Astounding

English: Stack of books in Gould’s Book Arcade, Newtown, New South Wales (NSW), Australia. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I find it astounding that there are some books that I cannot read, though I will watch TV series and movies based off them.  Case in point, I have attempted to read A Game of Thrones twice.  The furthest I have gotten is someplace shy of page 100.  Yet, I have devoured HBO series, working through Season One and with only four more episodes left in Season Two.

Is there any book that you have not been able to read, though you can watch the story presented in other media?

Thinking Back

English: A DVD that has severely degraded and become unplayable. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

I remember a time when if you scratched your album, all it would do is skip.  Or if you bought it on a hot summer day and ran a few more errands before heading home, you ran the risk of the album melting and warping into something unplayable.  Or, if you drop it on just the right surface, it would actually break.

 

I remember audio and video cassettes.  Leave one of them too close to a magnet, and WHAMO!  I had one actually destroyed in a store as I was buying it because the cashier passed it over the same security demagnitizer that the used for the books.  Thankfully, they took the return given the situation.

 

I remember all of this while I set aside my copy of Green Lantern Emerald Knights, a DVD I just recently tried to rewatch, only to be thwarted by a few persistent motes of dust that I just can’t seem to blow off of it.

 

Flu Map

I was just looking at a map of the United States with color coding for flu outbreaks.  On the map, my state has significantly less flue cases than the surrounding states.

I guess that means that not even the flu wants to be in Connecticut.

Related articles

• Map: Flu Rampant Throughout U.S. (pbs.org)

Does This Ever Happen To You?

Does this ever happen to you?

You stumble across something all the time.  It is something that is pretty much useless, yet you are always finding it.  Yet, when you actually have use for that item, you cannot find it anywhere.

In my case, this item is a reusable lid for cans, like for cat food or dog food.  I have seen this thing all over the house, even in spots where it really should not be.  Yet now, when I actually have use for such an item, I cannot fin the damn thing anywhere.

I sometimes wonder if there is some force in the universe that is keeping me from finding these items when I want them.  I run into this all the time at book stores.  I pick up the first in a series of books.  I read it and like it.  So I decide to pick up the second book of the series.  Sure enough, that book, which I saw with the first book, is now out of stock everywhere.

Does something go around making sure these things are lost to me when I want them?  And how does it know I want them?  Does it listen for me to say, “Hey, that was cool, I’ll read the next book now”?  Or does it read my mind and know to move the reusable can lid from where I last saw it to a completely different part of the house, one where such an item would never be found again?

Fair Time Again

Big E 2010 (Photo credit: pannenko)

It’s time for the Big E here in New England.

After a corn dog, a sno cone, a chocolate covered Twinkie, a waffle burger (that would be two burgers with cheese and bacon on Belgian Waffles), a giant pretzel, another sno cone, three bottles of water and countless samples, I think I’m all eaten out.

I’m actually a little glad I passed on the fried Samoas and the chocolate covered bacon… this time.

Five Things That Make You Ask, “Is It Just Me?”

P question (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Is it just me, or…

• Do you ever see a TV in a restaurant or a bar with the sound turned down and for a moment, think that the music you are hearing is syncing with the people on the screen?
• Did you ever have a dream where you hear a sound and not know where it is coming from, only to realize that it is your alarm clock going off?
• Have you ever felt the need to walk on the curb like it’s a balance beam and you are in the Olympics?
• Have you ever spent a half an hour searching the internet for the source of a quote you heard at random?
• Have you ever thought it would be cool to be able to fly only for the sole purpose of avoiding traffic?

Five More Annoying People To Be Stuck Behind In Line

register keys (Photo credit: Joelk75)

My intent had been to stay with the five most annoying people that I posted last night.  Yet, surprisingly, I realized two things.  First, there are a whole bunch of people who are almost just as annoying as the five I listed.  Secondly, there had been a specific incident which got me thinking about this list, but it somehow managed to not even rank in the top 5.  Go figure.

Thus, I present to you five more annoying people to be stuck behind in line.

• “I’m Kind Of In Line, But Not Really, Sort Of” – This actually happened to be at a local Barnes and Noble.  I got behind this guy to prepare to pay for my magazines and books since it seemed like he was in line.  At least, I thought he was in line, it was tough to tell because when the line moved up, he didn’t, lingering to look at the latest Stephen King book.  Then he shifted back, then forth.  And when I was just about to ask if he was in line, he closed the gap… slightly.  The reason why this one sticks in my mind was that once the guy got to the register to pay for his one book, he checked his left pocket, then his right pocket, and realized that he did not bring his wallet in with him.
• Line Cutters – Line cutters are not never really in front of you, never officially.  But line cutters belong on this list because they put themselves in front of you.  This is especially easy in some stores where there is a line of cashiers with one side for the people buying, and one side for the people who just paid.  Line cutters will swoop in through the exit side, bypassing the line of people who are waiting to pay.  If you are lucky, you will actually get a cashier who will direct the line cutter to the back of the line and not ring them up.  I like to applaud those cashiers, the unsung heroes of order.
• “How Much Are Those?” – These individuals, usually kids (they don’t really know any better) will slow down a line because they want to know the prices of everything.  This is especially prevalent in comic and card stores.  These individuals will go through pack after pack, asking for the prices of each one until they settle on what they want.  If you are lucky, you will be witness to the after show, in which the “buyer” makes his pick (let’s say 3 packs at 3 bucks a piece) and is told the total (9 bucks, ignoring tax this time around).  That’s when the buyer will say, “Oh, I only have $1.50.  What can I get for that?”
• Munchers – Common in grocery stores and department stores where food is sold.  Munchers can’t seem to wait until they have paid for their purchases to start digging in.
• Mother And Daughter – This one is another specific example, but it really stuck with me.  It was a mother with her very young child, probably no more than a year or so.  The mother was in line waiting to pay.  I did not remember much of what I said, but she did say one thing that stuck in my head.  ”This is a diamond.  This is what you hold out for in a relationship.”

