Sunday, April 01, 2007

Happy April Fool's Day

I have had two funny things happen recently with two of my favorite people. While I won't go as far as to call them fools, you can be the judge on that one.

Story #1

When my parents were here the first part of the year, my dad was enjoying one of the Spanish Guitar Cd's that I had. I made a mental note and thought maybe I would buy it online and have it sent to him. My dad and I both share a love for all types of music, and I could imagine him at home just like when I lived with him, with the speakers pounding and the floor vibrating in their house. Finally a few weeks ago, I went to Amazon.com and ordered the CD and had it sent to my dad. Some time later he and I were talking over Skype and he didn't mention anything about the CD. Whenever my dad receives something he is ALWAYS quick to say thanks and express his gratitude. In this conversation he didn't mention a thing. I didn't get my feelings hurt, but it did make me wonder if he could forget something like that. So finally I asked him..."Dad, did you get a CD in the mail this past week?" He said, "Yeah, how did you know about that? Wait a minute, did you order it for me? I thought I had ordered it."

Having similar musical tastes, my dad had actually went to Amazon.com as well, just days earlier and looked at the same CD but he didn't order it. When it showed up on his doorstep, he was really confused because he thought he had just looked at it, not ordered it. To make matters worse, Amazon messed up my name as the buyer and put my dad's name. So even the bill said that Ben Cannon had bought the CD. So, my dad just went on with life, happy that he had ordered himself a CD, but a little baffled that he had forgotten about it. My mom and I gave him a hard time for becoming such a crazy old man.

Story #2

This story I am particularly proud of. I have done my fare share of pranks, and I don't see any end to them coming soon. Here's how it went...

My father-in-law Ron is a die hard KU Jayhawks basketball fan. I must admit that it has rubbed off on me a bit, and I even enjoy watching and keeping up with their season's progress. Last Saturday, the Jayhawks were playing UCLA in the Great 8 match up as part of the annual NCAA spring basketball tourney. They were part of the last 8 teams playing towards the championship game from an original pool of 64.

Knowing Ron would be watching the game, I thought of a great idea right as we were walking out the door to go watch the game ourselves at a friends house. The game had been on for about 5 minutes when I called Ron on our cell phone. Here's how it went...

(Vicki) answering the phone always "Hello"
(Sean) "Good afternoon, this is Ben Cunningham with Great Lakes (airlines). Is a Ron Ekert available?"
(Vicki) "Yes, just a minute"
As Vicki hands Ron the phone, he asks her "who is it?" In a tone of annoyance Vicki says "some guy from Great Lakes."
(Ron) "hello"
(Sean) "Hi Ron. Sorry to bother you. This is Ben Cunningham from Great Lakes. We landed a little while ago here in Alamosa and we were needing to get some fuel. We can't find anybody to help us. The doors are all closed and locked, and the hangar door is down, and the ramp is just deserted. I have flown this Alamosa route before on the weekends and have never had a problem getting fuel, but this afternoon I can't find anyone. I did find one gentleman named Joe (airport manager) and he gave me your number. Could you come and give us some fuel perhaps?"
(Ron) "I have 2 guys working today. They should be there. They are there until 6."
(Sean) "I'm sorry. I looked and looked. Everything is shut down and locked up. There is no body here. If you could just swing by real quick and fuel us up, we would be on our way"
(Ron) with a little heat in his voice this time. "But I have two guys working!....
(Sean) I interrupt him "Hi Ron, this is Sean calling" ...very long pause... "Ron, this is Sean in Ecuador calling. I knew you would be watching the game, and wanted to call and give you a hard time" ...still paused...
(Ron) in loving anger "You meat head...you idiot...you meat head...you idiot..."
(Sean) dying from laughter "Hey Ron, just wanted to bother you, I'll talk to you later, maybe you can sell me some fuel some other time"
(Ron) still in loving anger "Yeah, I love you to, but you're on my list now. You're lucky you are down there in Ecuador. You meat head...you idiot!

I found out later that Ron's two employees that were working the weekend together had asked Ron if they could leave early. When "Ben Cunningham" called and said there was no body there, Ron's blood began to boil, and I'm sure he was wondering who he was going to fire on Monday morning. Ron still says I am on his "list." Whatever that means. For as hard as he had me laughing, being on his list is definitely worth it.

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