Anti-social / Ice cream / K-Mart / Surfaces

Got this new icon from arctic_blossom in ohnotheydidnt:



Got this one from a Google Image Search for "ice cream" - haven't had one of these in so long! Maybe I should go to McDonalds and order one, haha...




I'm used to people smoking cigarettes outside my window. Now, it smells like someone's smoking POT outside the window - yay! :P

I've just heard that ALICE COOPER will be a night DJ for Rock 101 - this is very cool. I remember when they had Dee Dee Snider of Twisted Sister do a show on weekends, and of course they still have Little Steven's Underground Garage, but this certainly rocks! :D

Called Auntie Ying earlier, who still thinks I'm doing a good job with the kids. She says she can learn from my example, and says she'll give me kid-related stuff from Bible Study Fellowship on Sunday. Apparently, she has to talk to Flora about posters and visual aids - and wants us to reverse our teaching mode, so the kids will learn first and have free time to play at the end. Having the kids on the mat instead of at the table works well, too. I know Conor likes me - it's too bad Harrison felt left out last time, heh.

Told her that I got cards and gifts for the kids (didn't want Hannah to feel left out since her birthday is two days before her little sister Amanda!), and that I've known Amanda / Amos since they were babies! I've been doing Toddler Sunday School for about 6.5 years now, so have seen some of the children grow up! (Ian / Sean / John / Luke / Rachel) THE WORD BECAME FLESH is going to be a non-story lesson, and I'm not sure I can do it. We'll see. Auntie Ying says that Chrystal's mom is retiring pretty soon - just what Chrystal needs... MORE time with her mother! :P

She brought up some blood tests / fasting that she and Uncle Peter have to do tomorrow, and I said that I watched JACK BAUER premiere - I know Grace and Phil like it! She's been calling her mom more regularly now - not something I'd personally do, but whatever works. She told me about some good Mexican restaurant near her place... now, THAT is what I've not had in a while! It was a good phone call, and now I'm talking to Corey about Wal-Mart / Target / Zellers / K-Mart (it's a DUMP) / garbage cans. Interesting, as usual!


