My cable was out this morning. Finally got it to work. Each time I would try to open a tab on Firefox, it would default to “test Microsoft’s new beta toolbar.” There would be five other Microsoft tabs, one even asked me to sign in. Would close the tabs, and try to get Gmail. Would get all six Microsoft programs. This went on and on. It wasn’t fun. It wasn’t how I planned to spend time today. The cable was one thing; Microsoft something else.

Okay, I turned off my computer, turned it back on, and each time I right click for tabs get “open tabs” and five super exciting pages of Microsoft. Have been driven officially crazy.

Yes I know I have Windows XP for an OS. That doesn’t mean I have to live a Microsoft life. The next time I get a new computer, not a replacement for a Pentium, it will be a Mac as I basically only use the Internet, don’t need hard copies of programs, and wouldn’t have any of the computer problems that….While I’m at this, Gmail has been letting in much spam.

Every year I have somebody from my building take out my air conditioners for as long as possible. The view is better and the cross ventilation can be amazing. The “building” says they clean and store them. I pay them $150 to take them out and store them, and $150 more to put them back in. That’s the price of a small air conditioner.

My building believes in legalized extortion. There would be a flood next door that would affect my bathroom. The Super would walk in with his hand out stretched. After I would give him money, I would have to give the handyman who actually did the work money. This would be for a flood where I would end up with rocks in my sink–yes rocks. Has happened twice so far, the rock floods.

There have been many more, including the great sand flood of 2001, where I walked into my bedroom one Sunday night stared at the perfect mound of sand on the floor, took the phone and made a call in the living room. An hour later, it hit me. There shouldn’t have been sand on the floor

Turned out to have been caused by a burst pipe in the apartment below. For years I had smelled mold. Was told it was my imagination. The pipes in the apartment below were so corroded that they burst upwards. If I smelled it, couldn’t they have? They’re renters but still have more status than I do because there’s a husband, and they own a second home so what do they care?

I have never begun a flood by leaving a sink faucet or other faucet on. A man on another floor does that fairly often. Does he have to give the super a hundred for the mere act of fixing something that he caused? Hell no, but the woman, single, who lives below him does.

The super considers a 20 to be an insult and hands it back. I began to give him 20′s but then realized that the charade was stupid.

His starting salary was 80k plus a much larger apartment than mine, and many benefits. He doesn’t pay for gas & electric, or cable. He doesn’t pay for health insurance. I purposely didn’t look at his salary this year. Didn’t want to make myself sick. Yes he’s worth a salary, but not the tips or the legalized extortion.

Were I a man or a woman living with a man, I doubt he would have ever demanded money. I doubt that people would charge so much, standard rates they say, for the air conditioners.

I just can’t let myself believe that in 2006 a woman can have all the responsibilities that a man does, yet even the wimpiest idiotic male who is living off his partner, still has more status than I do.

It’s true. A man can be totally irresponsible, but he would never have to spend the first five years of a supers employment telling him that he can’t come in, in a non-emergency situation, without notice. I wrote about this often last year, around this time of year.

I owe supers and other building employees a lot. They do things for me because I tip well. But the mandatory AC fee twice a year? Don’t think that it’s mandatory in all apartments.

This is going to sound elitist, and maybe it is, but until “blue collar” workers give women respect, women will never be equal. Don’t mean all blue collar workers; I know. I should be able to put in my own air conditioners, and fix my own floods. Little problem not only am I totally not capable of such things, how can I fix a flood that’s coming from somebody elses apartment? How can I fix a flood that begins with a pipe that I have never even noticed? We once got a memo telling us to be vigilant in looking for pipes that might burst. Was very funny. What’s even funnier is that just now the building is making a schematic of all the pipes in the building. They don’t know until one bursts. But we’re supposed to.

Most men I know are “where’s the super?” types. But the “building” wouldn’t dare ask them for so-called mandatory fees. Do talk to people who live here.

I’m tired of being known as one of the three best tippers in the building. I want to be known as one of the most respected.

The final frontier in male/female relationships, at least in this city, will be when men and women are charged the same for the same jobs.

Because damn, I’m nice, and there lies the problem. She’s so nice.” “She’s so understanding.” No longer. I’m going to pay the men and couples rate. I know women who have gotten married so that the man can act as a buffer, even if the woman does everything. Maybe that’s not a bad idea.
*******************************************

Last night I was on the phone with an old friend, and commented on Alice’s blog. I confused John and Jim Belushi. All I could think of was Dan Ackroyd—well, he was in Blues Brothers films with both brothers.

Doug, the dawg had made fun of Jim Belushi being a Gemini Alice would wish to associate with. I made fun of the dawg for being morally superior. I stand by that. He’s also pompous and lets everybody else run his site. However, he doesn’t demand tips and is a great blog host so….