Asketh and thou shalt receiveth...maybe...

Accounting Office 03/29/07 9:27 AM
Dear Student,
This email is to inform you that a $75 late fee and a hold has been assessed to your student account

. . . .

Student 3/29/2007 9:56 AM
Dear sir or madam,
Being this is my last quarter before graduation and being that I've been a student at this school for almost 4 years with only one other instance of being late (and that was due to me being on travel), I cordially ask that this $75 late fee be waived.

. . . .

Accounting Office 03/29/07 3:33 PM
Dear Student,
We will reverse the late payment fee as a one time courtesy.

Another lesson in life...

Been struggling recently with the idea of moving into Management. I've never seen myself as a manager. I don't like dealing with timecards, performance reviews, schedules, deadlines and most notoriously, I hate managing personalities! I rather deal with a piece of dead hardware.

Well...I got my first taste of management today when I had to officially "lay-off" my gardener.

We initially cut his hours back from once a week, to twice a month. But as time progressed, we noticed we were just paying him to mow our lawn! And when our lawn of grass evolved into a lawn of weed... we realized it was time to sever our ties with him.

I still remember (and cherish) the day I got my pink-slip. The empty feeling of hopelessness and depression is still very familiar to this very day (though it's been 5 years). If my ex-gardener has the same feeling, he definitely didn't show it. Or maybe it was because he didn't understand my broken-Spanish.

5 years from now, my ex-gardener may not even remember who the heck this young Chinese guy was that laid him off. But not me. I'll probably forever remember this day, this morning, this conversation...this moment in time.

MARK 哥!

OUTRAGEOUS!!!!

Remember that newly designed bathroom with 9 stalls and only 3 urinals?? Remember those toilets in that bathroom that flushes only if you sit and stand?? Remember??

Well...today I went in there and 8 out of the 9 toilets are ALL CLOGGED!!! The one and only toilet that wasn't clogged had this weird white murky water floating in it....

THIS IS INSANE!! THIS IS OUTRAGEOUSLY INSANE!!!!

God's timing...

...talk about timing...

Junk Yard Dogs...

This past Friday, Anderson and I ventured to the South Bay "Pick and Pull" Junkyards to look for a replacement seatbelt for Joycie's Corolla. So much for Japanese cars being reliable!

We first hit up the one close to church... fruitless. All the cars there are pre-1990. And basically all the cars there have been stripped of everything except the frame and shell. You really oughta wonder where your mechanic gets your "replacement" parts.

So we jump to the junkyard by the San Jose Flea Market off Oakland Road. Either Corolla drivers are very careful and never total their cars...or everytime one turns up, it's stripped clean. We came up fruitless again... until... Anderson remembered his uncle has a Geo Prism. (See, there was a reason why I brought him along....)

We walked over to the domestic section... and like he was being led by a voice, Anderson instinctively walked to the farthest end of the Junkyard to the very last row. And out there, tucked away in the corner, was a post 1993 Geo Prism -- which if you don't know by now -- is the exact same car as the Corolla!!

EUREKA!!! And thus... I saved around $250 by not going to the dealer. WOOHOO!!

As the old adage goes, "What's junk to one, is a treasure to another."

Special thanks to Krismark Tyrone Donato Salvador III for his ever reliable advice.

Did you know...

A buddy of mine wears really nice clothes. So I go and try on his leather jacket and tried zipping up...but I couldn't find the zipper thingy. I look down and it's on the WRONG side!!! (Dork...he bought a woman's jacket...)

...did you know that a woman's jacket zipper thingy is on the left hand side as opposed to a man's jacket, whose zipper thingy is on the right hand side?

...did you know that when men button their shirts / coats, it's left over right. Whereas a women's blouse / coat is right over left.

And while we're on the "Did you know..." subject...
Did you know toilets in the southern hemisphere have water flush Clockwise as opposed to us in the Northern Hemisphere where the water flushes Counterclockwise?

Now...how many of you who read my blog (all 5 of you) will actually run to your nearest bathroom to prove this to be true? If you do...leave a comment. =)

Goal for 2007

50-50-60
(50 pushups and 50 situps in 60 seconds...)

at the checkout line...

Most recently, two renound journalists (albeit, sports journalists) commented on the annoyance of people paying low amounts of money at the checkout lines with their credit cards. Laconicly speaking, this dogmatic preference is for people who are still stuck in the warp of time. Allow me to stand on my soap box and vent a little (or a lot...)

First of all... the ability of doing arithmetic while standing up and chewing gum is now a lost art. Swiping and signing is an actual time saver.

Ever go to an ATM and withdraw a $100 on a Friday afternoon...only to find out Monday morning you're down to $7 in your wallet? GONE without a trace. With a credit card (or debit card), you get a little bill at the end of the month via snail-mail or online. You can see exactly what you've been overspending on (eating out, clothes, Marie Callendar pies...)

In this day and age... why do we still have pennies?? Ever go buy something for $9.03. Only you don't have 3 cents...and now you end up with $0.97 in change?? For the sake of Alexander Hamilton...get rid of the penny! Until that happens...with credit cards...it's all electronic!

Here's a good one... ever go to Costco or Safeway and you're in a hurry. You're racing your shopping cart through traffic. You dodge the high school girls who are giggling at the latest Cosmos magazine. You barely miss hitting the family of 8, with their cart piled full of Oreos and Capri Sun. You slip into the shortest line with only 1 person in front of you. You're all smiles, cuz you can get out of the rat race early. Only that smile quickly disappears when that old lady in front of you slowly reaches into her purse and reveals a prehistoric checkbook...

Speaking of checkbook...the Yorks generously opened up their checkbook and signed Nate Clements, Michael Lewis and Ashley Lelie!! GO NINERS!!!

Playball!!!!

Ah... so it's been a year already since my March 3, 2006 post of "Agony of Defeat" where I summarize the first day of Giants Spring Training.

Freakishly...we start out Spring Training in a similar way!! Instead of a lead-off HR by Randy Winn, we have a lead-off basehit by Dave Roberts. Instead of a 3-Run double by Ray Durham, it's a 3-Run double by Russ Ortiz (RUSS ORTIZ!!??!). And this time around, Zito pitches shutout ball for 2 innings and Russ Ortiz (RUSS ORTIZ!??!!) pitches shutout ball for 3 innings!!

Key moment in the game... 1st pitch. Zito, the $126 million man faces Soriano, the $136 million man. $226 million separated by 60 ft 6 inches. And Zito ends up striking Soriano out on a high fast ball. Ohhhhhhhhhhh yeahhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Welcome back Giants baseball.... I know you never left me. But I'm glad you're back.

Day 2....and the detoxing begins.....