Mmmm...Capitalism

I like Starbucks. There. I said it. What? You don't?

I don't particularly relish in the fact that I like Starbucks, but hey, at least I'm not alone. From what I hear, its a fairly popular brand. Yeah, they are a mega-corporation, and an icon of the best and the worst that capitalism offers:

Good: Great-tasting coffee at fairly reasonable prices (even though admittedly they made the American consumer okay with the concept of a $4 cup of coffee).
Bad: Thousands upon thousands of chain stores moving into target markets and running smaller, locally-owned stores out of business. Good: A corporate image that attempts to reflect care for the environment, communities, and its employees.
Bad: Allegedly establishing monopolies in certain communities and artificially raising prices due to lack of competition
Good: Starbucks Doubleshot on Ice
Bad: Pike's Place Roast



Ugh. Pike's Place Roast. Beginning last year, Starbucks started offering this "new, special blend" in an attempt to cater to the Dunkin' Donuts crowd. In other words, they started brewing cheap gas station coffee. Now don't get me wrong, I love me some cheap gas station coffee when I'm in the mood, but I come to Starbucks for a cup of coffee that at least has the pretension of tasting better than that. If I'm going to lower myself to visit a Starbucks, I might as well get a cup of coffee that makes it worth my time.

It wouldn't be so bad except for the fact that they apparently have attempted to make it their brew of choice - if you just walk in and ask for a coffee, they'll give you Pike's Place. All of the pound bags of coffee laying around for sale are Pike's Place. All of the in-store ads are for Pike's Place. This has gone on for about a year now, but I think the seams are starting to wear a bit.

Nearly every time that I've walked into a Starbucks and asked for a "any medium coffee that isn't Pike's Place," I've been met with a knowing smile from the barista. Sometimes, as happened yesterday, they will actually acknowledge that they hate the stuff or that it tastes like crap. And sometimes, like yesterday, they actually say,

"Yeah, I hear its going to be phased out here pretty soon."


yayyy

Oh, Hell Yes

'nuff said.

Ahh, the Year in Review

Time: Longer than usual because I had to run back upstairs to get my scooter keys when I went outside this morning and found that it wasn't -50 degrees outside

Miles: 879

I'm a huge fan of FanGraphs.com - its a great site that has a lot of people who are much smarter than me discussing baseball topics that I'm typically really into. I'm also a huge fan of the Baltimore Orioles (NEW UNIFORMS COMING TODAY!!!). So I've been waiting with baited breath for FanGraphs to finally write the Year in Review for the Orioles. And they finally did.

blah.

I don't really know what I was expecting - I mean, they hit all of the nails collectively on their respective heads, but I think the review was a bit more dismal than it needed to be. But I'm used to it by now...somehow in the past 10 years or so, Baltimore has consistently received this kind of treatment, and with good reason. I think it was the worst in the beginning of 2005, when the Orioles looked like legitimate contenders before it was discovered that Miguel Tejada was injecting Jay Gibbons' and Rafael Palmeiro's love child with anthrax, or whatever. There was close to zero coverage of the team, and what coverage there was of "when the wheels were going to fall off" (which they did), "when the yankees would turn it around" (which they did), "red sox because boston", and "yankees yankees red sox Ortiz Jeter Jeter yankees courage red sox gamer gritty Jeter A-rod sux red sox yankees".

But I mean...read the article. The guy's name is Melvin Mora, not Melvin More. The top catching prospect in the game, if not the top prospect in the game's name is spelled Wieters, not Weiters.

I know, its just me being petty and picking on them for telling me that my team sucks. But....dude...I mean....c'mon...dude. And plus, Aubrey Huff is going to repeat his numbers from this year, so we're in good shape, right? Right??

/has faith in Baltimore
/responds to e-mail stating that he won $1,000,000
/falls for other such nonsense

Annoyances, part 523

Time: 20 minutes
Miles: I keep forgetting to check when I come in...I think 860?

If there is one thing that annoys me, and in fact many, many, many things annoy me, it is people who honk their horns immediately after a light turns green when they are five cars back in a line.

This happened this morning when I was turning onto MLK. There is always a lot of traffic, and typically when the light turns green to cross MLK, there are still some cars in the intersection turning left or just sitting there or whatever. That was the case this morning, and I swear 5 seconds after the light turned green this guy behind me starts to honk. I'm the 5th vehicle in line, so he's the 6th.

