Loft this

Today was spent using Crate and Barrel gift certificates from our wedding that were starting to turn yellow. We replaced a few glasses that had chipped or broken and bought some wedding gifts. Yup, we're cheap bastards, we use gift certificates to buy other people presents.

This afternoon we got a reminder that the Modern Skirts were playing a show tonight in Atlanta. They played at The Loft, which is going to be my personal whipping boy for the night.

The Loft is located at the intersection of West Peachtree and 17th street in downtown Atlanta. It is above Earthlink Live and used to be called Vinyl.

First and foremost, the Skirt boys tried to put on a hell of a show. And by tried, I mean played their asses off. Unfortunately, the sound (ahem) engineer decided not help out by using shitty cables that popped and snapped and had to be replaced mid-show. The sound (ahem) engineer also mixed to his liking; which included the upper end of the lead guitar at levels normally reserved for canines and my exgirlfriends. .

Ok, I guess every sound guy has a bad night every now and then, but to top it off the beer prices were fucking outrageous. Dave went to the bar and came back with two Miller Lights at a grand whopping total of $8. Eight god-damn-dollars for two shitty fucking beers. When I went back for round two, I was hell bent on finding the cheapest beer possible just to send a weak ass signal that I wasn't going to take this Clear Channel type shit laying down.

If you had to guess what the cheapest beer in a bar would be, what would it be?
If you guessed PBR you would normally be oh so correct, but in this case, dead fucking wrong.

PBR at The Loft runs you Four Dollars, the same price as a Bud or Miller product. Jesus Cunt!!!
So me and my anti-corporation attitude bought another two Miller Lights and shut the hell up for the rest of the night.

To sum up...
Skirts...good
The Loft...bad

We came home and cooked four pounds of boiled peanuts. Woo-Hoo!!!

Don't let the door hit ya.............this

This is the conclusion of a three part story starring Small Mitten.
If you need to refresh on our story thus far; here's part one and here's part two.

Last Friday, Small Mitten's boss and two members of the corporate HR team visited the store. I found out about the visit approximately 12 hours before it happened. It turns out that 12 hours is the exact amount of time needed for me to wig-the-fuck-out.

A part of the wigging out period was spent talking to a friend that happens to be an attorney. I asked him if my proverbial ass was covered or if he needed to come with me. His response was a good hearted laugh and; "Nope, it's an at-will state, if they want to fire you, they can."

While that bit wasn't very re-assuring, he continued on and gave me some good advice. He made me feel a ton better about what I was going to do the next day.

So, Friday morning came; Small Mitten had the day off and her boss rolled in about 9:45. The first thing he did was bust Mitten's pet employee for sitting on her ass while I busted mine. It was a great moment that I've been playing over and over in my mind everyday since.

The HR folks rambled in a bit before lunch and interviewed me and a few of my co-workers. Despite everything I have written about my employer, I found the HR team very intelligent. They asked very good questions and even better follow-up ones. As a bonus and maybe they were just trying to amuse me, but they are the fastest damn note takers I have ever seen.

HR left after a few hours and we have heard nothing since. Until today. Evidently, our dreams have come true. Starting tomorrow, Small Mitten will cease to be our manager. She has been transferred to a different and much smaller store where she can be rude and demeaning to a much smaller staff.

Lesson here?
Don't mess with the bald white guy that's been laid off twice, he keeps learning new HR laws.

Ding Dong this

Guess who's being transferred out of the retail store as of as of tomorrow?!?!?!?!?!

That's right kids, Small Mitten is out of here!!!

More later.

Record this

Last night Dave and I had the pleasure of recording music for the first full-length Modern Skirts album to be released in August. August 20th to be exact. At the 40 Watt, go ahead and make plans bitches.

Geoff Melkonian is the producer on the album and I can't even begin to say enough nice things about him. Great ears, fantastic ideas, flys around Pro Tools, and to top it all off; a really nice guy.

We will be on three tracks when the record comes out and I couldn't be happier or more excited about the project. Geoff burned us a copy of what we laid down and HOLY SHIT, it sounds really really fucking good. And no, I'm not talking about Dave and I's small part, but rather the whole thing.

