Wal-Mart Sucking Again

My little sister informed me last week that a week from now, when I'm in Tacoma, I am banned from shopping at Wal-Mart. This should not be difficult because there is no Wal-Mart in Tacoma.

This morning I went to my neighborhood Super Wal-Mart. I needed paper towels and a few other things. Like lime juice. Wal-Mart did not have any lime juice in stock.

The paper towels had one of those "Price Rollback" signs blaring that the pack of paper towels now cost $5.00. A price rollback of 63 cents. However, between when I put the paper towels in my cart and checked out the price must have rolled back up, because the paper towels rang up at $5.63.

I told the checkout girl that this was not the correct price. She told me I had to go to Customer Service to get it corrected. Even though it was early morning and Wal-Mart had few customers, there was a long long line at Customer Service. I believe Customer Service at Wal-Mart is what is known as an oxymoron.

Now, unlike Krogers or Albertsons, where I don't ever recollect the price mistake being in my favor, more often than not the price mistake at Wal-Mart gives me a bargain. So, I really didn't mind the 63 cent unexpected surcharge.

When I Googled "Wal-Mart Sucks", looking for an appropriate image, I found that there are websites devoted to Wal-Mart Sucking and Blowing. I also found some YouTube videos devoted to Wal-Mart and its tendency to suck in various ways.

Here's WALMART*SUCKS.ORG.

Here's Wal*Mart-Blows.com.

Here's Disgruntled Human complaining about Wal-Mart Sucking.

Here's Wal-Mart Really Sucks.

Okay, that's enough with the Wal-Mart Sucks websites. Now for some Wal-Mart Sucks video.

In the first video two guys whine about Wal-Mart, as they drive along. The best part of this one is at one point, like me, they lament that they continue to shop at the very place they are complaining about.



The second video is about a Wal-Mart employee and the shenanigans that go on during the late night shift.

The Closer To Texas

Yes, I know I said I was going to stop making fun of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram's goofy practice of mentioning any connection between someone in the news or on TV to Fort Worth or Texas, no matter how remote or pointless.

The worst practitioner of this eccentricity is this incredibly shrinking paper's TV writer, Robert Philpot.

This morning, Philpot wrote about the season premiere, tonight, on TNT of a show called The Closer, starring Kyra Sedgwick, produced by someone named James Duff.

Here's the goofy verbiage----

"Although its lead character is an Atlanta woman transplanted to Los Angeles, TNT's crime drama The Closer has a heavy Texas connection.

Series creator and executive producer James Duff grew up in a variety of Texas cities, thanks to his father's job with Sears, Roebucks & Co., and Duff's parents live in Arlington (Duff visited recently when his mother had neck surgery). Duff attended Texas Tech, where one of his teachers was G.W. Bailey, who plays the curmudgeonly Detective Lt. Provenza on the show. Among Bailey's best friends is Tarrant resident Barry Corbin...."

Eventually Philpot gets past the fascinating, totally important Texas connections to share some actual information about The Closer.

Miss Venezuela Wins, Miss USA Falls, Miss Puerto Rico Missing

My local Miss Puerto Rico must be devastated. Near as I can tell, looking at the news in the wee wee hours of the morning, Miss Puerto Rico didn't even come close to the coveted title of the Miss of the Entire Universe.

Kidnap victim, Venezuelan Dayana Mendoza, proved the Vegas bookies have a keen eye for beauty, with the odds on Vegas favorite beating 3 other Latin American Misses for the most prestigious title in the known Universe. The runner-up was Miss Columbia Tailana Vargas, Miss Domincan Republic Marianne Cruz Gonzalez was 3rd, Miss Mexico Elisa Najera came in 4th, with Miss Former Soviet Union Vera Krasova rounding out the top 5.

Miss USA was Miss Texas, Crystle Steward. Crystle was in the Top 10, but unfortunately she had a serious wardrobe malfunction when she tripped on her jewel encrusted gown and fell down. This is the second Miss Universe show in a row where the Miss USA girl takes a tumble. Last year Miss USA Rachel Smith also took a fall and bounced right back up, just like Miss USA did this year, as you can see for yourself in the video below. That is Miss USA on the ground in the photo on the right.

Miss Puerto Rico did not make the Top 10. In addition to the previously mentioned, Miss Kosovo, Miss Australia, Miss Spain and Miss Italy were the other Misses in the Top Ten.

