Goodbye 2005

It's that time again when we bid farewell to the year and make resolutions for the coming new year. In retrospect, 2005 was a fairly good year that went by very quickly. I think time has actually sped up very minutely and that's why I perceive the past year as passing by too quickly. I know that I'm looking forward to 2006 and everything it will bring. Even if I didn't want the new year to happen there is nothing I can do about that. Time trudges on with or without you. I just hope I have a few more decades left because I'm really looking forward to driving one of those flying cars.

Not Again

I am so tired of receiving email from good hearted persons who want to help find a missing girl. I’m tired of receiving email from people who want to make a lot of money because Microsoft is going to pay them if they forward it to lots and lots of people. I’m tired of receiving emails to boycott Tommy Hilfiger because he’s supposedly a racist pig or the ones that will make something really funny appear on your monitor if you forward it to ten people. The list goes on and on.

Whenever I check my inbox and see these types of subject lines I cringe. I suppose I could just create a filter in my email program and I would never again see these types of emails but I’m just too lazy to do that. Besides, what if just once there really is a missing little girl or boy and I could pass on the information to help find them? And I also think that the person who is forwarding these types of emails has a moral responsibility to verify the accuracy of the message before forwarding it to everyone in their address book. I’ll bet they have never visited Snopes and believe in all urban legends.

Now, if you don’t email this post to five people in the next fifteen minutes the hilarious dancing elves won’t appear on your monitor and you’ll have bad luck for the next seven months!

Bullet Holes

I truly dislike those things. I think we’ve all seen them before on cars and trucks. You see them and then you do a double take just to make sure your eyes weren’t playing tricks on you. If you see them in a parking lot you walk up to the car and when you’re about two feet away, you realize the holes aren’t real at all but only stickers the owner put on the door or window as a gag. If you see them while driving, well it’s up to your imagination to determine if they’re real or not. Wouldn’t it be something if someone with a real gun put a real bullet hole in the door (while no one is inside, of course) that has those stickers? The owner walks toward his vehicle and says “Wow, sometimes those stickers really do look real. Wait a second, one, two, three, four; I thought I only had three stickers on there. Oh, crap!” Next month, clever things to do to cars and trucks with free spinning wheel covers.

Author’s Note
I would *never* condone using a firearm in this manner. This entry is only a rambling thought about a novelty item and should not be taken seriously.

Immunizations

Immunizations are a fact of life when you have children. I hate taking Baby to the pediatrician for shots because she cries when she gets them. Any parent can tell you that children have basically two forms of crying…the cry when they are hungry or unhappy and the cry when they are in pain. There’s a big difference between the two and I don’t like to hear either of them but the latter is the worst. Such will be the case later today when we take Baby for her one year immunizations.

I don’t doubt the effectiveness of immunizations and the effect they have had in the free world, but the cost of them and the administration fee charged by the pediatrician can be quite a surprise. Sure, I have insurance but my stupid plan has a $500 maximum per benefit period for “well baby care” which immunizations fall under (don’t get me started on insurance). I’ve done some checking and it seems our pediatrician is charging the average fees. For example (not exact), one immunization may be $20 with a $40 fee for the nurse to administer the injection. Depending on where we are in the immunization schedule, Baby could be getting four different immunizations in three injections. So, $80 for the immunizations and $120 for administering the immunizations, I’ve just spent $200 since Baby has reached her maximum for the year. Of course the price for the immunization itself varies higher or lower depending on what she is receiving but there’s no way around not paying an arm and a leg. ;-)

And the folks who can’t afford to pay for immunizations get to go to county clinics and pay a deeply discounted price ($20) or whatever they can afford to pay for all their immunizations. I’m not eligible to participate because I make too much money. Ha ha! Side note : I love seeing people in grocery stores paying for their stuff with food stamps and then getting into their Cadillac Escalade out in the parking lot (don’t get me started on that, either).

Don’t get me wrong, I understand the benefits of immunizations and the issues before we had them and the importance of ensuring that children receive them. I would never think not to immunize Baby. I guess my real gripe is about health insurance but that won’t stop Baby from crying later this afternoon. :-(

LOST - Grey Cat

Answers (rarely) to Napoleon. Very affectionate and loving cat. Family is saddened by his disappearance. Well, maybe just me. Children can't sleep at night because they can't hear him purring or breaking something. REWARD

I miss that damn cat...Just come home, Napoleon.

Pennies

I went into a Convenience Store today and I had two small issues. The first, is that the clerk was speaking to me as if we had been friends for years. I can handle small talk from customer service oriented workers but someone who cracks jokes and is trying too hard to be funny kind of bothers me. The second issue is when he was giving me my change which was $5.61, he asked if I wanted the penny. Well, damn right I want the penny. It's my money and I want it. He said that some people "get offended" when they receive pennies in change. Now if I received .61 cents in pennies I might be a little perturbed but in the normal course of receiving change that contains pennies I personally don't mind. I think people are offended that he is asking them if they want the pennies in the first place and maybe if they are caught off guard by the question, refuse the pennies. Imagine how many people come into the store during a normal work shift and if the majority of them give up part of their hard earned money. This guy could be making a few bucks to put in his pocket just for asking a stupid question. It could even be more if he has a lot of people who are offended by receiving say nickels or dimes. Go figure.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to all!
And if you are offended by that or want to be "politically correct", then Happy Holidays to you!

We're Back

We've returned from our road trip. Such a long drive but well worth it to see my extended family and also for them to meet Baby personally for the first time. I just wish we could have planned for a longer stay and more visiting time. You know, the weather is strange because it was so warm there. On Friday evening I took the family to a Holiday Theme Park and we didn't need jackets all night long since the temperature hovered around 65 degrees Fahrenheit. I saw on the news that it's supposed to get up to 70 degrees Fahrenheit here on Monday! It's winter and we should all be bundled up in jackets and playing in the snow. :-) I know, wishful thinking. On another note, my wife's sister was taking care of our cat, Napoleon, while we were gone and now he's nowhere to be found. He's gotten out before but he always returns quickly. I'm not worried yet. He'll come home soon.

From the Road IV

From the Road III

From the Road II

From the Road I

Christmas Show

Today was the annual Christmas show at our daughter's school. I remember when I was in grade school and all the practice that we put in for our shows. I also remember sometimes being nervous before hand but once we got on the stage and started singing everything was fine. When my daughter went on the stage she looked like she wanted to vomit but once they started singing she was fine. The school did a pretty good show with all the grade levels and the part I liked the best after my daughter's class was the group of students who played carols on recorders with the teacher's guitar accompaniment.

