I watched the first episode of Dead Like Me today. Overall, I liked it. It had a good mix of humor and drama. I'm looking forward to future episodes to see how the main character develops.
Is it just me, or does that picture of Glenn Reynolds underwater look really weird? I think it's the eyes. They're going to haunt me until he gets back. :)
I was simultaneously amused and appalled when I read this article in the Denton Record-Chronicle today.
The last thing former Krum Mayor David Polley said he expected to find when he drove up his driveway was a white toilet on his lawn. But it was not just a toilet: It's the Krum High School Band’s new fund-raiser.Being the curmudgeonly type, I wouldn't pay to remove the toilet, even though I'd be inclined to donate to the band otherwise (I was in band myself back in the day). But I don't like the extortionate approach they're taking.
"We had seen it in front of the bank and thought it was a joke of some kind," Mr. Polley recalled. "I walked out and as soon as I saw the sign, I laughed."
A sign on the toilet says, "Dump some money into the Krum Band and help flush away our worries!!!" and lists a phone number to call to have it removed. The requested donation to have the toilet removed from a yard is $15. For $20, the commode is not only removed but relocated to a location of one's choice.
I've had a TiVo for a little over a year now. This article from Business Week points out some interesting things that they're learning about what ads people are watching:
Indeed, just like clickable ads, TiVo's initial data reveal some trends that ad agencies and networks might prefer to bury. For one, a program's rating -- the number of people saying they watched a TV show at a given time -- appears to have an inverse relationship with the proportion of ads viewed. On April 11, 2002, ABC's popular TV drama The Practice drew a TiVo rating of 8.9, meaning 8.9% of TiVo owners watched the show live or recorded it and watched it later. But those viewers watched just 30% of the ads shown. Meanwhile, quiz show The Weakest Link, drew a rating of 0.9, but viewers watched 78% of the commercials. TV news magazine 60 Minutes got only a 2.2 rating, but its viewers sat through 73% of the ads.In my case, I generally use the TiVo to record shows that I really like and watch them later. I do this because it's convenient (i.e. I don't have to rush home just to catch the show), but also because it allows me to skip the ads. This isn't necessarily an intentional thing to skip the ads, it's just because I want to know what happens next on the show and the ads are getting in the way (although I will admit relief at being able to skip some of the really obnoxious commericials, like that Oxyclean guy). With other shows, I'm just as likely to put the show on while I'm doing something else and I don't think to fast-forward the commercials, unless they're really annoying and they break my concentration. On the flip side if I see an ad that looks interesting I may even stop fast-forwarding and go back to watch it.
Certain genres are "stickier" than others, TiVo's research shows. Big-budget situation comedies and dramas tend to have the lowest retention and commercial-viewing rate because couch potatoes tend to record them and skip through the commercials rather than watch them live. Reality TV, news, and "event" programming such as the Oscars do significantly better at getting viewers to see the commercials. Just 39% of viewers watched ads during the highest-rated network TV show, Friends, vs. 75% for the 45th Annual Grammy Awards and 58% for Fox reality show Fear Factor.
I tried to sign up for the National Do Not Call list this morning, but it took me about an hour of waiting and retries to get through. Now I'm waiting for the email confirmation so that I can complete the process. I don't envy the system admins for this thing. I bet their mail server is coughing up a huge hairball about now.
§ 21.01. DefinitionsDeviate. Sexual. Intercourse. The very phrase drips with moral opprobrium. I thought it would be informative to see exactly what the Texas statute said, and I find this very interesting. I think this is a case where they just weren't devious enough for their own good. While the law prohibits anal and oral sex between two men or two women (and also appears to prohibit the use of dildos or other "objects"), I think there just might be a little loophole in the law. I don't think they classify the human hand as an object, so it would seem that it wouldn't prohibit fisting. I hope that someone, somewhere pointed this out to the bill's author so that he died of shock at the thought...
