Guest Posted October 9, 2014 Posted October 9, 2014 Dear Person in Traffic, While it's very noble to stop in the middle of a busy street at rush hour to let three cars pull out ahead of you, please keep in mind that some of the people behind you have jobs. Perhaps the person behind you was honking because your politeness was making her late for work. Sincerely, Someone who wants to maintain a good attendance record I sympathize with you. I got stuck in traffic as well today... for no reason.... I just don't get that bridge... or that highway... one day, all is clear and the next, I get stuck. And those storming orange cones :angry: We are in October, couldn't just leave us alone with road work? Worst is I know full well it will only get worst until January: the one good perk about winter, suddenly, there are no traffic anymore... And don't get me started on people who drive so slow about ten cars pull in front of them thus slowing me down.... People, this is traffic hour. I get it you are in no hurry, but please bear in mind everyone else is, so just get behind that car in the front and stop making everyone behind you raged.
TwiLyghtSansSparkles she/her Posted October 11, 2014 Posted October 11, 2014 (edited) While calling to confirm appointments for Monday, I reached our sister company. When I said why I was calling: *very flatly, as though I had just asked why I have to wear pants* "He doesn't work here anymore." Well, forgive me for doing my JOB, ma'am, and for not knowing what goes on at a place I don't work at and never visit. Edited October 11, 2014 by TwiLyghtSansSparkles
traceria she/her Posted October 15, 2014 Author Posted October 15, 2014 (edited) This post relates to my moaning over this entire week (so far). I wish I could just have one day where I didn't have five things open and in the works on my desk before being interrupted yet again. Why must there always be fire-alarm-status interruption after interruption? Why can't the people at the courts and sheriff's offices just do their jobs correctly instead of making me do mine three times over due to their errors?! Today I have a headache to top it all off. I'm so done with this work week. Edit: Also, why must people be stupid in that they don't read the content of their emails, letters, whatever... and actually answer the questions that were posed? Why must they give answers (term used loosely) that in no way correspond to the questions?!?! Edited October 15, 2014 by traceria 1
Guest Posted October 15, 2014 Posted October 15, 2014 I had one of these days... I am very busy at work, but I had to leave early today as mu daughter had her yearly appointment to the dentist. So we get there, on time. My kids are behaving admirably. My daughter was opening her mouth like a baby crocodile. Everything was actually going very well until.... my son threw up on the carpeted floor Not once, not twice, but thrice while I stand there dumbfounded "I swear he was not sick today! I dunno where that comes from...." :ph34r: I think I could have sunk into the ground. The carpet was full of vomit, my 20 months old was crying while being covered in said vomit, the whole dentist room smelled of vomit :ph34r: :ph34r: :ph34r: :ph34r: :ph34r: :ph34r: :ph34r: I was really happy to get back home, where my son threw up twice again My husband is away for the evening. So here I was standing amidst of very unruly kitchen, in the middle of vomit with a crying baby and crying 4 years old who does not like when her brother gets sick, thinking to myself I should really have opened that bottle of wine :ph34r: :ph34r: :ph34r: :ph34r: :ph34r: I hate vomit :angry:
Guest Posted October 16, 2014 Posted October 16, 2014 Oh wow, that's terrible. Happens. He's better now I just hope I won't catch it
BreathTaker he/him Posted October 16, 2014 Posted October 16, 2014 the one good perk about winter, suddenly, there are no traffic anymore... That's because everyone comes down here for the winter and I love nothing more than a bunch of antique snow-birds clogging up the road. AND THEY ALL WAKE UP EARLY. On an on-time day I leave the house at about 5:30 (on a late day that what time I wake up) and traffic is moderate, I have a 30 minute commute to work, all free-way driving but I fear that come "winter" (more like a cold-ish spring) I'll be late every day. To top it off, we might be moving to North Carolina next year some time and since I haven't been there since I was 5 I don't know all the sneaky and fast ways everywhere like I do here. I know the streets here well enough that I had contact lens failure the other day and I was able to make it home practically blind, that won't happen in NC.
TwiLyghtSansSparkles she/her Posted October 16, 2014 Posted October 16, 2014 That's because everyone comes down here for the winter and I love nothing more than a bunch of antique snow-birds clogging up the road. AND THEY ALL WAKE UP EARLY. On an on-time day I leave the house at about 5:30 (on a late day that what time I wake up) and traffic is moderate, I have a 30 minute commute to work, all free-way driving but I fear that come "winter" (more like a cold-ish spring) I'll be late every day. To top it off, we might be moving to North Carolina next year some time and since I haven't been there since I was 5 I don't know all the sneaky and fast ways everywhere like I do here. I know the streets here well enough that I had contact lens failure the other day and I was able to make it home practically blind, that won't happen in NC. Seconded about the snowbirds. And they ALL want to be in front, but none of them want to go the speed limit. Try to pass one, and they'll speed up just enough that you can't pass them, and once you fall behind them (like they wanted all along) they'll slow down to 5 under again. The worst ones are those that seem to think putting their hazard lights on gives them permission to drive however they want. I once drove past a guy who was parked in a turn lane (not the shoulder, which was literally 20 feet ahead) with his hazards on....texting. Not calling for help, but texting. I love winter weather here, but I can't wait until the snowbirds go home.
