Starbucks, Toys & Other Ramblings...

So, here's what's on my mind today.

Yesterday was my Starbucks interview. I had to go to the new Starbucks training office over in the Collinade, and meet with "the panel", which turned out to be two district managers from Birmingham, and a manager from a store on 280.

Anyway, they asked me all sorts of questions about behavior, about leadership, about how I would handle certain things--they didn't want responses like "Well, I would do this if this happened..." or things like "In this situation, I would probably do..."

No, no... what they want is specific examples of "A few weeks ago, a partner and I were..." or "Yes, an example of that would be two months ago on a Friday, when..."

My problem was, I answered some questions, only to find out that my answer would have been better suited for the following question. That happened to me twice.

Never the matter, though. I got a call about the interview a few minutes ago. I passed. Within a month, I'll be moved to another store in about a month, in full Asst Manager training mode... and well on my way to having my own store.

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Vh1's "I Love Toys" is on the air, a countdown of the Top 100 Toys of all time. Classic. If you are under 20 or so, you really wouldn't fully understand this show, and I'd daresay anyone under 25 wouldn't get all of it. I'm talking Little Golden Books, Dungeons and Dragons, Uno, My Little Pony and more. Good stuff.

And while we're at it, is there anyone funnier than Mo Rocca? He absolutely cracks me up... plus, some of the "celebrities", like Chris Wylde, Amy Madigan... and where the heck is Hal Sparks? What else does he have to do? You can probably imagine lots of these people just sit at home and wait for Vh1 to call for the next show: "Hi, this is Vh1... we're doing a special on the Top 100 brands of balsa wood. Would you come join us?" "SURE!"

Is there anyone hotter on these shows than Debbie Matanopolis and Rachel Harris? Debbie is like the hot cheerleader you'd never get, because not only is she out of your league, she's also dating the Trent, the QB... Rachel is the great friend you secretly have a crush on, but won't date you because "we're such good friends, and I don't want to ruin that." These shows get better when Debbie and Rachel show up. Oh, and Mo too. Maybe i have a man-crush on him, I'm not sure.

By the way, you can vote for your favorite toys here. I gave my vote for Transformers, Wrestling Action Figures, Legos, the Viewmaster and Pictionary.

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Movies that I think are getting better the more times I see them: Erin Brockovich... The Rock... The Shawshank Redemption

Movies that I loved initially, but you know, just aren't doing it for me anymore: Waynes World, any Austin Powers Movies,

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My internet connection is going up and down. Is there anything more annoying than typing a whole bunch of stuff only to realize you can't post it?

I called the cable company yesterday. Through my conversation, I made a pitch to Charter--we have $20 knocked off our cable bill per month now, keeping all of our high speed internet and digital cable packaging. We signed the contract last March, giving us a whole bunch of channels plus broadband for about $100. At the end of this month, we would lose the digital channels, and pay for basic and broadband for about $85. Well, now we keep everything for $80.

The secret? I threatened to go to Bellsouth.

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How the heck did Crash win best picture? That's just crazy. I haven't seen it yet, but I will eventually. Same with Capote and Good Night & Good Luck. I will say, though, now I have no reason to see Brokeback Mountain, Syriana or Transamerica. I'm somewhat relieved.