Truth in advertising ... kind of

O.K., my officemate showed me this advert for a house for sale in Philly. It was just begging to be blogged.

You tell me, after looking at the picture of said home and then reading the description, your reaction.

Long and Foster property for sale in zip 19143

Whirlpool ups the ante to US$1.79B for Maytag

Whirlpool must be pretty determined to put the Maytag Repair Man out to permanent pasture. They have raised, for the third time, the amount they are willing to pay to buyout Maytag. The amount of US$1.79 billion consists of cash and stock purchases.

Points if you can name one movie the original Maytag Repair Man actor was in.

The headcold that wouldn't die!

It sounds like a great title for a really awful "B" horror movie.

This cold will not quit! My hearing, which is poor to start off, has darn near bottomed out. Even though I can't taste anything, I insist that chicken soup and all sorts of carbs will make me feel much better (that and a good cup of tea). I sound like a damn coke addict with all my constant sniffling. I now carry around a box of tissues everywhere. I'm starting to consider them part of my wardrobe.

And don't let those advert magnates of the paper product companies fool you. Not all tissues are made alike. When it comes to quality, take it from me and spend the extra cents in buying the higher end. Inexpensive tissues suck. You need three cheap Kleenex to make up for one decent Puffs. You'd be better off using aluminum foil to blow your nose than with some low-grade tissues.

As a side note, I love watching horror and sci-fi films. Alas, I haven't watched too many lately. The last was "Shaun of the Dead". My good blogfriend, Pax, likend the movie to Monty Python and the Marx Brothers. I saw the movie more as the Young Ones meet Dawn of the Dead.

Why Mondays should be outlawed

Did you ever have on eof those days where the things just pile one after the other? You think to yourself that it just couldn't get any worse and it does.

Welcome to this past Monday in my world.

You all know I was sick over the weekend. I wasn't in work Friday, nor did I go last Wednesday because the baby was sick, and I took a half day last Tuesday for her doctor's appointment. So out of five days, I was in work for half.

I still felt sick Monday but I couldn't afford another day off from work. It wasn't a financial thing but a workload thing. If I'm not in, the work waits til I get there. I knew I was going to face Mount Backlog and I didn't want to delay it any longer than I have.

I could not even move Monday morning. I stayed in bed for an extra hour and a half after the alarm went off. I figured on "better late than never". So now I am late for work and I am sick.

I couldn't find my only set of car keys. Twenty minutes later, I found them ... on the hook ... where they belong. Ah.

After getting me and the baby ready for the day, we start to pull out of the driveway. I hear the familiar thump-thump-thump.

Dammit!

Rear passenger tire is as flat as ... well ... a really flat tire.

Called AAA for service. Now I'm sick and late and I have to get a tire repaired.

It was a nail (damn road construction). My mechanic, who is expensive but good, fixed it with a plug for under $20. O.K., we're on the road. I'm back to being sick and late.

I drop off the baby at school. No big to do there.

I get to work. I work in my office and look at my desk. My in basket was cracked and sagging under the weight of work waiting for me. I had twentysome e-mails and, for the first time in a while, most were important. My immediate boss tells me that I have to prepare verification of account letters for our auditors. It sounds simple but it's really a pain in the keester. Top that littel morsel off with us switching banks at work. Again, sounds like a "whatever". It's a big deal to me. That's two banks I have to get daily info from and put into our system. Add to that the fact I hadn't received any bank info on the new bank and we opened the account in July. And when did i fianlly get the info? That's right ... the day I was out. That was a backlog from Hades. I was depositing receipts in the wrong bank ledger, putting credit cards in the old ledger, etc. I turned a posting that normally takes twenty minutes into an hour and half chore. And I had two days worth to catch up.

I finally caught up this afternoon at, no lie, 4:54PM. I was lucky I could blog yesterday. Blogging was out today (bastards). I'm lucky I got out of work on time.

Back to normal tomorrow. Well, my version of normal anyway.

It's stuck in my head

Did you ever get a song in your head that refuses to vacate? My song right now is "Love Rollercoaster" the remake version by the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Points if you know why I reference Beavis and Butthead.

Missing Monday - Brianna Maitland since 03/19/04

Brianna Maitland was last seen Friday, March 19, 2004. She was seen leaving her job at the Black Lantern Inn Restaurant in Montgomery VT. The total reward monies available for her are $20,000.00. Anyone with information regarding the disappearance of Brianna Maitland should contact the VSP at 802-524-5993, or call Bruce and Kellie Maitland, Brianna’s parents, at 802-933-6255.

For more information, please click on Brianna's picture above to go to a web site created in her name by friends and family.

What if you lost it all?

