This is retarded!

Here is a news story for you. A couple gets arrested after not paying the mandatory gratuity some restaurants place on the bill for parties of six or more. The way they were treated, I wouldn't pay the tip either. Apparently that mandatory 18% is for real because they were arrested for theft.

According to the article the manager claims he tried to comp them a meal, but I don't believe that would be true, because who would turn that down. While I do understand that for large parties tip should be added to the bill, in cases of exceptionally poor service there should be exceptions.

I've been in similar situations where I had waiters who literally didn't do anything, and why should I be forced to tip them? Tipping is for people who do a good job not just for doing their job, or in this case for chilling in the back with the chefs.

Apparently the couple is set to go to trial next month. I would love to be in the courtroom when this goes down. I hope the judge penalizes the couple by forcing them to go to a GOOD restaurant where they will be waited on hand and foot. They should do this once a week for a month and check in with their parole officer to make sure everything is going ok. At the end of the month they will have to turn in their receipts and prove they tipped for proper service. That'll teach them.

New Project - The Struggles of T-Rex

I've decided to start my comic book career with a simple comic about the struggles of a T-Rex with common daily tasks. Look for the first comic to appear in the coming weeks (hopefully by Christmas or just after). I will try to make each "issue" about the size of a standard page, maybe a little more, but this is definitely subject to change.

By the way, so Koch doesn't freak out thinking I made this during work, I didn't I made it a few days ago and didn't waste any work time.

Check out the new feature

I've added a new feature to my blog. It's over there on the side bar. If you click the thing that says "Leave a Voicemail," you can leave me a voicemail. I'm not positive how it works, cause I haven't used it but you input your phone number and then it will call your phone connecting you with my voice mailbox. From here you can say what you will and I will get the message. I will then be texted that I have received a voicemail. I can then go to my voice mailbox online and READ the voicemail you left. I can also listen to it too. It's a great idea and a cool technology.

Even better is that it doesn't work! Normally this would be upsetting, but it's free and it's fun. The written transcript is nowhere similar to the actual vmail and the computer guesses at what is being said is really funny. Here is an example:

Hey hey, it's it's, Steve, I am talking very slow right now. However, the 4th. But again, I realize I gave your own phone earlier, this is the phone, but I think, have a lot of other two, but Maroon 5. I think it yeah here. Hopefully I'll play a few bars for this. Yeah, ha ha ha ha. Hello yet. Bye. Hello, I heard him. Ha ha ha field. Yeah.

This gives me a great idea and I would like all of you to participate. Call my mailbox and leave me a voicemail. Each week I will post the funniest and least closely matched transcript for us all to laugh at and bond over. Only more fun can ensue from this. Eventually the technology would get better so it won't be as fun but we can cross that bridge when we get there.

Billy Mays here...

...giving you all a good ole thumbs up! Have a great day from TRGL.

Losing Weight Recap

Remember back in August I went through the third installation of the Ultimate Weight Lose Challenge? Check out the I'm Fat tag for August. Well now that I got my pictures off my camera I can show the results. Let's look back:

This first image was taken my last day in Chicago while I was feeling extra bad about myself.
This next image was taken a day or so after I got back from Chicago. The stomach is a little smaller because I wasn't eating giant deep dish pizzas anymore.

This picture is the last picture I took during the UWLC3. Notice the redness on my stomach. I had gone out for a run MID-day to tan up. Backfired big time...
Finally here is a side-by-side of those last two images. I assure you, I am not sucking in. That is the real deal. Unfortunately, now a days I look more like the top picture.

Halloween 2009

Billy Mays here for the Randomly Grad Life. Do you get bored surfing the internet? Do you frequently struggle to hit the correct keys on the keyboard? Do you wish there was just somewhere else to go? Well there is just by going to the Randomly Grad Life, the cure for the common blog!

