Christmas 2009

Finally got the Christmas cards with annual newsletter into the mail for this year. If I am only one or two days late after Christmas, I am relieved. I'll be very surprised if I ever get the cards/newsletter out in time any year. The card production (e.g. photo taken, cards made, labels produced, etc.) is nothing compared to the newsletter creation process. It's not like creating The Godfather or anything like that but it does consume pretty much an entire day. And the only time I can get around to it is on/around Dec 25.



Whatever. I got the cards/newsletter into the mail. And to all, a good night.

Over-reliance on things to think for us

I read an article or op-ed piece somewhere within the past few months that many people have started to rely on electronic do-dads to the point that we're losing our sense of direction and ability to think through things. The example given in the piece that I read talked about the prevalence of GPS units in cars. I agree with this author (whoever s/he was) - if you've got a GPS in your car, it sometimes takes away from paying attention to the act of driving and more on listening to/looking at a 'disconnected' automaton for some sense of direction. I've always prided my sense of direction and can usually find someplace using this "sense." This is why I don't have a GPS unit - I am sure the fact that I'm a tightwad has nothing to do with not having a GPS unit. What I'm trying to say that, thanks to new gadgetry, it seems we've gotten to the point where we don't need to think as much about certain things as we used to have to in the past.

I came across a 911 call recently that reminded me of this article I read. I think it gets across the point I am making much better than I have and/or can:

Dumb Woman Locked in Her Car 911 Call sound bite 911 Calls sound bites

Tommy Boy and flight patterns

Watched Tommy Boy on Comedy Central recently. Funny movie that I've seen a few times before.

Most of the movie is set in the Midwest and much of it seems to have been actually filmed there. There is a scene, however, that makes no "geographic sense." One of the characters who is supposedly living and working in the Sandusky OH area goes to an airport in the Sandusky area and needs to get a flight to Cuyahoga Falls (OH). (Let's ignore the fact that you wouldn't say you'd need a flight to Cuyahoga Falls - it's a suburb of Cleveland. You know, the really big city near Cuyahoga Falls that actually has an airport.) The gate attendant tells the character that there are no direct flights to Cuyahoga Falls - all those flights go through Columbus.

Ok, this makes a lot of sense. First, it would be a HELLUVA lot faster to simply rent a car and drive from Sandusky to Cleveland, err, Cuyahoga Falls. But, no, the character instead bothers to drive to either Toledo's or Detroit's airport (the only airports of any size near Sandusky). To try to catch a flight to Cleveland that is routed through Columbus. From Toledo or Detroit. It's like flying from LA to San Francisco via San Diego.

--
Sent from my mobile device

Aleve TV commercial

Seems to me that TV commercials are mostly unbelievable. Most are quite unbelievable - e.g. elves baking cookies, talking cars, that sort of thing. But many are subtly unbelievable.

Saw a TV commercial for Aleve. The set up is the aisle of a nameless pharmacy, drug store, etc. It looks unnaturally crowded with people. And by crowded, I mean three people standing close to one another. (I don't recall going to any store and huddling with random strangers in the aisles - instead, everyone gives each other a pretty wide berth.)

One of the persons starts talking to himself after picking up a non Aleve brand and reading the instructions, muttering something about having to take a lot of pills to help relieve arthritis pain. A woman standing no less than two feet away from him, picks up a different non Aleve brand, and says to no one in particular (even though there are two total random strangers standing close enough that she can stick her tongue in their ears at the same time without moving) something about having to take something like 80 pills over the next ten days.

I don't watch a lot of TV so I never got a DVR - I don't even know what one looks like. I like the idea of skipping commercials. But if I was able to skip commercials, this blog would be even more lame than it already is.

--
Sent from my mobile device

Ingenuity and BBQing

I don't remember who sent this to me but it's definitely an ingenious use of a shopping cart.

People, If You're Selling MP3 Players, Wipe It Clean Before Giving Them Up

I recently purchased a Sansa MP3 player off Ebay to replace the one I left on a plane trip a couple of months ago. I tried to upload some songs to it - and I get "Device full" message. I think to myself - "It must be broken. How can this 8GB player be full already??"

I open up the files via Explorer and, lo and behold, the device is chock full of stuff. Some of it decent and a lot of crap. 8GB worth of this stuff. So now I have to spend my time to delete this crap off the MP3 player. Note that there are some OK songs on the device that I may leave on the device. One might say, "Hey, you got a lot of music for free." True, but music is pretty personal and very individual in terms of "taste." Example: I see a folder for Adam Ant. I recall a few catchy tunes from this cat way back when. I open the Adam Ant folder to see which song(s) is(are) on the device. Turns out it's some song I've never heard of. Crap - so it was deleted.