Backing vocals still have to be put down and then it goes off to be mastered by John Keane.

In other good news, the Honda is fixed. Bad news, we're being raped for six hundred bucks. Actually, I would let Chris at Marietta Motor Works work on any car at any time. He does very good, very fast, honest work.

Blog this

I'm having blog problems.
It looks fine when viewed in IE but when I view it in Firefox a shit ton of extra spaces between my post and the comment line appear.

Any suggestions?

BTK

I watched live on CNN, a man confess to torturing and killing 10 people. Because he was waiving many of his rights by confessing, the judge asked him to go through every killing detail by detail. That might be the creepiest thing I have ever watched on TV. He stood there in a suit and talked as plainly as he could about how he bound his victims, how he tortured them, and how he ended their lives. He talked about it like it was the weather.

Drive this

As you saw from my previous entry, the weekend had it's downs, but over the course of the weekend, I got to witness and be a part of some very cool happenings.

Friday, Athfest.

Funkle played at a club called The Ritz, formally, One Love. The Slippery People played a great show and we followed with a decent one.

As soon as we played our last note, we ran out the back door and into the back entrance of Tasty World to catch the last moments of the Modern Skirts show. I have never seen that many people in Tasty World, ever. They finished the last song and the crowd wouldn't leave. They started chanting for them for at least three to four minutes. Long enough for the Skirts to figure out what to play for an encore and for Brett and I to grab our horns to join them for the last song of the night. A great, incredible fun moment.

Saturday.

After awaking and running a few errands, I met Gunner up at Cingular to give him the proverbial hookup. While I was waiting for him to pull into the parking lot my car started to spew smoke. This is not the first time I've dealt with a smoking vehicle and using the knowledge from my past experience, I quickly killed the engine and extinguished the flames with my bottle of water that I was using to chase away my hangover.

The possibility of being stuck in Athens for the rest of the weekend was not a bad idea, but unfortunately that was not a viable option. AAA is possibly the greatest investment we have made to date. Within 45 minutes of my call to AAA; two good ole boys in camouflaged Georgia "G" ballcaps with fish hooks on the bill showed up with a flatbed tow truck to take me and the car home.

75 minutes later (the driver of the tow truck was a madman), the car was in the driveway and I was showering up for Josh and Katie's evening of nuptial bonding. The Bean picked me up and we made the wedding with literally no time to spare.

The wedding was.......a wedding. The bride looked amazing and the musicians were very good.

The reception ended up being a very good time with a bunch of friends from college that I hadn't seen in three or four years. We sat around drinking champagne (read; sparking wine that is sure to give you a hangover) remembering great comical phrases like; "Javier can't ever read!!!".

After the happy couple departed in a hail storm of oversized sparklers; Dave and the Bean took me back to my place where I could grab a quick shower and some Jack Daniels. It was then off to Rob and Keith's for drinking, pizza, fautch, and so much laughter that my stomach is currently quite sore.

The party broke a little before 6 this morning. Boom-Boom took me home and I promptly fell asleep on the couch.

Sunday,

The car has been successfully re-towed to an automotive specialist and is awaiting service for whatever is ailing it.

A great weekend but exhausting. A nap is calling my name.

Oops..............

Actually more like SHIT I almost forgot...

Funkle is playing tonight at The Ritz in Athens. It's three doors down from Tasty World.

Dave D can't make the gig tonight so filling in for one night only will be Brett "I wish I had touched my sax this week" Bawcum.

Midnightish until twoish.

Wash this

Emailed to me today


Dear Tide Company,

I am writing to say what an excellent product you have! I've used it all through my married life, as my Mom always told me it was the best. Now that I am in my fifties, I find it even better!

In fact, about a month ago, I spilled some red wine on my new white blouse. My inconsiderate and uncaring husband started to berate me about how clumsy I was, and generally started becoming a pain in the neck. One thing led to another and somehow I ended up with a lot of his blood on my white blouse. I tried to get the stain out using a bargain detergent, but it just wouldn't come out.

After a quick trip to the supermarket, I purchased a bottle of liquid Tide with bleach alternative, and to my surprise and satisfaction, all of the stains came out! In fact, the stains came out so well the detectives who came by yesterday told me that the DNA tests on my blouse were negative and then my attorney called and said that I would no longer be considered a suspect in the disappearance of my husband.

