Aw, man! I forgot that New Edition tickets went on sale at 10:00 this morning. It was about 10:30, or so. She turned around, went to the ticket site, and started to look for her tickets. I told her that I’d catch her later.

Sometime later, she stopped by my cubicle and said: Man! They’ve got it blocked (Bank of America). I can find the tickets, but can’t purchase them. That page is blocked. I guess that I’ll have to wait until I bet home.

I said, don’t they have a toll free number? She got a funny look on her face and said: Ha! I didn’t even think of that. Away she went.

Sometime later I asked if the low-tech solution worked. She said that it had. I told her next she’ll be using stamps and envelopes to send things. She thought that that was pretty funny.

Sometimes, low-tech works!

Scott Adams has a made a lot of money from his Dilbert cartoon. I love the cartoon because it pokes big fun at corporate America, deservingly so. Periodically, like today, I’ll have a Dilbert moment:

Today was pretty funny. Well, I have to laugh sometimes in order not to cry. There I was at my desk, minding my own business when suddenly a MOC (Microsoft Office Communicator) session starts with 9 people. It was from the project manager of another team. He was wanting to know why this particular defect wasn’t fixed. They tried a number of scenarios and none of them presented an issue on our side. So, I got the bright idea to ask:

Has anyone bothered testing this to see if it works? Seems like everything is order.

No one admitted to testing it, only assuming that it was still broken and absorbing the time of 9 people to verify this. My next question was:

Are we chasing wild geese or fishing for red herrings?

For some reason, no one thought that that was funny. I thought that it was hilarious. I was cracking myself up! LOL

Anyway, someone finally tested it and found that, indeed, it had been fixed. They decided to close the defect. After ending this MOC session, I noticed an email that had been sent some hours before indicating that the defect had been fixed and was no longer an issue. And, whose name should be on the list? The guy who started the whole chat. Nice! Perhaps he should read his e-mail!

Sometimes, ya gotta laugh, and I did!

As James and I walked down the streets of Charleston, we came upon this sign. It brought a smile to my face and a couple of memories: My father loved bologna on a sandwich. It was what he usually took with him when he went fishing. Bologna and mayo on white bread. Not what one would call a healthy meal, but it did the trick when you were out on the lake and getting hungry. Just reach into the cooler, grab one, chow down, continue fishing. Haute cuisine is not required when you are fishing, besides, that little bit of fish slime that you have on your hands tends to change the taste of food a bit, but I digress!

Another thing that I remembered was that on some days, he would fry a piece or two of bologna, add some Velveeta cheese to it, slap it on some bread and you’ve have a different kind of sandwich, for sure. I don’t remember how long ago it was, but I introduced Tony to a fried bologna sandwich. We were at the grocery store, I saw some bologna, got a small pack of it, and decided to fry some up for him.

At first, he thought that it was weird, but when he tasted it, he asked: Can I have this every day for lunch?! My reply was: Well, if your mother found out about it, we’d be dead, for sure! So, no! LOL

It’s nice to see that some restaurants are sticking with tradition, even though it may not be fashionable these days as people grow more and more health conscious. Certainly, fried bologna is not on the list of nutritious or healthy foods, but it sure is tasty! Ever had one?

Strike One
A couple of weeks ago my son, Pedro, called to ask if everything was alright. I assured him that things were, but I was quite puzzled as to why he would call and ask me such a thing. I had just left the movie theater with James and Tim. We were on our way back home. Pedro told me that it was flooding in Charlotte and that someone had died. Huh? Well, it had rained for a few minutes, pretty hard, but nowhere near flooding.

When I got home, I found that one part of the city had received some torrential type rains for about an hour, which had swollen some creeks. One women, who was shoplifting and tried to get away, ran into the creek, was carried away, and drowned. This was the flooding that he was talking about, a single, isolated, flash flood with one death.

Strike Two
I received a call from Pedro, again, this time last week. He asked if everything was alright. I said: Why wouldn’t it be? He said that he had heard that Bank of America was going to let go of 3,500 people. I didn’t know this! Hmmm. You’d think that as an employee I’d know this, but, I didn’t. I had to read about it after I got the call.

Strike Three
Today, around 5:00 PM as I was leaving work, Tony calls me from Missouri and asked if I was alright. I said: Why wouldn’t I be? He said because you guys had an earthquake. It’s on the news and everything. I said: Well, it must have been an awfully small one because no one around here felt it.

After I hung up with him, I did a quick search and, sure enough, there had been an earthquake near Washington, DC. According to reports, the earthquake came in at a 5.9, which is moderate on the Richter scale. Well, I’ll be damned. An earthquake. Didn’t know about that either.

I really like not having a television and not being in the know, sometimes; however, perhaps one day, I’ll come outside and everyone will have been abducted by aliens and I won’t have a clue as to what happened. I’d probably go home and write a blog about it. LOL

I was in Brevard, NC the other day, taking a break from the heat of the city. I sat there in front of one of my favorite places, Looking Glass Falls. As I watched the myriad people frolic about in the water, I noticed a woman and a man trying to get their dog to stay still and ‘pose’ in the water.

