Manhattan Chowder, Back in the Big Apple

Excuses, Excuses--and a couple of rants.

Hello. Remember me? I know. You probably thought I’d dropped off the face of the earth leaving Judy’s funeral as my swan song on this blog thingy, but not so. As the incomparable Elaine Stritch once slurred "I’m still here."

So just where have I been? It’s a combination of things, actually. First, things are getting busier at my day job which is totally cutting in on my time to both read all of your blogs and write my own. (I can’t be expected to do this thing for free, you know.) There have also been some personal business issues of my own which are too boring to mention here except to say they are clouding up my good brain cells and stifling my creativity. Second, after my Italian vacation an ever demanding social life has kept me away from the computer and out in the real world–"heigh ho the glamorous life!" (That’s two Sondheim quotes so far if you’re keeping track.) Third, I’m not feeling it lately. The post ideas are just not coming. I've started to write several this week, but without any real inspiration I just end up rambling. These half-written posts linger in unpublished Blogger limbo while I lack the discipline to just sit down and "finish the hat." (And that’s THREE for a "hat" trick, ladies and gentlemen–get it? Hat trick? Okay, that one was a bit forced, but bear with me, I’m suffering from a lack of creativity here.)

And the number one reason I haven’t been posting is: My computer sucks! It’s been slow and crashing a lot lately. The hard drive is almost full of ever-important documents like memos from a job I left a year and a half ago, contracts for weddings I did three years ago, and countless bad photos which seemed like a good idea at the time thanks to the convenience of a digital camera that allows me to snap away at anything without the limitations or good judgement imposed by a roll of film. I really shouldn't complain though. This laptop has lasted me, with little incident, for three and a half years, which in computer land puts it on a technological par with the gramophone. I’m due for a new computer, I know. But I’m a technophobe and fear change. So there you have it. (FYI–during the course of writing this post, my computer crashed yet again. Thank god for automatic timed saves.)

Oh yeah! And another thing! My lousy monopoly-owned Time Warner Internet connection just cuts out for no apparent reason for anywhere from 3 minutes to up to, say, 5 hours or so. This has been an intermittent problem since the beginning but has been much worse this past week. "Every day a little death." (4!) By the way, there’s not a damn thing I can do about it. Time Warner owns all the cables in New York, so even if I choose another company (and I have–my connection is Earthlink, but in name only) it all runs on the same lousy, Time Warner, we-don’t-give-a-damn lines and gets paid on their bill. It, too, cut out during the course of writing this post.

Anyway, that's my story. Sorry I've been away.

Labels: Blogging, Computers, Consumerism, Corporate America

posted by Michael @ 12:34 PM