Shirt Thing

I was at a baseball game recently when those girls come out between innings and throw tee shirts into the crowd. Most of us think that’s a pretty easy gig – throwing tee shirts. Who can’t do that? Well, it’s not as easy as it looks. At this game, they were tossing Great Clips tee shirts into the crowd. Sure enough, she threw one to a guy with no hair.  He of course didn’t know what the shirt was going to say. Boy was he disappointed when he unfolded it. The place got really quiet. It put a damper on the evening…

Then there’s the size issue. Have you ever noticed how careful they are when they throw the shirts? They know what size they have and they have to look for somebody that size to throw to. It’s like being a quarterback but a quarterback only has maybe four receivers to decide between.  I caught a shirt once, and, you guessed it, it still fits me to this day.

Come to think of it, at football games, would it kill them to have the quarterback throw the shirts into the crowd? Is that asking too much?

 

Two Ringling Circus

Have you ever have one of those dreaded occurrences where someone calls you and leaves a message, and, before you can call them back, they call you again? And then you answer the second call and apologize for not calling him back. Do not do this. It’s a lose-lose. 

By answering the second call, you’re demonstrating that yes, you were available to call him back but you didn’t take the time to do it. This gives him (the upper) hand. You’re done. You’re on the mat. You’re cooked. And this also encourages him to use this maneuver again.

The optimal response here would be to not answer the second call. Instead, call him back 3 minutes later. This lets him know that yes, you did just get out of your meeting.

Acting slightly winded helps also.

 

Self Serve?

I get irritated when someone writes “First Come, First Serve”. This error is all too common in today’s world. I would interpret that expression to mean that whoever shows up first serves everyone after them. That’s not much of an incentive to show up first, unless you’re one of those servant heart types. (I am OK when this expression is used in tennis, ping pong, etc.)

The correct or at least more often used expression is “First Come, First Served”. This is what most people are trying to say, I think. Unfortunately, this saying is expressed incorrectly pretty often. Maybe, just maybe, we need to be sympathetic to the “First Come, First Serve” camp. After all, how can you be served if you’re the first one there?

 

Old Ken

I haven’t seen Barbie yet, have you? I heard it’s good. My sister (everybody’s sister) played with Barbie growing up. I saw recently where the original Barbie was supposed to be about 19 years old. That sounded about how I remember her. So yeah, I was a little surprised to see that, in the movie, Ken is played by 43 year old Ryan Gosling. Don’t get me wrong, I like Gosling as an actor. And again, I’ve not seen the movie. Maybe Ken is Barbie’s dad in the movie…

Of course the boy’s version of the Barbie doll was G.I. Joe. I never had a GI Joe. But I bet some parents just bought G.I. Joe clothes and put them on big sister’s Ken and gave them to their sons. People didn’t have a lot of money back then…

 

Meteor Cometary

Our weather forecast for last night called for meteors. That’s right, meteors. So yeah, I immediately went to my personal library and looked up meteors. It turns out that they’re tiny and nowhere near the size of a comet. In fact, they are parts of comets apparently. But I bet they could blind you if you were looking up and one hit you.

So yeah, you’re supposed to go out in your backyard (they never say front yard -If it was the front yard, someone might see you!) and look up at the sky for a minimum of 2 hours. This sounds too much like one of those dreaded Glaucoma tests you take at the eye doctor where you have to stare into the machine and press the button when you see something move. I passed on meteor night.

Regardless, it’s a big night for the weathermen. I’m guessing they can predict these nights pretty accurately – that’s why they’re called meteorologists.  And it’s a special night for pilots, I bet. They no doubt had fun last night with everybody thinking that their plane was a meteor. I bet they zig-zagged around and stuff…

 

Sign Post

Vacation observations

I drove close to 2000 miles on vacation last month. A couple of observations:

•           I did not see one “Baby on Board” sign on a vehicle. What’s up with that? Ten years ago these were everywhere. What happened to the concern? Yeah, I get it that the babies grew up, but how can this concern just disappear? Was this just a sham to get these autos into the express lane where you have to have a passenger? Did you maybe get an insurance discount if you displayed one? Were people abusing the sign and using it for older children? 
  
• I did not see a single “Pet on Board” sign either. Actually, I’ve never see a “Pet on board” sign. (Maybe it’s because people “board” their pets.) People are more careful than ever with their pets - we all hear the commercials warning us not to leave our dogs in our parked cars, etc. I’d like to see that pet concern communicated in some signage.

So, yeah, I've got concerns for both of these groups. Perhaps we can find a happy meeting ground for these two and start with a “Baby Pet on Board” sign. Maybe that’s a start…