Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Dull and Disrespected Tuesday

Tuesday is the most disrespected day of the week.  

Nobody gives a rip about Tuesday

People hate Monday.  They’re already thinking about Monday on Sunday.  It’s like, “Damn! Here it comes.”  They despise Monday and wake up in foul moods wishing it were not true.

Wednesday is hump day and….well….you know.  Wednesday kinda says….”hey, you can do this.  You made it this far, you can make it!”  It’s also hump day and…..well, that’s kinda fun to say.

Thursday is slightly disrespected itself, but at least Thursday has a little something going for it.  The next day is Friday so Thursday is kind of like the Christmas Eve of the week.   Actually Friday is the Christmas Eve, so that would make Thursday more of the Christmas Eve Eve….but you get what I mean.  

Everyone loves Friday so Thursday basks in a little of the pre-Friday glow.

Then of course you got Friday itself.  #TGIF and all that good stuff.  Actually I don’t know why people really get all that excited about Friday, you still got to get up and go to work.  Maybe it’s because at 5:00 when the whistle blows (does any place still use a whistle?) it’s the official beginning of the weekend.  Either way, Friday holds a position of admiration and respect.

Saturday and Sunday don’t need mentioned really.  Who doesn’t like Saturday and Sunday, except maybe sociopaths and workaholics.

But Tuesday?  Nah.  Nothing  to look at here, move along.  

It’s true.Look around on the interwebs.  The best Tuesday can hope for is a few memes of octopi, or kraken with the hashtag #TentacleTuesday or something.  Perhaps some risqué adventurer will post memes of women’s……er……..features along with the #TittyTuesday hashtag........

o.O

.......but that’s about all you get with Tuesday.

Well, I guess that’s not entirely true.  You can wake up on Tuesday and be relieved you got Monday over with.  WhoOOoot!  Eh?  But that’s more about Monday than Tuesday anyway.


Not much to say about Tuesday really, it's rather dull and tawdry.  It doesn’t really deserve respect I suppose.

Monday, February 17, 2014

BFS’s (Big Frackin’ Salads) and Depression Ambushes



I hate it when someone brings something for lunch that smells damn good!


You see, I pack a BFS (Big Frackin’ Salad) every day for lunch so my lunch doesn’t smell like anything….well, maybe a freshly mown lawn.  It sure as hell doesn’t waft up the nostrils like, say, the arma of frying bacon or warm beef stew.   

It seems like everyone else that works here brings killer lunches.   Meals that scream “tasty!,” “filling!,”  and “not mine!”   

Instead, I open the fridge, pull out my salad and then….

I smell something someone has heated up in the break room, and I suffer a depression ambush.

A depression ambush is that sudden, overwhelming feeling of FML that usually comes in response to…..well, to having a salad for lunch while all the other people seem to be sporting steak and potatoes or NY style pizza or something.

Don’t get me wrong, my BFS lunches are pretty awesome.  I spend real time on my salad making enterprises.  They are packed with greens, olives, onions, etc…..  My one tip to protein is a small handful of almonds (do sunflower seeds have protein?) and the occasional bug that slips past the washing phase.  Load it with super-high-fat salad dressing, and I have a pretty decent lunch. 

I usually look forward to it every day…….largely because up until lunch time I only ever have coffee and a banana so I’m starving like toothless horse in short grass.

But then some person who hasn’t heard of the concept of healthy diet, starts warming up something from America’s Top Chef or whatever, and my salad starts to seem like what it really is; an assortment of things that humanity originally started eating only because they couldn’t catch real food. 

It’s like grade school all over again, only I have healthy food rather than the pathetically dry sandwiches on day-old bread, with mealy apples.  Lunches that I used to get, while my friend Earl had sandwiches of fresh Wonder Bread with half a pound of Oscar Myer lunch meat, Snack Pack puddings, Cheetos, Ring Dings  and other tasty things.

I’m not bitter……(okay maybe a little)...... but I realize now that I make the choice to eat what I eat.  I choose to eat things that will (hopefully) slow the deterioration process (some call it aging) that my body is going through.  Stuff that will potentially prolong my life by a few minutes…….

(Unless of course I meet an untimely demise by a car accident, home invasion gone awry, drone strike, bites by large venomous snakes, ship wreck, exploding gas lines, or errant meteors.)

……or at least make me a feel a little more fit while my pathetic life lasts.  

So what if I have to suffer through a produce department for lunch?!   

Who cares that I am desperately chewing spinach and hoping for porterhouse?  

There are good reasons for doing so……..like.