What a relief! Going through menopause is bad enough without being a murder suspect! I thank you, once again, for having such a great product.

Well, gotta go. I have to write a letter to the Hefty Bag people.

Fish nets this

Last night, I had fun with a beer box and a camera.
For the record, no alcohol had been consumed prior to the picture taking escapade.

In the comments section of those photos, Princess Jen asked for some pics of me in some lingerie. Not being one to disappoint, I have taken and posted a single photo that meets her request. This is only for the brave of heart, so if your interested to see what I look like in fishnets, please feel free to scroll on down.





























Note: Body provided by Jen.

No alcohol was harmed during the photographing of this post

Fix this

Dear Customer,

While I appreciate your obvious high opinion of my abilities, there is nothing I can do to fix the phone that was in your pocket when you got thrown in the pool.

Camp this

They have found the Boy Scout in Salt Lake City that has been missing since last Friday.

It's such a relief to hear that he's ok and that he wasn't kidnapped.

But with all good news, I'm a little guarded.

I celebrated in the middle of the night when Jennifer Wilbanks was found. And like everyone else, I was shocked to hear that she ran away. So, I'm at home celebrating that this child was been found safe, but I won't be surprised if this Boy Scout comes out and says that he wasn't lost, he just got cold feet.

Save this

An incredible story out of Ethiopia about three lions that protected a kidnapped girl.

Feel this

I'm a little upset with iTunes. Actually my beef is with Chuck Mangione, but we'll get to that in a second.

There are some artists that don't want to participate in the online music revolution. Poo-poo on them. Led Zeppelin and the Beatles just to name a few. Why? I wrote a letter and asked them.


Dear Beatles and Led Zeppelin,

Why don't you sell any of your music online through legitimate sources like iTunes, msn.com, or rhapsody.com? The internet isn't going anywhere and it's getting stronger by the day. Are you waiting for a reemergence of Turtle's Music Stores?

Stop worrying that you won't get paid for selling your music through the internet. You'll get paid, make more fans, and most importantly you'll share your gift with an incredibly large audience that otherwise might not know of your talent. And if you're worried about people using your music in a way you didn't intend; I make this solemn promise; you have nothing to worry about. Or to put it another way...

Wash your cares away,
worries for another day.
Let the music play,
down at.............

Well, I didn't make that point well at all did I?

Sincerely,
Me


While I sat patiently by the mailbox waiting for a response, I turned my attention to more music to PURCHASE from iTunes. While surfing for two particular Chuck Mangione tunes, I realized that ol Chuckles is a part of this same elitist group of musicians that think they're too good for the internet. Chuck has most of his catalog available on a track by track basis at iTunes, but not his two hits. For those, you have to purchase an entire album.

I guess I'll have to go over to Kazaa and download it for free. Oh well. Your loss Chuck.

Ha this

A co-worker sent this to me today.
But ignore "visit curlydavid.com" unless you like porn.

Serve this

Check your opinion at the door. Whether you are for or against the war in Iraq, I don't care. I believe that if you call yourself an American, you should support our troops, regardless of political association. Feel free to disagree with who sent them, and why, and what they have been ordered to do, but support the men and women.

I have two connections to the war. My cousin served over there for about a year and a half and I also have a former co-worker/slash occasional drinking buddy that has done two tours over there as well.

On Friday, a former UGA cheerleader named Noah Harris died while serving his country in Iraq. I googled him and not only found a picture of him, but I found his website as well. I don't know this man, but I remember him. I recognize him.

I hate that he has died. I hate it. I hate it. I hate it. I hate it. I hate it.

Why do people that follow their hearts for the betterment of others, get the worst in return? Pat Tillman, Noah Harris, countless others.

I guess that's what makes them heros.

To those who serve and who have served, I say, thank you. As sincere as I possibly can, Thank You.

Buy this

We've been saving some gift certificates for a rainy day. It's not raining but we both have the day off and a few chipped dishes to replace. Off to Crate and Barrel with store credit in hand.
Have I mentioned recently how much I have been suburbanized?

