(Not) Bathroom Humor

Over the course of the past weekend, I got to visit a bunch of different public restrooms.
Mostly at hotels, but also at the airport and a couple of restaurants.
Although they were different places and each one had a different "atmosphere" to it, one thing was common among all of them:
People who didn't flush after they were finished.

It's not just this past weekend either.
I'm seeing it happen practically everywhere I go to.... well, er... "go".

What is the frickin' deal with this?!?
Are people so proud of their 'work' that they feel compelled to share it with others?
Or have people just grown so lazy that something as simple, and DECENT, as flushing a toilet has become too much work for them?

Technology has advanced at an alarming rate in recent years; phones that fit in our pockets, televisions that are almost as thin as a deck of cards, and whole libraries of music that can be carried with you on a stick about the size of a piece of chewing gum just to name a few.
Some of it has been great and a real boon to modern society, while others have only made bad things happen faster and easier for people.
One thing that technology has brought us is the self-flushing toilet.

If people are so proud of their "performance art" that they wish to share it with the world, I think they should take a picture (after all, it lasts longer) and start their own "Poop Blog" so they can share it with the world.
Or if people have become so lazy that the simple act of pushing a button has become hard work, well now they have an even better excuse to not put out the effort.

With the economy in the "crapper", so to speak, I believe it would be in our best interests if the government were to fund installing these self-flushing toilets across America.
It would provide local jobs for people, thereby generating revenue, and make things a much more pleasant experience for people just trying to relieve themselves.

I hate using public restrooms as it is, but when you have the added 'bonus' of witnessing someone else's lunch from the day before, it makes me want to just set the place on fire to cleanse it.

Anyway, that's my 2-cent rant for the day.
You can go back to doing what you were doing before.
I'll be in the bathroom. Reading.

What An Idiot

Sometimes it just doesn't pay to get out of bed in the morning.

At lunch this afternoon, I took off from work to run to Target and get some stuff.
The weather forecast showed rain, but at noon the sky was clear and blue. In fact it was quite warm.
So I rolled down the windows as I was driving around around to get a breeze in the car.

I got back to work and went inside to eat my lunch.

As the day progressed, it began to get darker and the beautiful blue sky of earlier was replaced with cold, grey colds.
Then finally around 4:15 the clouds broke open and DUMPED rain like you wouldn't believe.

We all watched it coming down and joked with each other about having somebody bring our cars to us so we wouldn't have to get wet.
I even made a comment about needing to open my car windows so it wouldn't be all 'stuffy' inside when I left work.

It rained hard for at least a good 20 minutes or so, then slacked off a bit into a steady regular rain when 5:00 rolled around.

I got my stuff together and went out the front office to my car to discover....
that I had left my windows open the WHOLE time it was raining.
Both of my front seats were soaked and there was a little pool of water on the floorboards. (thankfully I have rubber mats so it didn't soak into the carpet)

Aw man!
I quickly rulled up the windows and then went back inside to get some newspapers or cardboard to cover my seat so I wouldn't have to have my butt get soaked on the drive home.

Now I'm home. The car is parked in the parking area at the house.
And I have to figure out how I'm going to dry out my car seats while it's expected to continue raining the rest of this week.

It never occured to me that my windows were still open from my lunchtime driving.
In fact, I can see my car in the parking lot from my desk and I didn't notice they were down at all.
I totally spaced on it, all the while the inside of my car got a nice shower.

What an idiot.

Oh Snap!

I've been "Kanye-fied!

Instructions

For lunch today I had a half-sandwich and a Cup Noodles.

Making Cup Noodles is about as easy as it gets when it comes to making something to eat.

Just add hot water. That's it.

Even Ramen requires a *little* more effort, in that you not only have to add hot water but also open and distribute the seasoning packet.

So as I open my Cup Noodles, I notice there are microwave directions on the lid:

Well, okay. Not really directions but rather 'guidelines'.

But I was thinking, if all you have to do is add hot water, doesn't it stand to reason that the water could be heated up in a microwave or on a stove? Do they have to spell it out?

And if you were such a total cooking-retard that you nuked the container of noodles in the microwave anyway, then I'll guess you'd learn a valuable lesson... not to do it again.

Some people would call that "experience" and it helps us to make better choices later in life.

