I spent a few hours this evening setting up DSL for my dad. So, to the great joy of my little brother -- who until now sat there most evenings insisting that he can suck more juice out of the dial-up than is actually possible -- my dad is now a full-fledged participant in the broadband era. Of course, it will help me also, as I'll be able to surf wirelessly from his living room now when I'm visiting. And no, freeloaders, his access point is not open or in the clear.
About half-way through the installation I had to pick up the girls from their mother's. On the way back to my dad's to finish the setup, I stopped at Best Buy to pick up the latest All-American Rejects album. This action was an absolute must, not necessarily because I was looking forward to the album (which I was), but to "recover" from a bit of Shawn-silliness that I experienced last week.
On Friday, while at my father's for another purpose, I was reading the newspaper as I often do at my dad's because he picks one up about everyday at work. Only his stack of papers is often in disarray, so I never really know (or pay attention to) which day's paper I'm reading.
As I was flipping the pages, something of interest from the entertainment section caught my eye. "This Week's Releases" it was labeled, and just under that was the listing for the new AAR album. Well, I was astonished and had an instant gut reaction... CRAP! I said (out loud actually), I missed it! Having noticed the time (about 8:30), I turned to my dad, who was still surprised at the fact that I had just stood straight up and yelled crap, and asked if he could watch the girls for twenty minutes, which I followed with a dash out the door.
As I got in my car I was verbally beating myself over the head. I can't believe I missed it. How could I have done that. I've probably missed the bargain pricing. Crap crap crap. You're losing it in your old age Shawn... etc etc etc.
Of course, my little exercise in course-correction was complicated by the fact that, when I finally got to Best Buy and went eagerly to the New Releases section, I found no such newly released album from the Rejects.
Imagine my surprise when I found, via the bestbuy.com kiosk, that the AAR album was not actualy due out until the next week. I litterally slapped myself in the forehead, which I'm sure caught the person standing next to me a little off guard. So I picked up a "suitable substitute" album as to not completely waste my trip, and headed back to my dad's with my mental tail between my legs.
When I got back to my dad's, I picked up the newspaper that was still laying where I dropped it thirty minutes before. I flipped it over to see the date, and it turns out it was Friday's paper, rather than an older paper as I had thought. Apparently the Friday paper's "This Week's Releases" section refers to the following Tuesday, not the previous Tuesday. And I did check that there was no date on the list itself (which there should be, a release date anyway). So I smacked myself on the head again for not having done something like kick my little brother off the dial-up so that I could verify the release date of the album before heading off to the store in a mad dash.
So you see, I simply HAD to pick the album up tonight, just so that I could somehow mentally erase the stupidity of my recent past. It sure made me feel better that the album was $7.99 instead of $13.99. That's pretty well a bargain, making at least this last trip worthwhile.
And the album? So far maybe not as good as their first, but not a bad selection either. I'm only on the second listen-through, though, so it's a little early to rush to judgement. About the album anyway. Not about my previous stupidity. You can rush to judgement all you want about that. I deserve it.
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