Not your typical workplace hazard

Zef, the cabedge greyhound, left this unprecedented "Zefdoo sculpture" for us near the couch area just now.

Poor thing... Zef was more active than normal, but for some reason none of us thought to see if he had to go. He'd just been out for a walk... apparently he didn't finish the job the first time around and wasn't able to hold it anymore.

Thankfully, Zef's human (Matt) was on the case right away. With cat-like reflexes, he whipped out his trusty plastic doo-bag and was able to remove the "workplace hazard" deftly.

Matt... you're our hero.

And... once again... I've managed to post something "toilet" related.
What is WITH ME this week?!

Where were you?

Just ran across this headline as I was thinking about posting about it today.

While I'm not a Diana follower... I do remember where I was on August 31, when the news of the accident began filtering out to the world.

I was house-sitting for Lenny, my friend Tracie's Mom. Denice, my best girlfriend, and I were having dinner Theo's bar in Sioux Falls when we noticed there was a special report being aired on all the TVs at the bar. News had just begun to trickle in about the accident in Paris. Everyone in the room was riveted to the TVs. When we finished eating, we went back to Lenny's and watched the news about the happenings into the night waiting to hear whether Diana would survive.

It was surreal then... and it is surreal now as I think about it. Time seemed to stand still as we waited to hear the outcome.

Sadly, I guess we all know the end of this story.

The interesting thing is, as I remembered where I was nine years ago, I also started thinking about other events I remember vividly.

1980 - Mt. Saint Helens:
I was in fifth grade when Mt. Saint Helens blew her top... I think it was one of the last days of school. Even in Nebraska, states away from the mountain, the volcanic ash found a home. Everything had a little layer of soot: cars, farm equipment, cattle, homes, trees, etc. At the time I didn't really understand what was going on, but I knew it was big.

1986 - Space Shuttle Explosion:
BHS Chemistry class with Mr. Filips. Mrs. Cripe came into the classroom and told us what happened. Then, as our mouths gapped open, we all watched CNN on a TV atop one of those rolling classroom carts.

1993 - SD Governor Mickelson killed in a plane crash:
At the Western Ave / 41st Streen stoplight in Sioux Falls, on my way to work out. Seven SD leaders perished in the crash. At first I was stunned and then I was just sad... I cried right there in the car.

9-1-1:
At home, getting ready for work... I worked at News 2 as the Internet / Marketing Director at the time. Had just finished updating WKRN.com with the AM news from home and was getting ready to go in for the rest of the day. Soon, I dropped everything and began putting up 911 news from home until my Internet connection went down completely. Our CMS provider at the time was based in NYC... we were instant messaging back and forth... they were evacuating their offices. It was really scary. After the Web went down, I drove to work as fast as I could while listening to the announcer on the radio describe the towers falling down. Pretty much everything after that, the rest of the day and the next four to six weeks... maybe more... is just a blur. While I didn't realize it at the time, the constant contact with everything 911 really affected me. I lost 15 pounds and have had a hard time watching continuous coverage of anything ever since. It just overwhelms me.

Isn't it wild how things like this, while they may not be directly linked to you, can be burned into your brain and recalled so vividly... and affect you so deeply? They can be life-changing.

What happened?
Where were you?
What were you doing?
What makes you remember it?

Please flush.

I took this pic myself.
While I agree with its sentiments... I've never seen an actual sign in a bathroom like this before.

PS: It is purely coincidental that there are now two toilet-type photos posts on my blog this week. Well... at least I think it is... uh oh... what does it mean?!

Employee of the month

OK... I'm sure many of you have already seen this pic floating around the web... but I hadn't seen it until today (Thanks D!) and it really cracked me up.

Let's just say... now that I have wireless at home I'm not afraid to take my computer anywhere in the house. Probably won't try it at work... yet.

Heh.

Gulf Coast = Perseverance

It's so easy to talk about and analyze what is wrong with things since Katrina hit one year ago. We all do it... cause it's what human's do. (Sad... but true.)

So, in light of the many reports on this day about what isn't going right in the clean-up efforts, in the support efforts... blah blah blah... I'd like to propose that we talk, think and act upon what is going right in the Gulf Coast.

per‧se‧ver‧ance [pur-suh-veer-uhns] is steady persistence in a course of action, a purpose, a state, etc., esp. in spite of difficulties, obstacles, or discouragement.

Perseverance is what the Gulf Coast is all about.

Let's focus on that.

Take a long look at the people who are still there, rebuilding their homes and working steadily to take back their history... to create a future and move forward.

Take a look at the people who've rebuilt their lives in other cities... determined to start fresh and put the devastation behind them.

Take a look at the hundreds... more like thousands... of people who aren't from the Gulf Coast who were called to put their own lives on hold to help.

I could go on and on.