There are over 250 different musicians/bands on this MP3 player. And I need to review each folder to see whether it's anything I want to keep. This is a major waste of time. One might say, "Well, why don't you just delete everything?" I could - but then I might be deleting a song or two or more that I might actually like. And I'm not one to pass up on free stuff.

How Not to Get Swine Flu

Don't do this.

Maytag and Monster Trucks

I don't watch a lot of TV. This probably explain why I don't have a DVR. Maybe eventually.

I just saw an ad for Maytag that takes the cake for stupidity. There are two rows of washing machines, probably 15 to 20 machines in each row. Each row is parallel to the other with about four or five feet between each row. There is a pair of small ramps leading "up" one end of each row and another pair of small ramps leading "down" the other end of each row. Using the ramps, a monster truck drives on to the washing machines, ostensibly to show how well made the washing machines are.

Here's the kicker: when the monster truck drives up on to the washing machines, the following words appear on the screen for a few seconds:

DO NOT ATTEMPT

Ok. Let's assume $700 per washing machine. Let's assume $50,000 for the monster truck. (And that's probably too low but humor me here.) Let's assume I had the means (not to mention space) to put $14,000 worth of washing machines in two perfectly spaced rows. Then I happen to have a tricked out monster truck nearby, ready to drive up any ramps that might be in the area.

Yeah, that would be sweet. (The version posted here was the one created by the ad agency - obviously, legal counsel for Maytag Inc made them add the "DO NOT ATTEMPT" verbiage after filming was complete.)

--
Sent from my mobile device

White Castle and Valentine's Day

V-Day at the Castle. Reservations required. Coat + tie optional. Not sure about pants.

Christmas/Holiday/Whatever Cards Sent

As always, I was about one week late in getting my "December" (where "December" represents Christmas or Hanukkah or Kwanzaa or whatever) cards. I knew something was up when four different people, independent of one another, contacted me, asking "Where is your card and letter?" Well, they're in the mail.

If you're here because you got the card and letter and need to get a hold of me, leave a comment on this posting and I'll contact y'all. Joyeux Noel!

The Brilliance That is The U.S. Postal Service

I was in the local US Postal Service branch this morning, picking up some stamps for my annual attempt at humor (aka "Christmas card"). Please ignore that I am sending the cards after Christmas. Actually, now that I think about it, I've been sending these cards after Christmas for at least the last four years. Time for me to acknowledge a new tradition.

But I digress. Here are a couple of things that bug me about this particular branch:

1) Credit card readers that are inoperable.

I don't know about you but the two local USPS offices that I usually go to have inoperable credit card readers. I recall these readers being installed in the offices about four or five years ago. The "readers" don't read credit cards - they only display the charges for your transaction at the counter. One of the offices went so far as to stuff a piece of corrugated cardboard in the slot where you would normally swipe your credit card - the corrugated cardboard has a handwritten note on it - "Doesn't Work."

2) There is a sign that you notice on the way into the post office. It says no cell phones can be used anywhere in the lobby. I think this is a good idea. Like church, I like to think of post offices places of refuge from inane chatter that you usually hear when listening to someone yammer on his/her cell phone. If I want mindless yammering, I'd go to any local airport and hang out in the boarding area(s).

As wise and useful as that "no cell phones" sign is - it is matched in utter stupidity by the sign one reads posted on the inside portion of exit door (there are two separate doors - one for entering and another for exiting). It says, "No pets." Where I'm from, that's the sort of sign you'd want to have on the way IN to an establishment, not on the way out. Unless, of course, the post office means that once you bring your pet into the post office, you cannot bring him/her outside of the post office. In other words, any pets brought into the post office becomes property of the post office.

Why is Ashton Kutcher the face of Nikon?

In TV commercials that most people have probably seen, Ashton Kutcher is presented as some sort of semi-wacky shutterbug. The most annoying ad has to be the one where he is a photographer at a wedding. He proceeds to knock over a waiter carrying a tray of canapes, messes up the wedding cake, and is involved with a number of other forgettable "hilarious" vignettes.

But what is galling is a full page ad I just saw in Newsweek. It shows Mr Kutcher poring over a very high end Nikon camera like he is this generation's Ansel Adams. And to top it all off, all of the promotional web links for any of the camera models that Kutcher is "endorsing" includes the name "ashton." I would include an example here but the last thing I would want to do is give Nikon any kind of idea that this "Ashton Kutcher as Photography God" advertising campaign is anything other than ultra-dumb-dee-dumb-dumb.

