Look at this new concept car. I am certain some of you have seen it before but I JUST saw this on Yahoo.com and thought I would show it off to the folks that visit my site.
The Carver One. It may not be the GREEN answer for the next hot auto but it sure looks like fun!
In this enthralling seventh episode of NOTHING FLASHY I recap my week.
- Relevant Magazine Arrived
- Music Review - Roots Music: An American Journey from Rounder Records
- Wednesday night show at an elder care facility in Tiffin, OH…meeting Nicholas
- Catching up with Bob Lamb
- Not one mention of the iPhone!
For those of you who read my blog yesterday or read accounts of others who were waiting in line for their golden iPhone ticket like they were trying to enter into Willie Wonka’s Chocolate Factory, you can put an end to the shakes, sweats and trembles you undoubtedly have when contemplating the possibilities of facing the path to your very own iPhone.
In a clear stroke of genius (note heavy sarcasm) Apple has posted online what stores have iPhones available…they did so initially too but the UBBER GEEKS who just have to have this phone ignored the power of available technology and opted to wait in line, slug it out and wrestle round for their very own Golden Ticket…It’s so nice to see that technology hasn’t changed the nature of keeping up with the Jones’s.
On most accounts the HYPE around the iPhone is more significant than the reality of what it offers. Still, it is more technology than I could handle…the numbers on the front of my VCR still flash…yeah, I still have a VCR too! That aside, I still think the commercial is cool and it will be interesting to see what a couple weeks with the iPhone will do for or too the people who get them.
I also read where Microsoft is still working on their own version of the iPhone which I am curious to see side by side with the iPhone but only because of how the battle went down on the iPod and Zune.
Considering I have the mechanical aptitude of a rock you may find it ironic that I worked at the local mom and pop hardware store as a kid. Yeah, me! The only person ever turned away by Habitat for Humanity. People would rather live in abject poverty then live in any structure I help build…my tool box has three things in it
1) That claw thingy that you use to hit stuff with.
2) Duct Tape
3) A cell phone
Not very impressive but their is a unique thread that ties together my experiences at the hardware store, the items in my tool box, the iPhone and the cabbage patch doll-mania.
What triggered it was an article I read about the frenzy around the new iPhone, people waiting in lines outside, fist fights, elbow throwing and the sort. Well, it all sort of reminds me of when the Cabbage Patch Dolls were at their zenith, yes, their absolute peak! You could buy a Cabbage Patch Doll just about anywhere and that included the local mom and pop hardware store I worked at, Zettler Hardware in the Great Western Shopping Center in Columbus, OH.
THE PICTURE: One of the first kids to get beat up over the iPhone…nobody likes bragger and when you broadcast that with a shirt…THUMP!
One day I was pretending to help a customer with pipe and fittings when I heard a noise over in the insulation section. The noise was a muffled voice of a lady screaming! Against my better judgment I walked my 5′ 8″, 105lbs frame around to that aisle and sure enough there were two “ladies” rolling around on the floor…they were in full body contact warrior mode…this was what I like to call “THE CABBAGE PATCH SMACKDOWN!!!”
I yelled for help and my coworkers came running; eventually.
First on the scene was Kermit then Kip, Scamp, Ernie and Frank. Kermit (Yeah, that was his real name) was a GEM of a human being. He was an older guy, stood about five foot tall and could tell you how to fix anything and everything under the sun. While the rest of us sort of stood around these two ladies telling them to stop, Kermit got in the middle of it and told them to stop acting like “hooligans” and start acting like “ladies”…oh, if Kermit only would have lived to see Jerry Springer!
When the two were pulled apart they both had scratch marks all over their faces and the one lady lost her “weave”…I laughed pretty hard about this in front of them and stopped quickly when they looked like they might turn on me. Being that I am a lover and not a fighter I decided to hold my laughter until later.
So what were these two women fighting about?
A Cabbage Patch Doll. NOT JUST ANY Cabbage Patch Doll. It was the last one in Zettler Hardware and the only one known to man on the entire west side of Columbus!
Those stupid dolls retailed for almost $50 back then. Today the iPhone retails for around $600 or so. It is cutting edge technology and from one portable piece of technology you can “spin the planet”…High end technology that will be old the minute you buy it.
Sounds like something I’d roll around on the floor with someone over.
Comedian, Richard Jeni shot and killed himself back in March. It’s still a shock and sad news. Today the Coroners report came out and among other things, it revealed that Jeni was suffering from a mental illness and in fact had been admitted to a mental institution on December 28th when he showed up in the ER of a hospital threatening to jump off a building.
Other than that one instance he had never displayed signs of depression or suicide. It was that one instance when doctors diagnosed Jeni with “severe clinical depression coupled with bouts of psychotic paranoia.”
Life is big. Sometimes it can be very hard. If you are hurting, please talk to someone. Let people know how you are feeling. People do care and others can help you carry the burden.
