Check me out over here in Qwendykay’s hood!

I had every intention of making a dramatic post about the arrival of my iPhone 4, however, the universe (and the DMV) had other ideas for me.

Eagerly anticipating the arrival of my iPhone 4 I took Wednesday off to receive it and to take care of the business of going to the DMV.  I figured the latter would take an hour or two and then I’d be free to play.  Oh how wrong I was…

I arrived at the DMV before 11 and as I drove past it to park I noticed a line of people AROUND the building…having previously checked the wait time I was certain that couldn’t be the line I was meant to wait in, surely!  When I left my house the wait time was 19 minutes, by the time I arrived and parked the wait time had jumped to 52 minutes and can you believe they expected me to WAIT IN THAT LINE??!!  Humph, but still, an hour isn’t that bad…in and out.  Nope!  The 52 minute wait was just to get to the ‘Start’ window to get your paperwork and get a number (which turned out to be more like 75 minutes, for the record).  My number was G129, when I sat down they were on G91.  Ugh, 28 people ahead of me…  People, I read an entire book before my number was called.  AN ENTIRE BOOK!

When my number was called I waded through the sea of people to my appointed window and handed over the paperwork.  The woman behind the counter, let’s call her Shaniqua, was more interested in talking to her coworker than me.  She talked to the coworker, entered some stuff in the computer and told me the fee was $31.  I made out the check while she talked to this other woman and handed it over with a look of sheer bafflement.  We then had our first conversation:

Shaniqua: What? Don’t be givin’ me attitude, I haven’t done anything to you.
cimblog(tm): Attitude?  I’m just looking at you talking to her the whole time!

Shaniqua then goes back to talking to her coworker and then…then…she holds her hand out to me as if asking for something WITHOUT EVEN LOOKING AT ME.  So I just look at her hand.  I have NO idea what she’s asking for!  I’m quiet, furrowed brow, quizzical look.  She holds her hand there, talking, for a good 30 seconds then she looks at me as if I’m being defiant…  I raise a questioning eyebrow. “I need your drivers license.”  I hand it over.

She then sends me to get my picture taken.  I wait in line.  They call me to the window.  They talk amongst themselves.  And talk. And…TALK.  Then the lady that called me to the window leaves and someone else sits down.  He takes my paperwork, fingerprint, signature and picture.  I’m sure that picture is going to look awful, anger oozing from every pore!  Then I’m directed to the line to take the written test.  I wait.  I’m given a test.  I take said test.  They grade said test. I pass.  The the lady said:

TestLady: You’re supposed to be taking the motorcycle test.
cimblog(tm): [baffled] Right.
TestLady: This isn’t the motorcycle test.
cimblog(tm): [blink blink] It’s the test he gave me.
He: I didn’t give you that.
cimblog(tm): [SCREAMING IN HEAD: well I certainly didn't go behind the counter and rifle through all the tests MYSELF]
TestLady: Here you have to take this

Do you know how hard it is it concentrate when you’re red with rage, starving because you thought you’d be long done by now and are sandwiched between two foreign people muttering to themselves in other languages??  DO YOU??!!!  Well, it’s hard!  I failed.  Back in line, take the test again, ace it and I’m outta there.  It’s almost THREE O’CLOCK!!

As a kid I remember going to automotive stores with my dad; the smell of rubber and new car parts is a familiar scent for me.  There was always a kindly, somewhat dirty man behind the counter (you know, the one in the way back) who would be happy to help help him, some even knew him by name.  My dad would show him a part, they’d mull over the problem and then he’d disappear into the storage room returning with exactly what my dad needed.

Those days are over…

This is Steeeeeeeve (yes you have have to spell/say it that way).

Ever since I got him a year ago I’ve had problems with the battery holding a charge, but since it is not under warranty (BLERG!) I’ve been limping along recharging often.  Last night I had a meeting at the church and since I’d just charged Steeeeeeve to 100% on Sunday I decided to take him.  The battery gave up the ghost when I got there…  Luckily, Linny was there too and she and I went off to Pep Boys to get a new battery.

