Idea Clearingouse- Now- In 3D!

Been kind of a lag in posting lately- between work and other internet endeavors that kept me busy last week- will try to pick up on blog I started last Friday- before the other internet activities and frosty beverages intervened- now St. Patrick's Day and a few more frosty beverages have intervened in freeing my writer's block

Upon checking my mail last Friday- got a letter and tickets for one of those phony "Television Preview" events next Friday night in Danvers- Found it kind of odd to receive considering fact I work in the meeting presentation business (for lack of a better euphemism for hotel Audio-Visual) and have dealt with this group- and others like it- directly over the years- would be the equivalent of handing a leaflet to or sticking a clipboard in front of an anti-cult activist- It's not nearly as malicious as some other scams- basically the shows they're supposedly screening for future airing are actually a cover for the ads that are truly the focus of the audience testing- though the audience members I generally see at these look like and act like they're happy to be in a large, shiny building- and it's a true evening out for them- Don't want to be the one that ruins the fantasy on this

The funniest part of the invite to me though- was the rendition of my name as "JOSEPH GILLESPIE 3D"- Instead of the Roman numeral that generally goes after any one of the formal iterations of my full name- I just thought the way it read to me- that I was in 3D- was rather amusing to me- I guess if I were in 2D I wouldn't be enough of an active jabbroni to be getting invited to gala events like that at suburban hotels

-St. Patrick's Day reminds me that we're in the season of Lent for Catholics out there- lapsed, like myself or otherwise- Had a converstion with someone at work last week about how he was giving up booze for the 40 days while another family member of his was giving up "being difficult"- I don't think its much of a sacrifice to try and not be an asshole- especially since I like to think I try the other 325 days a year as well- except for when called for- always recall when in Catholic school- we were told we couldn't make an abstract sacrifice for Lent- had to be something tangible we had to announce to the class every year- like candy or TV viewing

-"Oh my God- the U2 show"- never something I thought I'd hear myself say during a commute home from work- anywhere- since I have never lived/ owned a car close enough to any venue they'd have played to me the last 22 years since I became a licensed driver- but I had to think that when they played that "secret" show at the Somerville Theatre in Davis Square last Wednesday- I live about a mile and a half or so from there- but usually go through the outskirts of the Davis area to drive home- thought of it and avoided area

Which reminds me of the old New England adage of "You can't get there from here"- I sometimes think the most direct and quickest way to get somewhere here is the least direct or quickest

-Was at supermarket last week- saw the new line of "Late Night" line of Doritos- which included a "Late Night Taco" flavored selection- usually, I'd resist this line of marketing to hipsters/ stoners/ young people/ whatever- but I've loved Taco-flavored Doritos since I was a kid and they merely had the brown packaging versus the pre-fucked-with Nacho Cheese-flavored ones of the late 70's/ early 80's- and have bought the occasional returns to the "Taco-flavored" name since

Anyhow- at supermarket- and put my shit on the conveyor- since there was a line behind me and an aggressive bagger at end- aside from5 my usual desire to get the hell out of there- My "Late Night Taco" Doritos were next to the 2.5-gallon container of water on top of my case of pint bottles- cashier jerks the belt- bottle falls off and crushes the "Late Night" Doritos- she asks me if I would like to take them broken or get another- I say "Forget it"- not taking time from people behind me to play a smaller version of "Supermarket Sweep" for "Late Night Taco" Doritos or taking the fucked-up bag that will likely just open up over whatever's next to it or the back of my car

-Local News Items- two items that piqued my interest- One was the 13-year-old girl from Winchester who ran away to Boston and went to a bookstore - before she was found and returned- Isn't there a larger way to rebel than to disappear downtown to read?

And the recent rash of stories where people are taking pictures/ videos of neighborhood calamities with cell-phone cameras- particulalrly the recent outbreak of gas explosions around New England on the news- where folks seemed to be doing so- as opposed to calling 911 with them or helping these folks directly?