Vin Diesel I think you're done

Wow just saw a commercial for Fast and the Furious 4. Thank God this movie was made. So many unanswered questions from the other three films. Those of you that will still have a career in a year take one step forward. Not so fast Vin Diesel.

F'ing Eagles

As you all know I'm pretty much stuck in the 80's. With very few exceptions most of the bands i listen to were big in the 80's. The other day I got really excited. I heard that Huey Lewis and The News were coming to the casino in Niagara Falls. Yes I know that Huey hasnt been big since circa 1988 but i still like his music and think he is still cool. The 2nd concert i ever say was Huey Lewis at the CNE back in 1985 right around the time he had his first number one hit the Power Of Love. I think we paid maybe 30 dollars to see him then. He was at the height of his popularity. Anyhow fast forward to 2009. I read the announcement for the show and thought i would probably be going-until i saw the ticket prices. A ticket for Huey Lewis at the casino is anywhere from 58 to 75 dollars. Am i a fan? yes. Would i pay more to see him at the casino then i did to see him at a stadium when he was still popular? No f'ing way. What the hell is up with ticket prices these days? I used to go to a lot of shows. Now some people actually charge hundreds of dollars to see them live. I blame the Eagles. Back in 1994 they were the first band to charge a hundred dollars for concert tickets. I'm sorry but thats insane. As badly as i want to go 58 dollars can get us groceries or gas. Oh well at least i have my memories of all those great shows I've been to.

For once a saturday doesnt suck ass

Wow I actually had a half descent Saturday for a change. I only talked to two idiots all day. One guy called in, was mad that the cheapest internet we offer is 19.99 and not 16.99. He wouldnt listen to what i had to say and kept repeating over and over again"i hear what you're saying I'm not retarded you know" Well you could have fooled me kind sir. This was the first Saturday after the shift bid and it seemed like we finally staffed enough people to handle the Saturday call volume. There were actually a couple of cool co workers for me to talk to between calls as well.Thus ends the first week of my new shift without me having to kill anybody. Oh and the best part of today? The winter lake has completely dried up and its not so muddy walking to work now. My feet sure appreciate it.

Friday was pretty awesome. We went to Rochester to visit Kath's family. It was our niece Char's 16th birthday. Holy lord God that makes me feel old. We went to lunch in a small town near Rochester named Brockport. Had a slice of one of the best pizzas i ever had and checked out a pretty cool comic book store. We bought a couple of books for Diana.It was cool seeing the fam again. Kath's parents were nice enough to watch the kid for us so we could go catch a movie. THe movie wsas "I Love You Man." It was pretty funny and I highly recommend it. We attended the film with one of our friends Rose. March has been pretty good for visiting friends. Thursaday night Nicole and Rob brought over a pie and hung out for a bit. Last weekend we had dinner with John and Rach and now we have seen Rose. I'm thinking of contacting Dennis and Lisa.. Who knows maybe I'll call Colin. Yeah maybe I'll just stick to calling Dennis and Lisa. Anyhow I think I've rambled on long enough. I'm gonna catch some sleep. I have a long day of laying on the couch and watching Batman cartoons ahead of me.

Rare good moods deserve to be blogged about

Its thursday,my first day off during this awesome new work schedule. Yesterday i was exausted. My body isnt used to waking up early on Wednesday. I'm hoping someday i do get used to it. Today has been pretty awesome so far. I won't mention how my day got started-too much of a gentleman to kiss and tell. From there we got ready and went out for a bit of shopping. Went to the Pen to get a birthday present for our niece Char. By the way how is my niece 16? I met her when Kath and i started dating when she was 5 or 6. Char not Kath cause that would have been awkward and gross if Kath had been 5 or 6. Can't believe i hung out at that mall on a daily basis when i was in high school. Its not that interesting or cool anymore. From there we went to the comic store. Felt weird going there the day after new release day. Thank you new work schedule. Then Kath surprised us with Burger King and those little shot hamburgers. Guess what? That commercial is a damn liar. No hot chicks popped up out of nowhere because we had tiny cute hamburgers, Oh well. Kath went off to work and I actually got to spend the day with my kid. We attempted a walk to the park to look at squirrels and birds but it was kind of cold. So now watching some tv and doing laundry and all that fun stuff. Kath will be home soon and we will watch our usual Thursday shows and eat dinner. Tomorrow we're off to Rochester to see Kath's family and possibly the new Paul Rudd movie "i love you man". Anyhow the kid wants to play her online games so ill be winding up the ol'blog. Talk to you soon.

