June 30, 2004
Bull. The damn thing was unusable right out of the box.
So I walked up to the Customer Service desk and told the friendly and helpful employee that I needed someone with a flatbed cart to go out to my truck and unload it, after which I wanted a refund. Then I handed him the receipt and a baggie full of broken lock pieces.
He started to make noises about the manufacturer, so I calmly and politely reminded him to call for someone with a cart to unload my truck, and asked to speak to a manager. I'm not going to waste my time dealing with him if he's not going to be immediately helpful.
I pulled the truck up in front of the store and helped two stock guys unload it onto a cart. One looks at the box and says, "Oh, it's a scooter."
I said, "No, it's a scooter-shaped piece of crap."
The guys take it inside while I go park the truck again, and Mookie hears this exchange:
Manager: "It's a scooter?"
Stock Guy: "According to him, it's a scooter-shaped piece of crap."
Five minutes later, we're walking out the door, all taken care of.
Posted by: Ted at
06:41 AM | category: Square Pegs
Comments (2)
| Add Comment
Post contains 262 words, total size 1 kb.
June 29, 2004
A new medical study shows that excessive protein in the diet can cause fertility "problems". The reporters I watched verbally danced around, desperately trying to not say "Atkins" or "low-carb", and implied that the "problems" involved conception. The details of the report that I heard sounded more like birth defect type "problems". Balance people, the key is balance.
"Morbidly Obese", isn't that a lovely medical term? I hearby street-slangify it to "Mo'Beast", as in, "That dude with the Mac in each hand? He is Mohhh' Beast!"
Word.
Posted by: Ted at
07:25 AM | category: Square Pegs
Comments (1)
| Add Comment
Post contains 103 words, total size 1 kb.
I really, really, really hate it when something disappoints you like that. We'll make it right and consider it a lesson learned. Ok?
PS. Call me at work.
Posted by: Ted at
06:44 AM | category: Family matters
No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 68 words, total size 1 kb.
June 28, 2004
I've humor to give in trade for sin. -- anagram of above
Posted by: Ted at
09:20 PM | category: Square Pegs
No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 27 words, total size 1 kb.
Anyways, in one passage Lowell states:
"...with about as much probability... as that a chance collection of numbers should take the form of the multiplication table."
Which is the polite and scientific way of saying "when monkeys fly out of my
butt".
Posted by: Ted at
04:57 AM | category: Square Pegs
No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 85 words, total size 1 kb.
June 27, 2004
In totally unrelated news, I've discovered that by going out into the backyard and shouting "Ni!", the squirrels are leaving my bird feeder alone. Probably no connection, I know, but someone did leave a nice shrubbery on the front porch overnight.
Crap. I just remembered that I watched Secretary last night. The circle begins anew.
Posted by: Ted at
09:17 AM | category: Links
No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 172 words, total size 2 kb.
Why is it that it's ok to air this kind of crap to make money, but if we use similar logic for security purposes it's denounced as racial profiling?
Posted by: Ted at
07:05 AM | category: Square Pegs
Comments (1)
| Add Comment
Post contains 66 words, total size 1 kb.
June 26, 2004
Posted by: Ted at
09:23 PM | category: Recipes
No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 24 words, total size 1 kb.
Posted by: Ted at
08:53 PM | category: Rocketry
No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 13 words, total size 1 kb.
More than 60 million years after the triceratops dinosaur roamed what is now Montana, its horn went to 6-year-old Eamon Rush for $550 at a Park Avenue auction.Although the tip of Eamon's horn was rebuilt by a human hand, he was thrilled with his purchase. The Manhattan boy planned to bring home the dinosaur horn for the archaeology club he started with a classmate.
Knowlege and skill counts, but so does enthusiasm.
It was a bargain for Lot 69, offered at an estimated value of $1,500 to $2,000 by Guernsey's at its "Dinosaurs & Other Prehistoric Creatures" sale.On Thursday afternoon, Eamon showed up on Park Avenue in a bright tie-dyed top, so when he shot up with his paddle to signal his bid, everyone noticed. And the adults held back higher bids so the 6-year-old could win.
Bravo!!!
Posted by: Ted at
11:40 AM | category: SciTech
No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 170 words, total size 1 kb.
I had a boss once who's still a very good friend. He was single, and made no bones about it - he beat off frequently. During our smoke breaks at work we'd get into some of the damndest conversations - "that older sister on The Wild Thornberry's, I bet she'd be a demon in bed" - and my boss would smile and say, "I've got to go be alone with myself now."
I used to tease him about it all the time. I'd tell him he jerked off so often that he kept a picture of his right hand in his wallet.
He used his left hand sometimes just so he could pretend he was with a stranger.
For him, foreplay was kissing and licking his fingers.
Got any good one-liners or anecdotes? Put 'em in the comments. Don't be shy, we all know it's stuff that's happened to your 'friend'. Uh-huh, sure.
And just to be crass, here's a related Helen Keller joke:
Q: Why did Helen Keller masturbate with one hand?
A: So she could moan with the other.
Posted by: Ted at
07:48 AM | category: Square Pegs
Comments (6)
| Add Comment
Post contains 241 words, total size 1 kb.
President Bush wants to return to the moon and put a man on Mars. But scientist Bradley C. Edwards has an idea that's really out of this world: an elevator that climbs 62,000 miles into space.Edwards thinks an initial version could be operating in 15 years, a year earlier than Bush's 2020 timetable for a return to the moon. He pegs the cost at $10 billion, a pittance compared with other space endeavors.
"It's not new physics — nothing new has to be discovered, nothing new has to be invented from scratch," he says. "If there are delays in budget or delays in whatever, it could stretch, but 15 years is a realistic estimate for when we could have one up."
