Sprite: The coolest pop ever.... ever

There is a new trend in promotions, and just about everything else, that I don't understand. It's Twitter yes, but that's not the conversation for today. I don't understand all the texting going on.

Yes, I understand texting is a great way to communicate quickly when a phone call is not appropriate, it's a non-confrontational way to say "no" to someone, and it's a good way to get in an accident on the freeway, but what I don't understand is all the texting in promotions. The radio station that I listen to wants me to text the word "music" to them and if I am the 500th text, I can win concert tickets. Post midnight commercials want me to text the word "babe" to some 5 digit number and I will get some sexy babe pictures on my phone, and Sprite wants me to text the code underneath the cap to redeem a prize.

Concert tickets and sexy babe pictures didn't get me to text, but when I heard Sprite prizes, I guess it was too much to handle. I caved and sent the following text to 77483, "4W49 RAW7 KBBM."

I got a text back that reads, "Sprite UTC: Hey! We need ur bday 2 get started. Reply STOP 2 end, HELP 4 info. Othr chrgs may aply."

O....M.....G Sprite, U R like da bom....U R the culest pop co eva. I cant blve how cul u'r abbrevs R. U R so ttly w/ it. & whn I say IT, I meen evrytang. Im imprsd dat sumthin U cld hv just speld out, U tuk da time to mayk luk all texty.

Needless to say, I didn't reply with my birth date. Initially I thought they were asking for my E-bay account and thought they might have had some cross promotion with e-bay, but no, it was bday.
I recently watched a movie from the early 90s about a surfer kid from California that goes to Ohio (or something like that) to live with his aunt and uncle for a summer. He uses phrases like, "Chill out man," and words like, "bro (pronounced bra)." The movie didn't age well because you watch it now and everyone sounds ridiculous (they probably sounded pretty stupid in the early 90's too, but there was a large part of the culture that bought into that crap). I hope that texting language ends up the same way. Seeing their attempt at linguistic mutuality with their customer seems so forced and desperate.
So, here's to you Sprite: Linguistic masterminds and da culest pop co eva.

Hell yes I want my nickel

One afternoon a couple of months ago I visited a Mexican dining establishment that I frequent. I ordered my number 3 (grilled stuffed burrito, stale chips with processed cheese-like substance and a carbon based beverage) and was given a total of four dollars and ninety-five cents. Adding to the uniqueness of this situation, I, for some reason, had cash. I pulled up to the window and a young woman, wearing a purple uniform repeated the total. I gave her the five dollars and she thanked my as the currency exchanged hands. She stepped slightly away from the window to insert the money into the register and then looked back at me and asked, "Did you want your change?" I was almost sure that there was no way that she just asked me if I wanted my change so I said, "I'm sorry, what?"
"Do you want your change," there was no mistaking it this time. This girl wanted to steal my .05. I didn't know what to say. For a moment I thought, just let her have it, because she has already brought up the idea that no one would want a nickel change; just let her hang on to it. Rationality caught a hold of me in that moment and even though it took me a moment to reply, I replied, "uhm.....ya, I want my change." The young employee then explained that most people, when the amount of change is so low just tell her to keep it. She explained this as she placed the nickel in my palm with a forced smile. I felt like Scrooge, but I had my nickel.
This story brought about a few topics to discuss and I may not discuss them entirely here, just some food for thought.
1. What is the line that she makes in between when to ask if the person wants their change and when to just hand them their damned change like she should be doing in the first place?
2. If she asks every person if they want their change, how much is she supplementing her income?
2a. She makes minimum wage, so it's possible that this is a significant percentage of her income, possibly and additional 20%-25%.
3. How much change would you give up?

Personally. If the total were $4.99 and she asked me if I wanted my change, I would have looked at her like she was crazy and had the same response I did previously, "Hell yes I want my nickel."
(I can't seem to add the pictures I want at work, so I will have them on this evening)

Return of the money whores we endearingly refer to as educators

Sure educators aren't the problem, but rather the system that is used to underpay them while still gouging the students as much as humanly possible. Two classes at Arizona State University cost me 3000.00. Actually it cost me 2998.00, but who's counting. In contrast, I am also taking 2 classes at the community college (one for a prerequisite and the other just for fun) and it is going to cost me 451.00. One of the classes at the community college is a lab and has a corresponding fee which is included in the number above. Thank heaven for community colleges. Now that I have a child I may be more eligible for financial aid than I was in the past, but we will see after the sale on the house finally closes.
I haven't written in a long time and a lot has happened. I went to Italy with my mom (because I hate my wife (actually she was 6 months pregnant and probably shouldn't have gone.)) I will discuss that later.
I am actually in my programming class now, but everyone else in on www.facebook.com so I thought it would be appropriate for me to do this. My speaks dork, which might as well be Chinese. There are step by step instructions for the assignments online, so I am not even sure why I am in class to begin with, but here I am, because I gotst to get smart quickerly.

So, here I am.....writing...... Life is getting back into a routine which makes it easier for me to find time to write (apparently in class) You will hear more from me in the future.
The spawn is doing well. He is still not ugly, which makes me love him more.
More to come

A message from my son

I promise to not be one of those blogs that just talks about their kids and how hillarious all the crap they do is, but my son was enjoying some "tummy time" and when I saw this, I screamed at my wife to grab the camera. So here's a hello from my son to the world. Definitely his father's boy.

Shoot me in the face Abraham

My apologies for not posting in a while and probably not posting a while from now, but I do want to get these pictures up so friends and family too far away to come to the hospital can see the thing I just made. We are calling it Abraham Mont Lewis for now, but we may get tired of that in a couple of years or so. We will play it by ear. So here are my favorite pics.