Baby's Birthday

Today is Baby's birthday. She turned one at 5 PM. It's amazing how fast the year went by. We had a small party today with family since my wife and I were slow in planning a big party with friends. All the halls were booked for the days we wanted so we scheduled the big one for January 7, 2006. There will probably be over one hundred people there. Anyway, our little party was fun and Baby had a great time playing with her cake. She got to run around and generally make a mess. I still can't believe she's a year old. Happy Birthday, Baby!

Full Service

Bah, Humbug!

I just can't seem to get into the Holiday spirit. Here it is only thirteen days before such a festive day and I'm being a grinch. The holiday traffic on the roads and in the stores don't help my mood very much. I dread looking for a parking space at the mall. I'm even tired of hearing some holiday songs on the radio and in the stores. I think the next time I hear "Deck the Halls" I'm going to deck the first person I see carrying a Furby. I do still have almost two weeks to change my attitude, though. Or maybe I won't. Humbug!

Baptism

We baptized Baby yesterday. I don't know why we put it off for so long but at least she's got one sacrament under her belt now (six more to go). Baby wore a white dress and shoes that her God Parents bought and she looked beautiful. She didn't cry during the baptism but did fuss just a little. After the baptism came the lighting of the candle symbolizing the light of Christ, and Baby really enjoyed that part. She's fascinated with lights. Later we went out for dinner and Baby wanted to walk all around the restaurant. Thankfully she waited until after church to get into that mood.

Snapper: Red maple leaves

I ran across this blog by pushing the 'Next Blog' button.

http://okadavinci.blogspot.com/2005/12/red-maple-leaves.html

In my opinion an eclectic photographer. Some of the photos are striking. I enjoyed looking at them and I hope you find them interesting, too.

Coolest Job

Federal Air Marshal. That must be the coolest job in the world. Just think, you get to travel and see the world, do a lot of reading and eat airplane snacks. You can small talk with other passengers and lie about everything. And you get paid to do it. Oh, and the best part is you get to carry a gun, too. That is pretty exciting. And when the TSA suspends confiscating scissors at airport checkpoints, just think how much more exciting the job could end up being.

'F' is for Flu

Bird flu, Swine flu, Arabian Camel Spider flu, whatever the hell flu I had absolutely sucked! First my daughter gets sick, then me, and finally Baby. We’re all getting better now though, I am back at work, so am able to finally post a blog entry. For those of you who never get sick you have no idea what you’re missing. I suggest you go to a doctor’s waiting room and touch everything you can and then rub your eyes or something so you can experience first hand what you’ve been missing. You know, I have some of the weirdest dreams when I’m running a high temperature. I can’t remember them all but the most recurring one is in black and white and involve millions of small dots. It’s like a sea of dots that undulate and slide like an amoeba. Another one I remember is being in my daughter’s fourth grade classroom lecturing them on time travel using theories from quantum physics. The brain does some strange things when your head is in crock pot mode.

Bored

Ha! The joke’s on you, Castagnoli. I happen to like jalapenos and they added just the right amount of kick to make my burger even better. I think I uttered those words while Art and I were walking out of Burger Street right before we hit the town and guzzled down a six pack of Mountain Dew. Why this thought came into my head at this moment is a mystery to me but it has gotten me thinking about the younger years. I guess I have nothing better to do on a beautiful Saturday since I’m here at work. Ho hum.

Busy As Bees

We are so damn busy at work. Worked last Saturday and 12 hour days the past 4 days. I’ll be here again tomorrow and it looks like more 12 hour days next week. I don’t understand why our customers are such procrastinators. They do this every year at this time and it really irritates me. I guess I shouldn’t complain because it’s a lot of overtime hours. Wait, I don’t get paid overtime. Doh!

Baby Giggles

Scary Moment

There’s nothing scarier than (a doll...more on that another time) getting a phone call from your daughter’s school saying that her bus was involved in an accident. Such was the case this morning. Although they said everyone was fine and that no one was injured in the slightest bit and that it was only a minor thing, you can’t help but think the worst. My wife and I were driving to the school to personally check on our daughter and I kept thinking to myself that this could have been much worse. What if it *had* been worse?

I didn’t give my daughter a hug or kiss this morning. I scolded her last night over homework. I told her to keep her voice down because Baby was sleeping. You take for granted that you can make up for these things later. But what if there is no later? I couldn’t imagine life without my daughter, without seeing her smiling face, without hearing her voice and laughter. All that could have been taken away in an instant.

Luckily, she’s fine. She said she had been scared and cried at first but she wasn’t injured and nothing hurt. My wife and I were relieved to hear that and gave her a big hug. It’s not easy being a parent but it’s not easy being a kid either. I need to remember that and try to be more patient and understanding. And especially to not become complacent because there might not be a later or a tomorrow to make up for anything.

$86.08

With all the talk about the U.S. reaching the landmark number of 1000 executions since capital punishment resumed in 1977, I began thinking about some things mostly morbid. There are five methods of capital punishment in the U.S. and those are

1. Death by electrocution
2. Death by firing squad
3. Death by hanging
4. Death by lethal gas
5. Death by lethal injection

I looked into death by lethal injection because this is the form of capital punishment used by the state I live in. According to their website three different drugs are used to kill the offender. Sodium Thiopental is injected into the saline I.V. which sedates the person and renders them unconscious. Then Pancuronium Bromide, a muscle relaxant, is injected which collapses the diaphragm and lungs and prevents breathing. Finally Potassium Chloride is injected which stops the beating heart. Usually the offender is pronounced dead about 7 minutes after the lethal injection begins. The cost for the drugs used to kill the offender is $86.08.

Such a small price to pay.

Made in Mexico

This is kind of ridiculous if you ask me. Apparently, eagle-eyed Representative John Carter, a Republican from Round Rock, Texas, has noticed that the uniforms used by the U.S. Border Patrol have labels that say “Made in Mexico”. Ok, ok, he probably didn’t discover it personally but I guess the fuss is that the label makes many federal agents feel uncomfortable. Mr. Carter asked "If we're manufacturing uniforms in Mexico, what's to stop someone from walking across the border in a Border Patrol uniform? How do you know who are our guys and who are their guys?" The union representing Border Patrol agents said "It's embarrassing to be protecting the U.S.-Mexico border and be wearing a uniform made in Mexico." So what’s the real issue here?

I guess Mr. Carter is afraid that terrorists or Mexican nationals or OTMs are going to waltz across the border disguised as Border Patrol agents. Reality check…individuals by the thousands already cross the border illegally *without* the aid of a uniform. And I guess the union would be happy if the uniforms were made in China or Taiwan perhaps? BTW, I’m assuming that “border” is referring to that invisible line that runs through the desert or river and not an actual port of entry.

