Clock Strikes Ten

2009-01-21 - 12:40 p.m.

We had a few complaints about closing at 10pm yesterday, but it went smoothly. The last hour - 10pm to 11pm - is usually very quiet, so the decision was made to close early to cut costs a little.

In all the time that I've worked there, unless there were weather issues or a holiday we've closed no earlier than 11pm. So this is a new thing for the employees, too.

I found out that we'll go back to our old hours during spring break, which makes sense.

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One of the things I had to do yesterday was find a source for fog fluid for our fog machines in lasertag. During a game, the fog machines really add to the atmosphere - literally.

Now, if I wanted one- or six-gallon containers of the fluid, it would be easy. But we get it in 55 gallon drums...and there aren't many retailers who carry them. We got a price on it from a local merchant that seemed fair as long as we picked it up - they were going to charge us about $300 extra to have it delivered to us, and their location is about twenty miles away. I got the authorization and called back. I was then informed that, according to their system, the part number had been discontinued.

Why didn't they tell me when I ordered it??

The sales rep said he would contact me in the morning about availability and price. About thirty minutes later, I got a call from one of the other dealers I had price-shopped with. They could sell a drum to us at a price that was $300 less than the local one - and that price included shipment to our door.

That drum should be here in a couple weeks. And I got some good brownie points for finding the same item for far less, including direct shipping.

As of this writing, the local merchant still hasn't called back.

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So I came home, cooked some dinner, and tried to watch The Monkees on DVD.

That's right - tried. For some reason, my DVD player decided to stop the disc in the middle of the episode.

This has happened before. So I did what I did then - I ran a cleaning disc in the player. When I put the Monkees DVD back into the player, I got a "please check disc" message.

I think my DVD player is on its last legs. Here's the funny part - I got a letter from Best Buy last month to extend the warranty another three years - for about $180.

I'm pretty sure I can get a new DVD player with a whole bunch of new features for far less than that.

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This morning, I got an e-mail trumpeting "new music from Alan Parsons".

I opened it...and found out it was for remastered CDs of previous releases.

Get my hopes up and then pull that bait-and-switch...muttermuttergrumblegripe...

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The inauguration went smoothly yesterday.

This is one of the things that makes our country great. We vote for our president. One side wins, one side loses. Unless it is unusually close, the results are accepted - the losing faction accepts the will of the majority. When the transition of power happens, it happens easily. The winners don't take revenge on the losing side - in fact, the winners are usually gracious about the win and don't rub the loser's noses into it.

Over on Neal Boortz' site, Boortz provides this comment:

No .. I can't say that I'm particularly happy that Barack Obama is president. I would have preferred Mike Huckabee or Mitt Romney. But now, as I said yesterday, I find myself truly hoping that Barack Obama becomes the best president this country has ever had. He's going to have a tough time withstanding the pressures that will be brought to bear by people like Nancy Pelosi and the MoveOn.org crowd.

I'll go along with that. I am, as previously stated elsewhere, cautiously optimistic.

However, I reserve the right to comment on the President's actions and policies...and that includes positive as well as negative.

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Mark Evanier says here that the TV commentary did a great job of making you glad you weren't there. Not because of what it all about, but because of how many people were there.

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Time to get going.

Be seeing you.

Bob - 2009-01-22 14:22:18 - http://shadowgm.diaryland.com
If it was a remastering like the one for 'Tales of Mystery & Imagination,' which restored the Orson Welles narration and included a longer guitar solo on Tell-Tale Heart, then, okay. Otherwise, no.

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