The things in my head go 'round and 'round

I loved the tv show Miami Vice. Loved it. Loved the music, loved the scenery, loved the whole vibe from it. It was on the edge. A few of the companies who supplied props and costumes for the series became pretty famous also. One of those was a company who made the holster for Don Johnsons character. LaPoliceGear dot com. The holster is known as a Galco Shoulder Holster. The Galco holsters used in Miami Vice used to be known as a “Jackass shoulder rig” due to the company being originally called “The Original Jackass Leather Company”.

LaPoliceGear dot com carries a large number of items used by the Police, Recue Companies, and the Military. Some items have free shipping, and some even offer gifts with your purchase.

Now there is a deal.

Namaste.

And here I go taking on the coporate giants once again. Though the first time I talked about a major corporation I was being very positive in my assessment of their product.

Of course, I happened to be going for the all important suck-up-send-me-some-free-stuff side of the issue.

It didn’t work.

Now, though. This time I am pissed off yet once again.

The story….

Here in the Great State of Pennsylvania we have this quaint law that states that every car on the road has to be annually inspected. Whether it needs it or not. This is to, ostensibly, guarantee the all of the cars on Pennsylvania roads are safe to operate. All of the lights work, the brakes work, and that they have adequate tread on their tires.

Yeah right. In reality it is to keep the shoddy garage mechanics in a job. Case in point.

My truck needed tires to pass inspection. I called Sears and ordered the tires I needed, and arranged for an appointment. I was told that no appointment was needed. Just show up at 7:30. I did, signed all of the paperwork needed, and went back to a waiting room with crappy tv reception, no clock, and tool sales literature to read. After a couple of hours spent walking with geriatrics (you can read about it here) I was told that my tires would not come off. Thinking that the tire guys were nuts, I took my truck and new tires home and started trying to get a local mechanic to deal with this. So that I can get my inspection sticker so that I don’t get a ticket for not having one.

Tell me that all the state agencies don’t get a swig at this trough.

I have a garage up the street from me. Called them and arranged a day and time. Went to the garage at the appointed day and time, and found out that they were closed. Called them later that afternoon to find out the next time I could come in, and all I got was “sorry, something came up”.

I did finally get my tires on, so today I went back to the garage that told me that I needed tires so that they could complete my inspection. And the reason I didn’t have the original garage do the tires is that they don’t do tires.

I can understand that.

Tires seem to be a real pain in the heinie for everyone in Pennsylvania. Especially those of us who need new tires, and have to look for some poor fool that will actually put them on the vehicle.

All of this in the spirit of keeping the residents of Pennsylvania safe from one another. Because given our druthers, we all would drive around in rusted out heaps that would endanger not only the surrounding populace, but ourselves.

Because that is the way we roll.

Namaste.

Not to be mistaken with “The Deadliest Catch” on Discovery.

This season is the Prom, and Graduation season for our kids, and us. According to folks who gather information out there, more kids are killed in automobile accidents in June, July, and August than any other time.

During this time our kids have the most time on their hands. They are traveling with their friends going to and from shopping, movies, amusement parks, work. And the more time they spend behind the wheel, the more danger they are in.

Scary words, and I am trying to scare you. Now is the time to be talking to your kids about drinking and driving. About not riding with someone who has been drinking, or taking drugs. Tell your kids to call you, tell them that they are more precious to you than a couple of hours of sleep. Tell them that you won’t make a big deal about it at the time. That can wait until later.

Tell them you love them, and you want them safe.

Make this vacation season a time they will never forget. Not one that you wish you could.

Namaste.

You know what fubar means don’t you?

F@@@ed Up Beyond All Recall.

Fubar.

Started with trying to get the remaining 2 tires put on my truck. Which I have been working on for the past 3 weeks. Went to drop the truck off this morning, and found that the garage was closed until noon. WTF??

Then I had to run something to the school for The Princess. Now I am going to go to the Dr to have a mole taken off of the back of my head.

Because I am tired of trying to shave my head around it. I tag it way too many times and it bleeds like a stuck pig. So, it is time to get it taken off. The only concern I have is that I hope that it doesn’t leave a divot in my head. That would make it as difficult to shave as it is now.

I am not about difficult. I am all about easy.

And all of this has thrown off my grocery shopping that was supposed to happen today.

Bitch, bitch, bitch.

Going now to have my head cut into.

Namaste.

the various mis-spellings forgiven. I hope that I made it very apparent that the food at the restaurant mentioned in the previous post was absolutely wonderful. I had a dish called chesapeke chicken that looked like a crab cake, and tasted like heaven.

It was just the service that sucked. And that is what makes me the maddest. It was like we were stuck in a vortex of suckiness that no one could save us from. We just kept whirling around and around. And that is not acceptable to me. We were apologized to, but nothing changed. An apology means nothing if you don’t make sure that you change the behavior that resulted in needing to apologize.

That seems simple.

So what about you? What has been your worst restaurant experience? Let us know about it, would you?

Thanks,

Namaste.

As I have directed a bunch of people over here to read this.

Like “this” is an actual place and not a graphic representation of a bunch of electric impulses. Sheesh.

Whatever….

Last week Saturday MLW and I along with some friends, and some of their friends all went to a brew pub in Harrisburg called Appalachian Brewing Company. Our friends, not to be mistaken for THEIR friends, (who MLW and I know and like quite a bit….) had made reservations for our large party of 10.

Did I mention that there were 10 of us? Hungry, thirsty guys and gals. Just keep that in mind.

So we get to the Brewery, which also has a restaurant, only to find that they had messed up our reservations. Pretty much forgot about them. So they put us at a couple of different tables seperated by a wall. One that you could talk over. You know what I mean.