The Five Most Annoying People To Get Stuck Behind in a Store

Cash Register (Photo credit: tarale)

Every once in a while, we all run into it.  That moment at the cash register when we realize that we can’t pay for what we bought.  It has happened to me, and it has either happened or will happen to all of you.  You just roll with it and deal.

Sadly, there are some people who run into this situation and end up just being annoying about it.

• The Guy With The Unactivated Credit Card - I personally ran into this guy at a Newbury Comics.  It spend the better part of ten minutes trying to decide what Dunnies or Midgies or whatever those stupid plastic dolls were.  Did he want the factory set with the special Heinz doll and the free bag?  Or, did he want an open set, randomly picked by the store?  naturally, the line behind him (starting with me) was growing as he went through his own personal geek version of Sophie’s Choice.  Finally, he made his decision, a process that took far longer than it really should have.  The clerk rang up the plastic pieces of junk and the guy pulled out his credit card.  The clerk really did not need to swipe it since he still had the “remove this sticker after activation” tag on it, but he did, and sure enough, the guy’s credit card had not been activated.  Thankfully, saner minds prevailed as the clerk cancelled out the guy’s purchase and Mister Decider sheepishly asked to use the store phone.
• “I want this, but I really don’t want it” - This wonderful individual goes up to the register with two heaping carriages of stuff, gleamed from all over the store.  Of course, you get stuck behind them because there are no other registers open.  Thus, you become witness to the ultimate in annoying consumerism.  With each item rung up, the thought process begins.  Some items make it through to the next round, some, sadly don’t.  Different or same, each item gets the same amount of thought put into it, which becomes especially annoying when it’s twenty-four cans of cat food, all the same flavor.  As you watch the two carriages dwindle down to two bags, you are left to wonder why such purchasing decisions were not made while she was picking these items out in the first place.
• “Price Check!” - Yes, we’ve all has price check situations before.  You grab the one red Bazinga! T-Shirt on the rack, not even realizing that it did not have a price on it.  It is embarrassing, and you hope that you make it through it without garnering the contempt of the people behind you.  I have even gone so far as to apologize when it happens.  But then, there are some special individuals who seem to be the masters of finding the untagged items.  The first item they have needs a price check, then the next, then the next.  By the fifth or sixth call for a price check, you wonder if they are pulling the tags off on purpose.  Those suspicions are usually confirmed when the cashier rings up the one item with a price and they say, “Oh, can you check that?  I don’t think that was the price.”
• “So I sez to Mable, I sez…” – These poor individuals are lonely and looking for someone to talk to.  Unfortunately for the cashier, and everyone in line behind them, they chose Target as the place to find a friend.  The process of ringing out becomes that much longer as the conversationalist (if we can call it that) spends more time talking about their cat, or how they got off the murder wrap for running over their ex-girlfriend, then they do unloading their carriage.  Worse still, all the cashier can do is nodded and be polite, trying not to let on that she wants to just get this loser out of the store.  In some extreme cases, the conversationalist will actually start talking to you (or whoever is directly behind them in line), pulling you into the same Hell he’s been subjecting the cashier to.
• “Um, well, how about if I…” - This lovely customer has finished their purchases and has been rung out with no trouble, only to discover that they only have fifty dollars on them and the total comes to sixty.  It’s embarrassing, and again, has probably happened to everyone who doesn’t use a credit card for most purchases.  Naturally, the only thing to do it to not buy something to get the bill down to what you can pay.  For most people, it usually means dropping a higher priced item, because, let’s face it, you already saw Iron Man seven times in the theater, you can hold off a week to buy the DVD until your next pay check clears.  But, for this special individual, the whole process becomes some sort of twisted The Price Is Right style game.  They first drop the pack of gum they picked up at the cash register.  When that lowered the bill by a dollar, they drop the Renuzit Fresh Linen Scent Air Freshener.  Then that still doesn’t decrease the bill enough, they decide to hold off on purchasing the three pack of Kleenex.  This drops the bill down enough that they think they can buy the pack of gum, even though they still have a difference of five dollars between their purchases and their spendable cash.  If you’re lucky, they will remember they have a coupon for a dollar off the three pack of Kleenex that they just decided to not buy, thus continuing the game that much longer.

Random Thoughts

English: A photo of The Thinker by Rodin located at the Musée Rodin in Paris (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Just a few random thoughts.

That’s Where I Got It

A return stroke, cloud-to-ground lightning strike. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Throughout the last few weeks, I have been referring to the thunder storms that have moved through the area as “Stormageddon,” specificly Stormageddom 1, 2, and 3.  All that time, I really could not remember where I heard the word before.  At least, I could not remember until this past week.

It was from Doctor Who.  Seems the Time Lord is just about everywhere.