Only 3 more days!!!!
Since I am on a staycation, and in honor of the best holiday ever, and because I am just generally lazy, I am going to randomly list some of my biggest Halloween pet peeves. Feel free to add to the list if I forget anything.
~I'm going to start with my all time biggest pet peeve about Halloween. This way if you get bored and stop reading you'll have at least read about this one. Trunk or Treats!!! It's not the actual Trunk or Treat event that bothers me, so much as the fact that people will have these events on Halloween night. Parents will take their kids to a Trunk or Treat INSTEAD of Trick or Treating around their neighborhoods. This is a largely Mormon custom, but has been adopted by other churches and even some family oriented companies. I know that Halloween is all about kids getting their candy, and many parents are just too lazy or self absorbed to actually take them door to door. But the closer I get to adulthood ( and no, that doesn't mean I'm actually growing up) I think a lot of the fun is to see neighborhood children come to the door to beg for candy. I love to see children dressed in costumes, to see their eyes light up as you give them some "good" candy instead of the nasty hard pieces of bubble gum, and to hear their laughs and screams as they look at all the Halloween decor. People that use Trunk or Treat's as an easy way out of their parental duties not only rob the children of some great memories, but they also ruin the experience for those of us "adults" that delight in decorating and distributing sugary snacks. And a side note to my LDS brothers and sisters, it is bad enough that we are criticized and ostracized from the community on so many other points but to not allow our children to participate in this night of neighborly bonding goes against all the things we are taught each Sunday about loving our neighbors and befriending those around us!! Repent you sinners!!! ;)
~Leaving your lights on, but not answering the door! Seriously, how hard is it to just turn your lights off. If you are such a cheap bastard that you can't hand out even the nastiest of candy, at least have the decency to turn off the lights. We can hear you in there watching the Lifetime channel, we know you're home. Stop wasting our time! And if you have an automatic porch light that doesn't turn off, and unscrewing the light bulb is too advanced a task for you, then at least get out your box of crayons and scribble a note that says " Child hating Grinch lives here".
~I know how old I am, don't ask me if I think I'm too old to be Trick or Treating. If I really thought I was too old to do it, do you think I would be knocking on your door?! Has anyone ever responded to your ignorant query by saying " You know what?! You're absolutely right! I didn't realize that I was too old to be asking for free candy. Thank you for showing me the light. Allah be praised!!"?
~I understand that we live in difficult times financially. I appreciate peoples willingness to participate in Halloween in anyway possible. But for the love of all that is holy, please do not hand out homemade popcorn balls to strangers! First of all, gross! Secondly I don't know you, I don't know where your hands have been, and I don't know what kind of disgusting creatures live in your home under the guise of "house pets". Thirdly, I grew up in Southern California. We had to go through our candy each year looking for holes in wrappers that could have been made by needles because there were people that thought it was hilarious to inject PCP or LSD into candy and give it to children. And anything homemade or any fruit was immediately discarded by the parents because of numerous reports of douche bags hiding razor blades in apples and popcorn balls. Luckily, here in the great state of Idaho, those types of "tricks" aren't as prevalent, but that doesn't mean I'm any less leery.
~Once every 7 years Halloween falls on Sunday. I understand and appreciate the whole "keeping the Sabbath day holy". But it needs to be publicly decided, and adhered to, if the holiday is going to be celebrated on Saturday or Sunday. Boise generally does celebrate on the Saturday before, but there is nothing more annoying than going Trick or Treating, knocking on the doors of the homes that have the lights on, and instead of yummy treats receiving a lecture about how Halloween isn't until tomorrow. If you're not going to participate on Saturday, or if it is decided to celebrate on Sunday and you choose not to participate, then follow standard protocol and turn off your lights! Don't think that your soap box speech to little children just wanting some candy is going to change society. If you want to bitch about it, write a blog. ;)
Have a safe and happy Halloween!
Cya in 7
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Eat Me PETA, I'm Dolphin Safe.
Anyone else missing summer? I'm freezing!
For those of you that don't know me, I'm not what you would call an "animal lover". In fact my personal motto has always been 'Animals are to be eaten, not fed'. However, I'm not one that would drive around town running over every Spot and Snowball I can find. I can appreciate that there are people that enjoying their pets. My problem is with people that love animals more than they care for other humans.
Just last week I was driving on the freeway minding my own business when the lady next to me spontaneously swerves into my lane. I had to slam on my breaks to avoid colliding with her and her ginormous POS that she was driving. I'm not a big road rager so I just changed lanes and started to speed on by. I glanced over at her and realized the reason she couldn't see me was because she had her dog laying around her neck. And this wasn't some little Paris Hilton pocket pet type of dog. This thing had to have been 25 pounds and was a huge mass of furry. So while this lady is getting face licked and furry bathed by her stupid dog, she is obliviously driving people off the road.