My wish for this day and everyday is that we spend our time supporting the things that are going right and fix the things that need to be fixed with a positive attitude and tenacious will.

The people of the Gulf Coast don't need us to tear things down... Katrina already did that for them.

What they need us to help them persevere, to help them keep moving forward... no matter how slow or fast the progress.

My heart, respect and prayers go to everyone touched by Katrina.

Blue stripe or equal sign?

OK... I need your help.
This is driving me crazy.

I keep seeing front license plates that are black and blue... there's a blue stripe between two black stripes. Is it an equal sign? Is it a blue stripe? Is it a flag? Aaaaahhhhh... what is it?! What is it for?!

Is this some secret blue equality forum?

Please... someone enlighten me.
PLEASE.

Who wants some new shorts?

Holy moly.

Watched a show on TBS last night about "Very Funny Ads" and laughed so hard I my cheeks hurt this morning.

My favorite: Daisy Dukes (opens a video link).
The gist: A dad walks into the kitchen and says to his daughters, "Hey look, Dad still fits into his old shorts." The shorts are kelly green with white piping and they're short. You know... the kind they had in the 70's. It's a scream. The guy really sells it. And, it's a K-mart ad if you can believe that... wish they'd run it in Nashville.

So... check them out.
I mean really, who can't use a good laugh?

Keep on drivin'

...if you're about to pass this award winning rest stop (as seen on thisisbroken.com)

The sign reads, "Award winning rest stop" and then just below it there is another sign that says, "Beware of rattlesnakes".

Yikes.

Maybe the follow-up to "Snakes on a Plane" could be "Snakes at a Rest Stop."

Yeah... probably not.

Gig TONIGHT!

OK... got a gig tonight at Dan McGuiness. (Sorry for the short notice.)

Looks like my 30 minutes starts around 10:30 or 11 9:30 or 10. It's gonna be a great night of music. So, come out early and plan to stay late if you can.

This is my last gig for a few weeks, so, hope you can make it!

McGuinness Girls Night
TONIGHT, Monday, 8/21
Starts at 8:00 on the patio

Jamie Floyd
Roxie Randle
Gwen Sebastian
Terri Jo Box
Dianna Gatto
Lala Deaton
Jeanne Richardson
Jonie Wilson
Nicole Galyon

*PHOTO by Dan Harr

The cool place I work...

cabedge is located in this fab space in downtown Franklin. The company relocated here from the Factory about three months ago.

Here are some pics that Chris, the "head of cabedge", took the night of the open house. Just wanted to share with everyone far away and/or those who couldn't make it.

There's alot of exposed brick, low light and warm colors. And, there are no cubes, offices or other torturous creative inhibitors present. It's hard to "think out of the box" when you spend all your time in one. Heh. (If you squint, you can see me sitting at my desk way at the back of this photo.)

Here's a close up of two of my co-horts, Chase (no hair on the left) and Lemmie (w/hair peeking over the light straight ahead). Our work areas are IKEA lovefests. I think we should have an endorsement with them... hmmm... maybe I can work on that one. **wink**

The conference room with glass carrot-ish colored "white" boards. How fun?!

This is the "cave o' crunk" where the creatvie-types like Blake (left) and Matt (right) hang out . There's alot of great ideas lurking around in here... LOVE IT. And, in the foreground of this pic, you'll also see Zeph (Matt's greyhound) who hangs out with us at the office Monday through Thursday. (Zeph is coooo-el.)

OK... well... that's the tour. The only place missing is the photo studio and the kitchen... oh... and the bathrooms. But, alas, maybe I should leave that exciting stuff for another post.

MySpacers Anonymous

YOU KNOW YOU'RE ADDICTED TO MYSPACE WHEN:

1. You are out and about... you realize you recognize someone. You can't figure out how and then it dawns on you... You have never met this person before... they are your friend on MySpace.
2. After meeting someone your conversation somehow leads to - "So, are you on MySpace?"
3. You do not call people anymore, you post comments and send messages through MySpace.
4. When talking about one of your friends you just refer to them as their MySpace alias rather than their real name.
5. When you're out with friends and you take a good picture you exclaim loudly, "That's going on MySpace!"
6. Conversations with friends tend to lead to discussing the comments and/or friends you've met on MySpace.
   
7. You check your MySpace as soon as you wake up, and right before you go to bed, including the 10 times you check it during the day.
8. You know people who have gotten offended about the Top 8.
9. You start off intending to check if you have new messages / comments but find AN HOUR LATER that you are still on and have no idea what you even accomplished during that time.
   
10. You find yourself laughing (sadly) and agreeing as you read these, and you know you're going to repost this for everyone else to see.

Maybe we should start a "MySpacers Anonymous" myspace for everyone addicted to MySpace. We could all be each other's friends and comment about each others addiction to MySpace. We could send each other messages of support and coordinate MSA meetings online.