In this chapter:
(1) "Deviate sexual intercourse" means:
(A) any contact between any part of the genitals of one person and the mouth or anus of another person; or
(B) the penetration of the genitals or the anus of another person with an object.
(2) "Sexual contact" means, except as provided by Section 21.11, any touching of the anus, breast, or any part of the genitals of another person with intent to arouse or gratify the sexual desire of any person.
(3) "Sexual intercourse" means any penetration of the female sex organ by the male sex organ.
Acts 1973, 63rd Leg., p. 883, ch. 399, § 1, eff. Jan. 1, 1974. Amended by Acts 1979, 66th Leg., p. 373, ch. 168, § 1, eff. Aug. 27, 1979; Acts 1981, 67th Leg., p. 203, ch. 96, § 3, eff. Sept. 1, 1981; Acts 1993, 73rd Leg., ch. 900, § 1.01, eff. Sept. 1, 1994.
Amended by Acts 2001, 77th Leg., ch. 739, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 2001.
§ 21.06. Homosexual Conduct
(a) A person commits an offense if he engages in deviate sexual intercourse with another individual of the same sex.
(b) An offense under this section is a Class C misdemeanor.
Acts 1973, 63rd Leg., p. 883, ch. 399, § 1, eff. Jan. 1, 1974. Amended by Acts 1993, 73rd Leg., ch. 900, § 1.01, eff. Sept. 1, 1994.
Anyway, that wasn't what I really set out to write about. The old "Morality can't be legislated" saying came up in the comments to this post at The Bitch Girls. One poster thought it was dumb "bumper-sticker philosophy". I think the commenter misses the point, or at least misses the way I've always interpreted it. To me, it simply means that any law that attempts to legislate something on moral grounds will fail. I was amused several years ago by a television interview with some politician whose response to this was, "Just watch me." He obviously didn't get it.
As we've seen with morally-based laws on sodomy, alcohol (prohibition, anyone?), drugs (history repeats itself with tragic consequences), prostitution, or just about any other victimless crime, a large number of people will simply ignore the law. Why? To these people these aren't areas where the state has any business if their actions don't have a direct, non-consensual effect on other people. In a way, this is an intuitive natural rights view (at least from my viewpoint). Some people try to argue that if we don't enshrine moral judgements into the law then we'll have to rip the murder and rape statutes from the books. However, if one starts from a natural rights foundation of the person as self-owner, one can build a case for laws against murder and rape (and a whole host of other acts). I understand that some people dispute the natural rights concept, but that leaves them with the nasty dilemma of trying to decide whose morals to use. And what if the democratic majority's morals say it's OK to do something horrific (like killing homosexuals)? This is why I think there are areas that are not subject to legislation or intrusion by the state and that there must be limits to what the state tries to do (i.e. any area where acts between consensual adults take place that do not harm any nonconsenting party should be out of bounds for the state).
Of course, I'm a bit radical in my thoughts on this matter. And I fully understand that my beliefs would open the door to removal of laws against bigamy and prostitution and a whole bunch of other stuff. But these things don't scare me like they seem to do the moralists who would like to control us every minute of our lives. Some days I'm not sure who's worse, the moralists or the socialists. Both of them want to control us; they only differ slightly on the areas they would interfere in (and it won't be long until they've converged).
The National Do Not Call Registry has opened for online registrations at donotcall.gov. If you're already on a state do not call list, there is a possibility that your number will be automatically added to the national registry. This is decided on a state-by-state basis. The list of states and their decision on this can be found here. I discovered that Texas will not be automatically adding people to the national registry.
Of course, the registry was mentioned on Slashdot this morning, so the server is being pounded into a pulp right now (i.e. it's experiencing a thorough "slashdotting", which is kind of like an Instalanche to the third power).
