17 DEC 04: FOUR IN THE BOX

Let's clean the e-mails out of the blogger's In-Box today - starting with a reply to an Instant Message we sent 28 Nov:

+ To WRCG radio: I like those new, rocking jingles. But as someone who scans the AM dial a lot, it's going to take awhile for me to sing your letters instead of "WBBM" in Chicago where I heard the jingles first.

I agree! I heard the jingle for the first time today... now all I can sing is "NewsRadio 780... WBBM" - I can't get it out of my head!!!

I haven't corresponded with you in a while... hope you're doing well.

-Blaine

That's as in Blaine Stewart of WRBL - who has brought back the on-air "Restaurant Report Card" on Thursday nights in recent weeks. There's no better to enjoy your 6:00 p.m. dinner than to hear him explain which restaurants have kitchens even messier than yours.

(I honestly thought I'd lost Blaine Stewart as a reader after the spat over WRBL colleague Candace Cook's hairstyle earlier this year. It's nice to see even major controversies such as this one can heal.)

In Columbus, of course, the "Newsradio" title has been taken by WDAK. But WRCG doesn't even call itself "news-talk" anymore - and given the fact that their five-minute network news is cut in half every morning, that's only fair.

Let's move on to a different Instant Message. On 2 Dec we said Schlotzsky's Deli near Cross-Country Plaza was "keeping bankers' hours, of 11:00 - 3:00." That brought this reply from the Pacific Coast:

Are the bankers in Georgia working 11:00 - 3:00? Here in California the banks are open from 9:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m. Monday through Friday. The banks open up again on Saturday mornings from 10:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. When I was working at a bank the hours the bank was open were 10:00 - 3:00 but we had to be there at 8:00 a.m. and left at 5:00 p.m., so we didn't really have "bankers hours"

Wow, someone sticking up for bankers! Well, maybe I shouldn't put "stick up" and "bank" in the same sentence....

When I was in college, my bank was open weekdays from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. - even on Fridays. It was no wonder more college students flocked to the 24-hour donut shop a few blocks down the street.

But perhaps the phrase "bankers' hours" is becoming passe. In Columbus, I was surprised to learn awhile back that my bank actually is open until 5:00 p.m. every afternoon. I presumed it would close at 4:00 - but then again, Oprah Winfrey is on an hour later here than in Atlanta.

The opening times are a bit curious, though. My bank's downtown office opens at 9:00 a.m. - but drive-through windows a couple of blocks away don't open until 9:30. Is this where the problem employees are assigned?

Since I keep a Saturday Sabbath, I honestly don't know what local banks do on that day. But the SunTrust branch inside the Bradley Park Drive Publix store isn't open on Sunday anymore. You'd think this would only happen at a Lewis-Jones store....

I'm thrilled to report my computer still is functioning normally, after two weeks of crisis. During those problems, we received some guidance from Alabama:

Richard, I don't know the computer expert to whom you refer [8 Dec], but I suggest that you look for another expert! A static electricity discharge can damage computer equipment, but I've never heard of a build up of static energy that takes 24 hours to dissipate, thus rendering the computer inert! 'Tis the season for static electricity, so make sure to discharge the static buildup in you body before going in the next time.

As for the ATAPI incompatibility error, I suspect it is the old CD-ROM device driver that is incompatible with the new CD-RW drive you purchased. Did your computer expert forget to tell you to install the new device driver when you replaced the "tray"?

Also, if Cisco Systems made (or supports) your CD-ROM, they must have branched out from the router business! But, then again, Cisco's routers have always been overpriced!

Good luck with getting your computer repaired. Just an observation from an ex-Columbusite who enjoys reading your blog from Birmingham, AL.

Craig

PS. Are you sure your computer wasn't at Chef Lee's when it should have been at the shop?

Thanks for the guidance, Craig. I admit my "detailed knowledge" of computers stops at HTML - which I think is Microsoft's corporate abbreviation for Hotmail.

I suppose there are many ways to prevent "static energy." For one thing, we could all stay in bed and be completely static....

(Remember: You can't get AIDS from a doorknob - but you can get a static electricity jolt, which feels like God is punishing you anyway.)

An incompatible driver, eh? I thought that only happened on NASCAR racing teams -- or maybe when a wife thinks her husband is going too fast down the highway.

(And who or what is ATAPI, anyway? Did this company merge with Atari back in the 1980's or something?)

Maybe it wasn't Cisco Systems which my computer shop consulted, after all. The Internet problems were such a blur -- maybe the man said "Siskel," as in the late movie critic.

I must say Craig made my week, when he suggested my computer might have been at Chef Lee's. If someone spotted it there, I hope they let me know - that is, if they weren't too busy following Marshal Ken Suddeth around.

Our last e-mail is a reminder that the things you do can inspire other people:

Just to let you know that I found your blog quite by accident but has inspired me to create my own. Thanks for the inspiration though I do reserve the right to critique someday when turn-about becomes fair play... Best wishes and thanks...

This message comes from "MFH," a former Smiths Station newspaper writer and the creator of "Pooblog." This new blog declares the center of the universe to be the Chattahoochee River - which will come as a shock to the Columbus residents who think it's Edward DuBose.

Please don't be confused -- the "POO" in Pooblog stands for "Persistence of Opinion." Your children won't find any stories of the three-acre wood here. Maybe two-acre lots in Harris County, but not that....

I was amazed to find the title of the Pooblog includes a quote from Galileo. With all due respect, people in this area tend not to show themselves as this highbrow and literate. In fact, some of them still might doubt Galileo's theory about the Earth revolving around the sun.

COMING THIS WEEKEND: Was that noise outside my window Thursday what I thought it was?....

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