Blog Number 313

Greetings and welcome to today's random thought.

As outlined in my profile, I do not like to wear clothing with a logo on it.  This is because I do not like providing free advertising for anyone.  For the same reason, I do not like having things on my car from any car service provider.  As soon as I get an oil change, I take the little sticker that they put on my windshield and put it in my cup holder or some other place out of sight.  When we brought home our Kia recently, there was a 3" sticker on the rear of the van with the logo of the dealership on it.  As soon as we got home, I took it off.  We brought it back in for a minor repair and when we got it back I was pleased that they did not put another sticker on it.  However, while they had it in the shop, they license plates (here in Texas, we have one for the front and one for the back) came in and the put those on for us.  However, they also put a license plate cover which had the dealership name on it along with their website.  So today I took them off.  They are not paying me for advertising space and I am not such a fan of their business that I wish to give away advertising space for free.  Also, there are way too many things competing for the driver's attention without me offering another option other than paying attention to the road in front of them and the traffic around them.

Words my wife tried to use in Boggle

eely: adjective - OK, I did not really pay attention to what she said the definition was here nor could I think of a sentence in which to use this word however, this is a word used to describe things that are eellike (FYI, eellike is also a word).

Now,  I am hoping that this section of my blog would discourage my wife not to attempt these words but it seems to have little or no effect.  OK, we have just enough time for an episode of Little House on the Prairie before bedtime.

Thanks for reading my Random Thoughts.

Jon

Blog Number 312

Greetings and welcome to today's random thought.

Well I finally made it to my 300th blog*.  I was hoping to have a great entry for you.  Hoping that something super exciting would happened to me (or something super stupid).  But I guess I will let you (as always) be the judge.

Ever since the accident, we have been off schedule as far as grocery shopping goes.  Way back before the accident, the wife would shop on Wednesdays since that was double ad day at Sprout's.  Now we all go shopping together on Saturdays.  This usually eats up a few hours of prime napping time for me (although recently I get to stay home, albeit to put in about 6 hours from home for my place of work).  We shop at a minimum of 2 (but sometimes 3) grocery stores so we can get the best deals (computing in cost of gas going to the various stores).  Today was only a 2 store trip but we did start out at the Frisco library where they have at the entrance this thing...

It is a little hard to see from this picture but this is a stiff brush for wiping off your shoes.  When we first went to the library last year, I asked the kids to guess what this was.  They had no clue so I started dropping hints like "you wipe something off on this" but the hints did not help any (although the son did guess that it was a place for the horses to wipe off their hooves).  Anyway, now whenever we go to the library, both kids invariably have to wipe their shoes (including flip flops) on this brush.

A while back we had a large community garage sale going on in the neighborhood (I think I mentioned this already).  One thing we did buy was this book...

It is a coin book with slots for all 50 state quarters.  I have often seen these in stores and they (like this one) have a list price of around $5.  The one pictured above was more in my price range (ironically priced at only a quarter).  So far we have 23 of the state quarters (though 2 of the quarters have yet to be released and Arizona was just released on June 2, 2008).  Back in 1998 when the state quarter program began I remember seeing books like this and could not imagine having to wait 10 years to complete the collection.  Buying one in mid 2008 and only having to wait 1/2 year or so is about right in my mind for how long it should take to complete the collection.  I will have to keep you posted.

Today the wife and I made a cool deal with the kids but I will save that for another blog.  Thanks, faithful reader, for sticking with me through the first 300 blogs.  Until next time...

Thanks for reading my Random Thoughts.

Jon

* 2012-08-17 Update: I seem to have counted in correctly

Blog Number 311

Greetings and welcome to today's random thought.

Another day, another Boggle contest for the family (though the daughter seldom joins in).  I am on a roll recently (barely winning, but winning nonetheless).  Tonight we had a particularly rough Boggle board...