So there we sat. Us, and our friends. Waiting for the remaining 6 to join us. Waited. Thirsty. 4 of said friends came in and sat at the table that was seperated from us by the talking overable wall. And we did talk. And my table watched as a waitress came to their table and took their drink orders.

Have I mentioned that we haven’t seen a waitress yet? Very thirsty. And this is a Brew Pub.

Then their waitress took their appetizer order. And my table is getting thirstier.

When their appetizers came, I had had enough. I went up to the Manager and introduced myself. Reminded him that our reservations had been screwed up, and that he had us seated in an area where there is no waitress. Asked him if he wanted our busines, or should we go up the street. Said Manager assured me that he wanted our business, and got a waitress to come to our table.

A surly waitress. You know the kind. You wonder if they are spitting into your drinks before they bring said drinks. Which we hadn’t gotten to yet.

Moving on. Said waitress took our drink orders. FINALLY!! And we were momentarily happy. MLW and the her wife counter part had ordered water, and wc ordered root beer, while MLW ordered ginger beer. Both brewed on the premises with the beer. My husband counterpart and I ordered a sampler of the house beers. 8 different beers. Keep that in mind, as it will come into play here in a few sentences.

The wives drinks arrived. Well, 3/4′s of them. The water was their, and so was the root beer for WC. But no ginger beer for MLW. Not good. MLW inquired where her ginger beer was and surly waitress says, “we are out of it. And you probably wouldn’t have liked it to begin with.”

Not a good move. MLW does not like it when people presume to know what she does, and doesn’t want. Especially when she doesn’t even know the person. And she informed the surly wench of such, and ordered a root beer.

Surly wench drug her knuckles back to her lair of despair.

She came back with MLW’s root beer, and our sampler of beer. Or should I say 3/4′s of our sampler. Yes, you guessed it. 6 out of 8 beers. When asked where the other two glasses were, she said that “they have run out of glasses.”

I asked how could a pub run out of glasses, and got a shrug for my trouble.

At which time I told her that maybe she could go to the front of the restuarant and get 2 glasses out of the case where they are selling the glasses to the public, wash them, and get my the rest of my fricking beer!! It was bad enough to have screwed up out reservations, seated us in a waitress-less section, and then give us a knuckle dragger as a stand in, mess up MLW’s drink order, and finally mess up a beer order.

Have I mentioned that this is a Brew Pub? Inside a working brewery?

With all of that said and done. The food was excellent. Top notch.

The beer, not so much. I was not thrilled but by one called a zoileg lager. It was really good.

And that was the story of our Big Saturday Night Out. We went to see Steve Earle which is another story.

Namaste.

MLW has great taste in music. Eclectic, and right on target. She is the one who got me interested in Richard Thompson, Patty Griffin, and countless others.

Singer song writers are where it is all at. I was listening to Patty Griffin last night coming home from work. Other Voices, Other Rooms was the CD. I describes my life before meeting MLW. Says all of the things that I would say to describe those times, if I wanted to put the words together. But my words are too close to me and that time. I would have to get more distance than 12 years could give me.

So I listen to Patty Griffin, and remember what it was like before I was given the lifeline MLW gave.

Namaste.

In one episode of “Cheers”, Cliff is seated at the bar describing the Buffalo Theory to his buddy, Norm. I don’t think I’ve ever heard the concept explained any better than this:

“Well you see, Norm, it’s like this . . . A herd of buffalo can only move as fast as the slowest buffalo. And when the heard is hunted, it is the lowest and weakest ones at the back that are killed first. This natural selection is good for the herd as a whole, because the general speed and health of the whole group keeps improving by the regular killing of the weakest members. In much the same way, the human brain can only operate as fast as the slowest brain cells. Now, as we know, excessive intake of alcohol kills brain cells. But naturally, it attacks the slowest and weakest brain cells first. In this way, regular consumption of beer eliminates the weaker brain cells, making the brain a faster and more efficient machine. And that, Norm, is why you always feel smarter after a few beers.”

I never was a big fan of BTO during my rock ‘n roll years. Well, that implies that those years are over. They aren’t. At least not yet.

Moving on. The song “Taking care of Business” has become a parody of itself in the way that it has been used over the years. So I apologize for the use of it here.

Sorry.

But I spend a lot of my time reading blogs about blogging. I know that I have mentioned that here before. Again, forgive me for being repetitive. But the reason I mention it here is that one of the guys I read posted something that everyone who is interested in any kind of wealth should read, and internalize. He talks about instead of going for the big win, go for a bunch of little ones. Read about it here, at bloggernoob.com/

Read it and learn.

Namaste.

Going on vacation in July. But the planning starts now.

Well. Actually the planning started last year. Right after we got back from our vacation.

I know. We are weird like that. It starts as a thought of what we would like to do the next year. We talk about it a little. Get through the holidays, and then when January comes and we are dreaming of someplace warm, we start talking about shere we are going to go on vacation.

North Carolina. That is where we are going to go again. Oak Island.

We have been to Oak Island 4 times now, I do believe. And we love it. We get a house right on the ocean, and settle in. The sun, the wind, the ocean, the moon. There is nothing like it.

We saw sea turtles hatching last year. We had a hatching area right in front of the house. We knew it was there because of all of the signs posted telling us to “Keep Off The Dunes!!” And “Sea Turtle Nest!! Keep Out!!” We are rather intuitive in these things.

Regardless. This year we are going to a different area than where we have usually gone. Closer to town. Taking bikes for The Princess and her friend so that they can ride around and be teenagers. This is going to be weird.

Wish me luck.

Namaste.