Lost in Translation

So the Dunkin Donuts on 28th and Madison HAS to be one of the worst. I went in today with my coworker because they had a huge sign that read " Small Iced Coffee $0.50 plus tax, all day April 21, 2009. I wait on an excruciatingly long line, and order my coffee. Here is how it went.

Me: Hi can I have a small iced coffee with skim milk and splenda?

Indian female DD Employee: How many splenda you want? (doesn't wait for answer calls out "small iced coffee, ONE splenda)

Me: TWO splendas.

DD Employee: TWO splenda?

Me: Yes.

DD Employee: (something in another language- hindi?) "TWO splenda"

DD Employee: $2.49.

Me: (confused look on face)...the sign says 50 cents.

DD Employee: Oh, OK..54 cents.

SO the coffee was horrible and watered down. Perhaps I would have been better off with the $2.49 version?

On another note, Hub and I went to a DD in Times Square. Hub ordered bagels and requested they be toasted.

Hub: 2 whole wheat bagels, toasted.

Indian male DD Employee: Oh, the toaster is out of order.

Hub: So its broken.

DD Employee: It not broken, just out of order.

Hub: Isn't that the same thing?

DD Employee: Its not broken, broken you cannot fix..its out of order. We can heat in the microwave.

Hub: Great.

And you thought your computer had issues!

I was searching the internet for a troubleshooting issue and came across this article on the Microsoft support website:

"Computer Randomly Plays Classical Music"

>

During normal operation or in Safe mode, your computer may play "Fur Elise" or "It's a Small, Small World" seemingly at random. This is an indication sent to the PC speaker from the computer's BIOS that the CPU fan is failing or has failed, or that the power supply voltages have drifted out of tolerance. This is a design feature of a detection circuit and system BIOSes developed by Award/Unicore from 1997 on.

Although these symptoms may appear to be virus-like, they are the result of an electronic hardware monitoring component of the motherboard and BIOS. You may want to have your computer checked or serviced.

LOL..so the computer played classical music upon the death of the CPU?

What are we doing wrong?

Doesn't anyone work anymore?? This is what I have wondered for some time now. When my coworker and I get coffee and walk around the City, there are people everywhere! We accounted for the retirees, the rich upper east side housewives, the stay at home moms, the vagrants, students, the disabled, nannies, part-timers, night workers and those who may have just taken a day off. But there are still a lot of people left. "What are we doing wrong?" we often wonder. "Look at that guy-what the hell does he do!", my coworker will often exclaim. I want to be like these people and be able to walk around the City all day, strolling about with my Starbucks cup and window shopping without a care in the world. You might think that people look at us and say the same thing. But we are not wearing jeans and are usually walking in a determined pace. Not so with the non-workers. I go to the library in the middle of the day and there are people just sitting down, reading at their own leisure. There are people in Starbucks who look like they've been there for hours.

We go to work everyday while THEY are out enjoying each day. What are we doing wrong? How can we be like them?

Must Love Nuts

OK there is a new funny infomercial contender- This is the guy that used to do the Sham Wow infomercials. I don't know why him and Billy Mays (the Oxiclean guy) feel the need to scream their point across. They aren't selling hearing aides.


If you haven't seen this, please pay attention at 0:36.

This is also a great one with Tom Cruise (with a "K")

She shoulda beat him with her umbrella..brella..brella

Recently, I was in Target with my step daughter and there was a People magazine near the checkout counter. She asked me if that was Michelle Obama on the cover. Indeed, it was, with her hair up. She said "I hope she didn't cut her hair short like Rhianna". "I don't like Rhianna anymore". When I asked why she replied, "because she made Chris Brown go to jail". LOL! So I explained that while no one knows the truth, CB may have beat her up, and that NO woman deserves to be treated like that no matter what- even if she was mean! Then she said "yeah, but he got her an iPod". LOL.

While I do feel bad for what happened to Rhianna, she needs to realize she is setting a very bad example for young girls.

Time Time Time

Now that I am in my third decade on Earth, time seems to be speeding up. Things that happened 3 years ago feel like they were only last year. Christmases come and Christmases go. Every day its almost the same routine (only with a different outfit). Of course there are also wonderful things like my wedding and honeymoon, vacations and special or fun moments with family and friends and feelings of accomplishment.

When I was young, one year seemed to take forever to go by. Maybe I should quit my job and go to college again..I wonder if time would slow down? I am just afraid that in the blink of an eye, I will wake up and be 70. I haven't even accepted being middle aged yet! With time speeding up, everything becomes important. In your 20's, it feels as if you have years and years to think about these life changes. There is no rush, people will even tell you to "take your time, enjoy life first". But suddenly, when you are in your 30's, the decisions need to be made now. Very bad for someone who has a hard time making decisions. What if I am 40 and am still struggling with these same questions? This, coupled with the aging process, makes it even more difficult. Especially when you still feel young.

I have a great husband, step-daughter, family, friends, a stable job, fun coworkers, an apartment in a decent neighborhood...but I wish time would slow down. I want all the special moments to really last. I want to go on vacation for a week and have it feel like a month. I want actual time to think about major decisions. Maybe everything is more "rushed" as we get older. We aren't spending as much time with our friends, because most of us are married and have children and full time jobs, sometimes its hard for us to even make an appointment for ourselves because our lives are so harried. We are always rushing from one thing to the next, getting ready for work, staying late at work, making dinner, caring for kids, packing stuff up, checking emails, making phone calls, doing research...maybe time seems to be passing us by at the speed of light because we need to slow down.

*I did not mean to give off a pessimistic vibe here, this is just something that has been on my mind for awhile as I am struggling to make some changes in my own life. Hopefully by publishing this post, I will cure my "blogger's block".