I admit, I stole the name from Jed, whose escapades with Customer Service Demons are legendary. My CSD today was from Samsung. I actually didn't spend that much time on the phone with them, but the time I spent was annoying and frustrating. The first customer service guy I spoke with (I'm trying to get a four-digit code to make my Comcast remote able to control the new DVD/VCR combo I bought) said there was nothing they could do, and no codes they could give me, and also wanted to take my address so that if I needed service in the future the transaction would be expedited. Um, can we say no? Comcast had told me that the codes they get are supplied by the manufacturer, and that I should contact Samsung to get a different code than any that were listed in my Comcast guide. Anyway, then the Samsung CSD told me that although he couldn't help me, he would be happy to transfer me to "Level 2 Tech Support" even though they wouldn't be able to help me either. Not believing that there was nothing that could be done, I had him transfer me. Well, as it turned out, not only did the Level 2 Tech guy not help me, he was downright rude. He said it meant that my remote and the DVD/VCR unite were incompatible, and that Comcast makes up the codes, and along the way he implied that I was a moron. So I told him I'd be taking the unit back, 'cause I didn't see any reason to own a unit that wasn't compatible with the equipment I already had. His reply was, "Okay, whatever." Sigh. This is annoying. It's not the end of the world, and this isn't the most frustrating customer service experience I've ever had, or am likely to have in the future, but it's annoying.

Pretty much the only reason I even got the damn thing was because my aunt wishes me to have a VCR. This is so I can record Survivor for her if she accidentally misses or deletes it on her Replay. She's buying it, so I can't really complain. Well, and it would come in handy for recording stuff for my sister and Stewart when they run up against two shows being on at once. I could just get a stand-alone VCR, because I have a DVD player already, but I thought I'd give my DVD player to my mom, who doesn't have one, and not have to deal with more than one unit.

Grrr.

Back to Circuit City, I suppose. Maybe I'll swing by Costco just to see what they have. Last time I was there I don't think they had what I was looking for, but I don't think I was looking for this exact type of thing, either. I keep thinking maybe I should get a DVD recorder, but they're so much more expensive, and I don't really need one for anything except what I already noted above.

Can we say "pointless quandary"?

On the other hand, I HAVE BOOKSHELVES!!! I bought three folding 3-shelf guys from Bed, Bath and Beyond yesterday, set 'em up and put books on 'em. And flattened a whole bunch of cardboard boxes that had been previously occupying space in my living room. Hallelujah. What a friggin' relief. I have a few more boxes that aren't of books, as I discovered, but those I think I can squeeze into my bedroom closet. They're mostly my Montessori stuff -- my albums, books, papers, assorted materials, etc. Someday if I have a bigger place I'll put more of that out, but for now I need to reference it so infrequently, I really don't need it out. And shelf space is limited.

It's amazing some of the stuff I packed that I have no interest in keeping anymore. I've culled my books from college down significantly, but I think I can do another cull. Even though I'll probably never read it again, I'm loathe to get rid of Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queene, because it was such an integral part of my "English major" experience. I think I wrote three (or was it four?) essays on that particular work. One was a shorty (3-4 pages), for my English 101 class. I had a really annoying professor who said, "um...uh...you know..." all the time (her record in that class was 120 instances in one class-sitting, which I believe was two or three hours, or maybe only an hour and a half?). She was a brilliant woman and a terrible professor. She made all kinds of comments on my paper, which I ignored at the time.

Later, however, when I was studying in England for a couple terms, I took a class on British poetry, and we read a portion of the book, and had to write an essay, mid-length (8-10 pages). Fortunately, I had brought most of my previous college essays with me (I used them all the time to get my mind sparking in a particular way when I had to write something new). So I took the short paper, re-read my prof's notes (which it turned out were insightful and extraordinarily helpful after all), and re-wrote and expanded the paper to the required length, based on her comments. My professor in England liked the paper, and made a few comments of his own.

Then my senior year back at Bryn Mawr, I took an upper division lit class on Allegory, in which a large portion of FQ was required reading. We had to choose one of the works from the semester on which to write our final paper (15-20 pages), so duh, I picked FQ. I took my British professor's comments, and expanded it yet again. I think my second Bryn Mawr professor liked it too -- I don't remember doing badly on it. I'm sure I have it tucked away with all my other college essays. I should pull out the trio and read them again, in order.

If I'd had to do a senior project, I probably would have expanded that essay yet again to 30 or 40 pages, and illustrated it with silkscreen prints (I was taking silkscreening too). I loved the idea, but on the other hand, I didn't actually want to do any more work than I was required to do. Luckily for me, mine was the final year in which English majors were not required to write a thesis or do a senior project. (The idea being that as English majors, we had all been required to write a hell of a lot already, and fairly major pieces of writing, too.) The English majors in all classes after mine (if memory serves)were required to choose a thesis or a senior project.

Anyway, this has gone on rather longer than expected. I'm going to go do a little culling (but I think I'll keep The Faerie Queene) and then go to a baby shower.

Happy weekend, everyone!