Who Has My Pictures?

I am a Walgreens junkie. It is my safe haven. I would rather pay a few cents more for a comfortable and safe shopping experience, than go through the stress that comes along with shopping at Wal-Mart. I fear for my life every time I attempt to shop at Wal-Mart. I try to give Wal-Mart another chance at least once a year. Once a year, I get hit in the arse with shopping carts or find myself unwillingly participating in a Wal-Mart parking lot demolition derby. It is for this reason that I had no problem when Walgreens gave my pictures to another customer.

The band played Germantown, Illinois' annual "Spassfest" this past Saturday. I was so proud that I remembered to bring my camera with me. The stage that we played on was the cutest stage we have ever played on. It had a little ply wood backdrop of little German-looking buildings and there were trellises, little lights, as well as hanging plants all over the stage. The tent poles were decorated to look like German road signs, with little arrows pointing in the direction of Berlin and other German towns. I took pictures of people, with people, and of the band, when I could. I was so excited to drop off my role of film, but too cheap to pay for one-hour service, so I opted for next day. Hey, with next day, I get a free second set of prints.

The photo clerk was in the middle of another order when I dropped my film off. I remember thinking to myself, "This is how roles of film get mixed up." I went to Walgreens last night to pick up my pictures. A different clerk than the one who I dropped my pictures off with waited on me. He searched and searched, but with no avail. Finally, what seemed like ten minutes later, he shows me an envelope with a note on it which said something to the effect of, "Pictures switched with another role." Then the clerk said, "The guy who helped you yesterday is still here. He can explain it to you." I did not think it was that big of a deal and the clerk was making an ass out of himself by blaming the clerk who switched the roles. Anyway, the other clerk came out and apologized to me and told me he would call me when whoever does have my pictures brings them back. He told me I will not have to pay for my pics, either.

I was fine with an apology and free photos, if and when I get them back. I was more upset at the other clerk for making such a big deal out of it. My big concern is for the poor folks who have to look at pictures of the progressive work on my teeth!

The moral of the story is this: If you entrust the developing of your precious photos to a third party, make sure that they are photos you would like to share with the rest of the world, not to mention your great-grandmother.

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday to Marissa Sims out in Cali!
I also want to wish a Happy 21st Birthday to my co-worker, Pam. So, uh hmm...

Happy Birthday to you.

Happy Birthday to you.

Happy Birthday, Marissa and Pam.

Happy Birthday to you--both.

New Toy

I am moving up in the world of technology; I just bought a laptop, I mean notebook computer.

I love him, well as much as one can love a computer. His name is Frank and he only weighs 6.5 lbs. He has an 80GB hardrive and satellite capabilities. He is quite fast. He will be even more efficient when I buy him another 512MB of memory. His screen is 15.4" and his picture quality is amazing. He has a CD/DVD burner.

I bought him because I still live at home with my folks and it is hard to concentrate on writing papers and such with everyone home. My folks have one computer and it is not in a quiet area of the house. With Frank, I can type away in the privacy of my bedroom. I have already started again on my website, using Windows 2003. I like Windows much better than Yahoo! when it comes to site building. I am still learning as I go, of course. The whole web building class is about a year away. I sketched out what I want my pages to look like almost a year ago, when I bought my domain, but time and technology has not been on my side until now.

I am finally ready to go, though. My scanner software is on Frank. I even bought him an tiny, inexpensive printer. His home is a beautiful leather case, which I got a good deal on as well.

I had some free time yesterday, so I played around with my digital recording studio, my BR-1180. I am learning how to use it to its fullest potential. I hate reading brochures. I am one of those people who learns by doing, not by reading a damn manual. If I get stuck, then I read the manual. Anyway, the song came out pretty good. Of course, everyone is a goddess in her bedroom recording studio!

Octopus Salad

Yesterday I did two of my three favorite s's.

One of my three favorite s's is "sushi." Doug asked me where I wanted to go to dinner. I was thinking Joannie's Pizza, but I am having a hard time eating pizza with my temporary veneers. The crust has to be crispy so I can cut the pizza into small bite-size pieces. My temporary veneers have gone to hell anyway. This is the second set of temps I have had, and they too started to discolor after about a week and a half. Fortunately, I get my permanent veneers on Wednesday and they do not stain for anything.

Doug asked me if I want to go eat sushi. I said, "Heck yeah!" I must have done something right, because Doug hates sushi. We went to a place in the Central West End called The Drunken Fish. I ordered a spicy salmon roll and a California roll (boring, I know). Doug ordered Teriyaki chicken, which came with Miso soup and a house salad. We noticed they had octopus salad on the menu. Doug asked the hostess what octopus salad was like and if it was good. The hostess said she likes it, so for $4.50, we took a chance.

There was some mix-up with our waitress, so the hostess ended up taking our orders. It took forever, but some waitress finally brought out Doug's soup and salad, my sushi order, and the octopus salad. The octopus salad came in a tiny bowl. It was baby octopus legs (sorry vegetarians), beans, and was marinated in a ginger dressing. The texture of the octopus was chewy, but firm and not fatty, quite the opposite of squid. Much to Doug's and my surprise, it tasted great! Doug said it is a favorite dish of his, now.

I concentrated on eating my sushi, so Doug ate most of the octopus salad, plus his miso soup and iceberg salad. The waitress still had not brought his chicken out yet. Doug said he wasn't hungry anymore and hoped they forgot about his chicken.

They did forget about his chicken. The waitress said she was sorry. She offered to comp the chicken and give it to him in a to go box anyway. Doug said, "Forget about it. Comping the chicken is fine."

Neither Doug nor I are very aggressive in situations like that. Why be assholes? We weren't in a hurry. We sat outside and people-watched. We really enjoyed ourselves. After the meal, we took a walk and got Ben and Jerry's.

I was a bit concerned that the octopus would not get along with the salmon and the crab, but it seems as though everything came out okay.

Scary Thought

Here's a scary thought: A Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey re-make of Meatloaf's "Paradise By The Dashboard Lights."

I am shuddering at the thought.
I think it is a fourth Fatima prophecy, so let's hope it never comes to pass.

Crazy People

I finally ran out of paper clips. I never thought I'd run out of paper clips. It's just more proof that all good things must come to an end. Now, I can open a brand new box.
Apparently, the paper clips I use are universal, so I can use them anywhere in the universe. This will come in handy when I go back to Mars.

Speaking of Mars, (Man, I love segueys!) I think the little red planet being so close and visible to Earth has something to do with people acting so crazy the past two weeks. It will only get worse as Mars moves closer and becomes more visible, with the craziest day being August 27 of this year!
The girls I work with in the call center have noticed that people have been making crazier and crazier requests as the week progresses. Yesterday, I saw a driver almost crash right into a construction barrel. It looked as though the driver expected the barrel to move out of his way. I spoke to my friend, Heather, the other day. She said she has been dealing with a lot more crazies in the ER the past few weeks.

It could be I am on an episode of "Twilight Zone:Reality!"
I used to think that that I was always on television, anyway. How cool and relieved did I feel to learn that the people I saw on the glowing box got paid to be on tv?