"Its goal is to determine the prevailing attitudes, career plans and values of graduating MBAs from top-tier business schools."Normally I wouldn't have paid any attention to something like this, but a friend of mine read about it and noticed an interesting result.
| 2003 | 2000 | 1998 | ||
| Are there industries in which you would not work because of political, social or ethical concerns? | ||||
| Yes: | 63% | 64% | 64% | |
| Industries * | ||||
| Tobacco Producers | 58% | 94% | 91% | |
| Firearms | 36% | 3% | N/A | |
| Alcohol Manufacturers | 15% | 26% | 22% | |
| Defense Contractors | 12% | 16% | 12% | |
| Oil and Gas Companies | 7% | 5% | 8% | |
| Government | 4% | N/A | N/A | |
| Accounting Firms | 3% | N/A | N/A | |
| Foreign Owned Firms | 1% | 3% | 3% | |
| *Percentages of respondents who indicated that there were industries in which they would not work | ||||
| N/A - questions not asked in 2000/98 | ||||
I truly feel sorry for the people who are finding themselves under the ever growing shadow of the EU. This is yet one more example of an overreaching bureaucracy expanding to interfere with every facet of life.
Given our overall arsenal, couldn't we spare just one little nuke? A stitch in time and all that...
While the subject of marketing is still on my mind, I need to say that that guy from the OxyClean commercials is quite possibly one of the most annoying people on the planet. I wouldn't miss it if he never did another commercial again (and from what I've heard the product doesn't even work).
Has anyone else seen those Ford Super-Duty truck commercials where they're towing something huge, but they never show it? All you see are the reactions of people as the shadow passes over them.
It's driving me crazy. I simply must know what they're towing!
Mrs. du Toit wrote a post today that struck a nerve with me. I have a special loathing deep within for telemarketers. They're a plague of bottom feeding scum as far as I'm concerned. Is that harsh? Not really. They invade my space and take up my time for their intrusive scripted crap.
My phone exists for my personal use. I give out the number to people whom I wish to have contact me. It is not an open invitation for any dumbass with an autodialer to try to part me from my money.
I have made it a policy that I will not buy anything from a telemarketer and I will not give money to any charity that calls me on the phone. I make no exceptions, because I've learned from hard experience that once you do you'll end up on a list of suckers which they pass around among the different groups. Because of this unscrupulous behavior I don't even accept calls from the NRA or other groups I'm sympathetic to.
But the lowest of these scum are the ones who call you up with prerecorded marketing messages. It's the telephonic equivalent of a drive-by. And one company stands out for me as the worst offender and has earned my eternal enmity--Dish Network. They called me with a prerecorded message that I could not hang up on (despite repeated attempts). After trying to hang up and being unable to, I finally listened to what they were saying. After a bit they gave me the option to "press 1 for more information about this offer" or to "press 2 to end this call." I pressed '2' only to be informed that this "was an invalid option." At this point I hit '2' about 35 more times, which kind of jammed the system for a while. I was spitting mad by this point so I hit '1' so I could chew on a person. Unfortunately, these bastards must have anticipated this reaction, because it dumped me into a voicemail box where I had to leave a message. I left them a very nasty message and I included my name and number and told them never to call me again or I'd get the FCC involved, since I was under the impression that the use of recorded messages is illegal.
Calls using artificial or prerecorded voice messages - including those that do not use autodialers - may not be made to residential telephone numbers except in the following cases:Since then, I've used caller ID to screen all of my calls. If I don't recognize the name or number I will not answer. I'm also on the Texas do-not-call list which has helped quite a bit. But Dish Network can still kiss my ass. I'll never do business with them. Ever. (Which is why I'm glad their deal to buy DirecTV failed.)Calls using autodialers or artificial or prerecorded voice messages may be placed to businesses, although the FCC's rules prohibit the use of autodialers in a way that ties up two or more lines of a multi-line business at the same time.
- emergency calls needed to ensure the consumer's health and safety;
- calls for which you have given prior consent;
- non-commercial calls;
- calls which don't include any unsolicited advertisements;
- calls by, or on behalf of, tax-exempt non-profit organizations; or
- calls from entities with which you have an established business relationship.
