Category: peculiar

Communicatin’

When I read that today’s Theme Thursday is communication, I had to laugh to myself.

See, communication is a great big part of my job. I wear many hats, but day in and day out I’m inundated with communication devices. In fact, stashed in the corner of my office I have a fully loaded box of very old cell phones. Due to a weird contractual issue, I’m not allowed to ditch them to a recycling company. No one wants these damn things (least of all, me) but I have to hang on to them until the contract runs out.

So when I saw today’s theme, I thought “hey, it would be cool to lay all those crappy old flip phones out in a cool design and photograph them.

A short Google search showed me that a man named Rob Pettit already had this idea. And he executed it so much better than I could have.

From Rob’s webpage:

“Rob Pettit, a 2007 graduate of the SMFA, creates cell phone art to high light (sic) the proliferation and waste of cell phones.”

I’ve got a big box of throwaway gear that backs his viewpoint.

Behold the intricate beauty of Rob’s work (visit his website or click image for full size photo):


These particular devices are what I have a’plenty in my office. Maybe when I’m released from contractual boundaries, I can ship them off to Rob.




Remember StarTac phones? They really work in the outer rings of this piece.




Who would have thought that ugly gray candy bar style phones could be so intriguing? This has an almost industrial, cog in the machinery feel to it.





This Raises More Questions Than It Answers

And I use the term “raises” ironically.

Here’s a little article found tucked away in the corner of my local paper. This story is out of Pennsylvania.





Note to the good people of Penn: Don’t eat the ribs at Donald’s house. Just don’t.

Also…were these ribs frozen? Because, well, brr! Even if they were in the refrigerated case, still brr!

Then ya gotta ask yourself: If you get busted for putting ribs down your pants once, wouldn’t you go to a different store the next time you tried? Or maybe pick a different, pocket sized, item to shoplift? I’m just saying, three strikes and you’re out? Or something.

And on a more philosophical level…is this simply a sign of the (economic) times? Or have people always been trying to shove ribs down their pants? Or is the media is just up the nose of everybody more and more every day?

I don’t know. I’m still stuck on the “brr” aspect.


I know, right?





“Please hold and the next available representative will take your call.”

Then that music starts up again, and it’s always gotta be some earworm song that won’t get out of your brain and you find yourself humming it in the produce section of your grocery store.

Sometimes it’s not the whole song, just a portion of it. Or some evil Muzak version of a good song (I have literally heard a Muzak version of Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit”).

It’s just wrong. For a nice girl like me who spends A LOT of time each day on the phone, it’s crazy making.

Not that I need any help.



Image from Shoebox Blog.


When In Rome…

I’ve spent the past several days at another location of my company. It’s a smaller location, but the offices are very nice and the people are incredible.

It’s weird being in my own company yet still being the outsider. People have to show the way to both the restrooms and the break rooms so that I can make it through these crazy busy days.

Since this is a different location, all their stuff is different. I mean, it’s deceptive. That looks like the same coffee machine, but really, it’s not. It makes different coffee in a different way (pods vs filters here) and though the desk phones are the same make and model, how you dial out is different.

Ok, fine. I’m adaptable. I’m learning.

But there is one area where I’m a little concerned. It seems such a small thing…and yet.

Let me explain.

As any hardworking gal should, I try to drink a lot of water during my day. Keeps the old brain sponge hydrated and running clean.

I carry my own metal water bottle so I can have water on hand at all times. When empty, I simply fill up this bottle from the company’s water dispenser and keep sipping away.

They use a different kind of water dispenser here at this facility. It connects to the water supply out of the wall instead of using an upside down bottle. It looks a little something like this:



Ok, fine. Your common everyday water filter and dispenser. Great.

Only.

This one has three taps you must choose from to get your H2O.

Here’s what I mean:



Now, I realize I’m not the sharpest knife in the company drawer, but I think I can mostly work this out.

The one on the left with the red droplets; that must mean hot water, right? For tea and instant coffee.

The one on the right featuring the blue droplets must be cold water. Fine. Good.

But what about that one in the middle?

With the, uh, grey water droplets?

Isn’t gray water a sort of bad thing? As in, don’t drink it?

Are they really piping water from the bathroom sinks and laundry room through this dispenser?

And if so….ew.

Ok, I know, I know. The middle nozzle is intended to be warmish water or room temperature. At least I think so, anyway.

But I have to say, I avoid that middle nozzle

You never can tell. Maybe these people are all so chipper because they’re all just really sedated by all the contaminants in their water.

I go back to the Bay Area tonight and my simple two nozzle water system. These new fangled things are just too complicated for a simple minded gal like me.


*sigh* Whoa Fair New Mexico

“Martin Resendiz, the Mayor of Sunland Park, a community of around 15,000 people near Las Cruces, admitted to signing contracts…while drunk. The deal, totaling more than $1 million, was penned at a local restaurant…

‘The day I signed…I had way too much to drink. It was after 5 p.m. and I signed it (the contracts) and I didn’t know what I was signing,’ Resendiz wrote in response to questions from…lawyers. ‘My sister had to pick me up.’”

I first read about this in USA Today. So drunk ya signed some contracts and called yer sister to pick yer sorry ass up. That’s national news. Classy!

*sigh*



Source: The New Mexico Independant