Bag of Randomness for Wednesday, May 17, 2017

  • TIME magazine should just go ahead and name James Comey their Person of the Year. It doesn’t matter how things turn out.
  • The batteries for my power tools were dying so I ordered a replacement pair of lithium-ion batteries from Amazon. That is, two batteries come in one single package, I didn’t just order two individual batteries. One of the batteries was defective but the other was fine. I wasn’t sure how to go about returning a single battery and couldn’t find anything on Amazon’s website about it, so I gave them a call. The phone rang twice and a real human answered the phone (no phone tree, no pressing one for English) and the associate told me to keep both batteries and she would just refund me half of the total cost. Actually, she added an extra five bucks for my inconvenience.
  • Yesterday was BoyGeeding’s last tee-ball practice for the season. Practices are already fun, but the coach decided to use water balloons as balls and placed them on the tee for the kids to hit and then allowed them to have a water balloon fight at the end.
  • Former neighbor who recently retired from the NFL
    • Time flies. I did the math, he was our neighbor for over nine years.
    • The first day the house was on the market, I saw a plethora of potential future neighbors. One man was huge and on crutches. He looked like he plays in the NFL, but it wouldn’t make any sense since the Cowboys are no longer in Valley Ranch.
    • WifeGeeding was talking to one of her friends in the neighborhood and he was brought up. Her friend didn’t believe WifeGeeding when she said he was moving back to Wisconsin, stating he was from Illinois. He actually played college ball at an Illinois college but grew up in Wisconsin. She then said he couldn’t retire because he signed a contract and it’s similar to the military, that you just couldn’t quit when you want to. Then she went on to say that if he is indeed gone, it was because he got cut.
  • One of the Von Erich brothers wrestling in Dallas Cowboys pants.
  • Woman Carries Twins for Her Sister, Who Had 9 Miscarriages
  • Silicon Valley has idolized Steve Jobs for decades—and it’s finally paying the price
  • U2 stuff:
    • Ten days until the concert.
    • Here’s a video of how U2 opened their concert in Seattle. This fan got chills down his spine. What’s old is new again.
    • Ticketmaster’s FAQ’s on their credit card as venue tickets system.
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Bag of Randomness for Tuesday, May 16, 2017

  • I guess I’ve kept my family’s encyclopedia set for sentimental reasons, but they are about to get recycled. I called Half Priced Books and they will do the recycling, I think it’s too much to put in my recycling bin.
  • A student recently referred to my wife as “Mrs. Geiding” which is the first time I’ve seen it misspelled that way, and to be honest, I didn’t mind it since there was no “Greed” or double “d” or an “s” at the end, at least there’s no mispronouncing it that way. But if it was spelled that way, I think my name would look funny with both my first and last name spelled with an “ei” – Keith Geiding. But with my luck, it would be doubled misspelled as “Kieth Gieding”.
  • Yesterday I saw a real estate agent put a for sale sign in the front yard of the recently retired NFL lineman in the neighborhood. Here’s your chance to be my neighbor.
  • I think the term “Good Samaritan” is over-used, surely not all citizens of the ancient city were good.
  • A few tidbits about the new U2 tour:
    • The video screen is huge and has 8K resolution.
    • They use a clip from a real 1950’s television show western named ‘Trackdown’ in which a character named Trump telling the people in town that they have to build a wall in order to save themselves.
    • Many thanks to longtime reader Bryan who left a comment yesterday about the changing of a credit card and his U2 tickets:
      •  I dealt with the replacement credit card issue for my U2 tickets today. I paid for the tickets with my debit card and it was compromised with fraudulent charges a week later and cancelled by the bank. I did a customer service chat today with Ticketmaster and they gave me an email address to send a request to for a card change. A friendly rep called me back about 3 hours later and I simply had to give him the new card number and expiration date. Much easier customer service experience than I expected from a company with as dubious a reputation as Ticketmaster. 
    • I hope to run into Bryan and Cowtown Doug at the concert.
  • I learned that the character Mantis in the new Guardians of the Glaxy movie is half-Vietnamese and half-German. However, the actress is a product of a half-Korean mother and a French-Russian father. I’m half-Vietnamese and recently learned I come from a German background.  Life can get rough for a Geeding once they turn seven.