I’m sure Mr. Carter understands that neither U.S. agents nor their Mexican counterparts are allowed to cross the border for any reason. So if someone wearing a stolen Border Patrol uniform is walking into the U.S from Mexico, that would undoubtedly raise a red flag for the agents on patrol who would probably communicate with their dispatcher, questioning whether a fellow agent is in the area. I guess I don’t really understand what Mr. Carter’s issue is. As for the union, are they also “embarrassed” that most of the wire harnesses used in their patrol vehicles are “Made in Mexico”? Again, I must not understand their issue.

Lastly, Mr. Carter and a couple of other Representatives are planning on introducing a bill that would require the Border Patrol uniforms be made in the U.S. I would think the contractor already did a cost analysis in order to supply a quality uniform at a competitive price in order to win the contract. Obviously the cost to manufacture the uniform in the U.S. was higher than manufacturing it in Mexico. But I guess it’s ok to incur the higher cost when it ensures the safety of the U.S. from Border Patrol impersonators.

Wind Advisory Until 8PM

It is so windy. The airport clocked a gust at 62 MPH. If it were just the wind it wouldn’t be so bad but we also have to contend with all the dust and sand being blown around. The mountains haven’t been obscured yet so it’s not as bad as it could be. Regardless, my allergies are acting up and even with the doors and windows closed, the dust and dirt have a way of getting in. Driving on the highway was fun with the powerful gusts of wind blowing everybody around. It’s also getting colder. It’s supposed to get into the upper 20s tonight. Woo hoo! But the forecast says we’re supposed to be back to 70 degrees on Friday. These radical fluctuations are going to make me sick. Cough, cough, sniffle, sneeze.

DOOM Was Doomed

**Spoiler**
I should have known by the reviews and box office tallies that the DOOM movie may not be what I, or fellow Doomers, was expecting. The first third of the movie had me going with the claustrophobic passageways, dim lights, and occasional scares. When the movie explains that the creatures are really mutated humans that were exposed to a 24th chromosome, I literally groaned, even though I saw it coming. Hmmm, am I watching Resident Evil?

I recall that the premise of the game revolved around the UAC accidentally opening a portal to another dimension. The Gates of Hell, through which hundreds of creatures and demons entered the human world. Sure, the movie has a portal which they called the Arc, but that only acts as a transport to Mars and not, as Doom players may think, the gate to another dimension. My favorite weapon in the game is the Plasma Rifle which I didn't see in the movie. I understand that the producers can't include *every* aspect of the game in the movie but they should have at least kept the basic premise instead of creating (copying) another one. The best part of the movie although very short was the first person shooter perspective that came in the last 10 minutes.

I'm very disappointed. :-(

God's Debris

Interesting and quick reading...

http://www.andrewsmcmeel.com/godsdebris/

What Day Is Today?

Oh, that's right. It's Thanksgiving. I forgot since I'm sitting in my office in front of the computer drinking a cup of coffee and scanning reports of yesterday's work day and examining both a finance and HR report and writing this blog entry. Just call me Mr. Multitasker.

Yes, I have to work today and tomorrow and Saturday. Hey, wait a minute. Dammit, that means there's no way I can get to the early bird sale at 5 AM tomorrow and then to work on time. I guess that's the way it goes...Happy Thanksgiving!

Cingular Has Me Cinging The Blues

I got my Cingular wireless phone in March of this year and in these days no accessories are included with the phone. I decided to pay around $14 for a plastic holster that pivots and clips on your belt. My problem is that this holster broke a couple of days ago due to normal wear and tear i.e. being clipped on to a belt everyday and not able to take the stress. So I go to Cingular to see if I can get a replacement since it’s still in warranty.

First thing they ask is to see the receipt which I don’t have anymore. I asked whether or not they could check in their computer to see when I purchased the phone to determine when I purchased the holster. Oh yeah, sure, they could do that, but how would they know if I’m trying to exchange the same one and not some cheap imitation I bought online? So I show them the back of the holster which has a large Cingular logo on it. Then they say ok, but you still need the receipt to exchange it. Jerks!

So then they try to sell me a $30 leather case. I told them to f*** off and stick the case up their ass. Not really but I thought about it. I just thanked them and went on my merry way. Now I’m trying to find a cheap imitation online. ;-)

Baby Babble

Baby woke up last night and was having a good time playing. She didn't understand that Mom and Dad need to sleep sometimes. I tried to capture some of her sounds but as soon as she sees that something's going on, she doesn't want to speak. It figures! Originally there was an audio blog attached to this post but I can't seem to figure out where the hell it went. Really, it was here a second ago.

Cool

Was in Best Buy a little while ago and got to see an Xbox 360 in action. It was connected to a small plasma TV and running Madden ’06. The graphics were crisp and clean; almost looks like real people. It’s too bad that I despise Microsoft or I might consider this console. Personally, I prefer the Play Station but they won’t launch the PS3 until next year. Probably worth the wait since it’s supposed to have a chip that is more powerful than the IBM chip in the Xbox. But I know that when you’re a kid at heart, you just can’t wait for something. Got to have it NOW!

Full Of Gas

Had to fill up my Toyota Sequoia today and it didn’t cost me over $50. That hasn’t happened in a long time. I put in 21.437 gallons of gasoline at $2.099 per gallon. You do the math. My V8 engine doesn’t get very good mileage when you’re just driving around city streets. :-(

Only 38 more payments to go.

Oops, Should Have Read The Instructions

Consumer product warnings are showing up on just about everything you buy today. Of course, it’s meant to protect the consumer from possible harm if the product is used or handled improperly. Probably more so to protect the manufacturer from lawsuits, though. But in the process of protecting themselves their warnings border on the absurd. For example:

• "Do not drive with sunshield in place" - On a cardboard sunshield for automobiles
  
• "Do not use while sleeping or unconscious" - On a hand-held massaging device
  
• "Do not use orally after using rectally" - In the instructions for a thermometer
  
• "Do not use as ear plugs" - On a package of silly putty
  
• "This product not intended for use as a dental drill" - On an electric rotary tool
  
• "Caution: Remove infant before folding for storage" - On a portable stroller
  

The last one is my favorite.

Stay In Your Lane, Jackass!

I was driving down the street and this guy in a BMW is weaving in and out of traffic. He's cutting people off and is speeding. I see all this in my rearview mirror so I was prepared in case he decided to cut me off. Sure enough, he speeds past me on the right and cuts me off to get into the left turn lane ahead. Ok fine, but now his car is about 2 feet out of the left turn lane causing me to have to jog to the right (and out of my lane) to get around him. How irritating!