Just Another Day

Hey kids. Just wanted to wish everyone a great St. Patricks day. I only had to talk to 2 drunk customers today! So that was good. The new schedule has been ok so far. Its been slow so far this week and it hasnt been too bad. I guess we'll see if i go insane tomorrow. I'm just waiting for the family to get home. Kath is working until 9:30 and then she will pick up Diana at the babysitters. Its too quiet when they arent around. Not a fan of that. Oh well. I guess I'm going to go make dinner for the fam and catch the last 10 minutes of the Sarah Connor Chronicles. Take care everybody.

Another Saturday full of wonderment and porn disputes

Hey there. Just enjoying another awesome day off with Diana. Yesterday was not so awesome. I'm seriously convinced that there's a permanent full moon in America on the weekends. That's when all the craziest of crazy people call in. Doesnt help that we are seriously understaffed on Saturdays. So my favorite call this weekend came from a guy who had run up a bill to 2000 dollars due to all the wonderful adult films he had ordered. He has had the service since November and bounced all his payments. How he wasnt shut off yet is beyond me. He couldnt understand why he couldnt order any more movies until we recieved a payment that didnt bounce. Some of his previous movies ordered included, Asian Rod Riders, Black Bubble Butts 4 (i would be so lost,ive never seen part 1-3) and my Mom is a Slut. It's ok he ordered Hancock too. Now that i think about it maybe he thought that was a porn and ordered it by mistake.

Ny favorite quote of the day was

"Can you order me the Vegas movie with Adam Kirchner"
"I'm sorry I'm not sure who that is"
"He was on that 70's Show"

Anyhow tomorrow is day one of my new shift. I'll keep everyone informed on how it goes. Lets hope I don't kill anyone on the third 10 hour shift in a row.

My mind was in the 25th century today

Ok i mentioned before that sometimes the weirdest craziest shit pops into my head at work. Today in the middle of getting yelled at
i started to remember some music. Ok here's the strangest part as i sat there at the desk i began to realize,holy crap thats the theme from Buck Rogers in the 25th century. Buck Rogers was a movie and later a tv series released in 1979 starring Gil Gerrard. I used to watch the show as a kid and loved it. Tried to watch it a couple of years ago and couldnt make it past the 3rd episode. It has not aged well. As to why it popped into my head today? I'd love the answer to that myself.

Here is the theme for anyone thats interested

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qok-MJ8r38U&feature=related

and for more cheesy goodness heres the original theme from the movie it kind of looks like a 70's porno

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77H5nHdcyQM&feature=related

Ah hell now I'm going to go find the Flash Gordom theme by Queen. Damn you childhood memories!

Taking What They're giving cause I'm Working For A Living

Hey there. So this is my last Wednesday off for awhile. Recently at work we had a shift bid. My new schedule is kinda,sorta like my old schedule with a few exceptions. I'm now starting at 8 in the morning but am off at 6:30. Here's the part thats gonna suck. Lately I've been working Monday, Tuesday Thursday and Saturday. Its been a cool shift. They are ten hour shifts and they were split up pretty good. I don't mind working Saturdays as Kath is home with Diana then we only need a baby sitter during the week. Anyhow back to the sucky part. My new schedule is Monday to wednesday and Saturday. So now I have to work three ten hour shifts in a row. Kath has gone on record as saying that after only two ten hour shifts in a row i'm pretty much an ass. Three in a row might actually put me over the edge. I know I'm going to be crankier than normal. I've already appologized to friends at work in advance. I'm hoping i don't go loopy. Man I'm going to be a bitch on that third ten hour shift in a row.

Anyhow having a pretty good last Wednesday off. Kath and I had our anniversary lunch. We went to Licks. They make some kick ass hamburgers. Also went to the comic book store and picked up a couple books. Picked up Battle Of The Cowl issue one. Apparently someone other than Bruce Wayne is going to be Batman. That's crazy! Came home,drew a few pictures with Diana and started the laundry and dishes.Yeah Im way exciting. Kath went off to work and I will see her at 10:00. Just gonna take it easy and relax until another lovely ten hour shift tomorrow. I already booked off August 29th for this years convention. Just in case Potsie is there this year or something.

