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Neighborly Love
The biggest thing I worry about with the pizza box, is if I have to scrape all that cheese off the top, before I throw it in the recycle bin. Regarding saying HI to people on the street, I once used that for an Off the Cuff question: Do you say hi to strangers? But, everyone that answered it gave really short answers, and it wasn't usable. Maybe I'll do that again, and see if people can be more detailed. As Morrison once said, "People are strange..."— April 21, 2008 12:48 a.m.
Hot-Shot Bouncer
I went there to see Steph Johnson perform, and the bouncers were cool. Hey...bouncers at a place called Rookies in Oceanside. I was there watching the fights on Saturday before I went to some parties. They were super cool. It seems most bouncers and security are nice, if you treat them with respect. I'm just sayin'.— April 21, 2008 12:46 a.m.
What has been your worst experience with the police?
Actually, no. If Baretta is the show that had Robert ....dang, what's his last name? Anyway, he did his crime, and didn't have to do the crime. Because of the dumb jury system. He was found innocent. You see, even though he had motive for shooting his wife, his wonderful alibi of "I couldn't have shot my wife. She was in the car, and I went back into the restaurant to get my gun, where I had left it." For the future, any murderers out there, might not want to use an alibi that includes phrases like "left my gun somewhere else, couldn't have done it." mikeh...i have a hard time believing your cop story. Would a cop say "my crew"? This isn't D12 or some rap crew. They're cops. I could see a cop leaning in and saying "shut up," but seriously doubt anything beyond that. That's why movies like Crash, are so ridiculous. Cops just don't act that way, or they aren't cops for very long.— April 21, 2008 12:43 a.m.
Doggone Neighbors
Yeah, those points make sense. But there are dogs that just bark. It could be because they hear a car. The letter carrier walks by. But, it doesn't mean the neighbors should have to listen to it. I've found that people are just selfish jerks. They don't mind THEIR NOISE bothering others. But then, if a neighbor has a party one night, they are bothered. Their dog could be daily, but heaven forbid, a party one night on New Years. I dated this woman in Point Loma, and her neighbors dog would be put out on the patio at 2:00 a.m. and wake everyone up. I talked to her one day, and I was super nice about it. She started screaming, "You don't even live here! Why are you bugging me about my dog?!!!" I said, "Listen, I'm trying to ask you nicely. If I sleep over, it wakes me up. When I don't, it wakes my girlfriend up. At 5:30 a.m. every morning." She continued to yell, so I said, "Okay, listen. My friend is a landscaper. I'm going to borrow his leaf blower. And one day, at 3:00 a.m. I'm going to do it outside your door, until you wake up. You can call the cops. That's fine. But, I'll continue to do that, until your dog stops. She was now cursing and screaming. Other neighbors were looking out their windows and doors. Of course, none of them said, "The dude has a point. Your dog is annoying us." Bunch of wimps.— April 21, 2008 12:38 a.m.
Arsenic and No Trace
What's your opinion of the case, Ponz?— April 21, 2008 12:33 a.m.
Speaking of Drugs
Ah...who cares about little typos. My mom logged onto the Reader website the other day. She had never seen my blogs. She went nuts from one of my previous "sports shorts" ones. I type these at 2:30 a.m. right before I go to bed. And, for some reason I typed "digged up" and she sent me a long email about how my command of the English language sucks. It was hysterical. And, kinda true. But, I type 115 words per minute, and I don't usually proof read. It's one of the reasons the Reader editors probably hate dealing with my stories. But, that's why they're paid the big bucks.— April 20, 2008 1:27 p.m.
Dumb Cops (Is That Redundant?)
Believe me...I have so many idiotic friends, that like to bitch about cops. And, I'm always sticking up for them. I say, "Next time your house is broken into...don't bother calling them, since you don't like them." They get mad because they go thru a red light or are doing 88 on the freeway, and then get a ticket. Why blame the cops? But, I just have a pet peeve against people in the work place, making bad decisions. I worked at a radio station, and we had this DJ that was mean to everyone. She was nice to me, because during a few interviews she did (one being Brian May of Queen), I typed her up a bunch of questions. But, listeners would call the request line, and she'd be rude, and slam the phone down. Or, if she went out with them for a promotion (picking 'em up in a limo, dinner, and backstage tickets)...she'd snap at them if they asked regular listener type of questions like "Got any free stuff, like CDs stashed in your bag?" My boss complained about her to me, and I said "I think you should fire her. It's bad PR for the station. First, call up the radio station when she's on the air. And, act kind of rude. Because, I know when I get a listener calling like that, I simply say "Okay, thanks for calling." And I hang up. Sure, they often called back, I would say the same thing, and then I'd stop answering the phones for 30 minutes. If someone has a mind that can't comprehend how to handle problems, they should be fired. I think more so, with cops. I was at a fancy place for dinner last night called The Fleet Wood, in the east village downtown. Well, last time there, my girlfriend had left her purse. She called, and they were really nice, found it, told her she could pick it up. When she did, this big fat guy was working the bar, and was really rude to her. He said, "Who did you talk to? Well, if you don't know who you talked to, I can't help you." And he went on and on, acting rude. Finally, he went back, found the purse, and just tossed it at her, and walked away. He didn't say "Oh, here it is. I found it back there." Nothing. She was pissed. I went back there, asked for the guy. He wasn't working that day. I told the staff what he did, and they said, "Oh yeah...he can be that way with customers." Well...why the hell is he still working there? I'm not one to want people fired. But, I'll tell you what. When I saw him there last night, she had to plead with me not to say anything to his greasy haired face. I wanted to go up, in front of all his customers and regulars, and tell him he was a [insert curse word here]. Of course, we love their food. And we don't want it spit in. So, we would've done it after we got the bill : - )— April 19, 2008 11:11 a.m.
