RainyDay

Oh yes! Then the cashier asks....."do you have a super saver card?" Customer: "Well, no I don't" Cashier: "Would you like one?" Customer: "Yes I would" Cashier: "All you have to do is fill out this form...." Customer: "That's easy it's no longer than a home mortgage credit application". Cashier: "Thank you Mr. Sangery, you saved twelve cents today". Oh, please. At Safeway, you can plug in your telephone number if you don't have your card with you. So first they look for the card, then try to remember their telephone number, or they can borrow YOUR card so I get credit for the next free deli sandwich (which I don't eat) and they get to save money, and hold up everyone even longer. But what about ATM machines? Can we please have some standardization here? At Trader Joe's, you have to punch in three more "okays" than at Safeway and I invaribly forget to punch in the last okay and everyone, including me, is staring at the ceiling and going "what's the holdup NOW?" Every bit of this techno stuff works differently. Albertson's punches in the amount of cash back for you. Safeway makes you work for your cash back. And why isn't there a standard design for auto seat belts? Why is getting into a different car and buckling up the search for the holy grail? And getting unbuckled is like an escape from Alcatraz? Man, why is life so complicated?

JSngry: Great story. The grocery store thing makes me nuts too. Especially when they keep leaving their cart for you to push forward while they continue to shop while waiting in line. Or the person with a full cart who gets in the 20 items or less line. I was in Safeway once and a woman told this guy he had too many items for the quick check line and he went off on her telling her it was none of her business what was in his cart. Ah, yes. Another pet peeve, when someone is DEAD WRONG and then wants to jump in your face when you call them on it. Hello?

Isn't Tejano more like a rock and country blend with some ethnic Mexican texturing? Doesn't this new band Los Lonely Boys play a sort of Tejano-style music? Isn't Tejano the musical style that Selena used? Banda is distinguished by the accordian-like instrument. It does sound very much like polka music. I'm a teensy bit out of my musical depth (or shallowness) here. I'm with Jim on the tejano thing. Tejano is mainly accordion based, at least here. It's either that, or ballads. Los Lonely Boys is definitely not Tejano music. They're from Texas and they're Hispanic, but it's rock. Selena, who is buried not too far from my home, was Tejano. But she was attempting to cross over into the Top 40/pop market just before she was murdered, and that stuff wasn't Tejano. More like Madonna-lite. What I've read about Los Lonely Boys says their music is flavored eith Tejano and Conjunto.

Ouch. Well, just so you know. When I went to see Control Room, I was the only brown face in there and these guys kept talking LOUDLY during the previews. This woman in front of me kept giving them the evil eye. Finally I leaned forward and in my loudest stage whisper said to her "Do you suppose those two will EVER stop talking?" They stopped for a nanosecond and kept going until the feature started. See, it ain't just us in the movie making noise. I wasn't referring to specific ethnicity, Rainy. I was just using all the "disgruntled" smilies. I am not one who generalizes such things. There are just two groups of people as far as I'm concerned- jerks and non-jerks. The "theatre talkers" come in all colors and ages! EDIT: By the way, regarding your signature, I think it's B-E-N-E-S. There was an episode where someone spelled her name. Good trivia question. B-) Well, it's just that black folks have this reputation for being "expressive" in movie theaters. Richard Pryor, Robin Williams and Billy Crystal have all done very funny bits about black folks at the movies. Thanks for the spelling correction. I shoulda Googled first.

Ouch. Well, just so you know. When I went to see Control Room, I was the only brown face in there and these guys kept talking LOUDLY during the previews. This woman in front of me kept giving them the evil eye. Finally I leaned forward and in my loudest stage whisper said to her "Do you suppose those two will EVER stop talking?" They stopped for a nanosecond and kept going until the feature started. See, it ain't just us in the movie making noise.

Isn't Tejano more like a rock and country blend with some ethnic Mexican texturing? Doesn't this new band Los Lonely Boys play a sort of Tejano-style music? Isn't Tejano the musical style that Selena used? Banda is distinguished by the accordian-like instrument. It does sound very much like polka music. I'm a teensy bit out of my musical depth (or shallowness) here.