Funkle is playing a gig tomorrow in downtown Lawrencville. We play at 5:00 PM if you're in the area.

Teach this

The second half of my retail day today was spent in training. This training was specifically aimed at teaching us about Data devices and how they work. At least that's what they said. Instead it was a training session on how to *sell* data services. Whoopee!!!

Although most of the session was a waste of time and energy, I did learn something.

Did you know that you are charged $1.50 for each call to 411?

Instead you can send Google a text message from your cell phone and get the same information for free or very cheap.

For instance, you need the number for Papa John's. You can send a text message to 46645 (Google) with a body of text that says, "Papa johns" and whatever zip code or city and state.

For example

To: 46645
Sub: Papa Johns, 30062 (or Marietta, Georgia)

In a few seconds you will receive a message back with the address and phone number of every Papa Johns in that zip code or city. Neato? Yup. Am I a dork? You betcha.

Jack This

Here is a loose transcript from The Late Show that aired tonight. I don't consider myself a racist, but I thought this was funny as shit.

Letterman: I'm sure you've watched the Michael Jackson trial and proceedings. Did you have any thoughts?

Dennis Leary: Well.......basically......if he had been black, he'd a been guilty.


So in that vain of humor...
Here's your Jackson joke for the day.

What do Jackson and Beluga Caviar have in common?

They both come on white crackers.

Use this

There are some new links to the right and some have gone poof.

New Links:
Princess Jen, a friend of a friend. I've only met her once, but it was fun times, her adventures should be very interesting.

Mike O, an old friend from UGA. He makes a living molding the minds of high schoolers in Winder and Sarah O's brother. When he's not working, he enjoys Star Wars, long walks on the beach at sunset and bubble baths.

Leslie, Mike O's wife and one of the best story tellers I have read online.

Poofs:
Dave B, took his down with the promise to come back later. It took all of three days for someone else to take his domain.

Whitney, on sabbatical, she'll be back after a while.

Brad, He sucked at the writing thing, so poof he's gone.

Dip this

Are we ever going to reach a time and place in society when Dippin' Dots is no longer considered the "Ice Cream of the Future" but rather, the "Ice Cream of Today"?

Spray this

Wow, my left hand is sore.

I just finished spraying the entire yard; killing stray grass and weeds as far as my eye could see. Round-up was my weapon of choice. 'Effin weeds!!! Die foul vegetation die!!!


In killing of other things news.......
It's obvious that Brad sucks at blogging, so he has been removed. Dave B has also been removed but he said he'll be coming back at a later date with a new and improved site.
The lesson here? Write at least once a week. If you don't, gerbils will invade private areas of your body while you sleep.

Music Midtown

If you have come within 5 feet of this blog in the past month you know that I've been gearing up not only to attend but perform at my first Music Midtown. Long story short, the Modern Skirts invited Dave and I to join them for a tune. It was incredibly nice of them to invite us and a memory I will truly cherish for a long time.

Here is a few photos to document our journey.

This is my artist pass. Do you like the BMI lanyard? It took me about 6 minutes to choose the appropriate one for the occasion.


Marta.......it's Smarta.............I hate that slogan.
But this is Dave and the Bean as we waited for the train to take us downtown.


Skirts


Skirts

Skirt Jojo

Skirt Philip

Skirt Jay


Skirt Jojo and Skirt Jay

Skirt John

Skirt John, a side view

Dave and I tootin' a tune

more hornage

The Skirts, post show, signing autographs and taking photos with fans.

To sum up, the crowd was awesome and the Skirts put on a fantastic show.


Afterwards, we traveled again by Marta and made our way to Josh's Bachelor party. This was not your typical bachelor party with strippers and bars and such. This was better. 12-14 guys sitting around a keg of beer making fun of each other. The closest thing to porn or strippers was watching the unrated sex scene from "Team America: World Police". The party ended with everyone throwing beer on Josh. Tony took some pictures and you can go here, here, here, here, here, and here to see 'em.

Dildo This

I found out last night that my friend Aaron Childers, (RCB alum, fellow Snobb Countian, and travel buddy to Arkansas) packed his bags, sold his house and moved to Vegas. Lucky Bastard. He is currently shacking up with Chris Hagood and looking for a job in entertainment. We made plans to meet up in August when I'm out there.