What the hell is he thinking, and what the hell is he trying to accomplish? Does he really think that we're all just sitting there in front of him, looking at a green light, and thinking, "Gosh, I know I'm supposed to do something here, but what?" I can understand his frustration, lord knows, but a. I believe you should wait at least 10 seconds before honking, and then you may do so politely, and b. the honker should be the person directly behind the person that isn't moving.

I mean, really...anyone who is on the road at 7:30 in the morning is either on their way to work or on their way back home from work. Either way, it is safe to say that the only thing on everyone's mind is, "God I fucking hate traffic. Even my shitty job is better than this. At least I can play Boggle online at work." So I feel that everyone can rest assured that us morning commuters are ALL IN THIS TOGETHER.

We should not fight or jockey for position, or drive exceedingly slowly or pass people on the right out of frustration.

We should not block intersections after your light turns red.

We should not cut off or ride up on the butt of the sexy man on the scooter in front of you.

And possibly most importantly, we should not honk at a line of cars immediately after a red light turns green.

In the face of economic turmoil and strife rampant throughout the world, we must UNITE, brothers!! Only together can we combat morning road rage! YES, WE CAN!! YES, WE CAN!!
















/weeps profusely

Circumnavigating the Mega-corporation Seas

So I’m trying to sell some of my crappy guitars on eBay, and to do that I had to update my PayPal account. I don’t know if you’ve ever fucked around with PayPal, but they are the most anal-retentive security-laden company in the world. Every time I’ve ever had to update anything on my account, it has involved them sending me a hard copy letter to my parent’s house in PA and then me doing about 12 levels of security verification.

Anyway, I haven’t used eBay or PayPal in a long time, and when I tried to update my account today, it told me that I had to call in. So I did, and waited on hold for 20 minutes and then talked to an account representative, who asked me my first and last name.

“John Rossman”

“Okay, Mr. Rossman, what can I do for you today?”

“I would like to update the phone number associated with my account.”

“I’m sorry sir, but only the owner of the account can update that information.”

“But I am the owner.”

“No, I’m sorry, the name that is listed on the account is different than the name you provided.”

“What do you mean? What is the name on the account?”

“I’m sorry, but I can’t give you that information.”

“Oh, I know, I know…its listed under ‘Jay’ Rossman. Don’t worry – that’s me.”

“I’m sorry, but I can only let the name listed on the account update the profile.”

“But that’s me! I’m Jay Rossman!”

“That’s not the name that you provided me when I asked what your name was.”

“That’s my nickname! I am Jay Rossman! I am John Rossman! We are the same person! It is I!”

“I’m sorry, but I can only let the name listed on the account update the profile.”

“So let me get this straight: you can’t let me update the phone number on my profile because I said initially that my name was John and the name on the profile is Jay?”

“That is correct.”

“Okay, then I will just hang up, call again, and tell the next person that my name is Jay. Which it is.”

“………………………………”

“I’m sorry, but I can only let the name listed on the acco…”


*click*


Needless to say, 20 minutes later I updated Jay Rossman’s information. What fun!

Shameless Self-promotion

To anyone who hasn't seen it yet:

Good Company

Time: Didn't feel like it, but 22 minutes
Miles: 847

It was another gorgeous morning today and I was able to break out the scooter for what I feel will be the last couple rides for the season. She roared to life this morning - started right up - and acted like she was mad at me for not using her for the last week. Great ride, no complaints, all was right with the world.

Until I pulled into work.

I got off of my scooter and turned around, and the scooter that I had noticed was coming up behind me on the road was now whipping around the corner and coming right at me. The very large man behind the handlebars stopped quickly and launched into a Bawl'mer accent-laden tirade about how great these scooter things are and where did you get it I bet you went up to Towson yeah I wanted to get mine there but I didn't and how much did you pay for it and make sure you lock that thing up because the little black boys will steal them before you know what happened and see mine is a Yamaha but they're probably the same engine and how long have you had it and make sure you lock that thing up etc.

Now, I realize the guy is just being friendly and was excited to see a fellow enthusiast, but my GOD did this guy go on and on and on. I couldn't get a word in edge-wise, even if I had actually wanted to. I did the whole walk backwards away from him so that he would get the message that I needed to go thing at least three times, to no avail. So finally I just said, "Welp, take it easy," and turned around and walked into work. He drove off.

What's my point? No point. I love my scooter, but sometimes the whole "talking shop" thing gets a bit old. Of course, I am an ass, so its probably just me.