Bakers Square Happenings

My wife and I went out to lunch today at the local Bakers Square.  We're both pretty big fans of the place, and not just because of the pie.

Ok, the pie is a major selling point, but seriously it's not JUST because of the pie.

The food is pretty solid too.

Anyway.

While sitting in our booth, we were witnesses to a woman in her (guessing here) 50's who was out to lunch with her (assuming) husband.

No issue there, they weren't creating a scene or being rude to their waiter or anything like that.

The issue was the woman's pants.

I'm not opposed to people wearing what they want to wear, or choosing to wear strange colors etc. etc.

But seriously, someone needed to tell this woman that the pants she was wearing were in no way, shape or form acceptable for A) her age or B) her body.

These pants were literally PAINTED on to her legs in a mustard yellow color.

PAINTED on.

Now;

I'm no fashion expert and I certainly don't wear the trendiest clothes.  I wear jeans and t-shirts, sports jerseys and sweatpants, things like that.  That's what I like to wear, so that's what I do.

What I do know, is that there are certain things people of certain ages should NOT be wearing.  Painted on pants or jeans at an advanced age shouldn't even be in your closet, and if they are you need to turn the lights on in your bedroom when you're getting dressed.  Maybe even invest in a mirror or two.

The funny part to me was when they got up to leave, they walked near our table to leave and the husband was in pretty much full sweatsuit gear with a flannel jacket on.  Now he knows his place.  I respect that.

What else.....

We saw a woman leaving the restaurant who was in the area of 60 years old with long hair down to her ass.

Ok, that's not that bad.

Oh wait, her hair was purple.

Yeah, PURPLE.

My wife read something somewhere that said that the reason older women do that is because they figure that since people will know they're dying their hair anyway, why not go all out with not normal colors.

Really?

If you're at the age where it's time to start dying your hair because you want to avoid the gray/white color that comes with your advanced years that's ok.  There are plenty of normal colors out there to choose from.

PLENTY.

Purple is not one of them, and if you think people will make fun of you or talk behind your back about how you dye your hair, imagine what they'll say if you dye your hair purple.  I would think there'd be more laughter.  Just sayin.

One more....

A family sat down at a table near us.  It was a father, his (assuming) daughter and his (assuming) mother, who looked quite old and frail.

The father then proceeded to read a large portion of the menu to his mother, explaining the various choices and options for lunch.

The old woman had glasses on.

Maybe they were just a fashion accessory, I don't know.

I told my wife if I ever get too old to be able to read a medium sized print menu at a restaurant, I'll probably just stop going to restaurants.

Seriously.

Hello Stranger

Hi there.

I know I know.  I haven't written in......yikes, over a year?

Really?


Really.


I forgot how much I enjoyed writing this blog of nothing (I love Seinfeld) and I've decided to come back to it.   I don't know how often I'll be writing, or what I'll be writing about, but I'm pretty sure I won't be taking a year off in between posts anymore.

That being said, here are some random thoughts.....

-Anytime the Shamrock Shake is back I'm in a better mood.  Fact.

-I recently purchased the greatest appliance ever:  http://www.walmart.com/ip/Nostalgia-Electrics-Retro-Series-Pop-Up-Hot-Dog-Toaster/17242561?findingMethod=rr

-My Syracuse Orange have really pissed me off this year, especially with the 11am (CT) starts....although they've really sucked in those games overall so really I shouldn't be all that mad.  Very apprehensive about their chances this year.

-Speaking of being apprehensive about a team's chances; ladies and gentlemen your 2013 New York Yankees!

-I miss you Derrick Rose.  But not enough for you to come back too early.  Pretty sure the (SOB) Heat have it in the bag this year.

-I forgot how funny Curb Your Enthusiasm is.  The wife and I recently got back into watching it, currently on season 4 and loving it again.

-Also, during my blogger hiatus we started watching Homeland and Dexter.  Homeland is great and it's upsetting we have to still wait awhile for season 2 on DVD and as far as Dexter goes, we bought season 1 and quickly thereafter ended up buying through season 6.  Highly addictive.