For instance: Today, 'Johnny the kitchen-retard' cooks his Cup Noodles in the microwave and now has a pile of melted styrofoam and wet noodles. Awwww.... poor Johnny!

Tomorrow however, he decides to heat up the water and pour it in the cup instead and voila!..... it's soup!

Johnny is now well on his way to being a productive member of society and is capable of cooking a romantic dinner of Cup Noodles for his sweety.

.... Or maybe I'm just thinking too much into this.

"Car 54, Where Are You?"

On my way home from camping on Sunday, I ran across this beauty of a car wreck not even a mile from my house:

More than likely alcohol is to blame, as it happened sometime around 3:00 a.m.

The amazing thing is that the driver did all that damage and managed to walk home afterwards without any serious injuries.

The wreck was there all day Sunday and when I went to work on Monday, but they had towed it away sometime before Monday afternoon.

No idea when they are going to replace that pole.

Investments For Suckers

Remember these?

Some of my favorite lines from this clip:
Girl: "... and if the fad ever dies out..."
Boy: "Which we all know will NEVER happen!"

Woman: "... and I found him. And he's uncut...."


Here's a funny article about them as well.



Ha ha ha!!!
Good thing I'm investing in comic books. I'll never have to worry about losing money on them. They're a sure bet to my financial future!

Go On, Take The Money And Run

A New Zealand couple withdraw money and fled after the bank accidently deposits $10,000,000 NZ ($6.1 Mil U.S.) into their account.

They are believed to have left the country and Intrpol has been contacted to help in an International search for the two people.

They might also want to call Billy Mack. He's a detective down in Texas and he knows just exactly what the facts is.

He won't let those two escape justice.

He also makes his living off of the people's taxes.

I would think that both of them headed down South and are still running today.

If he hurries, he might catch 'em!

Serves Him Right.... The Big Douche

Aw... poor Billiy Bob Thornton got booed off stage and has cancelled the rest of his Canadian tour after insulting his Canadian listeners in that radio interview earlier this week.

Serves that jackass right.

What A Jackass

Just breifly....

Here's a link to a podcast from a Canadian radio station.
The DJ was interviewing Billy Bob Thorton and his band, the Boxmasters.

The interview turns into a trainwreck and based on Billy Bob's attitude, I'll never buy or endorse any of his music.
What a total dick.


** Update 04/09/09
Now Yahoo.com has picked up the story.
I still think the guy was a jerk.

The Litterbug

"Dear Morning Commuter,

You were in front of me this morning on my way into work, and as we were poking along I could see that you were smoking.
I'm not going to chastise you about your choice of vices, it's your decision and you're obviously a grown up.

I am, however, going to call you out on being a litterbug.

You see, you may think that nobody saw you take your used cigarette and drop it out of your window (all stealthy like... or so you thought) but I did.
And I watched as it hit the ground and bounced a couple of times before my tires ran over it and put it out.

Obviously I could be mistaken, as I wasn't in the car with you, but I'm pretty darn certain that your car came with an ashtray.
And since you don't seem to mind smoking in your car and stinking it up, they why not do the 'green thing' and use it instead of littering the road?

I may not know your name, but because you chose to be a dick and litter I got your license plate number and I'm posting it for the world to see which car is owned by a smoker who likes to drop their ciggie butts out the window... since you more than likely throw other things out of it as well.

You were driving an silver/blue Hyndai Elantra with WA State plate # 608-TKP.

If I have the chance to be in traffic with you again and catch you tossing another cigarette butt out your window, just know that if the opportunity presents itself I'll pick it up and toss it back into your car when we're stopped.

Thanks and have a crappy day, --- Ferretnick"

It's Called SAFE SEX For A Reason..... Idiot!

I don't make this stuff up, friends.
I just report it.

A Maryland woman was badly injured recently when her partner (boyfriend, husband, "aquaintance"?) attached a sex toy to a saber saw (a.k.a. reciprocating saw) and attempted to use it during sex.
The saw cut through the toy and then cut the woman, causing her to bleed.
The man called police who in turn had the woman taken to the hospital.
The accident was deemed the result of mishap during consensual sex, and it was determined that no crime had been commited.
No further word on the woman's condition at this time.

-----------------

Okay first things first.

WHAT THE HOLY F&@KING HELL?!?!?!?

Who's bright idea was it to do that in the first place?
I feel bad for the woman, since she got hurt pretty seriously.
But she apparently agreed to let him do it. It's not like he tied her up and forced her.