If an autodialer is used to deliver an artificial or prerecorded voice message, that message must state, at the beginning, the identity of the business, individual, or other entity initiating the call. During or after the message, the caller must give the telephone number (other than that of the autodialer or prerecorded message player that placed the call) or address of the business, other entity, or individual that made the call. It may not be a 900 number or any other number for which charges exceed local or long distance transmission charges.
Autodialers that deliver a recorded message must release the called party's telephone line within 5 seconds of the time that the calling system receives notification that the called party's line has hung up. In certain areas there might be a delay before you can get a dial tone again. Your local telephone company can tell you if there is a delay in your area.
I think that this woman doesn't quite get it. Not only did she endanger her child and the people around her, she's also got some kind of persecution complex.
A woman who was charged with child endangering after breast-feeding her daughter while driving on the Ohio Turnpike claims the prosecutor has harassed her by piling on more charges against her.Hmmm... A persecution complex and a case of moral relativism. Regardless of the relative merits of cell phone use, I think she's forgotten about the dangerous position she put her baby into (i.e. between her and the steering wheel).
Catherine Donkers, 29, who lives near Pittsburgh, was arrested May 8 and faces a court appearance in Ravenna on Aug. 6 on charges of failing to comply with a lawful order, obstructing official business, driving while under suspension, improper child restraint and child endangering.
Donkers has said she understood there was a risk in breast-feeding while driving, but she said using a cell phone behind the wheel was riskier.
Oh, and those extra charges? It seems that she had a little problem with stopping when the cops tried to pull her over.
The failure to comply charge alleged that she drove for three miles before stopping for troopers at a toll plaza southeast of Cleveland.Dumbass.
Today's Saturday Scruples:
The Texas comptroller has refused to certify the new state budget, citing the requirement in the Texas constitution that all state budgets have to be balanced.
Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn rejected the state's $117.4 billion budget on Thursday, sending the two-year spending plan back to the House of Representatives to rewrite before the end of the current fiscal year on Aug. 31.The legislature is claming that it's just a clerical error and that they put 2005 instead of 2006 by accident with regards to the allocation of some funds. Regardless, the comptroller says that she cannot simply take their word for it and she has to go by the actual content of the budget as passed by the legislature.
"This is the first time a Legislature has sent the comptroller a budget that is not balanced," Strayhorn said. "I cannot certify this budget because it is $185,900,000 short."
The state constitution requires that the Legislature pass a balanced budget and it cannot be sent to the governor's desk to sign into law without the comptroller's OK.
"We need a certifiable 'pay as you go' budget by mid-July or the schools won't open in September," Strayhorn said.
To get an idea of just how messy this budget is, consider this:
Strayhorn said that her office tallied the financial effects of more than 4,000 pieces of legislation to arrive at the conclusion. One of the "paramount" developments was a last-minute transfer of $236 million from the General Fund to the Texas Mobility Fund, she said.I'll never cease to be amazed at how much crap politicians can cram into a 140 day session. How in the hell are we supposed to keep up with that much legislation?
This promises to get interesting, because it is likely that the budget will have to be reconsidered in a special session. Governor Perry was planning to call a special session to consider the redistricting issue (which has pissed off the Democrats so badly). Now it appears that it may get taken up by budget issues, which might give the Dems leverage to derail the redistricting effort.
As of this morning, the local TV news was reporting that Perry is considering a lawsuit against the comptroller to force her to certify the budget. I also heard some Democrat on TV saying that social services has been "cut to the bone" and that we should reconsider the "whole tax structure" in a special session. That sounds suspiciously like socialist double-speak for increasing taxes, which is political suicide in Texas.
I think we're going to have to watch these bastards really closely during the special session to make sure that they don't raise taxes.
Just a friendly little reminder: keep your finger out of the space between the magazine well and the little lip at the bottom of a 1911 magazine if you don't want a nasty little blood blister. Alternately, you could avoid slamming the magazine into position and bypass the whole problem.
