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In the past week, someone has tried to steal my car TWICE.

Tuesday morning, I got in my car which was parked on my quiet street in front of my apartment and when I closed the door, I heard a rattling sound. As I was driving to work, I kept trying to figure out where it came from. Then I felt a draft above my head. My driver's-side window was popped out at the top corner. So I put the window back down and up again and luckily it went back in to place and was operating normally. Not so luckily, I noticed when I made it to work that there was a small gauge in the panel next to my window made by whatever tool was used to pry it open. I don't leave anything in my car, so there was nothing to steal and everything was normal on the inside.

When I got to my office, I called the police just to make a report and they had someone there to look at it within 5 minutes.

I just happened to have my monthly neighborhood watch meeting that night and I told them about the incident. I was told that they were probably trying to steal my car because if they wanted something inside, they would have just broken the window. I drive a VW GTI. I didn't really think it was possible to steal it because of added safety features, but maybe the criminals don't know that. It was suggested that I get the club my my steering wheel because that usually prevents them from trying in the first place.

The rest of the week, I made an extra effort to park in my garage at home. I hardly ever use the garage because it's detached with a manual door and it's hard to get in to the small space from the alley behind my apartment.

They left my car alone for two days. Then I went out to dinner Friday night at a local bar, parking my car in their fenced-in lot adjacent to the building. In broad daylight, while I was inside this establishment for MAYBE an hour and half, some assholes did this:



And I found my car door unlocked, but again, nothing was taken. I called the police and they sent two squad cars to me within 15 minutes to take the report. Their were some people who live above the bar hanging out their window facing the parking lot the whole time we were outside. Tom went up to ask them if they saw anything. They did notice two young black boys loitering around the lot who walked away about 15 minutes before we came out. They had the color of their shirts, and that they were wearting shorts, but not much else. The police woman who took the report said they would drive around and look for them, but it would be like finding a needle in a hay stack.

So lucky me with my $1,000 deductible, but I feel like I have to get this fixed.

Not a good week for J Kap.

Look who I ran in to yesterday!



The famous robdurham at his exclusive book signing for Don't Wear Shorts on Stage.

My company, Colliers International, is starting a world-wide charitable giving campaign starting today and running for one-week only. It's called Everyone Gives and it's goal is to see how much money we can raise for charities through the power of social media. I'm planted a "tree" with my small donation of $5.00. Want to help me grow my tree? My Charity is the Thompson Foundation for Autism, but you can choose from over 1,000 charities listed on the Everyone Gives website to give to. This is a really cool program and I hope you can help!

Here's the link to check it out!.

Yesterday, Tom and I went on a walk and I finally got the opportunity to take a shot of the enormous hole the city water department has created around the corner from my apartment. This is continuing work brought about by a water main break that occurred in January.


Kat likes to point out how helpful it is to have those two telephone polls laying across like that wrapped with caution tape at the end just in case you missed the GIANT HOLE

This weekend is Mardi Gras weekend and since my neighborhood is basically across the street from the action, everyone parks around here to walk over. Lets wait and see exactly how many drunken revelers fall in this weekend, shall we?

I'll give you the moral of the story first: Don't mess with me.

And when I say "Me," I mean all of us. As consumers in a marketplace. Can you believe the economic slump that we are experiencing, there are businesses out there who still have terrible customer service? And excellent customer service is FREE! Why wouldn't you go above and beyond in the one area that costs you NOTHING in overhead. A SMILE, for God's sake!

I have two stories for you. I'll start with what happened Sunday.

Sunday afternoon, I had the misfortune of parking under a tree where what seemed like an entire flock of birds had just had a very hearty meal. This combined with all the road salt picked up on my holiday travels made my car EMBARRASSINGlY dirty. Stop-and-stare dirty. So I hightailed it to the closest drive-thru car wash that I know in hopes of washing off the shame quickly. Looking over the array of options, I went with the old adage, "Anything worth doing is worth doing right," and I purchased the most expensive package at a whopping $8.00. I proceeded through, the rinse, the wash, the rinse and then the wax. And what I came out with was bright, shiny... bird poop. I pulled around, got a paper towel and started to scrape it off by hand. It left behind, presumably because of the wax, a smeared, spotty car hood. I went inside and spoke with the manager. I explained the situation. That I didn't feel his car wash did a very good job and would he please just let me go through once more. He bluntly denied my request saying that the car wash wasn't capable of washing away bird poop.