And a reciprocating saw? Really?!?
This is what one looks like:


Those things are made for cutting through drywall and crap. And they put a shaft of soft rubber over the blades and thought "it'd be good for some fun"?

Has the whole world just totally lost it?
How could anyone POSSIBLY think it was a good idea?
At the very least, they should have taken the blades off of it. There's still the potential to get hurt, but at least there wouldn't be any JAGGED F&@KING SAW BLADES to risk cutting into her body!!!

Hotness & I aren't above a little slap & tickle ourselves, but when it comes to incorporating power tools into the bedroom I think we both know better.

I just don't understand where people's heads are anymore.
It's like there's nothing in them to tell them "Hey! This is a bad idea and isn't going to end well. You'd better stop."

Five Little Words

I have a nagging, low-level headache that's been going on now for the past 2-1/2 days.
Not to mention I just had to sit here and listen to one of my co-workers suck on his teeth while I'm eating lunch, because he's too lazy to go and brush the damn things.

So I have a rant coming on.
Something I've been thinking about for quite some time and I figured since I'm in a foul mood anyway, why not today?
I figured I'd better warn all of you in case you just don't want to bother reading any further.
-----------------------------------------

Please
Thank you
Excuse me

Five words that I don't hear very much anymore but would make a big difference in our day-to-today dealings with people.

I can't tell you how many times I've held the door open for somebody (at a store, movie theater, etc.) and had them blow right by me without even a simple "thank you". As if it's my job to open the door for them.
On almost every occasion I say, loudly, "You're very welcome!" and wait to see if they even look back. Most times they don't, but the few that do I look right at them.

Or people that push past you without ever saying "excuse me". We obviously see each other, but rather then be polite, they just push you out of their way.
I really can't understand the ones that come from behind you and push you out of the way.
I'm more than happy to let someone go by if I knew they were there in the first place. But coming up behind me and pushing me out of the way? That's just a dick move all-around.

Sometimes at ECCC, I like to hand out stuff to people waiting in line to keep them occupied until the doors opened.
I usually take things from the "free table" that are in limited supply and pass them around to a few random attendees.
One year, I grabbed some T-shirts along with a few other things and went outside.
As soon as I got out there, a guy in line saw me holding the T-shirts (mind you, he didn't know what size they were or what was even on them) and said "Give me".
I said, "What?"
"Give me. Gimme the shirt, man", was his reply.
I looked right at him and said, "Yeah, you know what? You get nothing now" and went further down the line to hand out stuff.
If he'd said "Oooh T-shirts! Give me one, please", I'd have had no problem.
But instead, he acted like he deserved it.

Which is the point I'm (finally) getting at.
I'm seeing more and more where people think they are owed something just for breathing air on this planet and I'm really sick of it.

Mostly it's people younger than me, but I'm also noticing it more with people who are my parent's age.

What the hell happened? What happened to saying "please" after you ask for something?
Or "excuse me" when you want by somebody or to enter a conversation?

This lack of manners is not just rude, but seems acceptable by society, and I'm tired of it.
It takes no effort to be nice and in return you get "nice" back.
But instead, they'd rather be a dick and think the world revolves around them and you're just in the way.

And people that are already acting this way are raising their kids up without manners so it's only getting worse. If nobody's teaching them to say "please, thank you, and excuse me" who's going to?

I think we'd all be in a lot better place emotionally if we'd stop and take the time to be nice and use manners with one another.
I'm not talking about just with friends, but with everyone. Your barista. The shoe salesman. The clerk at the DMV.

A little niceness goes a long way, especially if you want something.

Friday Was A Big Pile Of Doo-Doo

Well, that's not entirely true. The day ended up being fun, but from the time I woke up to the time 5:00 p.m. came around it was an uphill battle to keep from running outside and yelling out loud at the top of my lungs.

I woke up on Friday morning, and as usual I looked outside the bedroom window to see if Hotness had left yet.

Sure enough she had, I just didn't hear her car leave.

I also noticed that MY car was gone.

I'm racing through my mind how on earth that would have happened since both sets of keys were in the house and you can't start my car without the proper code (embedded in a chip in the key).

Did I park my car on the other side? Why would I do that? It wasn't late when I got home, so how come I can't remember why my car isn't there? Should I call the police?

