Please hold, a representative will be with you shortly.
I spend quite a bit of time on the phone at work, and most of that time is spent on hold. Most companies play some sort of easy listening mix, some classical, mostly that cheesy elevator-type music. Today, though, I was put on hold, and this weird "music" came on. After a few minutes, I put it on speaker so I could get something else done. I knew I recognized the "music" from somewhere, and it was driving me crazy where I'd heard it before. Then a co-worker came in, and asked what game I was playing. And we figured it out - the hold music sounded exactly like the background music on the old school Super Mario Brothers in the penny heaven level.
NyQuil = Wonderdrug
Whoever invented NyQuil, I love you. From Friday afternoon until some time late yesterday afternoon, I could literally not stop coughing, and NyQuil was the only thing that made me sleep. So, my weekend was spent sleeping/napping/sucking on cough drops/watching TV. Exciting, but I did get into a few random shows.
1) "Tori and Dean Inn Love" - enjoyable, and Tori Spelling seems pretty likeable. I'm tempted to go out to Fallbrook now.
2) "Engaged and Underage" - like a car wreck, you don't want to look, but for some reason you just can't stop yourself. I guess the only reason people get married at 18 is sex - either they're already pregnant/have a kid, or are waiting until they're married and can't wait any longer. Either way, didn't see any couple that looked like they'd make it.
3) "The Wonder Years" - I really miss this show. It needs to get on DVD - I realize there are lots of trademark issues, blah blah blah, but seriously, someone get on this.
4) "Bad Girls Club" - I watched something like 6 episodes, and I never figured out exactly why any of them are "bad." Basically, the Real World with only chicks to guarantee drama.
5) "Dog the Bounty Hunter" - my cousin's husband got the family into this show on Easter, and it's just plain hilarious. Perfect sick TV - easy to follow, even if you fall asleep in the middle of one episode and wake up in the middle of another one. Nothing really exciting happens in Dog and his family's quest to rid Hawaii of "the ice," but Dog's insights at the end of the show while they're taking the people to the cops are ridiculous.
6) One of those random wedding shows - "Ladies and gentlemen, for the first time as man and wife, Mr. and Mrs. Johnny Walker!!!" I fell off my couch laughing. Not John, not Jonathan, Johnny. Somebody's parents had a sense of humor. Or a problem. If I was the producer of that show, I'd have figured out what they were thinking. (For all I know, they might have explained this earlier in the show.) My theory is that like some people name their kids with a connection to where they were conceived (like the Beckhams' son, Brooklyn), maybe this was HOW the guy was conceived.
Directions
I love these things, like when you google "failure" and get Bush's White House page. I read this one on ESPN.com's Page 2. Go to google, click on maps, then click on get directions. Put in New York, NY, to Paris, France. Step #23.
Blast from the past
So I decided it was finally time to unpack the boxes of all my stuff from ND. Yes, my parents moved almost a year ago, and yes, these boxes have been sitting in my apartment for almost a year as well. I've unpacked a few things, like CDs and pictures and some of my old Calvin and Hobbes books (they are still hilarious, btw, and I was obsessed with them for years), but it was time to dig in. And since I hadn't seen anything in said boxes probably since I left for college, I had no idea what was in them.
- More Calvin and Hobbes books that I forgot I had
- Canadian money, all in coins
- The pillow I put my teeth in for the tooth fairy
- Pogs
- Those troll dolls with all the hair that everyone and their mother used to collect
- A laser tag scoresheet - I don't remember if I won, but I must have, because why else would I have kept it?
- Proof that I was tall once - I was a full head and shoulders taller than my sister (now 3-4 inches taller than me), my cousins (ditto), and just as tall as a guy who would end up being one of the biggest guys in my class.
- Golf tournament trophies - hah!
- Ties and a pocket square from proms (my date sophomore year was too good for a tie), and apparently my junior year, we made the official prom theme "Doin' it Hawaiian Style" - yep, nothin but class from the NRHS Class of 2001.
- Photo albums - good Lord, I can't believe how I used to look.
- The "prophesies" and songs we gave each other senior year of high school. Still funny.
- A giant foam finger
And of course, the yearbooks. For some reason, I have one from my freshman year at USD (don't remember getting that). That was probably the weirdest thing I found, seeing all the people I hang out with now how we all looked when we were little underclassmen at USD. The high school ones were great fun to see who got skinny, who used to be skinny, who's disappeared, who's married, who's changed, who looks the same. Of course, I haven't seen anyone in over a year and a half, so I guess I'll just have to wait a few years til the reunion to really decide.
Now I just need a basement or an attic to store all this stuff.
Adventures in commuting
Pretty much everyday I drive to work the same way. Today was no exception. The freeway on-ramp that I use is one of those where it just turns into another lane as the freeway gets wider. As I am accelerating, I am right next to an old green Astro minivan and about to pass it completely, but the driver apparently doesn't see me and decides to merge into my lane. I lean on my horn, and the minivan slams on the brakes and merges in behind me. I glance in my rear-view mirror, only to see the driver flipping me off all the way to the next exit. I return the gesture (probably stupid, I know), and receive the double-bird in return. So now I am in front of a driver who does not check for cars before changing lanes, doesn't signal, and is driving with no hands. Whatever, I speed off and leave him behind.
Fast forward 10 minutes to when I get off the freeway. I am stopped in the right turn lane at a red light, slowly moving forward as cars turn right on red. When I get to the front, people are crossing the street so I have to wait. As I turn my head, I see the green Astro pull up to a stop in the next lane. Great. So I ignore it, and look back to see if I can go yet. Of course not. When I look back the other way, the driver has his passenger side window down, and is motioning at me to roll down my window. Not being one to avoid confrontation, I roll down my window. With plenty of screaming and expletives to get his point across, the driver lets me know that, get this, his KIDS are in the back and they don't need to see their dad get flipped off by "some little bitch" on the freeway. At this point, one of the people taking their sweet time crossing the street has overheard, and she is now screaming at the guy in the Astro telling him that's not how you speak to a woman and he's a terrible father and should have his kids taken away, blah blah blah. I start to laugh, then the woman smiles at me and says, "Have a lovely day, sweetheart," as she finally makes it across the street. What a fabulous start to a Tuesday.
Happy feet
It's amazing what a pair of polka dot heels can do for your psyche.
You learn something new every day...
Yesterday, I went to the San Diego Crew Classic. I have never attended any type of boating event in my life, and I have to say it was a great way to finish the weekend. We also celebrated Jenny's birthday at the Shout House - always a good time. And to cap it all off, drunken shopping. Shout out to Renee of the Macy's shoe department.
What I learned this weekend:
- 30 more minutes of sleep really doesn't help.
- Starbucks is very interested in getting poverty-stricken children clean water, but only 5 cents at a time. Apparently poverty-stricken children don't need clean water THAT badly.
- Being a USD alum really does have benefits.
- Some people's legs get tanlines faster than others.
- Customized Crocs are just as ugly and pointless as regular ones.
- Seagulls can withstand large amounts of pain. Maybe that's why there's so frickin many of them.
- Although it would be exciting, rowers rarely fall out of or drop their boat.
- Sports announcers are pretty much just terrible.
- Sunscreen will save your life.
- Sunglasses can make a great disguise.