Every once in a while you get 2 rows (or columns) that are all consonants and none connected that have a combined sound.  For three minutes we struggled and in the end no one scored any points as we all had: you, dye, fed, and out.  This was the hardest one we had ever had I think.  While the son has not ever won (despite a 30 point handicap on a 50 point game) he does play the spoiler quite a bit, knocking off good words that only one of us had written down.  I think he likes playing that part.  Another word game that we discovered recently is Key Master.  It is an online game located at the Addicting Games website.  The basic premise is that as monsters come toward you to do you damage, they carry with them a word.  If you type in that word and hit the enter key, you shoot a laser at them and they die.  You have to be a quick and accurate typist to get very far.  I see why the site is called Addicting Games as the wife is truly addicted to the game.  The son tries to play but he is quite limited as he is still a hunt and peck kind of typist.

Sorry for the short entry tonight, the wife needs the computer for other purposes.  Only one more blog until #300 (woo hoo).

Thanks for reading my Random Thoughts.

Jon

Blog Number 310

Greetings and welcome to today's random thought.

One of our favorite places to shop is a place called Sprout's Farmers Market.  Up until this year, the closest one was in Plano.  When we lived in Allen, we used to get the Sprout's weekly ad in the mail along with a bunch of other grocery ads as we were relatively close to Plano.  When we moved to McKinney, we did not get the ads any longer.  The ads are online but for the first 2 month living here, we did not have internet access here at the house.  So I went to Sprout's website while at work one day and filled out an online form requesting that we be mailed an ad each week.  Very quickly after that we started getting the ad in a manila envelope.

In the last few months, they have opened a Sprout's in Frisco.  Frisco is closer to us than Plano is and to our delight, we started getting the normal weekly ad for it (along with the one in the manila envelope).  Not wanting to waste paper or postage, I went back to the same online form and explained that we no longer needed the ad special mailed to us and thanked them for doing so up until that point in time.  The next week we still received the ad in the manila envelope.  The week after that we still received the ad in the manila envelope.  The week after that, we received 2 ads  in 2 manila envelopes.  One was postmarked out of Plano and the other out of Frisco.  So now we get 3 Sprout's ads and I am fearful to fill out another online form since it might (likely) result in a 3rd ad in a 3rd manila envelope.

As I have mentioned in recent posts, we car shopped for quite a while and then finally bought a van.  The first night that we negotiated with the dealer for the van, we walked out without buying.  It was about 7 pm before we left.  The next day, we received a thank you letter from the dealership stating that they appreciated us considering them for our car purchase.  Since we left so late in the evening the night before, this was likely a follow up letter from the first time my wife test drove at their business.  The day after that, we received a phone call that they would accept our offer but before we showed up, we received another thank you letter in the mail.  It was an exact duplicate to the first letter.  The very next day, we received a 3rd duplicate letter again thanking us for considering them (despite the fact that we already made the purchase).  The day after that was Sunday so we did not get any mail (not even a Sprout's ad).  On the following Monday, we received letters 4 and 5 thanking us for considering them for our next car purchase.  At this point in time I called the dealership and explained that they had just wasted $2 in postage and could they please double check their auto-mailing system in case their were more coming.  The lady on the other end of the phone did not seem to interested in my problem but said she would look into it.

I figure we have at least a few more thank you letters coming.  Who knows when Sprout's will wise up and stop sending us extras too.

Thanks for reading my Random Thoughts.

Jon

Blog Number 309

Greetings and welcome to today's random thought.

I was going to get a hair cut last night but I couldn't as it was my turn to help my daughter with her shower.  Now, this may make now sense to you but rest assured it makes no sense to me either.  I does make sense however to my wife.  This seemed like a perfectly logical reason to deny me a new doo (I guess).  Anyway, I did get a haircut tonight as I have a meeting at work tomorrow morning and I want to look my best (you never get a second chance to make a first impression).

