Just Another Pleasant Valley Sunday Saturday

I got to meet some of the people the Boy Genius really loves today.

After running the usual Saturday errands, I stop by a local burger joint for some lunch. This place is old school - no drivethru, you get your overweight butt out of the car and walk inside to order your cheap, tasty and greasy food. The place is usually packed, and the tiny waiting area is almost always chaotic. There's no line, you just step forward when it's your turn and one of the high school girls behind the counter asks to help whomever is next.

It wasn't that busy today, but there were a few people standing around waiting their turn. As it rolls around to me being next, a trio of elderly women walk in the door and join the herd. A moment or two later, there's a call of "Who's next?".

Sure enough, one of the elderly women elbows her way to the counter and places an order. Never mind the fact that there are at least four people standing around, pretty obviously not yet served. Her companions follow her lead. Each orders and pays separately, dragging out the time the rest of us have to wait.

Nobody says a word. You just can't win an argument with the elderly, and the ringleader's sour "I drink a quart of spoiled milk in the morning just for fun" countenance completed the job of ensuring that she and her friends got their way sans debate.

These are some of the same people that will soon be telling you the height of your lawn exceeds the city maximum, and here's a $50 ticket to help you see the error of your ways. Have a nice day. And, by the way, you're jaywalking, you young whippersnapper. Oy.

I can't wait to see what'll happen tomorrow when I go to the grocery store.

The local paper also published the list of the first five senior "volunteers". I recognized one name, a long time junior high school teacher. About the nicest person you'd ever want to meet. So at least I can offer one positive thought about the program. It might not be so bad.

The article noted that the volunteers will be driving around in the city's Honda Prius Hybrid (no, that's not my error, that's what the story says). If you REALLY wanted to stir the pot around here, a letter to the editor asking why the city's buying foreign cars would probably do the trick. It could rival the sheer ugliness of the last go-round of the "God hates homosexuals" vs. "God is love" debate. We've got quite a roster of people ready to offer an opinion on most any issue, and they'd probably have a field day with this one.

Yes, this is a very, very small town.

So anyway, while I'm sitting there eating my future-heart-attack-in-waxed-paper, I'm watching the activity taking place in the parking lot of the local Catholic church next door. A group of teenagers are horsing around and actually flying a kite. Yup, flying a kite. This would be all well and good, but for the fact that this parking lot is located immediately adjacent to the main drag, which happens to be a very busy highway. Great idea. I can just see the accident report now -- "I was minding my own business, driving along at the limit, when all of a sudden this thing came crashing down from the sky and prevented me from seeing ....".

If this is the future of our country, when do we commence to panic?

It was a good day.

No poker content at the moment. I'm busy trying to suck out on some schlubs as I write this. It's going better than yesterday. So far. Oh, and the Party bad beat jackpot is nearing $200,000.00, meaning that it's almost +EV. Almost. Much like winning the lottery, the chances of hitting it are miniscule, but the lure of the big score keeps the fish (like me) interested.