Why do I read financial web sites? We have no money to invest yet I know some of the best funds to purchase. I am scared to play the stock market yet each time I track a potential winner, it goes through the roof. Oh well.

Reading those sites did conjure up an interesting, thought provoking question. People who play the lottery always dream about all the crap they'll do if they're the big winner (or even the second big winner). Ask anyone, "What are 5 things you would do if you won $500,000?" and that person would have no problem in giving you at least two ideas in less than six seconds. Everyone has dreams.

Here's the question: What would you do if you owed $500,000? You didn't win anything - you lost. Don't consider it a gambling question and slough it off by saying, "Well, I play the lottery but I don't GAMBLE gamble". No, you can't get out of the scenerio that easily. You are too quick in spending imaginary winnings. How would you handle an imaginary loss?

The newest mobile phone market - kindergarten!

No, I'm not kidding. The mobile phone industry is bringing to the market kiddie phones. The picture is not of a toy but an actual mobile phone designed specifically for children to use. It's called Mobile Firefly by Firefly. It's designed with chunky buttons so even a toddler could use it. The buttons have pictures on them for ease in dialing programmed numbers. And those are the only numbers that the phone will dial. There is no number pad so there is no fear of junior calling Peru at peak time. It even comes with a headset with purchase of a bundled package.

It seems the cell phone industry has done almost all it can to saturate the market with over-the-top hi-tech gizmos. We now have phones that take photos, shoot videos, play video games and MP3'S, retrieves and sends e-mail, run Microsoft (c) products, etc. I like a phone that can make and receive calls. All that other crap is just more stuff that can go wrong with it. But I must be in the minority because phones are getting more complex what with being able to call, e-mail, shoot, snap, and send.

With a bloated adult market, the natural thing for any industry to do is go after the kids. Why not? The money is going to come from the adults anyway. This is just a different route to the wallet. I guess the people working in R and D departments in mobile phone corporations figure if it works other industries, why not ours? I can't argue with that logic.

Will I be one of those parents who will buy her child a cell phone? Possibly. It's not because I want my kid to be hip, cool, and part of the in-crowd. I look at it for safety reasons. With all the daft stuff that happens in the world today, it will be my own piece of mind to know my child can reach me anytime she needs me.

I'll just wait a few years. For now, she can "call" nana or daddy or whoever on her toy phone. She has plenty of time to grow-up and I'm not pushing it.

It's Geo's Birthday!

O.K., the man doesn't read my blog so I consider this more of a tribute post to him.

And he won't be home until late tonight. He has a drop-off appointment on Long Island at 11:00AM. That's Long Island!!!! He has to drive from there in an eighteen wheeler in rush hour traffic back to Philly. Add all that together and you get one trucker in a bad mood on his brithday. How nice.

As he said to me on the phone last night, "Ain't that a bitch. Happy f*cking birthday to me."

At least we have the weekend to make up for it.

great - it's my turn

For the love of chocolate, now I am sick. It started the day the baby was sick. And I didn't sleep an ounce last night. Damn sinuses.

Once again, I'm home.

Adidas to buy Reebok for US$3.8 billion

Wow! This was impressive news in the world of business. I was getting rather tired of hearing how this oil company has bought that oil company, and how this bank did a hostile takeover of that bank. Now we has the athletic apparel world shaken by the recent agreement of sale between Reebok and Adidas.

Both of these brands ruled the sneaker industry in the 1980's. Reebok cornered the market on the Flashdance lovin', pop star worshipping, slouch sock wearin' crowd. I mean you were totally like a nerd or something if you didn't have the cool British flag on your aerobic hightop sneakers. Along with fedoras, Adidas, with the help of Run DMC, went to the top of the emerging hip-hop crowd's ensemble. The 1980's truly were a time of name brand love.

Adidas will also have the privilege in dressing the NFL and NBA as well as the major soccer leagues. Plus, they get the extremely lucrative and very expensive pro-gear lines made available to the public.

Both Reebok and Adidas were always in Nike's rear view mirror. Now it looks like a combined company will give Nike a run for their money.

sparrows dropping like flies around here

Last week, my officemate said to me, "There seems to be a lot of dead birds outside." I, being the ever attentive person, said,"Huh?"

officemate: "Dead birds. Haven't you noticed?"

me: "Are they on the sidewalk?

officemate: "No, there along the side of building and in the flowerbeds."

me: "How many are we talking?"

officemate: "I've seen two."

Curiosity took over and I ran outside in the death heat and sure enough, there was a dead bird in one of the flowerbeds. I looked up at the building and saw it was under rows of windows and thought, "Probably hit a window."

Well, once again in my existence, I was wrong.

