Land of Oz

Phones

Let's face it, I'm not a big cell phone power user. The average month probably sees me using 10 - 15 minutes - and probably half of that time is just trying to figure out how to use it again. So it should come as no surprise that once again I lost my cell phone. (Actually, if you find something after losing it, can you actually say that you lost it, or is misplaced more correct?) Anyway, I didn't know where it was. In the past I've misplaced it in the Post Office parking lot (twice), the Jade Garden parking lot, a friend's house (twice), under the car seat (more than once) and probably a few other areas I don't remember. So far, however, luck has been with me and I keep finding it.

This weekend I reached a new low in misplacing my phone. I went with some friends to a museum and knowing my aptitude for losing my cellphone from my blue jeans left it in an inside pocket of my jacket. I ended up leaving my jacket in their car - not missing the cell phone in the least - while we went museum visiting and later restaurant eating. After all that, I visited their house to watch a little TV, after tossing my jacket into my car, before finally getting home around 10pm. And getting in the house, I decided to look at my cellphone to see if I had gotten one of my rare calls on it. Aha - couldn't find it. I looked in the inside pocket of my jacket and it wasn't there. I went back out to my car and looked in the seat - no phone. Rats!

The first thing I guessed was that it fell out of my jacket in my friend's car so I went to call them. I reached for the cordless phone on the wall to call them and it was gone! No problem since the phone has a Page on it that rings the phone so you can track it down. Nary a peep. I tried a couple more times and couldn't hear anything. Rats, another phone missing. (It turns out the battery of the cordless phone had gone dead since I left it off the charger overnight. It turned up in the bathroom where I had used the previous night.) So I go upstairs to use that phone to call my friends and ask them to go crawling around their car in hopes of finding my cellphone. I called the cellphone number a couple of times but they couldn't hear it. I thanked them and went back downstairs to look under the seats in my car with no luck. So I get back to the house and hear my cellphone ringing. It's hard for me to tell exactly where a high-pitched noise is coming from but I could narrow it down to one side of the kitchen. I looked in my jacket again with no luck and then finally noticed another jacket. Doh!

It turns out, I'd forgotten which jacket I had been wearing that day and had been looking the wrong jacket for my phone. So I called my friends once more to let them know I found my errant cellphone and sorry for having bothered them so late. Sigh - stupid cellphone. Now I have to also find a battery for my cordless phone.

300

First, let me say I like this movie a lot. But then again, I've also owned a copy of the 1962 version, 300 Spartans, for a couple of years now so obviously I'm prejudiced. Be that as it may, 300 does have a plot and it does have acting. The movie grabbed me early and didn't let me go until it finished. It was the quickest two hours I've spent in quite some time.

As to many of the complaints I've been hearing. Yes, it's a bit over-the-top and graphic. Seeing how it was based on a comic book (which I haven't read yet), I would have been disappointed if it was anything but. I felt it was very well crafted. The early scene where the horses jumped the hill was amazing - a brief couple of seconds that still stick in my mind. I loved the scene where King Leonidas was calmly eating an apple saying, "there's no reason why we can't be civilized about this (quoted more or less)," while standing knee deep in wounded Persians his men were finishing off. There were many scenes like this that lasted for seconds yet held more information and detail than anyone could hope to grasp the first time around. I'm looking forward to a second watching.

Yes, the Persians came off as less than an idealized civilization. First, see my comic book comment, and second, who cares, you always need over-the-top bad guys. As to historical inaccuracies, first - yeah, comic book, and second, it was 2500 years ago!! However, I'll be among the first to admit there were many. Like the King bad-mouthing the boy-loving Athenians while in fact, the Sparta military were the ones to take fellowship-in-arms to a whole different level. You know? I really don't care. It was a fun movie and hell, we can't even figure out how Anna Nicole Smith (good link fodder) died and that was only last month.

People have to stop taking movies and books so seriously. First, it's entertainment and it's fiction based on an historical event. I just don't understand why people have forgotten what fiction is. If the product is selling itself as a true story, then it can be held to higher standards - as if you can prove those standards after 2500 years. How can you expect factual perfection for something that's based on a comic book that was suggested by a 2500 year-old story that was written by the victors?

Labels: movies

Michigan

This poor old state is taking quite a beating lately. Today's headline puts Michigan in the top three as far as states for having the worst highway bridges. I think we're number one or two for sinking home values and one or two for unemployment. One of the local high-tech firms, Hemlock Semiconductor Corp, makers of polycrystalline silicon is thinking about moving a $1.2 billion expansion out of state because Michigan's electricity is to expensive. Chrysler, GM and Ford have all dumped thousands of workers lately.

Crime seems to be improving. The State Police are laying off troopers and a 1 year-old kid was shot last month in a drive-by. Some septuagenarian was murdered in Flint and the five accused range from 17 - 25. On TV, they didn't even have a worried look as they walked by in orange jumpsuits and shackles. I imagine it pretty cool to be busted for murder for a lot of kids now. Some 17 year-old called his girlfriend's parents to bring her to school - where he then shot her four times and then killed himself.

This area does have some plusses though. The cost of living is cheap. You can get a really nice house for under $100K. Weather is moderate. We don't worry too much about earthquakes or blizzards or hurricanes. There's the occasional tornado, but not that often around here - not enough house-trailers probably. We have some hot days in the summer, but not that many and while its cold in the winter, it rarely sees below the teens. The water is good and the countryside is beautiful - water and trees as far as one can see.

Business

How not to do it. First, let me say that I'm not a morning person. Luckily I don't start work until 10AM, so I don't have to get up too early. However, not everyone feels that way, so that often I have to make appointments earlier - like today. We went to a home show expo last weekend and made some contacts about estimates for work on the house. One of them was to get some insulation blown into our house. They made the appointment for 8AM today.

