Commuting Musings

Goose Greifs

There are too many Canadian Geese in my area. There are hordes of them, and while Horde is good and Alliance is baaaad, (do not trust the living...), these hordes are a nuisance. They're mean - they hiss and snap at you if you get too close. They're filthy - anywhere they choose to hang out becomes a goose-sewage-treatment-facility within hours. This morning, however, I felt sorry for the geeses.

I was coming up to a red light when I noticed a van in the next lane was stopped about 10 yards behind the car in front of him. In front of the van were 2 geese, honking quietly and walking in confused circles. Then I saw the third goose. He was on the line between my lane and the turn lane - quite deceased. Apparently quite recently deceased.

The van would not move until the geese totally cleared his lane. I let them walk thru my lane, and watched as they walked around their "friend" and honked a bit, then made their way to the median strip and I swear that if geeses could cry, these would have.

Anthropomorphism, I know. But it seemed very sad.


Squirrels In Love

Or maybe having a fight.

Two little red squirrels (I guess they'd be "ginger" to the UK group) chasing each other down the alley, up and over a fence into someone's back garden, back over the fence, along top of the fence and back down - all the time no more than 12 inches from the tail end of the front one to the nose end of the back one. I LOL'd - for real. If it wasn't a fight, they looked to be having one hell of a good time.

The Interwebs as a Community

When I first discovered the "Internet" it was back in the days when dinosaurs roamed the earth GUI's were the "new thing" and WIN3.needtoupgrade was the HOT "new thing".

Even if I never get near a fax machine again in my life, I'll still always be able to replicate the SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE bbbbrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr OOBAHOOBAHOOBAH of a modem connecting. I'll never forget the interminable "blue line" of AOHell every single stinking time you switched screens...

I still keep in touch with a number of people I met in those dark old days before flashing banner ads and popups/unders. Most of them are near my age and are professionals who were also expected to "Find out what this "internet" thingy is all about" for our bosses.

I've walked away from any number of internet communities - chat rooms, BBS's, forums, &etc. Some I've walked away from sadly, wishing the community hadn't changed so drastically that I didn't feel comfy anymore. Some I walked away from because they had always BEEN uncomfortable and I wasn't comfy being uncomfy... yes, that DOES make sense in there somewhere!

What I've noticed as a trend lately is that the "fad" of blogging seems to be running its course. Lots of bloggers are leaving the "blogosphere" and moving on to something else. One wishes them luck. One also wishes they wouldn't delete their farking blogs!

I can understand someone deleting a blog if it had become, for instance, an addiction and that if they knew it still existed they couldn't stop - but a large number of folks seem to just wantonly decide "Well, I'm done with this, so out it goes..." - and I find both of these reasons annoying. I understand them - but they annoy me. Because I've learned a lot from other bloggers.

I've gotten recipies, and I've learned about diseases and how to pronounce words I knew to see but not to say. I've learned a lot about other cultures, and found some terrific resources from the blogs of others. Thing is, I have been known to lose links or forget something - and like to be able to re-read and reacquaint myself with those gems of knowledge. Which I can't do if YOU DELETE THE DAMN BLOG.

Just sayin'

283 days

Cars again

Because I'm bored during my commute lately.

Petite young lady driving an SUV - a "Soccer-Mommy-mobile" - with the entire front end missing - 1 fender, the bumper, 1/2 the hood, the grille... you could see inside the engine compartment, FFS.

Now, yes, this obviously was a bad accident. The scarey part is - she had TEMPORARY license tags on it. (Illinois issues these until your permanent tags come in the mail for new cars)

Yikes

So I see Honda doesn't put turn signals on their cars anymore. I feel sorry for that poor bloke in front of me who was switching lanes back and forth and probably had NO IDEA that he wasn't signaling his changes. Really, Honda, I think those are MANDATORY.. please put them back!

Who ever told Honda that Americans want Japanese "Styling" in our SUV's??? That "Element" is just too ugly for words. It brings new meaning to the word "FUGLY" - looks like a bad anime cartoon! Now, there's another one, not sure of the manufacturer or model because I try to stay FAR away from them - but it seriously looks like a fried-rice box with wheels. Every time I see one I cringe.

Yeah, I know - this is boring stuff. Right now I'm trying to write another post but it keeps getting sidetracked and I don't intend to hit "publish" until I know what I'm saying and all that. (Yeah, right, mouse... like that's gonna happen...)

285 days

Shaddup, self.

Certified Used?

