address labels, computer part, traffic cop, reaping

My room-mate wanted some address labels printed up and he had several sheets of unmarked blank labels. So, I measured the labels, fired up the internet and figured out the size/style - Avery 5160. I next fired up word and looked for a template. Ummm... there weren't any. So, I checked the help area and tried to find a place to download the correct set up. Poorly organized and missing, you know, the standard ones. Everything was holiday or jelly jar labels. I finally downloaded a christmas one that I figured I could hack to make functional and plain - but then I noticed a label setting in word 2007. In a few minutes I had selected the correct size and added in the address. Hit the print button and it asked me to save the file in an .xps format. Which isn't one I was familiar with, but oh well. And then nothing happened. I closed word and then tried to reopen the file I just created. It wasn't recognized. Wait, what? Word forces me to save a file in a format that even it doesn't recognize? That hardly seems fair. And it had also set up an .xps printer for me that wouldn't work either.

I ended up using delete and then copy and paste to turn the holiday one into something more plain. It works, but the formatting is messed up on the first label in the batch. So, the best we can get from one sheet is 29 labels. So, a sort of success, but more work than it needed to be.

In other news... I checked a local computer parts/cable store at lunch yesterday for the part I needed. Once I finally got someone's attention, they didn't have a clue. They checked with someone better stocked in clues and determined they didn't have anything even close to what I needed.

In a way, I feel a little better that the "experts" are clueless - I was thinking I was behind the times on my tech stuff. I did find the part on-line and got it ordered - though even that was weird. After I got my order confirmation, they suggested I could avoid delays by giving them the last four digits of my social security number in order to verify. Instead, I gave them some harsh comments on their feedback form.

My drive back from Chipotle yesterday at lunch time was interrupted by a traffic cop. He was in the middle of the street and I was unfortunately the first car in the group he stopped. Accident? Construction? Visiting dignitary? Nope. He stopped a bunch of cars on Market street (one of the busiest in all of akron) so that people could leave a restaurant parking lot.

Now, your first thought may be - "are you shitting me?" And I can reply that no, I'm not. It really happened. I'm sitting there in my car, my burrito slowly cooling in the seat next to me - full of crankiness.
Based on what I could see in the opposing lanes, they must have been around 40-50 cars stopped so that the lunchtime restaurant crowd could leave their parking lot. Ummm... nobody stopped traffic so I could pull out of Chipotle. Or the parking lot at work. Or my driveway at home. Or the gas station. Or the bank. It felt like I was there for 600 years, but eventually the cop let the rest of the traffic go. If memory serves, my car was home to some harsh language on my way back to work.

Watched a movie last night - The Reaping. The premise wasn't bad - but the movie was full of plot holes and sub-par acting. The "big twist" was amazingly obvious and trite - but even with all that against it, the movie was kinda fun. And the special effects really ramped up at the end, as though they knew it was bad and were trying to make up for it.

That's it for now... later...