The Jody – Page 94 – The Big DumpTruck

Something I Don’t Have

Posted on October 2, 2007February 24, 2010 by The Jody

I keep hearing these radio commercials for a company where you can send “your unwanted gold jewelry” and they will pay you for it. So many, many things wrong with this. Where to begin?

Okay, first off, who has unwanted gold jewelry? Even the stuff I don’t love I will hang on to, because, well, it’s gold jewelry. Really, let’s just be honest and say the target audience is people who are very hard up for money and happen to have some that they can sell. Or worst case (and you know this is happening) some little crackhead is stealing from grandma’s jewelry box for drug money.

Now gold has value, and given the quality of it, you can bring it to many jewelers who will weigh the gold and tell you what it’s worth. Some of them will even buy it from you (maybe not for full value – I wouldn’t know, I haven’t been selling my jewelry). And you can go to a pawn shop for the same thing. In both of those cases, you are right there in front of someone making the transaction. At what point do you figure you’ll put three necklaces in an envelope, send it to the radio company, and they’ll pay you for 2 necklaces? They say that all shipments are insured, but how does that work? How can you prove that you sent three? Does the person at the UPS store have to sign something as a witness?

I’m sorry, but does anyone really think that sending something in the mail to the company name advertised on the radio isn’t going to be noticed by anyone handling the envelope? There are dishonest people everywhere. Anyone who has ever heard the commercial is going to know there is gold in the package. I’d say the chances of you getting ripped off (by any definition of the phrase) is pretty high.

So let’s solve that problem. If you have unwanted gold jewelry, you send it to me, and I’ll send you back an autographed photo of me and my dog. Because the autographed photo is priceless, you will definitely be making a good decision to unload all that “unwanted” jewelry in my direction. Oh, and if you have unwanted diamonds or sapphires, I will throw in a 2 minute phone call to your cell phone. I am so giving.

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Causing a Fumble

Posted on September 30, 2007February 25, 2010 by The Jody

It’s Sunday in New England, so you either go to a fair, go apple picking, or go to a football game. We chose the last option (although we passed about a billion people at Bolton Orchards. There were so many people there (I assume because they had the hot donuts sign out front – the Lions Club makes ’em right in front of you. Mmmm) that it didn’t even occur to us to stop. Even though I love little lard balls.

My nephew is number 92. He’s amazing, even if they didn’t put him in enough for anyone’s tastes. Let me put it this way…they put him in for a total of 6 plays. Two of those plays, his name got announced because he made the tackle. What does that tell you about his mad football skillz? In this blurry shot (hey, a 200mm lens all the way out trying to follow the action? I’m only human) he takes down number 11 and causes him to fumble. Woo!

causing a fumble, originally uploaded by Big DumpTruck.

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I Wanted to Prove I Stayed Up

Posted on September 28, 2007 by The Jody

The look on Pap’s face mirrors how I feel right about now. And I want to point out that I did take a picture of him standing there in a jock strap but Mr. Dump posted the picture he took on his iPhone over on Red Sox Soul because he got to the computer first and I didn’t want you to think I was copying him.

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Bunny Hopping

Posted on September 25, 2007 by The Jody

leaper, originally uploaded by Big DumpTruck.

I took the camera to the Bolton Fair on Sunday, hoping to find something good to photograph. When I realized the Frisbee Dogs were going to do an exhibition, I knew I had to try to get some action shots. This dog, Jazz, as really the most psycho and fun to watch. They told us she has to go out first because she’ll wear herself out, freaking out and barking, until they let her “play”.

There are about 8 other cool doggie photos on my Flickr account (and 30 or so more on my hard drive!)

So did I miss seeing any of you Sunday? We were the ones taking pictures of chickens. No, really.

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Over the Top Reaction of the Day

Posted on September 21, 2007February 25, 2010 by The Jody

You know, I try to keep things light here. I’m not in this to get a reputation as a bully or a bulldog or a bull-ony. But I read an article in the Sentinel today that absolutely made me furious. Enough so that I feel I should send a letter to the paper in response. But maybe I’ll just vent here to keep myself in limited amounts of trouble.

So for background, go and read the story in the Sentinel and Enterprise. I’ll wait.

Okay, so a local mom blew her top over a flier sent home to parents about a wine tasting to benefit the Leominster Education Foundation. A foundation, by the way, trying to raise money to put computers, software and other tools into the schools, outside of the regular school budget.

I’d heard about the wine tasting at the PTO meeting, and I thought it was great that they’d been able to put something like this together. I also got the flier in Junior’s backpack this week.

Here’s where my head exploded:

“The schools are basically saying, ‘Hey, there’s a wine tasting, give this to mommy and daddy so we can get drunk with them,'” Tarbell said Thursday afternoon.
Tarbell said the flier sends kids the message that drinking is acceptable.

You know, Ms. Tarbell, if you interpret a wine tasting as an invitation to get drunk, that would be YOUR PROBLEM and maybe you should look into getting some professional help. Wine Tasting does not equal kegger. Wine Tasting is not a tailgate party. Wine tasting is not taking a bottle of Boone’s Farm behind the neighbor’s barn when you were 12.

And guess what, Ms. Tarbell? Drinking IS acceptable. To pretty much everyone except Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mormons, Lindsey Lohan or anyone not legally of age to do so. I spent 3 weeks with a family in France and even the youngest kids had some watered down wine with their meals. Because it’s not the big freaking deal it is over here. So when they turn 18 or 21 they don’t immediately become useless wastoids intent on killing every last brain cell on 100 proof rum. Because they don’t see things like wine tastings as Nosferatu’s Welcome Wagon.

Your poor kids are going to have a really warped sense of alcohol’s place in our lives, and I would fear that they are going to see it as the apple tree in the garden of Eden. “Oooh, it’s forbidden and it makes mom crazy! It must be AWESOME!”

And if you don’t like my response, too bad. Maybe you shouldn’t have taken your misbegotten crusade to the newspaper. I got the flier, and there is NOTHING ABOUT IT that implies a)it’s for kids and b) that it’s anything but a very classy, exclusive opportunity for adults to gather and try small samples of wine and food. Not one thing about the flier would have been appealing to an 11 year old. My 9 year old didn’t even look at it. YOU, my dear, are the one making your children think this is a BFD.

Well, hey, one thing, you got the Foundation’s event a lot of free publicity. I’ll bet people who weren’t even thinking of going before are now going to buy a ticket. I know I may. Just to prove a point.