March 10 2001:My Lucky Day

So 8 years ago i became the happiest man on earth. It was the day Kath and I got married. We had actually met in 1999 at a time i had sworn off all relationships. I was in a bad place and had been hurt a bunch of times by past relationships. I met Kath and on the first date we hit it off and somewhere in the back of my head i knew i wanted to spend the rest of my life with her. Fast Forward to 2001. It was a small wedding but it was cool. There may have been 30 people there in total.We got married in the chapel of a hotel in Niagara Falls New York. One of the things we best remember about that day was how loud the priest was. Man he was almost yelling. I think i laughed once in the middle of the ceremony. It was a great day. Its 8 years later,Kathy makes me just as happy and we now have our daughter Diana. I'm glad i married my best friend and i hope for many more years together.

Monday is over- thank Christ!

Hey there and welcome to Monday. Today as most Mondays go blew goats. Remember my rant about the lake that forms around my path to work when it rains? Lucky me! The piece of wood thats been there the last couple weeks to prevent getting a soaker had been tossed into the middle of the lake! I got to start the day off with wet feet. Then the barrage of horrible calls started and didnt let up for the whole 10 hours of my shift. I got stuck on a call so long i missed going to lunch with my friend Stacey. I had a lady literally scream in my ear when i told her about the ammount owed on her account. A man who must have been in his late 60's told me to go fuck myself. The good news? I actually didnt get a headache and didnt have to go into my asprin stash! Yay me! Kath is on opposite shifts this week. She gets home around 10. At least we can have a late dinner and watch 24. Such is the little pleasures in life.

Missing King Of Queens is Like a house burning to the ground

So its Sunday. You know what that means? I get to spend the day with Diana and i get to recap the wonderful Saturday i had at work. Yesterday was a long shift. It felt like i was in the "dispute porn charges to Jay" que. Seriously. I think i took 3 or 4 disputes in one hour alone. I talked to one guy that had some porn charges on his bill he was denying. He had called in a few months before doing the same thing. A few months ago we told him ok we'll credit these charges this time as a one time courtesy and if he called again would recieve no credit. So i argued for like 20 minutes with the guy,read him the notes on the account that said one time courtesy only credit and then he demanded a supervisor. Ok whatever the supervisor will back me up after he sees the specific note that said no more credits. One time courtesy means one time right? Wrong, After arguing with the guy,explaining our policies on credits,the supervisor i got told me to just apply a credit. So after i told the guy no now i get to look like an asshole. What is the point of having rules if we never follow them? Since when did one time credit turn into credit the account any time the customer calls in? Whatever.


My favorite conversation of the day was as follows


Customer: i want to file a complaint channel 12 says they were going to be playing King of Queens and they're playing a game show instead.

Me: sorry about that but we have no control in what the channels decide to play. We have no say in their programming.

Cust: you're joking right?

Jay: No sorry if they choose to play something other than whats in the tv guide then thats up to them, We just play whatever they broadcast

Cust: well you're my cable provider so i think you do have a say

Jay: sorry sir but we don't. I can find you the telephone number for channel 12 if you want to complain to them

cust: no i want you to take some responsibillity and do something about this.(cue dumb ass analogy) If my house is on fire its the fire departments responsibility to get the fire out.

Jay(smart ass mode kicking in): so you're comparing a burning building to missing King of Queens? I know its a funny show and everything but...

cust: well you dont seem to want to help me so i want your supervisor

Jay:i will get you a supervisor because you can't watch King Of Queens

The dude hung up before i could connect him to a supervisor. Seriously though youre gonna waste time on a saturday to call in and complain that you can't watch Doug Heffernan? I think I'm going to call the cable company because abc isnt playing Lost this week. Oh maybe I'll call tomorrow because Life on Mars was cancelled. I can't win on Saturdays. Permanent full moon. Anyhow I love my Sundays. Gonna set up the big blanket on the couch and pop some popcorn and watch some cartoons with Diana in a minute. No bad Batman movies this weekend though.

