Laundry Service

Binghamton (the city, not the university) got a shout out in The Metro this morning!
Now it's known for more than The Twilight Zone, woohoo!

From Wikipedia (for those who did not attend Binghamton University, or for those who
are (gulp) residents of the fair city):

Binghamton (and The Twilight Zone) -
Mentioned and shown in various episodes. Rod Serling's home address in Binghamton was used in the episode "They're Tearing Down Tim Riley's Bar". Serling was famously fond of the city and based the Twilight Zone episode "Walking Distance" on the carousel near his childhood home. A plaque placed in the ground near the carousel commemorates this and there is a plaque commemorating Serling in front of the Binghamton High School on Main Street.

For those of you who missed out on the Binghamton experience, here are some photos so you can get an idea of my college life.

Middle of Nowhere, Upstate NYMidnight food shopping at the best supermarket everLost Dog Cafe Quality Department Store ShoppingI won tickets multiple times to see the former minor league Rangers (turned BC Icemen the year I got to school, typical.) I won these primarily because no one else in the entire city could give a rats ass about this team. I still haven't figured out what the mascot is supposed to be.

And who could forget Wal-Mart!

I tried to find "ironic" photos, but am in a crunch for time. Hopefully some of those will follow next week and you can get a "real" feel for this place.

Try To Find Some Money Then You Die

Jarvis Cocker is going to be playing Music Hall of Williamsburg (and Terminal 5) in July. I will most likely not be going primarily because I think the ticket is way overpriced. Also, I'm definitely not going to the Brooklyn show because I am seeing George Michael that night.

The reason why I am writing about this is because I wanted to make all potential ticket buyers aware that they really should buy them in advance. This is because the prices are:
$39.50 advance
$40 day of show

Don't get ripped off people, please buy them in advance!

In other ticket news, it was brought to my attention that Verve tickets are now officially selling for half price due to (unfortunate) crappy ticket sales. I called Ticketmaster to get a refund for the difference which is of course the right thing for them to do, but which I figured they absolutely would not agree to because they are major jerks. The woman on the phone did not sound positive about my situation, but after putting me on hold for 20 minutes and investigating, I have in fact received the difference! A Verve ticket for $35 as opposed to $50 does a happy Meredith make.

Do you want to know what does not a happy Meredith make? Air Traffic playing the Knitting Factory on Memorial Day Weekend when I'm at my Fire Island house...GRRRR! Who schedules a show for a holiday weekend, seriously?! Tell your tour manager to get his shit together and postpone by three days, PLEASE!

Back to the Future

I feel like this entire week has been one big April Fool's joke and I can't tell what's real and fake.

The other day, I spontaneously decided to book a trip to the UK for this Tuesday. I actually got a fantastic deal - $450 round trip and direct as well so I am super pleased! I needed this trip like nobody's business. Also, it's Kuwait Air which I am actually excited about. If it's anything like Etihad, which I took to Thailand, (Kuwait has got $$$ after all), then I will be a very happy flyer.

Then something really random yet really good happened at work (which I will not reveal on here just yet), but I will say that I am no longer looking for employment which makes me sooooo happy! Also, I can still join the first official MTV Program Enterprises softball team which is the most exciting part.

I went to Donovan's for dinner with Julie yesterday. It was the first time I'd been there since it's makeover. It looks really great now; it has a very warm atmosphere compared to how it was before. My only problem with my dinner, was that my meal cost me $110 (despite them having the best burgers in Queens, it still was not worth it.) My meal broke down something like this:
Hamburger - $8
Diet Coke - $2.50
Tax - $2
Tip - $2
Parking ticket - $95

I am so mad right now I could punch someone! I parked in the municipal lot where Julie thought the meters ended at 7:00 pm. Despite the millions of times I used to park there when I was a member of Lucille Roberts, I wasn't thinking and didn't bother to check the sign and just assumed that time was correct. The meters end at 10:00 pm, and they issued the ticket at 9:51 pm (I got to the car at 9:57 pm.) I HATE THAT!!!

The only other time I've gotten a parking ticket was due to my stupidity as well. I drove into the city on a Friday night and parked near Melanie's old place on East 29th St. I was thinking it was a Saturday night for some reason, and therefore the meters wouldn't charge that night or the next day. Being that the next day was actually Saturday and not Sunday, I got a ticket - and that time they got me right before I reached the car as well (they issued the ticket around 12:15 pm and I got to the car around 12:30 pm - AND they didn't check it all night.) That one cost me at least $110 if I remember correctly.

You can fight or pay these things on the internet now, but I am having trouble of thinking of ways to fight it. When I get home I'm going to inspect every inch of the car to see if they mislabeled something on the ticket (though I need to do this discreetly as I don't want my dad getting all up in my face about it.) I already noticed that the car is listed as GY (grey?) and our car is a gold/tan color. Maybe I can get it reduced for a color misidentification at least?!

The funniest thing that happened this week was that I received an email with the subject line saying "Meredith, This Is an E-mail Sent from Yourself, remember?" which came from "EmailCapsules." The body said this:

Dear Future Version of Me,

On April 2, 2007, you were bored out of your mind temping at MTV, though it paid well. It's 4:28 and you are all out of ideas of things to do, which is why you are sending this e-mail. You are listening to 'Valerie' by the Zutons on MiXFM. Dave is coming to visit you in less than 3 weeks. You met Liz for lunch and had a mozzarella and tomato panini. Tomorrow is passover.

Love,
Yourself
Written at Mon Apr 02, 2007

It really took me like 10 minutes to recall having done that last year. I'm going to do one next week because I found it so funny this time around.

Tonight I'm going bowling in the Port Authority again. We actually were able to round up a group of about 15 people so it should be really fun! Plus I enjoy the beer cylinder.

Current Music: Kaiser Chiefs - Angry Mob