Mr. Bill

I didn't know about the late 70's character from Saturday Night Live called Mr. Bill. I was born in the early 80's, grew up without cable TV, and I had to be in bed before the street lights even came on most nights. Saturday Night Live didn't exist to me until I went to college in 2000.

My ignorance of Mr.Bill changed shortly after Christmas. I really am lucky and blessed to have a wonderful Mother-in-law, but I think I would've been perfectly fine not knowing who Mr. Bill was for the rest of my life...or at least not knowing his infamous saying and hearing it over and over and over again.

My MIL sent Kodi a Mr. Bill plush dog toy that yells "ooooooohhhhh noooooooo". I wasn't really too worried about having to hear Mr. Bill yell because Kodi has never allowed a plush doll, even with a squeeker, to survive more than a few hours. I don't think we've ever given him a talking plush toy though.

Kodi loves Mr. Bill. He chews on his belly alllll daaaaay long, and cuddles to sleep with him at night. I work from home, so I have to walk into the other room when I'm on conference calls. Having a toy yell "oooooohhhhh nooooooo" when I'm giving my status or talking over issues with people from my program is just not ideal.

Program dude: "How's your coding coming along Kara?"
Kodi / Mr. Bill: "ooooohhhhhh noooooooo"
Program dude: "That bad, huh?"
Me: "No no no no, see.."
Program dude: "Well, I can do xyz to try to alleviate some of your issues."
Kodi / Mr. Bill: "ooooohhhhhh noooooooo"
Program dude: "So, you don't think that'll work?"
Me: "No, I don't have an issue, I'm fine"
Kodi / Mr. Bill: "ooooohhhhhh noooooooo"
Program dude: "I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say you're not fine...I'll get right on this, thanks Kara."

I'm actually writing simulation code to input into someone else's design code. It's not interesting to explain, so I'm not going to elaborate. The guy who's design I'm simulating called...
Ring Ring...
Kodi / Mr. Bill: "ooooohhhhhh noooooooo"
Me: "Hello?"
Design dude: "Uh, is this a bad time for you?"
Kodi / Mr. Bill: "ooooohhhhhh noooooooo"
Me: "No, it's fine. Sorry about that. What's up?"
Design dude: "Umm...I, uh, I heard from Program Dude that you're having issues, is my code okay?"
Kodi / Mr. Bill: "ooooohhhhhh noooooooo"
Design dude: In defensive voice: "You sure it's not your stuff? My stuff is pretty solid."
Kodi / Mr. Bill: "ooooohhhhhh noooooooo"
Design dude: Now angry "My code is GOOD. Your STUFF is WRONG. FIX IT"
Kodi / Mr. Bill: "ooooohhhhhh noooooooo"
Me: "No, I, uh"
Design dude: "I'm not changing my code, it works!!!"
Finally, I get away from Kodi
Me: "It's not broken, everything is working fine, sorry...my dog has this toy..."
Design dude: "You FIX it and then call Program Dude and tell him it was ALL YOU. GOODBYE."
Kodi / Mr. Bill: "ooooohhhhhh noooooooo"

You can see why I'm not a huge fan of Mr. Bill. Fortunately for me, Kodi, FINALLY, ripped a hole in Mr. Bill. I did perform gorilla glue surgery because I actually kind of felt bad for Kodi, but the voicebox only lasted a few more days and died this past week. Haleluya!!! Amazingly enough, Kodi still loves to play, and even sleep with Mr. Bill.

I think he finally thought he had a talking friend. He has always liked people more than dogs...but I'm happy to say: RIP Mr. Bill's voicebox, RIP!

<3
Kara