I was over at my local Miss Puerto Rico's last night before the most important event on the planet was beamed live from Viet Nam's resort city of Nha Trang to the rest of the Universe. By the time I got back here I forgot, like millions upon millions of other Americans, that Miss Universe was about to be crowned. I made popcorn and watched The Simpsons instead. And King of the Hill. Neither Homer or Hank Hill watched the Miss Universe thing either.

Lake Grapevine Rockledge Park Video

Like I said I was going to do, in a blogging earlier today, I went to Lake Grapevine to hike, swim and picnic. I'm back from that ordeal and have already YouTubed a primitive video.

The hiking was hot. I hiked in my swimming suit which made swimming an easy transition. I was sweating like a fat pig. Was so looking forward to the water. I'd not been in Lake Grapevine since I was attacked by a maniac turtle way back in July of 2002. I'd sworn off getting into murky Texas Lakes. But Lake Grapevine was somewhat clear today. And warm. Way warmer than the swimming pool water. The air temp was near 100. I don't think the lake water was far behind. The only time a lake has felt warmer was way back in 1999 at Lake Mead in August with my nephews.

We had some difficulty finding a picnic table, but eventually found a huge pavilion that was supposed to be used by reservation only. And I assume a fee. But, we weren't the only scofflaws. Soon after our picnic began, a huge family showed up with quite an elaborate set up, including a hammock.

Anyway, here's a very short video giving you a very short idea of what Rockledge Park on Lake Grapevine is like on a HOT July Sunday in Texas.

Miss Universe Drives Miss Puerto Rico Nuts

One of the first times I was visiting my local Puerto Rican it was the night of the Miss Universe contest. I did not realize those Miss Universe Miss America things still took place.

But, my local Miss Puerto Rico acted as if it was the Olympics or a Presidential election. Well, that night, Miss Puerto Rico won. Even though it was late, Miss Puerto Rico called her mother, on the island, so they could celebrate together. This was the first time it crossed my mind that this person may be nuts.

Well, tonight is the Miss Universe Pageant. It's on NBC. Live from Viet Nam. Apparently Third, Fourth and Fifth World countries have revived this thing, as in it's a big deal to them. Some really poor countries can not afford the entry fee. Like Armenia and Nepal.

My local Miss Puerto Rico is certain Miss Puerto Rico, Ingrid Rivera, is going to win. Bookies pick Miss Venezuela, Dayana Mendoza, to win. Miss Venezuela vexes my local Miss Puerto Rico due to her being from Hugo Chavez's country and some remarks Miss Venezuela made about it being unfair for other countries to have to compete against women from her country due to their over abundance of beauty. Or something like that. Miss Puerto Rico can sometimes lose something in the translation.

Miss Puerto Rico insists I watch the Miss Universe thing with her tonight. That is not going to happen.

Below is video of Miss Venezuela. I hope she beats Miss Puerto Rico. I hope Miss Puerto Rico does not read my blog. She's got a nasty temper.

Sunday Hike, Swim & Picnic at Lake Grapevine

Today I'm going to do something I've not done in awhile. As in drive up to Rockledge Park on Lake Grapevine and go on hike, then swim, then have a picnic. I used go up to Rockledge all the time, but it somehow seemed foolish to waste gas. But then this morning I realized I'm spending way less on gas than I did when it cost $1.50 a gallon, due to driving way less.

On the way to Lake Grapevine I'm going to another place I've not gone in a long time, that being Sprouts. Sprouts is my favorite grocery store. This week they've got seedless Texas-grown watermelons for only $1.99. Last week I discovered I can make watermelon juice with my Vita-Mix. Mixed with lemonade, the watermelon juice is a very very good thing.

Lake Grapevine's waves can get almost ocean-size in a good wind. I always see big clam shells on the beach at this lake. I did not know clams grew in freshwater lakes. There also are a lot of seagulls. I can almost pretend I'm at a Washington saltwater beach when I'm at Lake Grapevine. In a week I'll be at the real thing. A Washington saltwater beach, I mean.

I'm going to take video today at Lake Grapevine, so be looking for that on a blog soon. Probably later today.

Sunburn in Texas

Yesterday while hiking at Tandy Hills Nature Preserve, sans shirt, it suddenly occurred to me that there is proof that we humans did not originate on this planet.

But, before I get to my epiphany, a short history of my sunburn issues. When I was 14 I fell asleep on the beach at San Luis Obispo State Park in California. I woke up to the worst sunburn of my life. The sunburn caused a blister on my back. When that popped and healed over, the new skin no longer had pigment, as in there is about a 1/4 inch in diameter round white spot on my back.

