Last night, I didn't get to sleep at all...

wait, that's a song lyric.
Last night I didn't sleep well, apparently because I've become somewhat dependent on the ambien sleeping pills I've been taking since I was hospitalized.  I forgot to take the pill and as a result I didn't sleep very well.  Food for thought.

 Speaking of food, last night I went to play trivia at Finn McCool's Irish Pub in Santa Monica, with the notion of dining there.  They hold trivia every Monday at 8 and I'd missed the past few weeks due to taking part in a month-long trivia tournament elsewhere.  I was looking forward to returning, Finn's is a great place and their game is usually a lot of fun.  I'd mentioned to the woman who hosts the game I'd see her on the first Monday in October.

So I drive over and pay my $4 to park and walk inside.  The sound system is set up, only it isn't set up for trivia.  A band is getting ready to play.  Turns out trivia is cancelled.  Now I was on the website run by the company that runs the game earlier today and there was no word that tonight's trivia was cancelled.  I'd checked the Finn McCool's website's calendar and there was no mention of trivia being cancelled.  In fact, it mentions that there is trivia tonight.  So I'm not a happy camper.  I've emailed the company that hosts the game to let them know I won't be going back for awhile, if at all.

I think this is part of a larger trend.  Businesses taking their customers for granted.  As though we'll keep on patronizing them no matter how they treat us.  Like there aren't alternatives or something.  I'll give the benefit of the doubt to a local business I go to regularly when something goes awry on a rare occasion.  But ignore me or fail to communicate me and I'll vote with my feet and walk away.  As you should.  Don't settle for less than someone's best.  I did get an email from someone at the company that runs the game, apologizing and offering some excuse that I didn't put myself on the email list as they asked each week.  For the record, they never asked for my email.

Things I'm pondering this morning:

Laundromats.  Why do they call themselves coin laundries?  No one is washing their spare change.  Yes, I know that the machines take coins, but is that label relevant any longer?  Why do they advertise "wash and dry"?  As if they'd have washing machines without having dryers?

Businesses sharing space.  Recently I went past a Kentucky Fried Chicken location I'm familiar with and it is now both a KFC and on one side a Long John Silver's.  So you can get fried chicken or fried fish?  Maybe they should open a drive-through and just inject the cholesterol directly into your thighs.  Do they fry the fish and the chicken in the same big fryer?  No wonder people say "tastes like chicken".

The things people put into California Propositions.  Prop 32 is supposed to "fix" spending by unions and corporations on election campaigns.  But the prohibitions in Prop 32 on corporate spending on election campaigns aren't constitutional based on the decision in Citizens United v FEC. 

What people think or that they don't think.  Some moron went into a place to apply for a job.  The reason he's a moron is that after submitting his job application, he stole a donation box on the way out, getting caught in the act on "tape".  Deputies got his name and address from his application and found him accomodations in the gray-bar hotel.  I suspect he won't get the job, either.

There was a surfing competition in Huntington Beach on Sunday.  A competition featuring dogs, surfing.  So either surfing has gone to the dogs, or it is now time to hang twenty.  Or would that be sixteen?

Why did the high school and college girls in the mid/late 70s look so damn good in their tight pants, compared to the same phenomenon today?

Why is it that having $30,000 in the bank will make you ineligible for food stamps, but spending all of that cash on a new SUV will suddenly make you eligible?  Yes sports fans, having cash disqualifies an applicant for assistance, but having a fully paid for vehicle worth the same amount of money does not disqualify an applicant for assistance.

Will an explosion at a factory in Japan lead to hoarding of disposable diapers around the world?  This factory makes roughly 1/5th of the world's entire supply of a key ingredient in disposable diapers.

Could your FB postings keep you from the college of your choice?  A news report from a Dallas, TX TV station says that the "good" colleges are checking the social media pages of applicants. 

What can't you buy on Ebay?  A reporter spent $150 and bought a "fireman's key" for New York City and could have used it to control elevators, traffic signals, and subway entrances.  Police are investigating.

What was going on at the Culver Center (a local shopping center) last night?  Parking was a nightmare?  Did everyone decide to go to Bally's Gym all at once?  Or whatever it's named this week?

Okay, time for a quiz.  It will make more sense to those of you who live in the Los Angeles area.  Identify what the following people are best known for:

Larry H. Parker
Myles L. Berman
Larry Miller (not the character actor)
Cal Worthington
Jerry Dunphy
Elbert Dysart Botts
Loyd C. Sigmon
Paul (no last name)
Gideon (no last name, not the Biblical figure)

No peeking.

I said no peeking.

Okay, here are the answers:

Larry H. Parker - Southern California attorney
Myles L. Berman - calls himself "Topgun DUI Defense attorney"
Larry Miller - owns the Sit and Sleep mattress store chain
Cal Worthington - owns Worthington Ford, sorry, his dogs names Spot all have died
Jerry Dunphy - former L.A. area news anchor, dead for a number of years
Elbert Dysart Botts - the guy who invented those bumpy things on roadway lane dividing stripes.  Botts Dots
Loyd C. Sigmon - the guy for whom the Sig Alert was named.
Paul - the King of Big Screen
Gideon - Crazy Gideon, former owner of a now defunct discount electronics shop.

Aside from Botts, they are all famous because they were on L.A. area TV and/or radio.

How do moms know instinctively when you've done something dumb, at any age?  Is there some mother gene that gives them psychic powers?