the Ugly Green Chair - blog archive

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Wednesday - January 24, 2001
It is an unfortunate fact that my phone number is probably one number off from a local doctors office. I used to get phone calls like this:

me: "Hello?"
Person who can't dial phone: "Uh, hi. I'd like to make an appointment?"
me: "You have the wrong number."
Person...: "This isn't Dr. So and So's medical clinic?"
me: "This is a residence."
Person...: "oh, sorry." Click.

And then they started leaving messages. "Uh, hi, this is another person who can't dial the phone, and I wanted to get the results from the test I took last week..." or, my other favorite "Alright, you guys sent me ANOTHER bill, and I already paid the bill, and I want to know whats going on!"
It's always a pleasure to come home to messages like this on my voice mail. And the message I had didn't encourage these sort of calls. "Hi, you've reached xxx-xxxx. No one's here to take you call, so please leave a message, thanks". Does that sound like a doctor's office? I think it's just proof that people don't listen to messages. So now, I have this somewhat obnoxious phone message. It starts out the same, the whole "Hi, you've reached..." but I've added to the end "If you're looking for a doctor, or a doctor's office, YOU HAVE THE WRONG NUMBER. Please check the number you dialed and try again, thanks". This message produces many hang-ups left on my voice mail, which i prefer over people actually leaving messages. And my friends and family find it amusing to leave messages asking for the Doctor of the house. And just yesterday, someone who actually understood what I've been going through. The message went something like this, "You poor thing, I just got 6 business cards from physicians that have this number on them. I used to have the same problem, I hope you get it resolved."
I know what you're thinking, why don't I just change my phone number? I like my phone number. It's easy to remember, it's easy for freinds and family to remember. I'm not going to change it. And I'd miss some of the amusing messages that result from it.
Oh, and can someone explain to me what the word "gride" means? I was playing e-mail upowrods with My Favorite Cousin yesterday, and she came up with this word, and I challenged it (it wasn't in Mirriam and Webster) and the silly game said it was a legal word! MFC couldn't give me a definition. She tried to make something up about "a car that corners well". Nice try. I've been dying to know if it's an actual word or not...

1.22.01 (monday)

Everyone has been making Stor Troopers. And I think most of us have found that there's a limited selection for creating yourself. Soooo, like many others, I have modified my stortrooper with the help of Photoshop. She's over there to the right. I even modified the Cat.

1.21.01 (sunday)
Andalusia played on saturday for some live TV gig called Locals Only. They get better and better everytime I see them play. If you're around the bay area and they're playing, go see 'em.