-Taylor Swift needs to go away.

-MLB The Show 13 is out.  If you're a baseball fan or a video game fan or both you need it in your life.

-http://www.coffeewiz.com/  You're welcome coffee lovers.

-I LOVE Macklemore and Ryan Lewis' album The Heist. Can't stop listening to it.

-Angry Birds Star Wars?  It's ok

A new Dunkin Donuts recently opened right down the street from us.  Do I need to tell you how happy this makes me or is it safe for me to assume that you know already?

-The new SimCity game is not without its issues (we've had some data deleted due to server problems) but it's still a hell of a lot of fun to play.

-The fact that the price of soda has gone up so much is upsetting.  I know I know, I shouldn't be drinking it anyway and in truth I've cut back quite a bit but $7-$8 a case is a joke.

-I'm already ready for football season to be back #Bears

And today will be better than yesterday.

Life and Times.....

There's an old saying that sometimes life throws you a curveball.

I'm currently facing a knuckleball with a 3-2 count.  Bases loaded.  Bottom 9th.  Game 7.  World Series.

Haven't blogged in awhile, my apologies for that.  Had some stuff going on.  Or I slacked.  Whatever you'd like to take an excuse is fine with me.

I've let a lot of people down. People that loved me.  That welcomed me into their family.  Their homes.  Their lives.

To state the obvious, it's not a good feeling.

There are changes that I need to make to my life.  Changes that should have taken place a long time ago.

I should have realized a long time ago the changes I needed to make in order to share my life with another person.  I needed to stop being selfish.  I needed to not think of myself all the time.  I needed to adapt to the other person in my life.  I needed to work at maintaining a relationship with the woman that was the greatest thing that ever happened to me.

And most of all, I needed to open up.

All my life, I've always internalized my feelings.  Every once in awhile, I'd open up to friends, close family, or my wife.  Every once in awhile. 

Not good enough.

It would be about anything; things at work, personal stuff etc.

Not good enough.

I need to be more open to those that are close to me, and my wife is #1 on that list by a mile.

She deserves that, and a whole lot more.

I don't really have a good excuse for acting the way I do.....I've never liked confrontation, maybe that's part of it.  I need to change.

I've been given so much love in my life, and it's time to give some back.

I HATE the fact that recent events have led to me effectively pulling my head out of my ass.  HATE it.

I should have realized this earlier.  I have no excuses for not doing so.

I need to change.

I WILL change.

The Holidays........from a retail perspective

So, the holidays are upon us

That's fantastic.......unless you work in retail.

I currently work in a pharmacy.......but I've been in worse situations......

Several years ago I worked for a company that you'd all know, their logo is a giant yellow price tag.  That was by far the worst work experience of my life.  And not just because of Black Friday.

I worked in the "media" department" meaning I was in the section with the CD's, DVD's and videogames.

Pretty much up my alley as far as knowledge goes.....

I was getting along ok for the first few months, these were items I was used to so selling wasn't really an issue.  Carrying around a stupid binder (with selling techniques etc) and a "disc cleaner" was absolutely ridiculous as were the daily "chalk talks" if you worked in the morning.  Basically they'd gather everyone in the store and either; a) show a video of proper sales techniques, b) promote the latest sales ad, c) show a video from our store of someone executing the proper sales techniques (I was so honored) or d) force everyone to do some sort of "team building" type of exercise that would make sophomore speech class look like easy street.

I'm not bitter.  Really.

Well maybe a little bit.

Anyway, I worked a 12-12 shift at said retailer on a Black Friday and let me just tell you this, if you haven't seen or dreamed about the depths of hell then I'd love to give you a complete rundown of that day.

I had a customer ask which kind of Justin Timberlake TV they should buy.

I had a (drunk) customer ask what videogame I would recommend for him, because (as he put it) "I've been an awful father because of my cheating ways and I want to make it up to my son"  He smelled like Jack Daniels.  Awesome.

(BTW, I recommended a first-person shooter game.....just saying)

 I had a customer argue with with me about why a PS2 game wouldn't work for an XBOX  system.....that was fun.