The grim satisfaction I get when I walk past all those people, eating their aromatic, drool inducing victuals, and pat my firm, flat stomach and think…….


……"Damn!!  It even looks good too!!"

That's usually when I suffer another Depression Ambush                             

Monday, February 10, 2014

Don't Poke Me Dude!, #Snowpocalypse, Tickle - Stun - Kill .....and Other Useless Thoughts.

Don't Poke Me Dude!


Someone new to Google Plus asked why they don't have a "Poke" button.  On G+?  Gasp!

I suggested they keep their seditious questions to their self and not air such incendiary sentiments in public ever again.  No I didn't.  I kindly informed them of the real deal.

Plussers can be a.......spiteful lot when it comes to suggesting that Google adopt any sort of Facebook like feature.  There is a lot of anti-FB feelings over here on the +.

I get it.  For the short time and limited scope that I was on FB (200 friends +/-), I hated getting the recommendation that I should "poke" so-and-so because I hadn't interacted with them for awhile.

Uh....I don't want to poke the dude alright?  Leave me alone about it!!

I also hated all the stupid game stuff people were always throwing around.

So-and-so gave you three golden coins and wants to give you a....... "Awww, go Jump In A Lake So-and-So!"

So when someone suggests that G+ needs a poke button?  I say hellz no!........
But maybe a taser button, that might be cool.


#SnowPocalypse

Also equipped with Wendy's salt packets


When there is a threat of snow here in the south, people bug out.  I mean, really bug the freak out.

They buy bread and milk.  No one really knows why da frack they buy bread and milk, they just do.

So today we got word that there is going to be several inches of snow in the next couple days, and some ice on top of it all.

Now I don't mind snow, but ice I hate.  Ice is what knocks out the power and without power  I have limited internet access.  My brain can't function without the internet.....in fact, the internet is my brain.  Or, maybe the internet has ruined my brain.  Either way, I hate not having useless stuff (like this post) to peruse and make fun of.

Which is one of the reasons I like G+.  But I digress.

The first winter I moved to the south, we had 12" of snow.  I knew it was coming but being from the north, and having spent three winters in "The Rock" in Germany (where it snowed in November and stuck around till May) I thought nothing of it.

My brother and I were heading home from work and decided to pick up a 12-pack.  The store looked like a flash mob had taken over.  Insanity prevailed.

Thankfully everyone had savaged the bread and milk, and there was plenty of beer left.  But I could barely understand what the H was going on.

The next day, the snow came.  The entire southeast shut down, and I understood.  People here panic buy because evidently they have only one or two hours worth of food in their house at any time.

I also found out that first year that there is no such thing as snow removal here.  The weather is the removal.  If it gets warm enough, the snow will go away.  So I suppose snow removal is everyone thinking positive, sunny thoughts.  I learned as well, that Cleetus thinks a 4x4 means he can go anywhere.  Which was true if "anywhere" meant the ditch on the side of the road.

So tomorrow Snowpocalypse comes again.....maybe.  I panic bought this time and probably will do a little more panic buying tomorrow.

There was still plenty of beer on the shelves.

Set phasers to tickle

Tickle - Stun - Kill


Why did the phasers on Star Trec only have two settings; stun, and kill?  Doesn't that seem odd?  Like, shouldn't there be a setting between stun and kill?  Or something before stun?!

Maybe you don't really want to stun the creature, maybe you just want to incapacitate them juuuuuust a little.  How about a tickle setting.  You could tickle some monster just enough to get away.  That would be kinder than stunning them.

Or, maybe stunning them isn't enough but killing them is a bit.......overkill?

Say your mother-in-law comments on your job again.  Stunning just won't get the message through to her that you're sick and tired of her sarcasm, but killing......well, maybe too much.  So you could have the 30 day paralyze setting or something.

Yeah, two settings seems a bit weak in this day and age of options.  And isn't Star Trek in the future even?  (I'm not a Trekkie)  So options should be all over the map.

Could you imagine the uses for say.......foot rub setting?


Monday, February 3, 2014

Just Take Out The Trash!

There are some things that I wouldn’t buy even if I literally had all the money in the world.  

Even if I had already bought everything I ever wanted or had even thought of wanting.  Even if I and was told to spend some money or lose my entire fortune.

Okay, not that last one.

The fact is there are some things that are plain ridiculous and useless.  The Hands-Free Infrared MotionSensor Trash Can by NineStars Products.com is one of those pointless things.

