MucheDumbre

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I want to buy toys.  Adult toys.  (NOT Adult sex toys).  I want to buy computers, and motorcycles, and televisions and stereos, stuff I could not afford when I was younger.

But you people are making it difficult.  And by YOU PEOPLE, I mean you lazy, slouchy, mumble mouthed, feel like the world owes you all kinds of shit greazy emo tards.

It’s not a generational thing.  I have met some older people that are just as lazy.  I have also met some younger people that have really been motivated.

Look, Prichard Kennsington III, customer service is not for everybody.  And by everybody, I mean YOU.  If you are not happy with serving a customer… then don’t.  Seriously, find another job.

And you people need to stop hiring them.  And by YOU PEOPLE, I mean the store owners or managers that just can’t be bothered with paying a little extra for the good help.  When you lower the pay, you lower the standards and when you lower the standards you lower the happiness of the customer and when you lower the happiness of the customer you lower your income and when you lower your income you are forced to lower the pay… etc and so on, you failing out of business school jack ass.

And another thing… I CAN ORDER IT MYSELF.  Seriously.  I have the internet.  I came into your store so I could get it today.  If I have your store order it, I not only have to wait the time it takes for the manufacturer to ship it, but I also have to wait for the lazy prick in the back to finally decide to make the phone call that it is in… or waste my time calling you… or dropping by the store.  Instead, I can go online and find it faster and cheaper without your help.

I am willing to spend a lot of money on stuff I want.  I am willing to hand it to a salesperson who is just there.

If you have any experience with some great stores, comment here and put a link to their shop or store… or email me at Mickey@somacow.com.  I have cash that is burning a hole in my pocket.

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Trends. They are funny thing.

At one point, every one was concerned with calories. How many calories did you consume? How can I cut calories? Oh know, are those empty calories?

Then every one was concerned with blood pressure, blood sugar, 401k, term life, whatever. It is not that knowing these numbers is a bad thing. Knowing these numbers AND how they effect you can be a very good thing.

I used to work with a guy that was obsessed with his credit rating. He would check on his score daily. As if, by some miracle, it would suddenly skyrocket. But really, even if you have an amazing credit score, how much good does it do you?

It allows you to buy things you cannot afford and put your good credit standing at a higher risk.

At one point in my life, my credit score was 4. Or… something like that. It was bad. Not horrible bad, but far from perfect. Apparently, by not being a criminal, I automatically ranked hire than 90% of the people out there. I was asked recently if I had good credit.

I hadn’t checked my score in a while, so I answered, “I don’t know for sure.” The salesman qualified the question with, “Have you skipped out on child support or had a car repossessed?”

I was kind of taken aback by this.  These two things are the lowest on the dignity pole that you can get.  Even foreclosure isn’t that awful.  I said “no” and waited for the next set of questions.

The salesman smiled and said, “well, you should be fine then.”

The salesman ran off to do a real credit check.  When he returned, he was beaming with joy.  According to the paper he held in his hand, I qualified to buy anything in the store.  I guess that is a sign of good credit.

Well, here’s to good credit… let’s go on a shopping spree!

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Recently, I transfered across town on my job.  Different equipment required some intense and quick training to learn as much in two weeks as possible.  One of the very knowledgeable guys decided to take a position elsewhere.

So, week one, extra hours to train.  68 Hours.

Week two started with a bang when one of the guys called in sick.  It was training under fire.  Usually, TUF is the best way to learn.  So, more training, coverage for sickness, and loads of over time.  70 Hours.  It would have been 60, but they had an emergency that had them calling me.

So week three starts with one of the other guys on vacation, and me covering the slot.  Saturday morning rolls in and I already have 48 hours on the books.  And Saturday blossoms into an 18 hour marathon.

I am totally buying a motorcycle now.

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Five words. Really. It is amazing that five words can have an impact.

“I’m sorry, your arm’s broken.” (technically 9 words) is what I heard when my soccer career was put on hold for a year. I probably could have gone to the Olympics if I didn’t miss that year.

“It’s not you, it’s me” are words that signify the end of a completely dysfunctional, bipolar, self-destructive relationship.

“Would you like shredded Parmesan” usually signify that I lost the battle and fallen of the wagon. Right back to the dive bar of Italian food… The Olive Garden.

But `five words` do not always Harold in bad news. Sometimes five words are a good thing. Like, “And it’s on sale today”.

Or, “You don’t have genital herpes!”

“No, the test was negative.”

“Yes, I am completely sure.”

“Yes, here, look. Right there.”

“Calm down. Here’s a lollipop.”

“… you can let go now.”

But today, I think I heard the king of all five word phrases. I was calling around looking for information when I called up a receptionist that deserves a raise. Unless she is high. She could have been high. But people that are high are usually morose. Unless she was on X. I don’t know. Maybe she had a lobotomy when she was nine.

Regardless, she discovered that she did not have the information I needed so she cheerful gave me the contact information of someone who might get me close to my quest. Then she ended the call saying, “Have a Super Awesome Day!”

And, you know what? Since that phone call, I have been having a S.A.D.

I have a Blackberry.

I have a google login.

And I have a thumbdrive.

The thumbdrive is loaded  with a full suite from PortableApps.com.  In that suite is Sunbird and Thunderbird.  Sunbird is a Mozilla calendar program, and Thunderbird is Mozilla’s answer to Outlook.

Unfortunately, the Blackberry desktop management software will not sync up with the Mozilla software.  I want to use the Mozilla software because it is on my thumb dive making it fully portable.  I can take it to work, or the studio, or anywhere else that has a usb port.

I recently hired “The Chick That I Am Dating” as my personal assistant, so this solution works out great.  She can plug her thumb drive into any computer, open up here Sunbird calendar.  Enter an item, which is instantly updated on the Google Calendar she set up for me.  That is instantly updated to my phone calendar via Google Sync.

Not only do I have easy access through several entry points, I also have a redundant backup system in place.

Just go to mobile.google.com in your BlackBerry® browser, click “Download all” to get Google Mobile Updater and then select the products you want on the menu of your BlackBerry®.

Updater is the full suite of Google Apps available for the Blackberry.

If you don’t want all that, and you just want the calendar sync, go to http://m.google.com/sync   in your BlackBerry® browser, click “Download Google Sync”.

I recently bought a new laptop computer. It has a neat notepad feature. I’ll get into that later.

The reason I bought a new laptop is because I destroyed my old one.

It was an Averatec.

Now, in my daily life I am a technician. I have been since I graduated high school. I have worked for some good companies and some bad companies (insert lyrics here). I have worked for companies that thought the techs were scum, and I have worked for companies that believe the tech was king.

In all those places, there were engineers. There are engineers who believe that the final designed product will last forever with no maintenance, no modification, and no upgrading.

These engineers apparently work at Averatec.