# Aw, Dang! Syne: January Minirants **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 1, 2013, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aw-dang-syne-january-minirants/645745 "2013-01-01T11:31:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![saje](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saje/32/3631_2.png) [@saje](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saje)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2013, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aw-dang-syne-january-minirants/645745/41 "2013-01-02T20:50:55Z")
Why is it that people who would make great pet-owners are the ones with debilitating allergies, and the TB’s of the world like your step-daughter can happily mistreat one poor critter after another? Doesn’t seem fair. Oh, and bless you for doing what you can for the cat! ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2013, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aw-dang-syne-january-minirants/645745/42 "2013-01-02T21:00:49Z")
> [@saje](#): > > Oh, and bless you for doing what you can for the cat! Thank you…I feel sick about the whole situation! ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2013, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aw-dang-syne-january-minirants/645745/43 "2013-01-02T21:21:24Z")
> [@Edward\_The\_Head](#): > > I wish the damn Panera near work would move people out who aren’t eating. Every time we go there the place is packed and at least a third to half are doing nothing but playing on their computers or reading. People take up a full table for four people by themselves. Damit people leave if it’s crowded and you’re not eating. I think that’s the time when it’s appropriate to go up to a table of four with one person at it and ask them if they mind if you join them. 🙂 **Dung Beetle** , is it possible to have the cat spayed and return her to your step-daugher? Would that prevent her getting another one? ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2013, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aw-dang-syne-january-minirants/645745/44 "2013-01-02T21:37:04Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > **Dung Beetle** , is it possible to have the cat spayed and return her to your step-daugher? Would that prevent her getting another one? I will have to return the cat for lack of any better solution. I’ll be worried about it being outdoors\*, but at least there won’t be kittens. I don’t expect my step-daughter will pick up any more pets for a little while, since she has just had a baby. :smack: She has already been cautioned that she has to keep the baby, even if it becomes a “pain in the ass”! \*I think it has garage access too. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2013, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aw-dang-syne-january-minirants/645745/45 "2013-01-02T21:42:55Z")
In all seriousness, would it not possibly be better if she _did_ give the baby up? ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2013, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aw-dang-syne-january-minirants/645745/46 "2013-01-02T21:47:51Z")
In all seriousness, I think “people” like her shouldn’t reproduce, but I couldn’t find anyone to spay her… Anyway, she seems really interested in looking after the kid. _knocks on wood_ ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2013, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aw-dang-syne-january-minirants/645745/47 "2013-01-02T21:52:44Z")
Well, here’s to her somehow being a good mother. 🙂 I keep forgetting my own rant du jour - Christmas ads still playing on tv. IT’S OVER! WE DON’T HAVE TO ENDURE THIS ANY LONGER! KNOCK IT THE HELL OFF! Whew. That’s better. ---
**Author:** ![LavenderBlue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e95f7d/32.png) [@LavenderBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LavenderBlue)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2013, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aw-dang-syne-january-minirants/645745/48 "2013-01-02T22:32:58Z")
> [@saje](#): > > Why is it that people who would make great pet-owners are the ones with debilitating allergies, and the TB’s of the world like your step-daughter can happily mistreat one poor critter after another? Doesn’t seem fair. > > Oh, and bless you for doing what you can for the cat! My late mom was allergic unfortunately and she just loved kitties. My dad is trying adopt an older cat in her honor. People should have to take basic tests before they can adopt including making sure they understand that spaying and neutering are not optional in most circumstances. The humane society estimates we have to kill [four million innocent cats and dogs each year in the US alone.](http://www.humanesociety.org/issues/pet_overpopulation/) Ugh. People who pull that kind of shit should not be allowed to own a pet ever again. My own kitties were taken to the vet to be fixed as soon as the vet would do it. ---
**Author:** ![EmilyG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emilyg/32/364_2.png) [@EmilyG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmilyG)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2013, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aw-dang-syne-january-minirants/645745/49 "2013-01-02T23:43:41Z")
> [@SerafinaPekala](#): > > Hey YOU, low-life clueless inbred: if you want to kill yourself with those cigarettes do it alone in the garage with the gas cap off, NOT in the car with your helpless kids gagging in the backseat with the windows rolled up. :mad: My mother used to smoke in the car when I was in it, when I was a kid. No wonder I now have a chronic lung disease. ---
**Author:** ![Chef\_Troy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/85f322/32.png) [@Chef\_Troy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chef_Troy)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2013, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aw-dang-syne-january-minirants/645745/50 "2013-01-03T00:08:58Z")
> [@Cicero](#): > > I have a water bed frame to get rid of- solid pine. It is good wood to support the weight of a water bed. I have left it on the verge when we have had industrial bins delivered before (rather than throw it away) so someone could pick it up and use the wood if they wanted. No takers. So today, I bit the bullet and bought an electrical circular saw and cut it into four pieces and placed it in the latest bin. So - guess what? Tonight, after dark, some feral pulls up in a flat tray truck, looks in the bin and takes the water bed base. > > Why couldn’t he have taken it before and saved me the cost? (Mind you I do have a new toy 🙂 ) Why didn’t you just rent a saw? (Sorry - I have a standing rule that I’m never, ever allowed to say something to Mrs. Chef that starts with the words “Why didn’t you just…”, and I was excited to get the chance to do it.) ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2013, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aw-dang-syne-january-minirants/645745/51 "2013-01-03T01:00:01Z")