Here are the costumes Stef and I made for Halloween. Stef is dressed as Rafael from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and I am Billy Mays equipped with Oxi Clean, Kaboom, and the Zorbees (not Shamwow!). It was a great night and everyone loved our costumes. People had me pitching things all night long and couldn't get enough! Stef's costume was a blast to make. Here is what we did:

The shell comes from a costume we bought off eBay. It was a boy's costume and we cut off the arms and legs so we were left with the front shell. We then bought some metallic green and shiny red fabric and made the costume. We made a cylindrical piece from the green fabric for a tube skirt. Then we fastened a zipper to two pieces of fabric, one small and one large (both green). The small piece was sewed to one side of the front shell, and the large piece was sewed to the other side. We did this so that the zipper would be under her right arm. This would make the top. We then used some red fabric to make some frills on the bottom of the front shell. We cut out two equal width strips of red fabric to make the belt and the mask. In the mask we cut nose and eye holes. In the back shell we glued two pieces of green fabric to which we attached some velcro. We attached the complimentary piece of velcro to the sides of the top. We then bought some ninja sais to complete the costume.

Owed Photos: Vegas

Owed Photos: Brad's Wedding

Owed Photos: From OKC

Remember when I went to visit OKC? Well here are the images from it:

What's new in ABQ?

Since my Candidacy Exam I have not been too active on the blog. I apologize and I'll get back on it slowly but surely. As you know my A-Exam (what Koch calls the Candidacy, my Dissertation is the B-Exam) was successful. My presentation was the complete opposite of the practice exam I provided for all you on slideshare. It went really smooth and from what I've been told, everyone was really impressed. What else has been going on? Hmmm, let me think...

Well my constant battles with weight has grown out of control. I have ballooned up (again), but I believe this is due to the fact that I have not been able to work out. Ever since the A-exam I feel like I'm in A-Exam mode and have to get a ton of stuff done at all times. While this self-stress allows me to be super-productive in lab, I come home and feel like I can't do enough. I will get back in the gym soon though.

Halloween was yesterday. Last year I learned how to use a sewing machine and made Protoman come to life. Within a couple days after that I decided to become Billy Mays. Stef had more trouble deciding what to be and it wasn't until earlier in October this year that we figured it out. I convinced her to be a ninja turtle, but only on the condition that it would be designed for a girl. Well I got to employ those sewing skills yet again and helped her become a female version of Rafael. We got pictures of the aftermath, and I'll post those soon.

This reminds me. I lost the cable to my camera so I haven't been able to post any pictures since August. Well I owe a lot and at least the "I'm Fat" from after August. So expect that in a week or so.

The weather here in ABQ has been strange. September was pretty warm with temperatures in the 80's and October has been pretty cold. So much so that we had snow twice this week! Apparently here in the Southwest we go from Summer to Winter and skip right past fall. This week looks to give me something back as the temperature will be in the 60's. I have lost my skin, because that is cold to me now. I remember being in Albany and when it was 30 degrees I would consider that hot!

Speaking of seasons, I'm ready for the Christmas one. Not because I love presents (which I do), or because I'm uber-religious (which I'm not), but because every new holiday brings a new kind of Reese's creation and the hope that they'll unveil some kind of oversized version. Valentine's Day brought me a giant Reese's heart, Easter brought me some giant Reese's eggs, and the other holidays have been huge letdowns. Halloween (definitely top 2 of candy holidays) gave me a big fat nothing in terms of the giant Reese's which was a surprise. Here's hoping that Christmas provides! If it doesn't I'm writing a letter to Mr. Reese himself to complain.

Finally I'd like to talk about sports. The Yankees are in the world series... yay. That's all I'll say cause I'm not too big on baseball, but since they are the only good NY team I'll have to hold onto something. The Giants are lowsy. As of today, they have lost their last 3 games in miserable fashion. They look like a shell of their former selves and the defense is terrible. My fantasy team (which has only 1 Giants player) is suffering also for some unknown reason.

Lastly, basketball season is here! The Knicks are terrible though. They have lost their first 3 games, although the last two they mounted huge comebacks. In both games, they were down by at least 20 points and came back. One game went to double OT, and the other went to OT. Needless to say, they lost both. Danilo Gallinari looks pretty good though and he'll break some records this season.

Last year I bought NBA League Pass broadband (so I can watch the games online), and I'm struggling to decide if I should do it this year. For $5 more than last season, I can watch only 7 teams all year round. Last year I was able to watch any game. This year, David Stern has decided to jew me out. Oh well. I don't think I want to watch the Knicks lose anyways.

I am a PhD candidate!

presentation will be posted later.