--
Sent from my mobile device

Photobombing: The Fine Art of Ruining Other People's Photos

I recently got an email from a friend - the email had several photos attached to it. Although most (if not all) of them have been altered/photo-shopped and I've seen some/most/all of these posted elsewhere on the web, I thought it would be worthwhile to post them here. Enjoy.

Thief Texts Victim After Robbery

We get a free local newspaper delivered to us every week. The "police beat" section usually includes some wacky crime that occurred during the prior week. The following story is true and was originally posted here.

*********

After receiving text message, man learns his wallet is missing

POLICE BEAT
Published: Tuesday, November 4, 2008 9:31 AM EST

A man living in the 1800 block oflo WiIlway Circle South reported to police that at 12:05 a.m. Oct. 28 he discovered his wallet had been stolen.

According to the report the man received a text message from someone shortly after midnight stating, "I got your wallet and you can have it back when we get married."

Police said the man then got out of bed and checked his pants pockets and found that his wallet was indeed missing.

The man stated he believed the suspect had gotten into his apartment somehow while he was sleeping and taken the wallet, police said.

Sittin' by the dock on the bay

I'm sitting in a plane in San Francisco. And I thought I was not hungry since this past weekend was filled with lots of eating - the kind where there is a mismatch between what your body needs in terms of calories and, uhh, eating way more than what your body needs.

The young lady next to me proceeds to pull out what appears to be some sort of breakfast sandwich with grilled sourdough bread, scrambled eggs, bacon, and cheese. It's something that I would probably never order - ever. But sitting in this cramped space with 150+ other people, smelling her sandwich .... turns out I am hungry. I think.

Something I always struggle with when I book air travel is location of my seat. Sitting in the middle of three seats is never a choice unless I have to (e.g. the flight is full and these are the only type of
seats left). So I choose between aisle and window. I really like looking out the window. But then I'm always panicked about being stuck by the window and having to go to the bathroom - and my seatmate(s) is (are) asleep. If it's a daylight flight that involves over lots of land, I'll choose window almost every time. If the majority of the flight is over water and/or at night, I'll choose aisle. Since I never get to fly to Hawaii as much as I'd like and I pretty much detest "red-eyes," you can guess which type of seat I will always choose.

Now if I can just get my bladder to understand ....

--
Sent from my mobile device

Initial post and the Memphis airport

I just discovered mobile blogging via google. I think this way of blogging is better suited to my downtime in that I don't have the patience or organizational skills to maintain my 'regular' blog (see spunk0164.blogspot.com) on a more than "whenever I get around to it" basis. I think this format of being to jot down a quick idea and firing it off via email will allow me to capture the random stuff I see and/or think when it happens as opposed to thinking, "hmm, that's interesting - I should blog that" - then proceed to completely forget about whatever caught my attention in the first place.

I am writing this long post from the Memphis airport. I wasn't supposed to be here - I was. Supposed to fly through Minneapolis. Whatever - as long as I get to San Francisco within the next few hours, all will be good in this world.

They just announced boarding for my flight. And, on cue, everybody has rushed the boarding area, inevitably slowing the process as a result.

There's a fellow sitting across from me who looks a lot like Sydney Pollack. But I think he died recently - so unless the government was successful in its "ReAnimating The Dead Project," I doubt it's him.

--
Sent from my mobile device

Jesus is Lord but only in certain places

I've heard the phrase "Jesus is Lord" before but I always assumed the phrase represented some sort of omniscient presence, you know, like He is Lord of Everywhere.

Apparently not.

The Human Calendar

While surfing the web recently, I came across a pretty cool calendar. It's set up like the opening sequence from the Brady Bunch. And it's updated every day ... I don't think it has much practical use as a 'to be used regularly' type of calendar. But it is very interesting, nonetheless.

Hillbilly Hi-Rise

I seriously think that this is not for real ... this HAS to be a photshop type of prank. If anyone can prove to me that this is real, by all means, send me the proof and I'll include that information in this posting. (I saw on another blog that this is "near Horntown, Virginia" but I cannot find any verification of this claim anywhere.)

(Wo)Man's Best Friend ... or at least one of them

When I was a kid, I distinctly recall that you had a really good dog if s/he was trained to bring you your slippers and newspaper after a hard day at the office.

Toby, the dog pictured here, is a modern "(wo)man's best friend." He doesn't waste his time with newspapers, slippers, and other items that are so 20th century.


Rather, he focuses on keeping his humans happy by bringing them things they need, not "want!"