And... while we're at it... maybe even band together to come up with a better user interface and admin area. I can't believe we put up with it.

OK... gotta go check my MySpace now.
**wink**

Come out Friday night!

Performin' a 30 minute round at with the girls at 7 p.m. tomorrow night, French Quarter Cafe on Woodland St. There's a great line-up the entire night... so plan to come out early and stay late!

Hope to see you there.
Bring friends... the more the merrier!

Friday, August 18th
The French Quarter Café
6:00- Maura McKinney Mastro
6:15- Janine LeClair w/Natalie Howard and Scott McDowell
7:00- Jeanne Richardson w/Karleen Watt and Rachel Williams
7:30- Christina Reckard
8:00- Melissa Cusick w/Clay Cumbie and Robin Welty
8:30- Velvet Matthews
9:00- Rebecca Jed w/guests

Carrot juice shots

Last night we had an open house at the new cabedge location in Franklin. We had a blast. Thanks to everyone who came out to help us break in the new digs.

Saffire catered food and drink... the highlight of the night were these "carrot juice" shots. It really was carrot juice garnished with a little fresh dill. How inventive! Aren't they cool?!

I had two... and my vision seems much clearer today.

Backstage at the Opry

Got to hang out with my better half backstage at the Opry again Saturday night. Can you believe I forgot my camera?!

**dum dum**

Anyway, it was just as awesome as the last Opry performance. Lee Roy and the guys got to perform for both shows, which meant they were on GAC-TV during the early performance. Our families in Nebraska, Iowa and SD were able to watch... it was great.

They're replaying the show several times over the next couple days. So, if you weren't able to watch it live... set the recorder / Tivo / whatever and check it out.

**UPDATE** The cool thing is... that Donna DID have her camera and she just sent John a couple pics! Yay. Thank you Donna!

Uh... yeah... Comcast...

You suck.

Not the actual high speed cable itself... no.

Comcast customer service.

We've talked to a dozen people at the place since Saturday morning and every single one of them has a different idea as to what is wrong.

Then, yesterday, JTC waited by the phone... literally... from three until six (the window of time the technician was supposed to show up) without so much as a phone call to say, "hey... not gonna make it today."

In fact, he spend most of his time between 6 and 7 trying to find out why... and talked to six people before finally talking to a supervisor who said the tech would be there within 15 - 20 minutes.

Nope.
Didn't happen.

When JTC called at around 8:30 to find out why, they put him through to dispatch. The dispatch tech told John that the ticket was cancelled by the tech... cause he called several times and wasn't able to reach us.

Wrong.

JTC was literally sitting by the phone... and when he wasn't waiting for them to call, he was talking to them on the phone. And, if the guy called when he was on the phone with Comcast and got a busy signal... well... duh... he's home dude. Come on over.

So, needless to say... I'm about to go back to NetZero. We had their service for three years and never had a problem.

The tech is supposed to come again this morning between 8 and 10.

We'll see... I'm not gonna hold my breath.

Fast. Convenient. Reliable.
Um... I think NOT.

Thanks for letting me vent.

UPDATE 6 pm, 08/09.06:
Bobby (the greatest Comcast tech EVER) came to our house today. He came when he said he'd come and he wasn't afraid to do the "right" thing. He fixed our cable box, replaced our cable on the outside of the house, replaced our cable outlet on the inside of the house and changed out our old modem to a new modem in their system. He left no stone un-turned.

I came home to a very happy Clocky.

When Clock told Bobby of our troubles the past few days... sadly, he wasn't surprised but apologized for Comcast anyway. (Stand up guy, that Bobby.)

The moral of this story:
Don't blame the tech... blame the tech company's crappy customer service.

I just hope Comcast is smart enough to keep people like Bobby around... and maybe even get a better system to take care of their customers on the phone. If it weren't for someone like Bobby, we'd be switching to something else for our internet connectivity.

Thank you, Bobby, for having a great work ethic and a great attitude.
We'll be requesting you from now on.

Car's in the shop... again.

Drat.

This morning, John and I were taking the Subaru (yeah... the one I just had fixed) in to get another little wheel wiggling problem tweaked... no biggie, right?

Wrong.

John was driving the Forester and I was following him in the Element so he wouldn't have to wait at the mechanic's all day while it was being fixed.

Well...on the way the clutch stopped working again. The pedal dropped to the floor when John was driving. So, he kept it in 2nd gear all the way down Nolansville Road until he got to Larry's Auto Shop.

Not sure what is happening... but really hope to get it fixed soon. I'm sure we're looking at another $500+ at this point.

Getting a different car is sounding better and better.

Anyone got $10-15K they want to send our way?

