Well, okay - so it wasn't manic, but it is a little bit crazy to hang out in the heat all day to buy a phone.  I was just up at the La Encatada shopping mall here in Tucson browsing around for a birthday gift for my wife.  Also, I partly wanted to see what the action was like at the Apple Store for today's release of the iPhone.  Well, there was about 20 people in line.  A lot of them had Macbooks, Powerbooks, iBooks, and Macbook Pros - I don't think I saw one PC in the bunch.  Considering we should hit triple digits by noon, I'm glad I'm not getting an iPhone today. 
 
Here's my transcript from the conversation I had with an Apple employee this morning:
Him: Can I help you find something?
Me:  No, not really…  I'm pretty much just mooching off of your air conditioning
Him: That's cool.  I like working here because it's cool in here.
Me: Great. How long have the people been waiting out here to buy telephones?
Him:  Since about 5:30 this morning…  security wouldn't let them line up until today. 
Me: So do you have enough iPhones for the people waiting. 
Him: I don't even know how many we have.  They keep that info top secret.
Me:  I read on Engadget yesterday that all the Apple employees are getting free iPhones.
Him: Really?  Umm… well that's cool…   (he didn't seem too excited - I think he was pretending it wasn't true).
 
Then he went on a whole rant about how he is a kitchen geek and loves Japanese knives.  Right about then a real customer came in… 

Photo: Note the giant fake iPhone in the window to the right. 

I've been doing the 5pm-1am shift here at the Newspaper all this week.  There are a lot of advantages of working at night… 
a top 10 list:
1) Don't gotta get up in the morning.  No need to set the alarm, I'm waking up at noon with plenty of time to spare. 
2) I can work on music, run errands or anything during the day. 
3) I'm only required to be at work for 8 hours (5p-1a), instead of the usual 9 hours (8a-5p) the day shift requires.  That's 5 bonus hours a week I get - 20 a month… 240 per year!  Wow!
4) Easier commute.  No one is on the road at 1am, and the 4:30pm traffic isn't nearly as bad as the 7:30am traffic is. 
5) I don't actually have any work to do.  They're pretty much paying me to answer a phone that barely rings.  And if something actually does come up that I can't handle, I can just call someone at home and they'll help me fix it, or they can fix it from home. 
6) I can crank the music at my desk with no worries of bothering my co-workers.  Rok!
7) I don't have to deal with, listen to, or anything else with the people in the office. 
Dress code is not terribly enforced…  as my boss says, "after 5 pants are optional."
9) It's not so damn hot out at 1am… only mid-90s.
10) Did I mention, I don't have shit to do?  Yeah, that's nice.
 
…but the big disadvantage of working at night is I don't get to spend anytime with my sweetie.  I see her briefly when she's leaving for work, and then again when I'm getting into bed at 3am.  That's about it.  And, that's a pretty big disadvantage. So I'll be looking forward to getting back to the day shift. I can handle all that other stuff.  I guess they call it work for a reason.

I did a little wee bit of revamping to the ol' schlam.org website this evening… 
New Stuff:
1) If you go to schlam.org, I added a a little animated "loading" graphic to let people know they'd be going somewhere… here.
2) The Music page - I added an MP3 player to the music page - finally.  I'll be adding music there soon (I promise).  But for the time being you get Yakety Sax.  Lucky you.
3) YouTube, MySpace, and Photos pages… Previously I had those pages redirecting to their respective websites…  but now there's a little description of what they are and a link to send you there (in a new window) if you want.  Options - gotta love 'em. 

While waiting for my lunch I was treated to Marvin Gaye's "Sexual Healing" AND "I Touch Myself" by Divinyls. Gettin' freaky with the french fries. Thanks, Carl's Jr!

Man, let you me tell you something…  I hate summer colds.  I've been sick for about 5 days or so… I'm getting over it, but it's all been a duper giant pile of crap. I started feeling sick on Sunday - the sore throat.  It always starts with a sore throat.  That damn sore throat.  Then the congestion and the sinus headaches.  Now that I'm getting over it…  nosebleeds.  Lots of them.  I hate them.  HATE.  Whenever I blow my nose or sneeze a big ol' sneeze I turn into The Schlaline Geyser of Blood freakshow exibit.  Let's see, I had one at work yesterday.  One this morning from my right nostril, and another one at work today from left nostril.  It's always been like that.  I get a lot of nosebleeds.  It's my "thing".  It's what I'm known for. 

Anyway, this should all be over soon.  Let's all pray to whoever you pray to for my speedy recovery.  I'll be praying to Bob Barker as he is my savior. 

Thanks, Bob!