The wave of the future

January 30, 2005 on 10:04 pm | In Uncategorized

Yesterday, we brought home our third microwave.

Our first microwave had been with the family since our junior year at Brandeis. Lauren’s mom bought it for us so that we could heat up our instant macaroni and cheese faster.

Although the microwave was purchased just around the turn of the millenium, it appeared to date to the 1800s. It had no display, and you started the timer using pulleys, levers, and a dial.

So, we asked for — and received — a new microwave for Hannukah. It took quickly to its new surroundings, and thus had its own display die within a few days.

I took it to the authorized Sears repair center. They said that those displays can last anywhere from one week to one decade. They promised a repair within 10 days.

Eleven days later, they called to inform me that the microwave was ready for pickup. When Lauren went in to get it, they mentioned that they hadn’t actually fixed it, but that we were now authorized to exchange it for a replacement back at Sears. Apparently, such authorization requires a week and a half of work.

So we returned to Sears. The gentleman who helped me wasn’t aware that Sears had ever sold such a microwave. And of course, it wasn’t in stock. They could order it for me, provided I pay $25.

That was an interesting offer. “Hell no,” I counteroffered. “You have to pay the $25 fee, unless you bought the extended warranty, he said.

Oh. Ok. I did that then. Sure.

My false word was enough convincing for them. Six days later — yesterday — we brought home our new new microwave. We look forward to at least several weeks of warmed leftovers.

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    Quick

    January 27, 2005 on 5:21 pm | In Uncategorized

    Remember when The West Wing featured characters in the West Wing? That was interesting.

    Yesterday’s title for the Stockard Channing post was courtesy of Christina.

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    Drunkard Channing

    January 26, 2005 on 4:36 pm | In Uncategorized

    Poor Abigail Bartlett. Apparently she’s been taking life advice from Leo.

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    Brandeis Gives a Hoot

    January 26, 2005 on 4:38 am | In Uncategorized

    There’s a new student paper at Brandeis called The Hoot.

    It’s too short, but it’s written far better than The Justice. And the web site is leaps and bounds better.

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    Here today, Eagle tomorrow

    January 26, 2005 on 4:10 am | In Uncategorized

    As the Eagles prepare for their forthcoming Superbowl victory, the team just keeps growing.

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    Congratulations to the Philadelphia Eagles

    January 23, 2005 on 11:13 pm | In Uncategorized

    CONGRATULATIONS TO THE NFC CHAMPION PHILADELPHIA EAGLES!

    This blog has long been a supporter of the Eagles. Today, this blog is the happiest it has ever been with Philly!

    See you in Jacksonville, AFC losers!

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    Son of a Beach

    January 19, 2005 on 5:01 pm | In Uncategorized

    So, the South Beach Diet works. For me, anyway.

    I was inspired by the number on the scale, which had crossed 200 for the first time in a long time after a vacation with Lauren and her family.

    The last time I dieted, I used the Hacker’s Diet — a system where you eat whatever you want and count the total calories in each food, and don’t allow yourself to exceed your chosen calories-per-day total.

    And it worked. But eventually, you tire of determining the exact calorie amount of every food you eat. I measured ketchup. That didn’t translate for me into healthier eating habits.

    I picked South Beach after much careful research, defined as “Lauren said she was doing it.”

    We didn’t buy any books — all the info’s online. There are three phases in South Beach:

    Phase One: Puts the kibosh on any sugar or carbs, pretty much. You have to work to eat extremely low amounts of those foods — but you can eat other stuff till you’re full. Seasoned white meat chicken, lean cuts of beef, salmon, most vegetables, salads, low-carb peanut butter, peanuts, pistachios, Diet Coke, Diet Kool-Aide, water, low-fat/no-fat cheeses — those were, if you’ll pardon my expression, the bread and butter of our first two weeks.

    The claim is that you can lose up to 13 pounds in phase one.

    I went from 202lbs to 189lbs.

    And it was true — over time I wasn’t hungry all the time and craving carbs all the time. Don’t get me wrong, I would loved a big handful of chips or a scoop of ice cream — but I didn’t need it.

    I’m now in phase two. Here, we get to reintroduce some carbs. You can have low carb, full-grain bread, fruits, milk, etc. And we bought a lot of low-carb versions of those things — including an excellent low-carb chocolate milk from Hood that tastes like milkshake and has 2g of carbs per cup.

    You just can’t have bread, fruit, milk, etc all in one day during this phase. You do a bit a day and still try to keep the carb count low.

    This phase lasts a while — until you reach your target weight. For me, that’s 180, which I haven’t weighed since early high school. It’s a healthy weight for someone my height (6′2″).

    I may be tempted to go back to phase one again in a few weeks, because phase two is supposed to lose you about a pound or two a week. And if that doesn’t happen consistently enough for my liking…

    Once you hit your target weight, you move to phase three. That’s the “rest of your life” phase. Basically, you eat whatever you want. Except there’s something about “moderation” thrown in there ;)

    The idea with phase three is, if you eat a whole cheesecake one day, you try to balance that out for the rest of the week instead of wallowing and stuffing your sorrow with ice cream. And if you notice that you packed on a couple pounds on vacation, you do phase one again for a week or so, and then go back to maintenance.

    We’ll see.

    More on this story as it develops.

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    My doormat and my dog

    January 19, 2005 on 3:45 am | In Uncategorized

    My doormat:

    My Doormat

    My dog:

    Charlie

    Lauren’s camera phone is cool.

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    QE for the TV

    January 12, 2005 on 5:57 am | In Uncategorized

    We watched a sneak peek of Queer Eye for the Straight Girl tonight on Bravo.

    The girl they made over on tonight’s episode got a huge, beautiful 36″ television from RCA.

    It’s exactly like our 36″ RCA TV. Exactly the same TV. Except they bought hers… We already had ours, so QE didn’t give us a new one.

    Oh well.

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    Ant Acid

    January 11, 2005 on 4:07 am | In Uncategorized

    So, it’s rained in Los Angeles for the past two weeks, in a disturbing trend that has caused angered Los Angelenos to protest by driving around very, very slowly.

    The rain has caused a variety of problems. Wetness, for one. But even worse, it gave Lauren and me a problem:

    Ants.

    I had ants in my pants (in the closet). And ants in the bathroom. And ants in the bedroom. And the family room. And the kitchen.

    It was antastic.

    And, of course, the problem began on Friday afternoon. So there were no exterminator available until — you guessed it — Monday.

    Ant baits were bought. And Raid.

    Come Monday morning, Lauren didn’t see any ants in her bathroom.

    Lauren: Let’s hold off on calling the exterminator — I don’t see any ants.

    Lex: I think we should still call them.

    Lauren: I think it’s a waste of money if there aren’t any ants left.

    Lex: Well, even though I’m super cheap, I think it’s better safe than–

    Lauren: AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

    Lauren has just discovered dozens of ants on her dresser.

    She took half a day off work to let the exterminator in and take the Charlie out.

    So eventually we came home. We thought we had seen a lot of ants before. And we had.

    But now we got to see a LOT MORE ants. DEAD ones.

    Which we spent another hour or more cleaning up.

    Awesome Monday.

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