Then I started to realize I had to go to the bathroom and it occured to me.... I was dreaming.

So I got out of bed, looked at the alarm clock (4:30 a.m. - an hour before I usually get up) and looked out the bedroom window. There was Hotness's car.... and mine. Right where I left it the night before.

Grrrrr! I'm awake now. No sense going back to bed when I know I won't be able to sleep now.

I get to work and as I'm pulling in, my boss also pulls in. We're both getting out of our cars and he informs me that our operating system for our company is dead and not working. Nobody can sign on, put in orders, look up pricing, etc...

Just great. Thankfully I got the bulk of work I had on my desk finished the day before, but this hindered me from doing anything new once people started calling and emailing.

About on hour into the workday, he managed to get things up and running so we were able to work normally.

Then around 11:00 I had a customer who didn't pay attention to pricing I'd given them on a special ordered item.

They thought their total amount to pay was going to be around $25.00, but in fact was going to be about $250.00.

I'm scrambling to find my notes on what I quoted them but of course can't find them.
To cut to the chase, the customer had my handwritten quote which had "$25.00 / C" (/ C = 'per hundred'... in case you didn't know).

They took it to read as $25.00 for a 1000 pcs. since they though I'd written a "K" instead of "/C".

As it is, there were lots of moments of awkward silence and debate on the phone.

After a talk with the boss, we ended up only charging the customer for the total cost of the part and not for the special process that was done. Plus we sold them just the 100 pcs they originally only wanted and kept the remaining 900 pcs. that I told them they had to get in order to get them in. In effect totally getting shafted for this part.

Just on the heels of this crapfest, another customer called looking to get samples on a part.

They needed to finish a job and only wanted 20 pcs.

This customer used to buy from us loyally and frequently but has droppped off dramatically in the last 3 months to get their parts elsewhere.

So I told them "I'm sorry. I can send you 5 pcs as a sample, but if you need more you'll have get enough to make a purchase order minimum."

After all, why should I give out free parts so they can finish a job they're going to get paid for?

I don't think so. I'm happy to help a loyal customer, but when you're buying your groceries from another store don't ask me for a free lunch.

As soon as I hung up the phone, one of my co-workers had to open their mouth and say,"I think $0.60 in parts isn't too much to give them if they want them."

I just about took his head off and said if that what he wanted to do, then he could do it.

The remainder of the day was uneventful and I managed to keep everything caught up so I don't have to start Monday under a pile of paperwork.

Finally, 5:00 rolled around and we all headed our separate ways.

I was actually going into Seattle to meet up with a friend and help him get his own blog started up. I'd talk more about it, but he's still getting things going with it and there really isn't much to see or read yet. As soon as it's "live" I'll let ya'll know and post a link up.

I hung out at his place for about 2-1/2 hours and finally said I needed to get home.

On my way, I stopped at Dick's Drive-In on Holman for a couple of 'deluxes' and a chocolate shake. And fries, of course.

So it ended okay. But man! What way to start the weekend.

Tidbits & Oddbits

Well what do you know?
Blog post entry # 500.
That's a lot of posts. Some with something important to say (to me, anyway), most with nothing to say really.
But that's a lot of posts.

So I wanted to have something really spectacular to talk about for this milestone, but to be honest I don't think there's anything that really qualifies as being "milestone-worthy".
So instead you get lots of little micro-posts to make up one nice big post.
Grab a mug or glass of your favorite beverage and celebrate #500 with me, won't you?

-------------------------

Hotness and I have been re-watching "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" series again.
(Mmmm.... Alyson Hannigan. Oh! Sorry. Got distracted for a moment)

We never really caught them on TV or in chronological order when it used to be on, so with the magic of the DVD's we are catching them in order and remembering how campy and fun they were.

While watching an episode from season two I got to flex some NERD KNOWLEDGE and my geek prowess for Hotness when they made a reference to Locutus of Borg.
Hotness heard it and gave one of those laughs like "I'll laugh, but I don't know why". You know what I'm talking about.
So I got to educate her on who and what Locutus was.
She didn't run away laughing, but instead put her head on my shoulder.
I'm so lucky she loves me for being a dork.

