Loitering

I was in the local chain book store searching for a particular title and became irritated because I couldn't walk down the damn aisles. Why? Because people are camped out on the floor reading and drinking coffee. When I got home, I started thinking. Isn't that a form of shoplifting? They aren't buying anything and they could actually read the entire book depending on what time they came in and how many bathroom breaks they take. Oooo, what if they take the book with them into the bathroom? Alright, delete that thought.

The next time I'm wanting a book that I don't necessarily mean to add to my library, or I'm too cheap to pay for, I'm going to read it in the store. I'll go buy me a cup of java, grab the book, and stretch out on the floor. If I don't have too much time, I'll just dog ear the page and come back another day. How's that for being thrifty?

I Wonder...

Why the kid didn't feel it? Or hear it, for that matter? You know, little bug feet scraping against your ear canal.

SOMERSET, Wisc. -- Wisconsin doctors found the source of one high school football player's pain -- a beetle in his ear. The bug, the size of a dime, was found lodged inside Jake Asp's ear. The Somerset High School senior began complaining of headaches after a game last weekend. That's when doctors found the bug and surgically removed it. "It was pretty big," Asp said. "I'm surprised it got in my ear." Now the only thing bugging the star player is a few beetle-related jokes.

More Grey Hair

I love it when it's the end of the month plus the end of the quarter for this company. Lots of pressure, work and heart related, and I get to imitate a chicken with its head cut off. Fun. Yay work!

Bad People

DALLAS -- A Dallas driver knocked unconscious after a car crash woke up to find he had become a robbery victim. The man crashed early Saturday morning on the CF Hawn Freeway where it comes to a sharp curve and the speed limit drops to 20 mph.

The victim was barely conscious when the highway robbers hit. As the man waited for paramedics to arrive, a crowd of people picked his pockets and cleaned out his car, police said.

“To wake up from an accident and have been robbed, that's surreal,” victim Robert Malley said. Malley is recovering from bumps and bruises, and from the shock of what happened after he crashed his car.

“There were probably 15 to 20 people all around the car,” Dallas Fire-Rescue spokesman Brad Cox said. Dallas firefighters quickly realized that the crowd around the car wasn't there to help. “We pulled him out of the car, we noticed his pockets were folded out and we pretty much knew what happened,” Cox said.

“(The) pockets were totally pulled inside out -– I didn't have anything in them,” Malley said. Robert's wallet was gone and so were his keys, along with an iPod and a pair of shoes.

Interesting

Watched NBC's new series Heroes this evening. I'm not really into the graphic novels/comics genre so I wasn't really sure what to expect from the show. It kept my attention and I think I will watch it again. I could have done without the hand in the running in-sink garbage disposal, though. I thought the producers had already clearly established the fact that Claire had extraordinary powers and didn't need that. Yuck.

Brrrr

It's starting to cool down here. Woo hoo! Daytime highs forecasted in the mid to lower eighties and nighttime lows around sixty. It actually kind of feels like fall weather. I like cool weather. Now if only it would snow...

Yuck

Six Flags Great America is offering guests at their annual Fright Fest this year a quick way to the front of the line for some of their rides. So, if a ride has a one hour wait, some guests will be able to bypass the line and move right up front. The catch (there's always a catch) is, to be able to do that, you have to eat a live cockroach. The good thing is that roaches are "extremely low in fat and high in protein." Mmmmm, put me at the front of the line.

For Shame

Well, there aren't any T.M.X. Elmos left around town. All the major chains sold out yesterday. Even the internet vendors are sold out. I'm kicking myself because I could have ordered one on Amazon yesterday but didn't and now they're out. But I see lots of Elmos being sold on eBay. It kind of irritates me that people are taking advantage of a parent's love for their child and actually planned to buy up the Elmos to sell for a profit. Now why didn't I think of that?

Elmo's Tenth Anniversary

Wow. It's been ten years since the first Tickle Me Elmo was released and today is a really special day because the highly secret T.M.X. Elmo is now for sale ("X" for extreme/ten). Call me a bad parent but I didn't go wait in line in the wee hours of the morning waiting for the store to open and fight other parents for the last Elmo. Even though The Little One absolutely loves Elmo, I'll take my chances and go to the store this evening to try to find one or try the internet. So the adventure begins. I'm having thoughts of the movie Jingle All the Way and Arnold's fiasco looking for Turbo Man.

Mmmm, Beer

The 25 Best Beers in America as featured in the October issue of Men's Journal.

