The Immortal Soul

For those of you who don't know, I keep a personal blog where I write essays of a more personal nature that is only accessible to myself. Here is a recent entry that I'd like to share with you, I think it's good:


I Believe I have the soul of an explorer.That, or i am missing being outside to such and extent I need to do something extreme outdoors to make up for the cubicle nightmare I've been living in these past ten or so years. I have been coming to this realization more and more since I have found a few magazines that I read to pass the time at my eight hour a job day in a building with no windows. The last time I did anything outdoors was my vacation to Hawaii. that was in May. it is now September, and I've worked without a full weekend since then. travel is pretty much out because of that. Its hard to convince friends that the weekend is no longer Friday night through Sunday night, that the weekend lasts lasts only Friday through Saturday, and even then, Saturdays are only every other week. Yes, my job schedule sucks.Lately however, I've been reading some magazines that have me itching to get, pardon the expression, Outside. Between The surfer's Journal and Outside magazine, I am exponentially aware that the weather is always beautiful if you're not at work, and the sun warms you tot he bone, unlike the fluorescent light on rails over my head. I am instantly reminded of Joe vs. the Volcano.I have a 9' Robert August Longboard that I bought with deployment money from when I was in the army and I went to Iraq collecting dust in my board bag on my balcony. I have a pair of DC shoes Snowboard boots, Burton Snowboarding pants and jacket ready to get into some powder when the winter rolls around. There's a brand new pair of fins, snorkel and mask that I bought in Hawaii for snorkeling around the reefs, only used twice. I've got some very nicely broken in hiking boots in both Desert and Jungle colors. My running shoes, also nicely broken in are rearing to hit some of these sweet running trails around the DC/Metro area. Yet, every time I look at my gear I am not reminded or taken away to a Shangri-La of adventures in the great American Outdoors. I am only reminded of my work schedule, and my cubicle that's barely larger than the economy coach seats on the plane I wont be taking to get Outside.

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Ethical Dilemna

So Maniac and I recently went out to purchase our first piece of real furniture. By real I mean not from IKEA, not made of particle board, and not a hand me down. (Note: antiques do not count as hand-me-downs, and are therefore "real") We needed a dining room table and chairs and wanted something that would last us a few years and would be of good quality, but contemporary and functional. We decided to go with a set from a place I'll call East Oak. We opted to buy 6 chairs even though it would be a tight fit around our small table, but it was necessary that we be able to entertain without having 2 tables. Because who wants to be designated to the "kids table"? The short, often inferior, substitute for a real table. As you hunch over your plate, eyeing your glass lest it splash over the side when one of the substantial chairs at the "adult table" is pushed back, and forlorningly listening to the raucous laughter and poignant conversation j-u-s-t out of reach of actually joining in...{shudder}



Any how, being the frugal Red that I am, I didn't want to pay shipping charges so we agreed to make several trips to the store for the various pieces (6 chairs, one table top, one table base). The first day we were able to only fit 3 chairs into my shiny new Civic.



Day 2, Maniac took his Celica and was able to fit 6 chairs into it.

wait..6 chairs you say?

Yes. The schmo at the loading dock on Day 1, never marked on our pick up list that we had left with 3 chairs. So Maniac took all 6 chairs, the little thief that he is. "I didn't realize". huh.

But wait, its not over.



Day 3. Maniac runs on his lunch break to pick up the table base (they agree to ship the table top for free, since it won't fit in our cars), and the new schmo at the loading dock says (according to Maniac) "Do you want an extra chair?" "Why yes I do", Maniac answers.

So now we have 4 extra chairs (which we really have no room for)



Q: Do we take the chairs back and explain their mistake? Or sell them ourselves and make a profit of about $500+

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