Dragon

Actually my dad hangs up on telemarketers too (that's where I learned it from). One time he answered the phone and heard "Hello is this Mr.Dragon" to which he immediatly answered "I'm not interested" and hung up. The phone rang again and he answered to hear "Oh sir we must have gotten cut off" he said "We didn't get cut off, I hung up on you because I not interested" then he hung up again. The phone rang again and he wisely didn't answer this time. When my step-mom got home he told her to listen to the message on the machine. It consisted of the telemarketer saying "I know you're there sir, PICK UP THE PHONE SIR..." getting angrier and angrier but still trying to stay to the letter of politeness if not the spirit of it. I think he must have been having a nervous break down.

marius

Ahh ... stealing a moment on spouse's computer before he wakes up. Great stories Dragon, Robin and Baldur. (Sure there are other great ones but have not read back that far this morning.) : )

Robin, re those parties where you invite your friends to spend their money so you can have free gifts ... agreement here. Have only been to one such party and will never do it again. For one thing, they rarely sell anything I want and for two, it's just not a party if you have to listen to a sales pitch. Ugh. Glad you survived Vegas. Sorry to hear it was dirty and you won't be going back. For some reason that place does not appeal to marius. It probably started when I saw a PBS special on the amazing things casino's do.

One venture that thoroughly creeped me out is hiring scientists to devise ways to lure guests to use certain machines more than others. Yes, the scientists have found that certain pheremones (somehow placed on/in specific machines) ensures that casino guests will use some machines more than others. Of course, no one can smell the phermones on a conscious level so people don't realize why they are using one machine more than another. And .... the mere idea of that sneakiness removes any desire to gamble for this one. ; )

Dragon, that is a wild story about the telemarketer who called your Dad. We are not supposed to get telemarketer's in the states anymore because of some law that was passed, so now we get phone calls with people 'taking surveys.' Yeah, right. When spouse answers the phone and it's a telemarketer, I always know because spouse says, "He's out of the country. I'm just living in his house and unless you want to call back in a year or so, there's nothing I can do for you." Click.

Tee hee, we have a fair amount of Mormons in this area. They are nice enough folk but we are not fond of house calls for conversion. One day spouse was doing yard work in the front and saw the two, dressed in suits, nice-looking young men approach him. They started to talk and spouse says, "Hey man, can you give me a break? These people are not that nice and if they come back home and I'm not done, I'm not sure they'll pay me!"

Baldur, that is great you've gotten all those coupons. Are you using them and are the other flavors better than the sun-screen coconut?

Baldur

Turkey Hill makes lots of great flavors so I have been using my coupons regularly.
At our local markets they play ice cream pricing games, one brand goes on sale for a fair price but the other 4 or 5 major brands are ridiculously expensive. When the sale hits the price is cut in half. Everyone knows this.
So if one has a favorite he/she stocks up on it approxinately once a month.
I wait to buy Turkey Hill when it goes on sale, plus I use the coupons.

The flaw in this marketing system is that very few people buy the brands of ice cream that are not on sale.
If I absolutely had to buy ice cream and the brand I wanted was $5.69/carton {which is never a half gallon anymore though we are not supposed to notice} Baldur would just pick up the sale carton that costs only 2/$5 (sometimes 2/$4).
Those Ben & Jerry's pints are better than anything else there, but even on sale they are a major splurge.

Baldur

marius, they make lots of flavors that I enjoy.
One is Southern Lemon Pie. It is vanilla ice cream with goopy lemon stuff and goopier marshmallow creme folded in with bits of graham cracker crust.
Their Tin Roof Sundae (vanilla with chocolate covered peanuts and fudge ripple) is another good one.
A local New England brand called Hoods is generally less expensive than the others and is comparable to the sale prices. They have a flavor called Boston Red Sox Comeback Caramel which is vanilla with a caramel swirl. folded in are tiny Red Sox 'pair o sox' logos made of milk chocolate filled with more gooey chocolate. That is excellent. Baldur tends to sprinkle nuts over it, either peanuts or pecans work well.

Baldur

approxinately - n + m = approximately

matthew

I have always hung up on telemarketers... (and probably others)...

My last name is Dugger. This starts with the letters "DUG" yet for some odd reason, strangers feel the need to pronounce my last name begining it with "DOOG"... The way I figure it is, if you do not call me by my middle name, or at least know how my last name is pronounced, then you do not know me. If you don't know me, then we are probably not friends or co-workers. If we are not friends or co-workers... You have nothing of interest to share with me...

