Day 3 was spent intermittently moving dirt around and calling friends to help lay pavers. Day 4? Who knows.
After the game was called for darkness, it was (beyond) time for the K9 to go out and romp around in the yard for his constitutional. I suspect he had a great deal of fun digging around in the area where pavers ought to be…
Unfortunately, I have to go out to the farm tomorrow to help my mom clear a storage room, so I will miss the excitement of Tony supervising the princess. Apparently, last night’s pep talk didn’t work, but it did include the priceless line “Son, you have to be smarter than what you’re working with. It’s dirt and rocks, so that shouldn’t be such a big challenge…”
I did get out of the house tonight, though, and really enjoyed the high school Christmas program - Boy 2.0 played one of the Misfit Toys, and killed it! (Also, Buddy the Elf came back from last year’s holiday follies - the little girl who reprised the role is utterly charming and perfect in the part, and this year, her character wove in and out of every skit and scene, and I just wanted to bring her home to keep me entertained.) And I actually accomplished a little Christmas shopping, and ate dinner with my mom after the play, and had a few nice hours away from it all. I needed that!
a. If it takes more than two minutes to change a headlight bulb, you have failed at your jobs.
b. If the manual states “This is difficult and you may want to have your dealer do it.” and the dealer charges $140.00, you have failed at your jobs (but, paradoxically, made your managers’ managers happy).
c. If the car owner has to look up a Youtube video to figure out how to change the bulb, you have failed at your jobs.
d. If the Youtube video states that people with thick bone structure should probably put the car on jacks and remove the front wheel in order to replace a headlight bulb, you have really failed at your jobs.
d. If the bulb changing process involves undoing a fender cover and lying down on a December driveway to reach up through the wheel well, then, well, actually, you’re just a pack of drooling idiots.
What kind of Subaru do you have? I’ve replaced both taillight and headlight bulbs in my '01 Outback without that much trouble. Is this the joy that newer models bring us?
OK, just having completed the process, I need to add a few more observations. Namely, that once you’ve crammed your hand up into the depths of the wheel well not unlike James Herriot delivering a breech presentation calf, you can no longer see a damn thing and you have to replace the bulb by feel.
So, let’s review. Tiny delicate halogen bulb that will fail early if mistreated or if it gets grease on it. Check. Fiddly little spring latch on bulb that has to be released and re-engaged blind. Check. Plug on bulb that can’t be easily released one-handed, even if you could see what you’re doing. Check. Added bonus of a battery that can’t be removed without half an hour of swearing because of a deeply recessed nut, making it not worth the bother of trying to examine the bulb through the tiny gap available if the battery were removed. Check. Engineers who should spend the rest of eternity in Hades lying on icy driveways attempting to replace headlight bulbs. Check.
Now some hockey players have the mumps, despite being vaccinated. Will the anti-vaxxers take this opportunity to learn about vaccination success rates and the benefits of herd immunity? Let’s find out…
I’m betting the response from those idiots will be more along the lines of, “See, even if you get vaccinated it might not protect you, so better not to get vaccinated.”
I am getting really sick of this shit. I can’t seem to eat or drink lately without aspirating some tiny molecule of food or liquid, sending me in to a coughing fit that often ends up in a vomiting fit. And no, taking a sip of water won’t help, folks, but thanks for playing.
Yep. Look at the front of the new Subarus and you can see that they’ve separated out the high beams/daylight running lights and the low beams. The low beams are positioned at the outside edge of the car, no doubt in an attempt to make an SUV crossover look swoopy and aerodynamic.
BTW, one more update on the headlight installation – apparently while installing the bulb by feel, I misaligned it. The headlight pattern on the way home was not all that it could be – it seems to be pointing off to the left and down. So, next nice day, I get to do this all over again.
So long, New York Times Sunday paper subscription. The announced increase to $9 a week has gone well past the point of ridiculousness. I will miss some things about the paper, including the irony of seeing Times news stories and op-eds wailing about income equality, while it simultaneously covers every possible non-event in the Hamptons and runs Patek Philippe watch ads aimed at the super-rich and their wretched snotty offspring.
Who needs you, when we’ve got access to the Cleveland Plain Dealer?
I can’t believe the assholes are STILL trying to run that Microsoft scam. Doesn’t everybody with Internet connections know about this by now? “Technical Support” has been trying to call me for the past couple of weeks and I haven’t answered until today.
“Hello?”
(surprised voice) “Oh! Hello?”
“Hello.”
(heavily accented voice) “Hello, my name is Raji. I am calling from technical support from Microsoft.”
“Really? Well, this should be entertaining!”
“Um. . .yes. There is a technical problem with your computer.”
“Really? Well, the only problem here is that you’re a fucking scammer; so go fuck yourself!”
Then hung up. Looked over at me wife, who was looking at me with a rather shocked face. I explained the scam, so we’re good.
We have to move. We can no longer afford our rented house since my SO lost her job 6 months ago. We need to move in a couple of weeks and we have not found the new place yet. My credit rating has taken a serious hit in the last year, especially the last 6 months. Hers sucks. We have 2 elderly dogs and need to be on the first floor. This narrows the list of possibilities signifigantly.
And thought of packing up the entire house, getting the truck and enough people to help in such a short time makes me want to sit in the corner and cry.
They’re not from Microsoft, they’re from “Windows.” At least yours admitted to being Raji - mine is usually “John” or “Robert,” in a very heavily accented voice. Last time, I had the good fortune to have a Microsoft employee in the house, so I asked him if he wanted to take it (no dice). Then I told the scammer, “I do not have a Windows computer, you do not work at ‘Windows’, and your name is not John,” and hung up on him.
Probably not over. I had scammers calling me from Jamaica telling me that I had won a lottery and only had to send them $200 to cover delivery charges. I told them the first time they called that it was a scam, and they kept calling for a God damn freakin’ 18 months!!! I don’t know why they finally stopped calling me, but thank Ghu they did. Nobody could help me. Calls came at all hours of the day and night, they swore at my 85 year old mother, they swore at me, nothing we could do stopped them from calling.
Last one who called me, I told him that I had no Windows computers and that he should be ashamed of himself. He called me a m*****-f***** and hung up. I guess it must be stressful knowing that you’re earning a living doing stuff that makes creatures that suck algae off of rocks feel superior.
ETA: We have only had one call from the “You have a problem with your Windows computer” people. It was answered by my husband on speaker and we both started laughing hysterically. The guy hung up.
Having attacks of “it’s not MS” kind of blows, but the rant is micro because one, thankfully my current rate is enough that I can take a day off work without my wallet crying, and two, watching the walls move can actually be kind of interesting.
I swear I’m both the cheapest drunk and the cheapest pothead in the world. If you have a wonky parasympathic system, say no to drugs.
(Also, Buddy the Elf came back from last year’s holiday follies - the little girl who reprised the role is utterly charming and perfect in the part, and this year, her character wove in and out of every skit and scene, and I just wanted to bring her home to keep me entertained.) And I actually accomplished a little Christmas shopping, and ate dinner with my mom after the play, and had a few nice hours away from it all. I needed that!