On all TriMet busses, there’s a large sign that looks like it was suggested by the Department of Homeland Security – an image of a person giving a curious look, and text that says “Security is our main concern. If you see something that looks suspicious, please let us know.”

The TriMet number is plastered all over the place, too.

Anyway… I was on the bus today running a quick errand. On my way home, this freakish guy gets on the bus and sits down acros from me. He was grungy, dirty, dressed in some raunchy heavy metal outfit, had tattoos and piercings all over, and he was carrying a military ammunition case in his hands. No kiding. As he sat down, he set the ammunition case on the ground and it made a loud metallic thump and clank – loose metal inside; maybe bullets, maybe screws. The guy really looked spooky, like he was going to commit yet another felony.

I dialed the TriMet number and got connected to someone in customer service. The call went something like this:

Me: I’m supposed to report anything suspicious on the bus, right?

Me: Um, ok!

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This is disastrous in my opinion. It seems to me that there is NO safety plan whatsoever at TriMet. A guy gets on a bus with a frikin military ammo box and no one seems to even raise an eyebrow? And why the blithering complacency at TriMet’s dispatch center? What if there was some other more serious threat, or an actual incident on a bus? Seems it would take TriMet at least 10 mins to get their crap together before responding. Ugh.

As if that’s not the understatement of the century…

Advertising and marketing pieces are turning into absolute crap over the last few years due to the rapidly decreasing number of literate people graduating from schools and colleges then being assimilated into PR firms. Billboards, ads, commercials and even product packaging are being send out en masse with horrid typos, spelling errors and even laughable grammar. Don’t these companies give a damn about their own images? They probably bank on the idea that no one will notice or even care. Well, I do.

This ad popped up on my screen while I was downloading a prog from download.com.

I went to the Portland area Mac store this afternoon to check out the Mini. As I made my way through the mall, I saw what looked like dozens of people lining up or converging outside the doors. I was nervous, thinking I’d have to wait in line (which I hate). When I got close enough to the Mac store, I found out that the group of people was simply some Armenian family waiting for someone. No line at the Mac store entrance.

I made my way in to search for the Mini. My instinct was to look for the gathering crowd and wedge in.

No crowd.

I found a Mini sitting in a corner with a 20″ Apple display hooked up to it. No one was looking at it. Everyone was checking out the Powerbooks and iMacs.

To say this experience was disheartening is an understatement. Why no interest? After all this hype, all the media coverage, etc., still no one was ooh’ing and ahh’ing over the Mini.

To be honest, it didn’t really look like a computer. Maybe folks weren’t aware of the fact that they were walking right by a full system that was smaller than a short stack of CD jewel cases. Maybe it’s something else…

I’m usually at Starbucks every day working on my laptop, thanks to the high-speed internet connections at almost every sbux location. Of course, I usually get a coffee – not the $5 froofroo double caramel latte with foam, whipped cream and sprinkles – actual coffee. Plain coffee is only about $1.30 and has waaay more caffeine, which sometimes helps. But not recently.

I overdid the coffee intake 3 days ago and decided to cut back. OMFG. The withdrawls are intense. I have the worst headache imaginable and it’s been like this since yesterday around noon. This caffeine-induced headache reminded me of an unfortunate man who accidentally shot a nail into his head at a construction site (but waited a week or so to go to the doctors). This must be how he felt.

I think I will stick to herbal tea for a while…