alarm clocks, cranky restaurant patrons, and other items that will thrill and bless you

Okay, now I shall tell you why my new alarm clock is indeed a dream machine just like it states on the front. 2 things - first of all, it KNOWS things. I plugged it in for the first time and voila!! the exact and correct time is displayed! I let out a startled yelp. Okay, I was pleasantly surprised. The other exciting feature - well, you know when you are setting your alarm - if you want to get up 15 minutes earlier than the morning before, you have to go through the whole 60 number (or I guess 45) to get back to 15 minutes earlier. And when setting my alarm, I frequently go one hour or a few minutes past where I want to be and then have to sit there and go through the whole thing again. Sometimes several times on a bad day. I'm sure I've wasted hours of my life doing that. Well, this new little friend of mine has this fancy shmancy dial like button - one way is forward, one way is backward, and there you have it. It takes seconds to correct accidentally jumping ahead too far. I'm sure it's not nearly as exciting reading about it as it is actually experiencing it. But lest you think the new little guy is completely angelic, let me tell you, he does have a bit of a mean streak. It will randomly throughout the night and early morning hours, burst into this very highly annoying static noise. So we're going to have a little chat about that and then hopefully moving the cell phone will help that as well. Okay, that's my pilgrimage with my new alarm clock.

So, tonight I went out to eat with my wonderful friend Patti and it was quite theatrical. I'll just give you the highlights. So, apparently the restaurant had just been busier than it had been in months, and frankly, they just weren't prepared (as overheard by manager to patron). So there was this couple sitting close by and when there food came - oh my - the displeasure was readily apparent and quite venomous. He stated that they had waited an hour and the food was not what they ordered and he wasn't about to eat it, etc. etc. Someone came out to talk to them, followed shortly thereafter by the manager. I think in the end they got the food for free and ate it in somber contemplation of the fact that life here on earth is not as it should be. What followed was the manager perusing about the restaurant apologizing for the terrible service and handing out free stuff. Now, can I just say, I realise when you go out to eat you are paying for a service and have some expectation of what that service should look like. And I can see having a civilized discussion with the powers that be if that service is excessively flawed. But there is something that really gets on my nerves about people who are really cranky and obnoxious about restaurant food and service. I mean, for Pete's sake - it's FOOD people. Here in North America there isn't exactly a shortage. In light of eternity, will it really matter if you didn't eat exactly what you wanted or had to wait a little longer than planned. In 5 years will it matter? Will it matter tomorrow? I mean, there are some things in this world worth getting all bent out of shape over, but in my very humble estimation, this is not one of them. But I'm sure you will be happy to correct me if I'm wrong. What do you think? Oh, I almost forgot. So when we were paying and preparing to leave, the waitress brought back the little book thing with the bill and my credit card was um, NOT there - not at all even a little bit. So we got her attention and told her and she started frantically searching all her waitress pockets. And it wasn't there either. And the kid close by cleaning tables was amused by all the drama. So she goes to the back to look for my credit card. The kid comes back and starts asking if she found it and saying how bad it would be if she lost it and he didn't see it back there anywhere. Fun stuff. Then she eventually comes back with it and tell me she dropped it on the floor in the back and someone picked it up. I can't say that's ever happened to be before in a restaurant.

In other news - I'm so glad it's Friday and I'm looking forward to the fact that I don't have a lot to do tomorrow. Last weekend I was all excited about the 3 day weekend, but I just ran around like a chicken the whole time. Or talked on the phone. To my sister. Anyway, this weekend I don't have as much to do and that makes me happy. I've been compulsively making lists and running around madly for what seems like a long time so tomorrow I think I'm going to find a spot on the ceiling and stare at it for a long long time. Okay, well, I think I'm going to provide you some relief from my boring thoughts and go to bed or something. Hope your weekends are off to a wonderful start!