A fresh new piping-hot just out o’ the oven podcast episode is up. Here’s the description:
Good news: This one is about 98% Las Vegas-free! I’ve now moved on to other nonsense, including my thoughts on how David Bowie’s “Let’s Dance” was recorded, the leg cramps that freaked me out for a few hours, a retired baseball player who now sounds like he should be cooking beans on a wagon train, and the night last week when I came home covered in taco grease. I fully expect a Pulitzer Prize for this episode. I hope you enjoy it!
And here’s your link. Last night I was informed that the show is now available at iHeartRadio. That’s the final piece of the puzzle, I think. It’s now available “everywhere,” as they say. It doesn’t mean it’s any good, it’s just… widely available. Pass the beer nuts.
I mention this in the podcast, but my six month trial period with SiriusXM was ending and they emailed and informed me the price was going up to $21 per month, starting next week. So, I put it off as long as possible and finally made the call yesterday. I hate shit like that, but there’s no way I’m paying twenty-one bucks, right?
I got some guy with a weird voice, as well as a weird accent. And it wasn’t the normal kind of accent, either. Maybe Swedish, or perhaps Finnish. I had trouble understanding him. But he asked why I wanted to cancel, and I told him it was too expensive. So, he asked if I could hold for a minute. And when he came back on he said, “How’s $5.99 per month sound?”
So, there you go. Easiest negotiation ever. I figured we’d have to go back and forth for a while, and might eventually end up somewhere near $5.99. But he went straight there. Cool! It’s a monthly payment, not due all at once, and it’s only good for 12 months. So, I’ll have to do this dance again in a year. But that’s OK. I can handle anything that’s a full year in the future. Ya know?
Hey, I just thought of this! If I’d bargained further and got that squeaky-voiced Swede down to $4 it would’ve been the Chicago discount: 21 or 6 to 4. Oh shit… it’s 25. Dammit! I thought I’d come up with the most creative thing ever. Oh well.
I saw something while I was driving a few days ago, that I’d never seen before. Some dude had a refrigerator in the back of a pickup truck, hauling ass down Interstate 81. And the fridge still had magnets stuck to the door. I was a couple of car lengths behind him, in a different lane, and saw at least two of those things come sailing off. I was laughing pretty hard. Half-assery on parade!
Many years ago, when I still lived in West Virginia, I saw a piano fall off the back of a truck on Interstate 64. It was one of the more memorable things I’ve seen on a major highway. It made a hell of a satisfying sound when it hit the pavement.
What’s the craziest thing you’ve seen on the interstate that wasn’t a wreck? I’ve seen many, many full-blown houses being hauled up and down 81. And those big-ass windmill propellars… What non-wreck craziness have you witnessed on an interstate highway? Use the comments link above or below, if you’re so inclined.
And are you ready for excitement? On Saturday I went out and bought a semi-expensive (not really… but I think everything’s expensive) piece of carry-on luggage. We’ve got the travel bug, and while we were gone I realized my bag was looking shabby and beat all to hell. So, I replaced it. I’ve come to realize that you can put everything you need in one of those bastards, and never have to check a bag again. It’s fantastic! And now we both have new ones… with nowhere to go. We spent a big part of the weekend discussing our next overnighter, now that we were gone for a full week and the boys didn’t a) get arrested b) burn the fucking house down or c) beat the shit out of each other. That, and the fact that we no longer have the King of Dogs (unfortunately) provides us with a level of freedom we haven’t known in many, many years. Where should we go next? Within reason? I have a new bag and all…
And I need to call it a day. There are a couple of questions in this one. Plus, if you have any memorable experiences with SiriusXM, or any other companies that apparently have “negotiation” built into their business model, please share.
Have a great day, my friends!
I’ll be back on Thursday.
Now playing in the bunker
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I saw a Lazy Boy Recliner in the middle lane of the Highway–people were dodging all over the place until the police shut it down and removed the thing–how could they miss losing that?
I once saw a giant bear run across the interstate.
Saw a bed liner fly up and over the pickup truck tailgating it. Learned to never tailgate pickup trucks, even when the bed is empty
Drink big slug of dill pickle juice for those leg cramps.
I think it’s a banana and tonic water with quinine.
Sirius Canada got my credit card number and automatically renewed me every year. And some years they upped my rate, eventually over $200 per year. When I finally had enough and called to cancel the guy kept me on the phone for half an hour, wondering where else I could listen to such a wide variety of content. Guess they think we’ve never heard of the internet or smartphones.
No bullshit, I once saw a car on I-57 in Illinois driving northbound on the southbound side. I have no idea if it was a drunk person or some senile old person or what, but it was crazy. I slowed way down and drove next to the person while flashing my lights and honking my horn trying to warn the oncoming cars for a while, as this was long before cell phones. I think about it every now and then when I drive that stretch of road. Craziest thing is, I don’t remember how it ended. I guess I must have sped back up and decided I didn’t care to see two cars collide head on that day.
Only been able to visit the site off & on the last several months & must have missed something; what happened *gulp* to Andy?
He went to live on a farm.
got on the Interstate one afternoon after a somewhat heavy snowfall earlier in the day & had some extremely impatient jackass in a big 4WD truck immediately glued to my ass – was reluctant to speed up as the semi ahead of me in the lane to my left was losing chunks of snow from his roof that were bombarding the pavement in both lanes – jackass 4WD whips around me and proceeds to get on the ass of the semi when about an 8-10 foot section of snow the entire width of the trailer lets loose EXPLODING on his hood & windshield – he very quickly came to a stop as I drove by laughing my ass off – fairly certain it broke his windshield & filled the cab with snow – haha asshole.
I have friends with sirius and I don’t get it. Every year they go through the renegotiation. Not interested in paying for any music I own and everything I own is on my phone. Never a commercial, interruption, someone explaining something and when I find something I like but don’t have I just youtube it, convert to mp3 and load it on. I still buy music from artists I like that put new music out, but everyday there is new old stuff, live, outtakes etc that I get from online. As for non-music, it’s bad enough listening to the wife blip blap away when on the road, so I’m not listening to any talk stations or podcasts (no offense to any podcasters of course).
Once on the way to work at 4am in the morning I got behind a guy that was driving an old flatbed with wood fence siding full of shit that was just flying off the back of his truck. Garbage, furniture, etc flying all over. I had to swerve all over to avoid that shit until I could get by. I think he just didn’t want to pay the local dump to drop it off because he obviously didn’t care that he was losing it all.
There’s a lot of things found on the Orlando highways…king size mattresses, 5 gallon buckets of paint, commercial lawn mowers. The oddest thing is every 3 or 4 months, a full size extension ladder appears …snarling traffic and remaining long enough to be announced on the local traffic radio. They should really upgrade the fences along the highway so that the strays don’t break from the herd and wander onto the pavement like that.
I had a truck tire (and possibly entire wheel) leave the opposing side of the interstate and bounce right over my (roofless) car – had it bounced differently it would have killed me for sure. This was outside Las Vegas ironically. “Twas a butt clencher.
When I called Dish Network to cancel, the first thing out of the guy’s mouth was an offer of a $15/month discount. I replied that the price wasn’t the issue; the issue was that I never watched it. That shut him up, and we were done.
Road objects: not only a mattress and box spring in the middle of I-66, but also two guys running out into traffic to try and retrieve them.