8AM is a big deal for me. That means I have to get up at 730AM. That's about an hour and a half earlier than I usually get up. However, I set dual alarms, make sure my calendar reminds me the day before and try to go to bed earlier so I don't oversleep. This morning comes around and I do get up - and it's still dark out - only chickens should be up this early. I sit in bed feeling sorry for myself listening to the alarm clock and fighting off the urge for another round of snooze, but get up and take my shower. I'm sitting at the kitchen table by ten to eight having a cup of coffee and waiting, and at eight, I'm waiting, and it's 8:15 and still waiting. 8:30, guess what, I'm still waiting.

So I call the insulation folks, it's A-1 by the way, and ask what's going on. They say they'll contact the estimator and find out what's the deal. Finally around 8:45 he calls and says he's with another manufacturer. ?? When I ask him why he didn't call to tell me he'd be late, he sounds puzzled and says he didn't think I'd be upset. It's 45 minutes late, he's still with another client, and he didn't think I'd be upset? So we rescheduled for next week.

I figured I give myself time to cool off and then think about if I really want to do business with someone who doesn't think blowing off an appointment would bother me. Well, it's later in the day, and by this rant, you know I haven't cooled off that much, so will more than likely call them and say don't bother.

Why Bother?

I walked past a guy's desk during lunch today and he had a take-out container from Hooters. OK, first a couple of caveats. I've only been to one Hooters restaurant (a few years ago) that I can remember and I really haven't a clue as to the prices currently charged for food in a Hooters. Having said that, why on earth would you have take-out from Hooters? Isn't that kind of like getting the audio-book version of Playboy?

I'm not saying either option is worthless, but I am asking, why bother? If it was really about the food, they'd probably call it, "Good Burgers" or "Great Eats," not Hooters. The phrase "Man, look at those hooters" isn't going to be referring to a woman's cooking skills. Since some readers out there may not be aware of some English slang, hooter is one way of referring to a woman's (from my thesaurus: breast, bosom, dug, teat, mammilia, tit, nipple, bust, udder, boob)

And rather than be dressed in gowns or jeans, the waitresses (not waiters) at Hooters are dressed in snug t-shirts and snugger shorts. Since all that should give you some idea (and if it doesn't check out the web site) of what Hooters is all about, why oh why, would you order take-out?

Justice

Here's some low-life who's picking on 85 and 101 year old victims. Can you imagine what this guy must be like back with his buds? One guys says, "yeah man, I 'jacked a '07 Benz" and another, "that's nothing dude, I ripped off that dealer on sixth for his piece and half-a-key." Then there's this idiot, "both you full of trash, I lifted $70 from two grannies - now that's tough."

You know what? When they catch this shoe-bottom slimeball, they ought to just tear off an arm and let him bleed to death. Someone who beats up 85 year-old women doesn't deserve to live or the ability to breed more like himself. I'm prepared to take the chance that his offspring may be the next Einstein or Da Vinci. He isn't worth it. He should be just put down like the mad dog he is and society can move on.

And the fact that society lets this happen to 85 and 101 year-old women is just as bad. Instead of having to fight off the dregs of society the least society could do is make sure their old folks are safe. Not starving or eating cold beans, not freezing in roach infested apartments, and certainly not walking along streets waiting to be jumped. I'm hoping the parents of this mugger never ever get another good night's sleep.

Wake Up - mom and dad!

Here we go again. First, it's the Barbie bandits. Just two good ol' girls, not doing no harm, getting in trouble with the law. Come on folks - we're talking bank robbery and drugs here, not shoplifting lipstick or jumping a subway turnstyle. And of course the parents are totally clueless:

The girl's mother, Joy Miller, rejected the allegation that her daughter [who confessed to dealing] is involved with drugs. "She is taking the blame for the boy who has the drugs, 'cause she's a sweet girl with a big heart [and a pocket full of stolen cash]."

And on a similar, though much more deadly thought. The other day a 17 year-old Midland, Michigan kid shot his girlfriend four times with a .44 and then shot and killed himself outside of a high school he didn't belong to. The girl's mom brought the girlfriend to the school after the boy called their home. The uproar on the news was that schools need to do more to protect the students. How about the parents do more to control their kids? This kid was packing a .44 Magnum, not a $35 Saturday night special. You don't just wander across .44s sitting in the streets.

I'm not sure what the parents want the schools to do? Is the school supposed to search the kids as they leave the front door of the home and maybe keep a teacher in their bedroom? The school in this case turned the kid away when he asked about his girlfriend.

Come on parents, you made the kid. Quit trying to foist off the responsibilities of raising him on everyone but yourself.

Huh?

Am I the only one to whom this feels just wrong?

"Ford Motor Co. said Wednesday its board of directors approved a $6 million stock option bonus -- $1 million more than was previously promised -- for new CEO Alan Mulally.
...
The news of the payouts came as thousands of salaried workers who signed up for buyouts or early retirement packages bid tearful farewells to their friends and colleagues. It also follows close on the heels of the record $12.7 billion loss the automaker posted for 2006."

and it gets even better...

"Ford will cover the costs of Ford Americas President Mark Fields' weekly commute, including first-class airfare from Detroit to Florida, following his decision to stop using a corporate jet for his weekly trips back to south Florida.

Ford clarified Mulally's corporate jet privileges. His family is allowed to use a corporate jet for personal travel even if Ford's CEO is not traveling with them."

The damn Ford officials won't even live in Michigan - Ford pays them to commute weekly to Florida - and do you wanna bet Fields isn't paying for his room and board? This just sucks big time.