Small things
A lesson learned today: My father and I are on a repair job at an Italian-themed chain restaurant. They have a steam table, which isn’t draining. For the reader who hasn’t worked in a commercial kitchen, a steam table is something that keeps sauces and soups warm for quick serving, and works by filling water in a basin and keeping it hot with burners underneath. At the end of the night, the steam table is emptied of its water to prevent corrosion, bacteria buildup, etc. It turns out a penny somehow got stuck in the drain. Since a penny is not, at last check, food, one has to assume that hijinks somehow played a part in the penny getting sucked into the steam table’s drain.
One penny of mischief: $100 service call.
Lesson learned? The small things can be important, too.
Another small thing: I love the translucent, colorful plastic that coats certain objects, like keys. I just got a spare set of keys with the most candy-like blue plastic coating the tops. I look at it and feel like a five-year old. My brain hums with oooh and aaahs as I touch the smooth plastic and see how the light plays with the color. Shiny. Smooth. Yum!
The first iMacs were these colors, too, no doubt lending to their immidate acceptance. I don’t think I am alone in my love for shiny plastic gumdrops.
And, incedently, colored flood lights are coated with the same material. Another tidbit picked up on the job, today.
Posted by Jonathan at 01:42 AM, 16 November 2002 | Comments (0)
Tough Talk
I don’t care what they say, I stand by my opinion: bin Laden is dead.
Posted by Jonathan at 08:41 PM, 13 November 2002 | Comments (1)
Ugh.
Apparently, I, and everybody I know, are in a very small minority. So small, in fact, that we can’t get a couple of Democrats elected into the Senate. Not that Democrats are doing anything to dissent from the Bushie doctrine, but, at least with Democrats, there is a small chance that they will. Republicans will toe the line.
Every bit of news media that I’ve read in the past couple of weeks seemed to believe that Democrats were holding their own. Now it looks (as of 1:30 in the morning after election day) that the Democrats gained one measly seat in the House, lost the majority in the Senate, and that W will gloat that his ideals are America’s ideals.
Are they? Weren’t we, the thinking citizens of this country, supposed to send W a message that we can’t stand him in office? I thought so, but apparently, I am in the minority.
A small bit of good news. Here in my hometown, few bought into Joe Finley’s absurd notion of making America safe by electing him into the House. And Felix Grucci somehow lost to Tim Bishop, which is a huge surprise considering the giant political machine that Grucci is in charge of.
But that’s small beans compared to the Senate. Ah, but the Democrats there weren’t really doing anything to stop W anyway. Maybe that is why thinking Americans just couldn’t find it in their hearts and minds to vote for them. Maybe.
Or maybe I’m just a deluded minority in a blood-thirsty, ignorant nation.
Posted by Jonathan at 01:48 AM, 06 November 2002 | Comments (3)
Commercial from the Future
The Scene: Two men, hairless, dressed in white jumpsuits stand next to each other in a totally white, sterile room. The men possibly have green concentric rings on their bald heads. The UPC identification tattoos, across their foreheads, are fuzzed out to prevent unauthorized cloning. Both men are glumly eating :|COW PRODUCT®|: bars.
First Man: Did you know that people used to complain about foraging in the forest for nuts and berries?
Second Man: Gee. (Taking another bite from :|COW PRODUCT®|:.) What I wouldn’t give for some nuts and berries, now!
First Man: Yeah, but since there are no more forests, or nuts, or berries, or plant life left on Earth, we’ll never get the opportunity. (Sighs.)
Announcer: Wait, fellows! Now :|COW PRODUCT®|: comes in two flavors: Original great-tasting Cow Flavor™, and new Nut-N-Berry Flavor™!
The :|COW PRODUCT®|: bars in their hands turn magically into new Nut-N-Berry Flavor™.
Both Men: Wow! Thanks :|COW PRODUCT®|:!
:|COW PRODUCT®|: theme song plays, while the two men eat the transformend bars enthusiastically.
Announcer (In softer, faster, disclaimer voice): :|COW PRODUCT®|: is a registered trademark of Archer TySony Food Concerns, LLC, Inc. :|COW PRODUCT®|: contains no meat products, since all the animals were wiped out, too.
Posted by Jonathan at 06:32 PM, 05 November 2002 | Comments (2)