The Honda dealer on the corner where I turn to go to work has signs in the windows of all the vans on the East side of the lot that say "Certified Used".

I'm happy he has these signs. The fact that it is a 1985 van might just make me sceptical if I thought it was a NEW 1985 van that nobody thought was good enough for them to buy in over 20 years on the lot.

You would think - or, at least *I* would think - that considering the pressure that car lots get from the manufacturers for turning over inventory, that at SOME point they would have marked down this van enough that SOMEONE would buy it, no matter how ugly the upholstry or flakey-sounding the engine, or wimpy the tires when kicked.

However, this sign lets me know that SOMEONE, SOMEWHERE, SOMETIME climbed into this van, breathed deeply of the New Vinyl and Formaldehyde scent, Took the proffered keys and drove off the lot happy with their new baby.

Yes, the fact that this car is CERTIFIED to be USED is comforting.

Lexus goes one step further - they call them "CERTIFIED PRE-OWNED" - because Pre-Owned is the Posh and Snobby way to say "Used". Lexus doesn't have "USED" car salesmen - it has "PREOWNED" car salesmen - which does, in fact, seem to insinuate slavery in some rank and dismal way - as who would REALLY want to have a car salesman as a slave, sex or otherwise? Not to mention getting "sloppy seconds" on the slave owning and all. *shudder*

You know - it would be nice if these cars, Certified as OLD AND USED UP AND PROBABLY 2 WEEKS AWAY FROM BLOWING A TRANNY, would come with something a bit more useful - like a warranty or something...

Dream on, Mouse.

287 days

Tiny Home Improvements

Well, I've spent all winter being a lazy git and only doing the smallest of the "I really ought to do this around the house while it is winter and I'm stuck inside" chores. Last night I did one of the first of my "It's spring, time to get the garden spruced up" chores - which was a TINY, TINY thing - but very important to me.

See, I have this stupid latch on my gate that the condo association decided was the best latch for our gates - in their infinite stupidity. The latch consists of this weird "catcher" thing that moves up and down when it's not frozen in place, and is supposed to grab hold of this piece of 3/4"o.d. pipe that is flattened on one side and rivetted to the gate.

2 problems with this design. Well... more than 2....

First off, when it gets below freezing, the weird catcher thing freezes in place and the gate cannot be opened until it thaws or the iced up blockage is removed. As long as I am on the inside of the gate, this isn't a huge problem, because I just keep a metal spade in the back yard and whack the hell out of it until it moves. If I am OUTSIDE, however, I'm S.O.L.

Secondly, the guys who put in the fence posts did a crapass job of it and so when the weather changes, the fence posts heave up and down and many times the catchy thing cannot catch the pipe.

and not necessarily last, and certainly not least - the pipe is a pipe. A round object with a dark round hole. Attached to a WOODEN fence. Wasps make houses in these.

So - my itty bitty yet hideously significant chore was to stop at Ace Hardware, buy some of those plastic caps that you put over the bottoms of chair legs, except these were very thin and black and 3/4" inside diameter - and a bottle of all-purpose super-adhesive. I glued one of the little things onto the end of the pipe thing. Hopefully nobody will EVER be able to remove it. Hopefully the farking Association will never notice it is there. Wasps cannot get into it. I hate wasps.

Not too fond of your average W.A.S.P. either, for that matter.



291 Days

The earth - it thaws...

This morning I left for work and noticed that ALL 4 of my little mini-solar-powered lights were laying on the ground. The freeze/thaw/freeze/thaw had worked the spikey bits all the way to the top and they'd fallen. The first time this happened, I had to stick the light into a flowerpot because the ground was frozen solid and I couldn't even get the spikey part to go back into the ground at all, not even in the same hole where they'd fallen from.

This morning, however, I was able to stab them all back into the flowerbed nice and neat and in a row like they belong to be. Yay.

I should go get some seeds for sweetpeas - this is a good time to plant them because they take forever to grow, and then I get flowers a little earlier, even if it does freeze again, they can take a bit of cold-abuse.

I've been sleeping with the window cracked open the last few nights, but last night the wind was blustering so much that I had to close up. It's been nice having the window open, the "fresher" air, and the MOIST air, rather than the Sahara-dry forced-air-heat atmosphere was great. No need for my little spaceship-shaped air hydrater thingy (not really a "vaporizer" or a "humidifier" - kind of a hybrid)

It is time, I think, to start picking out in my head what kind of flowers and veggies to plant this year. I love Spring!