Several years ago I worked with a lady that had a plethora of cats. One night one of her cats dies. She was so distraught over the death of this feline that she called out sick to work for the entire week! It's not like it was some award winning show cat, or some special breed that costs millions of dollars, or even some cherished childhood pet that she grew up with for 30 years. This was just some random free loading stinky stray.
I'm sure you can all think of a person or two that would save a stray dog on the side of the road rather than give a homeless person some food. You may even be one of those people. In fact I know at least one of you reading this is that type of person. Here's a story that involves a couple people that may be reading this blog right now, so I wont name names.
Many, many moons ago I was a high school student. My father had just purchased a new truck so I talked him into letting me take it for a drive. I called up my buddy and suggest we go out. He invites the girl he had been pining after all year and I call another gal pal. We decide to go get some food and play a little putt-putt. As we are heading towards our destination my dear sweet soft-hearted friend ;) sees a porcupine walking along the sidewalk near the busy road. He insists we stop so this little creature doesn't wander into the road and get squished. To make a long funny story into a short boring one, we ended up spending the entire evening driving this porcupine around the back of the truck in a trash can looking for the address of some crazy lady that rescues vermin. The point, you're probably asking yourself, is that this friend cared more about the safety of this spinney pest than making moves on the "love of his life" at that time. =)
Needless to say, I really don't see eye to eye with PETA. Sure, I think testing cosmetics on animals is silly and pointless. We have plenty of ugly people in this world that I'm sure would love to have a free make over to test this crap on. But if finding the cure to AIDS or even the common flu can be accomplished by killing a few hundred rats, I'm all for it. On the PETA website there is even an article written the beginning of this month where the author tries to dissuade people from supporting breast cancer research charities because they "fund cruel and irrelevant experiments on animals". Really?! What is more cruel, testing on a few hundred animals or letting tens of thousands of women suffer and die from such a vicious disease?
Animals don't have the same rights as humans for a reason. If it were up to all the animals in this world I'm sure they would rather we all just go extinct and leave them in peace. But we're the top of the food chain so we get to decide how we want our animals, medium rare or well done.
Remember, if animals weren't meant to be eaten they wouldn't be made out of meat!
Cya in 7
For those of you that don't know me, I'm not what you would call an "animal lover". In fact my personal motto has always been 'Animals are to be eaten, not fed'. However, I'm not one that would drive around town running over every Spot and Snowball I can find. I can appreciate that there are people that enjoying their pets. My problem is with people that love animals more than they care for other humans.
Just last week I was driving on the freeway minding my own business when the lady next to me spontaneously swerves into my lane. I had to slam on my breaks to avoid colliding with her and her ginormous POS that she was driving. I'm not a big road rager so I just changed lanes and started to speed on by. I glanced over at her and realized the reason she couldn't see me was because she had her dog laying around her neck. And this wasn't some little Paris Hilton pocket pet type of dog. This thing had to have been 25 pounds and was a huge mass of furry. So while this lady is getting face licked and furry bathed by her stupid dog, she is obliviously driving people off the road.
Several years ago I worked with a lady that had a plethora of cats. One night one of her cats dies. She was so distraught over the death of this feline that she called out sick to work for the entire week! It's not like it was some award winning show cat, or some special breed that costs millions of dollars, or even some cherished childhood pet that she grew up with for 30 years. This was just some random free loading stinky stray.
I'm sure you can all think of a person or two that would save a stray dog on the side of the road rather than give a homeless person some food. You may even be one of those people. In fact I know at least one of you reading this is that type of person. Here's a story that involves a couple people that may be reading this blog right now, so I wont name names.
Many, many moons ago I was a high school student. My father had just purchased a new truck so I talked him into letting me take it for a drive. I called up my buddy and suggest we go out. He invites the girl he had been pining after all year and I call another gal pal. We decide to go get some food and play a little putt-putt. As we are heading towards our destination my dear sweet soft-hearted friend ;) sees a porcupine walking along the sidewalk near the busy road. He insists we stop so this little creature doesn't wander into the road and get squished. To make a long funny story into a short boring one, we ended up spending the entire evening driving this porcupine around the back of the truck in a trash can looking for the address of some crazy lady that rescues vermin. The point, you're probably asking yourself, is that this friend cared more about the safety of this spinney pest than making moves on the "love of his life" at that time. =)
Needless to say, I really don't see eye to eye with PETA. Sure, I think testing cosmetics on animals is silly and pointless. We have plenty of ugly people in this world that I'm sure would love to have a free make over to test this crap on. But if finding the cure to AIDS or even the common flu can be accomplished by killing a few hundred rats, I'm all for it. On the PETA website there is even an article written the beginning of this month where the author tries to dissuade people from supporting breast cancer research charities because they "fund cruel and irrelevant experiments on animals". Really?! What is more cruel, testing on a few hundred animals or letting tens of thousands of women suffer and die from such a vicious disease?
Animals don't have the same rights as humans for a reason. If it were up to all the animals in this world I'm sure they would rather we all just go extinct and leave them in peace. But we're the top of the food chain so we get to decide how we want our animals, medium rare or well done.