1 - Firestone Walker Pale Ale: Paso Robles, CA
2 - Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA: Milton, DE
3 - Stoudt's Pils: Adamstown, PA
4 - Russian River Temptation Ale: Santa Rosa, CA
5 - Avery Mephistopheles' Stout: Boulder, CO
6 - Anderson Valley Boont Amber Ale: Boonville, CA
7 - Great Lakes Holy Moses White Ale: Cleveland, OH
8 - Full Sail Session Lager: Hood River, OR
9 - Rogue Brutal Bitter: Newport, OR
10 - Bell's Expedition Stout: Comstock, MI
11 - Southampton Double White: Southampton, NY
12 - Smuttynose Big A IPA: Portsmouth, NH
13 - Penn Weizen: Pittsburgh, PA
14 - Great Lakes Burning River Pale Ale: Cleveland, OH
15 - Ommegang Hennepin: Cooperstown, NY
16 - Samuel Adams Black Lager: Boston, MA
17 - Sprecher Hefe Weiss: Milwaukee, WI
18 - Alaskan Amber: Juneau, AK
19 - Deschutes Broken Top Bock: Bend, OR
20 - Lost Abbey Avant Garde: San Marcos, CA
21 - Jolly Pumpkin Bam Bière: Dexter, MI
22 - Victory St. Victorious Doppelbock: Downington, PA
23 - Allagash Interlude: Portland, ME
24 - Alesmith Speedway Stout: San Diego, CA
25 - New Glarus Yokel: New Glarus, WI

Memories

My short term memory is going and it's going fast. I don't have a clue as to what I was going to blog about. Oh well, that's life.

Lazy

I am feeling so lazy. Have been for the past couple of days. Haven't been blogging or reading or anything really productive. Well, let me leave you with something that was told to me many years ago..."If you do something three times in a row, it becomes a habit."

Humps

This is an overhead picture of a caravan of camels taken by George Steinmetz for National Geographic. What's visually stunning about this photograph is that the camels are the small white and brown objects and the black that you see are actually the shadows cast by the camels. When you enlarge the photograph and look closely, this becomes apparent. Cool.

Shaking My Head

What more can Wal-Mart do to stir things up in the "controversy" pot?

Wal-Mart partners with the NGLCC

You Put What Where?

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AP) -- Cellular telephones were found inside four prisoners in El Salvador's maximum-security prison, authorities said Wednesday.

The discovery was made Tuesday at the prison in Zacatecoluca, in central El Salvador, after suspicious officials took X-rays of each of the inmates, federal corrections chief Jaime Villanova said. The names of the prisoners, all members of the dangerous Mara Salvatrucha gang, were not released in order to avoid jeopardizing an ongoing investigation that began a month ago, he said.

Capt. Juan Ramon Arevalo, director of the prison known as Zacatras, said the gang members had introduced the cell phones, wrapped in plastic bags, into their bodies through their anuses. Authorities also found nine cell phone chips and one charger. "Each one had a cellular with a number of chips," Arevalo said, adding that one also had hidden a charger in his anal cavity.

The inmates allegedly used cell phones to direct criminal activities on the street from inside the prison, Arevalo said. The smuggled phones were found during an investigation at prisons throughout the country amid complaints from business owners of extortion by gang members. Prisoners change phone chips frequently to avoid being traced, Arevalo said.

The police have doubled their security levels to combat the criminals.

They're All Jackasses

I cannot believe that Jackass: The Movie made enough money to allow these idiots to make another movie. Just saw a preview on the television for Jackass: Number Two and it's a safe bet that those who liked the first will probably like the second. Call me an old stick-in-the-mud but I guess I just don't have the same sense of humor as the makers of the films so I just find them unpleasant.

Do You Remember...

The Starlight Vocal Band and their hit song Afternoon Delight? For some awful reason or other, that song keeps running through my head this morning. At work. Agggg!

Creepy

I just saw a Discover Card commercial featuring hundreds, no thousands, of scissors marching down the streets of a city. People didn't seem afraid and instead starting throwing their non-Discover credit cards at the scissors which promptly cut them in half. There's something about this commercial that frightens me. I can't put a finger on it but maybe it has something to do with a rule I was told to obey when I was younger. That rule was "Don't run with scissors." I don't know about you but if I were sitting at a cafe drinking a cappuccino and saw a multitude of scissors coming down the street, I would freak. Yes, definitely.

Tea Time

بعد انقلاب أنصاره عليه.. بلير يتنحى خلال عام
أعلن رئيس الوزراء البريطاني توني بلير، الذي يواجه معارضة متزايدة من البريطانيين وحتى من داخل قاعدته في حزب العمال، أنه سيتنحى عن السلطة خلال عام. التفاصيل...

Double Take

Hmmm, I think Ben Affleck and Adam Sandler are the same person. Probably the result of some alien genetics experiment gone wrong or a government conspiracy. Personally, I think you could interchange either one in the other's movie and end up with the same result.

Again

Here

Crikey!

Steve Irwin, the Crocodile Hunter, was killed today while filming off the Great Barrier Reef. He apparently swam too close to a stingray which impaled him with it's barbed tail and punctured his heart. He died soon afterwards. My kids are going to be very sad because they enjoyed his shows very much. I enjoyed his shows, too. He brought my family and myself many hours of entertainment and excitement. We will miss him and his escapades with nature.

Wet Sunday

It's raining. Surprise, surprise. It really hasn't stopped raining since Friday night. Parts of town are flooding again and residents are trying to clean up again. The forecast calls for more rain tonight and tomorrow as well. Well, let it rain because I have to work tomorrow.

Wet Saturday

It's raining. Again. It started late last night and hasn't stopped. At least it's not raining very hard. Only a light drizzle with occasional harder moments. Hopefully it will stay that way and end soon. The ground around town is so saturated that it cannot absorb any more water. It just leads to more flooding.

Amar Es Combatir

Maná does it again.