There’s a Rag for that!

The new iRag!

You’ve seen the commercials for the Apple iPhone and iTouch, they present you with a very interesting, exciting, necessary or plain all cool thing to do and then they claim: “There’s an app for that!”.

“Say, you want to know the meaning of life…there’s an app for that!” You get the point. It always makes me chuckle and I don’t even know why.

I’ve always thought that the phrase was an Apple original but I’m thinking that I might have met the man behind the inspiration. I thought the encounter granted a story.

So, it’s no secret for a lot of you that I’ve hit a rough patch when it comes to work lately and, as it tends to be, it has impacted me financially as well. Since all I can afford is a “shared” place at this point, I started looking for “roommate-type” situations.

I found a place that is centric, new, clean and that has all the amenities a guy in my situation can want and I felt like my luck was turning. But if you know anything about my blogging style you already know that is not the case.

It turns out that I’m renting a room in a guest house in the back of a beautiful new home near Marina del Rey. I’m supposed to share the space with another “tenant” in the room next to mine.  Upon moving day he emerged.

His name is Maury [pause for laughter] and yes, he is like you imagined a Maury to be. He’s a 75 years old Jewish guy from New York and not only that, he looks remarkably like the pedophile old geezer in “Family Guy”.

There's a RAG for that!

He took one look at me and said “Hummpf, let me give you the nickel tour young man”. I mean, NICKEL TOUR? Can you even imagine how old a reference that is? But I digress…”This is my room” he said, while swiftly closing the door and moving on to the “eating” area (as the place has no kitchen, just a microwave and a fridge) he continued: “If you make a mess, you are expected to clean it up” and I asked the logical question (given I didn’t see cleaning supplies anywhere): “What do I clean it up with?”

“THERE’S A RAG FOR THAT!” He replied. I chuckled.

The rest of the nickel tour was just as interesting and enlightening. “This is the laundry room area, if you make a mess….THERE’S A RAG FOR THAT!” The more he said it the more I got that church laugh (the type that feels inevitable but you know you shouldn’t let out) and he kept looking at me with baffled look on his wrinkled face.

Finally, we got to the bathroom (which we share) and he said: “You’ll notice that there’s nothing on the counter, if you spill any water on it…” “THERE’S A RAG FOR THAT!” I interrupted. He looked at me and frowned, shook his head for a second or two, came closer to me and in a very deep, more serious voice than he had been using he said:

“We’re going to get along. You’re the only one that gets it!” I chuckled again.

I better laugh at my situation, crying seems like the only other valid alternative.