I trotted to the back counter looking for the kindly man my dad used to deal with, what I was met with, though, was a kid.  I asked the kid, still hopeful, if he had small sport vehicle batteries.  I held mine up so he could see what I was looking for and he said, that’s all in Japanese, which I could tell, and then waved at a wall of batteries and said I’d have to look through them and match what I had with what they had.  A little confused I walked over to the wall of batteries which all seemed to be LARGE CAR BATTERIES.  I squinted and took another look thinking that perhaps I’d missed somthing, nope.  I walked back to him and said, “I’m looking for a scooter battery, those seem to all be car batteries.”  Not saying anything he walked over to some shelves around the corner and which looked to be a “behind the counter area” and pointed to some recreational vehicle batteries, “you’ll have to just look through them.”

Linny and I opened and compared for about 5 minutes and finally found one we *thought* might work.  I took it to the front counter to the girl paying no attention and said, “hi.”  She turned around with what looked like a snear on her face, as though I’d interruped her.  I then said, “I’m not sure if this is the right battery, if it doesn’t work can I return it.”  To which she responded, “You can buy the warranty.”  To which I said, “I don’t want a warranty, I’m not sure this is the right battery.”  Her response, “Let me call the manager.”  Baffled I just said, “you know what, never mind.”  And left.  Apparently, Pep Boys has been taken over by the ne’re do well children Schmoe and Slack…

Avoid Pep Boys AT ALL COSTS.  Especially the one located at:
254 W. Olive Ave.

We then headed over to Kragen at 677 N. Victory Blvd., when you go ask for Kyle, he’ll help you right out.  He took my battery, looked at the part number, matched it to what he thought might be right, WENT AND GOT THE BATTERY FOR ME off the shelf, opened it to compare, talked to me about it and then, THEN, he charged up my old battery enough to get me started.  See, that is what I’m talkin’ about, that’s how I remember it!

Thank you Kragen and Kyle, you have my undying gratitude!

*as a side note, this Kragen is changing names to O’Reilly.  Look for them, they are great!

If you watch The Amazing Race (TAR) but haven’t yet watched the finale, you might want to stop reading now…because I have a few things to say!

First of all, Phil has disappointed me and it’s going to take some time to get over.

Let me start by saying that I never liked Carol and Brandy…of the two, Carol (she’s the blonde, right?) seemed to be the less vile, she would at least bite her tongue on occasion and *TRY* to be nice-ish.  Brandy though, wow, what a piece of work, she’s got some serious deservatude, doesn’t she?  Then again, I never cared for the tantrums (OVER AND OVER) of Brent and Caite.

During the race Brent and Caite u-turned Carol and Brandy…all within the rules of the game.  Brandy was mean and nasty to Caite the whole race, so her decision was fueled by vengeance and not a particularly strategic move.  However, no rule says it has to be strategic.

U-Turn Ahead
Teams may choose to u-turn any team they wish, but they may only use the u-turn once during the race.  If a team is u-turned, they must go back to the Detour and complete the Detour that they did not complete.

It’s pretty clear that ANYONE can u-turn ANYONE ELSE for ANY reason.

This is what Brandy looked like when Brent and Caite entered the stadium for the finale mat, while everyone else is clapping and whooping and hollering…

Now that's real class, Brandy

Phil makes some small talk with Brent and Caite and then it happens.  Phil, Phil, Phil, why are you turning a lovely moment into a cat fight?  Why?

Phil: “You are the only woman to finish the race in the final three, but there are two women over there that don’t feel that…”

To which Brandy breaks in with:

“I don’t want to hear sorry from you guys.  You purposely whacked us, you said you wanted to be the only woman left standing and you are.  Logically, you u-turn teams that are stronger, the Cowboys should have been u-turned.  You can’t seem to think logically.  I don’t want to hear sorry from you.”

Caite: “Maybe y’all should have treated people a little bit nicer.”

Brandy: “Hey, I’m sorry you can’t handle it.”

And this is where I start liking Caite just a little bit: “I am handling it.  Obviously I’m the one standing here and not you.”

With that, Brandy folds her arms in defeat and tries to pretend she’s not defeated, which she clearly is.

Phil, I think we might be broken up a little bit over that, why give someone filled with such anger and hatred more airtime?  WHY?

