The things in my head go 'round and 'round

Verizon has a catchy little commercial wrapped around that little phrase. Started out with the one geekly looking guy walking around with his telephone out asking

“Can you hear me now?”

And a lot of us bought it. Hook, line, and sinker. Me, and MLW included. See, a year ago we were with another cell phone carrier. And not happy. Seemed like we were being nickel and dimed to death. Rate increases, and we weren’t getting that great of reception. And then a few of MLW’s friends started talking to her about Verizon.

You see, MLW goes camping in the Fall with some of her High School classmates. In the mountains of Pennsylvania. All of her buddies were able to contact their significants without any problem. MLW had to borrow one of their phones to call The Princess and I.
That did not go over well. It was an inconvenience that did not need to be. So we started talking about changing carriers, and because I got a corporate rate from Verizon, we went with them.

Then we had to pick out phones. Me, I am not cool so I went with a Nokia flip phone. I works. It rings, life is good. But The Princess had to have a Strawberry Chocolate, and MLW had seen The Razr. That was that for them.

Until MLW found that her nifty, cute little phone got worse reception than what she had with the old company. So I called Verizon and told them our concerns. The nice lady on who answered the phone suggested that I take it to a Verizon store, or kiosk at the mall and have them do a “download”. And I did. Unfortunately, the nice young man at the kiosk told me that there wasn’t a whole bunch that could be done. That the Razr was a quick produced phone to match a competitor and would never equal the reception I get with my Nokia.

And I had to go back home and tell that to MLW. Not good. What was even more frustrating to her is that on our vacation last week, both The Princess and I had wonderful reception on our phones. While MLW had zip. So, she would have to use one of our phones to make any calls that she wanted to make.

Verizon, I am asking nicely. Please get me a phone that gets the reception that you advertise, is stylish, and I can afford for MLW. She is a hard working woman who has to put up with me on a daily basis. Let’s help the woman out, ok?

Thanks.

Namaste.

Those of us who live in and around Harrisburg, Pennsylvania need to take note of this date:

September 13, 2008.

That is the day that the Alzheimer’s Association will be holding a Alzheimer’s Memory Walk on City Island. These memory walks, held in more than 600 communities, are the nations largest events used to raise awareness, and funds. The funds are used to provide care, support, and research.

Mlw’s Maternal Grandmother was an Alzheimer victim. In the last years of her life she lost touch with what was happening to her in the here, and now. This strong woman who had worked a farm with her husband, raised many children, and supported them when her husband passed forgot the names of everyone around her. It was heart breaking to see.

That is why I am asking you today to find out when the walk is in your city, and to sign up. Go that one step further and become a Team Captain and make up your own team. A typical walk is 2-3 miles. Even I can do that much. Sign up now. Show you care.

Thank you.

Is it wrong for me to use the Jo Bros as a title knowing that it will rank higher in Google searches?

Knowing that some tweener in the middle of the night is going to be searching for some sniglet of information that she doesn’t already know about her one true love, and end up here? Is that wrong?

Somehow the parent in me wants to know what the heck that tweener is doing up in the middle of the night doing searches, instead of being in bed like they should be.

Moving on.

Only a scant few hours lie between me and 13 tweeners who will be coming to my house to help The Princess ransack and destroy said house. Yes, you read that correctly. 13 girls. All between the ages of 12, and 13. In my house. Overnight. And I have to work the next morning. Go to a meeting, actually, but it is a meeting that I can’t nod off in. Bummer.

The tweeners descend upon our house at 6pm Wednesday evening. We will do the obligatory present opening thing to get it out of the way first, and then we will be piling into vehicles to ferry said tweeners to The Sports Emporium.

Ominous background music inserted here.

At the Emporium of Sports we will be playing a raucous, and blood-thirsty game of laser tag. I get to play. Because I whined about it. After that, we come home. Eat cake, ice cream, and fire up the computers in the house so that dancing and merriment can commence.

I will be retreating to my back yard with a beer, ok lots of beer, a cigar, and The Roxinator. She doesn’t do well with large groups of people. She can’t focus on everything that is going on and it makes her fretful. Wimpy hound.

During all of this I just know that Google will be getting billions of hits off of my 2 computers for The Jonas Brothers. The Princess is going to their concert on Friday, while a couple of her friends saw them last week in Hershey. We were on vacation at the time, so she was unable to attend that particular show.

Much wailing, and gnashing of teeth inserted here.

So, you are now up to date on the goings on in my life. Other than the return to the soul sucking waste of time called my job that I had to return to yesterday.

But I don’t talk about work here.

Namaste.

I am not having a fun time with the “being back at home” stuff. I like being back at home, but along with the part of being back at home comes the part of going back to that soul sucking, waste of brain cells that is called a job.

We left North Carolina yesterday early for a couple of reasons. One was to get The Princess back for a television show she wanted to watch, and the other was to make sure that we could get through the madness that is I-95 heading into the Washington, DC area.