I stumbled across "commercial" for a sex toy. I cried from laughing for so hard. Warning: NOT safe to play at work.

We're getting some overnight company tomorrow night and Saturday if you're around Music Midtown, come catch out Dave and I play a tune with the Modern Skirts. 3:30 PM on the 99x stage.

I got your light saber right here....................this

Yesterday I ventured over to our local movieplex and took in the third episode of Star Wars.

Overall a good movie. Amazing special effects and the fight scenes were definitely something. Lucas and co. did a very good job of tying the story lines together. But indeed a dark movie.

I have a vivid memory of going to see Return of the Jedi with my Dad in 1981. After it let out I remember humming the theme song skipping down the street. Skipping was cool back then.

As I walked out of the theater yesterday, the theme blaring through the speakers, I felt drained. The final movie is an incredibly sad story done very well.

There were two faults with the movie and both involve Natalie Portman.

1) She wasn't very good. I'm very thankful I saw Garden State, otherwise I would think that she can't act at all. Since I know she can act, I guess that her part wasn't well written or well directed.

2) We know Natalie Portman's character was going to be pregnant at some point, but they didn't show us how she became with child(s). I was really hoping for a steamy sex scene with witty dialogue like, "Wanna see my light saber? It glows in the dark" or "Can you use the force a little deeper?" Did we get anything? Nope, she just showed up and said, "Hey bitches, I'm pregnant."


After the movie I continued my solo test passing celebration at Wild Wing that is about 2 miles from our house. With wings that good and a beer collection that is constantly improving, I really should eat there more often. I had three different beers none of which I had ever tried before and a plateful of tasty tasty wings.

As I finished my last gulp and beer and was getting ready to head home; I glanced outside to see Mother Nature in the middle of douching herself. Hmmm.....drive home two miles in the hard pouring rain or have another beer and finish watching the Braves game? Another glass of the Sweetwater Summer Hummer later, the rain was gone and I hit the road.

I watching the news as I write this and WSBTV, Atlanta's ABC affiliate, started the news broadcast with some news that's a little to close to home. There is an escaped inmate about 3 miles from here. He's was on a work detail and ran away about an hour ago. He's wearing white pants and no shirt. Just in case you see him.

Test this

The test is over.
I either passed with flying colors or failed horribly.

I came home to news on the Jackson trail on CNN and I thought that the jury had come back.
No such luck.

I think I will be treating myself to a movie this afternoon to celebrate that my classes are overzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
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Oops, I fell asleep there for a bit. It was a killer nap. Staying up way too late studying for the past two nights and sleeping 2.5 hours each night caught up with me. I had two dreams while sleeping, one was that I aced the final exam and the other was that I scored a 52.

They told us that we could check our scores online after six. I was paranoid about my score following my dream so I hopped online to check it.

Holy real estate commission batman, I got a 91!!!!!!! (It's a pass/fail and all I needed was a 75 to pass.) There are 50 people in the class and only 5 scored better than me. Woo-Hoo!!!
I AM the head of the class bitches!!!

I am so going to treat myself to a movie tonight in the theatre. Any suggestions?

Trail this

And the answer is.............
In the 80's, no one admitted to watching it, but it was always in the top ten of the Nielsen ratings.

Growing up I watched The Dukes of Hazzard. I really liked them Duke boys.

20 years later we are getting a movie based on the TV show. This movie is not on my summer movie watching list, but after watching this trailer, I have to admit, I am a little intrigued. "Intrigued" is much too sophisticated of a word to use when describing anything to do with Daisy Dukes.

By the way, I love movie trailers. It's like watching a movie, but shorter and with no plot resolution.

Once a month I head over to apple and watch the new trailers. Here's a few I thought were good.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory This is near the top of my movie list. I have liked Depp since he did that movie where he played a freak. You know which one I'm talking about, right?

A History of Violence I really like the cast.

Red Eye Is this something?

Perceive this

I'm often amazed at our society.
More specifically, the volume of dumb ass people walking around.
More specifically, the volume of stupid people in Snobb County.
More specifically, the volume of stupid people that come into my retail store.
More specifically, the volume of stupid people that I am required to serve.

