the Strangeness that is my life

[salamanca]

While I was safely away creating a solid alibi at Con on the Cob saturday, a transformer caught fire at the mall my stores are in and knocked the power out to the section we inhabit. (sounds like Origins). I have had no details save a tiny blurb in the paper. Most stores had to close since the power was out. Should have details tomorrow (and they are likely mundane) but I am wondering if the Boss is to blame or oblivious to it having happened (and yes, he was woorking at the time).

[salamanca]

Stopped for dinner on the way home at this italian joint near work. It's fairly authentic. Last time I was there (about a year ago) there was this old guy in the corner loudly telling stories about guys he knew who were obviously connected to the mob. Tonight, the guy behind me was on his cell and possibly brokering a drug deal. But that was not the odd part. The odd bit is that amidst all the decor of antique beer advertisements (for brands long gone) is a brand new touch screen jukebox that advertises their newly added material and top picks. In this probably mob owned restaurant (with really great food, just keep you back to the wall and away from the front window) the top two selections on the jukebox are...Rob Zombie's "Superbeast" and Carly Rae Jepsen's "Call Me Maybe". I' not even sure how those two songs can coexist in the same reality let alone on the same playlist. And before you ask, nobody got whacked and the Cavatelli was awesome.

[spizio]

Call me, for a hit, maybe?

[salamanca]

It is currently snowing at my house. Mostly sleety rain but there are little snow pellets gathering on the hood of the car. That is all.

[salamanca]

Short tale from the mall for Mark. The gelato stand next to me installed another display cooler last night after closing. It's staring right at me so it's hard to miss when you look that direction all day. The day shift maintenance guy from the mall swung by during his shift to chat as usual (he and I have fun ripping on the mall, my boss and trading tips on stuff like digging drain lines in his yard) so he stops today and asks, "am I crazy or did they add a new cooler?". I couldn't stop myself. I looked at him with a confused face and said, " did who add a new cooler?". He points and says, "the ice cream place. Did they add a cooler to this side?". I look at him really concerned and say, "Jim, that cooler has been there since last year. You helped them wheel it in. Don't you remember?". I had him buying the story for about 10 seconds. Then he called me an ass.

[salamanca]

Inch and a half of snow at my house. 12 miles north, at Jeremy's... They got some rain and snow that didn't stay. On the other side of town where Katie lives...it rained. Mind you, with the leaves still in full color and the snow not ending up under trees it was a technicolor marvel today. You just did not want to look directly ar any forested area without vision protection. Unrelated mall note: I have noticed ALL mall walkers circle the mall in a counterclockwise route when exercising. Wonder if they go the other direction in the southern hemisphere?

[Lady Grace]

There was some definite snow on my lawn this morning.

[Black Jack Rackham]

Ok, so ... The mall has decided to follow Macy's lead and open at 8PM on thanksgiving and stay open until 11pm on friday... That is a 27 hour scheduled day.

Your mall is not alone apparently, Rockaway Townsquare Mall in NJ has the same idea, AND it seems the did the same, "Spring-It-On-Store-Owners-Last-Minute" too

[salamanca]

We just got the official word via email (sent as the marketing director was walking out the door to avoid xomplaints). It's now a 25 hour day. 8pm thursday until 9pm friday followed by 8am until 10pm saturday and 10 to 8 sunday. The shorter saturday (last year was 7 to 11 after an 11pm close) is a welcome relief as is the o pm closing time as nobody was still shopping late last year. But we may still gamble with just being fined and open later to shorten the day.

[salamanca]

today was a great sales day. then I got terrible news.

The whiny loud complainer that can't properly make change and keeps getting dumped from all these seasonal and part time jobs in the mall is the only applicant to manage Hickory Farms. Why is this my problem? they are right next to us. He spent 70 minutes today ranting at the poor lady tending the bathtub resurfacing stand (preventing her from pitching product) after his part time shift.

I am certain we are going to have words on day 2 for him.

Best highlight: Some kid working for Penney's optical was wandering around handing out flyers for their eyeglass sale. unaware of where he was, he walked into Lenscrafters to give them some flyers for the staff to use. Oooops.

[salamanca]

I got to be all R&C this evening. My favorite Hot Topic employee waved me into the store as I was leaving work. She had these two young ladies browsing with this guy about their age tagging along. One of the girls had mentioned to her that they did not know the guy and that set off the clerk's spider sense. So she kept an eye on him while I called security before going back in to block him in the store. Had we known all the details, we would have skipped security and called the cops. He had been watching their facebook and saw they were going to the mall and tracked them down on arrival. Then followed at a distance closer than WE walk together when we are at the con. The dude was seriously in the best pal/boyfriend proximity range. Security guard 1 escorted the girls off and guard 2 (the inept guy) and I put a little veiled threat into the creep. Unfortunately, guard 1 held the girls up for information and the creeper circled around outside to where they were parked... Seriously, let the victims leave the scene already. So I hung around a bit until he left and got them safely to their car and on the road. So today's lesson is don't announce where you are going on open social media. (and if you are a stalker, don't follow at a distance of 18 inches. It's obvious to your target).

