No, that isn’t the score of some sporting event. That is the count of my spam comments vs. my accepted comments (as of 11:17 pm on Jul 22 2009). A spam count of 5,284 would be 4x. I’m glad the new filter is in place, and I don’t have to delete all the spam by hand anymore.

For a while, I was wondering if I was actually blocking good comments with the vast number of spam messages that are received in a day. I did notice that I am getting a lot of ‘over seas’ visitors to my little blog. Some are actually visiting, some just go to the same posts over and over again. Kind of messes up with my keeping track of what is interesting to people.

Don’t worry about me, I’m just on a numbers kick this evening. This is the second time today I was having fun with numbers.

It seems as if the camp series was mostly a failure so I guess I will move on to other things rather than wrap it up.  I just have to think about something to write about.  Work maybe?  From what Rene was telling me, I might be coming out of training and getting the first of my own stores starting this Friday.  All I know right now is that Kim (one of the owners) wants me and another trainee from Elmhurst to do a store every Friday starting this week.  Since there are two of us doing it I didn’t make a connection to having my own store, but Rene seems to think this is it.  Hmm.  Well, a less exciting post than camp, at least to me, but who knows?

UPDATE: Well, the dealership I will be at Friday is not to be a store for me.  It will be another store for the trainee who started after me.  I guess it just works out like that because of the one who quit recently who lived in the same area.  These dealers were already being served.  I’m sure they will start picking up new stores for me soon, in my own area.

The title of this post is a quote from my favorite tv show, The Office.  Now I must go on a brief tangent to find out when this awesome show starts for the season – there it is, September 17, ugh, almost two months to go!  Time to add a countdown to the site…

Tangent over.  Anyway, in the tv show The Office, they have an annual awards show called The Dundies.  The lovable yet jerk of a boss, Michael Scott, gives (mostly silly) awards to his staff, and the workers generally are not thrilled about the Dundies.  A character named Oscar Martinez says the following about Michael and his Dundies:  “The Dundies are kind of like a kid’s birthday party, and you go, and there’s really nothing for you to do there, but the kid’s having a really good time, so you’re kind of there? That’s… that’s kind of what it’s like.” The reason I’m sharing the quote with you is because it floats through my mind every time I invite our family friends to one of my kids’ birthday parties.  I have 4 kids, one born in every season, so we have a birthday party around here every few months.  For the older ones, we invite their friends from school, and we invite family and a few of our adult friends to the parties for the younger ones.  I really hope no one is ever bored – it is, after all, a bunch of adults sitting around at a kid’s birthday party.  We don’t play “pin the tail on the donkey” or break a piñata; it’s just a reason for a bunch of us adults to get together, chat, and have some cake.  This is exactly what we did this past Sunday at my son’s first birthday party.  He had a really great time, and so did his sisters helping him open the presents.  He turned blue from his birthday cake, which he absolutely loved, of course!

BEFORE:(his bib says “My 1st Birthday”, but he hated it and is trying to get it off in this picture)

AFTER:

He also got lots  of great presents –  some adorable outfits and cool toys that actually kept him busy for more than 10 minutes!  He likes his new toys so much that he’s been playing with them non-stop!  They’ve actually kept him out of trouble – well, kind of, he did have two baths out of necessity already today and he spilled a glass of water all over my computer wires, but that’s nothing for him.

So thanks again to everyone who attended – he especially loved it when everyone sang ‘happy birthday’ to him!

I noticed two decidedly absent characters from the latest Harry Potter film.  I believe there was only a passing glance or two of Draco Malfoy’s partners in crime Crabbe and Goyle.  Well, it seems that Jamie Waylett who plays Vincent Crabbe in the films was charged with growing 10 marijuana plants in his mother’s England home.  The 20 year old actor was sentenced to 120 hours of community service after pleading guilty to the charge on July 7th.  The judge went easy on the malefactor after deeming the botanical exercise “small scale.”