This is not a new concept, and no more outlandish than President Kennedy announcing to the world that America was going to the moon in the 60's. For more information, here's a FAQ page about space elevators.
Posted by: Ted at
07:44 AM | category: SciTech
No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 163 words, total size 1 kb.
June 25, 2004
To start off, set back from the street in a nook between two skyscrapers, are nine sections of the original Berlin Wall. The sections are covered with artwork from three different artists, and there are several placards placed in front that talk about the wall. See those pictures! They also have an original East German guard tower from near Checkpoint Charlie.
To the left of this display is a set of steps (the entire park moves uphill in terraced steps as it broadly curves to the right) leading up to a series of symbols of freedom from around the world. Among the symbols are cast bronze replicas of the Goddess of Democracy located in Tienamen Square (similar to the Statue of Liberty, but with oriental eyes), a South African ballot box (end of apartied), the door to the jail cell where Martin Luther King, Jr was held, a small homemade boat used by Cuban refugees, reproductions of Women's Sufferage banners, an actual toppled stone statue of Lenin - sans head, a section of cobbles from the Warsaw Jewish ghetto, and finally, a slightly less than 1/2 scale bronze of "Freedom", the 1863 sculpture by Thomas Crawford that crowns the dome of the US Capitol building.
Still farther up is a Journalists Memorial, dedicated to those who gave their lives while practicing freedom of the press, known and unknown. A kiosk with a touchscreen terminal contains a directory of names on the memorial. There is also an attached Journalists Museum, but I haven't been in there yet.
Adjoining the memorial is a long curving series of fountains dedicated to early American journalism pioneers. Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Paine, James Gordon Bennett, Frederick Douglas, Horace Greeley (he of the advice to head west), and Ida B. Wells.
Across from the fountains are 270 pictures painted by kids that represent freedom. Freedom from Fear, Freedom of Religion, Freedom to Grow, Freedom to Learn, and so on.
Whoever designed the park did a nice job making it feel larger than it really is. It's impossible to hide the towering buildings around, but the eye is drawn downwards into the park itself. There are trees and grassy areas, and plenty of benches to enjoy the fresh air. This was a pleasant surprise to find, especially in the heart of the downtown area, and I'll probably go there often to have my lunch. If you're in the Rosslyn area of Arlington, you should check it out.
Posted by: Ted at
08:45 PM | category: Links
Comments (1)
| Add Comment
Post contains 476 words, total size 3 kb.
Posted by: Ted at
08:09 PM | category: Square Pegs
Comments (1)
| Add Comment
Post contains 14 words, total size 1 kb.
Kyle,
This is a test of the Remote Nog Watch Network. Please check on the nog when you get a chance and let me know the status. No hurry, no pressure, but millions of interested blog readers are sitting on the edge of their seats and gnawing their nails, wondering if this will work.Godspeed,
Ted
Associate NogWarden Dan responded almost immediately to let me know that a report would be forthcoming. Sounds official, doesn't it?
Soon enough for government work, NogWarden Kyle reported back:
The Nog Stands Alone. Tell everyone that they can stop chewing thier toenails. Maybe our friend in the fridge could start it's own NogBlog.
NogBlog. The very idea is frighteningly (now there's a word to win some bar bets with) dull, although I like the name a lot. Consider it copyrighted or patented or whatever, you intellectual property criminals, it belongs to m-... uh, Anonymous Kyle.
So yeah, the Remote NogWatch System is a success. And I learned a couple of things: first, friends are important when you want to get things done, and second, it takes some real work to suck as bad as Bill.
Posted by: Ted at
05:25 AM | category: Square Pegs
No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 236 words, total size 2 kb.
June 24, 2004
Whoops! Forgot to credit the link: Fleshbot, for naughtyness.
Posted by: Ted at
05:22 PM | category: Links
No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 41 words, total size 1 kb.
June 23, 2004
For a complete change of pace, I'll tell you about my humdrum home life. Last weekend I'd planned to replace the attic fan motor, but as usual, not only couldn't I find one at the HumongousHardwareChain, but they've restocked the place with all new clerks who graduated surly cum laude.
So instead, I helped my neighbor replace his picket fence. Much use of manly power tools was made. He was kind enough to give me a new fan motor (he's in that line of work), so this afternoon Mookie and I braved the sauna of the attic and knocked that item off the honey-do list.
And that about sums up life this week. Things will calm down soon enough, and return to as near to normal as it ever gets.
Posted by: Ted at
07:34 PM | category: Square Pegs
No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 180 words, total size 1 kb.
T&A stands for 'Time and Attendance',
T&A stands for 'Time and Attendance',
T&A stands for 'Time and -"
"Excuse me, Ted, did you have a question?"
"Oh. No, just making sure I have the terminology right."
Posted by: Ted at
06:43 PM | category: Square Pegs
Comments (2)
| Add Comment
Post contains 50 words, total size 1 kb.
June 22, 2004
I'm (re)learning JCL as part of my new project, and here's a couple choice tidbits from the reference book:
"The role of JCL sounds complex and it is - JCL is downright difficult."
No sugarcoating here, nosireebob!
"This book will explain JCL, but it won't try to make you like it because JCL is not a likable language."
My head hurts, but I'm having fun!
Posted by: Ted at
08:00 PM | category: Square Pegs
Comments (2)
| Add Comment
Post contains 102 words, total size 1 kb.
Thrust a dagger through his head?
I would not, could not, kill the King.
I could not do that evil thing.
I would not wed this girl, you see.
Now get her to a nunnery.
Posted by: Ted at
04:16 AM | category: Square Pegs
Comments (2)
| Add Comment
Post contains 50 words, total size 1 kb.
77 queries taking 0.1973 seconds, 241 records returned.
Powered by Minx 1.1.6c-pink.