Life Could Be Worse

Ok so the other night i found out that several people i went to high school with had passed away recently. Now i wasnt close to these people or anything but it freaked me out a bit because they were all my age. It made me realize that life is to short. When our time is up we're not going to have a lot to say about it. I'm going to try to enjoy life a bit more. I'm always worried about stuff. I'm really going to work harder on easing up on tha and try to relax. As bad as things seem sometimes I've got it pretty good. I'm lucky as hell to have someone like Kath in my life. Diana also makes me smile on a daily basis.Don't get me wrong I'll probably always complain about the rednecks i talk to on the phone. My blog would be pretty boring if i didnt have those wonderful hicks to write about.

John and Jason aren't done

Wow. I need to write about another long time friend. I just realized its my buddy John's birthday. John and i have been friends since Mr Wizniaks class in grade 8. I actually do remember our first conversation. It was about an episode of Family Ties where Alex P Keaton quit his job at a grocery store. We've been friends ever since. Man we used to get in shit for talking and laughing in class. Unfortunately for our wives we still laugh at the same jokes and stories that we've been telling over the years. John and I have been through a lot and he's like a brother to me. We even lived together for four years in good old Thorold. There was one scary moment in our friendship. In grade 10 he moved to the falls with this guy Dave. He had to move fairly quickly so he never had a chance to tell me. According to an unreliable source namee Darrell-John had moved far away and was never coming back. Well thank goodness he was wrong. I can't say enough nice things about the guy. He's been there for me through the good times and the bad. Man all these years later and we still laugh at the same stuff. He has a memory like a steel trap to. He remembers the most obscure tv trivia to. Not many people remember that the show Alice had a spin off show about Flo the waitress. John can sing the flo theme song word for word. That impresses me for some reason. He married one of the nicest girls in the world as well-Rachel and their kids are cool as well. So in honour of my friends birthday i will raise a glass. Happy birthday buddy. You've been a great friend/brother/ fellow happy days nerd.

1983: The year I saw Return Of the Jedi, listened to Men at Work and met a lifelong friend

So i was on face book the other night. By the way how awesome is facebook? I love that I've reconnected with old friends,some i lost touch with 20 years ago. I'm even friends with people i seriously hated at one time or another. Its the power of facebook-- it heals old wounds. I love you face book! Anyhow, so i was on face book the other night and lo and behold i saw my friend Allison was on. I might as well call her the founder of this blog as she is the one that told me to go for it. I will admit it makes me feel good when people find me funny.I think a sense of humour is important and was kind of touched when she wrote and mentioned that i was funny enough to start a blog. I've known Allison since 1983 when we both started high school. I can't exactly remember how we started talking but she was one of my first friends in high school. I gotta admit high school was rough and i was always a shy kid so to make a friend that early on was cool. We became pretty good pen pals there as well. We were always sending notes to each other and even went so far as to mail letters to each other. We wrote a long time to- all the way from the mid 8o's until probably the early 2000's. Things happen and we both have famillies now so we dont write as often but thats cool. I'm happy we have still kept in touch all these years. I look forward to the Christmas card i recieve every year from her and her family. She messaged me the other night that she was happy for me for being so happy with my family and it felt good hearing that. I may not seem it from my work related blogs but I am a pretty happy guy. Anyhow just wanted to mention again that i appreciate friends-from the ones I've known a lifetime to my most recent pals. Usually i like to put a pic up on my blogs that relate to the subject of the blog. Allison and I have never had a picture together but we did see Back to The Future once so enjoy a lovely picture of Marty McFly!

I'm geting too old for this shit

Hey does anyone remember the scene in Lethal Weapon 2 where Mel Gibson shot the bad guys fish tank? As the villains were scooping dead fish off of the carpet Mel smiled and started waving and yelling "big Smile!" I kind of had a moment like that at work today. Midway through my shift my headphones started to buzz loudly in my ears. No matter what i did i couldnt get the buzzing to stop. It was giving me a headache and causing me to go insane. As if that wasnt enough i get a lady yelling at me. She was pissed that we would only offer her a days credit for her internet which was only out an hour. A 24 hour credit was more than generous. Here's the best part. Her internet service never stopped working.She had unplugged her main computer where the internet service worked perfectly and plugged in a lap top to her modem. The lap top didnt work. Because she tried fo an hour to get the lap top working she felt she deserved a credit for 30 days of service. "Was the service out for 30 days" I stupidly asked? "No" she replied. She couldnt get it through her skull that we couldnt validate a 30 day credit for a service that may have stopped working for an hour. She then started telling me i didnt know how to do my job and demanded a supervisor. She also said to me "you don't know that your supervisor won't give me a 30 day credit." I've been there 7 years (not bragging) so i think i know she wont get a month of credit for an hour problem. This with the buzzing made me lose it a bit. I waas already in a bad mood to begin with. People started staring at me as my voice kind of raised. My friend Trudy was walking by just as i snapped. I saluted her and with Mel Gibson (or Riggs if you will) in mind shouted big smile! I actually felt a tiny bit better after that. Wow i need to sit down and rewatch all 4 Lethal Weapons. That wacky Riggs!