Actually, I have been noticing a limited amount of screen time for most of the supporting cast.  Very little of Professors McGonagall and Snape and Hagrid was only in one major scene.  One scene in which the head of Gryffindor House appeared brought a chuckle.  Once again, Harry, Hermione, and Ron were once again in the thick of trouble and Minerva ever so eloquently pointed this out:

Professor Minerva McGonagall: [to Harry, Ron, and Hermione] Why is it that, whenever anything happens, it’s always you three?
Ron Weasley: I’ve been asking myself the same question for six years, Professor

Maggie Smith (who plays Prof. McGonagall) is definitely starting to show her age.  It has been nearly 20 years since she got into the habit as the Mother Superior in Sister Act. Surely the supporting cast will all be front and center for the final 2 installments.

Also, the concluding two films better be made quick or the young stars who are entering their twenties will be too old.  As one commented, by the time Harry Potter graduates from wizard school he will be collecting Social Security.

I had to re-install windows on my laptop today. Now I have to make sure that everything that should be working is. Then there are some other programs I use that will need to be re-installed. This machine is getting older, so I may have to shop for a new hard drive soon. Seems like there are more ‘bad’ sections recently. I’m glad I backup my data files with some regularity. I would hate to lose pictures of my kids, grandkids, weddings, and other fun occasions.

The bigger problem is the small fact that I have a lot of computers in this house. It seems like I was re-installing some operating system just last week. Oh, I was, it was on my ‘play’ machines where I keep installing different versions of Linux.

I have noticed one thing, my touch pad seems to be a bit more sensitive. I keep having my cursor jump all around the screen as I type this. I’ve had to go back and correct mistakes as the cursor jumps to places earlier in this post. I need to check that out too. Grumble….

Oh well, I got the sound to work again….. Now if I can just find my CD with 100 card games on it…. 😉

Sometime ago, I blogged about the famous and infamous celebrities who have gone through the seemingly revolving casting door of the musical Chicago.  Well, you can add one more: sleaze television king Jerry Springer.  This month, the lawyer-turned Cincinnati mayor-turned talk show host-turned Dancing with the Stars (yes?) contestant wrapped his six week stint on the London West End as ethically elastic lawyer Billy Flynn.  I suppose the acting would not be a far stretch from his days as a real lawyer and questionable politician.  He is well known for his flamboyant, quick talking, flim flam personality.  However, singing?  Never had the pleasure of hearing him so I can’t judge (let me see if he has made the you tube rounds).  Here he is performing “All I Care About” at a performance of selected songs at a Leicester Square park.  You just have to forward past the opening “All That Jazz.” Personally, I would rather watch the first number but that is not what this post is about.

Well at least he and David Hasselhoff have something else in common.  Jer-eee was the host of America’s Got Talent and the Hoff is one of the judges.  And as some will recall, the Burger King aficianado played the roles of Jekyll and Hyde on Broadway.  Wonder if ol’ Dave is going to put on the tux.  Springer says that he is going to be joining the Broadway cast until he returns to the Windy City for the talk show.  However, the producers of the New York show have no knowledge of this.

A few blog posts ago, I made a plea to save Ohio libraries because the governor was proposing a budget plan that included a major cut in library funding.  The vote went through the state legislature, and the budget was re-worked in such a way that the libraries received less than half of the budget cut that was originally proposed, so YAY!  Our voices were heard!  In this economic crisis, it is understandable that funding is going to be cut on certain community resources, so let’s hope that our libraries can figure out a way to continue their many services without changing too much in light of these cuts.  I received an email back from one of the congressmen, so I thought I’d share it below.  Not that the letter was written personally for me, but it’s nice to have my efforts acknowledged.  Hopefully my friends who work for the state can keep their jobs in light of the budget re-working!

Today would have been my wife’s 47th birthday. She never got to celebrate any birthday past her 41st. In the past I’ve bought coffee for everyone that entered our favorite coffee shop. That little place closed many years ago, and that ‘tradition’ has ended.

A new tradition started that first birthday she did not get to celebrate. I took my available daughters to a Mexican restaurant. Mexican food was always her favorite, and would be the request if we went out to dinner on her birthday. So what family I can get together, celebrates the day with a little Mexican cuisine.

Today it was my two youngest daughters and newest son-in-law. It saddens me a bit that the two youngest son-in-laws never met their brides’ mother. From what has been said, my first son-in-law liked her. I’m a bit biased, but I thought she was special.

After lunch today we celebrated the first birthday of a very special young man. Check other Tangents blogs for more information on this.

All in all a very relaxing day.