It's called banda and I also don't care for it. It's roots are German. Nothing against German or Mexican music, but for me, this is not a musical marriage made in heaven. I love Mariachi but banda is like nails on a chalkboard. I hear it a lot in my neighborhood. No one ever has Tito or Pete E. screaming out of their car, just banda.

I'm intrigued by the assumptions that tailgaters do it to people who are driving slow in the passing lanes. I was specifically thinking of times when I'm tailgated in the slow lane or in the exit lane when I'm about to exit the freeway. Or when I'm driving on a two lane street, a lane in either directions and you are being tailgated even though you are at or even a little over the speed limit. I usually don't drive in the "fast" lane. In fact, no one should be driving in the fast lane. It's for passing other cars, not cruising. Last weekend, after tailgating me to death on a two-lane city street, this dumb bunny went roaring past me driving in the center turn lane over in Alameda where the cops give out tickets like Halloween candy. I caught her dumb ass at every single light after that even after she roared away from every single dingle light. People like that should be institutionalized and never allowed behind the wheel of any vehicle, including the bumper cars at the county fair. There's a reason why so many young people die in horrible fiery crashes and have outrageous insurance rates.

Putting the hard-as-a-rock peaches in the brown paper bag like you are supposed to and for days, they stay hard as a rock. In a 10-minute period sometime thereafter, they go from rock hard to moldy.

Toilet seat covers that aren't the same size and shape of the toilet. People who use public toilets for target practice. People who shove their way onto elevators/transit/buildings before people can get out. Boom boxes in cars. Going to the store and seeing row after row of every kind of freaking bread you can think of---multi-fruit-old-world-chestnut bread---but not one lousy loaf of whole wheat bread. Not brown Wonder bread, but REAL whole wheat bread. Same with orange juice. I don't want vitamin c-vitamin d-immuno boost-enriched-pulpy-tangerine/grapefruite/orange. How about plain old OJ? People who try to shove their between you and whatever structure you are standing three inches away from. Tailgaters. It should be perfectly legal to vaporize their asses right where they are. Politicians. Every one of them. We should live in a dictatorship and I should be the dictator. Love it or leave it, baby. Bikers. There, I said it out loud. Sue me. They don't stop for traffic signals, and they NEVER yield to pedestrians. They get on BART and take up four seats. Screw 'em and their alternative mode of transportation. One day a biker who blew a stop sign got hit by a car that blew the other stop sign. No one was hurt so I was not one bit guilty when I laughed out loud. BO. There is no reason on god's earth for any person with access to hot water and soap to walk around smelly and funky. It should be a capital offense to get on public transportation without taking a bath and putting on clean clothes. Paying three dollars for a lukewarm latte. Biting into a chocolate with nuts and the nuts are rancid. Standing in line forEVER and someone walks up and tries to get waited on before me. I'm in menopause, buddy, that's not a smart thing to do. You could lose both arms AND your good eye. There, I feel much better.

Ahhhh. That's why Clancy was playing movie music this morning on KCSM. RIP.

Killer Bees, Act II.

The SJ Festival was good. I stayed all day Saturday and when Sunday rolled around, I gave out at 1:30PM. Just too hot. I did go back for Ray Baretto later that evening. Bobby Sanabria was wonderful Friday night and I finally got to see James Moody on Saturday. I never made it to the other stages and I never made it to Pete Escovedo's new club. I think this is club #4 for Pete, the first three didn't work out. I hope this one works out for him. It's in a great location, right near the Convention Center and some major hotels. I'll have to keep an eye on what talent they book so I can plan to go down and check the place out. SJ is a nice festival but if it's hot, it can be pretty miserable even in the shade. I don't do well with the heat.

He's so cuuute! He looks brand new.

Wow, what great looking little girls! They are going to be major heartbreakers. It's amazing how much personality comes through a photo.

Heard this while on my way to the San Jose Jazz Festival. Just shocked and very saddened by his death. I love James' music and yet I'm surprised to find I have not one record by him. That will change next weekend. He has always been high on my Most Talendted list. He had a wonderful, powerful, expressive singing voice. It's sad that he died just as he had cleaned up his life and was starting to get back on track with his career. He suffered from diabetes and had a stroke a couple years ago so he wasn't in the best health. Last night I was watching the Funk Brothers documentary and I looked at all the folks who have left us, and together with James' death, it just made me cry. RIP, brother Rick.