In other news, if I have to hear BRO one more time, I might open a vein.  And where I started disliking the brother even more?  Here:

Cutting in Line?

Cowboys: “Are y’all gonna try to check in before us?  You wasn’t gonna do that, was ya?”

Brother: “Oh, yeah.  I’m standing right behind them.”

Cowboys: “Wow, they come in six hours after us, and here Jordan is gonna to try to check in before us.”

Brother: “Yeah, I am.”

Okay, so that just made me mad from the start.  1. it was unnecessary, there were enough seats for all three teams and there was no need to be nasty, 2. really, you’re going to revert to kindergarten and cut in line when it clearly doesn’t matter?  What mattered was getting into first class, which was a good move, but it didn’t matter because I didn’t want them to win anyway.

With the exception of a couple of teams, I did not care for anyone this season.  Which is sad…

It’s only Wednesday and the week has been hell.  If you’re having trouble reading this, it’s because I’ve found out this week that I speak some form of Alien that is impossible to understand.  Apparently when I say one thing, everyone hears just the opposite.  It doesn’t seem to matter how I say something, one thing comes out of my mouth, and completely different thing enters the ears of the listener (or eyes of the reader).

I’m perplexed and troubled by this.  I certainly understand a miscommunication now and then, with so many different people and so many communication styles there’s bound to be problems, but at every turn?  It’s killing me!

In other news I felt like there was maybe a problem between me and someone I’m working with on a task so I just sent a little email asking if we were okay.  The response, “yes, we’re fine…well, wait, now that you mention it, let me list 42 things that are problems with you.”  BAH!  What the crap?!

Maybe if I go to bed things will be better tomorrow…

So, I missed the earthquake….

Because…

Post Bailing!

I enjoy all kinds of cultural events; movies, theater, concerts, sports, etc.  So when I was invited to see Kiss Me Kate at The Glendale Center Theater last Saturday I agreed.  I sometimes forget that I don’t always like productions at GCT…not because they aren’t good–they always are (okay, usually are)–but because producers/directors there do not know how to edit.  The movie version is only 110 minutes for goodness sake.

At two-and-a-half hours I started to get a little antsy, and bits that were clearly funny became bothersome.  At the three hour mark I wanted to start yelling, “yeah, yeah, we get it…wrap it UP already!!!”  I think the whole production was three hours and fifteen minutes and if you ask me, that is too long.  At that point I think the production so full of themselves that they’re just on stage to be on stage.  It’s a little ridiculous.  Wait…check that; in my opinion, it’s a LOT ridiculous!  I accept that others may disagree, but I think it’s excessive!

We arrived a little later than we usually like because I needed to stop at the mall to get some tennis shoes, which could have been very quick, but…well…it wasn’t (I had a little fright over the price).  Aaaaaaanywho…the point of that is, we rushed to get to the theater before the show started so I was warm from rushing around.  My two friends used the bathroom while I sat down and fanned myself with the program and held the seats.  Now, I don’t really like strangers, I don’t go out of my way to talk to them and I’m not particularly fond of them talking to me, this is the conversation that took place:

cimblog(tm): [fanning]
stranger (a woman of about 70): Does that really help?
cimblog(tm): [taken back] Um, it seems to.
stranger: I just find it distracting.
cimblog(tm): [annoyed] Well, it makes me feel better. [cimblog(tm) fans wildly]

I then made elljaypea sit next to the strange stranger.

Later that evening Strange Stranger popped some chewing gum in and proceeded to smack it loudly for a good 20 minutes.

Even later that evening Strange Stranger loudly shouted at the man in front of her.  We missed what she said exactly, but she was definitely scolding someone.

Yet later that evening (did I mention how LONG this show was?!) the woman in front of us whooped and hollered for a number she particularly enjoyed.  Strange Stranger shot daggers out of her eyes that we had to dodge!

Every time anyone did something she did not approve of she would give them a harsh look.

At the end of the show the woman in front of us was, again, whooping and hollering and Strange Stranger’s face kept contorting until she couldn’t take it another second and she hollered to this woman, “Could you stop doing that, it’s VERY ANNOYING.”  My friends and I did what any rational person in the theater would have done at that point…We whooped and hollered and whistled as loud as we could.