A-THE HELL-MEN! I feel like making these people take a walk with my mother. Sure cured me of foot-shuffling fast.
It’s bad enough that a couple of people I deal with regularly don’t read the e-mails I send them. What’s particularly annoying is replying to a couple of them and then seeing a new e-mail saying, “By the way, I don’t think you replied to these two e-mails.” At that point, the old familiar urge to whack my head against a brick wall repeatedly resurfaced.
There’s also a slight matter of an Employee Evaluation system I built. I started it last Wednesday and deployed a working version on Friday morning. As a result, it doesn’t have any bells and whistles because there wasn’t time to build them in, although I’d like to when I get time. Of course, the fellow who heard it could be built at midday on Wednesday and wanted to know why it wasn’t finished on Thursday morning is the fellow who wants the bells and whistles. I’ve explained to him this was the quick and dirty two-day version. The advanced version will have to wait until I actually have time to build it properly. Given the current workload around here, I figure that will be some time in March. Of 2008. That’s what I’d like to tell him, anyway. :sigh:
To my fucking wall:
Where the fuck is your god-damn stud?! Cause it sure as hell ain’t sixteen inches from the closest door frame (the only starting point I have to measure from.) Seriously, what the fuck? I now have a row of about eight screw holes, between 1/2 to 1 inch apart, where a stud should be, but isn’t. :mad:
I really hate it when you want to watch an online video and they make you watch a commercial first- then the stupid video you actually want to watch doesn’t even work.
I mean, I don’t mind watching Queen Latifah shout “THE CLUMP STOPS HERE!” every time I want to see something on the CW website because, well, it’s neat to be able to see stuff.
And having the video not work, while annoying and disappointing, is not really a big deal.
It’s when both happen at the same time- why does one video work and not the other? and WHY is it always the commericial that works and not the actual video? And why is the stupid commercial always 450 times louder than the video? WHY?
Preach it, matt. I can’t stand it when people make tea like this.
Although i’ve long ago given up on anyone in the American service industry knowing how to make a decent cup or pot of tea.
Here’s a hint: it doesn’t involve handing me a receptacle with lukewarm water and a tea bag. Now, i have no particular problem with tea bags—even though i prefer loose leaf tea—but the boiling water should be poured on top of the tea bag (preferably in a warmed cup or pot, but i know that’s asking a bit much), rather than leaving the bag on the side to be added later.
About the only place i’ve ever had really good tea in North America is at proper tea houses, and when i lived in Canada. The “British” in British Columbia isn’t just for show; you can definitely get a good cup of tea in Vancouver and Victoria.
Dear student who hasn’t been to class all week:
This is not how you want to start the semester. You especially don’t want to start off by sending me an email telling me that the reason you missed is because you wrote down the wrong class number. That don’t fly here. Suck it up and catch up next week.
Sincerely,
The instructor who is not going to send you the assignments
Dear gym newbies.
I understand that the new year is a time to make resolutions; getting more fit is certainly a noble one. But please, for the love of all that’s wholesome, learn some gym etiquite!
-Wipe down the station you just used. Those paper towels and spray bottles aren’t EVERYWHERE for no reason at all!
-Get some training on the equipment you’re using. At the very least, ASK one of the gym-rats if you have a question. Usually, we’re more than glad to help. Asking questions doesn’t mean you’re stupid; it means you understand that you need to learn about how this equipment works properly.
-Free-weights aren’t for everybody. Especially if you’ve never lifted weights before.
-If you’re using free-weights, return the plates to the rack… even if it’s not where you found them.
-When you’re finished with a towel, it goes in the “used towel” bin. Period.
-Being respecful of others includes your language. Be polite within earshot of those around you. I don’t need to hear you tell your buddy about “that hot MILF” on the treadmill that you’d “do” in a heartbeat. She happens to be my son’s kindergarten teacher. Catch me on the wrong day and you’ll be wearing your jock like a backpack.
Guy on another message board: Who died and made you guardian angel? Yes, I realize those photos of our favorite actor were taken by a papparazo without his permission. I said, and it’s true, that that’s something that comes with the job if you want to be an actor, and I’m sure he can deal with it. Your whinging about how it’s wrong to invade his privacy does not unring the bell. They weren’t taken through the window of his house, for crying out loud. He was in a public place. My “line of reasoning,” as you put it, was that although the paps can be a pain in the ass, they’re HIS pain in the ass to deal with, and meanwhile, I’m glad that they’re photoing someone I’m interested in instead of another upskirt shot of some drunken starlet, and I’m also glad that he was happy and smiling, and that he’s seen as enough of a draw to be worth taking photos of. How is that “wrong”?
Not to deflate the thread or anything, but, you know about the knocking trick to locate the vicinity of a stud, right? You knock on the wall, and if it sounds hollow, there’s no stud. You should slowly come across a place where it sounds and feels much less hollow. Keep knocking until it starts to sound more hollow. Now you’ve located the general vicinity of the stud.
Alternately, you could buy a studfinder. The studs are placed 16" on center from each other. It could be (and is most likley that) they started that measurement from the wall, not the door frame.
I did that, but none of the wall sounds hollow (it’s an outside wall, and it’s chock full o’ insulation.) I suppose if I had better hearing, I could tell the difference, but my hearing is a little sub par.
And I don’t have the money to go buy a stud finder (besides, the damn thing would never work right if I was in the room, I’d keep setting it off! 
)
Well I finally found my freakin tape measure and was able to hang the damn things. I was guessing where 16 inches was by using the shelf (which is 24 inches) minus the width of a piece of paper (8.5 inches,) and then going another half inch. I was about half an inch off from where it was, and for some reason, I thought I went too far, so all my other attempts were going closer to the closest frame, whereas if I made one attempt in the other direction I would have gotten it on my second try. :smack:
It also drives me crazy to hear people shuffle or kick the ground as they walk, and makes me think they’re too lazy to walk properly. Besides, that’s a good way to mess up and wear down those expensive shoes you got on your feet, buddy.
