My how time flies

Salutations to all of you. I know it's been quite a while since I've made a post here at the mikeiscool blog but if any of you are new parents (or old parents for that matter) you understand how time just has a way of evaporating. Suffice to say life has been full of things to do, and rarely do I find myself with time to just let my mind wander (which is usually when I decide to blog). Since the last entry, I've made a little headway in my attempts to get a good rank on search engines. Even the illustrious Google now puts me at #1 if you search for "mikeiscool"!! Hell, I even rank on the first page if you search for "composer charlotte, nc". I think I'm like #25 for that search, which isn't bad for a SEO newbie. Looks like I get about the same results for Yahoo! as well, though MSN is still not listing me well at all (something I'm in the process of remedying). I suppose the most important one is Google since I think that's the one that everyone usually goes to almost "automatically". I guess you could call it the Search Engine Du Jour. Remember when Yahoo! was the #1? Wasn't really that long ago, wonder how long Google's reign will last.

What else is new? Let's see, I bought a used Nissan X-Terra so I have a place for Lily's car seat. I'm now trying to sell my old Nissan Pick-up. I listed it on Autotrader and WOW was I impressed with the results. I listed it on Thursday night at around 8:30pm. By lunchtime the next day, I had 3 calls. On Saturday (today) I had a guy make an offer, and barring him backing out on me, it's as good as sold!! Guess my cell phone's gonna have to just ring like crazy for the next 12 weeks while the ad runs despite the truck having been sold, but hey, there are worse things.

As far as my soon to be legendary social commentaries, I do have a slight bone to pick with a group of people. I was hoping I could come up with some handy, funny nickname for this group, but nothing has struck me yet. Maybe it'll come in time, I don't know, perhaps in a stream of conciousness moment. Anyway, it's the people who have apparently been living under a rock for the last 10 years and have never encountered a self check out aisle.  People, are these things really that hard to understand? I know, there are a few different types, and there are small differences in each of them, but come on, they're just not that hard to figure out. It's not like that scene from Swordfish and the guy has to hack into the computer just to use it. They make these things pretty idiot-proof (or at least they try to). There is a nice, albeit robotic voice that tells you in plain English (or Spanish) exactly what to do, and there are pictures in case you're deaf and can't read. Still, people are completely perplexed by these things. I suppose everyone should be allowed a learning curve, but do they have to take on this adventure at like 5:30pm with a gigantic basket full of 7,000 groceries? Glaciers have moved faster than these people!! If you are one of those people, and you are reading this (or having it read to you, since obviously you can't read the instructions on the aisle's screen), listen up. Once you scan the item, you must put it on the platform/belt otherwise, the little infrared sensor/scale won't register that you've passed the item over and it won't let you go any further. Please do not just hold the loaf of Wonder Bread under your arm and looked perplexed, the computer doesn't understand this. That robotic "female" voice isn't a fembot that can just crawl out from under the counter and help you. The purpose of the self check out aisle, is to speed along those of us who are in a hurry, know what we're doing, and aren't buying too many items to fit on the little platform. If you're going to use one of these things, you should be pretty adept at following basic instructions. If, however, you're going to need help from one of the store employees for all of your items, please do the rest of us a favor and use one of the conventional lines with a cashier. They're already there to help you, so you won't have to flag one down. Go, speak with them, argue over the weight of your cantaloupe, present your coupons, but please, get the hell out of my self-checkout line, I gotta get home. And one more thing, if you're going to pay cash, please have enough with you. Don't pull this rock star thing and have all of us wait while you run to your car for $1.39, I mean, come on!

That's all for this one, but who knows, maybe the mood will strike again soon. Stay tuned!