Energy 92.7 was the dance station in San Francisco. I loved Tuesdays and Thursdays because I would wake up to "Homo vs Hetero" where a gay person and a straight person would call in. Fernando and Greg would ask the gay person questions a straight person should know, like "who won the football game this weekend," and would ask the straight person questions a gay person should know, like "which famous hairdresser died this weekend."
Even though the station is also online, I usually can't listen because the time difference means the show starts at 9am and I'm in class. However, during test weeks or if we don't have class in the morning, sometimes I'll listen. The biggest surprise is how gay the announcers sound. When I was living in San Francisco I must have become adapted to it and it just sounded normal, but apparently there aren't enough gay guys around me in Houston to prevent the gay lisp from really standing out when I hear it now.
Too many heavy sweaters in the washing machine made it refuse to turn, so I had to haul some of them into another one.
Aw, having to throw a shirt you really like because it's falling apart is so sad.
I don't care if they put the wrong toppings on my burger, I don't care if they give me the wrong kind of soda, and I don't care if they forget my fries. But if they don't give me a mint at Sonic, I get really incensed.
Going to the PizzaHut in the Satellite can feel like waiting for a bread truck to show up in a Third World country. As soon as they put some pizzas or breadsticks out, they get snatched up instantly, and then you have to hungrily wait around for more. I was surprised everyone was so well-behaved about it, but it was pretty obvious the workers were moving as fast as they could and were being really efficient about everything.
I hate long steps. Not long sideways, but in the direction you walk. You either have to take really big strides to land on each step once, really little ones to hit each step twice, or some combination of the two. What you can't do, however, is just walk naturally.
At first I thought they were just cleaning the towers, but I'm pretty sure they're painting them, too, because they're way too white.
This seems like a giant advertisement to potential theives that you have a brand new flatscreen TV in your apartment.
Repairing the roof damage from the hurricane. They start early, too, so no sleeping in. Plus I'm always a little worried they'll fall through the ceiling, so I try to get out of the apartment just in case.
I wanted to stay in a different lane from this guy in case one of those rugs fell out, but he kept changing lanes every 20 seconds, which made me have to change lanes every 20 seconds, too. However, swerving around that often was probably more of a danger than a rug falling out, so I finally gave up and just stayed in this lane no matter where he went.
600-count Egyptian thread linens for $20, but they're being sold on the grass by an intersection. Hmm, I wonder if it's actually a good deal or not.
It's weird how you instantly notice an older guy with young girls who can't possibly be his biological daughters, like with this white guy and two very black girls. Kidnapping or boyfriend/husband of a woman who had the kids previously are about the only normal options I can think of.
A comedian at Laff Stop. The introductory acts always seem to be funnier than the main ones for some reason, but at every show I've been to, they've all been pretty good.
Ooh, yummy, mixed nuts.
But the mixed nuts don't contain pecans, probably because they're more expensive. I bet I could toss some pecans into my bag of mixed nuts and nobody would know. But what if there are security cameras or they do notice? I could just claim I thought I could do that. It would still be "wrong," though. Oh, shoot, I'll just not have pecans this time.
See, Monica? You said toaster ovens can't do anything a regular toaster can. But you can't make this thick garlic toast in a toaster because it's too big and the butter would run down into your toaster and mess it up. And it only took me how many months to find this example?
Fruit snacks: $1.25. Money entered: $2.00. Change recieved: two nickels. Something is wrong here.
Isn't it weird how you can deal with something that's slightly annoying for months or even years until at one point, seemingly with no reason whatsoever, you're just pushed over the edge and fix it? The chair for my computer would occasionally lean back farther than I would like, which was somewhat uncomfortable, but not too bad. Then it would act normal for a while, then do it again a bit. This last time I actually tossed the chair on its side, grabbed a flashlight, and figured out that I needed to hammer this rod in to get it to stay.
Ooh, I HATE these things. Someone comes around and puts T-Mobile ads on all the cars, and then I have to take them off. This time it got all wet and so there's still some of it stuck down in the window where I can't reach it. It will probably get sucked down even farther and eventually jam something up.
My iPod really hates the cold. It sounds all funny, especially the bass, until it gets warmed up, so if I really want to listen to music, I'll hold it in front of the vents, which actually is probably bad for it.
NOSA sends out letters to all the parents before finals so they can buy care packages for their children in school. I guess my parents don't love me because I never get them. This time, though, there was some really good stuff in it, so I actually went and bought one of the extras on my own.
You have got to be kidding me. Snow in Houston. Come on; I can practically see the Caribbean from here. I moved down here just to get away from this stuff, but it seems to have followed me.
There was even a bit frosted onto my windshield, and I had thrown my snow scraper away because I was never going to need it again. At least it was light and went away in a few minutes of using the heater and wipers.
