April Fools Day 2011

Hate this day almost as much as I hate Halloween, except for the one year we got everyone here to change their handles. Found out the hard way it was not permissible to change one's name to Moderator1.

Wondering: a) how many bad baseball headlines will incorporate the day, b) how many 'haha' tweets will create massive news chaos, and c) how many people will try to get the Bag of Crap at Woot that can only be earned by playing an endlessly maddening game.

Planning anything good? Anyone victimize you? Tell.

 

I'm going to go to daycare and tell Lil93 that her dog was hit by a car.

I'm sure we will all get a good laugh out of it.

 

I taught my pre-schooler all about April Fools Day and then sent him along to pre-K. Enjoy, teachers.

 

I told a co-worker that I was happy with my life and was full of optimism for the future.

You'd think people would pay more attention to the calendar.

 

I hate this holiday because some people have no concept of what is funny and what is just freaking sadistic.

At my last job, a boss told a co-worker of mine that he wanted to see him after work and that it wasn't good.

I watched the guy, who was struggling at his job a bit, turn into a complete basketcase during the course of the day.

At about 4 p.m., he called the guy in and said he had to tell him "April Fools"

The reason the boss had targeted him was because when the boss had gone on vacation, he and two female co-workers, rearranged the keys on his keyboard (which I agree was a dumb thing to do, but some of the office people did that kind of stupid (relatively harmless) shit when people went on vacation.

Obviously, he wasn't going to target the females who did it, that might seem mean. (He said this later when he had to apologize, which may have been one of the most disingenuous apologies I've ever seen a guy have to make in his life.) But he decided to target a father of three who was struggling to keep his job in a brutal economy.

 

Given that "respected" journalists send out haha tweets anytime of the year, I'm guessing this will be the winner, in a landslide.

 

Every year, the local all-news radio station leads with a moronic prank story on April Fool's Day. (One year it was that all the local freeways were becoming toll roads, with the toll based on the number designation of the roadway -- I-10 would be 10 cents a mile, the 101 would be $1.01 a mile, etc. You were supposed to keep track of your driving and send a check at the end of the month.)

And every year, everyone comes into our morning meeting pitching the outrageous story they heard on the radio coming in. (Oh my God, toll roads! We need to talk to the transportation department! Is it legal?)

God, I hate April Fool's Day.

We've had local sports teams send out April Fool's releases and absolutely swear up and down they are real.. until the story airs. Fuck them.

 

When I was covering colleges, the SID called me and another writer and slipped it into the conversation that the top assistant coach was leaving, but it wouldn't be official for a few days.

I spent the entire day on the phone being told he wasn't going anywhere and when I finally got him on the phone, he was ready to kill me.

"I am not taking another job. I have not interviewed for another job."

"Look, I know you can't say anything on the record, but I know you're leaving."

After going back and forth for about five minutes. He said, "OK, stop everything. Somebody told you something and it's not true. You and (beat writer from different paper) have been calling all day so I know someone told you something. I swear on the lives of my children I am not interviewing anywhere. The last time I interviewed for another job was over a year ago. Whoever told you this is lying to you."

I called the other beat writer.

We both called the SID.

He starts laughing and screams "April Fools!"

 

Back home many moons ago, the longtime morning zoo team at the big rock station in town broke into their normal morning zoo bs to announce that Mt. Trashmore, a park featuring a landfill that was terraformed into a hill, was in immediate danger of exploding due to methane gas buildup. They did wall-to-wall coverage, brought in "police" and "scientists" to add context to this growing story.

Mt. Trashmore is next to what was then State Route 44 in Virginia Beach, a heavily-used toll road. The park is next to the main toll booths. As you'd guess, there was a lot of traffic at that time of day.

Eventually they announced it was an April Fools joke, and it went over as well as taking a dump in the Queen's boxhat.

 

My kids came downstairs for breakfast today dressed as each other.

http://www.thenewshouse.com/special/syracuse-university-honor-charlie-sheen-winning-social-media

http://www.wsop.com/news/2011/Apr/3268/WORLD-SERIES-OF-POKER-ADDS-NEW-EVENT-TO-2011-SCHEDULE.html

 

Jalopnik said they got bought out by Aol and are now Autoblognik. It was way too far-fetched.

Also, the Gmail motion was pretty good.