Dentist Vending Machine on the Used Car Lot?

The dentist just did his regular cleaning, which of course is covered by insurance. However, when did he become a used car salesman?

My wife had her teeth cleaned also, and during her visit she was pitched a comprehensive teeth whitening session and was even urged to visit a "buddy pal" of his to see about orthodontics.

She'd already been to an orthodontist as a kid, but before she could respond, the dentist instructed the receptionsist to quickly get on the horn with his buddy-boy to get her booked and have a copy of her films sent over. Referral, ca-ching, ca-ching, ca-ching.

Even the hygenist asked what samples I preferred, like the travel-size toothpaste, floss and mouthwash, which are all apparently now at a premium. I asked for Glide floss, and she left the exam room to head to the "back-up supply closet," as she put it. Geez.

Oddly, a sticker of SpongeBob was included in my bag. Samples at a premium, but still time to include the plug for the estranged SpongeBob characters gleaning their pearlies? Creepy.

Will the dentist start charging for samples in a self-serve vending machine in the waiting room, complete with indivdual SpongeBob sitckers for the kiddies for a $1 each?

Highway Trash Tree

Perhaps some of the proposed infrastructure improvements earmarked in the economic stimulus package will cover advanced highway clean-up, since I snapped this photo today of one tree among many along the roadside that featured its own plastic bag.

How long until the bag will decay lodged in the branches, and will the budding leaves in the spring absorb the somewhat weathered and rustic plastic at that point?

Drunken Eyeballs Car - Good Advertising

The drunken eyeballs car. It's part of an ad campaign from Germany that is creative and has an important message. Can't get enough? Here's another shot rounding the curve on the brick plaza apparently.

These folks couldn't get enough either.

Now, if they'd make a drunken eyeballs bus that leaves every bar around the world at closing time, we'd really have something to toast.

Your Coffee Looks Lonely

I read a slogan on the side of a semi trailer truck on Friday expounding that "Your Coffee Looks Lonely."

Great slogan. It was promoting the consumption of doughnuts, and was plastered over an enticing photographic image of a pile of powdered sugar, chocolate and plain glaze doughnuts that ran the length of the entire trailer.

Any other junk food look lonely to you?

Which is Warmer: Outside or Ocean?

The other day it was 17 degrees outside, and the ocean water temperature was a balmy 35 on the Northeast coast.

Now, one might wonder, what happens if I go swimming? Will the water actually feel warmer than the outside temperature. And, if so, how long could I go swimming for, before I would have to come out of the water, warm up in the cold air, bask in the winter sun, and then finally use a towel? This all, of course, assuming there's no wind chill factor, which would possibly eliminate the step of basking in the winter sun.

Hmmm.

Assenger Drop-Off Before the Flight

There's really not a lot to say about this, other than that I took it with my cell phone camera at a major U.S. airport recently. I didn't touch the photo - promise. Can't make it up.



Do I feel a new series of posts coming on - "Signs from the Road Warrior?"

Husband Mini-Me at the DMV

An uncomfirmed theory is brewing out there for females.

I was at the DMV the other day to get my license renewed and I overheard the customer next to me requesting something.

It wasn't the request that caught my attention, but the tactic that got her what she needed from the DMV man. In order to resolve her issue, the DMV man asked her to complete a form and have her husband fill it out with his employment information, a process that would normally take a week total to complete.

But, the customer replied, "my husband's right over there," as she pointed to a cluster of two dozen occupied standard-issue plastic office chairs in the waiting area. Her "husband" didn't wave, acknowledge, or otherwise identify himself, and I'll never know if he was really there.

The fact that her husband was "present" turned the DMV man into a wish-granting wizard, allowing him to skip the entire required documentation altogether. No husband interview, no verification of the husband's employment, or any effort to identify him. Mini-Me prevailed.

Does this mean that by simply saying that your husband "said this" or "is within a five-mile radius," that women will be served better?

The DMV Mini-Me theory. Could it be true practice?