Odd stuff lately. Some local, some time related, and some just plain annoying.

Went for Chinese food today and made a startling discovery: there’s a lot of businesses closing in Redmond lately. One was a sports store, which didn’t surprise me much. Another was Tony Roma’s. Not that they were doing that great a business – their food was so so and very expensive – but it was there one day and the next day there was a sign up for a public auction that day. Today I saw the same thing happened to Schlotzsky’s Deli. Just odd to me that a town that’s filled with Geeks can’t support more than… erm. OK, so there’s a huge amount of sub shops in Redmond – that might have something to do with it, but still. Maybe “sandwiches” aren’t the food staple for Geeks anymore…

Once at the Chinese place, while I was picking up my lunch, I noticed that the theme of the Godfather was being played in the dining room. I recognized the cosmic irony, chortled and left it at that.

While picking up my mail – I kept my suite box at a local store since it’s easier to get packages from Amazon and the like there – I noticed a notice from the USPS. Seems that the pound sign + box number is “incorrect” unless it follows my name. So it would have to be: Randy #123 or 123 Main Street PMB 123. 123 Main Street #123 isn’t correct. Why the change? They claim it isn’t a change – just an enforcement of the correct rules… just in time for tax season, when I’m counting on my mail. Well forgive me, USPS, but screw you. I’m not about to update all of my mailing address again because of a technicality that no one is even aware of. All my letters come with the correct street number, street name, suite number, box number, town, city, state, and zip code. Are you telling me that a # in place of a PMB in my address is going to matter at the central office? It had better not.

And here’s the good part: dealing with sales. Ever have an apartment number? I lived for 20 years without one and life was good. Then I moved to a condo that had the tag line of “Unit 2B”. As in to-be or not to-be. Know how hard it was to get my address right? “Unit? What do you mean? 2D? 2E? B2?” was not uncommon. Drove me nuts. Now you want me to add P, M, and B to the address, three of the most misheard letters? P and B can be heard as a B, E, G, D, P, etc. – M for N. Blah!

Lastly, I read somewhere that today marks the 20th anniversary of the Challenger accident. Yeah, I’m old enough to remember having seen it live and what’s more to offer a moment of silence for it.

The odd part on that isn’t the observation of a Moment – it’s more about where on earth did the 20 years go?