-----------------------------------------------------

My birthday was just over a week ago.
I didn't make a big thing out of it on here 'cause it really wasn't. We didn't go out to celebrate or anything.
I did get myself a nice present, though.
I bought some new T-shirts on Thinkgeek.com that I can wear to impress my fellow geek friends.
Including a kick-ass "personal soundtrack" T-shirt. When I saw this, it screamed out P-O-T-E-N-T-I-A-L and I'm so looking forward to wearing it to one of our ECCC volunteer meetings. Up in Calgary. Out to dinner. Just about anywhere.
This thing is just frickin' awesome. I love it.

For future reference though.... next year is the big 4-0.
I've told Hotness I want to have a "pirate-themed" birthday party at the Comic Stop to celebrate. I was listening to Jimmy Buffet and thought that seemed like a good way to ring in my 40th year.

------------------------------------------------------

Speaking of birthdays, last night we went out with friends for dinner and live comedy in Seattle.
Dinner was great, but then what isn't when it's accompanied by a margarita?

The comedy was okay, though. The emcee was a nervous guy with a thick European accent who made the typical "the difference in America compared to (insert country of origin here)" jokes. Followed by a couple of mediocre comedians before the headliner came on.
One of whom did his routine about dating and being a guy. The other did a bunch of Wal-mart joke references and even had to quote another comedian's joke to get his punchline across. Lame.

The headliner, however was very good. Or at least, he started off good.
His name was Daz Reed and he was actually very funny. That is until some stupid fat bitch in the front row started talking and would NOT. SHUT. THE. FUCK. UP.
His rehearsed routine quickly turned into an improv session and totally threw off his timing.
His jokes were still funny, but the scene became nothing more than partial jokes interjected with comments and insults to the heckler.
More than once he commented about it to the staff during his act, but nobody stepped in to put an end to her and ask her to leave.
He still managed to get some laughs and everybody in our group had a good time, but next time we go I will leave and ask for my money back if I have to have my show detracted by some idiot who wants to share in the limelight after more than a few drinks.

----------------------------------------------------

Last night I dreamed about the comic book convention. Again.
Not a very involved dream, but memorable nonetheless.

In it, I was at the convention center before the attendees were allowed in.
Jewel Staite is one of the media guests this year. (what a second. Mmmm.... Jewel Staite. Sorry. Got distracted again.)

Anyway, she and a couple other people working at the show were at her table getting ready before the crowds came in.
I made my way over to let her know I was a fan and that I'd like to get her autograph at some point, but that I was working elsewhere on the floor and might not make it to see her during the day.
But when I opened my mouth, I just kind of stammered and totally forgot everything I wanted to say. I also dropped a book I wanted to get signed. So basically I just looked like a total doofus.
She smiled and then went to her table to get ready.

Hopefully I'll do better in real life and I actually get to meet her.

--------------------------------------------------------

Here's something from the "Things to Ponder" file:


That's pretty impressive and sobering.

You can buy this as a poster from here.


I found out about it via the Presurfer.

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Well, it snowed again last night.
Nothing compared to what we had during Christmas, though.
At least.... not yet.

I have to admit that is very pretty to wake up and see a big blanket of white over everything.
It's just when I actually have to go out in it and try and drive that I wish it was happening somewhere else.

-------------------------------------------------------

There's a case of eHerpes going around.
Normally I steer clear of such things, as to me they are more or less a blog version of chain letters.
But this one has actually been mulling around in what substitutes for my cranium and I think I'll succumb to it for the sake of anybody who's interested.

I'm supposed to link to the person who gave it to me, but technically I didn't have direct contact with anybody to "catch" it. So I'll just blame the first reported case I heard about it from.

1) I enjoy feeding birds. A lot.
That may seem like an "old person" thing to do, but I really look forward to filling up my feeders and watching the birds come and visit them. That is, when the damn squirrels and raccoons aren't tearing them down and breaking the feeders.

2) I wanted to become an artist who made record covers for rock bands after watching Xanadu way back in the day, just like Sonny Malone.
(I make personalized covers on CD's that I've burned, so I guess in a way I sort of got to live that dream)

3) I get teary-eyed watching sappy movies.
I'm not ashamed to say that I've leaked eye moisture at Pete's Dragon, E.T., Steel Magnolias (yes, I admit I liked it), Nell, and Big Fish among others
I even used to get a little misty over a particular commercial quite a few years ago.
And if you make fun of me, I'll punch you in the neck.