I have to put ultra-high sunscreen on my white spot or it gets incredibly sunburned, incredibly easy. So, for decades now, I've mastered a contortionist's act to manage to get sunscreen onto my albino spot. Sometimes I'm lucky enough to have someone to do this for me.

So, I'm hiking along and I suddenly I wondered why humans get sunburned. Shouldn't all of these eons of humans evolving under the sun managed to evolve us to a version of human with skin that does not burn? We humans haven't always worn clothes to keep the sun off us. Back before Eve took a bite of that apple, humans ran around naked all the time.

I think the fact that after all these eons of being under the sun we still have skin that burns is obvious proof the we humans came to earth from another planet, a planet where the sun did not burn our skin. And we have not been on this planet long enough to evolve into having sunburn-proof skin. Instead we have a huge suntan/sunburn protection industry.

Now, a registered known idiot aquaintance of mine told me that Black people do not get sunburns. If that were true, which it's not, this would mean that Black people are the only humans actually native to the planet. But it's not true, so we're all aliens from another planet. Black people are fortunate in that the darker pigment of their skin lets them be out in the sun longer before getting burned.

Well, it's time to put some SPF 60 on my spot and head outside to do some evolving in the sun.

Dallas Cowboy Construction Scandal

A few months ago I made a video of the then current state of construction of the new Dallas Cowboy Stadium, interspersed with photos of the houses and apartment buildings that were stolen from their owners and then destroyed, in what is believed to be the worst case of eminent domain abuse in American history.

This morning one of the victims of Jerry Jones and the Dallas Cowboys and the City of Arlington commented on the video.

Below is that comment. And the video being commented on.

"wow thats wierd to watch. we were relocated due to the new cowboy stadium. we were some of the last to leave. it's very surreal to watch your nieghbor hood where you live be torn down around you. I'm not whining about it, we are now much better off for having moved. However it is still sad that all those memories took place in a small run down nieghborhood that no longer exist."

FAA Radar Records Confirms Stephenville UFO

The January 8, 2008 Stephenville UFO is back in the news. The Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) filed 10 Freedom of Information requests with the Federal Aviation Agency.

The FAA had no choice but to release the radar records from January 8.

Those records confirm the presence of unidentified aircraft, with at least one appearing to head towards President Bush's Crawford Ranch. The radar records show several unidentified aircraft in the same area that residents reported seeing strange things in the sky.

Radar tracked the Crawford bound UFO for more than an hour. People who saw the UFO said it appeared to move at less than 60 mph and then accelerate greatly. The radar record shows the same thing. At one point the UFO put the pedal to the metal and went from 60 mph to 532 mph in 30 seconds.

Radar lost contact with the UFO about 10 miles from the Bush Crawford Ranch.

Could there have been a presidential alien abduction? I can't help but wonder. If you think about it, when was the last time you heard President Bush make one of his patented verbal miscues? Could the aliens have taken the original President Bush and replaced him with an improved version? Bush has managed at least 2 overseas trips since January 8 without a faux pas. And he has not started a single war since January 8.

Maybe the Universe is looking out for the good ol' USA in our troubling time of need.

Below is video about the Stephenville UFO.

Tracy Rowlett Taking Flak For Being Chesapeake Chump

Yeterday many people in the D/FW zone of Texas were surprised to learn that local CBS Channel 11 News Guy, Tracy Rowlett, was quitting TV to be a part of Chesapeake Energy's ongoing propaganda campaign, by anchoring an online "news" channel called Shale TV.

Apparently Rowlett has been taking a lot of flak and accusations of being a sell out, ala Tommy Lee Jones.

The Dallas alternative paper of record had an interesting article about the Rowlett chump.

Click here to read the article.

The article includes at least one link to a very informative blog.

Read a blurb from the article below.

Dallas Observer: So, from the tone in your voice, I can already tell you're stunned by the reaction you've received from folks here and elsewhere concerning your decision to work for Chesapeake.

Rowlett: I am catching hell, but the unfortunate truth is most of what the bloggers are saying isn't true. Just give us an opportunity to do what we're going to do and just judge us based on what we'll do. You gotta remember, every program I've done had a sponsor. And I wouldn't kill a negative story about a sponsor. We've got what I'd like to think are three premier journalists -- including Olive Talley and Jon Sparks -- and they don't come any better than that. John broke the SMU scandal, and Olive was a Pulitzer finalist. We're not chumps jumping into the PR side.