Remember in 'Office Space' when Tom Smykowski interviews with the Bob's for his job? Tom gets flustered and angry when they ask him, "So, what would you say you do here?" and "Why can't the customers just go straight to the software people"? He replies, "Look, I already told you, I deal with the g*ddamn customers so the engineers don't have to".
That's how I feel right about now, why can't the customers talk directly to the service techs? I just spent another hour of my life trying to locate a popping sound coming from underneath my Jeep. I've probably spent at least an hour on three separate occasions at Tire Kingdom (who installed my lift kit) and three separate occasions at Big O Dodge trying to figure it out. Each one of them saying, "we can't figure it out, must be the other guy's fault". I just left TK, and after an hour they came out and said, "well we can't figure it out, we can't make it do what you're saying it does, your lift kit is fine, might be your drive line, take it back to Big O where that service is under warranty". So, naturally I say, "why don't you hop in the car with me and I'll show you". 10 seconds in, it does it and the customer service rep (not the tech) goes, "OOOOH, NOW I HEAR IT, yeah!" And of course, by that time I had to leave.
Instead of spending an hour going around in circles trying to figure out what I was saying, they could've just asked me and been on point in less than 10 seconds.
Well this was definitely a very interesting weekend! After work, Tessa and I went to the Radio Room to catch SIGNS OF IRIS play since I missed their set the weekend before since I got to the Channel late. I have to say that it certainly wasn't your usual rock crowd to say the very least but we had a good time nevertheless!
The next day I went out to Chiefs in Greenville where my old friend known as G Man was having a get-together with a group he started called the Armageddon Brothers. I had never heard of the group before but I found myself joining them as a new recruit. I am pleased to announce that I did not have to take a blood oath or chant anything in Latin!
I had to cut out early and head to band practice then I went by Mike Sharpe's house for his 40th birthday party. There was some delicious food and drinks (the mango margaritas were AWESOME!!!!) and we all got birthday party hats. Tessa didn't wanna mess up her hair so she gave me hers!
The next day we slept in then went to Spartanburg to see Lindsey Buckingham from FLEETWOOD MAC put on a solo show at the Spartanburg Memorial Auditorium. And when I say solo, I mean SOLO! Mr. Buckingham showed off his incredible abilities on voice and guitar in his one man show and covered some of his solo hits such as "Go Insane" and "Trouble" as well as some FLEETWOOD MAC classics like "Go Your Own Way", "Never Going Back Again" and "Big Love". FANTASTIC show! The only thing that could top the experience would be a killer birthday show with my band SLAVEDRIVER, my best friend's band STRANGE PLANET from Atlanta and THERMOSTAT! Oh wait, that's gonna happen THIS Saturday at the House in Simpsonville!
We had an awesome time with Nickelback before the show at the VWA in Charlotte! At first a group of us were in Nickelbacks dressing room. After that, we ate dinner with My Darkest Days and Bush. I got to chat with the Bass player from Bush -who was really nice. What a crazy night!! Check out the video.
Last weekend Jeff and I went to see Nicklback in Charlotte! We got to hang out in Nickelback's dressing room it was so much fun. I met the Bass player from Bush. My Darkest Days, Bush, and Nickelback kicked ass. Check out this video.
So on todays Dirthy Thursday, I was lifted off with a passenger side airbag. Let me be the first to say to those out there that are thinking or contemplating the idea of doing this, DONT. When you see things like this on the internet or here on the rise guys its not something to try at home or on your own. Needless to say I need adjustments on my back. I was in a tremendous amount of pain after the bit and still am in alot of pain. Even though they havent done this yet, my hat is still off to the guys from jackass who perform the stunts they do without seriously being injured or killed. But to those out there, the video will be up here on newrock933.com and on theriseguys.com and please dont try this at home. Yes I am a professional, and thats through the eyes of lewis.
Thursday night Tessa and I went out to Camelot Cinemas to catch the premiere of what is supposedly the last of Christopher Nolan's Batman Trilogy, The Dark Knight Rises. I gotta admit that I was a bit skeptic of the film since it had a tough predecessor to follow since The Dark Knight was such a great film with a legendary performance by the late Heath Ledger. However, the film served as a great conclusion to the series although I will say that a lot of the rumors leading up to the film were a bit misleading so who knows what the future holds?
Of course, the truly unfortunate part of this film is that yet another tragedy shadows it just as Ledger's premature demise cast one on The Dark Knight. The senseless slaughter of avid moviegoers in Colorado has sent a shockwave throughout our nation and set the political bureaucracy into an election year frenzy over gun control and violence in the film industry. Personally, I do not own a gun nor do I have any interest in ever owning one but I do not think our 2nd amendment rights should be jeopardized. If anything, maybe we shouldn't sell guns to nut jobs! Besides, if someone wanted you dead bad enough, there's not a whole lot one can do to prevent it if one isn't aware they are in danger. And in a movie theater, you are literally just a sitting duck. Could have just as well happened at Camelot Thursday night or any other theater in Greenville. Sad but true.
On a brighter note, the little lady and I hit up Saluda River Rafting Adventures on Sunday to do some tubing. When we got there and checked in, I put some sunblock on (SPF 50+ since I'm a ginger!) then took the bus down to the river! The excursion down the river took about a couple of hours and included a few mishaps of each of us falling off our inner tubes: Tessa fell off hers trying to get me off of a log that I was stuck on at the beginning and I fell off trying to reach the pick up spot at the end of the ride!
When we got dried off and back to our car, we headed back into town to pick up some food since we had skipped lunch. So we hit up the Pizza Hut/Taco Bell express near downtown Greenville since Tessa had never been to a place where the two chains coexisted in one restaurant location. We grabbed some tacos and personal pan pizza and some breadsticks. Tessa helped feed me since I was driving and popped a breadstick with volcanically hot pizza sauce on the end directly into my mouth burning the crap outta my tongue! To make matters worse, I discovered that my legs were severely burnt once we got home because I didn't think to put sunblock on them since I usually don't get burnt on my legs. Then again I'm usually wearing baggy shorts and walking upright and NOT kicking back in an inner tube with my legs FACING the Sun! However, Tessa gets the bigger dummy award since she decided to take the whole trip sans sunblock! So she got a bigger burn as far as area is concerned but none of her burns were quite as severe as the ones on my legs! Damn fair skin!
I think it's time to bring this record back to America!!! Man in Singapore sets world record by zipping and unzipping his pants 230 times in 30 seconds.
Like a lot of you I'm really saddened by what happened in Aurora at the Dark Knight premiere. I wish these pricks who want to die and leave their mark by murdering innocent people would just put a gun to their heads and end it all. These scumbags are being romanced by the news. The news. The national, our locals, everyone. They start dissecting this guy's life, what makes him tick, who were his friends, what kind of music did he listen to? Who gives a flying blank? These people are then worshipped by other loners. And look at all the people talking about this guy, he's trending on Twitter - I could get that too! And the women, they will write him in prison, ask for his hand in marriage, send naked pictures. Seems even more attractive to these lowlifes. "Women will wait to have sex with me now!" So who do we blame? Obama? No. Gun control? No. I say we blame the media. Also Jeff Lewis Neal.
