It’s also spreading. I commented on a friend’s post the other day that had nothing to do with his birthday and Facebook ‘helpfully’ suggests: Why not buy him a Starbucks gift card?

Why? Because I don’t want to. If I wanted to, chances are I’d have done it already. Throwing up another pop up window is more likely to get in my way and screw up what I was trying to do than get me to buy something. Frankly, most people I would buy a gift for would not commonly be getting Starbucks, Target, or Olive Garden gift cards anyway.

Of course, I know that this is just the price of using Facebook and it is only going to get worse. I understand this and am trying to accept it as best as I possibly can. However, that does not mean that I won’t complain about it. I like complaining.

Stick on pockets! It’s the perfect solution. After all, he only couldn’t demonstrate his nerditude because he didn’t have any pockets on his t-shirts. Now he can just stick on some pockets…and then protect those stick on pockets with pocket protectors.

Of course, I started thinking a little more and wondered just how much of a nerd my friend really was. My thought was that if he was really such a nerd…how come he hadn’t invented this product himself? The situation definitely raises a few questions, and as of yet my friend has not provided any answers (mainly because I haven’t asked).

Perhaps he is more of a geek than a nerd. Though there is a technical distinction, some people do get the two mixed up from time to time.

Obviously, our normal Waffle House was out. Apparently, pretty much the whole block was being taken out because of a new Denver light rail line. Thinking quickly, we located one near Thornton and went there.

However, as we were eating breakfast, I saw a sign that Waffle House was having a calendar contest. You were supposed to submit a picture that captures what makes Waffle House your favorite place to eat. Remembering the picture I’d just taken, I couldn’t resist. Really, I couldn’t. I got home and submitted the above photo for the 2014 Waffle House calendar contest. I told them, along with the photo, that Waffle House is my favorite place to eat because it’s trashy.

Do I hate Waffle House? No! I love the place. However, given the way circumstances lined up this morning, I just couldn’t avoid making the joke. Hopefully Waffle House will understand and won’t ban me for life.

Apparently, Shane Rattenbury, Australian Capital Territory municipal services minister, was out jogging when he startled a kangaroo. A squabble ensued. Rattenbury later joked about it as an attempted mugging, noting the kangaroo failed to get his wallet or watch. This is all fine and good, since neither him nor the kangaroo were seriously hurt, but does anyone remember the incident with Jimmy Carter and the rabbit?

Carter was apparently fishing from a canoe and a freaked out rabbit swam at him, hissing and all kinds of stuff like that. Carter apparently smacked at the rabbit with a paddle, though he later claimed to only have splashed water at it. Just as with the kangaroo attack, the press had a field day.

Getting to the point, I’m noticing a trend of politicians getting into squabbles with wildlife. Is there some kind of anti-human animal conspiracy link between Carter and Rattenbury?

This sort of bizarre incident doesn’t seem to happen often, but it has happened more than once. I don’t know what the link is, but there appears to be some kind of link here. Perhaps we need to consider the possibility that the animals are out to get our political leaders. They may just not be very organized yet.

It’s an odd thing. I’m almost certain my publisher had nothing to do with the sale. It could be a good thing because it might get more people to pick up the book, but it might be a sign that Amazon thinks it isn’t selling well enough (whatever standards they go by, though I’m sure they have much higher demands than I do).

Do I feel happy about this? Ticked? Amused? Indifferent?

Well, I am kind of amused. I’ll admit that. I know Amazon does these sort of things all the time and I really have no idea why. I’ll just let it stay with being amused and let people know about the sale in hopes it attracts more readers. After all, Amazon is Amazon and is in the game to make the kind of money that small press, literary fiction just doesn’t tend to reach.

The seller is someone called Open Books out of Illinois. It purports to be a non-profit that uses proceeds to support literacy, which is definitely cool. More importantly, they are selling the book for $9.01 plus $3.99 shipping. To do the math, that’s a used copy for $13.00 of a book that retails new for $12.99.

Oh, I know that the price for new copies doesn’t include sales tax or shipping (though you also have to consider that Open Books will probably use media mail for the $3.99 shipping). However, you can always buy the book on Amazon and get free shipping with Prime or just get super saver shipping if you buy something else that costs at least $12.01. Whether or not they charge you sales tax right now depends on where you live.

Also, you could also buy the book at Tattered Cover in Denver or The Bookworm in Omaha in person (Tattered Cover you can also order online, but I don’t know what shipping is because I always just walk over there) and just have to pay $12.99 plus applicable sales tax for a new copy.

As such, $13.00 for a used copy just doesn’t seem like that great of a deal. I realize with taxes and/or shipping for a new copy you might save a couple of cents by going for this used one. However, that just doesn’t seem like much. I guess I just don’t understand how some of the used sellers do their pricing.

