Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Other Men


I inquired at the quilt shop I frequent about some one to repair my vintage Bernina sewing machine. Even after the purchase of a new, slick modern Swiss machine, I just couldn't let my old friend go. I was given the vague instructions to take it to "Joe in South Elgin" who used to work at the Bernina factory. I couldn't find Joe in South Elgin on the Bernina website, but I found a store, Sew Unlimited on Randall Road in South Elgin. I had a meeting last Friday in Schaumburg, and thought, okay, not too far from South Elgin. Then I had another thought: Marengo, not too far from South Elgin. I didn't make it to Marengo, but late Friday afternoon, when I found Sew Unlimited, and carried in my broken machine, a man in a black shirt, with a ponytail, asked if he could help me. "Are you Joe?" I asked. It was. "I hear you're the Man." The lady working in the shop said "Joe can fix anything." Joe says that my 801 is a "nice little machine." Makes me feel better about investing in a repair.
This morning, I had a meeting with another man. A banker. I had a small IRA account that I've ignored, really for the last ten years. On the occasion that I opened a statement, I would notice that it was actually losing value. I have a pretty cool bank. It was not the original one that I opened an account with sixteen years ago, but with the most recent change, customer service is really ramped up. It's this nice young man's job to watch my new IRA to make sure it's always growing. Nice. Here's the thing. I would love, love, love to make dog sweaters all the time, but I need to be realistic. To do what I want to do, and fund taking care of Piccolo, and knitting for myself, and other activities, I need real money. So, I have to keep a (sort of) full time job, and think about the future. It's just not romantic or sexy to have no money, especially at my age. Diversification of investment. It makes me feel so grown up.
I had a thought about the 2 AM Catholic television intrusion into our bedroom. I wear ear plugs, and the Man sleeps through it. I'm wondering if it's deliberate due to my "living in sin," as the landlady describes it. Sort of a deterrent, if you will. The Man doesn't think so. I can tell you that it's not working.
The photo is another look at the Doggie Knits trunk show that was at Arcadia Knitting last March.

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