<[21:27:59] AlenaBrolxFlami: haha, no.... did I tell you that I *finally* got one of those "step-on-me" garbage cans?! [21:28:06] AlenaBrolxFlami: (and I bet they might) [21:28:39] mrptptpt: why do you want to step on your garbage can? [22:00:59] AlenaBrolxFlami: sorry - shower [22:01:20] AlenaBrolxFlami: oh, you know... the ones with the little lever thing at the bottom [22:27:08] mrptptpt: mine is just a can. you put stuff in it. no contraptions or mechanisms. seems to work pretty well! [22:27:20] mrptptpt: my sister has one of those things you have to step on, and it's annoying [22:31:20] AlenaBrolxFlami: I thought it would be a good way to hopefully decrease the mice on the counter [22:31:35] AlenaBrolxFlami: how is it annoying? (my sister has one, and I thought it's the coolest thing ever) [22:34:31] mrptptpt: well, that might help keep mice out of the trash [22:35:30] mrptptpt: it's annoying because you have to step on the stupid thing, and then usually the lid hits the wall or something, and those always seem extra narrow, so they fill up quickly... then the lid takes a few seconds to close again [22:35:49] mrptptpt: a much easier way to go is to walk over to the trash can, drop something in, and be done :P [22:37:02] mrptptpt: in our kitchen, we have a trash compactor, which is sort of annoying. it's nice because it's built in under the counter so it doesn't take up any floor space, but you have to open it and close it to use it. also, the compactor part broke years ago, so it's basically a trash can in a drawer :P [22:37:03] AlenaBrolxFlami: oh, yeah... true, but I saved $32 on mine [22:37:16] AlenaBrolxFlami: okay, now that does sound annoying [22:37:38] mrptptpt: you didn't save anything, you spent money to get it :P you only saved money if you were already planning on buying that before you saw it go on sale [22:38:47] AlenaBrolxFlami: and I was planning on buying one for a few weeks now [23:10:43] mrptptpt: how much are they that you saved $32? $32 alone sounds like way too much for a trash can... [23:13:22] AlenaBrolxFlami: I saw one at Zellers for $50 [23:17:58] mrptptpt: the name of that place bugs me a lot for some reason. I don't think we have those in the US, so I don't have to hear about it much at least [23:19:25] AlenaBrolxFlami: why does it bug you? [23:20:00] mrptptpt: I don't know :P it doesn't make sense I guess. like "Sellers" spelled wrong or something [23:25:33] AlenaBrolxFlami: well, I heard that Target is really supposed to be French [23:30:31] mrptptpt: Some people jokingly give Target the pseudo-French pronunciation /tɑrˈʒeɪ/ tar-zhay, as though it were an upscale boutique. This trend is incorrectly believed to have been started by Oprah Winfrey, when she used the French pronunciation to refer to the store on her television show; it has actually been traced back to 1962, the year the first Target store opened; this was reinforced by a 1980s television advertisement starring Didi Conn. This pronunciation has also led some people to incorrectly believe that the company is French-owned.[8] [23:31:03] mrptptpt: it's all American [23:32:41] AlenaBrolxFlami: I know it's American [23:33:36] mrptptpt: so it's not French [23:33:49] mrptptpt: French people don't even support freedom fries, so screw them [23:33:54] AlenaBrolxFlami: I thought so [23:34:00] AlenaBrolxFlami: HA [23:34:38] mrptptpt: I never actually saw anyone seriously use that term, or any restaurants :P I'm sure someone did... [23:37:39] mrptptpt: Target also kind of sucks. it earns points for not being Wal-Mart, but they never have anything I need [23:37:55] mrptptpt: even the new massive Super Target [23:41:12] mrptptpt: but everything is better than K-Mart, which seems to only be for Mexican people these days... I don't think they're actually cheaper than Wal-Mart, so I'm not sure why. last time I went there, while looking for Wiis to resell, the lady working there was a total bitch, too. I just asked if they still had any even though I was pretty sure they didn't, and she got all mad and half-yelled a bunch of crap about how I should have been there earlier (I was at another store's opening to get one, and did... I was checking for more :P), and I can't expect them to have everything I want and all this crap [23:41:48] AlenaBrolxFlami: for some reason, I thought Target had a lot of stuff [23:43:33] mrptptpt: now if I said, "hey you ugly whore, give me a fucking Wii right now or I'll kick your children in the teeth!" ... then that might have been an acceptable reply, but what I actually said was something like "hi, I'm looking for a Nintendo Wii, can you please tell me if you still have any?" [23:43:33] mrptptpt: K-Mart is a dump, though, even if they managed to staff it with people that aren't rude idiots [23:44:33] AlenaBrolxFlami: we don't have that here - so why is it a dump? [23:44:41] mrptptpt: and Target DOES have a lot of stuff, but they either don't have what I need or they're out of it just about every time I go there [23:44:52] mrptptpt: Wal-Mart is evil, but they're cheapest and always have what I need [23:45:35] mrptptpt: K-Mart is a shithole, I don't know how they stay in business. they were almost gone not too long ago, but I think Sears bought them out or something [23:46:21] mrptptpt: it's just all old and run down looking.. they have older products... I bought a Sega CD game there, new, for like $5 years and years after they were completely gone from anywhere [23:46:39] mrptptpt: they don't take care of it, it just sucks completely [23:47:13] mrptptpt: they remodeled all of them around 2000-ish, but they already look like hellholes again [23:48:16] mrptptpt: once, I saw a guitar there with a Fender-style body and a Gibson-style neck.... first. that combination is ugly as hell, but second... why and how does that even exist? where the hell did they FIND that? it was probably the worst guitar on earth, and they wanted like $150 for it or something :P [23:49:30] AlenaBrolxFlami: man, that doesn't seem very good... [23:49:53] mrptptpt: they try to be a Target or a Wal-Mart, but it's more like a flea market, which I don't really understand because they have normal products for the most part, but then you go to the electronics section and they have these super out-of-date stereos and stuff... the games and CDs are all old, and totally locked up so you can't even buy them unless the person working electronics (oh, that person doesn't exist) gets them out for you... [23:50:51] mrptptpt: I'm sure you've heard of "blue-light specials" [23:50:55] AlenaBrolxFlami: What the heck?! Even I know that's one WEIRD-ASS guitar! [23:51:00] mrptptpt: K-Mart is where that comes from [23:51:10] AlenaBrolxFlami: I've heard of those, yes... [23:51:14] mrptptpt: they were probably decent at one point [23:54:11] mrptptpt: when I was a kid, they were awesome because they have ICEE machines in the store, so I could usually get one of those out of my mom. now. I'd be afraid to get anything out of a machine there... they probably don't even clean it :P [23:55:28] mrptptpt: there was a big thread on SA a few years ago about some ghetto (like literally in a ghetto area) K-Mart. this guy worked there for a long time, and had all these insane stories about it. apparently, they don't actually have any security.. they have camera domes... but no cameras.... and they're not allowed to, and if they were, are not paid enough to stop people [23:55:43] mrptptpt: so they'd have all these gangsta guys that would just grab anything they wanted and leave [23:56:25] mrptptpt: swearing at the employees and laughing at them on the way out. they could call the cops of course, but they wouldn't show up even remotely close to fast enough to do anything, and they don't even have cameras to see who it was, anyway :P [23:56:34] AlenaBrolxFlami: WHAT THE [23:57:44] mrptptpt: plus at the end of the day, they'd empty all the registers (while the store is open) and take all the cash for the day through the whooole store to a room in the back, and apparently the "customers" figured that out after a while and would just steal the massive load of cash on a regular basis... I wonder if that thread is goldmined... there were a ton of crazy stories [23:58:36] mrptptpt: they're a pretty terrible company [00:10:36] mrptptpt: True Stories of Ghetto K-Mart!
[00:12:06] mrptptpt: it's a BYOB (people acting dumb and not worrying about punctuation or writing properly :P) thread apparently... bear with it, and I think it gets moved to GBS after a while, and there's actual decently-written stories.. watch for the one about the guy that gets mad at the employee because he'll miss "Martin" :P it has a nice feel-good twist at the end. pretty sure that's from this one
[00:17:09] AlenaBrolxFlami: will do
[00:17:46] mrptptpt: "here's something that would happen all the time: people were so bold that they wouldn't even try to shoplift... they would just grab what they want and walk out. invariably, some pasty manager with a tie would accost them as they were going out the front door and be like 'excuse me, sir. excuse me' and then BAM!! the 275 all-muscle-pound thug would just turn around and knock them out with one swing, and calmly resume walking out of the store"
[00:26:01] AlenaBrolxFlami: HAHAHAHA.
[00:26:25] AlenaBrolxFlami: the "gay sex" bathroom stall stuff is great :P
[00:26:29] mrptptpt: pretty much the whole thread is really funny if I remember right
[00:26:36] mrptptpt: yeah you love your gay sex in bathrooms
[00:28:29] AlenaBrolxFlami: WHAT?!
[00:28:41] AlenaBrolxFlami: I'm laughing over the "one-hour photo" one
[00:28:54] AlenaBrolxFlami: "i worked the 1-hour photo for a while, and people's pictures would get messed up a lot because the machine sucked. one day, this really big woman in her 40's dropped off a roll, and she was really nice. the pics started coming out of the machine, and they were all of a barbeque and people smiling and babies and old people UNTIL THE END OF THE ROLL. the end of the roll was like 7 or eight pictures of these two crazy looking thug guys with gold and gangsta poo poo holding TEC-9s and AK-47s and posing menacingly in front of pounds of weed and baggies of crack with clovers on them. while i'm looking at the pics going WTF, the two guys walk up. i didn't say poo poo, and the one guy pulled out a fat knot of cash and paid for the pics.