I absolutely love Stephen King's short story books, but his new book was checked out of all of the local libraries. Also, because they know I want to read it on the flights for Christmas, the publisher is sneaky enough to not release the softcover until January, so I actually had to buy the hardcover. It seemed to be around $40 in any actual store, but I could at least get it online for under $20. It's been a huge test of willpower, though, because I know if I start with just one story, I'll end up reading the entire book in a night and have nothing to read on the plane. I actually ended up hiding it under the snowpants to keep it from tempting me as easily.
That's a lot of flatbed for an awfully little thing. You'd think they could find at least something else to send with it.
A group outside Wal-Mart was selling BBQ meals, so I grabbed one. It didn't come with a drink, though, and I thought it would be weird to walk right back into Wal-Mart to only get a soda, so I went to a Wendy's that was nearby instead. $2 for a medium fountain drink later, I decided that next time I would be walking back into Wal-Mart.
As much as I like to see people on the street actually trying to offer a service rather than just begging for money, I hate the window cleaners. They never do a good enough job and usually leave streaks, so I have to go out of my way to clean it myself when it wasn't really dirty in the first place.
Arg, I've been here over a year, and I still sometimes forget that Car Talk starts at 9:00am, not 10:00am like it did in the Bay Area.
These guys were moving so slowly along the feeder that it would probably be faster to stay on the freeway, take the next exit, and then backtrack rather than idle along behind them.
That cold spell really cleaned the thrift stores out of their sweatshirts.
I don't care how much money I made, I would still feel a little hurt if I saw a bunch of something I made in a thrift store because nobody would buy it.
Most of the bikes in the Salvation Army cost around $20. This bike was priced at $700. Yes, that's $700 in a thrift store. I wonder who knew it was actually worth that much? Just think if they had set it at $20 like the rest. What are the chances that whoever bought it would know it's real value?
There was a really long line to check out, but then this woman opened another register. The curteous thing to do would have been to let the people who had already been in line for quite a while, including me, go first, but the women behind the black guy just started tossing their stuff on the counter, even though they had just walked up. I was pretty mad about it, but the guy was livid, especially because they had a ton of crap in their carts. He pretty much begged the woman at the register to let him go first. I'm glad she let him, too, because he only had one thing that cost a quarter.
This man and his wife saw these stools behind the counter and asked if they were sold yet. The woman at the register said they were not, so they bought them and said they would be back with a bigger vehicle to pick them up. Just then, another woman came up to the register and said she had asked a different clerk to put them there so she wouldn't have to haul them around.
Normally I'd side with whoever saw them first, but in this case I was really rooting for the couple because they looked like they were straight out of the 50s and had been looking for stools just like these for a while, whereas the other woman probably would be happy with any old stools. She offered to let them have one, which was rather nice, but I was hoping the couple would just grab them and run. I think it would have been legal, after all, because they had already paid for them, but they were too decent to do that.
The Guild Shop is a consignment store rather than a normal thrift store, so I generally don't go there because the stuff is more expensive. Every once in a while I find something good, though. This time they were having a little Christmas party with snacks and giveaways.
Ooh, I wonder if I could convince Monica to wear that in New Orleans.
Then again, maybe not; even by then it would still be too expensive unless I knew I could somehow resell it for the same amount, and this is only one piece, not including the hat or other fan thingy. The whole "reducing the price every month" is the one thing I really hate about consignment stores. If it's something I want but for a slightly lower price, it will surely be gone if I wait.
They are fun to wander around in and see all the weird stuff, though.
A "Student Driver" sticker on an 18-wheeler? I'm assuming that's a joke, but I guess it's possible there's some semi driving school around.
See that thick white line? The one that the car in the other lane is supposed to be behind rather than completely in front of so drivers turning onto this street can do so efficiently? Boy, I hope someone plows into her.
I think these tires that stick out of vehicles are the dumbest looking vehicle mod ever. Honestly, what's the point? Is it supposed to make it look like you have wide, high-performance tires? Because it takes about a second to see that they are simply normal skinny tires, only stuck out all goofy like. I'm glad you didn't spend that money on books for your children instead.
Even at half off, they're still regular-sized candy bars for 50 cents, and that is not a deal. They have to get down to at least 33 cents before I'll even consider buying them.
Yeah, it's very not apparent that my oven isn't cooking very evenly, is it?
Ooh, and on top of that, the bottoms are all messed up, even though I let them cool forever. Maybe I should just give up on cookies.
My presents for the white elephant gift exchange at Brittany and Erin's place: Moon Shoes and a long horn. I would have killed for Moon Shoes as a kid, but after trying them out a bit in my apartment, I realized they would probably have killed me. I kept falling over, and there's not much you can do about it when you have giant boxes rubber-banded to your feet.
Wait, he actually wants that little head lamp?
Erin didn't realize she picked the gift she gave last year until it was too late.
Stephanie actually knows what that freaky baby doll is.
Stealing the gum ball machine.
Recreating the Snoopy dance in the parking lot.