Hello Kitty

• Hello good friend.
• It’s good feeling you’re friend of me.
• Won’t you have good time to play with me outside?
• Love is so happy!
• I miss the good friend like you.
• See you in the moment.

Maybe it’s because Kitty doesn’t have a mouth to speak with. But I prefer her over a Teletubby any day. Teletubbies frighten me.

Here Kitty

I looked out the window this evening and what did I see? Well, not the cheetah that's pictured here. When I took this picture, I was about ten to fifteen feet away and behind a ten foot tall fence, so I presume I was relatively safe. I was kind of in awe looking at this animal, knowing that if it weren't for the fence, and if it was hungry, I would probably be eaten alive. That is if the animal didn't go for the 300 pound woman that was standing next to me. Anyway, I wonder what this big cat is thinking. Is he wondering what all these humans staring at him would taste like? Or maybe he's trying to calculate the distance needed to run and jump the fence so he can kill and eat the humans? Or better yet, maybe he's just thinking how in the hell did I end up here so far from home?

Napoleon The Cat - Part II

My wife let the cat out the other night. When he decided to come home the next morning, he was waiting by the front door and ran inside when I opened it. Then he started to cough and gag and I thought he was having a hairball attack but then he proceeded to vomit on the floor. You know, why couldn't he have done this outside? I think he was just waiting to be let in so he could make a mess inside the house. Can cats be vindictive? Do they hold a grudge? Why is he staring at me? These are questions I need answers to. Where's the Pet Psychic when you really need her?

Who Knows?

When I was in high school, I was dating a girl and we eventually went "steady". We got along well and shared the same interests. The only problem was her Dad, who didn't approve of us because I wasn't a "full blooded American". Now her Mom didn't mind us at all, it was just her Dad that had this issue. I remember a couple of times when we had plans to go to a concert or movie and I had to ask my best friend Hank to pick her up at the house. The first time Hank did this for me, I had to hide in the back of his Ford Fiesta with a blanket over me just in case my girlfriend's Dad should come out to the car. Simply ridiculous now that I look back on it. Eventually her Dad got over it and didn't mind us being together (or so he said). Maybe he realized we were just kids and that the chances we were going to make it over a year together were slim. Who knows?

But when I first found out the reason why I shouldn't go to my girlfriend's house when her Dad was home, I was really mad. I was mad that someone would have that kind of mindset. Boy was I naive. But through it all, I never at any time got the idea that maybe I should confront him or worse, murder him. I don't understand what makes kids do bad things nowadays. You see it everyday...no manners, no respect for adults, murder...just to name a few. I'm not saying that I was a Saint in my youth but I knew right from wrong. I knew where the line was and I didn't cross it (most of the time). Maybe it's because I was spanked as a child when I did something bad. Again, who knows?

Project For School

Helped my daughter complete a project for school today. We mad sea urchins out of clay and toothpicks and displayed them in a shoe box decorated like the sea floor. We had fun doing it together and I told her I saw hundreds, if not thousands, of sea urchins in a relatively shallow area during a dive in San Carlos Mexico. It was a sight. What I didn't know before this project was that the sea urchin comes in different colors like brown, purple, and green. I had no idea. The things you learn in school...

I Can't Seem To Get Enough

Sunflower seeds, that is. I think I've become addicted to them. I've been alternating between the original, jalapeno, and barbecue flavors. I don't care for the ranch flavored ones, though. I mostly eat them at work and when we go to the park. I buy the original flavor in bulk at Sam's Club but they don't have the flavored ones, dammit. I have to get those at the "convenience" store or Albertsons. I wonder if I could grow and cook my own?

Too Early

I've been seeing way too many commercials with Christmas visualizations and sounds. Don't the advertisers know that I'm not ready yet? Yes, I know that I only have 43 days of shopping left. I don't need the damn TV to tell me that. This is too much pressure.

Ghost Stories

I read that a security guard had been fired because he had seen ghosts while on patrol in a neighborhood. He informed his supervisor, who arrived at the scene and didn’t see any apparitions, and then fired him five hours later. The security company then contested the former employee’s unemployment benefits arguing he was guilty of misconduct, but a judge ruled that seeing ghosts is not the type of misconduct that can disqualify him from receiving benefits. Wow.

The point of that story was to segue into my little ghost story. The facility where I work has its own apparitions that occasionally make themselves known. When the plant first opened, manufacturing ran 24/7. During the 3rd shift, workers complained that they would be in the bathroom and hear someone turn on the shower. When they looked in the shower stall, the water was running but no one was inside. Some workers complained that they heard voices of children in the bathroom and elsewhere in the plant. There were many comments about hearing footsteps and the feeling that someone is standing behind you, and some even say they’ve been tapped on the shoulder or their hair brushed aside. The situation became so uncomfortable for the workers that management decided to call in a Priest and bless the building. That seemed to calm the restless spirits but I know they are still here.

One weekend I was working in my office and heard banging coming from the manufacturing area. I went out to investigate because there was no one else in the building and the security guard was outside. All the lights were out but I could see a shadow moving towards me and then it went straight up into the rafters. More recently, I arrived at work and prepared to unlock the door to my office and saw a small puddle of water, half in and half out of my doorway. There are no water lines in the ceiling, no recent rain, and the door was completely dry. This went on for about a week. Also recently, more reports of footsteps and voices in the bathrooms. I think it might be a good time to bless the building again.

Slick

There’s a Senate hearing going on in Washington where oil company executives are defending their companies’ profits. Exxon Mobil alone earned almost $10 billion in the 3rd quarter. Combine that with the four other oil companies at the hearing, they earned more than $25 billion in the last quarter. Senators asked Lee Raymond, Exxon Mobil’s chairman why the company raised their wholesale gas prices by 24 cents a gallon in 24 hours after Hurricane Katrina and he replied he couldn’t confirm the price increase but that the company issued a directive “to minimize the increase in price while at the same time recognizing if we kept the price too low we would quickly run out (of fuel) at the service stations.” He says it’s not price gouging but a “tough balancing act.” The execs go on to say that their profit margins are minimal, suggesting that the government is to blame because of restrictive policies, and that the $14 billion in tax breaks and incentives in the energy law Congress passed this year won’t change a thing. Blah, blah, blah. Keep in mind that the executives are NOT under oath at this hearing. Curious, very curious.