Yeah, the day at the retail gig was stellar. Just another day in suburban hell.

On a good note, my new boss has changed.
Called it a Blog This Extreme Makeover.
As of last Friday, she has become the nicest, sweetest person one can imagine.
She's stopped being bossy, overly rude, condescending, and has stopped talking down to her new employees.
She even has been asking us our opinions instead of giving them to us.
It's as if her boss heard a series of complaints against her.
Who would do something like that?

She is still won't ask her old employees to do a damn thing, but hey, one thing at a time.


Penn Jillette, the loud mouth half of Penn and Teller, recently welcomed his first child into the world. The baby girl has been given a name that I can't even form an opinion on. Get this. Moxie Crimefighter Jillette. When asked for an explanation, Penn said they, "chose her middle name because when she's pulled over for speeding she can say, 'But officer, we're on the same side. My middle name is CrimeFighter.''

Roasty Toasty this

The roast was a success. Not only did we cover the costs for the evening, we found a little left over to donate to the Roger Dancz Scholarship fund. Oh yeah, we made fun of Brett too.
He was an excellent sport about the whole thing and we're currently taking applications for who to roast next year.

Here's a few pics to show you how the night progressed.

It started innocently enough. Friends gathering for cocktails, catching up.

Leigh, Corley, Knight and Kit


Dave D, Brett, Jim


Laura and Ln


Rob and Keith
And yes Stacy, this is the Rob in question from two weeks ago and yes I did tell him hello for you.

The roast itself was quite good. I have pics of that but it's just of people speaking and where's the fun in that?

Just so you know, during the roast I enlisted in an alternative Kiss Army.

Actually, I dressed as the pumpkin that Brett killed during the homecoming parade years ago, combined with the spirit of a former Director at UGA. The outcome equaled a character named H Dwight Pumpkinwhite.

After the roast finished, the night proceeded to take an odd turn. First Ln and Laura kissed (it was so hot) and gay love spread from there. Here's an identifiable man humping Brett. I expected to see some strange stuff Saturday night, but this never even entered my mind.


Here is perhaps my favorite photo of the night.
Jim (on the right) "went to bed early" and we needed a place to put baby Eva, so off to bed they went.

Isn't that cute?


News.......

Brewfest, an Athens Tradition for 10 years has been kicked out of it's home, The Classic Center.

Owen Ogletree is the coordinator for Brewfest and was one of the driving forces behind Georgia's new legislation regarding better beer availability. He sent out an email that said that The Classic Center, my former place of employment, no longer wished to host the Brewfest.

I am surprised that this has happened. If you ran a business that never turned a profit in the ten years it had been open, would you tell ANY client that they were no longer wanted? Much less a repeat client that brought you rent money, parking revenue, equipment monies, and the opportunity to make money on marked up labor and security bills? No.

I don't know the whole story, I don't work there and I don't live in Athens anymore. Here is a copy of the letter that Paul Cramer sent to Owen. Perhaps something happened at the most recent festival that would warrant concern. I don't know.

Bottom line, is that there is nothing to be done about this. Paul Cramer made his decision and it's his funeral. It's only a matter of time for him anyways. What you can do, is support Brewfest if and when they find a new home.

Exhaust this

Do you ever find yourself sipping on a double Amaretto sour and watching the Tony Awards?

No?, uhm.......me neither.


The weekend was something.

Old friends with so much laughter.

A full review, complete with pics coming, but I'm wiped.

Call this

Another example of how much I love my retail job.

Safe to play at work

Imagine This Part Two

This is a continuation of a previous post where I started a story from the point of view of a man in his late 20's trying to figure out how to survive in the retail world until he can start working in real estate. This is his story and the story of his new boss, Small Mitten.

Small Mitten sent a text message to her employees Monday afternoon. It stated that there was a mandatory meeting Wednesday night at 8:00 PM. Two days notice...nice....very considerate of her.............To top it off, it was on my day off. But not wanting to rock the boat and give here chance; I attended without bringing up these facts.

