Thursday, October 23, 2014

I WILL find you (REDUX)

10.4.2014

My son has several names.  We call him by his nickname and keep his real name for official things like airline flights and 529 plans and such.  His nickname has nicknames.  A whole list of them, actually.  I myownself have had nicknames bestowed upon me at almost every place I've ever worked.  I know people with three first names (Ken William Scott, for one), and personally think people with three first names have an edge on the rest of us.  I think a lot about names.

Since I pay attention to things like people's names I've noticed that what used to be rather rare - even in my lifetime - a woman hyphenating her maiden name and her married name (Hanna Jaffe-Walsh, for example) has become commonplace.  Practically every female NPR reporter has a hyphenated last name.  (Lourdes Garcia-Navarro, Barbara Bradley-Hagerty, Charlayne Hunter-Gault, Mary Louise-Kelly, Soraya Sarhaddi-Nelson, Ofeibea Quist-Arcton, Dina Temple-Raston and on and on and on.)  Fine with me.

What I'm not okay with is something that's becoming a trend:  Men hyphenating their last names.  I've only noticed professional athletes doing this, but what was one (a running back for some shit football team Benjarvus (wtf's w/ that name, btw) Green-Ellis), is now more and more, the latest a forward for some shitass fuckwad hockey team (Oliver Eckman-Larson).  Pick a name and go with it.  You can't have them all.

I've done a poll and I'm in the minority on calling this bullshit.  "They're honoring their mother and father."  Horse pucky.  "They had more than two parents."  Whatever.

If I'm behind the times and I'm just a grumpy old curmudge, fine.  But skip ahead some as this trend catches fire:  Oliver Eckman-Larson's kid marries Ofeibea Quist-Arcton's kid.  What you get is Mary Eckman-Larson-Quist-Arcton.  Mary marries Benjarvus Green-Ellis and Dina Temple-Raston's kid and ya get Phil Eckman-Larson-Quist-Arcton-Green-Ellis-Temple-Raston.

If that guy marries another jerk with eight last names, what are ya gonna have?  Do the math.

Let alone if he's a left-handed relief pitcher:  How are ya gonna fit all those names on the back of a Cubs jersey?

******************
Tonight the robot hands over the keys to the kingdom to longime TNSC list member Timothy Pries.  He's curating this evening's gathering and is taking us to one of the most legendary of the "new" ad agency bars.  By "new" we mean since the 80's.

So join us early (7pm) at Grumpy's.  Or join us late (10pm) at Comstock Saloon.
Or join us at both, if you dare.
******************

bye-ee!
whrr ... clik!

Thursday, October 16, 2014

Nothing to see here....

10.3.2014

Rant crapped out. Sorry. I would have repaired it, but I figured that greasing my robot gears was probably a better option.

Tonight - Il Pirata  (by request)

Good way to wait out the end of tonight's NLCS game.  Go Giants!

bye-ee!
whrr ... clik!

Thursday, October 09, 2014

FIFA, part 4

10.2.2014

It's not much of a venue announcement, I know, but I just wanted to inform you all that a week has passed and I still haven't heard a peep from Lucky.


Until I do, I'll be biding my time at - Hi Dive.   (your waterfront watering hole)

How about them Giants?!?

bye-ee!
whrr ... clik!

Thursday, October 02, 2014

FIFA, part 3

10.1.2014

To recap, some newbie Peet's® counterman mixed two roasts that should never have been mixed because he didn't know any better and I reported my misgivings to Peet's® headquarters and they responded.

The response from HQ said they'd reach out to the manager of that local shop and tell them my story.  Well they did, because the manager of that shop wrote to me:

  • Hello,

    My name is Lucky; I am the Store Manager at Peets in Marina Del Rey.  I am emailing about your bean experience here last week.  Thank you for bringing this to my attention, I am currently speaking to staff about their execution in the bean area when handling customers.  Your bean purchase is important to me and ensuring that you receive the correct beans is even more important.  I would like to offer you your beans for this week on us; we would like to make it up to you.  Please feel free to come in at anytime to receive your correct bean order.  I appreciate your business and I hope you have a awesome work week.

    Thank you,
  • Lucky
I wasn't out for free beans.  I just expected them to keep their staff better informed about their product than I was, and this guy wasn't, so I told them.  Here's what I said back:

Hello Lucky!  While it's very nice of you to offer a make-good sac of free beans, I wasn't after that and I'll gladly pay for my order.  If you were to do anything in return, I suggest you offer my order as a "Manager's Special."  I bet the public would go ape for "Peet's® Pyrenees Blend."  Why, I was talking coffee with some other parents at my son's school just the other day and said I mix Peet's® French and Italian roasts together and a school mom said, "So do I!!"  I asked her if she called it "Peet's® Pyrenees Blend," too, and she said she wasn't that smart.  I said, "It's not smart, it's geography!"  So what do you say?  Can you make a Manager's special and see if the public goes for it?
Thanks!! 

And while I thought we'd conclude this saga this week, ol' Lucky must still be milling it over, cuz she ain't wrote me back yet.

Watch this space for the conclusion ... whenever that is.


Tonight - Zeitgeist!


bye-ee!
whrr ... clik!