I got an email informing me that Jay Solo has moved to http://www.elhide.com/solo/. He's using pMachine on his own server. It's much spiffier than the old Blogspot site.
Wal-Mart has gained something of a reputation for prudishness when it comes to certain subjects. This is somewhat understandable when you consider that their headquarters and a lot of their stores are located in the Bible Belt.
The local Wal-Mart here in Denton is one of those super Wal-Marts which has both a grocery store and everything else in it. At the front of the store on the grocery side there's a Blockbuster. When you check out you're facing the front of the Blockbuster, which usually has its windows full of movie and game posters. Given Wal-Mart's proclivity for promoting a "family" atmosphere, I was somewhat surprised to see this poster in the window of the Blockbuster:
I'm not exactly a cat person, but I've always viewed the practice of declawing cats as somewhat cruel. The human equivalent would be the amputation of the first joint of your finger, which you could imagine would be pretty traumatic if it happened to you. Even so, I never made much of a stink about it, since the cats usually recover from it and it allows for many people to keep cats who otherwise wouldn't.
I was very interested when I read about Soft Claws in the comments to this post by Denny Wilson. Soft Claws are vinyl nail caps that glue over the cat's claws. They're not permanent, so it does require some work on the cat owner's part to keep up with them. The makers claim they last from four to six weeks per application (Denny's experience was four weeks), so a $17.95 kit would last from four to six months. I guess it would also depend on your cat's personality with regards to being handled. I probably wouldn't try this with my mother's cat, who has a really bad attitude about being handled (imagine a hung-over wolverine).
I don't know if this is a practical solution for everyone, but it seems like it would be worth a try before taking the irrevocable step of having a cat declawed. You can even get them in colors (blue, purple, red, and pink). Your cat will be stylish as well as being safe for the furniture. :)
Or at least that seems to be this guy's motto.
American companies spend millions of dollars every year on slick advertising to market products from beer to luxury cars, but a new book tells them; Your Marketing Sucks.I think this guy's just got an oral fixation, though:
Marketing expert Mark Stevens believes car makers waste millions of dollars on advertising, sees fast food company McDonald's Corp. (NYSE:MCD - News) as adrift and scoffs at beer ads in his book, to be published by Crown Business July 15.
The author hopes to turn his snappy title into his own brand. After a promotional tour, Stevens plans to write his next book, "Your Marriage Sucks: Face it, Fix it or Leave it."Just don't get caught reading that last one at work...
Then he plans two more in the same vein -- "Your Job Sucks," followed by "Your Boss Sucks."
The first thing that strikes you as you're walking up to it is how big it is. You enter via the hangar deck, which is a huge open area that stretches for quite a ways. They've put in displays of aircraft and equipment used at various points in the life of the Lexington as well as a food court, a flight simulator, a gift shop, and a theater (despite this, there is still considerable open area). However, my first taste of what the ship was really like was when I had to use the restroom. There are no restrooms on the hangar deck (at least that were marked). There are signs directing you downstairs to the facilities. The first thing you notice is that you have to go down a ladder which is very steep and has narrow rungs. Once you get down you have to follow the signs through several compartments to get there. On the way up I encountered a Boy Scout troop coming down and had to wait quite a while to get back up to the hangar deck (there is only one way in or out of that section).
Everything on the ship is accessed via small ladders and a confusing array of narrow winding passageways. Fortunately, the museum has marked the way to everything, but I could only imagine what it must have been like for a new sailor. I would have been lost for quite a while if I had to find my way around unaided.
Just the short time we spent moving around the ship gave me a new appreciation for the sailors who served on these ships during WW II. The living conditions must have been horrible, especially for people in some of the engineering spaces (like the boiler rooms).
If you happen to be in the Corpus Christi area, it would be worth the time and money to see the ship. However, I have to warn everyone that the tour is not intended for small children and people who have trouble getting around. There are no elevators (at least for people) on the ship. All movement between decks is done using ladders.