Audio Blogging

Sunday At Wal-Mart

The family and I were doing some shopping at Wal-Mart on Sunday. I fear going to Wal-Mart on Sundays because there are so many shoppers but needed to buy food for Baby and a new collar for the cat. We got lucky and found a register that only had a couple of people waiting with small amounts of merchandise in their carts. After the woman scanned all my merchandise, I presented to her a manufacturer’s $10 off coupon for the baby formula. Actually, it was a “retail check” and not a coupon. I guess it’s a check because some stores don’t accept coupons. When she took the “check”, she looked at it and then walked away from the register without saying a word. I was perplexed, as well as the gentleman behind me, who only had 4 items to buy. That’s when I noticed that there were about 5 or 6 others now waiting in line at this register and they’re all staring at me.

After an uncomfortable 5 minutes (really, I’m not kidding; we could have walked out of the store without paying) the woman returns and says to me that I have to go with her towards the back of the store if I want the formula. I said you already scanned and bagged it. She looked confused and then went through our bags to find the formula and then looked even more confused. I believe she thought the “check” was a coupon for discounted baby food provided to needy families by the state with my tax dollars. I told her it was basically a “check” for $10 dollars. She then called for a supervisor to help her and that took another couple of minutes.

The woman now proceeds to input the “check” for the amount of $10 but she obviously got confused and entered the “check” amount for the full purchase price. So once again the supervisor had to come and intervene. The Wal-Mart receipt has a barcode on the bottom so I would think all she would have to do is scan that to recover all the items but that was wishful thinking. She had to enter the store codes for all 32 items I purchased to generate another sale on the register. I kept looking back at the grumbling people behind me and tried to make them understand that it wasn’t my fault they had to wait. After around a 20 minute delay just to pay, I was free to leave with my purchases. I LOVE shopping at Wal-Mart!

Chicken Little

Saw "Chicken Little" last night and enjoyed the movie very much. Not as good as "Toy Story" 1 and 2 or "Monsters, Inc." but still laughed a lot. Even if it didn't have aliens or lasers, I still would have enjoyed it. It was a short movie, though...about 70 minutes by my watch. My favorite character besides Chicken Little? Why that would have to be Fish Out of Water. Blub, blub, glub...

Parking

Last night, the family and I had to run some errands and afterwards, decided to eat out. We were in the area of our local university who's football team was playing a home game. Most of the streets were blocked off but that didn't bother me. What irritated me was that there is not enough parking at the stadium so people park on the side streets and in private parking lots. When I say private parking lots, I mean the lots at the grocery store, the Whataburger, the Walgreens, the strip mall, etc. I noticed none of those lots had signs posted about customer parking only and towing would be enforced. Except for the McDonald's lot which was empty. We didn't eat at McDonald's but another fast food place that didn't have signs posted. I was lucky to find one spot open and took it. The restaurant only had around 10 customers inside. I wonder if I had parked in a handicapped spot, would I have been towed? Not something I wanted to find out since I've had experience in this. Anyway, I'm guessing maybe the university reimburses the businesses that allow fans to park and not shop. Must be more than what the businesses lose in sales because the customer can't find a parking space.

Pringles

I don’t particularly like Pringles® but as my daughter and I were shopping in Walgreens today, I noticed a new flavor (new to me that is). Pringles® Fiery Hot™, mmm. I’m sitting here at the computer, writing this entry, and stuffing my mouth with chips. They are spicy as the name implies so I’m also drinking an iced tea. Taking the time to eat more chips is interfering with my typing so there you go. Hasta la vista, baby.

Woo Hoo

Picked up my package from Amazon.com yesterday. Inside was my 2006 Far Side Wall calendar and Stephen King's 'Salems Lot: Illustrated Edition. Since I don't have a first edition of King's second book, I decided this would have to do for my collection. It's supposed to have around 50 pages of deleted material and revisions from the original manuscript, 2 short stories related to Jerusalem's Lot, and of course the photographs by Jerry Uelsmann. Centipede Press offered a signed, limited edition (only 900) of this book last year but it sold out before I could order. Got to get caught up on my reading!!!!

CIA Prisons

Ummm, did the world really think these "secret" prisons didn't exist? Did they think that someone who believes so strongly in their fight would just open themselves up to interrogations when captured? When the DHS issues a "credible" terror warning against a specific target and backs it up by saying they intercepted more than the usual "chatter" while monitoring terrorist communications, I think what they meant to say was that after hitting a suspect repeatedly in the head with The Yellow Pages, he or she fessed up to something. I do not condone torture to get information out of suspects but I believe this happens on a daily basis. It's been going on for years, in different countries all over the world, used by many governments, denied by all.

Dia De Los Muertos

Today, Mexico celebrates The Day of the Dead. A tradition where families remember and honor the dead by creating small altars dedicated to one or more persons. The altars are set up at home and usually contain pictures or items that had special meaning to them or their favorite food. They are decorated with colorful flowers and decorative skulls and skeletons. Some families go to the cemetery and set up the altars there and spruce up the gravesite. They will spend the day there as a family remembering their loved one in life and death. If you can put aside the macabre, you can see how special and touching this day really is.

Cough Medicine

I've come to the conclusion that cough syrups and suppressants just don't work. Not just the OTC kind but the prescription ones as well. They both do make me drowsy, though. Maybe the drug companies think if you fall asleep, the cough won't bother you as much as when you're awake. I think with the billions of dollars in profits made by the big drug companies, they should be able to make a cough medicine that really works AND tastes good, too!

Happy Halloween

This evening we went trick or treating. This was Baby's first Halloween and my 9 year old's first Halloween with baby sister. They were both witches. Baby doesn't like things on her head so it was a lot of trouble keeping her witch hat on. The stores at the local mall were giving out candy so we went there first. They took in a big haul of sweets there, then we went around our complex. The office gives all of us a Halloween flyer to put outside our door if we want to give out candy, but it seems every year that number dwindles. Darn cheapskates! It was chilly outside so Baby and Mom went home after about 20 minutes. My 9 year old and I finished off the entire complex even though she fell down once and scraped up her knee. But she was a trooper and continued on and received a lot of candy. Now I get to go through the candy and tell her she can't have any of my favorites because they're unhealthy for her. Mmmmm.

Vagina Pulled By Albertsons

Albertsons supermarket chain has pulled the October issue of Seventeen magazine off their magazine racks. Why? Because the chain says customers complained about an article titled "Vagina 101" in that issue. I wonder if those complainers picked up the magazine and looked at the article before complaining or if they just saw the title and nothing else? Also, did those customers not scan the rest of the magazine rack and see half dressed women and men and many other article titles that push the bar? I'll bet these are the same people who don't want us reading The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn or listening to The Beatles. These stories drive me MAAAAAAAAAAD!!!!! I am the walrus, goo goo g'joob!!!

