The novelty of politics

I know I've been living in the DC area for about 3 years now but it still always comes as kind of a shock when I go into a workplace and there is political talk. I used to work as a reporter; once in a liberal area, once in a conservative area. When you work as a reporter of course there is going to be political talk, and yes, most of the reporters I worked with shared my politics on some level (although how deep that agreement went I didn't know). But the fact was as reporters we weren't a political shop. Sure we could shoot the breeze, but it wasn't like plotting strategy (despite what people might think). In fact in the paper I worked for that was in a conservative area, all of the reporters came from big urban cities and were Democratis, except for the managing editor who came from Indianpolis (and was "liberal" only in the sense that he was tolerant of gays. He was merely a moderate in rhetoric but not in beliefs is my best understanding. The kind of person who feels homosexuality is wrong but neither will defend gays nor join the anti-homosexuality crowd.) The other person on staff was a little old lady (old in personality mostly) who did obits and liked to tell us that when she started at the paper 30 years ago women weren't allowed to wear pants to work. She said that as if she kind of wished it was still the case or if it was still some priviledge that we got to wear pants. I kid you not.

Anyway my point is that while us 3-4 reporters mostly shared politics, certainly not everyone in the office did. In fact I knew one of the copy editors was gay and living with someone but only one other person at the paper knew (it was a pretty small town, frankly I have no idea how he endured it).

For pretty much most of the American working force, you just don't talk politics at work. You never know if your co-worker or your boss is going to disagree with you. It's like talking salaries or religion, just something that's not done. Sure, maybe in small doses. Among people that you've confirmed agree with you (or don't mind that they don't) but those are tiny teaspoons compared to what it feels like working at a progressive non-profit devoted entirely to discussion of politics. In some ways it feels like going through a looking-glass.

Don't get me wrong, I'm really happy about it. But before I even fully joined the staff I mentioned my Osama's Homobortion Pot-N-Commie Jizzporium t-shirt. Really, where in the world is there an appropriate to discuss that shirt let alone wear it? Apparently at my new office. And you gotta love that.

(Gottfrid) Chair – a love story

I’m not sure exactly when we first met. I know it was after my first roommate moved out and took her re-upholstered kitchen chairs with her. Of course I was heart-broken. My roommate had lovingly repainted and refurbished two older chairs, making them cool. Making them comfy. But now she was gone and so were they.

Naturally she left me the broken kitchen chairs. The ones whose form matched the table perfectly but in function only had three working legs. I knew no amount of glue would ever fix our relationship, it was broken from the start.

So it was with a heavy heart I set out for IKEA, not really expecting to find much. IKEA is the bargin basement of pressboard furniture love. The kind of place where you find Ms.-right-now, not Ms.-I’ll-be-giving-you-to-my-grandchildren-someday kind of furniture.

Some people say love at first sight, but for us it was love at first sit. Oh sure, I had an inkling you were the one when I first saw your curved black form with u-shaped padding. But it wasn’t until I sat in you that I felt my back and my ass just scream with comfort “YES! YES! YES!”

Why do we love the ones they do? Why do we seek to find flaws in others that we miss in our dear ones? I don’t know. All I know was the combination of a curved padded backing, slightly downward titled seating that was wide enough and cushioning enough meant you were made for comfort but your sleek black&white design meant you were still pretty enough to bring home to momma.

There was one minor hitch in our love, we didn’t match styles. You were painted black and white, whereas my kitchen table was a warm chestnut wood. But no matter. I didn’t care if our styles clashed, I was taking you home.

Or I should have. In years since of course I would kick myself for not taking you right there and then. What can I say? I was young. You cost $80 + tax which I thought was exorbitant considering my first chairs only cost $15 at the Goodwill. At best I was only thinking I would be able to buy one of you, an awkward child that would never last in the long-run. The first “real” house or apartment I moved into, the single unmatched chair would have to go. But I wanted you so bad I was willing to buy only one, just so we could be together.

But I waited. Time passed. My fortunes rose and fell, and then fell some more. Spending $80 for a kitchen chair was impossibility when grocery money was measured out by $5 bills.

A turning point in our love

Then things changed. My 30th birthday comes and I am gifted with enough money to buy one of you. Still I hesitate. It feels like I’ve been waiting so long, what’s another few months. A friend convinces me to spend my money differently. To wait further.

And so it goes. I want to make myself worthy of you. I want my large ass not to crack your beautiful frame. I will get in shape. I will lose weight and only then will we be together.

As the date approaches however something goes wrong. Suddenly you are no longer at your usual place, IKEA. All the searching of the globe reveals is that while you remain in England and Canada, you have left America for good.

Heartbreak! It is over. My perfect chair love is lost forever. I consider trips to Europe and Canada. I’m suddenly willing to spend hundreds of dollars to achieve something that cost only $80 once.

Slowly I being to resign myself to our fate...we will never be together. I return to the scene of our first love, Ikea. I flirt with Henriksdal, he has been around forever and is dependable if not exiting. But no matter what I look like, I can’t match your beautiful craftsmanship. Your combination of padding and curves. My back and ass do no welcome other chairs with such job.

In a drunken daze I bring home a $250 filly, marked down to $20 in a liquidation sale. You would think I would be happy with such a high-class chair. One that is normally too rich for my blood.

But alas, all I can think of is you. How happy we would have been together. I weep for our lost love.

