Invisible People and Fake Refunds

Hey, it did not even take me a week before blogging again this time.

Yesterday, I got off of work at 16:00 and I went to O'Hare International Airport (ORD) to pick-up Cha Cha from her company's national sales meeting in Orlando. Have you ever wondered why O'Hare's airport code is ORD? I have always known that is was an abbreviation for orchard (since 1940 it was coded that way). I further knew it was because, where it sits, it used to be an orchard. I did not know, until now, why it was named O'Hare. Was it because rabbits (hares) would probably live in the orchard? No, it was named O'Hare in honor of World War II flying ace Edward Henry "Butch" O'Hare in 1949. I write "World War II flying" ace and I think of Snoopy and his Sopworth Camel that looked a lot like a doghouse with a propeller. For some reason, nobody decided to change the ORD to a more fitting to the airport's namesake. It could have been abbreviated as EHO (Edward Henry O'Hare)? I just looked at all of the U.S. airport codes and very few of them make sense given their names or locales. Midway Airport in Chicago is MDW; now that makes some sense.

All that travel talk makes me think that I got all of the vacation days that I had put in for approved. I did not allocate all of my vacation hours as I like to keep some in case something arises or I just decide to carry some over to the following year. I have this coming Saturday off so I only have to work a three-day week. We have a get-together with some family to celebrate Fabio's 21st birthday (January 22) and Splenda's 26th (February 5). I then get about two week's off in April/May for Cha Cha and my 30th wedding anniversary (April 30th). We still have to figure what we are going to do / where we are going to go for our anniversary. It will be probably be more exciting than our honeymoon was - St. Louis. You know she's a keeper when she will go to Busch Stadium to see a Cardinals' game on her honeymoon. We did get to meet Fredbird though so it was all worth it.

Here is the staff trying to assemble his casket

If the weather forecast for today is correct we should experience at least three of the four seasons today. I think we will have all but summer.

I heard that the founder of IKEA, Ingvar Kamprad, died today. We used to go to IKEA a lot and we love their stuff but it is always a madhouse and you have to wait in lines to check-out for a really long time. Assembling their stuff with their weird little tool kits was always so exasperating too. Kamprad was the richest man in Sweden. I would have thought that it was one of the members of ABBA but maybe they are the richest now that this dude is gone?

Jill told me about a young female bartender at the Orlando airport. You know the type, she called everybody "hon" and knew everything. Jill said that the girl talked about how the Civil War was not about slavery but, in fact, about states rights. What, states rights to own another human being? Bartenders should not engage in any controversial talk since they rely, largely, on tips.

I cannot believe it is almost noon already. Time flies when you are blogging and watching In the Line of Fire. I have liked a lot of Clint Eastwood's movies even though I think he's a kook. Maybe I just think that because of his politics - especially when he was talking to that empty chair on the stage at the RNC (Republican National Convention). I am not sure if that was acting or senility or humor... I think, if memory serves, he was talking to/debating with an invisible Barack Obama? It is funny that I wrote "when memory serves" when he doesn't even remember if there is somebody sitting in the chair next to him or not. I also think he lost that debate; Eastwood must be a master debater. I have liked quite a few of his movies - there is a fine line between genius and insanity.

BASTARDS! (mine has my name on it though

When we cancelled DirecTV and changed to Roku we now have a credit of $51.93. So, we got a DirecTV Mastercard for $51.93. I have to activate the card and, if we don't use the entire balance, there $3.00/month fee . I am going to head over to my bank tomorrow and see if I can just put the money in our bank account. Otherwise, I will probably use the card to pay a bill or something. Why couldn't they just send us a check or directly deposit into our account? We had the payment direct deposited into their account every month when we paid for the DirecTV. They are just trying to get some of that money for themselves. Bastards! I bet people will not use it all and DirecTV is makes thousands of dollars on pennies and fees and unused cards. I will be sure to use all of this credit/refund... as blog is my witness.

I am going to end this now and get out of my pajamas and into some big-boy clothes since it is after noon. I am glad that you were here and that it is Saturday Sunday. I also have to watch Saturday Night Live because that is on my todo list.