There's more, but honestly if I re-hash it any more I will get upset.

And it's the holidays.

So I won't.

Did you get you flu shot yet?

Being a cat owner (sort of)

For the past few days we've been hosting my in-laws cat at our house while they're out of town.

Their cat, Tapio, has been a pretty good houseguest.

That being said, I still can't figure out cats.

I was around my sister's cat for several years when I still lived at home.  This is not a very nice cat we're talking about.  Of course, much of that may stem from the fact that I used to antagonize it constantly by teasing it, etc.

That cat really hated it when I would pick it up and twirl it around; I figured most babies liked it so why wouldn't a cat?

So anyway, Tapio is a different story.

Sometimes when he wants to play he'll meow, and when my wife or I will attempt to play with him he'll  run away.

Sometimes he'll jump up into my wife's lap and lay down.....but while being petted his claws come out.  To me that's just weird.

That being said, he's a good cat who has been an excellent houseguest these last few days and will be welcomed back not only at X-mas but any time after that as well.

So in closing I don't get cats, and since we aren't pet people I guess it really doesn't matter.


At least that keeps things interesting.

Ahh, Mondays

Mondays at work are always fun.

There's always the customer (or 7) that calls 10-12 times about the rx that they've been trying to refill since Saturday ("What do you mean, if the Dr. has office hours on the weekend?")

There's always the customer that's upset about our hours on weekends, ("I thought you guys were open until 9 on weekends too!") even though they've been told several times what the weekend hours are.  Oh, and the hours are also posted in at least 3 spots throughout the store.

There's always the massive amounts of Dr.'s calling in rx's, which is understandable since they (for the most part) weren't working over the weekend.  Not that customers were aware of that.

There's always an awful crush of people coming in from 3:30-6.  Always.

There's always a string of incredible problems/issues that come up, more so than any other day which is impressive.

Ahhh, Mondays

Random movie stuff

I've been watching a lot of movies this week as a way to pass the time with my wife out of town, here's what I've watched.....

1.  Taxi Driver

             I hadn't watched this movie in forever, it's on Blu-Ray now and I picked it up the other day and I'm glad I did.  If you haven't seen this movie you're missing out on a classic, one of AFI's top 100 films of all time.  I'm somewhat of a De Niro whore so I'm a bit biased but this film is tremendous.

2.  The Green Hornet (2011)

             This one was on the Starz channel and I decided to give it a shot.  That was a mistake.  I lasted about 20 minutes in before I realized all the negative reviews it received earlier this year were well deserved.  I like Seth Rogen and all of his other films but this one is atrocious. 

3.  Bad Teacher

           I enjoyed this movie.  Cameron Diaz's character is pretty much the exact opposite of her character from There's Something About Mary in that she plays an incredible bitch who does not like people.  Diaz plays a school teacher who is pretty much worse than any teacher you had growing up multiplied by 100.  Her main goal in life is find a man who is rich (or has the potential to get rich) and marry him so she won't have to work ever again.  Justin Timberlake and Jason Segal are also entertaining in their roles.  If you like raunchy-type comedies this one's for you.

4.  The Dark Knight

        I recently purchased the new Batman video game Batman: Arkham City which is a fantastic game so far but while I was playing I had the urge to watch The Dark Knight for the 217th time (a rough estimate) so I did just that.  It's probably the best movie on  Blu-Ray that I've seen and it never gets old.  No need to go into details as I'm sure most everyone reading this has seen it or at least knows a bit about it. 

5.  Mad Men season 2

     I'm on season 2 right now and it's one of the best shows on TV.  At some point I'll catch up although it may not be for awhile.

6.  Boiler Room

  One of my favorite movies ever, a good example of a movie that did terrible at the box office but has somewhat of a cult following since being released on DVD.  Great story, a very good cast (even with Vin Diesel) and also a really good soundtrack as well.  All around awesome.


I'm sure I'll be watching more movies in the next few days (like Horrible Bosses) so this may turn out to be a part 1 of 2.  

