05 October 2007

Abusing the help

Phone: Ring Ring
Suebob: Hello?
Robert: Hello, Sue, this is Robert from the Company X newspaper and this call is being recorded for your protection.
Suebob: Yelping, in a voice that sounds totally over-the-top nutso MY PROTECTION? WHY IS IT BEING RECORDED? WHAT ARE YOU PROTECTING ME FROM?
Robert: quite nervously Um, it's just standard procedure, to protect you from scams and such...
Suebob: SCAMS? WHAT SCAMS? THIS IS FREAKING ME OUT!! Why are you recording outgoing calls?
Robert: No, it is standard for everyone, it is because of California state law that we have to inform people that they are being recorded.
Suebob: But it isn't California state law that you have to record people, is it? Doesn't that seem weird? I don't LIKE that. I mean, recording outgoing calls seems WEIRD to me! I don't understand how that protects me!
Robert: Uh, Sue, Sue, it's ok. Anyway, I just wanted to call to thank you for being a subscriber and to offer you...

Anyway, I don't know what possessed me. I consider it providing a service actually, because now poor Robert with the terrible phone sales job will have a "What a freak!" call to talk about on his 10-minute coffee break.

*******
I hate to swear (yeah right) but G***d*mn Red Sox. The Angels lose 2 in a row in the playoffs, and it just HAS to be to the most loathesome team in baseball. Great.

Did you watch the Yankees/Indians game? THE BUGS! That was one of the most disgusting things I have ever seen at a baseball game.

04 October 2007

Postseason

Anyone watch my cousin Doug pitch for the Dbacks against the Cubs?

He and I are very, very close, you know.

All that aside, I still live and die with every pitch he throws. I can't help myself.

Who are you rooting for? Please say anyone but the Red Sox.

Go Angels!

02 October 2007

Seeing signs

People search for years...

The next time someone needs spiritual advice, tell them to turn right at the light.

Do politicians lack "Common cents"?


I ate at a restaurant with this sign back in the parking lot:

It worries me that they have such sudden and violent needs to do a sewer clean-out that they have to warn you not to park there. Right?

********

Oh, and today is the day. Schmutzie Pickles says so. Delurk, for the sake of all that is good and worthy!
The Great Mofo Delurk 2007

30 September 2007

La Guelaguetza

My friend Alicia and I went over to Oxnard to the Oaxacan festival called La Guelaguetza today.

She and I have both traveled to this southern Mexican state separately and we both loved it there. If you ever want to see lots of photos, check out my other blog Oaxaca Diary, a long-winded account of my 3 weeks studying Spanish in the capital city of Oaxaca, also called Oaxaca (wa-HA-ka, in case you are wondering).

Dancers from each of the 7 regions of the state perform and then toss the items typical to their region into the audience as gifts. Some of the items are coffee, fans, hats, and, yes, pineapples. Today, they handed out the pineapples, but down in Mexico, they really throw them and you had better watch out lest you get a concussion.

These beautifully dressed women are the pineapple dancers


My favorite baby dancer from the Feather Dance


There were so many cute kids there. As is typical, they had more fun with each other than with the show - here one shoots his brother with a cell phone camera


Toward they end they switched from almost on-key live band music to really, really loud recorded music. The kids did what I felt like doing, fell over and clapped their hands to their ears:


After the dances were over, we bought some food made in Oaxaca, including chapulines, the tiny crunchy grasshoppers that are a beloved Oaxacan snack. Alicia won't eat them - she's afraid of the little legs that get stuck in your teeth.

It was a great day - almost like being back in Mexico. Que bonita.

Checking the calendar

I love food. I love it too much, as my figure shows.

One of my rules in life is that I can only eat onion rings once per quarter. 600 calories and 30 grams of fat, that's why.

One of my friends said "Not even once a month?" and I said, "No, because then if I cheat, I am eating onion rings MORE THAN once a month." If I cheat on more than once a quarter (and usually I don't), then I am still only eating them twice in 3 months.

I love onion rings too much. Tomorrow a new quarter begins. My friends and I have a date on Wednesday. Guess what we are ordering?
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