Long Time

Yes, I am still here. I logged on to see if this was still around. I quit writing because I decided only to write when something interesting happened and then nothing did. Nothing I can remember anyway. I think I jinxed myself in some weird round about way. I make a decision, and then things are going well, and then I hit some sort of wall, and then a slump. I wake back up, and decide to start again. I have been out kayaking everyday now for two and half weeks. I can't tell if I am getting in shape, but I feel very relaxed afterwards, so I guess it is worth it. I was out on the water today passing by a dock where a woman was standing with two older people. She felt the need to yell out to me that a very large sea lion was in the water. I ignored her at first but she kept talking, and asked me if I needed to worry about the sea lion. I think I looked at her as if she was an alien. There are lots of sea lions out in the water all the time, It is a marina. I finally replied, that I only worry about the great white sharks. She said you don't have to worry about the sea lions? I said, no they like me. I don't really know if they do, I have never tried to bond with one, I just didn't know what else to say. I hope the older couple she was with didn't pay her for the tour. I don't know if this was interesting, but it fits in with my idea to write down my observations of human behavior in different situations and environments.

Professor of Tellernomics and Other Stories

I went to the bank today, to find out why the bank manager told me, that as long as I kept a certain amount of money in my checking account, I would not be charged a monthly fee, but was still being charged $9.95 a month. I walked into a fairly empty lobby and discovered one bank employee and a couple seated at a desk. The two tellers and the bank manager were all behind a glass partition waiting on customers in a roped off line. It was a pretty typical scene. I proceeded to sit in the nice padded chairs, that were arranged around a coffee table. I sat for about ten minutes watching the employee behind the desk, watch the couple on the phone, with what must have been another department of the bank. The woman looked distraught and the man seemed to be there for moral support. The manager came out of the glass area three times, talked with a customer that came in after me, and never said a word to me. In fact, nobody said a word to me, not even the guy who was behind the desk watching the couple on the phone. I looked at the other desks and noticed, that one seemed to have an employee working there,

that must be at lunch, because note papers and pens were sitting there. The man behind the desk got up finally, went through a door, and joined the other employees behind the glass partition. He left the couple talking on the phone. He finally came out, sat back down, and watched the couple on the phone for a few more minutes. Then he listened to the man give him a lecture, about what was happening to the woman, who was still on the phone. Then the employee decided to get up and help me. I asked him about my problem, and he told me that I needed to deposit a different amount($500 dollars more than I was originally told) so that I would not be charged a monthly fee. Fine, I said, I will just make a deposit and be on my way. I joined the line of customers behind the rope, that had now grown to about 6 people. When I reached the window the teller decided to explain to me, without me saying a word, that next time I could simply go to the ATM and make my deposit. I remained quiet, because at this point, I just wanted to get out of the bank. The teller seemed to take this as a moment to further explain the procedures involved in making a deposit at the ATM, How I would get a nice receipt and so forth. I remained silent. I think my silence was driving him a little crazy and he may have thought he offended me, but no he kept on talking, so if next time you are in a hurry you can use the ATM. I felt like saying thank you professor, should I come to your next lecture at 2:30. I held my tongue however, and said thank you, punched my parking validation and got out of there.

I am beginning to think I look like I need special help in public. I had two bus drivers recently, that felt the need to explain things to me. One of the bus drivers was an airport shuttle driver, who felt the need to explain to me, that I should have gotten off the bus earlier, to catch the city bus, even though the automatic voice told me I had two choices, and I chose the second one, because I am a little lazy and don't like to walk the extra block. I have taken this shuttle several times. The second bus driver was a city bus driver, who was flying down the road so fast, that even the automatic voice, that calls the stops, was having trouble keeping up with him. I pulled the string to request a stop, and when I started to get off, the bus driver started in on me. You're lucky I stopped any later and you would have been walking back. When I didn't acknowledge him he repeated what he said and I simply said thank you and got off the bus. Is everyone on a power trip or do I need a shave and a hair cut?