[salamanca]

So I walked out of the house this morning to walk the dog and a helicopter lands in the yard. Yes, a helicopter. It appears they are using it to hang the power line cables as well as hoist the crew up the poles. Think about that, some guy in a harness hooks onto a cable so the helicopter can lift him to the top of an 80 foot pole then releases him to hang off that and connect wires before picking him back up via a dangling line. BETTER THAN DISNEYLAND!. (unless you hate heights, flying or falling).

[salamanca]

Forgot to mention it but the mall has already decorated for Christmas. Trick or treat is tonight in the mall and it is dressed as December.

[salamanca]

I am on phone so no direct link. Over on Youtube do a search for KtS - Already Christmas. Listen to the lyrics and know that my friend in Seattle has managed to get in my. Head again and channel pure truth. In related news, Build a Bear has posted a christmas countdown so I know to the HUNDREDTH of a second how long it is until Christmas. 53 days 14 hours 42 minutes 35 seconds..and counting.

[salamanca]

The N E Geek con was today. It's a tiny comic con where the vendors bring maybe 14 boxes of comics and the event staff embraces all forms and shapes of nerd culture without actually addressing any of it. There was a costume contest, fencing demo, firebreathing, viking combat, and magic show along with a heroclix combat that might have been a tournament. But mostly it was my renn faire pals opting to dress in different costumes. I saw a stunning lady flash, a pretty wonder woman, a large boned Dazzler (on roller skates), homeless Jayne Cobb, a cardboard clone trooper, 7 Harley Quinns, anorexic Princess Leia, 2 Thors, Jamaican Batman (holy winged mouse dreds), Ash from Evil Dead, Ash from Pokemon, Dr. STRANGE in a cheese top hat, cross-gender Jayne Cobb, Casey Jones, a 4 foot 5 inch Storm, the mad Hatter, Alice, evil Alice, and a pair of Zombie Nurses from some video game that creeped everybody out.

[salamanca]

Security gave me the worst shoplifter suspect description in history yesterday. Were were looking for someone who MAY have taken something from one of the department stores. Description was "a minority in a hoodie". 1- let's point out that there is no clarification on type of minority and I am even assuming they meant race and not religion or political party affiliation. 2- mentioning a GENDER might help. 3- could we get a color description for the hoodie?. 4- maybe we could get a rough age range here. As it was also Ohio in November, the temps were in the low 50's so everybody is wearing hoodies right now. I don't know if we are looking for a 50 year old black man, a 25 year old chinese woman or the 12 year old kid in the jewish school sweatshirt. Nice work mall cops.

[salamanca]

Today I got the lady that may have been given an unsupervised day pass. She started by asking for calendars for stuff like Yellowstone park. (not at all odd) then informed me she didn' want those as she had that calendar before. I have no idea why you request stuff you don't want. Then she asked about buying cats. I know, I thought she meant calendars too. Nope, she wanted me to sell her a cat. Then we hit the big question, "do I think the nuclear power plant between France and Switzerland is going to blow up?". She apparently feels it will because her hip hurts. My first thought is what could possibly be the cuase of that correlation?. My second is that I hope my hip only hurts when a nuclear plant is going to blow up.

[salamanca]

This evening I finally demonstrated to Jeremy why I am not sharing the fascination he has for Parks and Recreation. I made him watch WKRP in Cincinnati. Specifically the Turkey episode. Greatest moment in televison comedy?. Probably not but it is easily in the top 10.

[smafdi]

You are showing your age now sal, WRKP in cinci is OLD! Though I doubt anyone I talk to on a regular basis knows about the show either -_-

[Black Jack Rackham]

"As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly!"

[Rebecca Iavelli]

I don't think any guy that watched that show, watched it to see if turkeys could fly.

[salamanca]

I was not that old when that episode aired...probably 8. And I should see no complaints about the Jennifer character, it was a well written part portrayed as the only competant person in the building.

[Rebecca Iavelli]

Oh, sure it was. I remember the show. She was very competent, but that didn't distract from the real reason she had the part. Or rather, the reason men watched it.

[Black Jack Rackham]

It may be true that MEN watched it for those reasons Laura, but Dave's right. I remember thinking the other men on the show (specifically Herb) liked her for her physical attributes, but I remember Jennifer as a smart, capable and nice person (which made her FAR more attractive in my estimation).
And as far as the thanksgiving day episode, I don't even have any memories of her being in it. I remember Less' 'oh the humanity' speech as he described the turkeys plummeting to the ground while I laughed until I cried and tried not to wet myself.

Here it is 35 years later and this is still awesome http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PeCGURWzjwE (fast forward to 4:11 for the beginning of the best part)

[Rebecca Iavelli]

I just like to Razz you guys alot, because it always seems to be a blonde with boobs that gets mentioned on this board. Besides I saw a recent survey about what a man notices about a woman first off, and of course the boobs were it. Though in all equality, the same research said woman also check out other women to see what they have to compaired to, to know if they should be jealous or not.

So, start talking about brunettes or redheads, for equalities sake, lol.