The dog liked the water well enough, but was not interested in going into water where it would have to swim. Wading, for this dog, was just fine. They tried, with limited success, to coax the dog into the deeper water. I’m not sure what was bothering the dog, the depth of the water, the roar of the waterfall, or the movement of the water. At any rate, he was having none of it.

What to do? What to do? Suddenly! An Aha! moment. That’s right, pick the dog up, hold him in your arms, let the wife get the shot! Perfect. Yeah, that’s normal! LOL

Sometimes, you have to take matters into your own hands when your dog won’t cooperate!

On this morning’s walk we met, for the first time, a lady walking another Miniature Schnauzer. This guy was a bit smaller than Hobbs, but displayed the same curious, fearless nature. When we got up to them the lady said:

I see you guys walking every morning. My dog barks at your dog as we pass in the car.

Over the past 10 months that I’ve been walking in this area, I’ve come across a number of people who have spoken to me. I’d like to share some of the quotes:

A lady stops in her car, rolls down the window and says:

You’re such a good dog owner. I see you walking your dog every day!

A man stops at a red light and shouts out the window:

Good morning. I hate to tell you, but you’re missing a dog. This was on a morning when I let Hobbs rest.

As I’m about to cross in front of an elementary school, one of the moms pulls up and says out of her window:

I’ve been seeing you walk the entire school you and let you tell, it’s working! You look gooooooood!

Walking down Tryon St, I hear from across the street a lady yell:

Good morning, Hobbs! How are you sweet baby!

In one of the stores, or local restaurants, I don’t remember, a lady says:

I know you! You’re that guy that walks every morning. You have such a cute dog!

The other day as I was taking Hobbs out to go to the bathroom, a lady that I’ve never seen, apparently one of my upstairs neighbors says:

Good morning, Hobbs. How are you? WTH??? How does she know Hobbs? I’ve never seen this lady before in my life!

At the end of this morning’s walk, we are about to enter the apartment, and from down the hall, my neighbor, who is talking on her cell phone says:

Hold on a minute, I got to speak to my baby! Hey, Hobbs. Come here my sweetheart!

Hmmmpf! I’d like to say that I’m the local celebrity, but I think that I know better. It’s my dog!

At least one of the comments didn’t involve Hobbs. Hopefully all of this attention doesn’t make his head swell!

It has never been my desire to attend any type of race, NASCAR or other wise. I must admit that I had an idea, or stereotype of the type of person who attended this event: Beer drinking, tobacco chewing, rebel flag wearin’, cigarette smokin’, monosyllabic-speakin’, tatoo-havin’ folk. My stereotype of a race fan.

My friend, James, got some free tickets to attend a NASCAR event as part of the Coca Cola 600 weekend here in Charlotte, NC. He asked if I’d like to go and, in the interest of having another experience, I said: Sure, why not! And so it came to pass that at 2:30 PM on Saturday, March 27th, 2011 C.E. (That’s for you James!), I walked, for the first time, into Lowes Motor Speedway in Concord, NC.

In looking around at the crowd, the demographics were, shall we say, as expected. Just like in a golf tournament, the “people of color” were not well-represented. The difference between this crowd and the golf crowd was that about 50% of the males here were not wearing shirts! Those others that did have shirts, had shirts emblazoned with renderings of their favorite driver, a rebel/confederate flag, or their favorite beer. Hmmmm, was I really stereotyping?

Prior to coming to the “show”, I had purchased some earplugs, knowing that it was going to be very loud as I used to live about 5 miles from the track and could remember clearly hearing the engines while in the house! I couldn’t imagine what it would be like inside the track. We took our seats. The race began. The first two laps led by the pace car, then they let the drivers go!

I had my plugs out so that I could see what it was like. It was incredibly, painfully loud! Another thing that I will admit, the first few times that the cars passed in front of us, it was pretty cool to see a car going 175 MPH (282 KPH). That was, as I said, interesting for the first few times. Fortunately, for me, this was a short race, only 300 miles. The track is 1.5 miles long, so 200 laps. Yep. Sit there for 200 laps, or about 2 hours, watching the cars whiz by at 175 MPH. 200 laps. 2 hours. 200 laps. 2 hours. That little repetition became annoying, no? Imagine. 200 laps. 2 hours. LOL!

After a short while, I began taking pictures of the various folks around, further solidifying my previous impressions. Now, to a lot of people, the Confederate flag is a very negative symbol. It represents a time in our country’s history that we’d just as soon not repeat, a time of civil war and slavery. However, to this crowd, that is a very prideful symbol and they display it proudly on their shirts, caps, pick up trucks, and cars.

I sent Tim a text with the picture of Robert E. Lee and the cannon, pictured here and he responded:

“I dare you to stand up and say: Robert E. Lee fathered mixed children!!!”

Ummmmm. That wasn’t going to happen! Not in this crowd. I thought that Tim liked me, but apparently not!

Well, I survived the 2 hours and 200 laps. Before the race, I had a certain impression of the people who attended and wondered how someone could find such repetition exciting.