i'm glad the machine didn't mess up those pics"
[00:36:57] AlenaBrolxFlami: Yay! It smells like someone's smoking pot right outside my window!
[00:37:43] mrptptpt: turn the hose on them
[00:41:07] AlenaBrolxFlami: nah, it's fine
[00:41:46] mrptptpt: or if you really want to be nice, call the cops :P
[00:47:10] AlenaBrolxFlami: hah, I think they've gone now
[00:47:26] AlenaBrolxFlami: (I should have called the cops on my ex and his "friends" in the Chilliwack house)
[00:48:59] mrptptpt: bad idea, you'll go to prison when they say "CHILLIWACK PD! OPEN UP IN THERE!"
[00:49:19] mrptptpt: when you start laughing hysterically because they said "Chilliwack," they'll get mad
[00:50:25] AlenaBrolxFlami: no, I won't laugh
[00:51:00] mrptptpt: but that name is ridiculous
[00:53:45] AlenaBrolxFlami: we're used to it around here
[00:54:09] mrptptpt: you should laugh about it anyway
[01:02:21] AlenaBrolxFlami: why?
[01:05:12] mrptptpt: BECAUSE IT IS A SILLY NAME
[01:09:26] AlenaBrolxFlami: on that Something Awful thread, I note that someone is PERMA-BANNED as opposed to just BANNED... what's the difference?
[01:09:42] mrptptpt: if you're banned, you can just pay again and get a new account
[01:10:28] mrptptpt: perma-banned means you're out forever. a new ip address and fake information would work, but if they find out who you really are, you're outta there
[01:15:45] AlenaBrolxFlami: so what do you have to do to get banned or perma-banned?
[01:16:06] mrptptpt: break the rules, or break them a lot?
[01:18:44] AlenaBrolxFlami: ah. got it.
[01:20:41] AlenaBrolxFlami: awww... that "Martin" story is so touching :D
[01:24:30] mrptptpt: told you so :P
[01:25:07] AlenaBrolxFlami: SURPRISE! YAY!

Trivia fact for Friday, Jan. 22: What is the distinguishing feature of a superoleophobic surface? It's oil-repellent.