4) When I was very young, I used to think that even inanimate objects had feelings.
I used to feel bad for my left shoe if I put my right shoe on and tied it first. So I would try to alternate in order to not hurt it's "feelings".

5) I hate lists. Absolutely hate them.
"The top 10 sandwiches of all time"
"100 of the best rock songs"
"The 50 most popular movies"
"25 of the most beautiful photos ever taken"
....... blah blah blah
They are all matters of opinion with no basis in actual fact and it pisses me off when magazines or news sites post them as 'articles'.

6) Although I haven't done it in quite a few years, I like to tie fishing flies.
I've never actually gone fly-fishing, but I taught myself how to tie them when I was young and to this day can still name a few of them and what's used in making them.

7) I've never broken a bone in my body.
When I was younger I wanted to break something so I could wear a cast and have it signed by friends, but never did.
Now, I'm hoping that I can continue my "no-broken-bones" streak as I get older.

Bonus!
8) On road trips, I like to play a personal game by matching a mile-marker with a significant comic book issue number.
i.e. Mile-marker 181 = Incredible Hulk #181 (first appearance of Wolverine), mile-marker 4 = Avengers # 4 (first appearance of Captain America in the Silver-age), etc....

Yes, I am a geek.

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Well, that's it for post 500.
Please return your seats to the upright position.
I hope you enjoyed your stay and will continue to be back for at least another 500 or more.

Triple-Dog Dare

In a scene right out of "A Christmas Story", and a couple of Indiana boys got their tongues stuck to a frozen flag pole.

Edit:
That was last year's news. It actually happened again more recently.

No Cake For Little Adolf

Poor little Adolf Hitler Campbell won't be getting his 3rd birthday cake from the local ShopRite this year. The supermarket feels that the name is inappropriate and reserves the right refuse service.

I totally agree with them on this.

Who in their right mind names their kid Adolf Hitler..... or Aryan Nation for that matter?!?

Oh, only some numbnut with a point to make that's about as blunt as the one on top of his head.

It's not so much that this idiot had to name his kids these ridiculous (and quite frankly, offensive) names, but that these kids are w-a-y too young to realize the baggage they are going to be carrying around.

That's what really irks me about dips#!ts like that.

(Tolerance my ass!)

There's a reason that Adolf is not a name given to babies anymore.

(Perhaps it has something to do with a little thing called "the holocaust"? I'm just spit-balling here)

Ahhhh... but don't worry. Good ol' Walmart was willing to make a cake for him.

Of course they'll sell anything to make a buck. (or do they?)

---------------------

UPDATE

A very good editorial on this subject from the Lehigh Valley website.

Post-Thanksgiving

So I'm assuming that everyone had a nice Thanksgiving.
At least, that seems to be the story from everyone I've talked to lately.
Despite home-forclosure worries, a precarious economy, and job-related stress it seems that most everyone was still able to relax with family and friends and reflect on what they still have and be thankful.

Hotness and I spent the afternoon with friends and just had a really nice time.
The kids kept themselves entertained and nobody got hurt. Our conversations were lively. And the food was incredible.
Your's truly made the three-cheese macaroni (with and without bacon).
I also tried out a new pie recipe: Pear ginger maple pie. (By the way, I used Bartlett pears as they were kind of big and I could get a little more than 1 cup per pear. I also used a pre-made pie crust... thank you Top Foods!... for both the bottom and top, instead of the topping in the recipe. I just cooked it a little longer to compensate, like 50-55 minutes) It was fantastic and I plan on making it again.
And I made a tried-and-true favorite; double layer pumpkin cheesecake. Oh my goodness, I love this recipe and so does everyone else!

Lot's of stuff happening this holiday weekend. What with the Macy's parade crowd getting Rick-rolled live to a human stampede at Wal-mart in New York State on Black Friday (by the way, there are not enough words to describe the amount of disgust regarding that incident).
We even had a bit of drama in my neck of the woods. A driver lost control of her car and ran head-first into a guard rail early Friday morning. The car caught on fire but luckily her husband was able to get her out of the vehicle in time. She escaped with a broken leg and a few other injuries, but is alive and expected to make a full recovery.

Yesterday was spent playing games with my co-workers kids (yay Heroclix and ZOMBIES!!!), followed by Hotness and I going to see James Bond kick some @$$. (I'd seen it, but she hadn't yet). I really liked this movie. Not as much as "Casino Royale" but still worth it's salt as a Bond film, in my opinion. It wraps up "CR" nicely so that Bond can move on.