Frankly, it seemed like a lot of people were really upset when he was acquitted of murder. They really believed he did it (my own mother when reminded of this immediately chants: “Guilty! Guilty! Guilty!”). I have to admit, I lean that way as well…though I put it to rest because the state was simply not able to persuade the jury on the charges. That’s our system and I have to live with that. I’d rather a guilty person (if he really was, which I don’t really know even if I lean that way) go free than an innocent person get wrongly convicted. Regardless, a lot of people were mad about the acquittal and then happy about O.J. losing the civil case. They were even happier when he was convicted of armed robbery and kidnapping in this case.

When I thought about all of this, I just had to consider the possibility that he really could have been innocent in this case. Maybe he really didn’t know about the guns. He could have had overzealous employees. I don’t really believe it, but I consider the possibility.

After all, given the upset some people still feel over the murder case, did we just want to see O.J. convicted of something? Even if he didn’t commit armed robbery and/or kidnapping, did we want to see him go to jail anyway because we still believed he’d gotten away with murder and this corrected that situation somewhat? If that were true and he was innocent of this particular charge but just convicted by residual public anger over the other, unrelated case…I would not feel right with that.

However, I have no more power over this case or knowledge about the specifics than I did for the murder case. I have my fears and my leanings, but I am not involved. I just have to leave this to the justice system and hope that justice is served.

However, this news comes a bit too late for poor Jerimiah Hartline. Apparently, he stole a big rig truck that had been left running at a weigh station after having stowed away inside. Hartline reportedly caused several accidents in his run before tipping the semi over and spilling its load (strawberries). His defense? He was fleeing zombies.

Astoundingly, this defense apparently didn’t work. He has pled guilty to multiple felonies and could receive five years for reportedly assault with a deadly weapon, hit-and-run causing death or injury, and vehicle theft. For some reason, no mention is made in the article regarding whether or not Hartline was intoxicated or crazy. I would have imagined that such would have come up.

Regardless, keep this in mind. I’m guessing the defense of fleeing the undead will not take a significant place in U.S. criminal law anytime soon. In any event, if you were going to try to be the one to change this, you might want to be sure that someone other than you thinks that there are zombies who need to be fled.

A friend posted a picture recently with a message that read: “Where am I editing?” I looked at the picture. I had no idea. I had definitely never been there. This friend travels a bit, and doesn’t live anywhere near me, so your guess was as good as mine.

It was a shot of a bar, what looked to be a fairly unique one. I wondered: what features are present that could help me identify this bar? I noticed antlers on the wall, lots. I noticed old style red tiles on the ceiling. I also noticed a tap that had an image of Edgar Allen Poe and a Raven on it. I had something to work with.

After all, the antlers couldn’t be too horribly common. Still, I didn’t think that was enough in and of itself. However, the Edgar Allen Poe-themed beer seemed helpful. I hadn’t ever heard of it, so I assumed it was a microbrew that I hadn’t encountered yet. It was on tap, which indicated it was probably in the area where it was made. Given Poe, I figured that would probably be the Baltimore area.

Thus, I searched “baltimore bar antlers” in google images. I found a picture that looked kind of close, though it was taken from a different angle where the taps weren’t visible. Because of the different angle, I wasn’t sure it was the same place. However, it had the antlers. Also, it was in the Baltimore area. As the clincher, it had the same old style red ceiling tiles. It was the place:

It was The Long Bar at the Golden West Cafe. However, I even looked further to be completely sure. I looked at their page on Facebook. Their page listed that my friend had liked their page. I was certain.

And, I felt way prouder of myself than I should have. After all, I’d deductively identified a bar I’d never been to in a city where I’d only used the airport and briefly driven through town. Cool, right? Well, my victory probably impressed no one but myself (and probably shouldn’t have). Still, it was fun.

After all, I loved that campaign. Everyone did. If you scream Where’s the beef? randomly in public even now, most people will know what you are talking about. There were stickers, t-shirts, and all that. The campaign reached just about everyone.

However, did Wendy’s get much for it besides name recognition? I loved the campaign, but I never did care that much for Wendy’s. That thing with putting mayo on the burgers was always a deal-breaker. I know I could ask for them to leave it off, but that’s too much work for fast food. Frankly, I preferred Burger King when I was a kid until at some point my allegiance mysteriously switched to McDonald’s. Wendy’s was never really in the picture, though I do end up eating there once in a long time.

Frankly, the entire concept behind the campaign never really worked for me, though the campaign itself did. I don’t go to fast food for good burgers, just quick ones. It doesn’t matter whether or not Wendy’s has better burgers than Burger King and McDonald’s, because I’m still probably going to a full restaurant (like maybe Ted’s Montana Grill). No matter what the fast food places do, their burgers are still fast food burgers. Arguing about who has more real burgers just convinces me to go where they actually serve real burgers…which is never a fast food place.

So, it puzzles me. Should this ad campaign be considered a success or not? It has tremendous reach and consumer appeal, as well as name recognition, but it just never got me to go to Wendy’s. Shouldn’t that be the main criteria used to judge? Of course, it is unwise to base one’s advertising strategy on what works on me.