Better Late Than Never

So, Mr. Sulu is gay. I always thought there was a touch of femininity in him. It took him long enough to come out of the closet, though. But apparently he has been open about his sexuality for many years...just not with the press. Well, more power to you, George. Hmmm, now I wonder about Mr. Chekov...

Too Little Or Too Much?

A taxi driver, in Dallas Texas, was recently convicted and sentenced for two felony counts of tampering with consumer products. He admitted to taking his own feces and drying it in the sun, then grating it with a cheese grater and bagging it. He then went to a downtown grocery store and sprinkled his feces on their fresh-baked goods. He targeted this particular store because he felt he was mistreated by the store associates. Customers complained to the grocer saying the baked goods "smelled and tasted like manure". Surveillance video in the store recorded him doing this twice in July and he was eventually identified and arrested. This was a disgusting act but no one was injured or became sick. His punishment...5 years in state prison. Go figure.

Potty Patrol

Ford Motor Company posted a 3rd quarter loss of $284 million. In a move to increase productivity, supervisors at their Michigan plant recently received a memo stating that they needed to monitor the time hourly workers were spending for bathroom breaks. The union contract states that workers are allowed 48 minutes per shift for bathroom breaks. Apparently, some workers are abusing this clause and are spending more than their allotted 48 minutes in the bathroom per shift and Ford blames this for slowing down production in the factory. My god, I don't spend 48 minutes a day in the bathroom even when I'm deathly ill! I would like to know what those people are doing in the bathroom for more than 48 minutes per shift. Ummm, I changed my mind, I don't want to know.

Now, here's my take on things. First, unions are a bad thing (my opinion...everyone can have one). They insist on these crazy stipulations to the contract that eventually just screws the company. 48 minutes for bathroom breaks is ridiculous! I wonder if the contract states that the time can accrue on a weekly basis? ;-) Secondly, I don't think employees spending too much time in the bathroom is causing Ford to lose sales. If you build a quality car, people will buy it. Remember, right or wrong, my opinion. And finally, on what basis did they calculate the 48 minutes per shift bathroom break? Maybe unions aren't such a bad thing afterall.

Cancun

Beautiful white sand beaches, turquoise water, ancient history, the nightlife, and friendly people. Just some of the aspects of Cancun, Mexico that I will remember for a lifetime. My wife and I honeymooned there for a week and we had a wonderful time. So much to do and see that I felt a week was not enough time to take it all in. But with the aftermath of hurricane Wilma, most of Cancun is now in ruins. Watching the U.S. and Mexican news reports, I saw video of places we had visited or passed while there. It was kind of surreal to see our hotel deserted, a shopping mall we visited gutted, and the main boulevard we traveled daily flooded and littered with debris. Stranded tourists trying to get out, helpless locals who have lost everything, chaos and looting. I know that they will rebuild Cancun, they've done it before. I just hope all the lives affected by the hurricane can bounce back as easily.

Rosa Parks

Almost 50 years ago, a 42 year old black woman in Alabama refused to give up her bus seat to a white man. Her defiance of the Jim Crow law, aka racial discrimination, ultimately led to the landmark 1964 Civil Rights Act. Although she was not the first black person to defy this segregating law, she will always be remembered as the first to challenge it and so becoming an inspiration to many Americans, black and white. Rest in peace, Rosa Parks.

Brand A or Brand B?

Baby is starting to eat solids. She has progressed passed rice cereal to food with tiny pieces of stuff in them. She only has 4 teeth so I get nervous whenever she eats this food. I was in the drug store today and saw some tiny cereal nugget things that are supposed to melt in the mouth. It's supposed to be easy for Baby to chew with her gums. I still get nervous, though. I guess Baby knows that it's food because she'll put one in her mouth and eat it. But then again she tries to put everything she can get her hands on into her mouth. But here's my point. If you take a walk down the baby food aisle nowadays, there is so much stuff there that it will make your head spin. "Helps brain development", "Contains more nutrition than brand A", "Excellent source of iron and zinc". Everything says it's the best thing for your baby and it just gets confusing. I don't think there were this many options when I was a baby but I turned out relatively fine. I think.

Cheers

Went to a 50th wedding anniversary party last night. There was easily 400 people in attendance. Lots of music, dancing, drinking, and fun. I took the picture with my phone and it shows part of the dance floor. Cheers to the couple who still seem to be happily married and many more years of health and togetherness for them. My only regret at this moment is that I took bowling instead of one of those dance classes in college as an elective.

Is It Here Yet?

It has been too warm here lately. Temperatures cooled down last week to about the upper 70s for highs and lows in the mid 50s but now the temperatures are on the rise. Mother Nature is teasing me. It's the fall season and I want cooler temperatures. When is winter coming? I want snow! I want it to be cold! I like this photo I took when I first got my digital camera. I look at it now and remember how still it was outside, how quite it was, and how cold it was. So peaceful and tranquil. Oh well, there's supposed to be a weak cold front moving in tomorrow and maybe that will help cool things off a little. But no snow, though. :-(

No Matches Allowed

I recently took a flight from here to there and was reminded when I was checking in luggage that lighters (of all types) have been banned from being carried onto planes and stored in your checked luggage. This was something that should have happened at the same time they banned all those sharp objects from planes. But you can still carry matches onto a plane. Only the soft kind though. Those "strike anywhere" matches are prohibited. Really, what the heck is the difference? They both require striking the match to ignite. Or can the "strike anywhere" matches spontaneously combust under the right conditions? It would make more sense to me if ALL matches were prohibited but I'm not an expert. At least I can rest easy knowing that the DHS has everything under control and knows what's best.

Gill Man Returns

Finally! I've been griping for so long about why no one has done a remake of the classic movie "The Creature From The Black Lagoon" in these times of remake after remake. I would have preferred someone like Spielberg or even Carpenter to do this but I shouldn't complain. This new movie has the potential to be really scary if they do it correctly. Maybe they could even cast Angelina Jolie as the creature's love interest. :-p Now, if someone would only do a remake of "The Day of the Triffids".

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001348394

Yuck

Anyone who knows me is aware that I don't like bugs. The people I work with are aware of this but they always seem to get me involved whenever something out of the ordinary wanders into the office. This morning, something was trapped in the overhead lights in one of the offices. When maintenance opened the fixture, out pops a centipede. It was around six inches long, one inch wide, brown, pincers on the end, and not friendly. They trapped it in a box and had to show everyone in the office their prize catch. The Man told them to take it outside and kill it, which they did. Later, he comes to me in an excited state and asks me to go outside with him. I reluctantly follow and he takes me to where the maintenance guys killed the centipede. The guys squished the bug's head and it had become detached from the body. But the body kept crawling around in circles. I wasn't thrilled about seeing this but obviously, the Man was. Throughout the morning he kept popping into my office giving me updates about the headless body crawling around. Alas, after about two hours, he informed me that the body had finally stopped moving. Too bad! I'm going to have nightmares for the next week.