**UPDATE 08/13/06**
Well, looks like I'll get my car back on Tuesday or Wednesday.

The good news is that the clutch was just a $40 hose repair. The bad news is that the wiggly back wheel was more than a loose bolt. Gonna be replacing the entire knuckle joint... which will be another $200 or so.

Last week, I was feelin' a little stressed about it, but you know, I've decided to get over that. I haven't had a car payment for the last couple years... and until now, the Subaru hasn't given me any trouble. The fact of the matter is that it has more than 163,000 miles on it... 100,000 of those miles were put there by me. So, it's bound to need some major repairs and if it only ends up being a few hundred dollars a years as opposed to a few thousand... well then... so be it.

Please accept my apologies for using my blog to whine about this last week. If this is the worst of my troubles... then I've got no troubles at all. (wow... that sounds like a song... back off songwriters! I'm writing it! Heh.)

Fire (ant) eating Armadillos

I don't know about you all... but I think having armadillos in TN is kinda cool.

If you click through, be sure to read through armadillo facts in the right column. I would have never thought to call them pocket dinosaurs or hillbilly speed bumps.

Apparently, they don't taste like chicken, either.

Wild.

AND... the fact that they eat fire ants is definitely a beni.

**jumping up and down clapping**
I WANT ONE!

Clocky on TV Next Weekend

John gets to play the Opry again next week with Lee Roy Parnell.

So... mark your calendar for Saturday, August 12, cause the line up is SWEET.

Billy Joe Shaver, Gatlin Brothers, Julie Roberts, Martina McBride (first show only), and Lee Roy Parnell

And, if you can't make it to the show, you can actually watch it on TV. The show on the 12th is going to be televised LIVE on GAC. (No... it's not a recording... it's the real deal.)

YEEEEEEHAAAAAAW.

Cows are girls.

Bulls are boys.

Doesn't anyone in Hollywood realize the difference between an udder and a... well... you know?!

Here's how it works:
Udder = Breasts = GIRL

Simply put, neither bulls nor steers have udders.

Period.

So, Why is it okay for the "cow" in the movie "Barnyard" to have the voice of the man? In fact, it sounds like all of the "cows" (with udders, I might add) have the voice of a man.

That's just friggin' weird.

From this review:
"The character design is dead simple -- the cows look for all the world like 3-D versions of Gary Larson's stoic bovines from The Far Side -- but Barnyard's animation is slick as heck and pops off the screen. Strange thing is, it's never explained why all the boy cows have udders. Though I guess it's better than their having giant, swaying bull-parts down there."

Until I get over this news... I'm not sure I can actually go to the movie. It's very disturbing to this farm girl.

As I told John, it's like the soundless clap... I can't handle it... it's just not right.

BB Sings in August

Somehow, I ended up with several gigs this month... and can't wait.

Check your calendar and know that you're invited to as many as you'd like to attend.

Aug 7
8:00P
ITR w/Lisa Carver, Lala Deaton & Me
GaDang (soon to be called Lyrix)
(This event actually starts at 7... and goes til 10ish. There's a GREAT line-up of women writers / singers on the bill all night. It's gonna kick bootay.)

Aug 10
7:00P
Karleen Watt, Lala Deaton & Me
Commodore Lounge
Holiday Inn Select on West End

Aug 12
10:00P
w/Danny Torroll Band
Jonathan's Grill
Bellvue, TN

Aug 14
7:30P
Me
GaDang

Aug 18
7:00P
Karleen Watt, Rachel Williams & Me
French Quarter Cafe

Aug 19
10:00P
w/Danny Torroll Band
Jonathan's Grill
Bellvue, TN

Aug 21
8:00P
McGuinnes Girls Night
Dan McGuinness Pub

Aug 26
10:00P
w/Danny Torroll Band
Jonathan's Grill
Bellvue, TN

I bought an airport.

Heh... not a airport (as in plane). An AIRPORT EXTREME BASE STATION.

Yeah baby.

I even set it up all by myself (well... almost... I had some pre-advice from towerkraut).

Anyway... I'm actually typing this post from my living room on my Powerbook (actually... it's cabedge's Mac) using my very own Airport.

Even my printer is hooked up.

Why didn't I do this SOONER?!

AND, the cool thing is that John's laptop PC will be able to use it, too.

Rock on brothahs and sistahs.

Searching to support your favorite charity?

Did you know you can support your favorite charity by using Goodsearch.com?

My friend Emily supports the Bay Area Greyhound Adoptions in Tampa... what's your flavor?

Search... and show them some love!

Pimp my nutcracker

Doing some research for a project we're working on at my new job, we ran across this insidious time waster.

heh.
heh.

Have I mentioned that I love it here?!
Enjoy.

Happy Birthday JIM!

Love you, little big brother.
XO,
BB

Happy Birthday MOM!

Hope your day is AWESOME.
XO,
BB