Jake Sulley A Man Called Horse

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

This is a great sci-fi version of the movie a Man Called Horse. I recommend seeing it in 3d. Amazing special effects.I really don't have much more to say about this movie, but they require a minimum of ten lines per review. I recommend using the restroom before seeing this movie and don't order the medium coke, they are huge and will make the end of your movie experience very unpleasant. Also be aware that if the theater you are seeing the movie at, is also showing Alvin and the Chipmunks, the lobby will feel a little like a day care center on coke,candy and popcorn.My 3d glasses were filthy even though they were shrink wrapped, so be prepared to have to clean them.I saw it at a theater with stadium style seating, and this is important if you don't want to have to see around grandpa's enormous head. I will admit that I looked at trees very differently for a few hours after the movie. It was a little like my childhood Wizard of Oz experience. You know the one when Dorothy is walking down the yellow brick road, and the trees come alive and grab her. Follow, Follow, Follow, Follow, Follow the yellow brick road.

Complaining about Barnes and Noble

Dear To Whom It May Concern 12/16/09

I am writing to inform you, that I had a very disappointing experience at your 3rd St. Promenade store in Santa Monica CA. Due to your confusing discount policies, I may not be returning as a customer to your stores or online services. I was told when I was at the register, that you no longer used the teacher discount card that I had,That you now have a plastic card. If I had an I.D. from my school however, I could receive the 10% discount. I only had my teacher's union card, but was told this was not acceptable. Even though it has been acceptable in the past. I had my discount card with my school written on it by your employee, when it was issued to me. The employee who issued the card verified my I.D. at the time of issue, and this should be reasonable enough verification. I also had plenty of photo I.D's that verified who I was. I was told, that if I could bring in my school I.D. in the next 90 days then, he (the cashier) would be willing to give me the discount. This is not a reasonable solution to the problem. The burden of proof should not fall on the customer as if I am some sort of scammer trying to get a $4.00 dollar discount. You need to improve this system or eliminate the discount. I would spend more then $4.00 dollars on parking and gas, when I returned to receive the discount. So it would not be something I would be willing to do. This is a confusing policy and has only made me upset, and I would expect it has made others upset as well. There are too many choices for books from other venues, for me to waste anymore time with a place that doesn't make me feel good about my purchases. A place that has a policy that creates an expectation of a discount and then denies it when I get to the register. A place that puts the burden of creating happy customers on the customers themselves, by asking them to assume the burden of proof, for a policy that the company created. Why would any customer waste time doing a job, that should be done by the people who are paid to work there?

Christmas is literally coming my way. As I was getting onto the 10 freeway on Thursday morning last week, in a rain storm, I noticed an SUV with those funny dear antlers attached to the sides. However they aren't so funny when they are flying towards your car at 60mph. I noticed the antlers and about 3 minutes later I saw a tan stick like thing bouncing towards my car. Boom, Boom, Boom! What the hell was that? I thought to myself, and then I realized that it was a decorative dear antler hitting the front of my car, and then bouncing underneath it. I wasn't able to pull over right away, but when I got to work, I was able to check the front of the car and noticed only a small white mark near the bottom of the bumper. Today, Sunday I was traveling down Pico Ave. West towards the ocean and I noticed a mini van in front of me with a little 4 ft tree on top. About a minute later, the tree was flying off the roof it landed in my lane, but I managed to swerve in time. Two close calls, and a new holiday song for me, dear antlers flying fa la la la la la la la la, Christmas trees a falling, fa la la la la la la la la.

Efficiency expert at the grocery store

Are single people invisible to families? I was in the cereal aisle at the grocery store and a large family entered the aisle and took it over. They cut in front of me by the product shelves, and began searching for their favorite cereal, Excuse me! I was well mannered enough to say this only to myself. Then I decided to cut in front of a few of them, and they began to move out of the way. Take that large family.

What about parents with young children who let their child scream, cry, and throw tantrums in the store while you are trying to pick out socks or something?

What has all this got to do with computers and efficiency experts? well, at the same store, while I was in the checkout aisle, the man behind me decided, that I would not need my cart after I received my groceries, and moved it out of the aisle. I had to tell him in a nice way, "I don't think you want to do that."

He replied, "Oh are you going to need your cart?" I think he was suffering from point and click disease and decided to delete my cart from his view or something.