No, that I only buy you a limited number of talking minutes on your phone every month! Two hundred.
You are so stubborn when we’re out of the house about making a phone call to get information from a friend. I have to practically threaten to take your phone away from you to dissuade you from texting them. The reason I’m asking you to contact them is because I want the response NOW, not whenever your teenager friend feels like checking her fucking texts. A voice call is more likely to get you an immediate response (or at least information on whether an immediate response is likely).
But last week, when I asked you to ask one of your choir friends about the outcome of a meeting with the choir teacher, you got on your fucking CELL PHONE in your BEDROOM (plugged into the charger, yet, because the battery was down) and talked to her for a fucking HOUR and a HALF. And then this morning, when your sleepover guest was talking on your phone with her hospitalized mother, you suddenly ran out of minutes.
We have a landline, sweetie. You have full privileges to it when you’re in the house. There is NO FUCKING EXCUSE for you to run out of talk minutes TEN DAYS into the month.
Now, the reason I pay your plan every month is because I want you to be able to make an emergency call home when you’re out of the house. And I want to be able to reach you when you’re out of the house. I know this is going to piss your mom off, but I’m going to buy you some more airtime for talking up through the 20th of the month. But NEXT month, it’s airtime ONLY, no texting, and no mobile web access.
I dread summer for one reason: the dipshits with the yappy dog return from Mexico to make our lives more interesting with their fucking barking dog. The dog hates to be indoors or outdoors. So he goes batshit inside the house until they let him out. Then he barks from the instant he’s let out until the moment he’s let back in. Rinse, repeat. What is it with people and little yappy dogs that they can’t bring themselves to train the little shit machines? The urge to kill is strong in this one.
Uhh, where to begin? It’s free - that’s a biggie, ain’t it? Smartphone not required, but it would add convenience.
Basically, for free, your kid can have their own phone number from which they can place and receive an unlimited amount of calls, texts, and voicemails. Without a smartphone, this would mostly have to take place through a PC/laptop. (or maybe an Ipod touch?) But the Google Voice number can also be configured to forward calls, so calls to that new number could be forwarded to ring the home phone.
The other possibility is to port the existing cell phone number to Google Voice (for a one-time fee of $25) and get a new number for the cell phone. All calls to GV on the old number get forwarded to the new cellphone number and/or the home phone number. If you answer with the cellphone, you get charged minutes, if you answer with the home phone or directly through a PC or smartphone, it’s completely free.
At it’s most basic, it’s a simple way to send and receive calls/texts/voicemails for free from a computer. But with all the options and configuration, it’s very powerful and can do a lot of things. And with a smartphone, there are even more possibilities.
You know, I know I’m not really a part of her life and never have been, but to be the only member of my family that finds out that my niece got engaged by seeing it on her facebook page when everyone else got phone calls from her or her mother (my sister)…
My son the college freshman is just NOT staying on top of things (and I’m talking about IMPORTANT things like getting and reading the syllabus for one of his classes to find out what books he needs for that class).
I know I’m supposed to keep the helicopter on the ground, and he needs to learn to fend for himself, but do I really have to let him FAIL fail? Get your shit together, Chef Jr.!
Listen to me little eight year old girl across the street,
When I tell you to put your helmet on while bicycling – PUT YOUR DAMNED HELMET ON! Do not slowly walk your bicycle into your driveway for a few minutes and then, when you think I’m not looking, come right back on the street on your bicycle and without your helmet five feet from me. I am not trying to punish you. I am trying to prevent you from bashing your skull on the sidewalk. I will be watching you closely in the coming weeks. If I see you ever again blithely disregarding my instructions I will make sure you don’t come near my daughter until you’ve got grandchildren.
IS THAT CLEAR?
Now stop making me channel Grampa Simpson and go to bed. You’re lucky you’re not my daughter because I would ground you for months for pulling such a stunt.
In the first class of the semester, i go over my syllabus, and make a particular point of emphasizing the important shit. Part of this involves showing them where in the syllabus the required books are listed, as well as holding up each of the required books for the class to see. All of this information is, i tell them, also available on the course website.
