More from the F.W. Symmes Branch (Pelham Rd): I have a lie-berry card!!!

Well, here I am at the Pelham Road branch, with 55 whole minutes left to update this here BLOG. As I have much to say, it seems fitting that I choose "bullet-points" format for this post, as it is particularly well suited for conveying large quantities of information in a relatively small amount of space. Plus, it reminds me of my Power Point days at USCC, which some of you may recall (and if so, BULLY FOR YOU!!!).

*Cheerwine, with real sugar!- I purchased a glass bottle of Cheerwine from a gas station in Asheville on my way home from work yesterday. I actually bought the glass bottle because it was retro-looking, with the old Cheerwine design printed on the bottle (though the bottle was of thin, cheap glass, not of the quality of the old returnable bottles), but when I looked closely at the printing on the bottle, I saw the words "Real Sugar". It contained cane sugar, not corn syrup. This discovery excited me, since corn syrup is cheap, and evil, and is the reason why Coca Colas today don't taste the way they did when I was a little kid, and so I am always on the lookout for soft drinks containing real cane sugar. (Also, I am very lonely and bored right now. I have watched Barbershop II 15 times in the past 10 days. It doesn't take much right now to make me happy.)

When I popped the cap and had a sip, I could immediately detect a flavor difference. The cherry flavoring was much more pronounced, and the overall mouth-feel was much crisper and less sour. The effect was such that I decided I had to find a six-pack of these bottle somewhere. So far, I have been unsuccessful, but I will perservere!!!

Also, I wanted to save the empty bottle, but I dropped it on my way into the hotel and it shattered into a million pieces. I promise you that an old Coke bottle would have bounced.


*I sure do miss HBO- For some reason, the television selection at the extended stay place is extremely limited, and limited in odd ways. I have the network channels, 2 ESPNs (yeah, and I love sports so much), 2 CNNs (all Aruba, all the time), TBS & TNT & WGN, and 3 Showtimes. 3 Showtimes. You'd think with three, they'd manage to show something that doesn't suck donkey balls. But, hey, guess what? You'd be wrong. I flipped past the other day and saw a movie starring Scott Baio. Scott furgin Baio!!! And it wasn't even "Zapped!". As a result of Showtime's suckitude, I have found myself watching the few decent movies over and over again. "The Core" (don't laugh; I like this movie). "School Of Rock". And, yes, "Barbershop II". Keep in mind, I've never sen "Barbershop I". "Barbershop II" is not all that good, but it is diverting for an hour or so, which is all I am really looking for at this point. Showtime sucks.

*The real meat of the matter- Things seem to be going well for me here in the Carolinas. I have been commuting the past week to Asheville to help a customer with some issues in their tool crip. It's not really a glamorous assignment, but the customer is important, and they wanted someone from IDG to help them reorganize and re-label their endmills and drills and reamers, and I was the guy that was sent. I don't know jack squat about reamers and end mills and drills, but I have done my best, and the folks at Smiths Aerospace seem to like the job I've been doing (they keep buying me lunch). A couple of the IDG sales guys came by today to check up on the reorganization, and the guys in the tool crib made a big deal about how much help I have been to them, which I appreciate. The guys at Smiths know I am a new employee, and I think they feel a little sorry for me, sorry that my first real work for IDG has been to help them clean up a mess that apparently took several weeks of focused effort to create in the first place. Plus, I really have been working hard, skipping breaks, etc, because I have wanted to get off on a good foot with IDG, show them that they didn't make a mistake in hiring me.

This weekend, I fly back to West Tenn. We'll finish packing up on Saturday, then leave out EARLY Sunday to try to beat some of the traffic on our way back to Cackalacka. It will be great to see Chauntelle again.

Oh well, time runs short. I love you all and look forward to more regular access tothe Internets in the near future.

Bully for you.