An Odd Day, Reality TV, and Filling the Empty Hole...

A new day, a new post. What dost thou know?

(A little King James for ya there... actually, would it be more appropriate KJV to say "What knowest thou?")

What an odd last 24 hours...

It began Monday night, when I was practicing cooking, using some things I bought for the new "lo carb" diet that wifey and I are trying. I whipped up some eggs, chopped steak and spinach in a frying pan and gobbled it down. In the middle of the night, the spinach revolted on me, and I spent from about 5 to 6 am watching it make its reappearance. Yuck. I hate vomiting.

So I went to work late, as a zombie, desperately needing sleep. But the show must go on, so out on the road Yanni and I went, to spend the day on the van picking up and delivering rugs. And that's when the weirdness really started. All of our encounters were strange today, for one reason or another.

The first lady kept asking her dogs in a high-pitched squeak if they wanted cookies. "Who wants some cookies? You want some cookies?" That was odd, but manageable. The next lady had a very large (13'x17' or so) Kerman rug with a lot of wear through the field. She wants all the wear rewoven. Ain't gonna happen. She loves her rug! Sometimes, people that love their rugs think anything is possible. "I'd rather pay 5 or 6 thousand dollars to get it re-woven than have to pay another 250 grand to replace it!" She'll find out soon that we're not set up to tackle such a huge project. But, hey, we brought it in for wash anyway. So that was odd. The third lady had a wicked cool British accent. So, I guess, other than being out of the ordinary, it wasn't "odd" per se...

The fourth lady didn't like the job we did in cleaning her rug. She had an old blueberry stain that she had treated with not one, but several "no-no" products, which had basically locked the stain in, making it impossible to remove. I told her as much when I picked it up a week or two ago, but she wanted to try it anyway. When it came back with the stain still there, she was not pleased. She proceeded to school me on the basics of stain removal, and things I should have tried on her rug. Things that, had I tried them, would have ruined her rug. I tried to explain that to her, but she was having no part of it. It's hard to have to stand by and be condescended to like that, but I smiled and was pleasant, and told her she didn't have to pay a dime, since our work is all guaranteed. I politely explained the situation to her again - she was listening now, once she realized I wasn't going to make her pay. Before, she thought I was making excuses. Now that she knew she wouldn't have to pay, she understood. By the time I left, she'd offered to pay half, which is cool. But very odd.

The fifth lady was moving into a massive retirement community. We arrived the same time as the furniture movers. The family was nice (even gave us a tip) but the movers from the other company were jerks. Not often we run into unprofessional jerks from other service companies, so that was odd. And the sixth (and final) lady had a big poodle that was a chronic crotch sniffer. I had to keep politely pushing it away, while the lady kept scolding her dog, "Oh, quit being so nosy, Clementine!" Creepy dog.

So, yeah, all things considered, it was an odd day.

Wow, that was a long ramble. Wonder if anyone actually read any of it?

I have a confession to make. There's a reality TV show that I not only watch, but am consistently inspired by. And it's odd, because it's not like I'm overweight - a little pudgy, sure. I could stand to lose ten pounds and get into better physical shape. But I'm nowhere near grossly overweight. So why I find Biggest Loser so fascinating, I don't really know. Yet it never fails to hold me captive, and inspire me, even though I realize they edit and shoot the show in such a way that purposely manipulates the viewer's heart-strings. I guess I just get something out of watching people that have come to a turning--point in their lives, acknowledging past mistakes, and then working their butts off to turn things around. Seeing some of the transformations that people have affected in their lives is really stunning.

If you haven't dropped by Kris' blog lately, go on over. He has a couple great recent posts - one is a movie trailer round-up, with his thoughts on upcoming films, and the one prior is a great post (and healthy comments-discussion) on the Star Wars trilogies, and their upcoming release as a set on Blu-Ray. Go check it out, and join the discussion, eh! I added his link back to my Link List on the right side over there, but here's the direct link, if you're too lazy to scroll up.

And Paula is posting on her blog again! Yay! Now if we could just get Havah to start hers as well...

Now that Verizon has announced that they'll start carrying the iPhone in mid-February, I have a decision to make. I've been holding onto my upgrade, waiting to see if the iPhone rumor was going to prove true... now I need to decided if I should get one or not! Or even a Droid or one of those cool new Windows phones. I have an old Razor that has serviced me just fine - I don't really need bells and whistles. I have to try and find out if I'm just trying to fill that hole in me again - the one I contemplated shoving a new car into last post... my old car is fine, why would I need a new one? My old phone is fine, why would I need a new one?



Still struggling to dig my way out from under my To-Do List, which has evolved into a fanged monster. Wish me luck.

I'm out. Hope your week is a good one.

Dave