Some people...

There are days where I wonder if I'm sane and the rest of the world is nuts. Last night was one of them. It's 2:00AM, I'm trying to get some sleep and the noise is unbelievable. The neighbor guy and one of his pals are sitting not six feet from my front door downing beer after beer, playing with an electric guitar and arguing over whether or not "Grim" is a good name for the baby if it should be a boy. The reason they are outside is because his SO and her mom are inside arguing over whether or not mom should go to the hospital. I come wandering out in my pajamas - you'd think the sight of a 220 pound woman in leggings and a T-shirt with a cigarette dangling off her lip would put the fear of something in these people, but it doesn't - so they get me to referee. I get a list of mom's symptoms: pain in chest radiating down left arm, inability to lift left arm or open left hand, taste of copper in her mouth. My suggestion is go to the hospital, it sounds cardiac related.

Then I get asked about the name for the kid. I advise dad to consider not only how the name will be received in the schoolyard, but in the workplace. Daddy to be's drunken buddy points out that it shouldn't matter what your name is because if an employer doesn't hire or promote you because of your name, you can sue.

Of course, the curse of being a tech has reared it's head again. Before mom started feeling bad, she was asking me to diagnose an issue with her system. Seems it was left on during the last big thunderstorm and now doesn't power up. Wanted to know if I could fix a system that's about 8 years old on the cheap. There isn't a tech on the face of the earth that can fix an 8 year old system on the cheap because the parts just aren't there anymore, short of pulling them out of another museum piece.

And for those of you needing a groaner: Pickle Suzuki - for the best dill in the Metroplex. I kid you not.