There are those who claim that the ship is haunted. I don't know about that, but the museum association offers live aboard opportunities for those who would like to spend the night aboard the ship (if you dare :) ). The Boy Scouts I mentioned above were moving into their quarters when I encountered them.
Last week was horribly hectic at work and I also had several things to do in preparation for a trip. I left work early on Thursday to head to my mother's house before we travelled to Corpus Christi for a family reunion on Friday. My intention was to make several updates to this site Thursday night, but events conspired to prevent me from doing so. When I arrived I attempted to go online and got the "no dialtone" message. There had been a big storm here Thursday afternoon, which took out the phones.
Discouraged from updating my website, I decided to watch TV. This was when I discovered that the lightning strike that took out the phones also killed the satellite receiver. The wire had been melted in two at the point where it entered the surge protector. The strike had overwhelmed the surge protector and fried the satellite.
We got back last night, but the phones were just fixed a little while ago. I've also been busy installing a new satellite receiver, so I didn't have much chance to write any new entries. I'll be heading back to Denton tomorrow, and I hope to make some more updates then.
I'm in the office again tonight, for what I hope will be the final chapter in the deployment saga from hell. I left the office around 4:45 to run some errands and get dinner before coming back. As I was leaving I put a Diet Rite in the refrigerator (which, per the sign on the door, was marked with my initials). When I returned around 8:00 it was gone.
What kind of low-life steals a fellow's Diet Rite? That just isn't right.
My %#@$# cable modem has been up and down (mostly down) for the past week or so. It's really starting to get annoying, since I had to go into the office last night rather than working from home (this is part of the install from hell that just never seems to end).
I spent most of today assembling a new game computer from the parts that I bought. The other day I mentioned the new processor/motherboard combo. I went a little crazy on Friday and went to Fry's after work and ended up buying a new case and video card (and a bunch of other toys). The only component I took out of the old system was the sound card (a SoundBlaster Live with LiveDrive; and since it's got built-in sound as well, it will still be usable). Of course, this means that I have to acquire another copy of Windows XP (I found that TigerDirect sells the OEM version of XP Home for $99.99, which is far better than the full retail). I ordered a copy during a brief interlude of connectivity, and I tested the computer by installing my existing copy of XP. So far, it's pretty speedy. Somehow I always manage to cut myself at some point during the process of building a computer. This was no exception. I guess the computing gods want a blood sacrifice for new computers.
Here are the specs:
The coming week is likely to be hectic, so posting may be light. This application deployment that's been dragging on has really screwed up my work schedule, so I'm behind on an important task. Worse, this is going to be a short week, since I'll be heading out of town Thursday night.
We should...be able to see that our interest would be best served not by asking the state to promulgate our values but by forbidding the state to promulgate any values at all. If the state can espouse some value that we love, it can, with equal justice, espouse others we do not love.
-- Richard Mitchell
Fry's is a dangerous place for someone like me. You can find all the parts you need to build a computer from scratch or upgrade one you already have. I've only ever gone into a Fry's once without buying something (something must have been wrong with me that day).
But now it's reached an absurd level. I've got a friend who went there tonight and called me to tell me about the current deal on a motherboard and processor (2000+ Athlon XP with MB for $69.00). So I got him to buy it for me and I'll pay him for it tomorrow. I'm going to use it to upgrade my game system. However, that will leave me with a 900MHz Athlon and motherboard. I have a spare case and hard drive. I may build another system from the cast-off parts (although I have no idea what I'll do with it). But it seems a waste to just let the parts sit there. Maybe I can find someone who's using an old computer and needs/wants something a little faster.
I'm almost tempted to think that drugs would be cheaper than computers...
I got this in an email this morning:
REDNECK VACATION
Billy Bob and Luther were talking one afternoon when Billy Bob tells Luther, "Ya know, I reckon I'm 'bout ready for a vacation. Only this year I'm gonna do it a little different.
The last few years, I took your advice about where to go. Three years ago you said to go to Hawaii. I went to Hawaii and Earline got pregnant.
