more tales from monroe county

I kind of like living in an old wooden house, without internet access. It feels like "Frontier House" or something, where I can write long, hand-written letters to my friends at home. But it turns out that the long, hand-written letters don't get written, TV replaces web-browsing, and still I find myself in the on-campus computer lab at 1am on saturday night... hmm.

I suppose I could crash some party. With undergrads. (haha.. multi-irony!)

Today we went mattress-shopping. Vijay was buying a bed.

I had no idea that mattresses were so expensive (~$400 ish). Nor that there are people who are "mattress salesmen" (yes, it turns out that they do rank above telephone sanitizers) who will yell at you: "If you don't buy this mattress right now for $500, then you are a MORON because you're saving $130 due to [complicated circumstances that I just made up right now on the spot] and I had to call my boss to get special permission to offer you this deal! RAAAR!"

At another store, Vijay asked, "Do you ever, you know, test out the beds?"

"Oh, of course. If we're not busy, we're encouraged to try out the mattresses, so we really do know what they are all like!" the salesperson explained eagerly, trying to win favor and credibility.

"Ever fall asleep?"

"Oh no! Never!" The salesperson seems shocked at the suggestion.

Who knew there was so much "mattress technology?" Do you want a single-sided or a double-sided mattress? Box spring? Twin, Full, Queen, Olympic Queen, or King? Pillow Top? We were informed multiple times that a Queen is five inches wider and eight inches taller than a Full. Or something like that. Who knew?

"I wonder if I could build my own mattress," I wondered.

A mattress showroom, by the way, is no place for a sleepyhead like me. It's a good thing they don't have fluffermuffers too, otherwise I'd be a complete goner.

This seemed to be the "mattress district" of town, with something like four mattress stores all in the same plaza. Who knew?

"I think I'll stick to the good-old 'pile-of-hay'," I decided.

Tired from the high-pressure mattress sales-pitches, we wandered to the last place, which was small and the guy was completely cool, not a salesperson but just an employee.

"It says these are made in Rochester... is that true?" I asked.

"Yup. Right here, in the back, actually," the guy said.

"Can we see it?"

And there it is, a full mattress assembly area, with supplies of fabric and springs and sewing machines and foam and so forth.

So Vijay bought one.

(no subject)

Dana came up from Cornell this weekend to visit her sister in Rochester, and today all of us went out to lunch at this great crepes place that is ... somewhere around here, in a kind of quaint district, by the canal. We feasted on crepes, savory and sweet, and then went hiking through the woods in the rain around Durand Lake and on the shores of Lake Ontario, where locals were enjoying an enthralling day at the beach despite the downpour. It was great. The roads flooded from the rain, too, and there was lightning, but the weather is still warm.

Right now I'm lodged in the window nook of Ryan's office at U(R) (it's the only place in this building where I can get 802.11 service) while he and some others practice algebra problems for the perlim.