Casual Fridays

I’m a bit of an art geek. My minor in college was art history. So, being in Chicago, I couldn’t pass up visiting the Art Institute of Chicago. I’m also a cheapskate. So, a free visit was absolutely irresistible!

I was blown away to walk into the impressionist exhibit and see Seurat’s “Sunday In The Park” welcoming me.

My camera decided to experiment in pointilism in honor of Seurat. We couldn’t use the flash in order to preserve the painting. I thoroughly enjoyed the visit. It’s not everyday I get to view works by Seurat, Van Gogh, Gaugin, Renoir, Monet, Rembrandt, Peter Paul Rubens and Degas. There is nothing like seeing these masterworks in person!

To take a complete left turn, here is a pic from our return trip home. After loading up on Sliders from White Castle and Blizzards from Dairy Queen, I found the juxtaposition of these two signs to be quite humorous.

Upon getting back to Tulsa, I had a few “divine moments” last week. One at Panera and one at Ted’s Cafe Escondido.

While meeting with my coworker Lisa, I looked up and exclaimed, “Oh, there’s Jesus!” Here’s what I saw:

A closeup:

Reference image:

Ted’s Café Escondido is one of our favorite restaurants. The food is wonderful, but so is the service. Now we know why. By looking at our comment card, you can see the servers get a little help.

Just a couple of quickies today (gotta work hard to impress the new boss).

I had some Internet issues this week.  This page came up as I tried to access Yahoo!

Based on a search by Yahoo!, it no longer exists??  For a minute, I wondered if Microsoft had bought them out.

About a 1/2 mile from my house is Tom Peters Elementary school.  Can you imagine, err… RE-imagine, the education kids get there?  They should at least learn to use bright colors, 64 point type and exclamation points!!!!

This one is just for fun. While shopping at Kohl’s recently, I turned around and my son was gone. I called for him, but he didn’t answer. I stepped out to an aisle and started to walk to another area when I passed a group of mannequins. I stopped, turned and inspected the display a little closer to discover where he had gone.
Smart alec.

This isn’t an ad for AT&T (more bars in more places). This is Lowe’s. They were selling Christmas wrapping paper next to wrapping paper storage boxes. There’s a minor issue here.

Above is a recruitment poster at a Best Buy distribution center. The marketing effort may have been more effective if not for the display of actual employee photos nearby. See below.

My wife is a dental hygienist. We participated with her dental office in a fundraising walk supporting the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation last weekend. Instead of simply showing up and walking, the dentists at Berkshire Dental Group decided they would bring Flossie, a 9 foot-tall penguin tooth fairy.

The ’statue’ usually resides in front of their office. It was no small task bringing her to the walk, but it paid in dividends. People were getting their picture taken with Flossie. Look at the the photo below. That’s a news camera in the background. The main goal was to raise funds for JDRF, which we did. But why not make a splash at the same time?

I own a 3rd generation iPod. It looks like a Commodore 64 compared to the new iPods. But, it plays music and has a glorious 10GB hard drive. So, I’m reluctant to buy a new one. The battery began to no longer hold a charge several months ago, so I couldn’t use it unless it was plugged into a power source. It pretty much became useless. I was considering replacing it with a new iPod when I noticed Small Dog Electronics had an iPod battery replacement kit. I was nervous cracking open my iPod, but the process went pretty smoothly (with the exception of continually breaking the cheap plastic tools used to open the iPod).

Below is a pic of the recycling option for the iPod battery. A little crude, but it’s more than they had to do. I sent mine back for recycling.

With any purchase from Small Dog, you get… small dogs. I’ve been ordering from Small Dog since the late ’90s, so I’m creating a collection of these little fellas.

Some White Cloud diapers now feature characters by John Lennon. John Lennon artwork on baby diapers? Perhaps a sign of licensing gone too far.

This is a license plate on a green Jeep Cherokee. It reads ‘PMS343C’. I won’t bother explaining it, but graphic designers will appreciate it.

While at Ultimate Electronic several months ago, I was looking at camcorders with hard drives. The specs on these two models were nearly identical, yet there was a nearly $700 difference between the two. No explanation. I was amazed.

The last two SnapThoughts involve screen instructions on automated machines.

First is an ATM screen. If the ATM is out of order, why not display the locations of the nearest alternatives?

Below is a screen from an automated postage machine at a local U.S. Post Office. Can someone help me understand how to comply with these instructions?

It’s been just over a month since I’ve done SnapThoughts, so here’s a few more:

I wish I could have gotten a better picture of this, but we were traveling 70 mph.  In the dead tree there is a sign that reads “Skydiving Lessons ###-####”.  I don’t know about you, but when I think about skydiving, the last thing I want to envision is something hanging awkwardly in a tree.

This is pain reliever for infants.  Why is the age (upper-right corner of box) restricted to toddlers then?

The physical act of banking seems so antiquated.  Which line should I get in?  Sure, cashier lines in stores have the same problem… but it’s compounded in a car.  If I choose a line and another lane opens up, it’s much harder to maneuver to the open slot.  So, most cars just hang back and wait (like I’m doing here).  Not efficient.

Another example from drive-thru banking.  See all the scars on this ATM barrier.  Looks like it did its job in protecting the ATM machine.  But what about all the customers’ cars?  Couldn’t something more friendly be done that wouldn’t damage customer cars?

Moving from drive-thru to drive-in (Sonic Drive-Ins). How is this trash can supposed to be used?  You have to pull into the left lane of the entrance/exit and block incoming traffic.

One of these mailboxes belongs to A-1 Trucking.  Can you guess which one?

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A-7, of course!

As a fun little riff, I thought I’d share with you a variety of snapshots from my cell phone and a few thoughts on each:

This is called a Whisper Phone. Our daughter’s elementary school teacher showed it to us at a parent/teacher conference. Children use the whisper phone so they can hear themselves read out loud, but not disturb the other students. Our innovative teacher had created hers out of PVC materials and spend less than a dollar on each phone. The manufactured versions retail for about $8.

Interesting how homemade is a style instead of a process now. Trust me, Ryan did not make this at his home. If it were homemade, you think it would come with a mass-produced sign containing a registration mark?

OK, who was the genius who decided to use Boise State quartertback Jared Zabransky to promote NCAA 08 in Oklahoma Wal-Marts?

I understand he’s on the cover of the game, but don’t they realize Boise State upset OU last year in the Fiesta Bowl (it was an amazing game, by the way)? I would think the promotional materials, if not the game cover itself, would be made as appealing as possible to each region it’s shipped. A Big XII player would have been much more appropriate. But being an Oklahoma State fan, I find this rather humorous.

I’m sorry, but I have a hard time sympathizing (literally) with someone who doesn’t put the name of their pet on their sign.

Tulsa is finally getting an Apple Store! This one is within just a few miles of my home. It won’t be done in time for the iPhone debut today. Below are the construction photos I took through a hole in the facade (geek alert).

Looks like we’ll be waiting a bit longer for our Apple Store to be fully operational.

Why have this sign at all if the exclusions are so broad? Why not put stickers on the Quarts that do come with a free pint? Of course this same frozen custard shop locked the doors behind us at 9:45 when their sign stated they close at 10:00. They had a bucket of mop water on the customer side of the counter (YUM!). They turned the outdoor lights out as we were enjoying our deserts al fresco. Guess they were in a hurry. Too bad we inconvenienced them with our business.

This picture isn’t very good, but you can probably tell it’s a flat tire. Nothing surprising, until you see what this tire is attached to.

It’s the tire rack at our local tire and lube center. The irony was too good to pass up.

Hope you enjoyed today’s SnapThoughts.