Today's Adventures

I made a real splash in downtown Syracuse today; I fell into a fountain in Clinton Square!

Clinton Square has a large Soldiers and Sailors monument near a rectangular reflecting pool. The pool's narrow ends are ramps that slope gently down into the water. To me, this seemed like in invitation for wading or biking. I wasn't two feet into the pool when my wheels slid out from under me and I was flat on my back in six inches of water. Turns out there is some kind of algae on the bottom that is incredibly slippery. So slippery that I had trouble even getting up and walking out of the pool!

The square seems to be a hangout for homeless folks, one of whom called me from across the street to see if I was alright. I responded in the affirmative as I checked on my electronics and got my Fitbit out of my wet pocket. Discolored water was dripping from my clothes and my shoes were saturated. I thought about what might be in that water and about going home. In the end, though, I decided to say hell with it and keep going. The warm sun and wind of the ride would probably mostly dry my clothes and I'd shower once I got home.

I didn't see much of downtown proper; instead I skirted the northwest edge and ended up on the Onondaga Creek Walk, a trail that winds it's way from the Armory downtown to Onondaga Lake, most of two miles away. Near the lake, the path connects to the local mall, Destiny USA. I think this is the only large indoor mall I've visited that's easily accessible by bike. (One of the geographers at the party tonight says he thinks it's coincidental.)

Along the way, I rode past two youngish boys, maybe elementary school aged, who were trying to ask questions of passers by, but they didn't seem to be stopping. I stopped for them and they asked me how to get to the mall. I hadn't gotten that far on the path and didn't know, but I pointed them in the wrong direction because I'd seen it through trees earlier and was confused. Fortunately, they didn't seem to listen to me. I asked if they were ok getting there on their own, and continued on my way when they answered affirmatively. They seemed a bit young to me to be out on their own, but they also seemed to know what they were doing.

Reading about the Creekwalk later, I found that there are hopes to connect it to a path called the Loop-the-Lake walk, which will go all the way around Onondaga Lake. At this point, only about half of that loop, seven miles or so, is done. There is uncertainty about how to proceed on the southwest shore, where there are old industrial waste yards and active freight tracks. It would certainly be a nice ride if they manage to complete it. The Onondaga Nation want the entire waste yard to be cleaned up and restored to wetlands, but that seems unlikely to come to pass.

Still Unpacking

It used to be really handy sometimes to have a set of mechanic's overalls (thrifted of course) when I owned a car. I suppose I can probably get rid of them now.

I think I'll have all my clothes unbagged and hung (as appropriate) pretty soon now! I also just did my first load of laundry here. At $2 to wash and $2 to dry, I'm glad I'm in the habit of hang-drying all of my clothes anyway. I do need to buy a big drying rack once I get paid though. For now, they're all hung up on the shower curtain bar, towel bars, and around the edge of the clothes basket.

I'm listening to Hawkwind Anthology Volume 2 as I work. (The thrift store didn't have volumes 1 or 3.) It's been hit and miss with me. Parts of it are odd and engaging. Other parts fade into background noise.

U-Haul Letter

I just wrote up my latter to U-Haul's customer service folks. If you want to read about the ridiculous complexity that was involved in my hitch install and trailer rental, here's the text of that letter.

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To whom it may concern,

I'm writing to let you know of the problematic experiences I had while working with U-Haul in the last few weeks prior to my move from Wisconsin to New York.

My move originated in Kenosha, Wisconsin. I decided to have a trailer hitch installed and rent a trailer to make the move with. I made an appointment to have a hitch installed on my car at 3:30 on Tuesday the 28th of July. When we arrived at the franchise around 3:20, the staff there told us that we were about two hours late and that their hitch installer was no longer there. We made a new appointment for a week later and were quoted about $320 for the hitch install. I asked what class of hitch would be installed and the employee did not know. He said we'd have to ask the hitch installer.