Squid On A Stick, Anyone?

Yes, I am intrigued by the unknown. Such things as Big Foot, the Lochness Monster, aliens, and haunted places are just a few of the subjects that spark my imagination. Even though some subjects like crop circles and alien abductions have been explained away as hoaxes, they still linger in the back of my mind. I've spent many hours watching The Discovery Channel specials that dealt with such things as Nessie and the giant squid. Which brings me to my point. We've known that giant squid existed because of their carcasses washing ashore or floating in the ocean and ending up in fish nets. But now that Japanese scientists have photographed one alive and hunting, my imagination is running wild with the prospects of what else is down there...

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/09/0927_050927_giant_squid.html

Ouch!

My wife and I were coming out of Walmart this evening and we were behind another couple. As we came out of the automatic doors, a not-so-unattractive blonde woman walked in through the out door (In Through the Out Door - that would make a great album name). She was wearing a tight black blouse that left her belly showing and black stretch pants. The guy in front of us whips his head and upper body around to watch her walk into the store. All of a sudden, his wife/girlfriend hits him on his upper arm (he had on short sleeves) so hard that I'm sure the whole store heard the sound of skin hitting skin. He turns his gaze on the wife/girlfriend and she said something obscene to him but in a very low tone so no one else could hear. If looks could kill he'd be among the dead. This all happened in the time frame of just a few seconds but it was funny to see. I of course did not look at the blonde and had no interest in turning my head to see her other assets. ;-)

I Want It!

I was in Sam's Club and passed the Cingular Wireless kiosk and to my disbelief, I saw the Motorola V3 Razr Black edition for $99. My disbelief does not come because of the low price but the timing of it. When the Razr first came out at the end of 2004, they listed for $599 if you bought it from Cingular. I decided to get one in February of 2005 because I needed a new phone then. At that time, it listed for $499, and Cingular had a promotion for $100 off, and I had negotiated a $75 discount through customer (non)service.

I was impressed by the phone and it's features even though it lacked a video recorder (it's in there now if you know how to unlock that feature). But just as my 30 days were coming to an end, I was having serious buyer's remorse. I had done a really good job at rationalizing the purchase but apparently I had forgotten all of them by then. I went back to Cingular and returned the phone and got my current phone, a V551. I jokingly told the associate that by next year, they would be giving the Razr away. Besides, I had read an article that Motorola was coming out with a black Razr around 3rd quarter, which I would prefer over the silver one.

The $100 off promotion ended leaving the price at $499, then a couple of months later it was down to $399, then $299, then $199, and now $99. I'm trying to convince myself that I need to get this phone now even though I know I should wait. Maybe I'll go ask my cat and see what he thinks...

The cat said wait because the V3X comes out soon and will be a lot cooler than the V3.

Chucky's Back!!!

Chucky was on our couch last night. He didn't look very happy. I don't know how he found his way back from the trash. His clothes didn't look dirty but his hair was wild. I'm pretending that he was never thrown out and just ignoring him at the moment. Our cat seems to be keeping his distance from him, too. Maybe he will go away on his own.

My Completed Adventure In Hacking

Well, I ended up using a different program than what I originally started out with to hack my mobile phone. After installing the program on my computer, all the menus were in gibberish and that startled me a bit. But after exploring, I saw the option "English" was the only thing in English in a drop down menu so I clicked that and got English menus. This program was much easier to use seeing I only had to click a "Normal" button to change the attributes, and this program actually had all the attributes listed and what they meant. As a result, all of my previously locked ringtones are now unlocked and I was able to save them on my computer. I also used a built in script to change the display on the outside of my phone. Pretty cool. Should I go on another adventure, I probably won't blog about it unless something really, really, bad happens. :-o

Will DOOM be doomed?

DOOM is probably the first computer game that I became addicted to partly because of the great graphics (state of the art at the time), first person perspective, and plot. Who am I kidding? I liked the game because I got to run around and blast monsters with all sorts of different weapons. My personal favorite was the Plasma Rifle. Oh, and being able to join forces (co-op mode) or not (deathmatch mode) with your friends in the same game via a network or modem connection made it even more interesting. I lost many hours of sleep playing this game but it sure was a lot of fun.

On October 21, the movie will be released and I'm concerned that I will be disappointed. There have been many other games I've played turned into movies. Some of them I wasn't interested in seeing (Super Mario Brothers), and others were pretty good (Resident Evil, Lara Croft). I guess we'll just have to see if this movie can make me jump like the game did.

Note: I hear that DOOM III has super graphics and is really intense. I have yet to experience it.

Adventures In Hacking

I own a Motorola V551 mobile phone which I've been pretty content with. I use a program called Motorola Phone Tools to link the phone to my PC so I can upload/download pictures and ringtones, sync my address book, yadda, yadda, yadda. My problem is that all of my ringtones on this phone are locked, even the ones I created, meaning I can't transfer them to my PC. Oh, the crappy alert sounds aren't locked so I can archive those on my PC but the good ones, some of which cost money, can't be archived. That's my gripe...I want to save the good ringtones in case I should get a different Motorola phone or if I should have to do a master reset (Cingular has asked me to do that on a couple of occasions to try to fix some reception problems) and wipe out all the downloaded stuff. Well, I've been reading various forums and I've decided to try to hack into the code to unprotect the ringtones. If this goes well, then I may get bold and try to do some other things to my phone. If anyone who knows me is reading this and you try to call and don't get an answer, then you should assume something went terribly wrong. Wish me luck!

Why?

I've been asked why my blog is titled Tom's Tommyknocker Haven, and more recently, why it's called this but my profile pic has me holding a book titled Skeleton Crew. The Constant Readers out there know that The Tommyknockers is a Stephen King book and that I should have been holding that book in the pic. Although King is one of my favorite authors, I didn't want to dedicate this blog entirely on him or his works, and since you have to decide on a name for your blog during the registration process, I was just trying to be clever and resourceful in a limited amount of time. Hence, in The Tommyknockers, King quotes from The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, so I used Tom, which happens to be my real name. For Tommyknocker, I'm using the literal sense of the word...elves, leprechauns, you know, the creatures that inhabit my subconscious. ;-) And I'm also using the literal sense of haven...a sanctuary or place of safety, which just happens to be the setting for The Tommyknockers. Sooo...this blog is a safe place for my thoughts. As for the book I'm holding in my pic, I just used that because it has a cool cover.

