Archive for March, 2009
Door Holding Etiquette
Thursday, March 26th, 2009I’m just curious how other people handle this situation.
Your mother taught you that it’s polite to hold the door for someone walking behind you, right?
But what’s the cutoff distance? At what length of separation do you pretend that you don’t notice the person walking behind you? 25 feet? Does that sound right?
I know it’s the polite thing to do if someone is walking close behind you, but it’s always a little bit awkward when there’s a significant amount of separation. The person will start walking faster or even jog to catch up so that you don’t have to hold the door too long. I know when someone holds a door for me, and I still have some distance to cover, I certainly pick up the pace as I think to myself “gahhh, appreciated, but you should have just ignored me.”
Obviously if someone has a physical impairment then there’s no awkwardness involved for any distance, but for all other situations I think there should be a universally accepted cutoff distance.
25 feet.
So I’ll just put this out there now: If you’re more 25 feet behind me as I’m entering a building, I’m sorry. It’s nothing against you. You’re just beyond the unofficial official cutoff distance.
Maybe I overthink things. Or maybe I’m just a jerk.
Because it’s March…
Tuesday, March 24th, 2009This is what I expect to see from Jonny Flynn on Friday this week:
Except replace the guy getting clobbered with Blake Griffin.
Oh yeah, I went to Austin and it was awesome
Saturday, March 21st, 2009I went to Austin a few weeks ago. A good friend of mine from high school works for Samsung there and he’s been telling me for three years how fun Austin is. I decided it was about time to see if he was telling the truth.
And the verdict is in! Austin is awesome! So much good food! I’m feeling lazy right now, so I’ll just let some pictures do the explaining:
Texas Capitol
Ate at this Mexican place my first night there. Tasty stuff.
Played some BYOB mini golf at Peter Pan Mini-Golf. I don’t think the place had been updated since the 1970′s. I think there was lead paint peeling off the statues. Didn’t matter, it was BYOB!
Proof.
Ate at the Salt Lick BBQ. All you can eat BBQ. Bring some more beer as well as an appetite.
Proof.
Picture of 6th street.
Oh, and I can’t forget about the Alamo Draft House. Go to a movie and have food and drink brought to your seat while you watch!
Dealing with phone spammers
Thursday, March 12th, 2009There’s been an epidemic, here in California at least, of phone spammers calling random numbers and playing a recording message claiming that “your car’s warranty has expired.” The recording then asks you to press 1 if you’d like to be connected to a representative, who will then try to sell you an outrageously priced extended car warranty.
A few months back I was receiving a spammy call every day on my cell phone. The calls finally stopped, but yesterday I received a call on my work phone line for the first time. This was the last straw for me. I decided to actually press 1 this time to speak with someone and have a little fun. Here’s how the conversation went.
Rep: Hello. This is [some fake name]. Would you … [some lame sales pitch].
Me: Uhh…I didn’t even realize that my warranty had expired.
Rep: Well if you could tell me your car model, year, and VIN number I can check for you.
Me: Umm…I’d have to go outside and check. My car is across the street. Can you wait a few minutes?
Rep: Sure, I can hold.
Me: Thanks, I’ll be right back.
At this point I set the phone down on my desk and did a quick search for some crappy hip hop music on YouTube. As expected, YouTube provided me with an endless supply of crappy hip hop results. I chose one and put one of my headphone speakers up to the phone and turned the volume up full blast. I let this go on for at least five minutes, assuming that the guy probably hung up after the first 30 seconds. At this point I was done amusing myself, so I picked the phone up off my desk to see if he was still there.
Me: Hello? Are you still there?
Rep: Yes, Sir. I’m still here.
Me: Okay good. I realized when I got outside that I actually don’t own a car. I have a bicycle though.
Rep: [click]
I really hope they call again today. I have a few other things I want to try.
