Saturday, August 29, 2009

This is why you keep a flashlight in your glove compartment

What NOT to do when you get to a gas station:

Drive up to said gas station with a gas can on your passenger seat. Check

Decide to check to see how much gas is in the can by using a lighter. Check

Fail to understand gas is extremely flammable. Check

Yet this is exactly what a 27-year-old Joliet woman did on Tuesday, suffering 2nd-degree burns. Naperville City Desk sincerely hopes the young woman heals quickly and learns a valuable lesson from this mental lapse. If anyone cares to provide the woman's address we're happy to cut into the office fudgesicle fund to send her a flashlight and some batteries to keep in her car for any future lighting needs.

Friday, August 28, 2009

Friday night Fun - Elvis Costello & Emmylou Harris 'Heart-shaped Bruise'

So for lack of a better theme tonight we're featuring cool/fun songs I heard on my iPod this week. Here's a fave from Elvis Costello's album 'Delivery Man' - he's singing 'Heart-shaped Bruise' LIVE with Emmylou Harris.

Friday night Fun - B-52's 'Keep this Party Going On'

Continuing with tonight's theme of cool/fun stuff I heard on my iPod this week: the B-52's live with 'Keep this Party Going On.'

Friday night Fun - Smash Mouth

With their smash hit from 1997 'Walkin' on the Sun.'

Thursday, August 27, 2009

Rough Day

Any time you have a work day where 9 people lose their jobs, it's a rough day. Those of us who keep our jobs have survivor's guilt.

It sucks.

Friday, August 21, 2009

Friday night Fun - Human League w bonus 80's fashion parade

Don't You Want Me and don't you want these 80's fashions?

Friday night Fun - Human League

It's 80's night here at the Naperville City Desk and tonight we're into 'Fascination.'

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Lady, you were just RUDE


So I went to SuperTarget tonight after work to stock up on popsicles, Pop-Tarts and popcorn for the Naperville City Desk office snack bar and got into a checkout line behind a woman buying six cases of beer. I unloaded my snack bar items onto the conveyor then realized the line was no longer moving because the beer-buying lady showed an out-of-state ID and those purchases require manager approval. (Don't ask me, I don't make the rules at Target.) But that wasn't the annoying part, this was: what became increasingly annoying is beer-buying lady yakking on her cell phone the whole time, with no consideration for the cashier (or anyone else) in line.

Cell phones are a great invention. But just because you have one doesn't mean you need to be on it ALL THE TIME. Since she was on the phone in a public place I thought maybe I should comment on her conversation since she clearly wanted everyone within earshot to hear but then I remembered my mama taught me good manners. And was the conversation about anything pressing? Of course not!

This kind of rudeness in unforgivable. And I'm glad beer-buying lady had to wait. Though I do wish she'd have shut up.

Remember when we didn't have phones with us all the time and we had to wait until we got home to check our answering machines? Incredible that the world continued to spin given today's cell phone-addicted morons running around.

HANG UP.

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Mixed review follow up

NCD is delighted to report there has been a turnabout in the saga of the stolen FM transmitter. You may recall we posted here a couple weeks ago that we were dismayed to find out an item had been stolen from our car when it was in for collision service in late July. We were very pleased with the work that was done but upset that someone had sticky fingers. Gerber has a service that follows up with customers to rate the work that was done and we were contacted about that on Monday. We said we wouldn't return for any future work and explained why.

Today NCD got a call from the manager at Gerber. He wanted to know what had happened and assured us he would make it right and replace the stolen item. That is fantastic customer service and we here at Naperville City Desk are very impressed at both the gesture and the promise of replacement. Customer relations are of utmost importance in this challenged economy and it's good to know some businesses still respect that. Of course, we sincerely hope we won't have need of collision service again but if we do, we'll take our business back to Gerber in Downers Grove. I just hope that maybe they can root out the bad egg(s).

Monday, August 17, 2009

Kane is sorry

Yeah, more like sorry he got caught. Patrick Kane finally addressed the public after being arrested for assaulting a cabdriver in Buffalo in early August. I understand the legal case is still pending but saying he was 'in the wrong place at the wrong time' doesn't sound very penitent for the 'future of the NHL.'

Someone needs to take Kane to the woodshed for a talking to. And Stan Bowman, you ask yourself 'what would Scotty do?'

Saturday, August 15, 2009

Call 555-4444, we'll talk, it's no big whoop...



Roseanne is the weakest link here. Too bad she didn't have shpilkus (sp??)...

Monday, August 10, 2009

Bad Blackhawk!

Blackhawk star winger Patrick Kane got himself in trouble over the weekend at home in Buffalo when he and his cousin took a cab ride and took issue when the cabbie did not have $0.20 in change. That's twenty cents, not twenty dollars. The cousins hailed a cab at about 4 am Sunday morning when they were leaving a nightlife area of Kane's native Buffalo. The fare came to $13.80 and the cousins handed over $15.00. When the cabbie could only produce $1.00 for change that's when it's alleged the cousins decided to administer Wild West justice and pummelled the cabbie for the two dimes. The cabbie ended up with cuts and bruises and broken glasses. Patrick Kane earns $875,000 per year as a Blackhawk and shouldn't have expected change at all. I make nowhere near that much scratch and I know you're supposed to tip a cabbie.

The Blackhawks organization said they stand by their star player but I hope privately someone gives him a real earful for being a butthead.

Sunday, August 9, 2009

Good service, sticky fingers

We really don't like to do this but we have to post a mixed review of a local collision shop.

Trixie Junior Space Punk has had collision work done at Gerber Collision in Downers Grove twice - once last year when I had a fender-bender and had my front end replaced and again just a week ago or so when I was rear-ended by a hippie and had to have my rear bumper replaced (yes, the hippie part is true). I appreciate that Gerber has car rentals available right on site so that I don't have to inconvenience any friends asking them to follow me to the shop. I also appreciate that the work is very good - in both instances my car looks as good as new.

HOWEVER, this last visit has left a very sour taste in my mouth when I went to look for the Griffin iTrip transmitter I use to listen to my iPod through my car radio (very important on my long trips to northern Michigan) and what do you know - it wasn't there. Seems someone at Gerber has sticky fingers and helped himself to my FM transmitter. I guess I should be grateful the klepto doesn't have a Samsung cell phone because he left my car phone charger.

The hope is that I won't need to have my car serviced again but if I do I will seriously think twice before taking it to Gerber in Downers Grove.

Convenience: A
Quality of Work: A
Honesty by all workers: F-

Friday, August 7, 2009

Friday night Fun - 30-Second Bunnies - Sixteen Candles

So I was out last night listening to one of my favorite artists, Slaid Cleaves (I've blogged at length about him) and was away from my laptop and unable to pay tribute to John Hughes who passed away yesterday at the young age of 59. John Hughes truly captured the essence of what is was to be a teenager in the 80s and will have a lasting influence, especially for people around my age.

Here's a 30-Second Bunnies rendering of the Hughes' CLASSIC: Sixteen Candles.

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Monday, August 3, 2009

Boy, we're busy tonight...

We're deep in the Naperville City Desk Test Kitchens testing another super-secret recipe. After I got my interns Stosh and Penny cleaned up from their flour fight, things went pretty well. We're not at liberty to reveal what we're cooking up, but let's just say it's chocolaty and wunderbahr. And the folks at work are gonna dig it tomorrow.