Time You Enjoy Wasting Is Not Wasted Time

Since being a fake rock star is so much easier than being a real rock star, I’ve found a new site to blow away time. JamLegend is kind of like a Rock Band or Guitar Hero of the interwebs. I find it completely addictive and had to tear myself away long enough to write this post. Of course it’s really nothing like playing in a band, but it is still a fun way to while away some time. I do have an invite if anyone reading this wants in on the private beta. Back to rockin’ out.

The Daily Show welcomes those in town for the Republican National Convention

Photo Credit: The Zeppelin on Flickr

What a busy day! But the first day back is always crazy busy, so there’s nothing new there. I managed to keep on top of all of my calls today plus teach my class.

I saw this today and thought it was very fitting, it’s from PHD comics.

see Obama pictures

So today after Farm Fest I played handyman. Our drain has been clogged preventing us from doing wash. Since the weekend is when we do most of our laundry this is a problem. The hand snake I have is just not up to the job, so today we rented an electric one. That did the trick. This is an example of needing the right tool. By renting the electric snake I was able to clear the drain for less than it would have cost me to hire a plumber. There are certainly some jobs that require an expert, but this particular one isn’t one of them. It’s just that the plumber already has the right tool and knows when to use it. So I can add one more thing to my seemingly ever growing list of household repairs I have successfully accomplished.

Today we went to the Fredonia Farm Festival.  Actually, I met Karen and the girls there yesterday after work too. But it was really hot and I was still in work clothes so it wasn’t exactly comfortable so we didn’t stay very long (Karen and the girls had already been there for about an hour anyway).

We went down around 10:30 this morning and stayed for a few hours. The girls watched the dog show while we had lunch. My favorite part of Farm Fest is the food. On my must buy list are the kabobs from the Spanish food cart. This year I also got the Cuban sandwich, which has quickly become one of my favorite sandwiches. We checked out all the vendors, chatted with the people we knew, and all in all had a fun time.

The one thing that I’ve never understood is that they keep the road that goes right through the main square open instead of diverting traffic a couple of blocks. At least the directions to campus coming off of the Thruway no longer divert you through town like they used to. Since it is move-in weekend the traffic to campus and therefore through town is very busy making it even worse to drive or walk downtown.

Before the semester starts and I get swamped with work, teaching, and attending class we took a day trip to the Erie Zoo. We had a great day out and about, we all had a lot of fun! I uploaded a set of pictures to my Flickr, I have a couple of videos to upload yet.

I like this picture because Bella is so nonchalantly reading her map with a tiger laying down right behind her. Too bad there was glare on the glass, or it would have looked just like she was right next to the tiger.

Last night I finally uploaded pictures off of the camera. You can see them here. Video to follow, maybe later tonight.

This past Sunday I took the girls for an outing around town. We went to 2 different playgrounds and the campus to run around and have fun. And fun we had.

On campus the girls found this leaf imprint in one of the sidewalks and thought it was really cool.

When we got home Karen had set out my cool medieval/fantasy theme chess set. Bella was interested in learning how to play so we sat down to play a bit. Not sure why I have that evil genius look on my face…

So today after work I needed to pick up milk and cheese. I ran to the supermarket that is closest to work figuring it would be the quickest in and out. However I did not plan for the sheer deception and apathy that awaited me. I walked to the back where the cheese was, and decided on the pre-shredded mozzarella since Karen was making pizza and I didn’t feel like shredding the cheese. I noticed at least 6 signs proclaiming the store brand cheese was 2 for $4.00. I figured that was a pretty good deal so I grabbed two packages, got my milk and went to checkout.

Now this particular store is notorious for having checkout lines lit (the lit sign usually indicates the line is open) but no one actually staffing the line. This time though someone actually came to the line when they saw me approach. Perhaps this trip would be different? Maybe I could get out without any hassles or getting pissed off.

How wrong I was. She scans my items and tells me my total is around $12. No way. 2 for $4 + $2.99 for the milk is $6.99 and there’s no way I’m paying $12. So she checks and wouldn’t you know it the cheese I grabbed, the cheese that was right next to all of those sale signs, isn’t the cheese that is on sale. So I have to go back to the back of the store to get the right cheese and then checkout again. Of course by this time there is now a line, so I have to wait. While I am waiting the cashier asks if I’d like to speak to the manager since I had mentioned I’d like to lodge a complaint. I can tell the cashier is disgusted and figures I am an idiot. The manager comes over and seems unable to understand why I am upset by his stores deceptive placement of non-sale items right next to the sale signs. I am sure that they do this on purpose since if people are buying a lot of things they might not notice if there bill was a few dollars more. But alas I only had the 3 items so they couldn’t trick me. However, Mr. Manager, here’s a customer service tip, from me to you. Even if you have no intention of following up with it, the correct response to my complaint would have been along the lines of “I’ll look into that. Perhaps the signs were placed in a confusing manner.” The correct response is not to act like it should have been obvious which items were on sale. Obviously it was confusing, so to act otherwise is just insulting. So next time I’ll happily drive down the road to that other store, your competitor, the one you should be trying to keep me from going to instead of making me hate your store even more.