The Birthday Deal
So yesterday I did not go to the game because it would have involved the train. The train would spoil my good day (although spending four hours in meetings yesterday wasn't exactly on my list of things I wished I could do). Anyway, I went out for some tequila. It was quite good. Sadly, my companion found something other than tequila in her margarita. That's right, instead of a worm, a nice piece of glass was in her drink. The manager came over and my birthday meal was free. A meal I might add that we shared because we're cheap.
Then came the part where I almost killed my date. She told the waiter it was my day and they made me wear a hat that's going to give me lice and announced my name and how old I was (I turned 25 yesterday. Yep, I'm totally 25) and they sang. The manager? He danced a jig. Since I was the only one with cash, I left the tip.
I got home. Joe jacked a homerun and Bartlett sent me to bed with his game winning single. And to all of the losers who left the stadium in the ninth - What the hell? It's a one run game against the Kansas City Bullpen and the best hitter in baseball is coming to the plate. You suck.
I Should Write Something Here
Sadly, I forgot my camera so the post I had planned to make must wait another day.
Random Things
-Joe Nathan needs to stop trying to blow Santana's wins
-People need to stop panicking when I'm gone from work for two whole days
-Asian Beetles should all die before getting into my house and dying there
-No, I don't have plans
-Really cheap flights to London - Must. Stop. Looking.
Rumor and Suspicion
Apparently, one of the students brought to the US has been attempting to single-handedly destroy her host family's lives. Such is the nature of small towns and their rumor mills, that when someone says something vague it gets blown all out of proportion.
She cries a lot. Oh God something horrible must be happening in her home. No, actually she's homesick.
She's a teenager who gets upset when her host parents question who she is riding with to the football game in a town 45 miles away. Oh the horror!
Her host parents are in the final stages of an adoption process. Any whisper of anything, true or not, could destroy their chances of getting a baby.
When shown the words rumors, misconception, and gossip in her native language and told of what was happening, the student became very upset and said, "but they are very nice people. I never meant anything like that."
In case you're wondering, when asked if anything bad had happened to her or if they had ever hurt her, she flatly denied anything of the sort and said they are extremely nice people. It's too late now. She's already got the whole county talking.
I like small towns but here's a story where one homesick, spoiled teenager who isn't getting her way may have just completely crushed the lives of people who opened their home to her.
Ciao*
My neighbors somewhere way down the street recently purchased two Vespa-like vehicles. I'm sure they are very excited about driving them. They are so excited that they drive them by my house once every ten minutes from about 5:30 PM to 9 PM every single day. It's like someone starting up a whiny chainsaw outside my house every few minutes. They must be stopped. Would spikes in the road be overkill?
*Eddie Izzard has a whole comic routine around Vespas and "Ciao." I *heart* Eddie Izzard.
My Mouse Is Possessed
I'm unsure what to do about it. I rather like my mouse. I'm not sure I want it replaced.
In other news, the weather is perfect for soup. I'm going to make some.
Maybe it's just me, but I have a really hard time when people run someone down for doing something they would praise other people for. It's not worth defending or arguing about because it would just be a waste of my time, but I'm not going to back down when someone is being unfairly judged either.
Press 1 for Service
Great news all. The folks at Reason are all about helping us improve our lives by finding excellent companies like this...
Everyone hates phone trees. And some of us hate them even more now that they employ crappy voice-recognition software ("I'm sorry, I didn't understand that. Did you say 'cancel my account'?"). Mercifully, for every time The Man screws you, there's some innovator out there waiting to screw him right back. Meet NoPhoneTrees.com.
Here's what the BETA does, according to a company rep:
"Our mission is to help users skip phone trees and connect with a real human on the customer support phone lines at many companies throughout the U.S. Users simply choose the company they wish to call, and we'll dial the company directly, navigate their phone tree, and call them back when they are in queue for an operator or customer service representative."
Oh the joys of a four day weekend
Oh do I love long weekends. I'm in some pretty severe pain right now, but my weekend was one of the best I've had in a long time. Later, when I don't actually have so much work to do, I'll blog it in pictures. But for now, I'll just share with you the thing I learned this weekend...
Milt also enjoys Nimrod.
Sadly I didn't have my camera on Saturday night when he was up on the picnic table dancing with the stripper.