So when I used to get those calls that begin with... "Hello, Mr. DOOG---?", I hang up... I figure if you really need to speak to me, you will either call me Matthew or call back and state your emergency before mispronouncing my name again...

I do not receive those calls anymore since I no longer have a home phone. It still amazes me that I have never received a call from a telemarketer that could pronounce Dugger right... DUG... GER... like TIG... GER...

Baldur

Yes it should obviously rhyme with bugger, not booger.
I'm certain that our British contingent are enjoying this.

Baldur

A couple years back I was walking down Newbury street in Boston.
Up ahead of me at an intersection was a dreadful apparition. At each corner was stationed a person with a clipboard taking some sort of survey.
Needing to cross the street I evaded the first one as she was busy with another victim.
However the next clipboard wielder was waiting for me to cross the street.
He had that intense look in his eye signifying that I would not get passed him.
Once I was withing a coiuple feet of him, he said 'Excuse mr Sir, would you care to take a brief personality test?'
Baldur replied without ever slowing his pace, 'Oh I'm sorry, I do not have a personality.'
No doubt he thought about that for some time.

Baldur

On another instance, again in Boston, a young lady with a recording device this time, approached me. There was a camera man accompanying her.
Perhaps they were from some local news station.
(Oh boy this was going to be fun)
She approached me with the microphone between us and said,
'Can I ask your opinion on some current events?'
Baldur replied,
'Will you go to bed with me if I do?'
She retreated fairly quickly.

Baldur

I'm not always difficult.
Once a nicely dressed middle aged woman with a clipboard approached me at Fanueil Hall.
There was a both there displaying Kahlua products.
She asked if I drank alcoholic beverages, and then if I were of legal drinking age. I obviously was.
She said they would pay me $5 to give my opinion after sampling different Kahlua beverages.
Despite it being 9AM I readily agreed.
Behind the display was a storefront that had been refitted as a Kahlua testing center. There were several people already in there before me.
I signed a permission slip.
She then gave me in total 3 different half-jiggers of Kahlua with a saltine cracker in between each to cleanse the palette.
One was rather chocolatey in flavor, another had stronger hints of vanilla the 3rd being close to what I thought standard Kahlua tasted like.
She asked perhaps a dozen questions, thanked me and handed me $5.
That was fun.

Baldur

both +o = booth

matthew

lol @ u not always being difficult... I will now have to check to see what they are selling before "CLICK"...

Baldur

I just baked a batch of very soft cake-like pumpkin cookies, a recipe I had never tried before. They are quite good.

Robert had Bought a pouch of Betty Crocker Pumpkin Cookie Mix at Ocean State Job Lot, because it was very inexpensive.
When reading the ingredient statement there was a big no no. aluminum based baking powder again. GRRRRRRRR
Anyway I got rid of it but decided after having looked at the picture on the package that we really needed a batch of pumpkin cookies here at Chez Baldur.
There were many recipes online, so finding one and then altering it to suit my needs was not difficult.
What will be impossible now is not eating every last one.

matthew

You've got to keep that girlish figure somehow...

Baldur

Baldur's Pumpkin Cookies

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
Grease 3 cookie sheets

In a large bowl combine:
2 cups flour
1+1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon powdered ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

In a separate bowl whisk together:
1+1/4 cups brown sugar
1/2 cup canola oil
2 eggs
1 teaspoon Vanilla extract
1 cup canned puree of pumpkin

Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ones until completely blended.
Drop by the tablespoon full onto the greased baking sheets. You should get 12 on a sheet by spacing them about 2" apart
Bake for 13-15 minutes until not quite brown on top.
Cool well before icing or dusting with powdered sugar

Baldur

It's an uphill battle

AuntieB

It is much easier to go to le Patisserie Parisienne, there is one here in town.
It is run by actual Parisites.
Anyway they always have the loverliest petit fours, madelienes, tiny little delicate butter croissants, anything you could hope fore really.
They put everything in a charming petite white paper box tied up with very pretty string.
When you get home you have your domestic staff arrange in artfully on a china tray and then they wheel it into your boudoir on a perfect little cart with your afternoon tea...
Much easier than whisking pumpkins and dropping tablespoons.

AuntieB

Auntie B has never had any trouble maintaining her figure, if one get enough excercise everything falls into place.

Baldur

Auntie B, saying you have a domestic staff sounds a bit grandiose to me.
You have a houseboy. Period.
What are you doing about his vacation?
It's starts tomorrow you know.

AuntieB

Auntie has made plans for the next 2 weeks, don't you worry about me.