Check this out

Just in case you weren't aware of this site.....

http://awkwardfamilyphotos.com/

Talk about a time sink.....you'll be laughing for hours

Random Rants

These rants are completely random and not in any order.....

I dislike you New Facebook.  I'm sure I'll get used to you eventually but right now we aren't cool.

If you are a patient of ours and you get between 7-15 different prescriptions every month (or every 3 months as the case may be) please don't stand at the counter, open your (large) bag of rx's and analyze each and every bottle like it's the Declaration of Independence.  This upsets us, and more then likely if there's a mistake it's because you are anal and/or don't know how to order prescriptions properly.

Anytime Mother Nature wants to pick a lane I'll certainly give her the right away.

Watching the Bears play this past Monday night was the equivalent of having someone stand in front of you and constantly jam a screwdriver into your eye.  And having heartburn at the same time.  Seriously.

My lovely wife has to go back to TN this coming Monday; this time for 2 weeks.  This is total hot garbage but on the plus side for her, she'll be able to get to a Waffle House this time which makes me insanely jealous.

I really hate having to go to our local grocery store.  At any time of day there are only 1-3 cashiers open at a time, and it's usually only 1 or 2.  This causes problems considering it's a fairly busy store and at times the checkout lines resemble going to a Costco on a Sunday.  Oh and also, one of those cashiers talks to herself.  So that's always nice.

Theo Epstein becoming the new GM of the Cubs makes me happy for a couple reasons.  One, it's a good move for the Cubs and two, it hurts the Stupid Boston Red Sux (SBRS) which in turns helps the Yankees.  Not that I think the Cubs will be going anywhere anytime soon but it's a start.

Whatever happened to those LiveStrong yellow bracelets?  I bet Lance still wears his.....

Being 32 doesn't feel much different than 31.  And that's ok, 31 was the best year ever.

Is it wrong that I really enjoyed Fast Five?  The best movie in the series since the first one 10 years ago.  Lots of action as usual, but the story this time around wasn't too horrible.  Of course, if you've seen my movie collection you'd know that I don't have the highest of standards for movies as long as I'm entertained.

Pulling hard for the Brew Crew tonight in a must-win Game 4.

Why was it busy today?

I don't have an answer that question.


I really don't.

I don't ever remember a Columbus Day being as busy as is was today.  Usually on holidays or "holidays" as I like to say (by using hand quotes) it's not too busy but today was ridiculous.

And the flu shots!   Honestly, there were a lot of customers today who won the Bad Timing Award for wanting flu shots.  There usually isn't a real good time as we're somewhat of a busy store but getting slammed during the afternoon rush and having to deal with people wanting shots isn't a great combination.

Oh well, another day another dollar.

Tomorrow will be better.

Famous last words.....

Brew Crew Bandwagon jumper

In light of tonight's events, I've decided to join forces with another MLB team.

The Milwaukee Brewers.

This is only for the remainder of the playoffs.

I have my reasons.

1)  The Brewers opponent is the NLCS will be the St Louis Cardinals.  I truly hate the Cards, almost as much as the stupid Red Sux.  Almost.  I really dislike the Cardinals manager Tony LaRussa.  He is an incredible egomaniac and completely unlikeable.  For you non-sports fans, he's like baseball's version of Bill O'Reilly.  Seriously.

2)  I have a few good friends that are hardcore Brewers fans, and I'm very happy for them.  This is only the 2nd time the Brewers have won a postseason series, the only other time being the 1982 ALCS.  1982!  A couple of my Brewer fan friends weren't even born yet!  They were nice enough to let me on the bandwagon, and I graciously accepted.

3)  When I worked for Ford several years ago at their Chicago assembly plant the company brought in workers from the St. Louis assembly plant that had recently been closed.  This led to me (and several people there that I truly enjoyed being around and who also were good workers) being laid off.   And a lot of the STL people were complete and total douchebags who wore their Cardinals hats everyday and walked around like they owned the place.  I already disliked the Cards, now I hated them.  Yeah I'm bitter.