This morning, we got up and went into town to have breakfast with one of our neighbor-friends.
And in a little bit, I'm taking off to meet somebody (who contacted me via a mutual friend) to show off some of the comic artwork I've collected over the years.
Later tonight, I'll be joining Beer Gardens and watching Kyle Stevens perform live in Seattle tonight.
I'll let you know how the show was.

Enjoy the rest of your day....

John Jacob Jinglehiemer Schmidtt

That's NOT my name and neither is it the name of a kid from the U.K. who recently changed his name to (and I'm not making this up):

Captain Fantastic Faster Than Superman Spiderman Batman Wolverine Hulk And The Flash Combined.



*whew!*
That's quite name.
(I hate to inform him, but Spider-man is hyphenated. Just saying.)


And why exactly did he do it?
Because he "wanted to be unique".


I have a lot of personal experience with geek culture and I can safely agree that he will definitely be unique. And probably dateless and / or jobless with a name like that.

I mean, if you were of the female side of the population how would you respond to;
"Hi! I'm Captain Fantastic. Would you like to have dinner with me?"
Or if you're going to get something to eat and you heard this;
"Welcome to Burger Buster. I'm Captain Fantastic. May I take your order?"
Would you trust your stock portfolio to somebody named Capt. Fantastic? Would you let your daughter go out on a date with a boy named that? What if they got married?!?


I'd laugh myself silly upon hearing "I'm Captain Fantastic".
"Yeah, and I'm Baron Von Footupyourass."



I guess the only cool thing about it is that he decided on doing it himself. His parents didn't force him into having a name like that. So if he's happy, well.... whatever. Live and let live I suppose.
I just hope I don't meet him. Not that would beat him up. I just don't think I could actually look at the guy and have a conversation after hearing him say his name.

I'd be too busy laughing.


--------------
In totally unrelated news:
Ew! Ick!

Embarrassed By My Species

I was at the grocery store last night picking up some stuff for dinner (chicken enchiladas verde, yum!).

Things were going just fine. I got everything I needed and then found a line that wasn't too long at the checkout.
It turned out that the cashier was new and therefore was still in training. "No big deal, " I thought, "I'm not in a hurry".

So I put my basket in the conveyor and waited my turn.
As I stood there, I started listening to what was taking place at the register in front of me.
A woman and her two kids were shuffling around stuff they had picked up to buy only to find out they didn't have enough money to pay for it.
That in and of itself isn't a big deal. I've done that myself on occasion.

But the problem was this:
She was a large woman (and I know I'm not a skinny fella, but bear with me for a bit) and quite loud.
They had purchased various food-related items (among them; chips, donuts and cookies) and were trying to pay for them with a government-issued debit card.
There wasn't enough money on the card so they were having to put stuff back. But rather than take it back to where they got it or give it to the cashier, they were stuffing it into the magazines and various other shelving located at the register line. At one point she reached across the counter and placed a handful of bagged food at the register drawer... where the money is.

Then the cashier needed a price check and tried to get the cashier next to us to help.
The women in front of me just pushed her face in the other cashier's area and said, "We need some help here!"
When she got her attention, the woman (customer) asked if the cashier wanted her (the customer) to just ring up the groceries.
"No, that'll be okay. We can take care of it," the woman was told.

So now, back to the gov't debit card they were using.
You get one of these when you need assistance from the government to cover basic needs.
I noticed that this woman was wearing as close to fashionable clothing as she could get.
Faux designer sunglasses on her head. Designer capri pants. And she had a tan (fake? real? I don't care to find out)
But here she is buying junk food with government assistance for her and her kids and stuffing what she couldn't afford into the surrounding shelves and encouraging her kids to do so as well.
They had the poor cashier all confused.

Finally, they were finished and on their way.

Sometimes I'm just ashamed to be seen with other members of the human race.

Spicy News

The original handwritten recipe by Col. Harland Sanders for his Kentucky Fried Chicken, was recently removed from it's "secure" location in locked filing cabinet and transported via armored car for safe-keeping while the company revamped security for the aging, yellowed piece of paper.

In other news:

A burglar rubs a man with spices and slaps another with a sausage before fleeing.

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I got nothing to add.

This stuff just amuses me.