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Some Random Notes And Assorted Nonsense, vol. 49

October 12, 2018 By Jeff 16 Comments

I went to dinner with a few work folks last night, and one of them mentioned The Grand Canyon, and how she’s seen it, and there’s no need to ever go back. I laughed because I think that’s the same reaction most people have. I believe Toney and I both uttered the exact same sentence, following our recent visit there. The only exception would be people who like to hike and explore, which ain’t me. Other than that… I think it falls into the “OK, mark that one off the list” category. Right?

I don’t think I posted any photos from our visit there, so there’s one at the top of this update. I took it with my phone, during a rare time that some asshole hadn’t wedged themselves between my girth and the edge of the Canyon. The rest of the photos I took that day are very similar to this one, but not as good. So… there’s no point in posting ’em.

Dinner was at one of those hibachi places, where they perform right in front of you and flick shit over your head and set off fire bombs, etc. The food was good, but I’m happy I wasn’t paying. I had a filet mignon and chicken combo dinner, and it was expensive. I had to return to work, so I didn’t drink any alcohol. But nobody else held back. The final bill was undoubtedly substantial.

There was another group sitting with us, which I don’t like. It was a giant obnoxious woman with a bellowing voice, three shockingly-behaved kidlets, and a weird jittery woman with almost no teeth on the top. The chef kept squirting some sort of liquid straight into Snaggles’ gaping maw, and this was apparently supposed to be entertaining. Shit! I didn’t even want to look at it. Big Mama kept shouting at those kids, even though they weren’t doing anything wrong, as far as I could tell. It was quite a crew. Especially for that setting. They seemed more… Wal-Mart than expense-account sushi restaurant. Oh well.

Everything was good, though. Maybe not as good as Cracker Barrel or Five Guys. But pretty good.

What do you make of this? Yesterday I received two phone calls from a number in Mississippi. I didn’t answer them, needless to say. But both times they left a message. And it was just some sober-sounding man, all business, reciting a series of numbers. When he was finished he said, “Again…” and repeated the number sequence. At the end he said, “Thank you” and ended the call. He called twice and left the exact same message.

I saved them and thought about posting the numbers here. But I’m afraid it might activate a sleeper cell somewhere and touch off a series of international events, or somesuch. I mean, what the hell? It reminded me of these creepy-ass shortwave radio recordings. Some of them were used in a Wilco album, and for whatever reason… they scare me a little. Heh.

Any idea what the Mississippi calls might be about? It’s weird shit.

I’m off today, for no other reason than I have eight more vacation days I need to burn before the end of the year. I can carry over 40 hours, so I need to take eight days off to get down to 40 hours. It’s a horrible problem to have, I’m telling you. I also took next Friday off, and the following Monday. Toney and I are planning to take the commuter bus to NYC on Friday, have lunch somewhere, walk around for a few hours, and finish with some adult beverages at Beer Authority. Then the bus driver can haul our semi-drunken asses back to Scranton. Should be fun!

And speaking of beer, Toney and I went on a tour of the Susquehanna Brewing Company last Sunday. I talk about it at length in the new podcast, but it was fun. We decided to go on a whim, and it turned out to be a blast. It’s inside a building that looks like a boring old warehouse, inside an industrial park filled with boring old warehouses. But there’s good stuff going on in there, including a surprisingly kickass bar, open to the public. We spent time with one of the owners, and it was great. We had some good beer too.

For a Question, I’d like to know how often you “unfriend” people on Facebook. And what generally causes said unfriendings? I don’t think I’ve ever done it. I’ve gone another route with it: I’ve just unfriended Facebook itself. I rarely go on there. It’s not hyperbole when I say I kinda hate it. There are exceptions, of course. But the overall Facebook experience? No, it sucks ass. But for those of you who are still engaged… how often do you cut people off? And why? Please tell us about it in the comments.

And before I call it a day, I’ll share with you a link to the new podcast episode. Right here. It’s possibly the raggediest installment to date. Man… I was a mess, and don’t know why. Here’s the summary I wrote:

Wow! This one was a struggle. I’m not sure why, but I was having trouble stringing together sentences during this thing. There’s far more mumblin’ and stumblin’ than usual. Around the halfway point I start to get into a semi-rhythm, though. You’ll get to hear one of the rejected show intros, my reaction to a man who’s trying to earn a living via farting, a report on a tour of a local microbrewery, and other assorted nonsense. There are some laughs, I think, in spite of the performance. I hope you enjoy it. Thank you, guys!

And that’s going to do it for me. I apologize for not posting on Thursday. I was having troubles here, something to do with the podcast. Technical difficulties that ate up a bunch of my time. The thing was recorded, but there were issues with the editing, etc. Anyway, it’s the first time I’ve missed a Monday or Thursday since I vowed to never miss again. I got the podcast up before midnight, so that streak is still TECHNICALLY alive. But I’m a day late with the Surf Report. Grrr…

But I’ll be back on Monday.

I hope you guys have a great weekend!

Now playing in the bunker
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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Dave says

    October 12, 2018 at 1:13 pm

    Someone’s trying to hack your voicemail box

    Reply
  2. Ognir says

    October 12, 2018 at 1:27 pm

    I just removed a bunch of people. They were people I knew in HS – but have not really talked in 8 years or so (since we found each other on FB). I plan to get the list down to just the few people I talk to from time to time.

    Reply
  3. Joe T says

    October 12, 2018 at 1:47 pm

    Maybe it was a code to keep the island from self destructing. Or winning lottery numbers!

