# How's February shorting you? ~ 28 days of mini-rants **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [February 1, 2019, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-february-shorting-you-28-days-of-mini-rants/828815 "2019-02-01T23:08:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![MickNickMaggies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/59ef9b/32.png) [@MickNickMaggies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MickNickMaggies)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2019, 9:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-february-shorting-you-28-days-of-mini-rants/828815/161 "2019-02-20T09:30:54Z")
37, actually. Mine flashes red if the kids have a fever. I gave up converting a long time ago. I know 2C is cold. I just don’t know what it is in F and if my mother needs to know that badly, she can google it her fucking self. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2019, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-february-shorting-you-28-days-of-mini-rants/828815/162 "2019-02-20T14:36:22Z")
> [@MickNickMaggies](#): > > 37, actually. :smack: I knew that. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2019, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-february-shorting-you-28-days-of-mini-rants/828815/163 "2019-02-20T14:54:41Z")
It is snowing like crazy this morning. I barely made it to work. Then, around noon it is going to warm up and rain for a bit, melting all this snow. Of course my parking lot is being plowed right now. Fuck. ---
**Author:** ![Lightray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightray/32/391_2.png) [@Lightray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightray)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2019, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-february-shorting-you-28-days-of-mini-rants/828815/164 "2019-02-20T15:54:05Z")
Last nite it started snowing, then switched to sleet, freezing rain, and maybe ended with some regular rain. This morning the street was still a sheet of ice, so I emailed that I’d be in late. Was working from home when the email server cut out, street looked drivable so I headed off to work, late, with a bunch of people who don’t know how to drive on wet pavement and hadn’t cleared their cars of snow. I got a text pulling into the parking lot… telling me to not bother coming in. Transformer had blown, taking out power to most of the plant, telephones, and the servers (d’oh!). The lab building where I work had power, but no heat. And the air blowers for the vent hoods were stuck on high, so it almost took two people to open a door and then figure out how to get through without being crushed as it slammed shut. So we went home. And now I’ve got about three conference calls that _probably_ won’t happen if the servers stay down… but I’ll have to keep checking all day just in case. ---
**Author:** ![MissTake](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misstake/32/3189_2.png) [@MissTake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MissTake)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2019, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-february-shorting-you-28-days-of-mini-rants/828815/165 "2019-02-20T19:46:28Z")
Mother Nature can fuck the fuck right on out of here. We’ve had our snowiest February ever here in Minneapolis. Cue confetti and streamers. Another 8" in my yard today. And still snowing. There is no place to put the snow. My mom finally allowed me to come get her snowblower, as she doesn’t use it. Wish it worked. No idea what’s wrong with it and the small engine repair friend can’t look at it for a week or so. Of course, it’s supposed to snow Friday. Saturday. Sunday. I did get most of the driveway shoveled, but then the plow went through and now I’m stuck in. And a side rant. People are bitching to high heavens about schools being closed around here. Lots of “In MY day we walked uphill, ten miles, uphill both ways!” Complaining about how “soft” kids today are. I’m sure the kids would rather not be cooped up at home. In much of my poor neighborhood, I’m sure they’d rather be at school where they can get at least two decent meals today and be where it’s warm. It’s not the kids. It’s the parents who, if school was NOT called off today, would’ve kept their precious Kaydyns and Braydyns home anyways. It’s safer to keep the buses off the roads rather then try to pick up maybe 50% of the student population. AND to the old fucks going on about “In my day”, maybe if you passed the various levies allowing schools more money to replace their rickety transportation and expand the bussing areas, kids wouldn’t have to walk a mile in seriously inclement weather. ---
**Author:** ![ENugent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/4af34b/32.png) [@ENugent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ENugent)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2019, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-february-shorting-you-28-days-of-mini-rants/828815/166 "2019-02-20T23:36:18Z")
> [@MissTake](#): > > It’s safer to keep the buses off the roads rather then try to pick up maybe 50% of the student population. AND to the old fucks going on about “In my day”, maybe if you passed the various levies allowing schools more money to replace their rickety transportation and expand the bussing areas, kids wouldn’t have to walk a mile in seriously inclement weather. We have had three snowstorms so far this February in Seattle, and each one dumped more than an average winter’s worth of snow on us. The kids have been home and driving me crazy for way too long. That said, I endorse every word of this mini-rant. ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2019, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-february-shorting-you-28-days-of-mini-rants/828815/167 "2019-02-25T20:52:16Z")
To the fuckheads that spammed me from the email of a friend who’s been dead for 10 years, go fuck yourselves. ---