4)  I don't have a dog in this race.

Once my Yankees were eliminated (and the Cubs were eliminated basically the 2nd week of the season) I decided to root for another team just for the playoffs.

The Brewers were an easy choice, I even have a retro Brewers jersey and hat (the old logo is awesome) and I plan on wearing both on a regular basis in the next week or so.

Plus, I REALLY enjoy cheese.

So starting Sunday night I am on the Brewers bandwagon.

And there's plenty of room.....

Steve Jobs

This is a quick post, but I really wanted to share this link.....

http://news.stanford.edu/news/2005/june15/jobs-061505.html

Sorry it's been awhile.....

I apologize for not having written more the last couple months.....you could call it writers block or you could call it laziness.

It was a little of both, to be honest.

But I'm back and (hopefully) better than ever.

My lovely wife is in TN this week for work, so I have the house to myself.  It's pretty quiet around here other than me yelling at the TV during Yankees playoff games.That could loud and colorful depending on what is happening in the game.  So far there has been far more yelling of the 4 letter word type than anything else but hopefully that'll change starting tonight.

If you get a chance and you like Oreos, give the Arby's Oreo Jamocha shake a try. I'm somewhat of a whore for Arby's anyway but it's pretty good if you're into that sort of thing.

I really want to see Moneyball.  Like, a lot.  If it's as good as the book I'm sure I'll really enjoy it.

Speaking of books I'm planning on reading the Walter Payton book that's coming out.  The author, Jeff Pearlman, has written a couple of books that I really enjoyed in the past so I'm looking forward to it.  Also, the few pages that have been released to the public (via SI and SI.com) have portrayed Payton in a less than favorable light.  This doesn't change my feelings on him just as all the books on Michael Jordan that I've read haven't changed my feelings on him.  Nobody is perfect, we all have our flaws.

Especially the 2011 Chicago Bears.

Don't get me started.....

Why I'm rooting for Tiger Woods

I realize that after reading the title of this blog entry most people won't read any further and that's ok, I understand.

But it won't change how I feel about this subject.

I don't condone anything Tiger Woods did in his personal life.  Never have, never will.  It's pretty awful what he did to his now ex-wife and their children and the barrage of criticism he's gotten since that November night in 2009 has been well deserved. 

That being said.....

I hope he regains his form as the (arguably) greatest golfer ever.  I really do.

 (Just for the record, I place golf behind baseball, football, basketball, and hockey.  I'm writing this because I enjoy watching great athletes do their thing.....Michael Jordan spoiled me what can I say)


Sports are always better when there is a villain or "super-team" involved.  Look at the Miami Heat for example; you either love or hate them and most people outside of Miami absolutely hate them.  There are countless other examples but that's the best and most recent one.

Tiger is now a villain in the eyes of a lot of people now, mainly because of his off-course issues but also because of his past greatness.  Sometimes people enjoy watching the villain go down in defeat and Tiger hasn't won a tournament in a looooong time.

I'm rooting for Tiger because he made golf and really, sports in general, a heck of a lot better when he was good.

(He also makes a GREAT video game but that's not important here;))

I never watched golf before Tiger.  Why would I?  It was boring and trying to follow the path of the ball in those pre-HD days was almost impossible.

When Tiger came along and started winning tournaments he enhanced the game of golf and raised peoples awareness of the game.  More people started tuning in to watch tournaments on TV and not just the majors, but ANY TOURNAMENT HE PLAYED IN.

When did SportsCenter ever lead with golf before Tiger came along?

Since "the incident" golf hasn't been half as interesting as it used to be, save for the few tournaments Tiger has actually played in the last couple of years.  And even in those he has only played well at times.

Tiger is back starting today and saying he "hasn't felt this good in years"  I hope he means it.

And I hope he leaves Jack Nicklaus in the dust.

Words With Friends

I have stumbled upon another somewhat addictive game to play.

As if I needed another one.

It's called Words With Friends, and it's an app you can download onto your smartphone.  It's basically Scrabble.  And it's fun.