293 days

Perception - Point of View

Over the last few days I've seen the power of perception and point of view in action. As stated in the previous post - I found out last week that one of my closest friends has been diagnosed with Cancer. This is not "internet drama" - yet someone has told me that they percieved it as such.

Sorry to disappoint.

There are 3 kinds of lies, alledgedly according to Mark Twain - Lies, Damned Lies, and statistics.

I think many of the "Lies" problem comes when one person's vision of the "Truth" collides with someone else's vision of the "Truth".

Perhaps the eye-witness to a traffic incident would say "The guy was all over the road, weaving and swerving as if he was drunk!!"

Perhaps someone with another angle viewpoint would say "The guy was doing great, a bit over the speed limit - but when the little kid ran into the road, he swerved to avoid hitting her. I think he over-corrected, though, because he had a bit of back-and-forth before he got things straightened out again"

How much pain is "pain" - for instance?

I'm gonna admit something here - and Lea is gonna get mad at me. I wasn't sure she was being entirely up-front with me.

When she told me she was having pain from her "gall bladder" - but that it wasn't "all that bad", I was somewhat skeptical. Not that she had pain!! But Lea has a high threshold for a lot of things (she eats Thai food that brings out the entire kitchen staff to see if her head explodes from the spices, for instance) - and what I was afraid about was that she was DOWNplaying the actual severity of the problem because of her resistance to pain and stubborn (yes, You, Lea!) refusal to push herself forward and "inconvenience" other folks.

Do I suggest that she was "lying"? No.

Am I lying about that? NO!!

The fact is - I could not personally feel what Lea was feeling - and I've had gallbladder disease in the past, so I know what gallstones feel like and all - FOR ME. But even *I* have a fairly high pain threshold, so I'm not blind to the possibility that what would be "excruciating" for one person is "mild discomfort" to another. Listen to 20 women tell you about their childbirth experience and you'll get the general idea.

I think this hit me strongest when Lea made a comment about something she'd made arrangements for if "the worst" happened. She thought I would be angry at what she was proposing - I'm really not sure why - but from her POV, it was something I'd disapprove of. From mine, it was a very sweet something to plan on doing for someone she loves.

I don't know how to resolve these things. One person's "Truth" is another's blatant lie - or something similar. And yet I also know that there are relatively few "Dr. Evil's" in the world. Bush and Cheney and their ilk are an abberation, not the norm.

If we can be at such opposite sides of the spectrum in terms of those we respect and care about (LOVE!) - how can we possibly expect to ever find peace and harmony with those who have proven by their actions and words to be completely 180 degrees opposite our own thoughts/feelings/beliefs - Truth?

294 days

The "C" word...

What do you do when you find out one of your dearest, closest friends has cancer?

Not just a small tumor, but something that has spread and could get ugly?

And she's being strong and positive and trying with all her heart not to show how scared and sad and worried she is - being strong for "everybody else" - and looking at something with very, very bad potential outcome?

I feel that weak, powerless feeling - and I'm not ashamed to say I'm worried and a bit numb.


296 days

A lil' bit of dis, a lil' bit of dat...

It occurs to me that 99.9% of the strife and violence in the world could be eliminated if people would just follow ONE commandment - one that Moses apparently forgot to put on the rocks when he was up there on the mountain frantically taking God-Stenography by chipping away at them. In fact, I firmly believe this WAS the original first commandment, but Moses had gotten behind while looking for a good stone-chisel and forgot what the first one was -

"Thou Shalt MYOB"

What Does This Mean?

We should Fear and Love God that we may each Mind Your Own Business.

Thank you, 7th and 8th grade Catechism Class.

"Thou Shalt Have No Other Gods Before Me" is just plain ridiculous - if you take the position of the monotheistic Judeo-Christian-Moslem theology - because if there IS no other God, then how could you POSSIBLY take another one first? I mean - if there is one apple on the table, and you want an apple - you're rather limited in choices, n'est pas?

Particularly this occurs to me as I am entirely of the opinion that you just seriously cannot legislate morality. You can legislate against crimes against other persons - theft, assault, battery, murder - it doesn't really STOP them, but it does provide some accountability. But there are lots of things that religion opposes that really don't need to be criminalized.

Blasphemy - for instance. In many of the Islamoidiot run countries, "blasphemy" is a crime. It used to be a crime in many Christian countries until fairly (relatively) recently. Makes me want to slap them upside the turban and scream "Look - if Allah really is a God - then he's a fucking GOD - he can take a little criticism and joking - and if he can't, then it's still really NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS - he's GOD - he won't make a mistake and accidently punish YOU instead of the blasphemer!"