Woke up around 1am with probable food poisoning. Didn’t get much sleep after that. Set a handful of tums next to the bed. Would wake up with acid reflux, eat half of one, roll over. When my alarm went off 3 hours later, I was down 6 tums. (ie, 12 times in 3 hours) Went to work anyway. Stumbled through the day. Better now, but I really feel like going to bed now and it’s not even 7pm. If I do, I’ll be awake at 3am. If I don’t, my luck I’ll be wide awake at 11pm. ---
**Author:** ![curlcoat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea5d25/32.png) [@curlcoat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/curlcoat)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2013, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aw-dang-syne-january-minirants/645745/52 "2013-01-03T01:24:39Z")
> [@LavenderBlue](#): > > My late mom was allergic unfortunately and she just loved kitties. My dad is trying adopt an older cat in her honor. People should have to take basic tests before they can adopt including making sure they understand that spaying and neutering are not optional in most circumstances. The humane society estimates we have to kill [four million innocent cats and dogs each year in the US alone.](http://www.humanesociety.org/issues/pet_overpopulation/) Um, OK, for one thing is this the HSUS so you need to take anything they say with a BIG grain of salt. Like Grand Canyon size. Also, a goodly number of “pets” that are killed are feral cats which of course were originally the fault of careless humans but now are simply a problem of their own. And, far too many shelters are importing dogs from overseas (or here, from Mexico), usually cute little dogs, which causes a death inflation of big, untrained, teenage mixes. And finally, spay/neuter of cats is a much different issue than spay/neuter of dogs, so the two cannot be lumped together. Except by the HSUS who are working to eliminate pets in the home. ---
**Author:** ![Edward\_The\_Head](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ce73a5/32.png) [@Edward\_The\_Head](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Edward_The_Head)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2013, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aw-dang-syne-january-minirants/645745/53 "2013-01-03T02:16:44Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > No, they saved you. The food is dreck, and the service is worse. I agree, but the other guys in the group love it. We have this problem every damn time we go and they STILL want to go. For awhile Panera would move people along, but now they don’t bother. ---
**Author:** ![bobkitty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c67d28/32.png) [@bobkitty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobkitty)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2013, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aw-dang-syne-january-minirants/645745/54 "2013-01-03T02:33:27Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > You have any plans to punish him at all? Wait, you mean it DOESN’T hurt him as much as it hurts me??!!? Damn him!!! ---
**Author:** ![Seanette](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/seanette/32/9139_2.png) [@Seanette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seanette)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2013, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aw-dang-syne-january-minirants/645745/55 "2013-01-03T06:07:47Z")
Cramps. That is all. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2013, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aw-dang-syne-january-minirants/645745/56 "2013-01-03T07:21:18Z")
> [@Chef\_Troy](#): > > Why didn’t you just rent a saw? > > (Sorry - I have a standing rule that I’m never, ever allowed to say something to Mrs. Chef that starts with the words “Why didn’t you just…”, and I was excited to get the chance to do it.) I don’t know about **Cicero** ’s end of the woods, but in mine, the tools you can rent are all industrial-strength and industrial-size. I wanted to rent a vaporetta to clean up my house after the electrician, bricklayer and carpenters were through, but the smallest models available were 1’20m tall and weighed over 100kg, and I live on a 3rd floor walk-in. I’m still finding pockets of brick dust, but at least I didn’t throw my back carrying the tools. ---
**Author:** ![anya\_marie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ebca7d/32.png) [@anya\_marie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anya_marie)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2013, 9:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aw-dang-syne-january-minirants/645745/57 "2013-01-03T09:38:39Z")
The only thing keeping me from tossing this piece of shit Hewlett Packard into somebody’s swimming pool is that I do not have any money to replace it. I’ve got a nine year old Dell that sucks less than this thing. I run the defrag, cleanup, antivirus and maintenance and I still have to go to System Restore twice a week. Firefox is pissing me off by losing my bookmarks three times in a month. The modem is a fifty cent whore that needs to be reset every fucking day. I’m looking for a reason to haul off and punch somebody. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2013, 10:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aw-dang-syne-january-minirants/645745/58 "2013-01-03T10:12:08Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > I wanted to rent a vaporetta to clean up my house … . You live in an apartment in Venice, and you wanted to rent a canal boat to transport junk out of it? 🙂 (I take it “vaporetta” is a steam cleaner of some sort.) ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2013, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aw-dang-syne-january-minirants/645745/59 "2013-01-03T13:56:05Z")
Chipotle is the new Tuscany. ---
**Author:** ![Lacunae\_Matata](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8491ac/32.png) [@Lacunae\_Matata](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lacunae_Matata)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2013, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aw-dang-syne-january-minirants/645745/60 "2013-01-03T14:10:51Z")
My mother-in-law is the sweetest lady on earth, but she’s irritating the Fuck out of me. Trading shifts at the hospital is such an adventure in Chip & Dale style politeness. If she would just once come out and say exactly what she wants, life would be so much easier. We spend 20 minutes establishing that she hasn’t eaten, and needs to, instead of her just saying “I haven’t eaten, let’s all go have dinner.” Meanwhile, the two starving little girls are getting hungrier and crankier while MIL beats around the bush and offers 90 different options that she thinks someone else might possibly prefer. And then, there’s the paranoid old lady routine, wherein she freaks out because I stop at the QuikEMart at midnight, or there are (gasp!) other people in the parking garage after dark, or she heard sirens overnight (at a hotel on the busiest street in town.) Love her dearly, but I wish she had a Valium and enough confidence to deal with life. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aw-dang-syne-january-minirants/645745.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aw-dang-syne-january-minirants/645745.md?page=4)