Am I nuts?

Let’s recap the last few days:

Thursday: work 9 – 5, rehearsal 6:30 – 10, production meeting 10 – 12
Friday: work 9 – 5, rehearsal 6:30 – 10
Saturday: rehearsal 11:30 – 6:30, director meeting (over dinner and coffee) 6:30 – 10:30
Sunday: rehearsal 12 – 8, benefit happy hour 8 – 10:30

Not that I’m complaining cause the thing is, I love it. I mean, I don’t love going into work. In fact, I dread going into work more and more every day and keeping looking forward to that day where I can leave this place. But I love going to rehearsal. I love having production meetings and am (apparently) willing to put in all hours that are needed to do so. I think part of it is the people I’m working with are fantastic. I think part of it is that I just enjoy what I’m doing.

And it’s a good thing I love what I’m doing because people ask “Why? What do you get out of it?” Nothing. I mean, realistically, I’m not going to use these people as references, I hope to leave the straight theater business for opera as soon as possible so I’ll hopefully never work for them again. I do it cause I love it and because it will be a good show (thanks partly to me).

Customer Services

Hurray for good customer service! We’ve all had crappy experiences when dealing with customer service reps. over the phone but in the past two weeks, two companies win awards from me for great customer service.

Wachovia – I had a problem with my ConEdison online bill pay. When the woman said there was nothing she could do herself she went ahead and conference called ConEd so that we were both talking to their rep. to make sure the payment was notated. I feel a little bad for the ConEd woman getting double teamed, but it was very efficient. Wachovia is a great bank; they really look out for you.

Verizon – Now Verizon is known for their customer disservice. When I call Verizon I’ve learned to free up at least an hour in order to get through the 8 transfers till I’m talking to the right person (who usually doesn’t help much). But, the other day I must have had some woman who just didn’t care any more and was in a helpful mood. Not only did she resend I packing slip so I could avoid a $100 bill, but she also cancelled my $40 payment. I had never been able to use the DSL I ordered so I shouldn’t have had to pay, but I was expecting more of a fight.

Since I do customer service all day, I know that good costumer service means the customer got what they wanted. And these two cases I got what I wanted. And that’s what really matters.

Seahawks Lose!!

What a great night in football. I clearly remember 10 years ago (at the ripe age of 13) when the Steelers lost to Dallas. I wasn’t even a big football fan then. I was probably just peaking with my collection of baseball cards and just starting to understand the ins and outs of football. It’s probably worse to lose two AFC games to the same team in three years. At least 10 years ago they made it to the Superbowl. But at the time I didn’t really understand that aspect. I just remembered being disappointed.

Joe was the first person to call me last night. He congratulated me on joining him in the Superbowl club (reminding me it wasn’t quite 3, but it was a start).

I watched the game with 5 women (2 sisters, 1 sister’s girlfriend, 2 roommates). 2 of them cared somewhat about the game. It actually made for a delightful evening. They chatted among themselves, sometimes asking intelligent questions, usually making inane comments. It made the viewing very light hearted, which was good; if I had watched by myself it would have been much more intense.

I’d like to remind everyone that I put my $10 on the Steelers to win the Superbowl, albeit, not because I really thought they could go all the way, simply out of loyalty. And loyalty has paid off, with my winning the pool. And also I’d like to note my pick of offensive MVP (Hines Ward, I love you). I’m surprised in a game that had 10 points, and 7 of those off a long turnover, that no defensive player stood out. I do think the sometimes questionable Steelers secondary deserves some credit for this.

I don’t really need to talk about the game, there’s plenty of analysis out there. I’m still quite elated. It was a great night.

And the winner is...

Yes, it’s another football post. But cheer up all you non-football fans (wierdos), Sunday it will be over and football chatter will be drastically reduced for 6 sad months. There’s still Baseball, but let’s be frank, baseball is just a cheap way to kill time till August.

This may come as a surprise to all of you but, I’m gonna pick the Steelers to win Sunday. I think it will be the same as the last two games. Pitt jumps out to a nice lead by half time, Seattle makes a lame attempt at a comeback in the second half, but no one actually believes they are going to win (like no one believed Philly was going to come back and win last year). I think a defensive player will get MVP. If any offensive player does, it’d be Hines Ward if he has a big game.

The Rolling Stones will be OK, but not phenomenal. In fact, I predict the game won’t really be that exciting at all. The exciting memories will all be from the Indy game, that’s what people will be talking about in 10 years.

Pittsburgh wins 34 – 24

Super Bowl Abuse

I’d like to thank Time for officially debunking the myth that domestic violence against women is at its highest on the Super Bowl. I’ve been crying against this myth ever since I first heard it, I just didn’t have any proof (I didn’t really look too hard either. I probably could have just searched google).

“In 1993 women’s advocacy groups, citing various reports about increased domestic violence on Super Bowl Sunday, prompted NBC to air a public-service announcement during its game coverage. But the Washington Post investigated and debunked the claims.”

The thing is the claim only makes sense before you actually think about it. Being upset and disappointed if your team is losing doesn’t make you angry and violent. Also, most people are at a party where, even if you’re a die hard fan, it’s still a party, there are still people around and it’s still festive. And finally, there are only two teams playing. During the regular season all 32 teams play which means 16 cities’ fans are upset their team lost, but in the Super Bowl only 1 city of die hard fans is upset (at least upset enough to consider approaching the level of violence). There is a higher rate of alcohol consumption on Super Bowl Sunday and I wonder if anyone has made a general correlation between above average drinking and domestic violence which could link Super Bowl Sunday. I could probably find this on google too, but I’ll let some else do that who cares more.

I like how time describes the myth as “domestic violence against women.” Because there is a topic which just doesn’t get enough national attention these days: Battered Husbands.
http://www.herwords.co.uk/battered_husbands.htm