A miracle

And then the gods smiled upon us. An innocuous ad in craigslist. “Table and chairs for sale- $100.” How many ads like it have I not clicked on? I don’t know. But I was bored, searching, always searching. And there you were! A pair, bright as day! The ad crucially failed to mention your pedigree, but I knew you on sight. What was one out of reach, what once I would have been willing to shell out hundreds of dollars for was not ripe to be plucked for half price. A pair for $80! I would have even been willing to take the table if necessary to get to you.

And so it was. Your previous owner didn’t need you anymore and I reached her within 15 minutes of her posting her ad. My only concern was that somehow she wouldn’t wait a mere day or two for us to be together. Perhaps another buyer would snatch you out of my grasp once more.

But our love was bending fate to my will. My first paycheck in 4 weeks was direct deposited faster than I expected. I now had the means to buy you.

And so there you both sit in my dinning room. We are as happy as clams together. Although the waiting was cruel I now know that true love only comes from being tested. My back, my ass and your frame will live forever together in harmony.

Gottfrid chair come back?

About five days ago I noticed that the IKEA chair of my dreams, the Gottfrid, disappeared of the IKEA USA website (usually meaning that’s it for the item). I don’t think I can even convey how upset this made me. I’ve been dreaming about this chair for almost a year now. It’s become totally fetishized in my brain as the most perfect kitchen chair (for it’s price range). I was saving up to buy it but also it was going to be my reward for hitting my 10% goal.

So I’ve been randomly googling “Gottfrid chair” a lot the last few days, trying to see if I can find someone selling a used set at least. Apparently it’s for sale still in Canada and the UK.

Yesterday I found the IKEA Gottfrid chair link was working again (it had gone offline) and I managed to order two chairs. But then by the end of the day, IKEA sent me an e-mail saying the chair was out of stock and will not be shipped and so my credit card will not be charged.

Now I see the Gottfrid chair is back on the IKEA USA website, visible even when looking at all their chairs. It’s still out of stock for the entire IKEA USA stores (I looked up stock availability at each store just to see) but perhaps IKEA is thinking about bringing it back, hence why they brought the chair back to the website?

I can only hope.

You know I was reminding myself that I was becoming a lot like the main character in Fight Club by fetishizing home décor. Like that line where he says about his coffee table, “That’s it, at least I knew I had the last coffee table I was ever going to need.” I’ve been thinking how much I’m starting to resemble that character at the beginning of the movie.

UPDATE: I called IKEA customer service and the woman said IKEA is definately *not* selling the chairs anymore. And then I just started looking on craigslist and someone in my neighborhood just happens to be selling two of them and a table for $100. It's not even labeled "Gottfrid" I can just tell by the picture. I MUST HAVE THOSE CHAIRS.

UPDATE II: Check out the thrilling resolution, "Chair, A Love Story."

Loveline rebuttal post for June 30, 2004 episode

Ahh, another post to further the original purpose of why I started this blog. I know that this particular Loveline was taped 1 year, 10 months, and 2 days ago, but that doesn’t mean listening to it doesn’t still bring my blood to boil and why I feel the need to post a rebuttal to Adam Corrolla’s stupid-ass arguments.

About 1 hour into that night’s show Adam starts going off on a riff about religious people. It started because a teenage female caller starts talking about her “religious” dad who wouldn’t let her wear pants and beat her he was so strict. This sets Adam up to talk about how much he hates religious people. Not just the kinds that beat their children in the name of God, but pretty much anyone who calls themselves religious.

For the most part I tend to agree with Dr. Drew that what I can’t stand is orthodoxy in religious thinking, which is why fundamentalists of all kinds become then the target of all anti-religious feeling in myself and many others.

But Adam just goes on and on and on about how if someone is “so religious” then basically they shouldn’t be doing anything (like being a lawyer or an administrative assistant I suppose. The argument being if you really believed the faith you would abandon any normal life and go live in a cabin in the woods or help lepers or whatever.) Adam’s always been kind of nihilist. He fundamentally doesn’t trust anyone who believes in anything and therefore assumes that all belief is suspect.

Anyway this caller sets Adam Corolla on an entire 10-15 minute rant against Bill Clinton. Seriously, Bill Clinton? Why in the world, in JUNE 2004 does Adam need to go on and on and on about Bill Clinton while Bush’s second election is at one of the hottest boils ever?? And basically what Adam’s spiel is something like this:

1. Clinton is a liar
2. Clinton is psychopathic because he is a such a good liar
3. Clinton “raped” an intern with a cigar (yes, Adam, of all people, uses the term raped).
4. There’s no way Clinton could be religious because if he was he wouldn’t have raped that intern and lied about it.
5. There’s no way Clinton could be religious because if he was he wouldn’t have become President (i.e. real religious people live in shacks in the woods).

6. Clinton doesn’t love his wife and any time he and she appeared together to talk about their marriage, well that was clearly a lie (see number 2).

Do I even need expose why these are such straw man arguments? (Especially numbers 2 & 3). Granted I think part of why Adam got onto a Clinton jag that night was Clinton’s book was freshly published. But it just sounds as if Adam got a fresh blast of listening to Rush Limbaugh or something and was parroting back arguments he’d heard earlier. Especially the use of the term “rape” is highly suspicious because Adam had been relatively permissive about Clinton’s sexual appetites for the most part. One senses that he didn’t care about it at all and has even defended it in the past. But for some reason that night Adam just goes on and on for at least 2 minutes going “Clinton, liar, Clinton, liar,” over and over.

Meanwhile anything that Bush ever lied about (that actually hurt people other than Hilary, Chelsea or Adam’s sense of outrage) is not mentioned at all. And let me remind everyone that Clinton’s “lying” in June 2004 was so not important whereas Bush’s lying in that month still ishighly relevant.