Hanging In There

This weekend has been rough. Been fighting a fever that has been coming and going. I tried to get some stuff done around the house. I got a few things done, but then I got too worn down. Tori is still sick. It isn’t affecting her that much but, let’s just say it is affecting us when it is diaper time.

I am watching Iron Chef Halloween. The secret ingredient is Halloween candy. I find it amusing that they have to come up with generic names for everything. Peanut butter crunch candy covered in chocolate, sugar powder candy in a paper straw, etc. There were some real weird dishes. The strangest part of the night was the judges. Kathy Griffin, Donatella Arpaia and Kelly Rippa. Jackie and I (mostly Jackie) thinks Donatella lost a bet.

I’m freezing. I am going to bed.

I Am A Male …

Which means that when Tori gave me her cold, I became a wuss. Everyone knows that men are useless when they are sick. I am no exception. Tori has had a fever for the last few days. She has been handling it like a champ. You really can’t tell she has one unless you feel her head or take her temp. Me, my temp hit fever status and my almost 5 month pregnant wife is more of a man than I am.

Tori even did the dishes for me. Ok, I am exaggerating a little bit. I AM a total worthless pile of sick when I am sick though. burning eyes, achy muscles and with the current cold and rainy weather … my knee is ready to be ripped from my leg. I am not asking for sympathy because I know how much of a wimp I am. I just hope that Jackie and Tori can put up with me the rest of the weekend.

Not So Deep Thoughts With VIMB

If a tree falls in the forest, and no one is around to hear it, will a wildebeest order a Filet-O-Fish for Monopoly pieces?

Two wrongs don’t make a right, but do 2 rights followed by another 2 rights make a circle or does it mean your GPS is broken?

If you knick knack your paddy whack and give your dog a bone, will old MacDonald still have a farm when he comes rolling home?

He who lives by the sword, dies from too much cholesterol in his diet.

A bird in the hand, will poop on you.

A penny saved is a penny you can drop from the top of the Empire State Building

 

Apparently, this is my 401st blog. I really didn’t think I would be able to make it this far but it is pretty exciting to me. Last year, I thought I would blog 3 times a week and that was hard to keep up with. In fact, I didn’t. This year, I have blogged every day except 2. Sometimes, I blogged more than once. I think I need to get out more if blogging over 400 times gets me excited.

 

 

Today In The Headlines. THIS Is News?

I like to know what is going on in the world. I listen to news/talk radio and I read a number of newspapers online and various other news sources. Some days, I can actually find actual newsworthy stories. Most days however, that is very hard to do. To prove my point, here are a few of the headlines, or featured stories (front page worthy) I have found today in various places. I am not going to say WHERE I found these as I do not want to sully the reputation of any news agency. They can do that fine on their own.

Field Museum restrooms judged best in the country. – While I like to know where there are clean restrooms, I don’t really think this is news worthy when there are plenty of other more important things happening.

Lindsay Lohan kicked out of morgue. – WHO CARES ANYMORE?!

Adam Levine demands Fox News stop playing Maroon 5 – Adam Levine, quit being such a bitchy little girl. I am sure you don’t complain when the royalty checks come and return the money because it was from someone who you didn’t want to use your song. If the song is in the free domain, then you have no right to ask anyone to stop playing it. I understand it is Fox but still … grow up.

Ali Fedotowsky calls off the wedding planning.  – Who?

Any story about Taylor Swift – She just annoys me.

The above stories are examples of things that have absolutely no bearing on my life, will not make me a more self aware individual and I will not have a void in my life or my knowledge of the world if I had never even read them.

I don’t want to shed a bad light on all news though. There were some stories today that had merit. Jon Bon Jovi opening a soup kitchen. The coverage of the animals in Ohio. Qaddafi being killed. I don’t need to know that Carla Bruni-Sarkozy named her daughter Giulia. Is this going to help the French be less jerky toward Americans? I don’t think so. Tell me the price of oil is rising, tell me the economy is getting better, tell me that there is a gunman running around my neighborhood and I should stay inside. DON’T tell me “notes from a dragon mom” are bigger than that.

Ok, now that I have sounded like Andy Rooney for the last couple of minutes, I am realizing that this does not really constitute news either. Maybe this is why I never make the “Freshly Pressed” featured page. Oh well. Live and learn…unless the stories are all fluff.

I Love Verizon

Over the years, I have had a number of cell phone carriers. Some are no longer with us, some have merged with bigger ones, and some have changed their names, or all of the above. We have been with Verizon for quite a few years now and I have never really had a complaint about our phones, phone service or the customer service that we have received. Something happened this weekend that solidified my loyalty to Verizon.

Image via CrunchBase

We ordered iPhones on the day they were available for pre-order. We got to keep our unlimited data plan since we were grandfathered in. Last Friday our phones arrived. When I opened the box, they each had a summary of our plan banded around them. We are on a family plan so it had which plan each phone was on. As I looked at mine, it said that I had a corporate email and data plan for $44.99 and NOT the regular unlimited plan for $29.99. I was curious as to why.

Saturday we went over to a Verizon store to ask. It seems that I had been paying the extra $15 a month for the past 2 ½ years. YIKES! That did not make me happy. I asked the clerk if I could get changed back to the regular plan and that I really didn’t want to be credited. I didn’t want to be THAT person. After all, it was my fault for paying the extra amount for so long. Granted they signed me up for the wrong thing, but I never checked the bill. I just kept paying month after month after month. The clerk told me that the plan had been changed and we wouldn’t pay the extra in the future. YAY!

