Rants

07:08 am - Consumer Lesson

BP or Amoco places an $85.00 hold on your credit limit or checking account if you use a credit or debit card to buy gas. The hold can last several days depending upon your bank. I'm telling you because they don't post this anywhere in the gas station. So, upon checking your account after filling up, you have what appears to be an unauthorized $85.00 charge. This happens only on signature transactions. Despite BP's recent advertising, my recent visit to a BP gas station did not make my day better.

Just FYI, particularly if there's not much in your checking account.

04:49 am - Bench it Like Beckham

Bench it Like Beckham,
originally uploaded by Camerongallery.

11:04 am

I watched the space shutted Endeavor launch during the evening news. It made me really, really uncomfortable. The last time I watched a space shuttle launch, I was in third grade as Mrs. Gehris told us a teacher was going into space for the first time and how she had applied for the program. Then the Challenger exploded and she turned off the TV really quickly.

So, 22 years later, space shuttles make me uncomfortable. God, I think I need better psychoses.

04:11 pm - City Life, part deux

Most gas stations within Baltimore City limits, despite being equipped with buckets/slots for window cleaner, do not have squeegees. This is due to urban entrepreneurs repeated theft of squeegees in an attempt to make a few bucks cleaning driver's windshields.

My car is dirty as hell between the pollen and the concrete drilled in my parking garage. There is no incentive to watch my car until my parking garage ceases construction. So, it's been difficult to see out my back window for a couple of weeks.

I was thrilled to find a squeegee at the gas station when I filled up the other day. It totally made my day. How sad is that?

11:36 am - The Police

The show was excellent,despite the fact that we only heard the first song (Message in a Bottle) as we sprinted to our seats. Stewart Copeland is the best drummer I've ever heard. The set list was pure nostalgia: Don't Stand So Close to Me; Every Breath You Take; Everything She Does; Roxanne; and King of Pain.

We camped out on a blanket on a grassy median in the parking lot for an hour after the show watching thousands of cars not move. While the Police were awesome, the four and a half hour drive was not. The final driving time was three hours longer than predicted by Google maps. It should not take two hours to drive ten miles.

Dear Hershey, PA, consider doing this- turn all traffic lights on the one two lane road into the venue to flashing yellow and have police direct traffc into the venue. During my brief visit, I did not find any compelling evidence that Hershey is the sweetest place on earth.

11:19 am

Today, I mailed the final payment on undergraduate student loans. My bachelor's degree is finally paid for!

11:05 am - Apparently, my neighborhood isn't the only one going down hill

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/bal-md.rodricks21jun21,0,7140098.column?coll=bal-local-columnists

10:31 am - City Living

It was a bad day in the neighborhood for crime. Our neighbor's car (We'll call him P.) was broken into in broad daylight. A couple hours later, some kids came down the street with a fire extinguisher aiming it at the flowers in front of the houses. P, the local wannabe sherriff, confronts the kids and takes the fire extinguisher. Brad was with him. P was very nice but the future of Baltimore City threatened to hit with a piece of metal rebar.

I'm watching this from down the block. Another neighbor comes down the block with her grandchildren. She mutters that P. shouldn't be talking to the kids without the police or their parents around (um, hello, that's the problem, the parents are never around and the police aren't going to be there in time to do anything). She then buys dope from the dealer squatting two doors down with her grandchildren looking on.

Sigh.

11:43 pm - 24 Hours of Flickr

The uber groovy (or uber narcisstic) folks at Flickr are putting together a book of photos called 24 Hours of Flickr. Any Flickr member can sign up and submit one photo (only one!!) he or she took on May 5, 2007. Several photos will be published in a book or used at Flickr promotional events.

Brad and I volunteered at the extremely photogenic Kinetic Sculpture race on May 5, 2007. I need your help in choosing which one: Take a look (http://www.flickr.com/photos/camerongallery/sets/72157600226925172/) and leave your vote in the comments. Vote early! The submission deadline is May 21.

10:07 am - Good Common Sense Advice

Read documents before you sign them.
If you don't like what you're reading, you can change the document even if it is a pre-printed form. Put any changes in writing.
If you don't understand what you're reading, ask someone.
Put agreements and business dealings in writing. Don't make oral agreements or do business with a handshake.

This will save you so much trouble in life.