… or, for some unknown reason, railroad crossings.
WHY would I need to be warned that there’s a train track? NOT an actual train, but just the crossing… which has a gate, which is almost always up, so I don’t even need to slow down!
The real problem here is that, when I choose a route (and I often take scenic highways rather than the freeway), I can barely see the map… it’s filled with large yellow and black icons for every single crossing.
And when you’re traveling through small towns, the icons will cover the name of every city and cross street. I seriously get dozens of large RR markers obscuring my entire map.
I wouldn’t mind if I could turn them off. WHY does Google have to decide what I need to see on my map? What if I’m driving the limit and don’t care about cops? Or what if my car is one of those rare models that’s able to drive over train tracks?
Or what if I’m safer when I don’t take my eyes off the road to dismiss your little quiz about the car that, twenty minutes ago, was parked at a historical marker two miles ahead?
If by “many many” you actually mean “none” I agree with you. These parked cars on the side of a major freeway in the Seattle metro area don’t impact traffic in any way ever. They might as well report that they saw a cardboard box shoved way off the side of the road for as useful as they are. All it does is create a distraction as I’m peppered with false alerts (I mean, there’s at least one on pretty much any trip I take that merits using GPS).
It’s to the point where I’ll be shocked if I ever see a real stalled vehicle actually impacting traffic.
That’s sounds like a pretty neat feature. I’d be all for the ability to customize notifications.
And usually the one that I’m most interested in (the ETA of alternate routes) is obscured behind some other icon, stubbornly remaining hidden until it’s too late.
Q: What is the worst way for a former heart attack patient, receiver of three stents, to ring in the new year?
A: With chest pains.
However, no worries (I think). I had been lying in bed watching movies and munching potato chips and swigging a bottle of Coke. I’m pretty sure that what I was experiencing was heartburn or some related digestive thing. I had not taken the medication I’m supposed to be on for at least three days because it doesn’t really seem to do anything, but I took some then. The discomfort vanished after about 20 minutes, but I don’t think the medication had anything to do with it.
Anyway, the idea of going to the ER on New Year’s Day and then being confined to hospital until they have full staff back on Monday, and then being told I need bypass surgery, were not comforting prospects. So I’m glad it’s all gone now, and to everyone ranting about their problems, remember that your health is the most sacred thing.
Here in Philly every New Year’s Day, we have a very special parade. The Mummers started as a bunch of drunken immigrants wearing masks and marching down the street firing guns into the air. Today we have a spectacular celebration of costumes, music and pagenry. For reasons I do not understand, the parade was not shown on any of the major stations for the past couple of years. It was on the local MeTV affiliate and some local station I have never heard of before. I find this very confusing. I know the Mummers Parade remains popular. When I did a quick search on what station or web site to watch the parade on, eveyr local news source had an article on the parade. For the past couple of years, the grandest show, the Fancy Brigades has been televised on PHL 17. The parade would end at 5. They would announce a few things, including what time and channel to watch the Fancy Brigades. This year, they skipped that announcement… After some frantic Googling, I found that the Fancy Brigades will be on digital channel 6.2. This channel is called Localish. I didn’t even know it existed. Fortunately, in my new apartment I actually get 6.2. In bad news, my Mom lives in Florida. The site I found said that the only way to stream the Fancy Brigades is to download the 6 ABC app. I am not sure Mom will be able to do that. She never was tech savvy and my sister may have installed security features on Mom’s phone that prevent downloading an app.
I needd chocolate very badly. I found a mini mart within easy walking distance that has a superior selection of chocolate, a fine variety of snack cakes, andw many wonderful bottled beverages containing large amounts of sugar. I had the good judgement to Google their number and call to be sure they were open. Nobody answered, so I assumed they were closed. This meant I would either have to visit one of two nearby gas stations and pay almost double, or I could try the new head shop that opened up recently. I had been their once before. They had a reasonable candy selection. But, it was all behind plexiglass and you had to tell the cashier what you wanted. They carried chocolate, strawberrry and vanilla Quik, but no other beverages worth mentioning. They also carried a wide variety of vape, hookah, and similar products.