Monday, we got a letter in the mail from Verizon. It said that we were on a Corporate email and data plan and that the regular one would be cheaper and to call them. This was curious. If the request Saturday generated this then that was a fast letter. If not, then they noticed it before I did and were trying to rectify it. Cool.

Jackie called yesterday (everything is under her name as the main account holder) and spoke to someone to verify the changes were made. The person she spoke to, knew exactly why she was calling and made sure everything was ok. Jackie never asked for any kind of refund. I never did. The rep on the phone, without asking, offered us one. Dating all the way back to when we started the plan! That was Feb. of 2009! Close to $500! WOOHOO! Now THAT is some GREAT customer service.

I don’t know if there were a lot of people that have called about that, or if people have really raised hell or what. I don’t really care. Whatever the reason, we received outstanding customer service. I am a very happy person because of this and will probably stay with Verizon now for life.

I Want My Share

I was listening to some songs from the 70s today. I realized that the song “Afternoon Delight” bears a striking resemblance to a song I wrote when I was 5 called “Tuna Fish In Flight”. It is actually only 3 notes that are the same and they aren’t even together in the song. Can I still sue for plagiarism after this long? Can I still claim that I am still sane after only a few hours of sleep last night? Can I be sure that everything I type is what I wanted because I forgot to turn of the auto spell on my iPod that I am typing this on right now? Will Jessica and Mary ever find out Benson got his own show?
For the answers to these and other questions tune in to the next episode of … SOAP?

America’s Next Top Baby Model

I wish that I could say that about Tori. She absolutely LOVES the camera, and those of you that have seen my occasional pics of her know that she is just cute as the dickens. Wife and I have been seriously considering trying to get her some kind of gig that could put a little money aside for college. I am not looking to get rich off of her (although that would be nice), but I feel that I should take advantage of her posing ability and 98% of the time cheerful disposition.

I really don’t want to “force” her to do anything. If she got something and modeled as a child or what not, if she hated it, I wouldn’t make her do it. I also don’t want her to be a toddler in a tiara. Those people just creep me out to no end and really should be locked away. I would be happy if she was in a baby food ad, or maybe a commercial. Something that should could look back on when she is older and say to her friends “I did that. That is me!”.

If I had the skill set, I would make her a little etrade baby video. That would be fun too.

Anyone ever have any experience doing anything like that? Anyone know of how to get started? Know of any reputable agents? Anyone think I am a horrible father for even considering this? That is one of the things I am worried about. I have an irrational fear that even doing one thing would lead her down the road to being a troubled “child star” or worse yet, end up on a Tyra Banks reality show. I really need to get some more pics on the Flickr feed and move this thing to self hosted so I can make a real good “Tori” show off page.

Anyhoo, that’s about it on that topic. Let me know any thought if anyone out there has experience with something like that.

I can’t get the cloud to work right, I miss my multiple email notifications, an I am realizing I am too old for change and should just go back to an old brick phone. Before you know it I am going to be yelling at kids to get off my lawn. I better stop before I have to add more money to the “grumpy” jar at work. The swear jar now has a grumpy aspect as well. Another reason I have to figure out how Tori is going to pay for college since I am dumping all my money in that damn jar.

How To Moment Once Again

For those of you that are friends of mine, or subscribe to me on Facebook, you can guess what today’s How To moment will pertain to. Here at Voicesinmybrain we like to think we can handle anything. Today, we found out that we can handle “almost” anything. Those with delicate constitutions may want to protect themselves from this post or have a reliable partner sensor before you read.

How To Change A Baby With A Blowout

1. Walk to baby in the high chair and find out why she is crying so loud.

2. As you are walking up to baby, notice that “it” has come out everywhere (and I mean EVERYWHERE).

3. Start cursing loudly with incredulous disbelief.

4. Grab baby and lift her out of chair … carefully.

5. Run upstairs with baby and put her in the tub.

6. Turn on shower and hose her off while still in her clothes.

7. Continue running water until water runs clear.

8. Take clothes off of baby, keep rinsing baby off.

9. Call for wife to finish washing baby.

10. Wash your own clothes that got dirty.

11. Throw the high chair away.

iPhone … Day 1

Actually, it is like day 1.5 but since we didn’t get the phones set up until last night, I count it as 1 day. So far, I am still trying to get used to it. I guess it is ok, but I can’t get the iCloud to work right and synch my address book on my computer to my iPhone. I had to do it with a cord hooked up to iTunes.

A few other things I am really going to have to get used to that the iPhone doesn’t have, that my Blackberry did. I can’t have separate email alerts for my separate email boxes. For that matter, I was able to give each person their own email alert if I wanted to. I don’t see that functionality on the iPhone. Just different ringtones for each person. Not the same. I like to know who I am getting an email or text from without looking so I know if I have to look at it right away. Actually, they might be there, I may just not have found them yet. If anyone knows, let me know.

I also don’t like that I don’t have a blinking red light telling me I have a message of some sort. If I am on silent, or if I walk away from my phone and come back, I like to know I missed something without having to pick it up.

I am sure there are a few other things that I will have to get used to but so far I am doing ok.

 

It’s Getting Late

Ok so, we got iPhones today and i have been trying to figure it out for the last many hours. This is why tonight’s blog will be pretty much what you are reading up to here. I gotta get something in today.

One thing i am not liking about this app for the iPhone is that i cant pull up a list of my tags. So i will have to re-tag tomorrow. Have a great weekend all!