"But couldn't you just let me go through, even at the standard level?"

"No, I can't do that."

And he let me leave in a huff with no offer of apology or sympathy for the money I'd just completely wasted.

One might expect that any manager who was willing to lose a customer over such a minuscule request was not hurting for business, so let me throw another factoid at ya: This was a BP. As in British Petroleum, as in the gas station just about everyone I know still goes out of their way NOT to patronize because of a little accident they had in the Gulf Coast.

Any franchisee of a BP ought to be falling over backwards to retain customers. And how much would it even cost him to turn on his car wash one more time? It's not like I was asking him to reach in to the register and give me my eight dollars back. I felt it was a simple, reasonable request, don't you?

Recanting this story yesterday to friends must have reignited a flame within me. I immediately proceeded to sign up for each and every review-a-business website I could find JUST to give this station the ONE STAR OF DOOM and tell everyone who might be searching my story. Now you can not look for a gas station in the St. Louis area without seeing my review. Now they've not only lost MY business, but anyone else who might give weight to my comments. Do I get some personal satisfaction out of this? Sure I do. And that's the beauty of the whole thing. I feel better about the manager being an ass to me and you don't have to waste your time and money with them like I did. Win-Win-Lose. But don't feel sad for the Loser. He completely deserved it.

( Now on to the next story which came to an conclusion merely moments ago. )

I don't think I'm a particularly hard person to please. I'm just a little more outspoken than most people would care to be. But if everyone cared just a little more, we might start getting out of people exactly what we expect every time. I strongly recommend the next time you have a bad experience at a place you open up your wallet for, look for the customer service hot line. Find their website. Call the 800 that invites you to tell them "How am I driving?" It'll make the world a better place.

This message brought to you by the people at kappsgurl. Leave your comments for OUR service below.

It's been a long time coming, my friends. After more than a decade of confinement by my own flesh and blood...

THE HOSTAGES HAVE BEEN RETURNED




That's right, my little sister FINALLY returned the 90210 dolls she stole from me when we were kids. Sunday evening, I reunited with Brandon, Dylan, Donna, Brenda and Kelly, after wondering for years whatever became of them.

Alysia's boyfriend informed me that before she even told me she had them, she checked Ebay to see if they were worth anything for her to SELL THEM. Fortunately, they weren't, so "her" trash became my treasure. And now they sit, it their proper place:



Proudly displayed on my mantel.

Youth of today need to know their ROOTS. After all, Dylan McKay was the very first SITUATION.



He just didn't feel the need to give it a fancy name.

Hey all. Yesterday, Tom and I got back from a four-day weekend up in Northern Michigan to see his parents (me, for the first time) and go to a wedding. It was GORGEOUS there.


This is Torch Lake. Tom tells me this is the place Kid Rock was talking about in "All Summer Long." The water is like, five different shades of blue.



( Pictures and stories )

Overall it was a great trip. I think we're planning on going back for Thanksgiving and I would love to go in the summer next year to jump in the water.

In elementary school, for school assemblies, all the kids would gather in the gym and sit on the floor.

And every assembly was kicked off by our principal singing the Whitney Houston's classic, Greatest Love of All while slowly walking around with her microphone, patting children on the head as she passed. "I believe the children are our fuuuuuture..."

How come I didn't know how weird and cheesy that was at the time?

Hello Blogosphere!

Last week, stannate took a series of head shots for me. I'm hoping this will be the motivation I need to get back in to acting. He set up a makeshift studio in my apartment and came out with some amazing results. Here are a couple of my favorites.





Thanks again, Don!