**Author:** ![Calatin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/439d5e/32.png) [@Calatin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Calatin)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2019, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-february-shorting-you-28-days-of-mini-rants/828815/168 "2019-02-25T21:37:51Z")
> [@outlierrn](#): > > To the fuckheads that spammed me from the email of a friend who’s been dead for 10 years, go fuck yourselves. Yeah, found someone using the picture of my deceased former roommate and close friend a few months back. Unfortunately, at the time, I was unaware of how to report the profile and pic to the app developer, and of course, now I can’t find the profile again. Told one of our mutual friends and he agreed it is totally fucked up, but we know there’s no point in addressing it any further to other friends or people he knew. Hopefully, the profile was reported and deleted. I’ll never understand shit like that. Outside of just trying to trade pics, what do people really expect to get out of things like this? (Yes, I know, catfishing and whatnot… but it was VERY unnerving when I saw it pop up that morning, and yes, I checked to see if it was an old inactive profile, but it had the person listed as “online” when I saw it.) ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2019, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-february-shorting-you-28-days-of-mini-rants/828815/169 "2019-02-26T00:15:31Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > You laugh, or you kill them. Now, I laughed, but I’m not necessarily saying it was the right choice. Yeah, I thought about killing my teens. But, I kinda wanted them to live, being they are my legacy. My plan was to kill someone I didn’t know and get incarcerated for life. Then I would be away from my teens. Hunky-dory. Happy life. Seriously, they do grow out of it. Son-of-a-wrek was 24 and getting out of the Marines when I noticed he wasn’t a teenager anymore. He was kinda backward.🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Sicks\_Ate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Sicks\_Ate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sicks_Ate)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2019, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-february-shorting-you-28-days-of-mini-rants/828815/170 "2019-02-26T00:55:55Z")
Wi-fi at Planet Fitness hasn’t worked for a week. I don’t take my actual phone because it’s an old sturdy dinosaur, and I have limited 4G. I take a phone with no SIM to use for podcasts. I guess after about 4 trips now I’ve learned my lesson, and I’ll have something downloaded, but dammit. Get it fixed, y’all. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2019, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-february-shorting-you-28-days-of-mini-rants/828815/171 "2019-02-26T01:42:43Z")
If you’re still going to a gym and working out (on purpose, no less), I’d dispute any claims that you’ve “learned your lesson.” 😛 ---
**Author:** ![dorvann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df705f/32.png) [@dorvann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorvann)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2019, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-february-shorting-you-28-days-of-mini-rants/828815/172 "2019-02-26T18:24:31Z")
> [@ENugent](#): > > I feel this so hard. Add in my husband saying things like, “But \ spends all his time in his room anyway - why is it hard to have him around?” and I am ready to kill them all. > I’m sorry to have to tell you that my experience is that this will get worse before it gets better. But maybe he’ll hide out in is room all day like my eldest and you won’t be bothered, right? :rolleyes: Just reminder to parents: if your teen son is hiding out in his room all day make sure you knock on his door and ask him if it’s OK to go in before entering his room. It will avoid any “awkward” moments. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2019, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-february-shorting-you-28-days-of-mini-rants/828815/173 "2019-02-26T18:56:54Z")
> [@MissTake](#): > > Mother Nature can fuck the fuck right on out of here. > We’ve had our snowiest February ever here in Minneapolis. Cue confetti and streamers. Another 8" in my yard today. And still snowing. > There is no place to put the snow. My mom finally allowed me to come get her snowblower, as she doesn’t use it. > Wish it worked. No idea what’s wrong with it and the small engine repair friend can’t look at it for a week or so. Of course, it’s supposed to snow Friday. Saturday. Sunday. > I did get most of the driveway shoveled, but then the plow went through and now I’m stuck in. I have the opposite rant. I seem to have the ability to control the weather, at least locally, such that every time I contract a snowplowing service to keep the driveway clear, there is no snow. For those who doubt that this is really me controlling the weather, this has been the case every year since I started doing this three years ago. Oh yes, in all prior years, the snow was up to my eyeballs, and I practically dropped dead with the shoveling. Now, granted, winter isn’t over yet, and we’re supposed to get up to 10 cm tomorrow. But I’ve heard this before. “10 cm” generally means it will actually be a light dusting that could be cleared with a broom instead of a shovel, but the snowplow guy, desperate to prove that I’m getting value for money, will come by anyway and scrape it off, creating a little pile of snow at the side of my driveway about the size of an anthill. I’m complaining because I’m not rich and the plow service is not free, and I just know that if I decline the contract next winter, my uncanny relationship with the cosmos will precipitate … well, it will precipitate precipitation, such that the headlines will read “unprecedented snowfalls bury community under 20 feet of snow, state of emergency declared, food supplies being dropped by parachute”. Once – just once, please God, or Og, or whoever – I would like to look out my windows and see lots and lots of snow, and my faithful plow guy actually doing real work. ---