For those of you who have made that trek, you know that it is usually smooth sailing up until you get on the North side of Richmond, Virginia. At the point 295, which is the bypass around Richmond, dumps into I-95 and makes one hell of a mess. Traffic becomes stop and go,with people jockeying for position. Zipping from one lane to another. Doing the Motor Car Mambo. The Truck Tango. And it can be pretty amusing to watch. Or it can just send you right over the edge. It all depends on how well adjusted you are.

Me? It makes me crazy watching people mess up traffic by trying to leap frog their way through. MLW, and The Princess got to sleep through the mess. And it really was not that bad this year. I don’t know if there weren’t the same amount of people on the road because of gas prices, or what. But we made it home in record time. Safe and sound.

Now all I have to do is go back to that soul sucking, brain cell wasting job.

Crap.

As I have been whining about, we just got back from vacation. And it was not cheap this year. Gas prices were up incredibly from last year, food prices were up. We could hit a break anywhere we went.

I always get a little sweaty when I am spending the money that we do on vacation. It all seems to happen all at once, and watching the bank account go down that quickly makes my chest tighten up. And I know that I am not the only one who feels that way.

I always try to make sure that I have some money set aside for “just in case”. Not everyone has that capability. That is where Online Personal Loans could come in. As with any short term loan, you should read all of the fine print as to what rates you will be paying, and what all of the terms are. But in a pinch, a loan such as this could help get you through a tight spot.

Namaste.

I stole that line from a blogger who commented on this link that takes you to Always Home, and Uncool. He writes about BlogHer and the real happenings.

Too Funny.

Namaste.

We hurried up and left the beach so that we could make it home so that The Princess could watch a Miley Cyrus concert where her dream Nick Jonas would be performing with the remaining Jo Bros.

But unfortunately the Jo Bros have been a no show on the telepho-ne.

We got home with enough time to go to the store so that The Princess could buy the latest copy of The Rolling Stone, because the Jo Bros are on the front page. And to make life that much sweeter, the Brothers Jonas played at Hershey Park Friday night, and their pictures are on the front of the 2nd page.

The Princess is in nirvana.

And Sunday, the Disney Games are on. And guess who would be participating?

Come on. You can guess.

Go ahead. Come on.

Ok, I will tell you. Dream boy Nick, Cutie Pie Joe, and Jo Fro wearing Jo Bro Kevin.

So, maybe the Jo Bros are in Soho, hanging with J-lo, at the DoJo, playing Dobro, solo.

You guys gotta help me adding on to this. It is a whole lot of fun.

Namaste.

More commonly known around me as the Jo Bro Info.

Yesterday the Brothers Jonas were on Oprah. I was channel surfing and came across them. Notified The Princess and got out of the way because she planted herself in front of the TV. And when they sang she headed for the bedroom, shut the door, and locked it so that she could be alone with her flame Nick.

The whole fam was there. Dad Jonas, Mom Jonas, Frank “the tank” Jonas, and of course The Brothers Jonas. And they sang, and they capered, and they made the pre-pubescents in the crowd swoon.

Along with The Princess. She was happy.

But the Jo Bros have not called her as of yet to tell her that they want her to come Meet and Greet when she goes to their concert in Scranton.

That is not making life around Casa Dodd happy.

Get on the stick Jo Bro’s!!

Namaste.

I make the bestest crabby patties that there are out there. Just ask me, and I will tell you.
Really. Phillips crab meat, and crab mix, then broil them for 5 minutes each side. Serve either by themselves, or put them on an onion roll and enjoy.

MMMMMMM.

Sounds good just reading about it, doesn’t it? You can be jealous, it is ok.

I also make some mean tacos.

We had a bunch of food this week. A bunch of food. I will be rolling home next to the van on Saturday. And then the cut back on intake will begin yet again.

As we start our planning for next years vacation to the beach. We didn’t think that we would be coming back next year, but I got talking to a friend who mentioned that he and his wife would like to come down. I suggested we go in on a house, he thought that that was a good idea. Now we just have to get our wives on the same page, we are all set.

And I will do whatever I need to do to be able to come to the shore for vacation. And to The Flying Pig. Can’t forget The Flying Pig. Especially since they will be having to expand due to my promotion, and due to you, fair readers, as you journey down to the North Carolina coast for vacation.

Namaste.

Inquiring Minds Want to Know

A few dozen of my most loyal readers wanted to know where I ended up in my search for WiFi on Oak Island.

Ok, a couple of my 10 readers wanted to know. Sheesh, that guilty conscious of mine gets to be a real drag at times.

The Flying Pig Coffeehouse is where I ended up. We tried Island Brews Coffee Shop, but had no luck in connecting. And one of you folks out there (Nick, who is heading for the shore as you are reading this. Have a safe trip, Nick.) did a google and came up with The Flying Pig Coffeehouse. So if you are heading to Oak Island, North Carolina and don’t have internet access in your house/condo you should head up to The Flying Pig Coffeehouse. The coffee is great, and they are really nice people.

I did let them know that after I post this, they will have to expand their business due to the phenomenon known as the Dodd Bump. Similar to the Colbert Bump, but different. I figured when the thousands of my readers decide that they have to come to North Carolina just because I did, the business’ that I give the Dodd Bump to will need to expand to handle the flow.

I can have my dreams, you can have yours.

Namaste.