    Reply
  4. The Qweezy Mark says

    October 12, 2018 at 1:52 pm

    Just read this…I find it 2 parts hilarious and 1 part disturbing:

    https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/7268/is-it-safe-to-feed-bacon-to-a-pet-pig

    Reply
    • Joe T says

      October 12, 2018 at 2:37 pm

      Love this paragraph,
      “On a personal note, I believe feeding pork to a pig is the best way to get the most “pork filled flavor in every bite of pork”. It just seems like you get more pork for your buck.”

      Seems logical.

      Reply
      • Limey says

        October 12, 2018 at 3:44 pm

        The Muslim and Jewish bans on pork stem from attempts to stop cannibalism. Discuss.

        Pork and humans taste very similar (apparently). Heck, you can successfully transplant pig parts into humans.

        You don’t see many pig roast fund raisers at fire departments because (I’m told) pigs and humans smell similar when cooked.

        Reply
        • Limey says

          October 12, 2018 at 4:12 pm

          Also, aren’t pigs awesome to eat? No other animal works for every meal. (I know you can eat steak for breakfast but it’s not common is it?) Bacon and sausage for breakfast, ham sandwich for lunch, ribs for dinner.

          I haven’t logged into facebook since 2005. The account’s still there, I see it from the missus’s account, but hopefully facebook thinks I’m dead.

          Reply
        • ldub says

          October 13, 2018 at 3:03 pm

          Most bans on pork have to do with trichinosis and worms that uncooked, under cooked pork carried.

          Same with shell fish bad shellfish can kill you.

          Many religious dietary rules are just guidelines for safe living before refrigeration, meat thermometers and antibiotics.

          Why did the Catholics eat fish on Fridays? Because once meat preservation via smoking and salting was figured out people stopped eating fish. The Fishermen went to the Pope and said “we need some help here” and a new dogma was born.

          Did fish mean fish in the middle ages? No fish included ducks, swans and any animal that spent significant time in the water – otters, beaver.

          Reply
  5. Tiff says

    October 12, 2018 at 2:18 pm

    I rarely unfriend, but have hidden some folks from my FB feed bcs they either 1) post way too frigging much (one person put 26 things on their feed in 4 HOURS), or 2) they post things that are just plain ignorant or hateful. Nobody’s got time for that crap.

    Reply
    • Another Jeff says

      October 12, 2018 at 10:27 pm

      “Nobody’s got time for that crap.”

      Sadly, about 96% of America has time for that crap …

      Reply
  6. Sebastian Valmont says

    October 12, 2018 at 2:29 pm

    I no longer have a Facebook after this last presidential election. The worst was having an ex friend call me a shill and an idiot for voting. No, not for voting for one party or another, but for the act of voting. Over the years I’ve done “Facebook nukes” where annually I clean out my friends list and unfriend everyone I haven’t spoken to in over a year.

    Even as an avid hiker and outdoors person, I find the Grand Canyon to be just okay. Too many people, and too many dipshits littering and getting in the way. I much prefer Mount Rainier in Washington state or Catalina Island in California. It’s worth seeing once, I’d maybe return once to do the weeklong hiking tour, but if you don’t like hiking it’s not worth coming back.

    Reply
    • johnthebasket says

      October 12, 2018 at 3:53 pm

      The Pinnacle Peak trail in Mt. Rainier National Park takes you to 6,500 feet real quick, and offers a spectacular view of Mt. Rainier. It’s a three to four hour round trip, not counting beer breaks. Sneaker hikers will have a challenge, but with the right boots and a walking stick, you can stay on your feet. I made the hike/climb the first time in my 20s on what must have been the clearest day ever. Mt. Rainier and all below was positively hypnotic. And everybody packs out every scrap of their garbage.

      John

      Reply
  7. johnthebasket says

    October 12, 2018 at 4:02 pm

    If you’re looking around the table for the sleeper cell and can’t find it, then you’re the sleeper cell. Wake up Jeff — wake up and assemble the apparatus.

    And fuck Facebook. Never had an account. We continue to bowl alone and think we’re part of a team. I’d rather blow Shelley Winters than log onto Facebook.

    John

    Reply
  8. C1-NRB says

    October 12, 2018 at 4:20 pm

    Not an answer to the QotD, but I just realized we stayed at the hotel at the other end of the block Beer Authority is on when we went to NYC this summer.

    The youngest had a school trip/performance tour in NYC and we walked past Beer Authority at least twice a day for a week. Huh.

    Reply
  9. Another Jeff says

    October 12, 2018 at 10:30 pm

    Apparently, in the early days, Facebook sought to foster community and authenticity by imposing some kind of limit on the number of Friends one could have. I heard of one guy who received a warning from FB as he approached his limit of 200 or whatever it was (ah, how quaint).

    He thought, “How the hell can I have 200 Friends?” So, he sent out a mass message to ALL of them, inviting everyone to meet him at a certain bar on Saturday night, whereupon he would buy them each a beer. About 12 people showed up, all of whom he actually knew and liked, and a great time was had by all present.

    The next morning he figured, “Hell, if you can’t enjoy a free beer with me, fukya!”, and promptly un-friended the remaining 188 …

    Reply
  10. Phil Jett says

    October 13, 2018 at 9:01 am

    I lasted about a month on the Facebook. I had a metric shitload of “friends” in the period of two weeks and not many weeks later got tired of all the who gives a fuck posts about the new boil on her ass or the spew of hatred on the attacks on his political party. Quit and will never go back.

    Love hiking and overnight backpacking. Alone. Try to stay away from hikes that make me feel like I’m in a line at an amusement park. The more popular local sites I go in the off season, when the weather is less than perfect and never on the weekend.

    Reply

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