Shit, I thought I was bothered by seeing his disgusting face on the front page of CNN. That’s terrible. I hope it doesn’t cause too many problems for them.
Cost of presidential VH-71 helicopter: $400,000,000
Empty weight of VH-71: 23,150 lb
Gold is running at about $1000 per troy ounce
There are 14.6 troy ounces per pound, so a VH-71 weighs 337900 troy ounces.
That much gold would cost $337,900,000
That leaves $62,100,000 with which to launch the thing into orbit:
Average lift cost to low earth orbit: $4,100 per pound
Cost to lift a VH-71 to LEO: $95,000,000
So the feds have allocated money enough to build the president a solid gold Marine 1, but $32.9 million shy of what’s needed to subsequently launch it into orbit.
Pennypinchers! :mad:
You don’t desert your pets and have them fend for themselves. They are domestic animals.
The thing that really pisses me off is that the article is closing with a call from a Congressperson to begin the whole process over, instead of trying to control the mission creep, they want to expand it through another whole set of design and bidding cycles?
Why does this sound like a bad idea?
I got around that. I bought tomorrow’s bananas yesterday. 
One of my team of relentless mouse-assassins left one (somehow?) underneath the rug on the patio. I must have stepped on it 10 times while wearing shoes before I stepped on it barefoot and realized there was a lump under the rug. GAH!
Oh, and fucking fire-ants! DIE DIE DIE!
Well, I finally did it. I left zero tip at a restaurant.
I’m generous tipper. An extra dollar or three above the usual percentage is not a great burden to me.
But the service this time was horrible. I was in a group of four. We ordered four main dishes. The standard side dishes, rice, and hot tea came out immediately. That was the high point of the meal.
The first dish was served after about ten minutes. Yes, one person got their food while the rest of us waited. About five minutes passed and I got my dish. Hmm. What are they doing? Another ten minutes, and the third dish was served. We asked about the fourth’s food. After five minutes they said it was on its way. And after another ten minutes, the food arrived. Yes, the last person’s food was served a half hour after the first’s.
We complained to the server. We complained to the manager. We asked to have the last dish removed from the bill, which seemed fair since it was served 15 minutes after the previous food. The manager refused. Her excuse: each dish took a different length of time to prepare and was served when ready. Yeah, that’s why no restaurant manages to serve everyone at a table at the same time.
Needless to say there was no tip. I felt a little bad not giving anything to the server. It wasn’t her fault, if the manager was telling the truth. But we were not leaving a tip for such a bad experience.
Fucking dental insurance won’t cover braces for TheKid. Her regular doctor recommends she get them, as she frequently has headaches, grinds her teeth, and has some jaw problems. BUT he will not prescribe them. Because he won’t, insurance won’t cover.
Went to the orthodontist for a screening - the total cost is $5775. Where the FUCK am I supposed to pull that from? Oh, if I pay it all up front it will only be $5315. Whoop de fucking do. You have a financing company where I could take out a loan at 9% interest? Uh, no. If I pay part down it will only (ONLY) be $190/mo. Sure! I’ll just appropriate that from … wait … after I pay bills for things like gas/electricity/mortgage/water… ummm.
Let’s add in the fact that we’re STILL under the direct threat of layoffs. We’re good for this year, but June 2009 doesn’t look so good for 60-80 of us (Thanks Prezzy Bush!). So even if I managed to scrape up the monthly fees NOW, a year from now may be not so much.
It sucks when you want to be able to do something for you child that you know will benefit her greatly when she’s older, but the money just isn’t there. Her self esteem is - well, she’s a teenaged girl. She won’t smile. I could ask her dad to pay his portion, but he flat out can’t pay nothing. He can’t even support himself.
Gah. This is the second time we’ve gone to an orthodontist with high hopes, only to find out it’s financially beyond our means.
United States economy, would you please stop pulling our dollar down with your own? II’m trying to save for a trip to Europe and having the euro go up compared to the Canadian dollar isn’t helping!