**Author:** ![Sicks\_Ate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Sicks\_Ate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sicks_Ate)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2019, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-february-shorting-you-28-days-of-mini-rants/828815/174 "2019-02-26T19:28:54Z")
> [@dorvann](#): > > Just reminder to parents: if your teen son is hiding out in his room all day make sure you knock on his door and ask him if it’s OK to go in before entering his room. It will avoid any “awkward” moments. Indeed, [indeed.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7keIFbTlfcM) (potentially NSFW language but nothing offensive to look at.) ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2019, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-february-shorting-you-28-days-of-mini-rants/828815/175 "2019-02-26T19:32:12Z")
> [@dorvann](#): > > Just reminder to parents: if your teen son is hiding out in his room all day make sure you knock on his door and ask him if it’s OK to go in before entering his room. It will avoid any “awkward” moments. Applies to daughters too. One of the Things my grandfather from hell did was try his best to catch us changing clothes. With all five of us he eventually managed to open the door as we were indeed midway through a change, and all five of us reacted by throwing the nearest solid object at him. Shoes in the case of the three boys, a 10-lb dictionary from me (the dent was still in the door last time I saw it) and an iron from my cousin (the one she was using to iron her only clean blouse, in fact). ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2019, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-february-shorting-you-28-days-of-mini-rants/828815/176 "2019-02-26T20:35:26Z")
What idjit decided Close-Up toothpaste should be red? When I spit into the sink, is it toothpaste…or blood? The first few days of the tube I keep looking in my mouth to see where it’s bleeding (& therefore gets extra attention). :smack: ---
**Author:** ![WolfpackJeep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpackjeep/32/2921_2.png) [@WolfpackJeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WolfpackJeep)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2019, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-february-shorting-you-28-days-of-mini-rants/828815/177 "2019-02-27T01:04:50Z")
Is it normal for modern wedding invitations to include double-sided, excruciatingly detailed lists about the registry, which items can be purchased as a group, which items cannot be purchased as a group, the acceptability of gift cards, how to send the gift if you will not be attending, how to send a gift card if you will not be attending, etc.? Also, this is the first time I’ve seen printer ink on a wedding registry. Granted, they clearly used a home inkjet printer to print the invitations and accompanying materials, but still… ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2019, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-february-shorting-you-28-days-of-mini-rants/828815/178 "2019-02-27T01:50:59Z")
> [@Great\_Antibob](#): > > My mini-rant for the month. > > Ok, former co-worker I’ve known for over a decade, you want an interview at my office? Ok. You are clearly well qualified for a position and the people there already think well of your technical skills. Your interview should be a token one. Just don’t screw it up. > > When my manager asked me if I’d stake my own reputation on you, I didn’t hesitate to say yes. But that shouldn’t be a problem, right? You’ve got 20 years of relevant industry experience and should recognize any interview landmines. There’s no way you could fuck up a 30 minute interview, right? > > Oh, wait a sec. So when they asked why you are applying and leaving your current company you’ve been with for 2 years now, you told them you had been looking to leave since day one? What the fuck is the matter with you that you would think that’s an appropriate answer in a job interview? > > Oh, wait another sec. You openly said you didn’t respect your current manager because you thought you knew more than him? I thought you wanted the job. My mistake. Didn’t realize your PhD meant your critical thinking skills weren’t worth shit. > > On the plus side, nobody is holding you against me. So far. But thank you so very fucking much for putting me in that position while simultaneously jamming your foot so far in your mouth, you can taste your own kneecaps. You don’t like honesty? I get that tact is important. I have it. But why is tact important in a job interview? When I interview people I want honest answers to direct questions. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2019, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-february-shorting-you-28-days-of-mini-rants/828815/179 "2019-02-27T02:12:21Z")
> [@WolfpackJeep](#): > > Is it normal for modern wedding invitations to include double-sided, excruciatingly detailed lists about the registry, which items can be purchased as a group, which items cannot be purchased as a group, the acceptability of gift cards, how to send the gift if you will not be attending, how to send a gift card if you will not be attending, etc.? > > Also, this is the first time I’ve seen printer ink on a wedding registry. Granted, they clearly used a home inkjet printer to print the invitations and accompanying materials, but still… I’ve received exactly one wedding invitation in the past twenty years, so I can’t tell you if it’s normal; I CAN confirm that it’s [not _acceptable_.](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=10454871&postcount=48) ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2019, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-february-shorting-you-28-days-of-mini-rants/828815/180 "2019-02-27T02:17:17Z")
> [@Isamu](#): > > You don’t like honesty? I get that tact is important. I have it. But why is tact important in a job interview? When I interview people I want honest answers to direct questions. When someone starts bad-mouthing a third party (who is not present) to me, I tend to wonder how that person will speak of me when I’m not present. YMMV. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-february-shorting-you-28-days-of-mini-rants/828815.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-february-shorting-you-28-days-of-mini-rants/828815.md?page=10)