CafeChatNoir

I’ll admit I am not exactly the last bastion of sweetness and light, but I do *try* to be somewhat positive and go with the idea of each day is a new beginning, a chance for things to be better, etc, etc.

Then there are those occasional days where I wake up and think it’s a good thing I am single, because if there was someone else in bed with me, I’d have to roll over and punch them in the face.

Today was one of those mornings. No actual reason for it, just woke up deciding the world seriously needed to be smacked around.

I HATE IT when this happens. Wanting to shank someone when you roll out of bed just doesn’t set the best tone for the rest of the day. At least I’d like to wake up with somewhat neutral feelings towards the rest of the world and they can later truly earn a sucker punch for stupidity  over the course of the day.

Maybe I need more coffee. Or some chocolate, or to go re-read CuteOverload.com. But that will have to wait, as I have to go try and bean the mailman in the head with a slingshot.

Have a lovely day!

Or Fat Tuesday. Or Skinny Tuesday. Or, “What the hell is your problem??” Tuesday. Or “Thank the gods it’s not Monday anymore!” Tuesday.

I’m not Catholic, nor have I ever lived in New Orleans, nor have I been in any Catholic-centric countries during Mardi Gras/Carnival, so the day doesn’t have a lot of deep-seated meaning for me. However, that does not stop me from engaging in alcohol-centric traditions that go with any good ol’ USA drinking holidays. (Despite the fact that Mexican Independence Day is September 16th, I am certainly not slowed down for Cinco de Mayo celebrations – I simply enjoy my 99 cent Coronas and try to educate my fellow drinkers.)

That all being said and the fact it’s quite well established that I am going to hell anyway, I went out and had a lovely Fat Tuesday. AND, I decided to go for a Lenten sacrifice (despite the fact that it apparently is not so much about the sacrifice as it is about the doing otherwise ignored good deeds, oh, and I’m not Catholic) and decided that I will give up visits to the after hours pool hall time for Lent.

I’d love to say it was all driven by some awesome moral thing…but really, I need to drop 5 pounds over the next 2 1/2 months and cutting out the pool hall time is really the path of least resistance, HOWEVER…

For those days when I have ZERO willpower, $25 goes to DonorsChoose.org. If by some miracle I don’t hit the pool hall from now til Easter…they get $200 anyway. They shouldn’t suffer should I suddenly find willpower. ;)

Happy sacrifice and/or do good stuff season!! :)

I already get lots of “This is your last chance to lower your interest rates!” phone calls, which I hang up on. This morning I was greeted with a new scam.

I had a text message on my phone from “department@visacards.com” with the message: Important VISA CARD notice:id-FF721 SUSPICIOUS AUTHORIZATION. TOLL FREE 8882275019.

Well, how nice of them to leave me a phone number! Except that isn’t the phone number of either of my Visa card issuers, but that’s just a minor detail.

I called Chase anyway (on their actual business number) to see if anyone else had gotten this message. The rep said he’d just gotten off the phone with another customer who’d also gotten the same message, and it definitely wasn’t from them. I also called PFCU to let them know what was going on (I have a Visa debit card through them) and they said it definitely wasn’t them, either, as they don’t use text messages.

The beauty of this scam is that they’re taking advantage of the fact that many card issuers have all sorts of mobile options, so you might not think it unusual to get a text message about your credit card, and the fact that it seems that no two issuers have the same procedures when it comes to fraud detection and notification.

For Christmas, I got my brother John Hodgman’s book, The Areas of My Expertise. As with most Christmas books, it was given with the understanding that I would get to read it as well.

I’m about 2/3 of the way through it, and it’s pretty hilarious. There are a few things in it that I do know are true, the rest of it I have absolutely no idea. It’s in tiny little sections, so it’s not one that you have to set aside big chunks of time to read.

I can’t decide if his obsession with hobos is fascinating or disturbing, though.

“You have an important new business development shaping up.”

Sounds awesome.  Except I have no known business developments on the horizon.  Kinda takes the wind out of it.

I swear, every time I turn around there is yet another new version of WordPress to upgrade to.  I think I make it about every 3rd release.

New theme this time around – I need a better banner for it, and then some more color tweaking, but it’s the layout that I want, which is a good start.  And this theme has more pick & click options that the older ones have, so I don’t have to go diving into the stylesheets as much as I used to.  (It’s not that I can’t, but it’s a pain.)

Given my track record with WP upgrades, I suspect they will have a new one out within about 48 hours. :)

Just upgraded wordpress, trying to see if it blew up or not.

