Monday, September 17, 2007

I'm Not Making This Up

I feel like I've posted before about some of the eerie strings of songs my Ipod has come up with on shuffle before...but even so, this one beats all.

As of today, I have 12,250 songs on my 80 GB Ipod. I was on the train today with the Ipod on shuffle. It was shuffling the whole library - not just a playlist - it could pick any song out of 12,250. I was also doing the Chicago Tribune Sunday Magazine Crossword. I read the clue "_ Robinson". Checked the squares, saw that is was 3 letters, and as my pen hit the paper to start filling in "Mrs", my IPod pulled up and started playing the Simon and Garfunkel song. I was seriously freaked. It's kind of got this long fade in intro that was a bit hard to hear at the level I had it on, so at first I was like "no...there's no way...it's something else"...but then, sure enough. I didn't know whether to perform an exorcism, throw the IPod out the train doors, or make sacrifices to it.

Now it would have been funnier if I couldn't figure out what the answer to the crossword clue was, with the song playing in my headphones the whole time.

Tuesday, September 4, 2007

Etiquette

I'm a door holder - as any decent person should be. Male or female, it's not just chivalry. Lately though I've been thinking about a situation that has long been frustratingly awkward - the double entry with consecutive sets of doors. You go through one set into into a small entry way (you know that little area you get shoved out into when you're waiting for a table at a busy restaurant), then immediately through a second set of doors into the main building. What is the etiquette for that? Is the person you've just held the first door for supposed to hold the second door for you? Should they just go straight through the second door to avoid all awkwardness? Should they wait for you to come open the second door? I think typically when someone has held the first door for me, I then hold the second door for them, but something still feels awkward about this - like you're negating their kindness. Like you can't stand to be beholden to them so you must immediately repay the favor. I've also been known, with my long arm-span or with a foot and an arm, to occasionally attempt the double hold - opening both doors at once. This is incredibly awkward though and can make you look like kind of an idiot.
I've googled this issue and haven't come up with anything (though I did discover a fun site - EtiquetteHell).