Two Hours of My Life I'll Never get back

So a follow up to my earlier blog. I watched Batman and Robin today. I hadn't seen in it in its entirety since 1997. I remembered it as a horrible movie experience and i always compare other crappy movies to it. I've used the phrase "it wasn't as bad as Batman and Robin" a lot over the years. Today i watched it with Diana. I thought hey maybe I'd been to hard on the movie. Maybe it wasn't as bad as i remembered. I was right,it was worse. A lot of the horrible things about the movie that i had long forgotten came back. Here are just a few things that made me want to punch myself in the face then have to sit through this film again.

1) The movie opens with close ups of the heroes crotches as they put on their bat suits
2) They just happened to have ice skates in their boots? How did they even know they would be fighting a villain that could make ice?
3) At one point Batman pulls out a Bat credit card that said Batman Forever on it
4) George Clooney smiles at everything, even when he tells Robin that Alfred the butler is dying
5) Coolio of Gangsters Paradise fame has a cameo
6) Arnold Schwarzenegger's awful lines such as "freeze bird boy" and "lets kick some ice"
7} nipples on all the bat suits
8} so you can survive if you're frozen in a block of ice but only for 11 minutes if it was 11 minutes and one second then you are f'ed
9} Bat lazers. bat heaters and bat video cameras in their belts. I haven't seen that many ridiculous gadgets since the old Adam West series
10} Batgirl didn't get naked

To sum up 12 years later the movie still sucks ass. This movie almost killed the Bat franchise. Thank God for the Christopher Nolan Bat films. I should totally be a movie reviewer

Thank God for cartoon Sundays

Good day and welcome to March 1st. After kind of a rough week I am enjoying a day off doing nothing and having a nice super hero cartoon Sunday with Diana. It was just a brutal day at work yesterday. We handle calls for several states. One of the states decided that they would rather have their calls handled completely by Americans so yesterday was the last day we would get any calls from them. It seemed like the market pulled one last practical joke on us and dumped every single one of their calls on us. At least it seemed that way. It was super busy for about 9 of my 10 hours. Its a good thing i have asprin on me whenever i work because yesterday i thought my head would explode. My favorite call came from a lovely man who had to pay 500 dollars to get his service back on. When i told him that 200 dollars wouldnt be enough he began to shout out a string of profanities. I replied I'm sorry sir but swearing at me won't change the fact this is the ammount owed and if you continue with the language i will be forced to end this call. This brings me to my next question. If you were told that swearing would result in the hanging up of the call would the next words out of your mouth be "eat my prick asshole?" Pressing the release button never felt so good.

So I am happy for a quiet day today. Just made breakfast for Diana and I. Scrambled eggs and toast. I even cut out Diana's toast with cookie cutters or toast cutters as she calls them. Next gonna get her a bath and start the laundry then it'll be time for cartoons and popcorn. Todays Batman team up features one of my favorite characters the original Blue Beetle. He was a cool character who a couple years ago was off'ed by a bullet to the back of the head in the comics. There's a new kid Blue Beetle who Diana thinks is awesome. After cartoons the film Batman and Robin is on. Anyone that knows me knows that this is my least favorite movie of all time. The weird thing is if I'm channel surfing and its on i will stop and watch some of it. Well last week Batman Forever was on and Diana seemed to like it. So I'll suck it up and watch Batman and Robin from the beginning with her.

On a sidenote man those original Batman movies got shitty. I just saw the original Michael Keaton Batman movie the other night and 20 years later it still holds up. It's still massively cool when he holds up that crook and says "i'm Batman." By the time they got to Batman and Robin their was nipples on the bat suits and stupid gimmicks like ice skates in their boots. It made the original adam west series look like shakespeare. Oh well. I can put up with bad Arnold Shwartzennegar puns for 2 hours. The alternative would be to be listening to screaming redneck customers.