Saturday, January 15, 2005

Why isn't there a Jiffy Lube for computers?

You know, for (insert insane amount here), we'll come out and hook up your computer! Which is, of course, why many of us keep the money and take on the frustration of trying to do it ourselves.

Now, mind you, I've made radio, an industry filled with wires, electronics, computers, gadgets, and widgets, a career field now for nearly 20 years, but when it comes to the nuts and bolts of anything technological this side of an abacus, I become Mr. Stupid.

That's why the wife handles all those matters in our house, and that's why she's about to go postal (well, that and the fact she's fighting shingles right now and is on very heavy medication.)

(Speaking of which, there's a term I don't understand. Heavy medication. All the pills I ever took were ounces in weight, and easy to hold, though sometimes the bigger pills (we call 'em horse pills) are hard to swallow..)

Sorry---back on task here.....we buy the computer I referenced a week ago; now our printer won't interface with it (apparently any printer bought prior to January 4th is now considered "out-of-date"...) and we still cannot figure out this Media Center deal which should allow me to sit here and watch the Falcons and Rams on my monitor, so I don't have to perform the brutal act of turning my head 110 degrees to the right to see the game on a 19 inch TV in the corner.

At least we've got it limping enough to get back on line.....

Well, Rome wasn't built in a day, and it's fairly obvious our Media Center won't be, either.

In other news...

---I pretty much slept the day away, unfortunately. I didn't get out of bed until 6pm. Yep, that's six...in the evening. I went to bed at 10:40 last night and proceeded to stay there a long, long time.

---This was the antithesis of Friday, where I not only survived the heavy rain of the morning getting the kids to school and getting to work, but we got our commercials in, I found the dreaded missing "Yellow Book" traffic report copy to ensure we didn't miss those commercials Monday morning, and, I think, just about wrote up an order for everything I needed to catch up on, so, except for two matters that can be cleared up quickly Monday morning, I am CAUGHT UP on my work for the first time since, well, probably since I walked into that building and took over the position in November 2000. I'm serious when I say that. I usually leave a stack of papers anywhere from 2 to 3.5 inches high on the right side filing cabinet, filled with future orders, spec requests, duplicate copies of agency traffic instructions that I'm scared to throw out thinking I may need to prove something down the line, etc, etc, etc.

To walk out of there last night about 8:45 knowing it was, for the most part, "caught up", was a numbing experience. That certainly doesn't explain why I slept 19.5 hours, though.

---My only trip tonight was to calm the kids by going to Wendy's AND McDonalds (no, my two kids can't accept just any fast food, they're even picky when it comes to THAT!)

Rachel: Loves Burger King Chicken Tenders, tolerates Chicken Nuggets from Wendy's, otherwise Wendy's could explode and she wouldn't care, and at McDonalds she'll take their fries first, followed by Chicken McNuggets or a Cheeseburger with only ketchup and mustard.

Robbie: LOVES Wendys Jr. Bacon Cheeseburgers with ketchup and mustard only. Will eat their fries, but if you're making two stops, he'll take the McDonalds fries. And he wants McDonalds cheeseburgers (make that he'll settle for it if you refuse to go to Wendy's, too) just like she does, ketchup and mustard only. Oh, and Robbie won't step foot into a Burger King....

That is, except for breakfast, where the only place they want to go is....you got it, BURGER KING. They take after Dad there, by ordering a ham and cheese croissanwich, no egg. That way, we do our part to save a future chicken.....so we can order it in the form of a nugget at McDonalds some time down the road.....

Man, when I was young, fast food was ONLY on Thursday when we came to town to buy groceries at the old Food Fair in the old Azalea Mall, and it wasn't done every Thursday, it was a treat. Mama would stop by Hardees (notice I didn't even mention them above...) around the time the church bells on Dumbarton Road would ring at noon, and, for a buck, she'd get me a hamburger, fries, and a Coke, and you would have thought I had a million dollars.

Today, I reckon Hardees is out because my kids are 15 years below their new target audience, which is, apparently, male subscribers to Playboy. That is, except during breakfast hours, when the place is twice as packed as any other time of the day, and the average customer age is, well, insert AARP age of your choice here.

Oh, (back on task, Rob, back on task!!), my earlier point was to lead to this: it was stupid drivers night in Glen Allen, and I only ran up to the mall to stop through two drive-thrus.

I watched not one, but two cars turn left off Brook Road into the mall parking lot and drive down the WRONG way, in the two lanes you are to use to LEAVE the mall, not enter it, only to have one turn in front of me into Wendy's, act as if it was backing into a parking place, then suddenly decide to leave Wendy's (at least they were out of my way now), when I noticed their "license plate" said "Farm Use", which of course, led me to thinking, this land once was wooded, but I don't remember a farm being here, which, in other words, is, "you are both driving dangerously and illegally! Get me my food so I can go home!"

Then there's tomorrow. Mommy stays home (too much risk of her shingles being co-opted in a predominantly older congregation--you don't know what chronic ailment can lead them to be at risk---by the way, that proceeding comment was completely serious, as opposed to most of this post), so the kids and I go to church, then I race back here to drop the kids off to make it to Ashland by 2pm for a High School Reunion Committee meeting, then probably stop off at CVS for a thing or two, come home for an hour to see who's winning the football game, then speed back down to church for the dreaded "Annual Council Meeting", which is the precursor to the dreaded "Annual Business Meeting" two weeks down the line, where the usual suspects will have their say about the money, and the pastor will think to himself (there's way too much of it in the bank for a "giving" organization.)

Gosh, all that and I've only been awake five hours. Good thing I didn't get up at 9am, I'd be on information overload.....

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