Jen Russum

The Cable Guy

The Cable Guy

No, I'm not talking about Jim Carey, but this guy is almost as annoying. So our apartment complex has a little gym, which I use quite frequently. Unlike most people, I actually like running on a treadmill. Soon after we moved in, we encountered the Cable Guy in our gym. This guy does not work out, yet he spends more time in the gym than your average power lifter. He sits on a piece of exercise equipment in street clothes and watches the TV on the wall. When we saw him do it the first time, it was kind of funny. The second time, kind of weird. The third time, incredibly annoying because when other people are in the gym actually using the exercise equipment to exercise (gasp!) and not as a couch, Cable Guy will turn up the volume on the TV to hear it over the hum of equipment. On this third encounter, I finally asked him to turn it down because I couldn't even hear the music from my own i-pod directly in my ears. By no means was I going to crank up my music and ruin my eardrums so that Cable Guy could hear the commentators on ESPN. Ever since these first few encounters, we have been trying to figure this guy out. He can be found in the gym at all hours of the day. Does he have a job? Can he not afford cable or is he just frugal? Does he have a family? This past week I walked into the gym for an evening run only to find Cable Guy eating his dinner while watching TV. Nothing like the smell of a big spicy sandwich while I'm running three miles and a half miles. I would have just stayed home and run laps around my own kitchen, but apartment square footage doesn't allow it. This time I knew Micah was going to meet me in the gym in about 10 minutes, so I left the door cracked for him, since I had our only key. Right before Micah arrived, the door was shut by some other actual exercisers on their way out. When I saw Micah waiting by the door, I asked Cable Guy if he could let him in so I didn't have to stop my run. Is that too much? I mean I was on my first fast interval in my 30 minute run and he was just sitting there watching some USA TV show. If either of us needed the extra exercise, I don't think it was me. To be honest, if you haven't figured it out by now, the Cable Guy annoys me. The gym is not a living room. I don't want the volume of his TV shows to ruin my hearing. I don't want to smell  his dinner while I'm running. His presence during my workouts irritates me. However, Micah has pointed out to me recently that there are too many guys like Cable Guy in our apartment complex (although most of them actually pay for their own cable and watch it at home). But what I mean is that this world is full of cable guys and girls. Americans who sit on their couch every night and zone out in front of their TVs. People who have no purpose and no passion and just use TV to fill their time. Again, Micah was the one that wisely pointed out that we should love the Cable Guys of the world and show them Christ. So instead of hating on the Cable Guy as I run, I should probably start praying for him. Maybe one day we can have a meaningful conversation about life over his dinner... in the gym. ... Read more

The Gelato Spot

The Gelato Spot

Thursday nights are my "study night" - the night where I leave after dinner and study until bedtime at some local place. Sometimes I go to Borders. I like Borders because of their quiet environment, free wi-fi, and the fact that I don't feel obligated to buy anything like I do at a coffee shop. However, the downside to Borders is that it closes at 10pm and I usually like to study until 11pm. This often leads me to The Gelato Spot. The Gelato Spot is a modern little gelato and coffee shop with good, overpriced gelato. The upside to studying at the Gelato Spot is that I feel obligated to buy gelato. Gelato is good. However, this place is annoying because they only let you put one flavor in a small, and a small costs $3.69. I appreciate the Gelato Spot (still annoyed that this place does not have an appropriate nickname... pretty sure they did that on purpose), because it's open until 11pm, which coincides with my typical studying limit for one evening. So the pros to this place are that I get to eat gelato while I study and that it is open until 11pm. The cons are that the gelato is expensive and I only get one flavor. However, there is one new factor that I discovered last night, and I'm not sure if it's good or bad or just another intersting thing about living in Socttsale. I'm pretty sure this place is run and frequented by the Mafia. I'm not kidding. If there are remnants of the Mafia left in the Southwest (and my grandparents swear that the mafia used to basically run Las Vegas in the 70s), I'm pretty sure they are living in Old Town Scottsdale. I've always noticed that many of the patrons of The Gelato Spot seem a little European. Lots of accents and trendy, European-ish clothing. But it was not until last night, in the middle of the most boring reading about psychoanalysis and the ecomony, that I stopped to do my own full analysis of The Gelato Spot. Every guy in the place had an accent - and I'm pretty they were all Italian accents. It makes sense, since gelato is from Italy and the Mafia is from Italy. I also paid attention to the weird Euro clothing trends on every guy in the place. And then I picked up bits of pieces of the conversation behind me. Three men talking about business things, and I'm pretty sure I heard one guy say: "That's a lot of money. What are you going to do if he doesn't pay?" Long pause. "Kill him. Unless he kills us first." It was said in a mildly joking tone. But who jokes about that kind of stuff? I have never talked about killing someone who owed me money. Killing has never entered into any of my business transactions. I'm pretty sure it wasn't really a joke. I'm pretty sure it was just the Mafia at work. Check it out online http://www.gelatospot.com/ and if you come visit us we'll take you there. The website says it's the "Dessert Lounge of Italy"... but I'm pretty sure they are conveniently leaving out that it's also the Mafia Lounge of the Phoenix Metro area. ... Read more

Fraud!

We have had a number of people tell us since moving here, that Arizona is the number one state for identity theft. Keeping this statistic in mind, I have tried to be extra conscious about what I throw away. I have taken to using Micah's handy shredder for just about everything. Micah has seen 'dumpster divers' on more than one occasion around his work. We are very careful... However, I came home last Saturday to an e-mail telling me to call my credit card company immediately due to suspected fraudulent activity. I called and right away was asked if I tried to use my card for a $25 purchase at McDonald's earlier that day. Question #1: How does one even manage to spend $25 at McDonald's? Disgusting. #2) Do you know me? The only way I am going to spend even $2 at McDonald's is if I'm buying a $1 Diet Coke in the summer for me and a friend. I don't eat Mickey Ds. I'm not loving it. I just saw an article claiming that a Happy Meal is not fullly processed in child's body for seven years. Enough said. Then the lady on the phone proceeded to list the other transactions made that day that were also denied - in addition to the ones that were not denied and are still sitting on my card until all the paperwork goes through to dispute the charges. Burlington Coat Factory anyone? I looked at my statement the other day and it appears all the charges were made in Michigan. How did someone in Michigan get my card number? I have no idea. I still have the card in my wallet, so it didn't get stolen. The most upsetting thing about this whole ordeal is that I had to get a new credit card number... I have had the same credit card since I was 18 years old. Those 16 digits are my friends. Now I am going to have to memorize 16  new numbers. That is going to make online shopping very difficult for awhile... maybe God was trying to tell me something. ... Read more