Co-worker with the flu sitting right across from me, cover your damned mouth when you cough (all damned day). If I go home and give my husband who just had abdominal surgery your flu, I’m going to punch you in the head. Hard. (I have my fingers crossed that my flu shot I got in the fall will prevent me from bringing home everything that’s going around here. What a disease exchange this place is!)
Dear Sports Announcers (ESPN in particular):
It is not necessary for you to attempt a Boston or New York accent every time you do a story involving a team from one of those cities.
First of all, it is beyond trite and well into irritating.
Second and most importantly, none of you can do a realistic Boston or New York accent to save your miserable little lives. A large percentage of natives of those two metro areas don’t speak that way and cannot reproduce said accents accurately, and you leering, smirking out-of-town bozos have no chance at it whatsoever.
So take your “Bahstons” and “Noo Yawks” and shove them up your polyester posteriors.
Thank you.
Any chance of getting a second opinion doctor who would prescribe them? I know with some insurance that’s harder than with others.
Sympathy for you and TheKid.
I guess this is a mini rant -
People who engage you in conversation when you have just taken a large hungry bite out of something…
And then stare at you as if you are somehow being insolent for not being able to answer them with a mouth full of food.
Tried that. He noted in her file that it was discussed, so no other doctor in her clinic would prescribe them. I thought about taking her to a completely different group of doctors, but that creates a huge hassle with my insurance company and she otherwise loves her doc (how many doctors wear Grateful Dead rainbow bear yarmulkes?)
She and I discussed the whole situation - very clearly showed her what would have to be cut from the budget. We also discussed how the $5775 ALSO pays for the snazzy game room they have, the shiny adverts, and posh rooms. Explained why I may be jobless next year. Basically spilled everything that (I feel) kids don’t need to know. And she understands.
In August I’ll be calling the University to see if she qualifies for care there.
[silly rant] Mom, you’re not a warm fuzzy person. When I call, all down, don’t make me cry more, telling me I’m doing a fine job, that you’re proud of me, that Dad said many times what a great kid I’ve raised on my own. I need you to tell me to snap out of it, not make me feel good![/silly rant]
Mom,
I love you, but you’re a batshit insane narcissistic bitch, and you need to knock it the fuck off RIGHT NOW.
Daddy did not get osteoporosis to piss you off (actually, if you didn’t go into total hysterics at the thought of the fat content of cheese, or getting instant skin cancer at the mere touch of sunlight on his flesh, or any of a million other things about which you freak) it is remotely possible that he wouldn’t have shrank 6 inches in 2 years, and maybe, perhaps, if you weren’t such a self centered twat, you might have NOTICED his shrinkage, or even (god forbid) heard me, 18 fucking months ago, TELL YOU THAT THERE MIGHT BE A FU-- ahem, excuse me, a year and a half ago say, in my out loud voice that perhaps Daddy should see a competent physician instEAD OF THE FUCKING NUTJOB SENILE QUACK WHO . . . <sorry> got you addicted to 3 different opiates, and overdosed you on SSRIs, because of an erroneous Dx of Parkinsons.
And do not pretend that he ate “a lot” of cheese. Half of a Kraft single every couple of weeks is NOT enough cheese to give a fucking hamster its RDA of calcium. Just don’t.
Love – Me
Students, a couple of brief requests:
First of all, you do not need to bathe in your perfume/cologne/whore-attracting body spray. I’m going to start pasting old Brylcreem ads to the front of the reference desk to remind all of you that “a little dab’ll do ya!” I am sick and tired of having a raging headache after having to breathe your toxic aura while you ask me questions.
Secondly, when you IM the reference desk, don’t start off with “hey” or “sup” or “question”. Just ask your thrice-damned question. And please be specific. Don’t say “my teacher wants me to look up articles for a paper.” What is your topic, what kind of articles do you need, and from what kinds of sources? Ask vague questions, get vague answers.
That sounds like an excellent idea. Good luck.
The day is too perfect and the wildflowers too beautiful to spend my time studying for finals. But I am anyways. Dammit. The weather better continue to be nice this weekend, or, uh, I’ll be really upset.
My mood is too shitty and the internet too interesting to spend time writing my term paper. And I’m not.
Want to trade?
Nope, that was last week for me!