Not only that, but if you go to the campus bookstore, and go to the shelves reserved for history courses, and then go to the shelf where your own course is marked, all the books you need are right there, along with a sign telling you the price, and whether the book is “Required” or “Recommended.” All of this information is also available on the bookstore website.
And yet, despite this, i invariably get a small stream of emails at the end of the first week asking me what books they need to get for the course. In virtually all cases, i know for a fact that the students were in class and sitting no more than 20 feet from me when i held up the books and showed them to the students. I don’t know what the fuck they’re doing in the classroom sometimes.
If I’m out of patience, I say “See syllabus.”. But sometimes, when they email me late Sunday night, I say “I’m at home right now, and don’t have a copy of the syllabus. Can you check yours? Or ask a classmate if you lost your copy. Good luck!”.
But this won’t force them to buy the book. So I just make it their ticket to get into the fourth class.
Note 1: This gives them time to order the books online.
Note 2: I make it clear that there’ll be oatmeal cookies at that class, so they won’t want to get locked out.
I know how he feels. I love dogs. Love taking care of them, walking them, domesticating them, even picking up after them.
(AND training them… we have tiny NON-yippy dogs because we bribed them from an early age NOT to act like typical little dogs: “Ok, you Bichons don’t want to be cliche yippy dogs, do you?”)
But one day our next door neighbor’s Boston Terrier got in my face (jumped straight up five times its own height) and gave me a vicious bite. And now I’m irrationally afraid of it. Walking-an-extra-block-to-get-home-to-avoid-it afraid. Shit, my BP shot up just typing this.
So it might take a lot of time and work (and therapy) to get Bill and Steve together. See how I quoted an Aug. rant in the Sept. thread? Pretty sweet, eh?
Oh, he’s full of interlocking explanations why he hasn’t done it.
[ul][li]The teacher hasn’t released the book list to the store (true - I checked), but says[/li][li]The required books are listed on the syllabus, but[/li][li]He doesn’t HAVE the syllabus, because[/li][li]The syllabus is only available online, and[/li][li]He can’t access it, because[/li][li]His computer inexplicably doesn’t have Acrobat Reader on it, and[/li][li]He hasn’t downloaded Reader because[/li][li] (Actually, he didn’t offer an eighth point, but I suspect it should read…)[/li][*]Playing Team Fortress 2 is just too much more exciting than downloading a boring-ass program.[/ul]He has also not explained why he can’t go to one of the campus computer labs and download the syllabus there.
Yup. If you’re paying for his college, you pay until he flunks out. After that, the money has run out and it’s time for him to learn how to get a job and pay his own way. That might give him a good dose of reality.
Texting, doodling, daydreaming about that good-looking guy/girl over there, wishing they were still in bed asleep, dozing off…
[ul][li]Playing Team Fortress 2 is just too much more exciting than downloading a boring-ass program.[/ul][/li][/QUOTE]
This right here is the only relevant point, I suspect. If you want to dope-slap him on this, tell him that downloading Reader is the easiest thing anyone will ever expect of him in college, and being unable to complete that step bodes poorly for the future. And throw this in at the end: http://get.adobe.com/reader/
My rant: stuff not working right. Started with my Android phone’s music player deciding to garble sound. Rebooting didn’t help. Wiping and reloading music library sorted out sound quality - when the player is willing to admit I have music on the phone. Currently backing up the phone’s SD card for reformatting (DH’s suggestion, can’t hurt). Meanwhile, since everything else on the phone is working, I plugged in the iTouch so I can have car music going to and from church (flying solo today, DH doesn’t feel up to going). Software needs update (not surprising, I haven’t synced the Touch in weeks, or more). Update is taking forever and a week, as is backing up the SD card. (sigh)
Probably the offspring of helicopter parents who did everything for Precious and totally shielded him/her from reality, having to make an effort, consequences for (in)action, etc.
You really don’t think that 18 year olds who’ve just moved away from their parents for the first time don’t have (in their own minds, at least) far better things to do than buy books, at least in the first week?