See, according to these "big three" major religions, they all have some Nasty Icky Place that you're going to go if you don't make G_D, Jesus or Allah happy. Whether it is Gehenna, Hell, or Las Vegas, Nevada - the Big Guy in the Sky has a place prepared for those who defy him, according to the scriptures. Since the BGitS already has it covered, it's rather redundant and a bit of a waste of time and energy for the BGitS's followers to run around chastizing and beheading and fairly much being dicks about it all. MYOB.

"Vengence is Mine - I will repay, saith the Lord " Romans 12:19

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So I guess I'm enduring try-outs for Greek Mythical Hero status. Every night I've been getting stabbing pains from my left ankle, specifically the Achilles tendon. The pain radiates up and down my calf. This is not particularly fun - but it's horrible annoying as it only seems to be evident at night, during the day at work and commuting I hardly notice it at all. I do, however, usually run around the house barefoot, and at work I wear shoes - perhaps a significant thing? Also, last night I wore an "ankle brace" - some compression bandage thing in a weird shape that wraps around your foot and ankle - and the pain in the ankle/Achilles tendon was much less, but when I took off the wrap, the FRONT of my ankle was painful to the touch - like very, very, very low shin-splints.

I don't want to have to go see a doctor about this, so I'm going to just wait and see if it improves. If it doesn't - I've got a Dr. appt. on the 10th, so I'll ask him then. It's not bad enough to spend an extra $30 on it - just a crappy annoyance, really. (Just someting to kvetch on my blog about!)

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Daffodil noses are peeking out of the ground in the back garden. I suppose I should get back there and clean out the mess from last year, but the ground is still rock hard - I tried to put one of the little solar-powered lights that had worked its way out of the ground back in, but even in the exact same hole the ground was too frozen to jam it in. A few more weeks, apparently.

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Diet Snapple Raspberry Iced Tea.

Yummy, to my utter amazement.

297 days

"Betrayal"

Senator John McCain - he who would like to be the next RepubliCON president today said that pulling out of Iraq now would be "an act of betrayal".


Dear Senator McCain:

NOT pulling our troops and contractors out of Iraq NOW is already a betrayal of the American People - and those responsible for sending them in the first place should be on trial for treason.

DIAF

Sewmouse.

Banking Woe

Ok, so I've been quiet - so sue me.

Well - don't, actually.

Anyhow - I've been "stomping out burning ducks" at work due to a bank error. A rather significant bank error that is making me a little crazy, and causing my boss to lose his hair. Apparently someone at our bank made a rather big "Oopsie" (Technical Accounting Term) and froze the assets in our account a while back. We didn't initiate it, we had plenty of money in our account to cover our debits - and the IRS wasn't after us. I found out when one of our vendors called to tell us that our check had been returned to her.

Needless to say, this particular vendor was a bit of a "problem child", in that we'd had some difficulty with their invoice and had only just resolved everything and authorized payment - so of course, THEY were the first to call me and let me know the check had been returned. Just like Mr. Angry - I was LIVID.

Little did I know just how much of a PITA this was going to be. Things that were supposed to be auto-deducted from our account such as car payments, loan payments, utilities, &etc - were all returned - refused - denied - and the folks who were supposed to get the money were told that WE had rescinded our permission for them to take it!!! Livid became a pale shadow of what I really was...

It's been going on for weeks now - I get a call from someone all confused and occasionally disbelieving when I tell them we really had NOTHING to do with it. The car loan folks immediately deleted us from their auto-pay program - and WE have to go in and fight with their website to reinstate us - the credit card company has put us on a THIRTY DAY CASH ONLY basis - we have to drive to one of their branches and pay them directly... And the best bit is this - since our bank is not listed on the credit card account as being someone the credit card company is authorized to speak with - they won't even TALK to our bank to find out that the bank screwed the pooch, not us!!

I don't mind taking pipe and dealing with asshatness when it's something I've actually done. There have been times that I've been less than entirely scrupulous about paying (my own personal, not the company's) bills on time or remembering stuff - and I suck up the bad that comes from it and try to remember to NOT DO THAT anymore - but this is fucking ridiculous - We didn't do ANYTHING wrong, and yet here we are being punished for some bank clerk's fat-fingered mistake.

I love my job.

But I really do hate banks. And credit card companies.

299 days