Usually I get useless ones that say something along the lines of, “You’re a shiny person!”, but tonight’s was a little different.

“Depart not from the path which fate has you assigned.”

Kinda gives me something to think about.

Seriously, my grey matter is overwhelmed with useless minutia that despite my best imaginative efforts to think it will profit me someday, will likely never benefit me.  Sure, I am a kickass team member in Trivial Pursuit, but that has no usually has cash value (beyond a winners’ six pack of beer) and I can say with great certainty that I would not screen test well enough to be on Jeopardy.  (Which might actually net me some cash, or at least a year’s supply of Rice A Roni.)

This is hardly a new revelation to me by any means.  However, it was once again cemented in my head this evening.

Little bro is back home from his annual Super Bowl sojourn and we headed up to the pub for a beer.  (OK, he went for beer & trivia games, I went for beer & SportsCenter – we happened to have seats next to each other.)  A complete aside, THE EMPTIER OF THE DISHWASHER IS BACK!

I watched the trivia games he was playing, and one of the answers to a question about kids’ programming was “Zoom.”

Upon seeing that ONE DAMN WORD, the signoff song of the Zoom program kicked off in my head – it was for those kiddos that wanted to contact the program.  And it goes as follows…

“Write ZOOM, Zee-double-oh-em, Box three-five-oh, Boston, Mass, Ohh-two-one-three-four, SEND IT TO ZOOM!!”

This is a program that ended in my world in 1978.  (It was resurrected in 1999, a version of which I have no knowledge – I didn’t even know it came back until I looked it up trying to figure out when it went off the air.)

I cannot find my keys 90% of the time, I will spend $40 at the market while forgetting the quart of milk I actually went there for, and yet I still know how to contact the participants of a kids telly program that ended 30+ years ago.

There is part of me that rationalizes this exceptionally well.  I don’t have to remember directions, as I have Google maps.  I don’t have to remember what days what bills are due, I have spreadsheets, and I have auto backup for my hard drive.  I don’t have to remember phone numbers, as they are all in my phone and I also have auto-backup for that as well.

Therefore, I have a decent amount of space for useless nonsense taking up my brain.

However, I watch my grandmother’s memory sliding and I am terrified that 50 years from now I will still remember the damn Zoom song and not remember which bills are due when and will be overrunning the cell phone minutes of everyone and their brother trying to make sure that my homeowner’s insurance has been paid.

Know thyself is awesome.  Seeing what’s ahead is sketchy at best.  Seeing both in the same instance is scary as fucking hell.

I keep reminding myself that as much as I love the markets and finance and such, I need to REALLY crank up my other hobbies before I get… well, a bit touched in the head for lack of a better description.  Because when I finally get dotty, I want for my step/pseudo/foster/whatever kids/grandkids to say, “It’s fun to go knit/crochet/draw/paint/make tinfoil hats” with Goofy Aunt Cindy!” rather than, “She’s mean and no fun and can’t even enjoy a good conspiracy theory because she thinks there is some random bill that hasn’t been paid!” (Which if they are any relation of mine, blood or otherwise, they WILL enjoy a good conspiracy theory until such point where Fox News mucks up the fun for all of us.)

It’s fun to kickass at Trivial Pursuit.  (Especially if you have opponents willing to wager on it.)  I just don’t want that crap to be the only thing I remember 50 years down the road.  And I’ll readily admit that I am scared shitless of what year 86 has in store for me should I live that long.

I really hope that if I live that long and my mind decides to skip out on me, I hope it goes in a fun and entertaining direction.  (I’ll start stockpiling the tinfoil now for alien invasion prevention.)

And oh, about 4 hours into the pre-game show.

I have absolutely nothing against the Super Bowl.  It’s fun and a great excuse to eat junk food and drink beer.  (I’ve even whipped up a batch of shrimp dip, even if it’s unlikely I’ll watch much of the game.)

And given the economy being in the tank, it’s a good opportunity to take a few hours and NOT think about jobs, consumer confidence, your 401K tanking, the stock market spiraling down the drain, among other things.

But, I don’t understand quite how it rates the level of media hype that is generated.  The media has been in Tampa for a week now.  A five hour pre-game show?  (With an interview with the President to boot.  Just let him have his Super Bowl party already – the guests are probably hogging the good food while he’s stuck in the interview.)

If you’re planning on watching the Super Bowl, you know when it is.  You know who is playing.  You know which channel it’s on.

No need to hype it for a week, folks will still be watching.