I usually go to Great Clips for no particular reason other than it is located near my house.  Actually that is not a true statement as the one I go to now was close to my old apartment and I just continue to go there even though there is one close (or closer anyway) to my house.  When I walked in tonight, both stylists (I think that is what they prefer to be called) we sitting in their chairs trying to kill time.  When I walked in, they both sprang to life and immediately do what you have to do in order to get a haircut, they asked me my phone number.  Now, I have had many phone numbers since being here in Texas.  I had my Indiana number, a Texas number at the apartment through Vonage, a Texas number at the apartment through AT&T (just so I could get DSL service), a Texas number here at my current house, and my current (Indiana) cell phone number so I go through the numbers in my head guessing which one I might have used whenever it was that I signed up for my initial Great Clips haircut down here.  After a failed attempt, they then said that they could look up my account by my last name.  What a concept!  Why wouldn't you start with the last name instead of the whole phone number business?  People can remember their last name pretty easily, right?  Perhaps this whole "let me find you in the computer, what is your phone number" concept should tell me the average IQ of the normal Great Clips customer.  At any rate, they found my information (again, why is this needed, just cut my hair) and confirmed my first and last name.

I sat down in the chair that they told me to and they asked me if I wanted my hair cut like last time.  Or at least that is what I think the lady said as she had a pretty heavy accent and did not speak English very well.  Also, she kept calling me Jim.  Since I was the only guy in the building, I assumed she was talking to me and tried to follow along in what she was saying.  Once I was somewhat convinced that I was getting the haircut that I wanted, I then focused on some small talk.  I asked her how long she had been here in the Dallas area and she said 17 years (or it could have been 17 months) and that she came here from Oklahoma after her husband lost his job.  All this time, she kept calling me Jim.  She used my first name (Jim) many, many times.  Way too many times actually like the way a telemarketer would or maybe a door to door salesman.  Even if she used my correct first name, I would have felt uncomfortable with how often she said it.

Jim, how long have you been in Texas?
Jim, the gas prices sure are high,
Jim, how does the back of your hair look, Jim?
Jim, I also cut hair, Jim, in another Great Clips in a nearby town.
Jim, the weather, Jim, sure is hot, Jim, isn't it Jim?

Anyway, I got my hair cut and headed home, had a late dinner with the family and won at Rummikub.  I am going to head to bed now so I am well rested for my important meeting.

Thanks for reading my Random Thoughts.

Jim (er, Jon)

Blog Number 308

Greetings and welcome to today's random thought.

I am on the paperless program with AT&T.  This means of course that I do not get a bill in the mail but rather get my bill via email.  AT&T uses the sbcglobal.net domain name.and (as far as I can tell) will not allow me to receive my bill at any other address other than the one tied to that domain.  There is just one problem, I do not need an email address.  I have had my own domain for about 8 years now and have no desire to change email addresses.  I tried having that email forwarded to my other account but no dice.  I actually had it working once but then received an email indicating that I was accessing their email server incorrectly along with various warnings of what would happen if I did not cease and desist this activity.  At any rate, I check my sbcglobal.net email address every 3 days or so to see when I get my phone bill.  I think I have explained that I only signed up for DSL service with AT&T since it was cheaper than high speed cable internet.  This is due to the fact that all the online deals only worked if the online service could verify your street address.  Since we live on a fairly new street, no online sign up form would work for me.  So, long story short, I signed up for the $4 per month phone service ($14 with fees and taxes) and the $25 per month DSL service.  This month's bill was $5 higher for some reason and so I dug deep and got the courage to call the AT&T help desk for billing questions.

