Wednesday, January 04, 2006

The Beatles 'White Album'

On December 29th, I ordered a little Christmas gift for myself. I ordered the complete ‘Firefly’ television series on DVD.

I’ve written about this weirdly awesome show before on this blog and I decided that it was high time that I purchased it.

The show wasn’t that successful on television, but the damn thing grew legs once it hit DVD shelves. It quickly found a cult following among sci-fi geeks, but it appeals to non-science fiction viewers. My mother for one became hooked because she’s into westerns. ‘Firefly’ is a sci-fi western. And if you really listen to William Shatner at the beginning of every episode of ‘Star Trek’, you’ll hear “Space… The final frontier.”

And that’s where ‘Firefly’ sends you, the final frontier.

They even made a film that played in theaters a few months ago and me and all the diehards that I know went to see it. We weren’t disappointed with it and we certainly hope there are more in the works. The film is also available on DVD and it’s called ‘Serenity’.

If you haven’t done so, rent the series first and then check out the movie. I can’t tell you why I think that it’s important, but trust me, it is.

I ordered ‘Firefly’ from Amazon because I know that I’ll never find it around Greensboro. Here’s what I don’t understand… Why will it take almost 2 weeks to arrive at my house?

According to Amazon, the USPS will deliver it on January 9th. Jesus Chrysler Dodge!

But what can I do? Ordering it from an Internet company is about the only way that I can get it. And eBay isn’t the frugal place that it used to be so I don’t go there anymore. It’s full of dealers that overcharge on the shipping and I can get it cheaper through Amazon. But on the down side, it will take longer to get here.

I will let you know when the package arrives. I hope to be surprised with an early arrival.

Last week, I stopped putting off the inevitable… I took Roxy (my truck) to get inspected. For some reason, I absolutely hate doing things like that. Whether it’s getting new tags at the license offices or getting my vehicle inspected, I f’ing hate it. I just don’t like going somewhere only to wait in line.

When we only had one license plate office here in Greensboro at Golden Gate shopping center, the lines would sometimes be out the door. So after I put it off long enough, I grabbed a book and a lawn chair to take with me. I could tell from the expressions on the faces of those behind the counter, they were not amused.

I once went 18 months without getting my inspection done on my ’87 Ford Escort EXP. Back then, you COULD go months and maybe even years without getting your vehicle inspected. Whenever I would pass a law official on the streets, I would throw up a hand and wave like I knew them. It was classic misdirection and it worked for a long time until I was going to work one afternoon. I got popped on the Chimney Rock Road Bridge that used to cross I-40. The police officer was across from me at the stoplight and that gave him plenty of time to see my expired inspection sticker.

The officer was amazed that I had gone so long without getting caught. I told him that I spent over 600 bucks on getting the exhaust system to pass the last time and wasn’t looking forward to getting another inspection done. I’m cheap that way.

But last week, I found the perfect way to get my inspection taken care of…

I went to the Citgo station that is right in front of Rice Toyota. They didn’t have a space in the lot so; I parked on the shoulder in front of Rice’s.

The lady at the counter told me that wasn’t a good idea because Rice’s uses that space for haulers to park. To which I replied, “Screw ‘em. They don’t own the road. And the shoulder is part of the street.”

“They think they own it and they might tow you,” she said.

I explained that from the shoulder of the road to the ditch was city property, not Rice’s. I’m one of those weird “principles” kinds of guy and I’m not about to let someone push me around when I have the same rights to that particular road shoulder.

I gave her my cell phone number and told her that I was walking to Buffalo’s to eat lunch and wait out the inspection there. There, I enjoyed a Chicken on the Ranch sandwich and 2 tall pints of Red Oak beer. Mmmmmmm

That was the BEST vehicle inspection ever. I enjoyed my sandwich and beer while reading the latest issues of ‘Yes Weekly’ and ‘Go Triad’. I took my time getting back to the Citgo. I also enjoyed watching the cute waitress walk by from time to time.

Why didn’t I figure this out sooner?

4 comments:

  1. Anonymous8:46 AM

    they have the Firefly series at Costco for 31.99.
    Thought about buying it last night, as a matter of fact. Now, I will go back and pick it up.
    Clay

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  2. Anonymous11:51 AM

    You must have caught amazon.com when it was out of stock, or something. I went there a minute ago and pretend ordered Firefly and my status came up as delivered within 24 hours, although I don't think I've ever had anything shipped out of amazon's warehouse 24 hours after I ordered it.

    For what it's worth, a cowork caught Serenity without watching a minute of the TV show and he loved the film. But I think you're right in it might be better to see the series first. And if you can, find the three-part comic book story line that acts as a transition between the TV show and a film (it might be in "book" form now).

    OK, color this geek gone.

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  3. Anonymous1:01 PM

    Now I'm having pretend tea.

    And that should have been coworker in my previous ramble. And the three-part comic book story line acts as a transition between the TV show Firefly and the film Serenity, not just any film. Sorry. It was all written precaffeine. The proofer has been sacked. And buried.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Eugene and Brad...

    I enjoy your blogs and comments. Keep up the good work...

    An old co-workER

    Gat

    ReplyDelete