What's with this thing of being Handicapped?

Yeah, we see them all the time. Handicap Placards for their cards, parking in spaces designated for folks with those stickers. Yes, I know there are some who take advantage of those stickers. Like the idiot at Kure Beach who always parked in a handicap space, proudly displaying his sticker. But, I learned that he really wasn't handicapped, at all. I learned that he had the sticker because his wife was handicapped. Only thing is that I never once saw his wife with him. In fact, I never, ever saw her at all. But, there he was, taking up a handicap space, meant for someone who actually needed to park there.
Another one of those jerks we encounter as we make our way through life.

And, speaking of handicapped. We have all read and watched stories about soldiers and others who have overcome their handicaps, and moved on. With the help of modern science and technology, they live as normal a life as can be expected. Men, and women, with one leg playing basketball, running marathons and the like. It takes more than just marvelous mechanical devices to make that work. It takes a desire and willpower on their part. And, my hat's off to them all.

Now, I get this piece of video. A cool performance by a young Chinese lass. Tickling the ivories, she is, as well as anyone I've ever heard. I was confused, at first, when I was told she was handicapped. Maybe in our minds, she has a handicap. But, listening to her play the piano, I cannot find, for the life of me, anything handicapped about her. Ok, so she has no fingers on one hand. But, that hasn't slowed her down one bit.

Take a listen:
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/blogs/good-news/chinese-girl-no-fingers-one-hand-wows-piano-20110316-133233-487.html

Wow! It's Been a Month! And, I Met a Retail Jerk.

(Note the info below about the retail jerk...I've added more)

It's been a busy month. Personally speaking. And, you could care less. Don't blame you one bit, so I won't bore you with the details.

I WILL tell you about a new gig I've got. Starting 1 November, I will be hosting a daily talk-radio show. How cool is that?!? Yep, Monday-Friday, 7-9 am, I'll be joined by a varaiety of friends (I didn't even know I had any, but I'm told that some will show up...a regular is going to be former Jacksonville Mayor Jan Slagle, another will be Bill Hitchcock, known for his fishing show productions, radio appearances, and real estate expertise) and, likely, some less than friendly folks from time to time. The show is on 96.3, a station known as Thunder Country in eastern North Carolina. It's a powerful hunk of energy. 100-THOUSAND watts radiating all over the area. Not sure how far north it goes, but I can hear it pretty well in Wilmington.

Our Talk Studio will be mostly in Jacksonville (NC), though we're likely to move around from time to time. Got somethign to say? Tune in, I'll give you a number, and you can vent to your heart's content. Well, until I think you've crossed the line. Conservative in nature, of course, but I'll listen to anyone.

Anyone, EXCEPT a real jerk I met while shopping the other day. (How's that for a transition?). I was visiting with a friend at the Jacksonville (NC) Daily News, and stopped by one of those second hand, bargain-type shops. Sort of like a pawn shop, except they don't loan money on stuff then sell it if you can't pay back the "loan". I've bought a lot of things at such shops. The bargain ones as well as the pawn shops. I genuinely like shopping there, and can often find some pretty good bargains.

Unlike traditional retail stores, you can usually horse-trade with these folks. Sort of like a yard sale or flea market. They have an asking price, and your offers are usually welcome. Usually.

Not this time. I saw a laptop computer, and was giving it more than just a casual look-see. The young lady clerk asked if I wanted to see it powered up. The puter had some good specs. A better than average hard drive, and sufficient memory. Only thing, she said, was that the charger was intermittent. A scary word, intermittent. Means it sometimes works, sometimes doesn't. Not a nice word, by any means. She hooked it up, and I put the power to it. Had to wiggle the connector coming from the charger to get it working. The charger was fine, but it was obvious the problem was either the connector on the charger...an easy fix...or the connector on the computer...a bit more tedious.

The computer did everything I wanted. Speedy. That's when the chunky guy came over, obviously a manager, owner, or owner's son. Asked if he could help me. I offered him $50 less than the marked price. You would have thought that I had called him dirty names. He said he had already marked it down because the charger was bad. A real pompous guy, for sure.

I closed the computer, figuring I was not going to get anywhere with this guy; he wanted to know if it did what I wanted it to do. Yep, it did. I noted, though, that I would likely change the operating system to XP Pro. Just a personal preference. And, that's when it began. Mr. Obnoxious Know-It-All said I would be going backwards, that the system already loaded was far superior. And, he added that I shouldn't have asked to look at the comptuer if I didn't want to buy it. And, he didn't stop there. He followed me towards the door, proclaiming that his gold Rolex watch was better than my cheap stainless steel Rolex. He even compared prices on the two watches! How rude.

As I was exiting, he followed, and said that even my Tundra pickup...you know, the one that can pull more than 10,000 pounds...was not as good as his Cadillac Escalade.

If only I could buy Mr. Obnoxious for what he's actually worth, then sell him to an unsuspecting buyer for what he thinks he's worth, I would be a very rich guy.

And, that will be the ONLY business I ever do at that shop in Jacksonville.

(Got a couple e-mails today. Seems that this retail jerk was the subject of a couple letters to the editor. The name of the business was not revealed to protect the guilty. A friend stopped by to tell me that he's heard nothing but complaints about the guy's attitude. Guess I'm not alone on this one. I'm thinking of starting a pool...pick a block as to when someone's gonna take a swing at him)