I was at a friend’s house the other night.  Apparently he (or his wife) think differently than I.  They are the type to buy anything they think is techie.  It’s a Jonesing thing with them I think, so hey, why not a motion activated trash can?  I was glad they had bought one because frankly it was amusing to watch.

We were all hanging around gnoshing on snacks using paper plates, etc…, so the opportunity was ripe to see people’s interaction with the the trash can.

Ms. Touchy-feely kept trying to open the lid with her hand.  Even after a couple trash trips, she still reached for the lid to open it.  Each time she did, the lid would start to open, and sort of surprise her.  Then she would drop her trash in........ and push the lid back down...... by hand.  The automatic drop of the lid didn’t come quickly enough for her, she wanted it closed pronto!  Clearly the idea of a “hands-free” trash container was beyond her mental grasp.

Then there was Mr. Goodbye, who stood and waved at the trash can.  He grasped the touchless concept quickly enough but couldn’t perfect his usage technique.  I didn’t see his first approach, but perhaps he had already figured out it was motion sensor operated because the first time I did see him make a trash run, he walked up to the can, and waved at it.  

I mean waved, kinda like he was saying goodbye to a short dude.  When that didn’t work, he moved a little closer and waved again.  It took three attempts, with his final wave mere centimeters from the sensor.  

Of course when the lid did open, it hit his hand negating the touchless benefit.

Each time Mr. Goodbye deposited his trash, he would stand there and watch the lid drop, which usually took place about a second after the trash drop.  I estimate he spent about five minutes that evening, just staring at the trash can.

When I made my trash drops, I just got annoyed.  The advert might say it works from 10 inches away, but what difference is 10 inches from 2?  I just want to drop my damn trash. I don’t want to have to wave my trash over the can, like some magic trash-wand, and then quickly move (without dropping anything) to avoid having the lid flip my plate onto the floor.  

Give me an open topped can any day, or better yet, what about a damned foot pedal trash can?  Why isn’t the foot pedal activated trash can lid good enough?  Remember those?  They might not be touchless, but they are hands free, and make a whole lot more sense.  I don’t give a rat’s behind if my shoe sole touches the can, it touches a lot worse than that.   And (bonus) no batteries!!

Who the hell wants to replace batteries in yet another fracking device?  It’s bad enough little Suzie’s Dolly-Pukes-A-Lot needs new batteries every other day, and Tommy’s RC cars require so many batteries that a part time job is needed to supply his addiction.  Don’t we have enough batteries going into the landfills every year without thinking up more ridiculous devices that will contribute?

10,000 open and close cycles per battery change might seem like a lot, but if you have little kids, or cats, that lid might never stop moving.  Those 10,000 cycles will be gone in a day.  At some point, you’ll be standing there with nasty stuff all over your hands waving at the damn trash can and it won’t open because Morris the cat, or the two year old played flipsy-doodle all day with the sensor eye.  

When that happens, you won’t be thinking how cool your new trash can is.  At that point , the first thing that will enter your mind is, “damn!  I don’t have any batteries.”  

I bet the lid gets used by hand for a few days before you make it to the store for a new 100pack of AAs.

Even though it barely operated for Mr. Goodbye, it seemed to have a mind of its own other times.  One time when I walked by, the lid popped open.  It must have been getting hungry and decided to make a grab for me.  It felt like I was passing by the homeless guy with a sign.  I was like, “sorry man, I don’t have anything for you.”

Or what about the honest claims they make on the NineStars’ website?  Talk about truth in advertising; they haven’t even heard of the concept!  It seems they think this lid can alter the workings of biology.  As if enclosing trash in a container with a “touchless automatic lid” can:

“Create a germ free, odor free, bacteria free environment.”

Huh, didn’t know that it was possible to do that by simply closing the lid.  There are still germs and odors galore inside there.  Just wave your hand over the lid for a reminder.  And then there’s this gem:

“There will be no cross contamination to worry about when you're preparing chicken, meat and any other foods.”

I’m not sure, but I don’t think the trash can is where cross contamination usually occurs.  If it does, maybe the person who allows that to happen needs to rethink their food prep practices.  But hey, maybe I’m the only one who doesn’t do food prep on the garbage can, and it is nice to know you can:

“Turn an every-day chore into something fun.”

Okay, absolutely NO ONE is buying that one.  But go ahead; keep trying to make it seem useful.

Yup, I can honestly say.  This trash can was great entertainment for a few minutes, at someone else’s house!  It won’t find its way into my kitchen……unless it could also take an overloaded trash bag out to the curb. 


Now there’s an idea.