TANcast

Day 16

I’m sitting at the Toyota service department waiting for them to fix my wife’s car alarm. See it has this problem where the alarm goes off randomly in the middle of the night.

So, I dropped it off here at 10am this morning and told them I needed it by 4:30pm. NO ne called me, so I showed up at 5:00pm. I see my car sitting in the lot. I walk up and say, “Hey is my car ready?” Th lady doesn’t know. She pages the mechanic, he says it is ready. So I go pay the $135 bucks and get ready to drive off to do the other things I need to do today.

I get in and the door warning light on the dashboard won’t shut off. I open and close all the doors…nothing. I tell them and they say they’ll need another hour to fix it…maybe more. As I sit in the lounge, I can hear the alarm going off in the distance. I get the distinct feeling they have no idea what they’re doing. Glad I’m paying premium prices for this.

Why can’t cars just work? Why do cars I get involved with always try to screw me? I just want to drive you…I’m not going to take nude pics of you and post them on the internet…just work with me!

I’d love to tell you how this story ends, but I only have 12% of my battery left. Gotta post!

To be continued…

**Update #1** After my laptop battery died, the service people told me they didn’t know enough about my alarm system to fix the problem. So they reset it to how it was when they started and refunded my money. While I am annoyed that my car spent seven and a half hours here and was returned to me in the exact condition I brought it in (broken)…I was impressed that I didn’t have to ask for my money back. Truly classy move, Toyota of Sunnyvale.

**Update #2** So I went to the other repair place today. In about a half hour they disabled my alarm and sent me on my way. Didn’t even charge me! So this story has a happy ending after all. Thank you, Capital Toyota of San Jose…now my annoying downstairs neighbors can’t complain about my wife’s alarm going off anymore….and hopefully that means I’ll never have to talk to them again.

Back to “Blog Harder” Main Blog

Day 15

Okay Cracked, I’m starting to take this rejection personally. I know you keep saying “It’s not you, it’s me,” but that doesn’t make it sting any less. You put on a Photoshop contest asking people to give you pictures of what it would look like if historical figures got gritty reboots like they keep doing with movies. I create 3 super-duper entries and not ONE of them makes your top 17?

Abraham Lincoln: Not genius, but funny and a good fit to the theme.
Read the rest of this entry »

This week, the boys suck at softball, Andy swears at work, Noah’s computer fails, Noah learns about pimpin’ and the justice system, they boys debate the “greatest artists of all time,” and finally a debate about the genre of comic book cartoons.

[CONTENT WARNING] TANcast features mature language and immature hosts but is NOT a representation of the stand up act of Tim Babb. Listener discretion is advised.

Read the rest of this entry »

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Day 14

I joined Yelp today! I had no desire to do this, but one experience changed my mind.

I went to Midas to get my oil changed. The dude who was getting my info was awful chatty. (A trait I loathe in customer service people. Are you trying to be my BFF? Just write my mileage down quickly so I can go on with my day)

Finally he pulled up my info on the computer (a step that would have saved a long time had he started with it) he found out I’ve been there before. He said, “Why don’t you review us on Yelp? YOU could tell everybody about the great service you got here and how helpful the guy was at the front counter.”

Well, douche bag, ask and ye shall receive…

So the guy who checked me in when I dropped off my car asked “Why don’t you review us on Yelp?’ …be careful what you wish for.

So first he makes a joke about how I might be doing cocaine since my sinuses are stuffed up. Then a joke about how I have “sex hair.” (Sorry, I don’t get all dressed up to get my oil changed) Then he tells me that they are a little backed up so I can leave my car and it will be ready in 2 hours or I can come back in an hour where I’ll only have to wait an hour (what a great set of choices, right?)

I opt to leave my car and wait. 2 and half hours go by and I get no call. I go back and I’m informed that they “got a little behind” haven’t even started my car yet. So I ask for my key back, because oddly enough I have things to do. Dude says, “Would you like to make an appointment to come back?’ Oh yeah, bro! I’m going to run right back to the place that has crappy service. His reaction to this loss of business was to return to a conversation with a co-worker who was reclining in the office (visible to the lobby). I think I know why you guys got “backed up,” your employees are slacking off and ignoring the customers.