Eddie Vedder Owns the Casbah? Plus, My Worst Celeb Encounters and interviews with Wild Man Fischer, Edgar Winter, and more
It takes me way to long to read your damn blogs!!!! Great Eddie Vedder story. I remember that going down. I'm going to see Edgar Winter at the Coachhouse in San Juan Capistrano tomorrow night. Haven't seen him in 17 years.— April 19, 2008 11:03 a.m.
Dumb Cops (Is That Redundant?)
I emailed the police department, about two months ago, with a suggestion. It was really detailed out, but I won't know all the details any more. I had noticed, on the show COPS, you often see cops get angry, very quickly. Sure, they are dealing with losers, but still. It escalates way quicker than it needs to. So, I said that Internal Affairs, should send out undercover cops, that get pulled over. And, let them try to bait the officer. If it's a black IA agent, he could say "Oh, did you pull me over because I'm black?" When the officer responds, they could say "Yeah, right...you stupid pig." There can be hidden video recording this. And, no officer should engage in a shouting match, that could end up in them macing the guy, or cuffing him. The cop could ignore it, and say "If you disagree with this stop, you are welcome to fight the ticket in court, and explain it to them." Now, let all the officers know this. And, even if you just did it once in a great while, it might strike enough fear into cops, so that they just ignore people that yell and curse at them. 20/20 once did a show, where they had one of their producers, a black guy in his 20s, sit in his brand new BMW, in a nice part of Beverly Hills. In 4 hours, outside this burger joint, he was harassed 5 times by cops. A few times, the cops started getting so mad, when the kid just asked, "Why are you bugging me and my friends? We just ate some food and are kicking back." Not even a curse word. Yet, a week later, they had white guys park their car there. And, you could see officers drive by, and not one of them stopped. Things like this, and then the KKK mask, will make NO ONE trust the police. Which, like I always tell my paranoid guys at the basketball courts I play with....EVERY PROFESSION will have some bad apples. Cops included. You can't then think they're all bad. Regarding the media, that's another debate that can get so out of hand. Everyone thinking everyone else has an agenda. My stepdad refuses to read the Union Tribune, because it's a "Republican piece of crap that tries to brainwash people." Yet, I've heard Republicans talk about how liberal it is. Bizarre, that two different sides, see two different things.— April 18, 2008 2 p.m.
Dumb Cops (Is That Redundant?)
Very good point, about San Diego vs. Ohio. I'll take that into consideration next time I pick a topic to blog. You also bring up a good point about pranks. When I worked briefly at the postal service, I did two things that almost cost me my job (one was telling a woman I was dating there, that her friend, who couldn't have kids because of her husbands medical condition, wanted me to father her kids). It got back to that woman, who didn't think it was funny. And, 8 months later, when she was mad at me about something else, she reported the incident. But, I was running a machine in which I typed all the addresses from Pacific Beach area, into a computer at 3 a.m. I'm not out dealing with the public. If I were a letter carrier, where you are going door-to-door...I think it's more important to watch what you say, and do. That's my point with this cop. Even if this is just ONE incident, in his 12 years, it shows that he's not the best decision maker. Haven't you ever heard that the pysch part of the cops training and job interviews, are the hardest? They don't want to hire someone that maybe has a temper. Or that will panic and start shooting, and a whole host of other things. I wouldn't have a problem if a cop was at a restaurant, and got a free meal. I would tell the officer "Look, you aren't allowed to do that." BUt, I wouldn't think that should cost the officer his/her job. But, wearing a KKK mask. If you haven't thought about all the ramifications of that, I'm not sure I want that type of decision making, wearing a badge and carrying a gun. Regarding the lawyers jockeying for the THEIR side of the story, I've never had a problem with that. I have more of a problem with the idiots of the world, that screamed and hollered when this O'side shooting happened, and they wanted this cop arrested and put in jail. I mean, if it turns out he was wrong, I have all the faith in the world, that he'll lose his job and do jail time.— April 18, 2008 10:54 a.m.