    Mom also said we have some French ancestry from her side, which didn’t make sense when I was told this as a child, but then I learned the French and Vietnamese have quite the history.
  • Break out of your morning rut like this bunny did his enclosure.
Posted in Personal | 3 Comments

Bag of Randomness for Monday, May 15, 2017

  • I don’t remember much after my procedure due to the anesthesia, but WifeGeeding said I was adamant about going to Meat U Anywhere for some brisket and breakfast tacos. When we arrived home I went to sleep, but when I woke up I thought I smelled smoked meat on my clothing and was confused. WifeGeeding told me what happened and said, “Who am I to refuse BBQ?”
  • A timer alarm on our Amazon Echo went off Friday evening to WifeGeeding’s and my surprise. It turns out BoyGeeding set it as soon as we arrived home after my procedure. The doctor stated I couldn’t drive for 12 hours, and BoyGeeding set the timer to let me know when I could drive again.
  • I really like how Melissa McCarthy gave a backstage tour of the SNL set, especially allowing the audience to see what it’s like to walk through the door all guest hosts walk through to start the show. One thing which stood out was the words written in Sharpie, “Have fun.”
  • Never did I think Liberty University would invite a sitting president as their commencement speaker who once, in all seriousness, refer to II Corinthians (Second Corinthians) as “Two Corinthians”, on their campus nonetheless. But then again, the president of that university referred to then candidate Trump as “Evangelicals’ dream president.“
  • Melania Trump Says White House Movie Theater Will Now Be Open to Public Tours For First Time
  • The Austin American-StatesmanIf Cornyn gets FBI post, who replaces him? Here are 5 possibilities.
    • Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick; U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul; R-Austin, Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush; U.S. Rep. Roger Williams, R-Austin; Eva Guzman, Texas Supreme Court Justice
  • We ate at the Collin Street Bakery in WifeGeeding’s little hometown of Lindale, Texas yesterday and I was pleasantly surprised to see Tesla charging stations. It’s right off I20, so I guess it’s a good place for them. Now, if I only had a Tesla.
  • Craig Miller of 1310 The TICKET sometimes has a segment called “You’re An Ass If…” in which listeners email him about inconsiderate people. I emailed him yesterday about an experience which happened on Saturday.
    • I took my wife and kids (ages five and six) out for an early dinner on Saturday night, and since the patio was in a shaded area and no one else was out there, we decided to dine outside. About ten minutes later a young adult woman also decided to dine on the patio. She was all alone and decided to stream the old NBC drama “ER” on her iPhone at maximum volume for the entirety of her meal just a table away from us. To add to it, small speakers, like that on a mobile phone, operating at a loud volume where you can tell it’s stressing the speaker and the quality is compromised, is like nails on a chalkboard to me.
  • It’s like a dragon from ‘Game of Thrones’ – Shockingly lifelike dinosaur fossil makes public debut
  • I’ve ranted about my dislike about “Undercover Boss” before, about how the undercover executives don’t really implement any real business change and just end up cashing in on emotional stress of a few employees by giving them a promotion, an expense free vacation, or something of the like. However, Friday’s episode was great because it swayed from the concept. Instead of a boss being undercover, they had Darius Rucker of country music and Hootie and the Blowfish, disguised and interacting with street and bar musicians. It was more of a “surprise mentor” show. At one point, he bet a street musician who could earn the most money from passersby at opposite street corners. Rucker felt humbled as a person who played in sold out arenas but easily ignored for his craft on the street and losing the bet.  In the end, he helped three musicians by upgrading their instruments, paying for music education to help fine tune their craft, paying for a record to be recorded, and getting an audition to be set up with a record executive. I’d love to see more of this, where a musician embarks on a journey to find rough and hidden talent in disguise at hole-in- the-wall places but later becomes a mentor to help them get their career started.
  • U2 this and that . . .
    • From what I’ve read and seen about their first concert of this new tour, it’s still grand and there’s use of modern day special effect, but it’s a bit scaled back as if to reflect how things were back in the Eighties.
    • If you are curious as to what the opening song is, that is, the song played before they take the stage, click here.
    • When I bought my tickets I mentioned that tickets aren’t printed, emailed, or at will call, but it’s the purchasing credit card which will act as tickets. It’s one way to discourage scalping, but it caused long lines.
    • Watch the World Premiere of U2’s ‘The Little Things That Give You Away’
    • Buying a ticket means you consent to being photographed and recorded.
    • WifeGeeding’s coolness factor was questioned when she asked me if we were taking DART or driving to the concert. She was thinking it would be held at the American Airlines Center, which has DART service. It will actually be at AT&T Stadium which doesn’t offer any public transportation. I just looked at her funny in a teasing sort of way, and then she said, “Oh, that’s right, it’s at Texas Stadium,” which caused an immediate eye roll from me since it was imploded back in 2010.
  • Conquer Monday like this dog conquered his little problem

    That dog has better problem-solving skills than some of my coworkers

Posted in Personal | 3 Comments