There’s your yelp review…thanks for reminding me!

I feel better!

Back to “Blog Harder” Main Blog

Day 13

I am not a normal person. I think we can all agree on that. I’m a pretty odd duck sometimes. Fortunately I seem to surround myself with fellow odd ducks, and that leads to amusing conversations like this one I had with my pal Grace on Facebook the other day…

Grace Hi there!

Tim hello

Grace Something weird happened today…I saw a guy I thought was you at my garage sale.

Tim lol I promise it was not me in disguise

Grace lol He looked @ me w/ his glasses down and he looked just like you. So strange lol

Tim Yikes..I have a twin? Lord help us!

Grace Maybe you’ll meet him in 2012! lol Then the world will end OR it is you after getting out of the Delorian to go to Disneyland and you got lost! Ending up at my garage sale!

Tim lol …or maybe something in your garage sale holds the key to the future. I hope I got it before SkyNet did.

Grace No. you looked and drove away on your cell phone. lol You missed the broken old wheelchair of doom, that has run over many a teenager foot.

Tim lol darn it

Grace …or the boxes of naked barbie dolls

Tim It must have sold before I got there

Grace Nope, it’s still there now.

Tim I meant whatever was going to save the future must have sold.

Grace Oh, maybe. The kissing bears of death?

Tim lol That sounds like it could save the world

Ha! Thanks, Grace. How did you know I was in the mood to talk about time traveling adventures to save the world? (Oh, maybe because I always am)

Back to “Blog Harder” Main Blog

Day 12

Being an adult sucks sometimes. You have to do stuff that you don’t want to do when you’d rather be doing other stuff.

This is by no means a new revelation but it is one I am struggling with this evening. Ugh…

Sorry…this blog is short because I have to do lame grown up things.

(FYI – I won’t be able to get TANcast posted by Monday…sorry)

Back to “Blog Harder” Main Blog

Day 11

Today is the 9 year anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on America. I started to write a blog about it but I don’t have the perspective to make it somber with out making it cliche. I also don’t have the comedic talents to make some witty comment to help us laugh at our pain. So instead, here’s something completely different…

Today I was out looking for plaid pants (unsuccessfully, I might add…don’t ask) and I saw this sign at my local Goodwill store…

Um, okay…what? Why else would I shop at Goodwill but for low prices? This store is just introducing this concept? Were they charging a premium for second hand pants that had some other dude’s farts in them before this?

“How much for this 1980’s style jacked?”

“$500”

“What?! That’s outrageous! This is somebody’s old crap they gave away for free. I’m outta here!”

“Hmmmmmm maybe we should introduce some everyday low prices.”

Back to “Blog Harder” Main Blog

Day 10

So I’m in the doctor’s office the other day (don’t worry, I’m fine, I was just having my enlarged ego looked at…doctors say it’s inoperable) and I saw this poster:

Can’t see it? Well that’s because I did not get a very good shot with my cell phone camera. So I found a larger version on the interwebs: Read the rest of this entry »

Day 9

As a general rule, guys don’t like to buy flowers. Not that we don’t like them or don’t think they’re pretty, but we know they’re dead and are just going to slowly rot in front of us. But women like the flowers. So occasionally you just gotta make the ladies happy. But I had a brilliant idea…Instead of getting dead flowers, I decided to get some roses that were still alive, and in a pot with soil so that she could enjoy them for a long while. Here’s what they look like a few weeks later…

Read the rest of this entry »

Day 8

Okay…I understand that these contests are subjective, but go look at the entries to the latest Cracked.com Photoshop contest. Go ahead. I’ll wait.

..all done? Ok, now tell me these don’t at least belong on the list somewhere (if not number freakin’ 1)
Read the rest of this entry »