Apparently, there was some type of gremlin caught up in the works of our happy little site but I see that it has  been irradicated.  The past two has has been a relatively busy one in our small little neck of the woods.  Friday and Saturday was our town wide garage sale in which over 60 homes participated.  Quite remarkable considering the size of the town.  Not only did residents of the community but businesses also came out and put some of their products on display.  The local, weekly newspaper gave out homemade ice cream… well, they accepted a free will donation.  The grocery had a Produce Tent Sale.  It was called Tent Sale but nowhere did I see a tent only a bunch of displays full of watermelon, cantaloupe, peaches, nectarines, lemons, green peppers, and other goodies.  We also had a hot dog, chip, and soda/water for $1.  I was lucky enough to man the sale for an hour Friday afternoon (would have enjoyed spending more but I was only covering for a break).  But, of course, who had to haul in the pallets at the end of the day?

But once again, I had a Saturday to myself so I took my nephew and a “tag-a-long” (his words, not mine) to see Harry Potter.  We left with 15 minutes before show time and thinking ahead decided to go the back route to save time.  However, I had forgotten that the 3 mile bridge (or a small section of 576) is closed for the next week or so.  In any event, we were about 5 minutes late for the movie and had to sit in the next to front row.  Joshua enjoyed the movie… our companion did not think so highly of it although he has assured me that he has read all the books and seen the previous 5 movies.  He thought it was a waste of time and he is going to see it on IMAX next week?!

Before returning home, I needed to stop by my old stomping grounds and pick up a present.  While there, our 18 year-old friend decided that he wanted to buy something that he has always wanted: a cap gun.  He was like a kid in a candy store.  Cap guns have changed since I last had one.  They used to operate on straps of paper.  Today, they use rounds of small plastic pellets.  Nate was occupied quite well on the 12 mile trip back to E-town.

All in all, a pretty fun few days.  Made even more so by a pair of Yankee victories (sorry, justj) and a Red Sox loss.  STILL 2 behind the Stockings!

While in the process of changing from his garb as “Clark Kent, a mild-mannered reporter for a great metropolitan newspaper” the Man of Steel was abducted from a red 1940s London-style phone booth.  Apparently, one of the Last Son of Krypton’s vile enemies discovered his alter ego and tracked him to the town of Steamboat Springs, Colorado.  I take you now to the report filed by The Steamboat Pilot and Today newsman Jack Weinstein:

Steamboat Springs — The Man of Steel is missing.

A mannequin dressed as Superman — complete with blue tights, the familiar “S” logo on the chest and red cape — was reported missing Monday. Superman dutifully greeted customers in front of the My Wireless location at 675 S. Lincoln Ave.

Superman was taken from a locked 1940s London-style red phone booth. It appeared someone had broken the lock with a rock, said Andy Brown, founder of the Steamboat Springs-based Verizon Wireless retailer.

Brown said the Superman mannequin and phone booth were placed outside the store shortly after the company opened its second Steamboat location there, about 1 1/2 years ago. He said it reflects the way My Wireless operates.

“We kind of have a light-hearted approach to everything,” he said. “We want everyone to smile.”

An employee noticed that the 6-foot-tall, 40-pound Super­­man had been taken and reported it missing. Steam­boat Springs Police Depart­ment Capt. Joel Rae said Tuesday that the incident is under investigation.

Aside from some scratched paint to the exterior of the phone booth and a broken light bulb inside, there was no other damage. There was also no damage reported to the store.

Because the store’s first location at 1755 Central Park Drive is open Sundays, the South Lincoln Avenue location is not. Brown said Superman could have been taken anytime after closing Saturday to when the store opened Monday morning.

Brown suspects the incident was just a prank and doesn’t want anyone to get in trouble. But for a prank to be a prank, he said, Superman would have to be returned.

“Hopefully someone will get their jollies in and bring it back,” he said.

My Wireless is offering a $100 store credit, free cell phone upgrade or accessories for the safe return of Superman, Brown said.

Which of Superman’s dastardly villains perpetrated such an act of villainy and who will follow the clues to his whereabouts.  Could it be the evil Metallo, the trickster Mr. Myxyzptlk, the sinister Darkseid, or perhaps the “greatest criminal mind of our age”: Lex Luthor.  Only time will tell.  Curse you evil doers!