September 16, 2008

Found: Barber In Erie

The Crystal Ball: 9 am. Ah, yes. Woke up this morning and went to the bathroom, blew my nose, and took a look at myself in the mirror.

YIKES!

Dialed up Sears. They have this new "automated phone system" so you can't actually call direct anywhere anymore. And even though I KNOW that the hair salon people are there at 9 am, I can't get through to them. I tried to force it through and the call went to the auto center. Whoops.

Dialed up Best Cuts. They can't take me until 1:30. Too many appointments. Never seemed that busy before...but maybe their computer was down. *shrug*

Dialed up Joe's Barber Shop over on West 8th Street. Bingo. 9:45 am. Jumped in the shower real quick and got moving over there. Walked in and the place had that "hasn't been remodeled in twenty years" wood paneling on the walls.

This woman comes walking out from the back and meets me, introduces herself as Crystal. She looked like this lady I worked with at Sears but I didn't think of asking her. She was very, very cordial, as was I (thank you hotel industry!!!) and we got along very quickly. I wanted to do something a little different with my cut this time (why I was so leery about going somewhere I'd never gone before) and she was very patient and very efficient as well. I'll definitely go back...as long as Cheryl's okay with that.

Shine On, You Crazy Diamond: Had some bad news this morning...read that Richard Wright died.

(Who the hell is Richard Wright?)

Okay, I'll tell you. Wright was the keyboard player in Pink Floyd, one of my favorite bands. (Okay, top ten. Not like I sit in blacklight rooms with Dark Side of The Moon on every night.) Anyway, most of my favorite tunes of theirs he was credited with writing. Lots of the Dark Side keyboard stuff that I like.

I was talking with my resident Pink Floyd friend Eric this morning and he was lamenting about how in the next twenty years all of our big named musicians/legends are going to be gone, and its sort of depressing to learn that, but you gotta realize that there's alot of really edgy good music going on right now. Oasis, The Killers, Wilco, Ben Folds, Robert Randolph...gotta look at it that way.

Maybe I'll Be In A Commercial: Got an email this morning from Progressive, my car insurance company. I have electronic debit on my account to save me about $15 a month on my policy, and have for a few years now. Progressive has basically rebuilt my car (Remember, $9,500 in damages a few years back?) and I always expected it to be really high premiums.

But I've always been a really good driver. I've only been in two nonfault accidents (only one reported, other driver's choice), got one ticket for going through a red light (freaking Cambridge Springs cops), and one ticket for bad inspection (motorcycle cop on Presque Isle. How embarrassing!). Other than the complete annhiliation of my car a few years ago, really not alot of incidents.

My monthly bill has been around $125 for about two years now. I got the email this morning and it says they're only taking out $96 a month. Thought maybe there was a mistake so I called them up. And, as always, they were extremely nice and explained that I am a "loyal customer" and "low incident record" gave me a $29 a month discount for this six month period.

I was so happy I actually hollered for joy!

That Lucky Old Sun: Downloaded the new Brian Wilson album, That Lucky Old Sun. (I had a free album coupon, get off my back) Freaking awesome! Course, you have to be a Beach Boys fan. But there's really not much "Surfin Safari" type stuff here...its very orchestrated with these lush harmonies, its just so damn awesome. I love this guy.

The album is basically a run down of his love for Southern California life. Lots of little raps about neat things he sees on the street corners. I saw a documentary on him and he looks like Ozzy Osbourne; all drugged up. But listening to this album sounds like a guy who is completely enamored with his life right now. Just beautiful music. Makes me smile. :)

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