As an addition, don’t walk three or four in a row and completely block the walkway. Especially don’t do this if you walk really slowly! I will say “excuse me!” before I pass, and if you don’t make any motion to move, I will barge through as if you weren’t there. Yes, it’s not polite, but so is being an asshole who can’t share the walkway with others.
Why are walkers in the bike lane when there’s a sidewalk? Get the heck out of there and use the sidewalk! If I’m on a bike, I’m not supposed to be on the sidewalk, and your presence in a bike lane when not on a bike poses a danger to you, me, any other bicyclists, and the people driving on the ROAD right next to the bike lane. Person on bike + car = possible impalement. Person sans bike + car = decreased risk of impalement. Just follow the damned directions!
Sloppy acronyms. I have just encountered an organization called Brant’s Response to Violence Everywhere and the acronym is BRAVE.
Where the heck does that “A” come from? Is it meant to be “BRAnt’s response to Violence Everywhere” (with poor “Response” getting no representation in the final acronym) or “Brants Response to Violence Everywhere” (with a gratuitous A thrown in)? If so, the A should be lower case, right?
Argh!
I HATE “Deal or No Deal”. (Sadly, my wife likes it, and if I want to be in bed when its on, I have to put up with it.) If there is any justice in this world, Hovie Mandel will have each and every one of those ugly metal cases shoved up his rectum sideways with a pile-driver and then yanked back outout in reverse order by a monster truck with a tow-package. Then everyone of those starvation-cases on the platforms should be force-fed 2000 calories of chocolate. The Banker should either be fed to Sigfried and Roy’s white tigers or burried/asphalted up to his neck in the middle of a lane on The Strip.
I’ve never watched “Deal or No Deal,” precisely because i agree with your opinion of Mandel. The idea of him having his own show is too awful to contemplate.
Now that I’m a licensed driver again, I’ve rediscovered a pet peeve that I had forgotten over the course of 14-1/2 years of not driving: People who do not understand how angled parking works in a parking lot. Listen you morons, you’re supposed to drive down the aisles so that you see the tail lights of the parked cars, and park by making a nice, easy 45-degree turn to the left or the right. Not by driving the opposite direction and parking by making an awkward J-shaped turn.
In my experience with 25 or so years of driving, people don’t get parking lots, period. They seem to think that once they’re off the main road, anarchy rules and everyone is allowed to do whatever they please. Most of my driving peeves come from parking lots.
To the fucking idiots who rent from LoveFilm (Euro type of Netflix), stop eating your fucking dinner off of the DVDs or playing frisbee with the damn things. The last three films I received all had fucking annoying moments where the picture freezes and the sound STU-UH-UH-UH-TTERS as my DVD player goes into overdrive trying to read through the spaghetti of scratches made by you dumbfucks.
As soon as you take the DVD out of the tray, PUT IT IN THE DAMN CASE. Not on the top of the player, not on the floor, not on the bottom of your fucking Black & Decker sander, in the FUCKING CASE. And put it straight onto the central nub, don’t put it half-assed on the case and slide it around like you’re waxing a fucking car. You ain’t Daniel-son.
People who wait to pull out their money or, worse, begin writing the check until the cashier has rung up their purchases and announced the total amount due. :rolleyes:
And people who don’t understand that that little “Visa” symbol there at the bottom corner of their bank card allows that card to function just like a credit card. Restaurants don’t typically give you the option of “debit or credit,” therefore, your debit card will be automatically run as a credit card. So don’t hand me your card to pay for your bar tab and say “debit.” Exactly how do you expect to enter your PIN? Do you see the servers carrying around little wireless PIN keypads? No.
And people who don’t get 4-way stops. I think it’s actually contagious. Around here, those of us who “get” it (the tiny minority, in my opinion) can actually begin to doubt ourselves and end up in a polite-gesture-contest with the person to the right. Person A waves person B through, but to be “nice,” person B gestures ‘no, really, you go.’ So person A takes them up on their offer while at that very moment person B decides that they will go after all. So each of you spends about 30 seconds alternately inching forward and slamming on the brakes. It maddens a person almost to the point of harming kittens.
This is exactly what I came in here to bitch about. In the little college town where I live, no one, not ONE single person except me knows how to function at a four-way stop. The college kids think that stop signs are optional and the townies decide that this is the moment to martyr themselves to the traffic gods and let every single person go first. Be assertive dammit! When it’s your turn, GO!!! When it’s not your turn just keep that foot on the brake, jackass.
Pet peeve #2. Navigating the paved trail.
There is a nice paved trail about 13.5 miles long between my town and a neighboring town. It is for walking, running, biking, rollerblading, and horseback riding. Most of us know how to share this little trail quite nicely. When you are engaging in any of the above activities and you approach a slower person in your lane, well before you pass them on the left a courteous “On your left” is all that is needed to alert them that you are coming up on them so as A. not to scare the crap out of them and B. so they don’t shift to the left and cause you to run, bike, or blade right into them. I like to either walk the trail or ride my bike. I can’t tell you how many times some halfwit scares my shit right into my pants when they blow by without a peep. Or better yet, when some assface, with his $2000 bike, spandex pants, and helmet with the rearview mirror yells at the top of his lungs, just as he’s close enough to kiss my ass, “ON YOUR LEEEEEEEFT!!!”
After I unwrap myself from the tree at the bottom of the ditch my inclination is to catch up to the fucker and shove a baseball bat into his spokes. How about giving your warning just a little sooner there shitlips?