Then two years ago, you told me to go to the Bahamas, and Earline got pregnant again.
Last year you suggested Tahiti and darned if Earline didn't get pregnant again."
Luther asks Billy Bob, "So, what you gonna do this year that's different?"
Billy Bob says, "This year I'm taking Earline with me."
On the way to work this morning I noticed that the train was stopped across a couple of the side streets in Argyle. As I approached the intersection of 407 and 377 I noticed a lot of police and fire activity. A large commercial lime carrier (18-wheeler) had been hit by the train and dragged about 100 feet south of the intersection. Fortunately, from the condition of the cab, it looked like the driver got out.
I'm still amazed that people will risk their lives to get ahead of a train. In any contest with a train, the train always wins. Unless his truck stalled on the tracks, the truck driver had to have known that the train was coming. This intersection has warning signals with automatic arms.
Update: It appears that the driver wasn't negligent. He just couldn't make it across the tracks because of the slick (and oil-covered) pavement. That must have sucked--to be sitting there knowing that the train is coming and you can't get across (although I guess you could fault him for not backing up, since gravity should have carried him back down the hill to 377).
Last year about this time I bought a pair of Oakley sunglasses from the Sunglass Hut in the mall. Yesterday I received the Sunglass Hut Oakley summer catalog. I was suspicious because it was addressed directly to me (rather than resident), and it was for Oakleys (smells like customer profiling...).
But here's what upsets me:
I've included the text of the email that I sent to Sunglass Hut customer service in the extended entry.
What's sad (for them) is that I was about to buy a new pair to replace my last pair and I was probably going to go there this weekend. Now, I'll be looking elsewhere because I don't trust them.
Maybe I just need to start paying cash everywhere...
My email to Sunglass Hut:
Last year at about this time I purchased a pair of Oakley sunglasses from the Sunglass Hut store/kiosk in the Golden Triangle Mall in Denton, TX. Yesterday, I was surprised to receive a catalog in the mail from Sunglass Hut with the summer Oakley collection. This catalog was addressed directly to me.
I find this unacceptable because I never gave my personal information to Sunglass Hut. And even if I were to have done such a thing, I would *never* have given you permission to send me anything. I guard my privacy quite zealously. The only way that your company could have gotten my mailing address was through the credit card that I used to purchase the sunglasses.
If this is how poorly Sunglass Hut regards a customer's private information, I won't be doing business with you any more. Please let me know how my address was obtained and remove me from any of your mailing lists.
My address is:
< street address >
Denton, TX <zip>
I had a few things I wanted to post about last night, but my cable internet service was down. It's been flaky for the past couple of days, with intermittent outages (usually at the moment I was ready to post something :( ). I've also been hammered at work for the past few days. However, I may have a few minutes this morning to catch up on things.
I've been halfway watching Boomtown on TNT. So far, there have been two commercials for K-Y Warming Liquid. I'm not a prude by any stretch of the imagination, but I have to admit that I was a bit taken aback by the commercial (although the commercial itself wasn't bad).
Maybe it's part of the overall push to make certain things mainstream.
On my way out of work this afternoon I came across three women dealing with a flat tire in the parking lot. They looked somewhat puzzled by the jack so I stopped to offer my assistance. As I was helping them change the tire, I thought the topic of their conversation was interesting. One of them commented to the others about how someone from their company had just driven by and didn't stop or offer to help. One of the others said that there didn't seem to be any "real guys" in their company any more.
I guess I was a bit heartened by that. It means that there is still a place for guys who take the time to lend a hand when a woman needs it, and there are still women who appreciate it. Or maybe I'm reading too much into things. :)
I just returned from a short camping trip to Lake Ray Roberts. I'm hot, sweaty, tired and a little sunburned and I wish I could have stayed for a few more days. We didn't do much of anything, except sit in what little shade we could get or float in the lake. But despite the heat (around 96°F both days), it was still good to get away from everything for a little while. Unfortunately, pesky things like work and paying the bills had to reel me back in.