFID lock around back of the government building in which I used to work, because people so cavalierly held the damn thing open for anyone headed that way, setting the ridiculous standard, and I could never bring myself to do so. I wish our culture could recognize that it's actually polite to all your neighbors to make sure the layers of security that supposedly protect them are respected.

[identity profile] erin.livejournal.com 2009-11-05 04:40 pm (UTC)(link)
Re: entering the building when someone else is -

I do this, too, at my office building. You're suppossed to scan your card anytime you enter, because it's a big building state government building that's gets a fair amount of threats (Div of Environmental Protection is housed in this building). The building essentially needs to know exactly who is in it at all times, so you're also suppossed to scan your card as you go out. I can't count the number of times people have held the door open for me and rolled their eyes at me as I told them to go ahead and close it so I could take my time scanning my card. So I just started watching for other people to be heading towards the door and if I see someone, I take a detour to one of the other doors.

Also. Fire??? Nice of the person to warn you... did they have any other information? I know if I saw someone trying to set fire to a building I'd give a little more information ("they were this tall and had big feet and sure I'll give the cops a description").

[identity profile] erin.livejournal.com 2009-11-05 04:54 pm (UTC)(link)
Maybe Mr. Mindreader is the newspaper thief and he's pissed that he can no longer get his free reading on!

[identity profile] msschein.livejournal.com 2009-11-05 06:23 pm (UTC)(link)
Can't you scan your card while the door is open? That's what we do at my office, so we can be polite and hold the door for each other, but still make sure everyone scans.

[identity profile] erin.livejournal.com 2009-11-05 07:49 pm (UTC)(link)
You can, but it's a placement problem - the door opens out, with the hinges on the left. The scanner thing is also on the left, but about 5-6 feet away from the door. So, if someone is holding the door open, you have to actually walk past them and the open door to scan your card.

[identity profile] msschein.livejournal.com 2009-11-05 06:26 pm (UTC)(link)
Do you really not know any of the neighbors? I never knew all of them, but the ones who got home at the same time as me regularly I got to know eventually. Communal mailboxes = social opportunity. And I tried to say hi when people moved in over the summer. It cuts down the door awkwardness by about half, which was honestly the main reason why I bothered. The rest of the time, I'd hold the door for someone who clearly had their key out and could let themselves in anyway (and then I'd say hi).