I've never played much Scrabble, and therefore I'm not very good at this game.....yet.

There are always ways to cheat at this game, other apps you can download that help you if your stumped on your current board.  This I do not condone.....yet.

My vocabulary obviously needs improvement.

Debate

 My dear friend JT  (He's the one walking up the stairs at the start of the clip)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7C7PYLMkfCY

Not a WTF Friday

I have today off.

Today is Friday.

Aka WTF Friday.

This makes me happy.

So I apologize for the lack of an WTF Friday post today, I'm sure next week I'll be able to make up for it.

Today is a day for me to watch more episodes of Season 7 of Entourage (awesome) and to do some minor tasks around the house.  Also, it gives me time to destroy the CPU on NCAA 12 which is always fun.

Jim = Turtle from Entourage.....mainly for the Yankee hat and general worshipness.  Not for the behavior.....seriously.

Check it out if you haven't seen it.....except for you Mom;)

Justin Bieber needs to go away

I'm serious.

This little S$#% is EVERYWHERE and while it was already annoying it's now reached unbearable new heights.

What prompted this post was the story on my Yahoo.com homepage (yes, that's really my homepage and yes, I realize it's not 2002 anymore.  Shut up.)  There's a story on there saying that JB and his father (who looks about 7 years older than JB, at least to me) recently got matching tattoos.

How adorable.

Apparently each tattoo is a word written in Hebrew that means Jesus.  It appears to be on the left ribcage on each Bieber.

I can't wait until this punk gets a little older and "Lohans" his career.  You know it's coming.

And it will be quite the trainwreck.

Until then, like Terrance and Phillip say, "Blame Canada!"

Lanyards

We got new "nametags" at work today.

Specifically, lanyards.

These lanyards have our name and say pharmacy technician on them.  For the pharmacists they say pharmacist on them.

No picture of our face, and we don't swipe them to gain access anywhere. 

They aren't horrible, but they do sometimes get in the way which is somewhat annoying.

In January, we had to get used to a whole new uniform, switching from dress-type pants, dress shirt, tie and smock to scrubs.  This took some getting used to but 7 months in it's not considered a big deal plus it's not like you have to figure out what you have to wear to work in the morning.  That's a plus for sure.

The scrubs didn't get in the way of work.

These stupid things do. 

Just today mine got caught on a plastic bag, stickers that are attached to plastic medicine bottles and I also nearly stapled myself several times.

Awesome.

In time I'll be used to it.

I think.

Living Alone

 I lived alone for almost 4 years after moving to Westchester, and at first it was hard to get used to.  After a few weeks I was adjusted and no longer thought it was weird or different to come home to an empty house after work every day.

 My wife and I have been living together since the 4th of July weekend of last year.  This also took some getting used to after not having a "roommate" for the first few years I was here but as when I first moved in, eventually I got used to it.

 I bring this up because my wife is out of town for the next couple of days roadtripping with her sister and our nephew so once again, I'm living alone.

 I do have several video games to catch up on and a new season of Entourage to watch plus some stuff on the DVR so most likely I'll be able to keep busy, but that's not the point.

The point is, I don't like living alone anymore.

This house feels empty without her.

My wife went out of town last month for a weekend and was gone for 3 full days.  I've never been more happy to wake up early on a Sunday (which is always a day off from work for me) to pick someone up at the airport than I was that day.  By the end of that weekend I was practically at the point of talking to myself and my video game machines were smoking hot from overuse.

"Why didn't go and hang out with your friends?"

Mainly because I'm lazy but also because I had to work on Friday and Saturday and by the end of both of those days I'm pretty worn out, especially after a normal WTF Friday which I believe I've mentioned before in this blog.

With the temperature outside today and tomorrow equaling a high fever (or close to it) I'll most likely be staying in to avoid excessive sweating, which I can accomplish pretty easily just by going to the mailbox.  Being a fat sweaty guy in this weather sucks, I'm ready for fall.

And even though I just dropped her off at the airport earlier this morning, I'm also ready for my "roommate" to come home.