Remember, if animals weren't meant to be eaten they wouldn't be made out of meat!
Cya in 7
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Cyber Balls
Does anyone else get annoyed with the term "hump day" ? It's always so misleading. ;)
For anyone that is new to this show, I work in technical support. I spend all night helping people with internet issues. I have been doing this job for over 10 years and up until recently I spent my time on the phones. Now most of the time I do support via online chat, so I can help 4 people at a time. And no, I do not get paid 4 times my wages as I now do four times the work. But that is not what I am going to bitch about today.
One of the many observations I have made since transitioning to an online support system is the anonymity that comes from chatting seems to give people a set of brass cyber balls the size of Texas. I have experienced a new level of rude and abusive behavior never before experienced in a phone conversation. Now I understand the frustration that comes when a service is not working correctly, but I've never understood how someone can have a complete lack of human decency.
This "cyber balls" phenomenon is not limited to technical support. Over the years I have been known to play an online game or two ::cough:: Geek! ::cough:: And I have observed many a "fight" online. People will fight and argue about anything and everything. Knowing that most of these people are prepubescent teenage boys sitting in their stank rooms hiding from the real world it amazes me the gall they muster. These kids would cower in a face to face confrontation, so what magical powers does the internet provide that makes these people invincible? And does it really matter who is more of a "newb" than the other?
I'm undecided as to what makes less sense, the people that decide to fight online or the people that let these online abuses affect them. I'm sure you've all heard about that gal that committed suicide because she was being bullied on MySpace. I'm sure there were other influences and issues leading to this drastic end, but really how can a person get so worked up over comments made on the internet. What happened to "sticks and stones...."?
Some of you may have even participated in an online "fight". What was it that made you feel so omnipotent that you disregarded another human beings feelings? Or for you "victims", what was it that made these comments from some random stranger hurt you? Maybe it is my over abundance of self confidence, or maybe it is my total lack of value applied to the opinions of all the inferior creatures found in cyber space, but I really don't understand why people fight online. Of course I'm not talking about a logical debate where valuable ideas and insights are exchanged, I'm talking about the petty personal attacks. "you're ugly and stupid!" "No, you're the ugly one and your mom smells like cheese!"
I once had a customer that was so upset that his service was disconnected because he hadn't paid his bill for several months. After using every swear word ever invented he became so desperate for an insult that he called me a "melon headed whale shark!" and then quickly left the chat. I cried myself to sleep that night.....
This topic reminds me of one of my favorite unpolitcally correct motivational posters: "Fighting on the internet is like competing in the special Olympics. Even if you 'win' you're still retarded."
Cya in 7
For anyone that is new to this show, I work in technical support. I spend all night helping people with internet issues. I have been doing this job for over 10 years and up until recently I spent my time on the phones. Now most of the time I do support via online chat, so I can help 4 people at a time. And no, I do not get paid 4 times my wages as I now do four times the work. But that is not what I am going to bitch about today.
One of the many observations I have made since transitioning to an online support system is the anonymity that comes from chatting seems to give people a set of brass cyber balls the size of Texas. I have experienced a new level of rude and abusive behavior never before experienced in a phone conversation. Now I understand the frustration that comes when a service is not working correctly, but I've never understood how someone can have a complete lack of human decency.
This "cyber balls" phenomenon is not limited to technical support. Over the years I have been known to play an online game or two ::cough:: Geek! ::cough:: And I have observed many a "fight" online. People will fight and argue about anything and everything. Knowing that most of these people are prepubescent teenage boys sitting in their stank rooms hiding from the real world it amazes me the gall they muster. These kids would cower in a face to face confrontation, so what magical powers does the internet provide that makes these people invincible? And does it really matter who is more of a "newb" than the other?
I'm undecided as to what makes less sense, the people that decide to fight online or the people that let these online abuses affect them. I'm sure you've all heard about that gal that committed suicide because she was being bullied on MySpace. I'm sure there were other influences and issues leading to this drastic end, but really how can a person get so worked up over comments made on the internet. What happened to "sticks and stones...."?
Some of you may have even participated in an online "fight". What was it that made you feel so omnipotent that you disregarded another human beings feelings? Or for you "victims", what was it that made these comments from some random stranger hurt you? Maybe it is my over abundance of self confidence, or maybe it is my total lack of value applied to the opinions of all the inferior creatures found in cyber space, but I really don't understand why people fight online. Of course I'm not talking about a logical debate where valuable ideas and insights are exchanged, I'm talking about the petty personal attacks. "you're ugly and stupid!" "No, you're the ugly one and your mom smells like cheese!"
I once had a customer that was so upset that his service was disconnected because he hadn't paid his bill for several months. After using every swear word ever invented he became so desperate for an insult that he called me a "melon headed whale shark!" and then quickly left the chat. I cried myself to sleep that night.....
This topic reminds me of one of my favorite unpolitcally correct motivational posters: "Fighting on the internet is like competing in the special Olympics. Even if you 'win' you're still retarded."
Cya in 7
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