I decided on the headshop. Things went well. The door to the room with the beverage cooler was locked. The cashier kindly unlocked it. When I took out my card to pay, he explained thet the system was down. Luckily, I had cash, He apologized that he had to give me change mostly in quarters. I explained that I am always on the hunt for quarters as I need thm to do laundry. Then, I made my mistake. I had said clearly what candies I wanted from behind the plexiglass. I could see two of them clearly, I did not think to check the third candy in the pile was the right one. When I got home and put all the junk food away, I found that although I had requested peanut butter M & M’s, he had given me a bag of peanut M & M’s. I like peanut. But, I strongly prefer peanut butter.
It would help quite a bit if other people would add their mini rants to this thread.
On my next break, I need to check to be sure that there are in fact holes in the sides or base of my trashcan. If there are, then I can reasonably conclude that is how the rodents are getting in. I will then need to order a metal trash can. I deeply hate that I will have to spend $60 to $70 on a new trashcan. I don’t see that I have a choice though. Every night, I hear chewing coming from the trash can. The snap trap I baited with peanut butter remains unsprung. I think this is because the rodents are already well fed from the trash and so are uninterested in the peanut butter bait.
@Tamerlane You seem to know much about rodent infestations. Do you have any advice? Should I spend the money on a metal trash can?
I’ve come to the realization that I’ve probably left my favorite hoodie behind in a mall change room before the holidays. I had been assuming until now that it was at the bottom of the laundry pile, but I did all the laundry yesterday and it’s gone.
I’m devastated. It’s a band hoodie that’s out of print from my favorite group, and I really wanted to wear it today. Just a lot of sentimental value (and it’s band merch; for what it is, it was pricey!)
There’s a very slim chance it’s actually at some lost and found in the store/mall but I won’t be able to get there until at least Saturday.
My mom bought me a sterling silver Gollum ring at a local craft fair when I was in the sixth grade.
I took of my Gollum ring to eat Chinese food after seeing the first Spider-Man movie. That is what I eventually figured out. I spent months turning my apartment upside down. I panicked. I mourned. I had many dreams abou that ring. I was delighted when I found that the man who had made the ring had a web site. I was very broke and could not afford a replacement, despite the very reasonable price. Mom bought me a replacement. I will treasure it always.
My dogs, cat, and fiancée were all scared by the fireworks. They calmed down when I told them it was just gunfire. They’re used to hearing that in Kentucky.
It is by a wall in exactly the path I have seen a rodent run. And I
ll be in the cold cold ground before I buy something as fine as Nutella to give it to a rodent!
I see this band every time they come through, they have other ones on their merch website. I’ll be able to get another hoodie (and this is, after all, how the band mostly gets paid nowadays!) I have plenty of t-shirts but don’t usually spend the extra money on larger items.
It really was just so cozy.
Wearing my second favorite hoodie now, from a band I don’t love as much but this thing is obnoxiously orange and it makes me smile too.
New Years day is a paid holiday at my company. But, in order to receive pay for a paid holiday you must work a full eight hours the day before and the day after the holiday.
I have two alarms set on my phone for the morning. One goes off at 7:30. I wake up, eat, take pills, and check my e-mails for anything important. Then, I go back to sleep until the second alarm wakes me up at 8:23 and I log in to my work computer and start my shift.
Uusally, my iPhone detects an upcoming holiday and asks if I want to turn off alarms for that day. This didn’t happen I forgot to to turn off my alarms on the 31st. My beloved and I were awkaned by the first alarm at 7:30. I shut it off, apologized and turned off my second alarm so we could sleep.
I forgot to turn the second alarm back on. I woke up feeling especially reffeshed and found it was 9:19. Normally, a team lead would have noticed that I did not log in and would have called to see why. But, the project stopped handling foodstamp applications as of yesterday. We also went to a new call script. The team leads were very busy fielding questions.
I did not realize the full meaning of being late today, until I had to log my hours on my time card. I am confident that I will not be fired or even receive a stern talking to for being late this morning. I am also confident I just lost a full day’s pay for January first.
I had a craving for apple pie this afternoon. There aren’t many places to get good pie in this godforsaken place, so I went to Wegman’s. They had plenty of pie, but all of the apple pie (in two convenient sizes!) was vegan, which is not as delicious as the non-vegan pie. So I bought a frozen pie. Then I ended up driving past Fresh Market, so I could have gotten a pie there. I’m sure I’ll be disappointed with the frozen pie, but life is disappointment.
So I bought a frozen pie. Then I ended up driving past Fresh Market, so I could have gotten a pie there. I’m sure I’ll be disappointed with the frozen pie, but life is disappointment.