Since that price was higher than I'd gotten from the U-haul website, I called U-haul later that afternoon to ask for more information. The person we talked to happened to be at the corporate office; he said we were transferred there because phones were really busy at the time. This was the most competent person I talked to through the whole affair; he said he could do everything from where he was but put his hands on the trucks.

He checked our appointment and told us that we were, in fact, not late; that we had a guaranteed appointment for 3:30 that day. He also told us that the hitch installer was showing in his system as still clocked in and at the franchise location. He was also able to explain that the price difference was the difference between a class 3 hitch and a class 2 hitch at around $275. I already knew I only needed a class 2 hitch, but the staff at the franchise did not even offer me an option or explain the price.

He transferred us to customer service to lodge a complaint, which we did. At the end of that process, I asked whether we still had an appointment for next week. The service rep told us that our appointment was actually for tomorrow, which was a great surprise to me; I'd never asked for that time and I was unable to be there. I decided at that point that I would forego dealing with the Kenosha franchise entirely and get the hitch installed in nearby Waukegan.

To his credit, the general manager at the Kenosha location got back to me later that evening and said he would send me a $50 check to compensate us for the problems.

In Waukegan, I arrived at eight in the morning of August 4th for my scheduled hitch install and was told by the Waukegan staff that they did not have the parts. I had to reschedule once again. Fortunately, my brother was able to take the car for an install the next day since I was busy and couldn't make it.

Moving on to the next part of this saga, a few days later I was going over the information I had about where to pick up my trailer. I looked up the location I was supposed to pick up the trailer, Rence's Auto Repair in Kenosha, and learned that they are closed on Sundays, the day I was scheduled to pick up. I called U-haul again, and the pickup was changed to Top Choice Rentals, also in Kenosha.

Due to a feeling of increasingly justified paranoia, I contacted Top Choice to confirm that they would be open on Sunday and that I could pick up a trailer there. Top Choice, it turns out, had contacted U-Haul corporate that morning to say that they would no longer be dealing with U-Haul rental equipment. I could not, in fact, pick up my trailer at Top Choice. After calling U-Haul again, they changed my pick up location to the Kenosha U-Haul franchise.

I arrived there on the morning of the day I was to pick up my trailer. Due to other moving-related matters, I was an hour or two late. I was regrettably unsurprised to learn that the staff in Kenosha did not have my trailer at that location. Instead, I had to drive to Waukegan once again to pick up the empty trailer and bring it back to Kenosha.

With everything finally installed and where it was supposed to be, the move went well. However, when I dropped the trailer off in Syracuse, New York, I discovered that the U-Haul employee who'd attached the trailer had let the safety chains hang low enough to the ground that one of them was dragging on the pavement once the trailer was loaded. In fact, it wore entirely through one of the links and the hook end of the chain was missing. I feel fortunate that we had not found ourselves in a situation where the presence of that chain would have been vital.

So, in short, I have been less than impressed with my interactions with U-Haul over the past few weeks. I want to bring this situation to your attention so you are aware of these issues. At present, I am unlikely to rent from U-Haul again, and certainly would not recommend that others do so.

Sincerely,

*name

(no subject)

schnee introduced me to this "writer of niche erotica" who goes by Chuck Tingle. There's a list of his works there, and they are ridiculously hilarious. My favorite title of his is "Pounded In The Butt By My Book "Pounded In The Butt By My Own Butt""

There's a brief interview of sorts with him here, where a Jezebel writer got Tingle to workshop some of the writer's dinosaur erotica. Content is not safe for work due to explicit dinosaur sex.

Please tell me this guy is not taking himself seriously. He's got to be just doing ridiculous things to be ridiculous. Like a kind of performance art?

Health Insurance

I just found out I can choose either the student health insurance plan or, as a graduate assistant, the employee plan. I now have the fun job of comparing insurance benefits. Which is certainly better than not having insurance, so I won't complain very much!