Quick Hits

Some quick thoughts from the past couple of weeks that don't merit their own post, just because I really don't have much to say about them:

• Shirley's Bakery (from the Dead to Me list) continues to justify my putting them on there. When asked if there was any way to avoid waiting in line to get some rolls, they told my mother-in-law "come earlier." Honestly, who does this? Can you come up with a system, say actually baking the rolls ahead of time, to improve your customer service?

• I was behind a guy at Costco Gasoline today who went through all the motions of actually pumping the gas - swiping his card, putting the nozzle in his gas tank, squeezing the handle, etc - without actually pumping gas. The guy sat there for a few minutes as though it was working. He got out of his car to put the nozzle back and collect his reciept only to find out that he was the dumbest person alive. That's right, he hadn't pumped one ounce of gas. It's times like these that make me think that maybe Oregon (California's Canada, and one of two states that won't let you pump your own gas) might actually be on to something.

• Is Hugo Chavez insane, or does he really think that he wants to turn Venezuela into a paradise a la Cuba? Since when did being insanely poor and destitute despite a wealth of natural resources become something to aspire to?

• The bank that my company banks at (AmBank) hasn't had internet banking for the past 3 weeks. The main reason is because they must want to lose all their customers. I haven't seen anything like it since Al Gore invented the Internet.