Autography

Hey, I just got over 10,000 all-time page views.  How cool is that?  I'm thinking that probably about 7,000 of those were just from my mom alone, but nonetheless, to me, that's an impressive number.

What Does This Say?

Today I want to talk about autographs and signed memorabilia.  What's the point, people?  Seriously, let's take a look at what an autograph means to you and me.

For some reason, everyone asks famous people for their autograph.  We all know that an autographed item is unique for obvious reasons.  It adds value, in certain cases.  An autographed Babe Ruth baseball is worth a lot of money and is generally quite a prized possession. Other people get autographs to prove they met such and such a person.  But what does an autograph really mean in this day and age?  For me, and autograph is supposed to be proof that you met whoever it is you claim you met.  "Look, he signed this!  I met him!  I swear!"  But in this day and age, I believe a picture with a person is much better proof than any signature for proof that you met someone.  Everyone has a camera in their pocket now.  There's no excuse not to (unless the person refuses, I suppose.)

First off, most of the time, when someone signs something, they are signing a lot of different things for people at the same time (maybe) so they're signature is just a scribble.  There are people and agencies out there that verify signatures and authenticate things like this.  Okay, fine, but to you and me, that's someone's, anyone's, scribbled Sharpie on a picture or a sports-related item or a receipt or a t shirt or whatever it may be you had them sign.  That doesn't prove a whole hell of a lot to me.  "Hey look at me I got a picture with Rodger Clemens!" and I say "Wow that's really cool!"  But if you say "Hey look, Roger Clemons scribbled some crap on this ball!" I say, "oh wow, me too, look at this ::scribbles on ball::"

Now taking this a step further, just having an autographed item in you possession means nothing if you didn't actually meet the person and have them sign it.  I have an autographed copy of the album Ghosts by the band The Gay Blades, but that's the only way you could buy their cd off their website when I was buying it.  All their copies for sale on their website were signed.  It makes it special because it's a little bit more personalized, but it doesn't really mean anything if everyone's is signed, right?  If you have an item autographed by someone you actually met, it means something a bit more, because you met them and they signed it. That's the point of autographs in the first place.  So that's why I'm amazed at all these people selling signed stuff on eBay, and people buying it.  Clearly I'm in the minority on the "signed stuff means nothing" point of view.

But honestly, who cares about an autograph?  It's usually just a scribble, and it's not like this person hasn't already signed 4,000 other things, making it not worth a whole lot of money.  Now if someone never signs stuff, like, refuses to do it, and he signs something for someone and it's now a collectors item because of this fact, then sure, that's pretty cool.  But the fact that everyone signs everything all the time, no ones signature is worth anything anymore, unless it's really old.  So next time you're in the Apple Store at the mall and Robert Plant walks in, don't ask for his autograph, ask for a picture with him.  It'll mean a lot more.  At the very least, say hey to him and he'll shoot you a thumbs up.

Not Sure What To Title This, Really

I know I started off a post the same way last month, but man, talk about blogger apathy.  I always think about this space, how updated it has not been, and how I need to just do it.  Well right now, I've dropped everything to just come here and put out a quick post.  It must be done.

The other day I was walking our dog, Bowser, here at our lovely apartment complex.  As we headed over to the "dog area", I noticed that there was a lady and her dog already there.  Now, with a normal dog, this isn't really a problem, but with our dog, he likes to investigate stuff, like people and other dogs, rather enthusiastically.  So, because I saw that lady and her nice, calm dog already in the space I was heading, I decided to hang back until her dog did it's business and they went on their way.

Well as I was waiting, I couldn't help but watch what they were doing, you know, so I knew when they left.  As I watched, I noticed that the dog was about to poop.  Now, everything poops, right?  That's not the real point here.  At our complex, we are asked nicely to pick up after our dogs, so that there isn't poop all over the place.  It's something I've gotten used to over time, and I really don't have a problem picking up poo.  Whatever.  So, this lady is there with her dog, and she's got her bag out, and I'm thinking "great, good, she picks up after her dog, too."

That's when she bends over and sticks the plastic bag directly on the dog's ass, and the dog poops directly into the plastic bag, without hitting the ground.  Now, am I wrong to think that this is totally weird and messed up?  I mean, wouldn't a normal person just let the dog go on the ground and then pick it up afterwards?  You don't have to catch it.  Do you catch you're dogs poop?  And not to mention, one of the ladies from the office was returning from showing two people an apartment that they were thinking of renting.  They had the paperwork in their hands, that's how I know.  And this lady, bent over behind her dog, catching dog poop turns to her and the prospective tenants and asks if their day is going good.  Imagine that scene.

So she threw the poo bag into the compactor and went on her way, and as Bowser prepared to do his thing for himself, I couldn't even imagine doing the same act to Bowser.  It's bad enough he has to poop with an audience, but to have someone catch it while addressing other members of society at the same time?  I don't know I just thought it was weird.  Like I said, there really isn't much of a problem picking it up off the ground. But catching it in a bag? You still have to bend over, so it's not like a "I can't bend over" thing.  I'm not sure what the reason for it is, but there's probably a good one.  But you won't see me catching poo directly into a bag anytime soon.