SF/Oakland is having Carmel weather. Drizzly, overcast all day, really foggy in some places, temps swing between 58-68. Very cool inland, which is really unusual. The San Jose Jazz Festival is this weekend so I'm hoping the cool weather lasts through the festival because it can get hotter than heck in SJ.

The handcuffs may seem over the top but look what she did. The cops tells her no eating so she stuffs the candy in her mouth. She then makes a snide comment to the cop. When he asks for ID, she walks away from him. Stupid, stupid, stupid. If a cop pulls you over while driving, and asks for ID, and you drive off, you are in seriously deep shit. I'm not a gung-ho defender of police but I know enough to produce some ID if asked by a cop for ID and not to walk away after making a flip comment. She is not a victim, IMO. She acted like someone who thought she was appearing in a sitcom instead of real life. Furthermore, in some cities, she would have been arrested. When a cop stops you and you choose not to cooperate, well, you pays your money and you takes your chances.

Her crime was mouthing off to a cop. First amendment or not, if you want a personal experience with the ciminal justice system, mouth off to a cop. Second, as a public transit commuter who is sick of wading through garbage in stations and on trains, I applaud anyone getting a ticket for eating or drinking in the paid area. I've watched whole families pile on a train with their greasy fast food and USE THE SEAT CUSHIONS FOR NAPKINS. I've watched well-heeled men in expensive business suits get on the train, slop their coffee all over the seats, and dump their newspapers on the floor for someone to slip and fall on. I had to laugh when BART removed their garbage containers from the stations platforms as an anti-terrorist measure BECAUSE IT DIDN'T MAKE ANY DIFFERENCE. People throw crap on the ground whether there is a container available or not. I don't know about her transit system, but notices about not eating or drinking in the BART system are everywhere and unless you can't read English or are the Queen of England, you should take note and act accordingly. I have no sympathy for this woman. As for terrorism, my biggest concern when I get on the train is not terrorism. It's whether or not I will get a seat, and whether or not there is a glob of candy bar stuck to the seat rendering it unusable.

Happy Birthday to you Happy Birthday to you Happy Birthday dear Chriiiiis Happy Birthday to you!!

Now that's a combination I wouldn't have thought to put together. But I've eaten chocolate with or on any and everything else in the world so why not?

Ghirardelli is good but my favorites are: My favorite store bought is from Belgium and I can't ever remember the name. You can buy it at Trader Joes (very cheap) and Cost Plus (not so cheap). Drost? They come in a stack of little round, flat guys and they come in milk, milk extra rich, and semi sweet. The extra rich milk is delish. Then there's See's. I can ID a See's chocolate just eye balling it, don't even need to take a bite. At work during the holidays, people ask me to ID which ones are which. Joseph Schmidt makes wonderful chocolate and their truffles are sublime (they're in SF and you can order online, I believe). This is probably my very favorite chocolate of all. They have a tiny little retail store on 16th between Church and Sanchez. Recently, a co-worker turned me on to Scharffen Berger chocolate. Their factory is in Berkeley and Trader Joes stocks their candy bars. I've not made it to their store but they make a lot of different chocolate delights. Man, they make the most potent milk chocolate I've ever eaten. I swear, it gave me a buzz. The semi sweet should probably require a prescription. One day I will tell you about Cocolat, a chocolatier that made a chocolate pound cake that brought tears to my eyes. Their factory was in Berkeley too and when they went out of business, I almost broke down. RIP Hey, you asked!

I drink decaf coffee in the morning occasionally. I typically don't have diet coke after 4 PM and I only have one a day unless I get one of those 20 oz. jobbers then I try to leave some in the bottle. I have a heck of a time sleeping so I have to be careful. But I have some diet vanilla coke in the fridge and I'd love to chug a few gulps right now. I LOVE diet vanilla coke. Of course, there's the chocolate situation. I'll eat chocolate in my sleep.

You guys ever come out to the West Coast?

Get over the fact that there are women out there more successful than you. You can't put them all in jail.