Her meeting started out fine enough, a little team building exercise that wasted 10 minutes but put everyone in a reasonably good mood. Then Small Mitten started into her prepared lecture. From the way she talked to us I could swear that she thought we were all red-headed step children or stray dogs digging in her yard.

In the middle of her rant she used the sentence. "We're all adults here." I remember thinking; "Well, if we're all adults, then treat us as such."

This continued from about 8:20 PM until 9:45 PM.

After the meeting I needed to speak with her regarding my schedule or more specifically; the fact that she scheduled me to work every day that I requested off. She is giving "her" people multiple days off in a row but not the new folks. That seems a little biased doesn't it?

After one minute of this, she told me that I needed to prioritize my life better and to resend her a requested list of days off. Ooooook...........................I smiled and said I would take a look at my schedule and get back to her.

Then I changed the subject, I gently (and by gently, I mean very carefully) reminded Small Mitten of her very biased actions from the day I met her. She proceeded to defend herself by blaming me. Her defense consisted of telling me that I was wrong. No apology, just the repeated telling me that I was wrong.

Bottom line: I feel that I was and continue to be discriminated against, but according to Small Mitten, she did no such thing and that I am wrong to even think that way. I'm not above being wrong, it happens often, but I have had several days to stew on this and think through the situation from several different points of view. I don't think I'm wrong on this.

At this point, my coworker that had driven me to the meeting because of the garage door fiasco, was yelling at me to hurry up. He had a baby to get home to so I had to cut this wonderful meeting short.

Today everyone got a voicemail from Small Mitten. It stated that we were all in trouble for one person's mistake. It bordered on threatening. I typed out the transcript of the voicemail but it doesn't read well without her dramatic pauses and over emphasising of words.

I get to work tomorrow..........can't wait.

Handle this

Editor's note:
Because of a retail store meeting that has me extremely pissed off at the moment; tonight's post is brought to you by the letters "L" and "N". I will be back tomorrow to rant about bad management.




God won't give you more than you can handle.
But damn it, He'll give you more than you can lift!

This evening when I arrived home from work, I came in and repeated my nightly ritual. "Hi Honey, Hi Savannah" with requisite peck on the lips and a pat on the head (RS gets the pat). Then I go for the mail, I still have child like fascination with snail mail, even if it is bills. Then it happened, while happily looking at the football schedule magnet and GEEF contributor stickers the Athletic Association sent us, we heard this unfamiliar, disconcerting...Bbbbooooingggggg...come from the garage.

We had one of those cartoon strip moments, where each other's eyes get really big and you glance around, I imagine from Savannah's perspective there were little gray movement lines around our heads and question marks in big bubbles above them.

Anyway, we nearly ran over one another trying to get through our narrow hallway to the garage. I half expected to see the car up against the wall of the garage, I had a passing moment of, shit, did I put the car in park?!? Nonetheless, the noise had ceased before our arrival and upon looking around, nothing seemed amiss - everything, including the car looked the same as it had 5 minutes prior. Our garage doesn't have any windows and the light in the ceiling is a dim, so I tried to open the garage. It opened about 1.5 feet and stopped, so I tried again, nothing. So we pulled on the string that is supposed to disengage the electric garage opener so we could just lift the door. Then we see it...drum roll please... the spring broke. Huh? What spring?? OH, THAT ONE. The big f'in spring than helps the garage door opener lift the 700 pound wooden door! UGH!!!

Long story, slightly shorter, we can't open the door, both our cars are in the garage and RS has a "mandatory store meeting" in 30 minutes. (imagine Pooh Bear and the honey pot) What to do, what to do.... In the end I pulled out the trusty yellow pages and looked up garage doors. This must happen often because there were several "24 hour" garage door repair companies. I called a few of these companies, got an idea of what the going rate for a new spring is and have scheduled the cheapest bidder for tomorrow morning between 7am and 9am. And RS got a ride to the meeting from a co-worker.

Enough already, God, we get it! We'll handle this too, but from now on, can I put in a request for strange noises and expensive repairs that can be lifted, at the very least? Thanks!

Throat this

Was Deep Throat right in what he did?
I don't know, I'm asking.
I won't argue that it took a major set of balls to do what he did.
But while the media is praising his glory, I can't help but wonder if he should treated like a hero or strung up as a traitor.