Me

I was driving home yesterday and something in the curb gutter in front of my house caught my attention. I had a sinking feeling when I saw it. When I got out and went over for a closer look, my suspicions were confirmed. It was my antenna Ball. I have had that Jack In The Box antenna ball for over 10 years. The mouth, eyes and nose were long gone so the only thing left was the round Styrofoam ball and the yellow hat. It was like an old friend and I could always spot my truck by the antenna ball that no one else would ever have.

I told Sharon about my tragedy. She said "poor little fellow, we should bury him". The ball was on longer round because someone had run over it. I tenderly put it back on my antenna but he was a goner. It no longer looked like a Jack In The Box antenna ball missing a couple of parts. It looked like a piece of Styrofoam just jammed on the antenna.

Sharon loves Jack In The Box antenna balls. I believe she has all the special edition balls in a collection. She looked in her collection and found she had two "Party On Jacks", I believe from 2002 New Years time period. She gave one to me. The new ball is very fancy and I am sure he will lose details much faster that my old tradition Jack In The Box. So Far, my truck has not rejected the transplant ball. The next couple of days are critical as to whether my truck accepts or rejects the transplant. I will just have to get used to the "Party On Jack". I doubt it will last 150,000 miles like my old Jack In The Box ball.

I do not accept change very well.

I am really down on corporations in the electric business. Their money, in my opinion, is chiefly responsible for the deregulation of electricity. I know it was not the consumer who wanted electric rates that were 40% higher than than the neighboring states. I do not understand why Democrats running for state office do not make this an issue. I know that I can no longer votes for a Republican for any state office.

But I regress. Earlier this week, Sharon came home and said there was a group of door to door salesmen in the neighborhood. It was almost time to go to Lubys, which would make it about 4:30. We were almost ready to go when the doorbell rang. I saw this group of four or five people standing on the front porch. I open the door and went outside closing the door behind me. I saw a "Reliant Energy" patch on their shirt. The hair on the back of my neck immediately bristled. The head guy started his rehearsed spill when I stopped him by saying there was no way I was ever going to do business with Reliant Energy if I had a choice. He asked me why and I told him. I thought I was pretty clear but he came back with "we have a 12 cent rate". I could have told him I could get a 10 cent rate by just going on the Internet but I wanted to end the conversation and go to Lubys, so I said "I don't care if you have a 3 cent rate, I will never again do business with Reliant if I have a choice". I walked in the house without giving them a chance to reply and shut the door. Off to Lubys.

I received my gas bill today, Center Point Energy. I knew it was incorrect by 100 cubic feet. Went out to make sure, sure enough, too high by 100 CF. So I called and got customer service. After about 10 minutes of answering questions, you know, phone number, address etc. The person than told me my personal information was incomplete and would I like her to record my social security number and date of birth. In my best imitation of "The Band" in their song "The Weight" all I said was "NO".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmRDM7GyJXE

I was talking to my old friend tonight and we somehow wandered back to our college days at Texas. He was talking about how bad a student he was and how he just barely graduated with a 1.01 on a 3 point system. He was talking about how he had bombed a couple of courses and it made me think about the most extreme insult I have ever heard of from a professor on an exam.

I believe the course was Biology...not a course you would normally take to improve your grade point average. I was going for a beer with this person who was a little upset. I didn't ask her why, but then she showed me her graded exam. The grade was a 7. How do you come up with a 7 out of a possible 100? I do not know how the professor arrived at that grade, but she showed me some of his comments on her answers. Words like "ridiculous" and "is this even relevant to the question". Every answer had some comment like the ones I remember. Needless to say she failed the course. The professor must have been making some kind of statement. I know that I got my share of "F's" in my second semester of my freshman year. That was because I did not go to class after the first week. I also got a "F" which is anything below a 60. I never received a numerical grade in single digits. That fact makes you wonder why.

I think everyone show be aware of this story. No matter how badly you do in any course, just remember the girl that received a 7 on a quiz. I guess it could have been worse, she could have been graded with a 5 or 6. I don't know if this made my friend feel better about his college career, but it could have been worse. I also wonder how he came so close to not even graduating, he was never on ScoPro like I was after my freshman year. If he had not made two "B's" and a "C" in his last semester...he just took 9 hours, he could not have graduated. I guess the early shock of being on ScoPro made an impact on me.