Now that I have been, I still have that impression of those that attend such events AND still wonder how someone could find such repetition exciting!

Thanks for the outing, JB! I appreciate it. It was an adventure. I had a great time people watching! Oh! I almost forgot: And watching those cars zip by at 175 MPH 200 times for 2 hours! Yeah! Great stuff!!! LOL

Finally, a small correction. I said that my stereotype of a race fan was: Beer drinking, tobacco chewing, rebel flag wearin’, cigarette smokin’, monosyllabic-speakin’, tatoo-havin’ folk … I didn’t see much tobacco chewin’ at all!

Last night, I ate spaghetti with sauce, no meat. It’s not a vegetarian thing, a religious thing, or any other ‘thing’. I just didn’t have any meat in the house and didn’t want to go. Also, I figured: Why bother? Rapture’s tomorrow and, being one of the heathens, I’ll probably be left behind and I won’t have to pay tomorrow.

So, I had my meatless dinner, slept, woke up to find that I was still here. Not surprised. LOL. Then, I began to wonder on which Saturday it would take place. Not the date, but the time zone. A quick calculation told me that somewhere in the Pacific it was still late on Friday, but what about our friends in Australia. I checked Twitter, which seemed to still be functioning, as there were many posts about the Rapture. I saw one from Cedric talking about same and, for him, his Saturday was nearly complete. Hmmmm. It must not be on Australian time, or Cedric’s in my group! Oh well, go for a walk.

Walking … walking … walking … no one floating about. I got back home, everything still looked in order. I was getting hungry and needed to go grocery shopping. When I arrived at the store, everything looked normal. I put the items into my basket and went to the cashier. Now, for the moment of truth … damn! She was there and asked from my card. I had to pay!

Oh well, I guess that the rapture didn’t happen today, well, there’s always 2012!

Drive from Charlotte to Seattle, WA – 2,800 miles.
By kayak, paddle 2,756 miles to Hawaii
Drive across Hawaii – 40 miles
Kayak to Japan (this might not be a good idea right now) – 3,879 miles
Drive across Japan – about 800 miles
Back into The Pacific for the final leg, 3,458 miles!

All told, about 16,239 miles for a total of 56 days, 10,093 of them paddling across The Pacific Ocean. Now, that would just be amazing if I could paddle across the Pacific. I had thought of taking some kayaking lessons at a local lake near my house, but I think that for a journey such as this, I would need a little more prep than that. LOL

On the way to the meet up, Tim and I were talking and having a good time, as usual. We were almost there, about 10 minutes away, perhaps less. I was driving in the left lane and came upon a car that that was going at what seemed like less than the speed limit. Emblazoned on the back of the car: State Trooper. Hmmmm. I thought, why is he going so slowly? Oh well, I’ll just hang back here for a bit and wait until he turns and be on my merry way.

Tim and I were joking and I said to Tim: Haha. Maybe I should just go around him and blow his doors off. Well, you can’t exactly do that in a 4-cylinder Toyota Camry, but it was a nice visual. LOL Zooooooom.

I decided to get into the right lane and set my speed at 65 MPH, which is what I thought was the speed limit. Eventually, I eased past him. It was then that he switched lanes, got behind me, and showed me his beautiful blue lights. Damn!

I sat in the car, hands on steering wheel, waiting for his approach:

Trooper: (Smiling) Good afternoon, sir. You know you were speeding?
Paul: I thought that the speed limit was 65 and I was going 63.
Trooper: Just for your knowledge, sir. When you are on a highway in North Carolina that has streets entering it, the speed limit is always 55 MPH.
Paul: Well, then, I was speeding.
Trooper: (Still smiling) Yes, sir, you were. driver’s license, please.

I gave him my license; he went back to his car and did whatever it is that troopers do back there. More than likely, he was checking my car to see if it was stolen, seeing if I had any warrants, and how many previous tickets that I’ve had in the last few years. All would come back zero. He returned to the car.

Trooper: (Still smiling) Too beautiful of a day to get a ticket isn’t sir?
Paul: It most certainly is, but getting the ticket won’t make it any less beautiful, but sure would make it more enjoyable! (Laughing)
Trooper: (Laughs) Well, how about a warning?
Paul: (Smiles) That will work!
Trooper: You know, we catch lots of people like that. We go about 3 or 4 miles per hour over the speed limit. People figure that we must be going under, so they pass us, then we get them. It works all the time!
Paul: (Laughs) Well, it sure worked on me! That was a good one. So you troll for speeders!
Trooper: Yes, sir. We do. Your buddy over there is laughing at you isn’t he?
Paul: Yep. He sure is. I’ll deal with him later! (Smiles)
Trooper: You fellas have a good day.
Paul: Thank you.

Even though it was a traffic stop, the guy had a great sense of humor and it was quite funny. It would have still been funny had I gotten the ticket, but it is better that I didn’t.

We drove off and continued on to the meet up. I was quite aware of the speed limit and stuck to it religiously for the rest of our journey and on the return.

I considered making Tim walk home for laughing at me, but I gave him a ride anyway. LOL