I got through pretty quickly and I explained the reason for my call.  I explained that I did not need the phone service and only got it to get the DSL service.  The said that I should have received a notice on the last page of my February bill explaining the increased fees.  I decided not to belabor the point by saying that I did not receive any bill indicating this (least wise one with a "last page").  She immediately offered to upgrade me to the higher speed internet for $5 more per month.  I explained that I was calling about an increase and certainly was not interested in anything that cost me more.  She did the math for me and said that it was only 17¢ more per day (not even the cost of a cup of coffee she said).  I then asked how much I could save by going to a lower speed service.  She then moved her focus over again to the higher speed service where I could be free wireless service.  I told her that I only had one desktop PC and had no need for wireless.  She then moved on to DISH network and how convenient it would be for me to have only one bill (albeit one at least $30 higher each month) for my phone, internet and TV.  I told her that I did not have and did not want cable or DISH.  She then moved on to the phone service and told me for another $32 per month I could get unlimited long distance, caller ID, etc.  I told her (again) that I did not use this line (other than calling the AT&T billing dept.).  She then told me for only $5 more than that, I could get unlimited international phone calls.  This lady was amazing!  I called to complain about $5 and she wanted to sell me over $70 more per month in services that I kept telling her that I did not need.

Once I hung up I checked out the online form for high speed cable again and to my surprise they can now verify my address.  They have a 6 month offer for $15 less per month (now) than DSL so I think I will sign up.  Of course I will have to call the AT&T folks again to cancel (sigh).  Guess I will have to think about that again.

It is getting a little late but I still have time for...

Words my wife tried to use in Boggle

sog: verb - something er rather that has to do with the adjective soggy (e.g. The milk caused the cereal to sog)

This is not a word and I did not allow her to play it.

Random Bad Quality Pictures With My New Cell Phone

If you can't read the words, it says "TWO USES: It's a Fly Swatter.  It's a Barbeque Lighter."  I did not look at the price but this does not seem like a great idea to me.  The guy who came up with this concept had to be one great salesman.

Thanks for reading my Random Thoughts.

Jon

Blog Number 307

Greetings and welcome to today's random thought.

Well it is Father's Day but the kids are not up yet so I do not know yet what my present will be.  According to my wife (and my mother, and my brother, and my friends and any co-worker who has had the unfortunate luck of drawing me in a gift exchange) I am very hard to buy for.  So I am not pumping myself up for this year's gift as it will likely come to me with an apology along with the phrase (excuse), "You are hard to buy for."  I told my wife this morning that I wanted to be treated today like she was treated on Mother's Day, namely to sit on the couch all day with pillows and have people do everything for me (including bathing).  Of course for Mother's Day she was in a cast and neck brace and had a 4" cut on her head and in a lot of pain but still, turnabout is fair play.

I think I have mentioned lately that we are playing a lot of Boggle.  As we get better and better, we take chances on words that might exist.  As far as I can tell, there is no penalty for having a fake word (no matter how real it sounds).  We might have to do so as the wife has taken to writing down many words that sound like words.  We tried implementing a "you have to use the word convincingly in a sentence" rule but that just turned into a comedy-fest.  Last night the wife introduced "feebly" and "stably".  I asked her to say the word "feebly" 10 times quickly and she could not (neither could I - try it, it just sounds funny).  I also suggested that Feebly and Stably might be the 8th and 9th dwarfs that Snow White never talked about.  It turns out both of these are actual words.

feebly: adverb - in a faint and feeble manner; "the lighthouse, flashing feebly against the sleet-blurred, rocky backdrop of the coast of north west Norway"
stably: adverb - in a stable solid fixed manner; "the boulder was balanced stably at the edge of the canyon"

Later, I countered with "eos" and "soe" (note they are palindromes).

soe: noun - a large cask, a tub, a large wooden vessel for holding water; a cowl.
eos: noun - the ancient Greek goddess of the dawn

We did not look up any of these words until after the game was over.  I did mark mine out (not counting them) but the wife stood by her words (and, it seems, rightly so).  In the end, I won by more than enough points that these words would not have effected the end results.  As the son picks up more and more new words, the games take longer (since you only get credit for unique words that no one else writes down).

Well, I think the kids are getting up now so it is time to find out what my Father's Day gift is.  Here's hoping!

Thanks for reading my Random Thoughts.

Jon