What's in a Name?

We refurbished our basement recently. It's amazing what a new paint job, new lights and (a lot of) spackle will do to a room :-) Everything went smoothly, except for the blinds. My wife visited a retail store of "a major manufacturer and retailer of high-quality, custom-made window treatments". The company shall rename nameless; however, as a hint, the company name promises blinds sooner than next month, next week or the day after next.

As with many other household projects, we were motivated to finish by a hard deadline. We had out-of-town visitors coming and we were planning on having them sleep in the basement. Having blinds for the basement was important. My wife saw some vertical blinds she liked, placed an order at the store and paid the deposit. Much to my surprise, they promised that the blinds would be installed within a week. Huh? What about having the blinds sooner, like the name of the store says? Well, you can get blinds within 24 hours, but only after reading the fine print and realizing that you can get them the next business day if you order less than 20 blinds of a particular brand, by 4PM. I guess http://www.blindsnextbusinessdayforlessthan20ofonebrand.com was taken. Flame off...

Dateline NBC: To Catch a Predator, Enough Already...

While I am disturbed by what I've seen on the Dateline NBC show entitled, "To Catch a Predator", enough already! Yes, Chris Hansen has done a tremendous public service in alerting parents (and children) about the potential dangers of unsupervised use of chat rooms and instant messaging services. Yes, the recent revelation by Rep. Tom Foley of his inappropriate conversations with congressional pages is disturbing and underscores the importance of teaching your children about safe use of the Internet and monitoring their activities appropriately. Yes, like a car accident by the side of the road, I can't help but watch the program if I stumble across it while channel surfing. Enough is enough! Have all the network news magazine and investigative shows become like Geraldo or Jerry Springer?

Cell Phone Headsets

Cell phones... I could rant all day about cell phone equipment, cell phone companies, cell phone etiquette, etc. For now, let me rant about people who use wireless headsets in public. First, that thing that wraps around your ear looks hideous. Until the earpieces are much smaller and/or more inconspicuous, I'm not using them. Second, it's bad enough that we're constantly being bombarded by various forms of natural and man-made electromagnetic waves. Can it be good to have one more wireless device so close to your head? Third, back in the day, people who walked around talking to no one in particular were thought to be crazy. Now, someone who's alone and moving their lips might actually be having a real conversation with a real person (or they might still be crazy).

Now that I've got that off my chest, let me say that wireless headsets aren't all bad. People with disabilities that prevent them from using their hands to use a cell phone may find a wireless headset to be a necessity. Also, I'd prefer that people use a wireless headset to talk on their cell phone while driving, instead of having to look down from the road to look at their phone. Hmm... distracted drivers... That's too easy of a rant :-)

Whispered Station IDs

The local radio station that carries the Redskins, the new Triple X ESPN radio, plays these annoying, whsipered station IDs. I'll be listening to the John Riggins show or the Dan Patrick show, and, at the worst possible moment, I'll hear a (loud) whisper that says, "You're listening to the new Triple X ESPN radio." Inevitably, the whisper is loud enough so that I miss something interesting that's being said.