She came in the office today holding a couple of little silver balls. She looked at me and said, "Mystery solved.

me: "What mystery?"

officemate: "About the birds."

me: "What birds?

officemate: "The dead ones. There are two more outside and tens of these all over the ground."

me: (observing the silver spheres) "Oh, how cute. Someone got a new BB gun and they are using the sparrows as target practice."

I work in an industrial park and this is not what one would expect to see. I honestly wouldn't expect to see it anywhere except in some kid's backyard.

You'd think people would have better things to do with their time than shoot little birds.

Missing Person Mondays

I got this idea from Pax's blog who got the idea from Taz and Piggy's blog. The boys are designating every first Monday of the month Missing Person Monday. On that day, they will post information on a missing person's case. This is in response to the LaToyia Figueroa case here in Philly.

Personally, I am designating every Monday as Missing Person Monday. I already did my first post this past Monday on Tamika Huston, a case from Spartanburg SC. Whenever there is a bank holiday on Monday, I'll try to post; however, more than likely, the post will go on the following business day.

If anyone has any ideas or know of a cold case that needs some fresh attention, let me know either through the comments section or e-mail me.

And if you have a blog, or if you are considering starting a blog, think about designating your first Monday of the month to a missing person.

As the boys from across the pond said, "It only takes a minute or two of our time. But it could, just could, save someones life or, at the very least, bring some respite to a desperate family."

I am a Geek Barbie

Please don't get me started on this one.


Take the quiz: "Which Barbie Are You?"

Geek Barbie
Hair up, glasses, and an IQ of 159. You design rockets for a living and run a server cluster in your living room. You speak 4 languages fluently but you spend most of your time speaking middle english in a role playing game online. You eat hotpockets and drink anything with caffeine and sugar.

Shelly's Pharmacy is no more

The baby's little tummy is really bothering her. I remembered when I was alittle kid and my stomach really hurt me, my mom gave me cola syrup to calm it. And we have no Coca-Cola (tm) in this house anywhere. Figures.

I loaded a rather unhappy sick toddler into the car and head off to the local Rite Aid. As I we walk through the door (well, I was walking and holding 28 pounds), I read a sign that says "All Shelly's Pharmacy prescriptions are welcome". I joked with one of the employees and said, "What, did Rite Aid buy out Shelly's ha-ha-ha?" She looked at me and said "Yes" with the shrugged shoulders and duh facial expression.

WTF??!

Now I find out Shelly's was purchased by Rite Aid a few months ago. The location I remember from my youth on Frankford Ave near Academy was converted to a Rite Aid in June. Though it's really not the original store. That burnt down a while ago, so Shelly rebuilt a newer flashier store.

Shelly's Pharmacy was great. If you needed something along the lines of pharmaceutical products, chances were they had it. Triple Paste Ointment for the baby's diaper rash? They had it. Gripe Water when she was colicky? They had it. None of the other pharmacies in the area carried this stuff. I always took Shelly's for granted.

I even remember Shelly, the owner! My parents were regulars at his store. I got my first DC Comic action figure there. It was a Mego Batman who stood about 7 or 9 inches tall and he had a removable cowl. He's worth some bucks without the card. If you had one MOC, that's quite a few bucks. I got a LOT of now priceless collectable toys at Shelly's. Now it's no more.

For the second time in as many weeks, another part of my childhood ceased to exist. Damn. I thought I was to young for nostalgic moments. Wrong again.

morning - it's an adventure around these parts

The whole family was passed out by the time 9:00 rolled around last night. First to go was Geo. He had three hours sleep the night before so he had a legitimate excuse. The baby went next around 8:15. I thought it was because she had no nap yesterday. Wrong. MOre on that in a minute. And here I was. I had a half day at work, took the baby to the doctor, and did pretty much nothing after that. So I was obviously exhausted. O.K., I have no excuse for being as tired as I was last night.

This morning has already been eventful.

Geo went to jury duty so that's no big deal. Well, it will be a big deal if he gets picked for a trial. Family finances will take a serious friggin bite. His company will pay him minimum pay for the day which totally blows. He said he'll avoid being picked by telling them he hates everyone and that public hangings should be reintroduced to society in the form of a new reality TV channel. I told him everyone does the former, but the latter had potential.

The baby is a different story. She did not want to wake up this morning. I thought she was just being difficult like any 2 year old. She was lying in her crib, eyes open, staring around at her room. Geo walked in and picked her up. She is a total daddy's girl. I could be on fire and she'd walk by my burning body to give her daddy a glass of water. Geo walked her into the living room and she flopped in her Dora chair. TV went on and she was mesmorized by Pooh and Friends. That bought me some time to get ready for work.

I got dressed, got her lunch made, drank some rather good coffee (Chock Full O' Nuts), and proceeded to get the baby ready for school.