Napoleon...The Cat

This is our cat. My daughter named him so don't ask me why his name is what it is. He's around a year old now and has been a good cat for the most part. He can be affectionate when he wants to be, and he's very good at ignoring you when he want's to be alone. And he doesn't seem to aggravate my allergies so he's just that much better. Except for when he gets into/onto places he shouldn't and especially if he should break something that my wife likes. She has a lot of rules regarding the cat but I don't think he understands them or he just doesn't care.

Anyway, in the past week or so, he has started the annoying habit of begging for table scraps. He'll sit under the table and constantly meow. If you ignore him, he'll hop up onto your lap to make sure he's getting his point across. Sometimes, if we have food on the table and aren't careful, Napoleon will hop up and enjoy people food even though he knows that is right up there at the top of my wife's "Don't You Ever Do This" list. He has food and water and the occassional cat treat so I don't understand why this is starting now. I don't recall any of my friend's cats doing this.

Regardless, I think I'll keep him even if he enjoyed eating my dinner and didn't bother to thank anyone. That is if he doesn't meet the same end as Chucky did. ;-)

Google, Google, Google

My favorite search engine is...drumroll please...Google!

Surprise, surprise, surprise! Their mission to "organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful" is a fair assessment, I think, of their ability to generate accurate links when I enter search criteria. They should probably pay their pidgeons more, though. But this blog isn't about their search engine. Although I use Google for internet searching, blog searching, desktop searching, toolbars, translation tools, Blogger, and email, I wanted to talk a little about a couple of their other products that I find pretty nifty and useful.

The first is Google Earth. This program allows you to "fly" to any geographical location in the world, get directions, zoom in/out, all using satellite imagery. I like the ability to have street names displayed on the imagery as well as a plethora of other stuff. My daughter and I were using it for a homework assignment and when we were done, did some sightseeing from our computer. Too cool.

The other product is Picasa, a program that manages the photos on your computer. I have a lot of pictures on my computer and this program is working better than some of the other photo managing software I've tried. Nice interface, the ability to do basic editing (I use another program for major editing), and allows you to manipulate your photos without altering the original file. You can print different layouts and sizes (wallet size...thank you so much), burn a CD, email, and even upload directly to your blog. And it's free.

So there you have it. No, I don't work for Google or own their stock. This is my own personal and honest opinion, take it or leave it.

Sonic Commericals

I'm not one to laugh outloud during a commercial (except for during the Super Bowl broadcast), but there has been one recently in this area that made me. It was a commercial for Sonic and their Cookiedough Blast. It has a man and woman in the car, and the last thing the man says to the irritated wife/girlfriend is "you look pretty". Have you seen it? I absolutely hate all the other Sonic commercials, especially the ones with the two guys in the car. The seatbelts you see them using are fake. Reminds me of those orange things the safety patrol in grade school had to wear.

Walmart - Heaven or Hell?

As much as I hate to shop at Walmart, they do have better prices on many items that I need. Plus, it's so convenient to be able to buy a head of lettuce at the same time as a newly released DVD or a bicycle, for example, and I can make my purchases at any time of the day. This leads me to believe that everyone else in town finds this convenient also and shops there just like me.

What irks me though is that there is so much traffic inside and outside the store that what should only take 10 or 15 minutes turns into a time wasting hell. It bothers me that Walmart has like 30 or 40 registers but only10 are open. And I don't think 20 items or less qualifies as an express lane. The self checkout lanes are bad because most people seem to have lots of problems operating them or they just don't work. I once bought some beer, and nothing else, and went through the self checkout lane and waited at least 5 minutes for someone to verify that I was of legal age! They should post signs in the lines with average wait times like at amusement parks. BTW, I tried shopping after midnight once thinking there would be less people. Wrong!!! Seems there were hundreds of other people thinking the same thing. And Walmart only had 5 registers open at that time. Then, when you're walking out, how many times have you set off the security system and have an associate delay you even more by checking your receipt and contents of your cart or bag?! That embarrassing process is the icing on the cake after you've spent 20 minutes waiting in line behind someone who has sales circulars from 5 different grocery stores and wants to take advantage of Walmart's price matching. Geesh.

So the point of all this babble is this true story. My friend Jim went into our local Walmart and bought a couple of hardware items. It took 30 minutes to checkout through the express lane and as he's walking out, he sets off the security system. He continues to walk out the door and is chased down by a Walmart associate. Here is a paraphrased transcript:

• Associate: Sir, Sir, I have to check your bag.
• Jim: Why? Did you see me steal something?
• Associate: No, but you set off our security system.
• Jim: Alright, but how much are you going to pay me for my time? I'm being held against my will and you don't have any proof that I've shoplifted anything.
• Associate: What?
• Jim: Time is money and the clock is ticking.
• Associate: What?
• Jim: Let me see your manager.

Once the manager gets there, Jim explains that he's wasted enough time waiting in line and he doesn't need any more B.S. by having to be searched just because the security system went off. It could have been triggered by the other person walking next to him without a bag. Jim walked out of the store with a $50 gift card.

Since he's told me this story, I've just been waiting for that darned security system to go off while I'm walking out...but it hasn't.

Baby and Chucky

I've been convinced to blog this story. A while back while roaming the mall, my wife and I came across a little Chucky doll. It depicted the Evil Chucky, I think from Bride of Chucky...not the nice Good Guy Chucky. We bought it as a joke, but to make a long story short, our baby girl (now 9.75 months old) became attached to this ugly looking thing. She would hug it, carry it around, babble to it, but not sleep with it because the line was drawn there by my wife. I think Baby would even greet Christopher Walken with open arms and a smile. ;-) Anyway, I found this amusing, my wife did not, and I'm sure Baby's little Mr. Bear was heartbroken for being replaced by this unsightly monster. Well, one evening, I noticed Baby didn't have her new friend with her and asked my wife where it was. She explained that she had put Chucky in the trash because she didn't want friends or neighbors to think that our baby was creepy or something along that line. I didn't get upset and quickly got over Chucky being disposed of. I just hope he doesn't find his way back. Baby has gotten over the sudden disappearance of him and has since returned to giving affection to Mr. Bear and her new Elmo.

Thoughts On Blogging

I really hate HTML.

Blogging is new to me but since my friends all seem to have a blog, I thought I should probably jump on the band wagon and get one too (not that I'm a conformist or anything). I don't know what I will be blogging about or how often, but I guess that's not important because who's really going to read this anyway?

So begins my journey into the New World...

Hey, did I mention that I really, really, hate HTML?