CommonException[dot]com

I’m a guy who likes condiments. Now read that sentence again because I don’t want you to get the wrong idea. That’s stuff like ketchup, mustard, relish, ranch dressing, etc. Sometime this year, Van Zile decided to trash the individual ketchup bottles in favor of the “spoon-it-out-of-a-giant-bucket-under-an-inconveniently-placed-sneeze-guard” method. Now, I understand why they might not want to continually buy individual bottles or even fill up those bottles from a larger container. What I can’t understand though, is why they won’t just go buy a pump for the container to simplify the whole process and return the ketchup and mustard to the end of the counter where it belongs. It wouldn’t be so bad if the little cups they provide were actually bigger than the utensil used to spoon the Ketchup out with, but no, that’s apparently too much to ask. Since they can’t do that, I definitely won’t hold my breath for the pump…

Anyway, the result of this catastrophe of Ketchup is inevitable spillage onto my fingers. As such, when I get to the table to sit down, I immediately need a napkin. So I reach for one, only to come up empty. I take a closer look and realize the napkins are in the basket upside-down.

Now paper napkins are generally folded in a very specific way so as to leave a flap on one side for easy grabbing, whether it be out of a dispenser, off the top of a stack, or out of a basket. How hard is it to make sure the stack goes in flap side up? Apparently, when the baskets get refilled, people are just guessing at the appropriate orientation (badly). It’s all about the details people…

Currently Playing: Los Lonely Boys - Heaven

There’s nothing like a 6am shift to really bring you back to reality. Ironically, I got up at 5:30 which is probably earlier than just about everyone I know except maybe my parents. I won’t be getting up anywhere near this early after I start my job with Epic. I seriously planned to go to bed early last night, but I never made it. Jimmy was watching The Core and I just kept finding funny things to look at online.

I have to say, I’ve disliked some women’s fashion trends for sometime. I guess someone finally took the time to write it down.

Anyone else ever read Calvin and Hobbes? I saw this sideways room and it made me think of the episode where gravity suddenly reverses it’s pull and Calvin is stuck to the ceiling. It’s too bad Bill Watterson stopped making the strip; it was my favorite when I was younger, which is pretty ironic considering how longwinded it could be. While I was trying to find a good Calvin and Hobbes link, I found out that the complete collection is going to be released in hardcover. You can pre-order on Amazon.com.

I wasn’t in Madison for very long, but while I was there I must have seen that stupid Tender Crisp Bacon Cheddar Ranch commercial by Burger King about 83 times. I’m sure some guy pitching the idea for the ad thought it was absolutely hilarious, but all I see is one incredibly lame commercial with a stupid song that inevitably gets stuck in my head for hours. Damn you, BK! If I could really have it my way, I’d get that stupid song off of my TV. I’m still trying to figure out why Hootie sold out and what purpose Brooke Burke has in that commercial besides the obvious eye candy (oh, did I just answer my own question?). Ironically, you won’t find any mention of Hootie’s sellout on the band’s website…not unless you go digging through the message board that is. I guess some people can’t get enough of the Tender Crisp Bacon Cheddar Ranch. And while it’s probably a tasty sandwich, I just wish the commercial didn’t have to suck brain cells out of my head each of the 80,000 times a day that it airs.

Currently Playing: Anna Nalick - Breathe (2 AM)

Cause you can’t jump the track
We’re like cars on a cable
And life’s like an hourglass glued to the table,
No one can find the rewind button girl
So just cradle your head in your hands.
And breathe, just breathe,
Whoa breathe, just breathe
I finally heard it, Sheena. Great song.

Blogger has issues. I just realized there were 3 of the same post on here. Probably because they’ve been having trouble finding enough power (as in electricity) to run the servers they need to provide consistant service.

My Spring Break ended about an hour ago when I got back to Manhattan to work a shift. It never seems long enough, but for once I got a ton of stuff done. Here’s the rundown.

Started off with a 4 hour drive to Albion to see Amber’s parents. Left for Madison (and a 10 hour drive) early Sunday morning, got in Sunday night. Spent 2 days looking at apartments, picked one out, and signed our lease on the 3rd day (pictures to come later). Ate lunch with a guy who currently works at Epic to learn some more about my job and the Madison area. Spent some time exploring the city, although there’s still plenty to see. Found a nice movie theater near our apartment and saw Hostage. It was pretty good. Kinda twisted, but good. Each opened a checking account so we’ll have somewhere to send our money when we close our current accounts. Found out information on utilities, cable, internet, etc. so we can figure up a budget. Yeah, it was busy. But it will save us a lot of trouble when we go to move at the end of May. Oh yeah, that’s the other thing…they’re letting us move in a week and a half early at no charge!

