Black Friday’s off to a dumb start, pt 2

These people should be sent to Afghanistan.  Or Iraq.  Or Florida.

Black Friday’s off to a dumb start

Checking Google Trends this morning to see what the most popular searches are for today, here’s what I found:

dumb surfers

Remember, dear readers, these are the most searched for phrases in Google today.  They are Google searches, conducted by thousands and thousands of people.  With that in mind, I have highlighed the dumbest searches that stand out.   These searches consisted of people (many, many people) entering the website address into Google.   Were I a smart ass, I would have taken another screen shot with the measurement of the distance between the Google search bar and the address bar. (truthfully: I couldn’t find a ruler).  This example illustrates 2 things: tech guys will always be employed & they will always be condescending.

I still don’t like you, Scott

Keep trying.

I almost got ACORN’d

America: I understand that volunteers staff the polling stations, but is it too much to ask for competence?

I went to vote yesterday & upon feeding my ballot into the machine, it made the standard sound that it had accepted my ballot.  However, the tally on the machine did not change.  I thought since I was voting on 2 ballots, it would change after I fed through the second ballot.  It did not.  Apparently, there were 15 or so machines in Tulsa that malfunctioned yesterday.

I alerted a volunteer & she had the next person in line submit one of their ballots & the number again stayed the same.  Concerned, she placed a call to the election board (whose website, incidentally, doesn’t appear to have changed since it was first created).  While doing this, I peeked at the machine’s receipt roll & noticed that it had repeated entries of “stuck ballot.”

After conversing with the election board, she came back to inform me that she couldn’t do anything.  I asked if I should fill out a provisional ballot.  She said no & that she was sorry but it seemed that my vote was lost.  At this point, I began to suspect she was an ACORN secret agent.  Shaking that idea, I determined she was simply incompetence, so I called the election board & after receiving the spiel about how Oklahoma’s voting system is so great because it leaves a paper trail, I was assured that my vote would be counted.  After double-checking with the technician who had arrived on site during my call, he informed me, after repeating the aforementioned spiel, that my vote would be manually re-fed through the machine.

The fact that my vote was nearly derailed by a doofus, while initially grating & ultimately meaningless on the federal level, has since turned into a great story.

Thank god the statute of limitations is up for me

http://tinyurl.com/gangstagranny

Although not senile at the time, I once tricked my grandmother into doing a rap video.

What a life

From Oktoberfest to the 1st Annual White City Bocce Tournament to pumpkin carving, I had quite the bourgeois weekend.

Liberal media?

I have no journalism experience, but something caught my eye with today’s [October 8th, 2008] edition of The Oklahoman.  Below, the image on the left is a scan of a physical copy of today’s Oklahoman with the clear headline “Obama sarcastic; McCain defends.”   For some reason, the online version of today’s paper, found at www.newsok.com, has a different headline as you can see in the image on the right: “Economy shapes second debate.”  I found it odd that there are differing headlines between what appears to be the exact same article.  Also weird, the link to the online article is http://newsok.com/obama-sarcastic-mccain-defends/article/3308736.

       
Now, for those unfamiliar with The Oklahoman, the paper is run by the Gaylord family, a group who has historically injected their conservative political & religious beliefs into many aspects of the paper, i.e. beyond the editorial pages.  They’re like Rupert Murdoch with religion.  The paper has even been named The Worst Paper in America by The Columbia Journalism Review.  In fairness, they have toned down a bit since this scathing article, but a rabid dog without teeth is still rabid, got it?  Am I being too conspiratorial in thinking the editor(s) manipulated the headlines in a format to cast negative light on Obama? I’d appreciate feedback from anyone out there with any journalism cred to help me clear up this situation.

Final cancer wrap up, for now

The catheter is out & the folks are on their way back to OKC.   The follow up exam found that the cancer was on neck of bladder and seminal vessels, which was to be expected given the Gleason score of 9.  My dad will monitor this situation with PSA tests every 3 months to see what, if anything, happens.  If the PSA number goes up & stays up, then hormone therapy &/or radiation might be in the cards. There’s also a 60% chance of reoccurence within 10 years, so we’ll be watching for that too.

On a side note, Dr. Menon & his staff at The Vattikuti Urology Institute were incredible in their world class care & treatment of my family & we were very lucky to have their services.

Unspectacular meme

Kirsten tagged me to mention six unspectacular things about myself.  This should be a breeze.

1.  Until this past year, I actually folded my “unmentionables” before putting them in the drawer.  I’ve come to realize what a waste of time this was.
2.  If I have the chance (and need) in the morning, I can easily drink a pot of coffee by noon.
3.  I, like Ovidia, must travel whilst brushing my teeth.
4.  The older I’ve gotten, the later I stay up.  That seems backwards to me.
5.  I have blown out two sleep masks this year but continue to wear one of them with the material falling off. (I’m a light sleeper & I blame the manufacturer).
6.  I have an inordinate amount of spices for a single person who occasionally cooks.

Tagging it forward, I choose Gringo Noir, Bracken, The Danged, and Adjective Queen.

Are you there, Jesus? It’s me, obnoxiously loud person in a movie theater

I caught Religulous last night with Replicant & Lady T.  Certainly not a mind-blowing documentary but I don’t think Bill Maher, being a comedian to his core, meant it to be.  Accentuated by timely sound effect, music and video clips, it comes off as a funny movie.  I was discouraged, however, at the crowd lining I saw lining up for the movie.  Thinking the Circle would be a place that would attract more people closer to my age (and taste, so…obviously being hip is what I’m getting at), I was instead disappointed to be swarmed by Boomers.  Not only that, they couldn’t shut the hell up throughout the entire movie.  That aspect was awful & the lack of manners\self-awareness\whatever is what Replicant & I swear will drive us out of movie theaters for good.  Empty threats, I know, but let us vent.

p.s. I won VP Debate Bingo.  You’re reading the blog of a winner. How does that feel?