I laid her down on the floor and was getting ready to change her diaper. She then threw her hands on her face and it sounded like she blew her nose in her hands. Ewwwwww! I grabbed her hands to survey the damage and thought to myself, "Good heavens , this kid just blew one helluva honker!" Wrong. She was getting sick ... on her back ... and breathing it in. I quickly picked her up and let her lean on my arm so get this stuff out of her. Then she started crying. I used my best soothe voice to let her know it was O.K. to barf away if she needed to and that she needed a bath big time. Poor little thing.

One bath and half a piece of dried toast later, she is on the living room floor watching the Disney Channel.

And here I am at home blogging. Work may not be happy with me, but when it comes down to either work or my family, work will always lose.

too tired to post

All went well with the baby's visit. It's a control issue. Great.

Geo is home tonight. He has jury duty tomorrow. Ha-ha!

I'm tired and I need some rest; hence, it is time to sleep.

Will talk tomorrow.

going to the doctor's today

The baby is with nana and pop-pop today. She has an appointment with a pediatric gastroenterologist. The poor little thing has difficulties. I've been telling her for weeks if her problems don't get any better she'll need to see a doctor and she will NOT like what the doc has in store for her. That might work on a child over five but on a toddler of 2.5, forget it.

So I've been rather busy here in work so this will be a short post.

There ... see, I'm done. Will post later.

Geo took the above picture. It was from Williamsburg this past Saturday. The baby was doing her best Gene Kelly impersonation. She's a little hambone.

Fifes, Rain, and Yellow Jackets

I love weekend getaways. I love having a weekend somewhere other than the homestead. I love the spur of the moment adventures each minute brings when your itinerary is as empty as my head.

I hate coming home. That is a total drag. You go from carefree and whatever to "sweet mother of all that is holy, we left the milk out of the fridge."

One bummer this past weekend was the weather. Mother Nature did not want to cooperate with us. It rained off and on the whole time. Add rainy weather with high temperatures. What a combo. So it was hot, steamy, and gloomy. At least we did get to do one touristy thing.

Colonial Williamsburg rocks! O.K., it rocks if you are into history which, thankfully, both Geo and I are. I admit it has turned into quite the polished tourist trap. For pete's sake, we had to PAY to get in. Well, not really get on the grounds. Anyone and their dog can walk the grounds of Colonial Williamsburg (there were a lot of those there). No, you pay to see certain attractions. The more you pay, the more you are permitted to see. If we would have known we could walk around and not pay, guess what route we would have taken? The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation claims the fees are to help preserve the area. Yeah, that's great, but we still would have avoided paying. At least the baby was a freebie.

The baby thought the guys playing the drums and fifes were pretty cool. She loves music in all forms. If she could have figured a dance beat, little one would have squirmed out of the stroller to get up and jam.

The food there is adequate. If you're hungry, you can be fed. You'll pay through the nose for something that should cost half the rate. They did have one excellent cup of coffee at the "coffee house". It was "old world" or "new world" blend. I forget. Geo went in to get it. He also bought one of the tartest cups of lemonade I ever had in my life. I could have made five glasses of regular strength lemonade using that one cup. Just thinking about it is making the saliva glands work OT.

The one part of Williamsburg I did not like was the floor show. The star of the show was yours truly. What was the floor show you might ask? That was when a baby yellow jacket decided to land and sting me on the back of my neck. It was the "red hot needle jammed in the skin and left for GP" type of pain. That friggin hurt!!! So what does any rational person do when they feel something stinging an area you can not see? They slap the back of their neck with a force that would have knocked out Mike Tyson circa 1992, and then rake across the back of said neck tearing away all flesh. You mean that isn't what you're supposed to do? Oh crap. Maybe that explains why Geo was yelling at me when he saw the damage I did. I kept yelling, "Do you see a stinger?" His reply was "No, not with all the blood from your gashes, you dope!" Once the swelling from the sting went down, the mark disappeared; however, I'm now stuck with three huge scratches on the back of my neck.

And then there was the French couple who watched me walk around in a huge circle repeating "damn" for over five minutes whilst holding my bloody neck. What a lovely impression I left for them.

Tamika Huston (Spartanburg SC) - Missing Since 06/2004

Tamika Huston hailed from Spartanburg, SC. She disappeared either the last week of May or the first week of June 2004. There is a $30,000 reward for valid information leading to her whereabouts.

Anyone with information please contact Investigator Jay Steadman at 864-596-2035 or 864-596-2065.

Update 08/22/2005: Tamika is no longer missing. Her confessed killer, Christopher Lamont Hampton, led police to her remains over the August 13 - 14 weekend. Hampton, who was Tamika's boyfriend at the time of her disappearance, has been charged with her murder.

Rest In Peace now, Tamika.