So Thursday morning we got out of Madison and drove the 11 hours to Andover to see my parents and sister for a few days. Things were a lot more relaxing at home. Saw Miss Congeniality 2; not as good as the original (obviously) but still funny. Amber experimented a little bit and made Fettuccine Alfredo with Shrimp which was pretty good, and my dad made his first full blown Emeril recipe which was also very good. Then today we celebrated my birthday since it’s next week and I won’t be home until the end of the month. I got a new TV to fit the entertainment center my parents are letting me take to Madison and a Game Cube. I can finally play the games I already own on a system that doesn’t belong to someone else. Woohoo!

Anyway, that’s the abbreviated version of events. There’s lots I left out so if you wanna hear more, just ask.

Currently Playing: Evanescence - Bring Me to Life

I’m so glad to be back in Manhattan with radio that doesn’t suck. Wichita radio has gone to sh*t and Madison apparently loves commercials…

Apple recently (and quietly) changed the functionality of iTunes. Instead of allowing 5 people at a time to stream music from an iTunes share over a LAN, only 5 people per day can listen in. Wolffe over at iPodlounge had this to say about it:

I don’t get it. What difference does it make whether 5 people are listening to your music or 10… or whether 3 people listened to your music that day or 20. What difference does it make if I burn 10 CDs versus 7? If I can burn 1, I can burn a million. Then again, if I really wanted to burn a million I wouldn’t be using iTunes.

Did somebody actually crunch some numbers and come to the conclusion that allowing people to burn their playlists 7 times instead of 10 actually affected the bottom line?

I’ve pretty much converted from Winamp to iTunes as for playing my music. I’ve even bought some music from iTunes. I’d probably buy a lot more if I had more money, but I tend to agree with this guy. What does changing limits like this really accomplish? There’s always another way around and if people really want to find it, they won’t mind spending a little bit of time to do it. You can read the rest of this comment and more at iPodlounge.

Currently Playing: Family Guy

My Spring Break is here! Well, almost. About any time I’ll be getting a call to go deliver mail. But other than that, I’m done. I’m hoping to have some St. Patty’s Day fun this evening down in the ‘Ville and then head to Nebraska tomorrow on the way to Madison to check out apartments.

Last night ARH debated pet policy and things actually went pretty smoothly. Considering all of the precautions we put in place to ensure we wouldn’t have a debacle like last year, that’s a damn good thing. Ferrets ended up in the policy (which I don’t like), but at the same time, I’m leaving so why should I care? The only thing that sucked is that people didn’t want to relocate to the ARCK to finish going through the policy so we’ll have to come back to it after Spring Break. That obviously means we didn’t get to the Constitution either.

I just spent 2 hours cramming for my ethics test, followed by about 40 minutes frantically scribbling some combination of actual knowledge and total BS on the short answer and essay questions. I threw Enron and Worldcom into one of my answers, I figured that’s worth a few extra points.

While I was studying, Jimmy sent me a link. I’d call it “what every guy would like to do at one time or another but refrains for fear of losing his nuts”.

And the mail just arrived. Great timing.

Currently Playing: Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow
(Well, Jimmy is sleeping to it. It looks like a pretty good movie; I’ll have to check it out later.)

…hell? So I was driving from Amber’s apartment to the union and I pull up at a light behind this silver Monte Carlo SS. The first thing I noticed was the hand prints in the dust on the trunk. Then I thought of how I don’t really like those cars. But, then I saw that this guy had a flip down LCD screen. It’s the first time I’ve ever actually seen one in a car on the street so that was pretty cool, despite the ugly car. Since we were stopped and it was dark, I was close enough I thought I’d try to figure out what he was watching. A closer look and a second later I had my answer. It was PORN! I couldn’t believe it; this guy was driving around the city of Manhattan watching porn in his car. I think I laughed all the way to the union.

I just bought a Pepsi for the fifth time in about two weeks. Pepsi has been doing their iTunes song giveaway again. The odds claim to be one in three. But in five times, have I won? No. Doesn’t that mean I basically have to win next time? Oh wait, that’s not how it works…damn.

I guess next time I’ll just have to go to a store where I can tilt the bottle and see if I’ve won before I buy instead of getting them out of a machine. Doh!

I have one test left before Spring Break. I guess it’s time to start learning the material…

Currently Playing: Train - Calling All Angels

You’ve seen those stupid talking fish. The ones mounted on a plaque, generally with a motion sensitive trigger that sing songs like “Take Me to the River.” Well now you can create your own stupid message.

If you really wanna waste some time, this ball game is maddening. It seems so simple in theory, and yet it takes a level of coordination that I didn’t seem to possess when I was playing it this morning.

I always thought there was something funny about this guy.

I have just one question. Why?

Make that two questions. Why are they in space? There’s no reason for them to be in space.

Hopefully I won’t need to use any of these techniques to get people out of my office at Epic.

While I sit here and write pointless posts to waste time, some people do more creative things.

I’m only half awake. This probably seems a lot funnier than it really is, but here’s some discarded tide ad campaign slogans.

Currently Playing: Avril Lavigne - My Happy Ending