Down the Rabbit Hole with the Semi-Evil Squirrel

i'll eat my candy with the pork and beans

0905 hrs:
Well, good morning, 2009. :)

I'm at work and it feels like only the bad kids have to be at Saturday school. It is very quiet around here. All of the top dogs are out of the office today, so we are left with one "lead" to...well...lead us. Plans for the day? Well, I've already done 1/3 of the work I had planned for today. I'm going to be back chipping away at the Sarbanes-Oxley Act course I started last week. Between doing that and trying not to fall asleep, I should easily make it to lunch time.

BUT - before that, I have some Grocery Titans to announce. I went to the grocery store two times in the last 48 hours. Only the first time did I have a grocery list. I think we all know what it means when you go to the grocery store without a list. *ominous look*

Wednesday, 12/31/08's Grocery Titan title goes to (drum roll, please)...
....the whole bean Breakfast Blend coffee, coming in at $6.99!

Though I swore I was going to switch to half-caf, I just haven't been able to bring myself to do it. Rats!

Thursday, 1/1/09's Grocery Titan title goes to...
....the 30 oz. bag of frozen pork dumplings, coming in at $7.99! *boos from the crowd*

Yeah, yeah, yeah. That last one was the spontaneous grocery trip I made yesterday. Originally, I was just going to the bank branch inside the store (it was open on New Year's Day - how weird!!) because they have a change counter and I wanted to "cash in" my spare change that I'd saved up this past year (a disappointing $23.76 - past years have yielded around $50). Once I was there, I realized that I was hungry and that the store was not busy (people probably assumed the grocery store to be closed on New Year's Day). So, I called Nailz and asked if there was anything she needed and also convinced her that we should make some Japanese food for our New Year's dinner. Ended up buying a can of roasted eel to add to sushi and onigiri (rice balls) as well as some artificial crab to put in sushi.

1243 hrs:
Was reading Penny Arcade's news post from the 31st and clicked on the link to the Zune webpage. As Nailz can testify, most Zune 30 owners received a scare when their Zunes "bricked" on Wednesday. The cause was the leap year because of the clock driver not being able to calculate a leap year or some such technical thing. Anyway - that's not the point. I know that not having music for a day at a boring corporate job or other boring job must really suck to high heavens, but some people leaving comments on the Zune page are pretty unbelievable. An example: "How about compensation for not being able to use our Zune's for the day?"

[insert dramatic pause here]

Um, I'm sorry (actually, I'm not), but could this person be more spoiled? There are people in Africa who have to make do without food for an entire day (or more...) and you're pissed because your Zune isn't working and the solution is to wait until January 1, 2009? Let's get a little perspective here. I am in complete awe that someone would allow themselves to get so completely worked up over this. Yes - you paid money for this piece of technology. Yes - it failed. Yes - it's ok to be miffed or for it to be the worst part of your day (or possibly week if your life is really good). All of that is understandable - but wanting compensation for it not working for 1 (ONE) day out 366?? Yeah. I'm sure Microsoft is gonna get right on that.
/rant

To other Zune owners' credit however, most who commented were just surprised and worried that their Zunes were dead for good. Others took it with a chuckle. One guy asked how he was supposed to deal with his cow-orkers if he didn't have his Zune, adding an "LOL" at the end of his statement.

1431 hrs:
Just re-read the Zune rant. It occurs to me that it might sound elitist or something like that (afterall, the comparison I use IS kind of extreme *chuckles*). At first, the idea that it could be taken that way was a bit offensive. On second thought, I've decided I don't really care. I still think it is silly that people crap their pants when something that is not even close to a need goes out on them. Makes me wonder how people (read: Americans) survived the workplace (much less society) before the advent of personal electronics. What horror! Indeed...

HYPOCRITIC'S PLAYLIST:
from my mp3 player before the battery went dead:
Elephant Kashimashi - album
Assorted NEWS and KAT-TUN favorites

on CD:
The Decemberists most recent singles (true to recent style, they were played over and over)

/snark

Labels: grocery titans, playlists, rant, snark, work