Guest Posted October 17, 2014 Posted October 17, 2014 Long live the snowbirds! The more they leave, the happier we are up in the freezing North However, I do think the release in traffic is more due to the absence of the dreaded road works during the winter season. It is amazing how fluid the circulation can be when all the existing road are actually fully opened Incredible. In Quebec, we say we have four seasons: Almost winter Winter Still the storming winter Road work Against the popular belief, winter is actually one of the best season for commute time as no it does not snow every day. However, when it does snow, traffic gets really bad... Especially if you end up behind the plowing machines... Those are amazingly slow and you can get two working side by side on the highway :ph34r: And don't count on people actually staying at home because it snowed: it takes a massive snow fall for people to consider not going to work... and even then...
BreathTaker he/him Posted October 17, 2014 Posted October 17, 2014 Seconded about the snowbirds. And they ALL want to be in front, but none of them want to go the speed limit. Try to pass one, and they'll speed up just enough that you can't pass them, and once you fall behind them (like they wanted all along) they'll slow down to 5 under again. I love winter weather here, but I can't wait until the snowbirds go home. I usually try once or twice at a reasonable speed and then I put the pedal to the metal and rage past them. I usually have pretty bad anger issues. Last night for instance, We went to Nightfall (Old Tucson Studios haunted... thing) and when we got back our foster (against our will but details aren't neccessary here) Pit-Bulls had absolutley destroyed everything in the living room. The person who is SUPPOSED to take of the Storming dogs is away and to make a long story short, the conversation made me so mad I beat a punching bag with a wooden practice sword for an hour, took a shot of whiskey and played a couple ridiculously long games of magic before I was calm enough to go to sleep at about 2 in the morning. Last night cemented our decision to abandon ship and move to North Carolina next summer.
TwiLyghtSansSparkles she/her Posted October 17, 2014 Posted October 17, 2014 Long live the snowbirds! The more they leave, the happier we are up in the freezing North However, I do think the release in traffic is more due to the absence of the dreaded road works during the winter season. It is amazing how fluid the circulation can be when all the existing road are actually fully opened Incredible. In Quebec, we say we have four seasons: Almost winter Winter Still the storming winter Road work Against the popular belief, winter is actually one of the best season for commute time as no it does not snow every day. However, when it does snow, traffic gets really bad... Especially if you end up behind the plowing machines... Those are amazingly slow and you can get two working side by side on the highway :ph34r: And don't count on people actually staying at home because it snowed: it takes a massive snow fall for people to consider not going to work... and even then... I miss the frozen north. Not least of my reasons is that I'm from the part of the north that gets enough snow for people to be completely comfortable driving 50 mph when it's snowing, with remarkably few crashes. Here, everyone slows down to 20 under if there's so much as a drizzle. Enjoy your time without the snowbirds, you lucky duck.
Guest Posted October 17, 2014 Posted October 17, 2014 I miss the frozen north. Not least of my reasons is that I'm from the part of the north that gets enough snow for people to be completely comfortable driving 50 mph when it's snowing, with remarkably few crashes. Here, everyone slows down to 20 under if there's so much as a drizzle. Enjoy your time without the snowbirds, you lucky duck. We a few other sayings.... such as you know you live in Quebec when: 1) It takes more than 30cm of snow to convince you not to drive your car 2) You can drive at 80km/h in 2 foot of snow in the middle of a snow storm without breaking a sweat. It really takes a good dump for people to even start thinking driving more slowly :ph34r:
BreathTaker he/him Posted October 17, 2014 Posted October 17, 2014 As Twi said, drizzle , I hate people. I once saw five cars parked on both sides of the road under an overpass to hide from the rain, morons.
TwiLyghtSansSparkles she/her Posted October 17, 2014 Posted October 17, 2014 (edited) We a few other sayings.... such as you know you live in Quebec when: 1) It takes more than 30cm of snow to convince you not to drive your car 2) You can drive at 80km/h in 2 foot of snow in the middle of a snow storm without breaking a sweat. It really takes a good dump for people to even start thinking driving more slowly :ph34r: Sounds like Washington. Of course, most people slowed down when the snow got packed down so much it turned to ice, but even then, we had ways of getting where we needed to go pretty quickly. Back roads, shortcuts, things like that. I got so good at driving in the snow, that I wouldn't have to leave more than 15 minutes ahead of schedule in the winter to make it to work on time—which was of course helped by the fact that just about everyone else was an expert at driving in bad conditions, too. The few times I didn't leave the house because of snow was when it dumped 2 or 3 feet on us in a single night. That was the year my school got a snow week. And because I was a senior and the school had already paid for the graduation venue, I didn't have to make that time up at all. That was a good year. Edit: As Twi said, drizzle , I hate people. I once saw five cars parked on both sides of the road under an overpass to hide from the rain, morons. Ugh, yes! Seriously, we'll have people slowing down because there are clouds. Edited October 17, 2014 by TwiLyghtSansSparkles
Voidus Posted October 18, 2014 Posted October 18, 2014 *Really wants to live in snow, is instead stuck in one of the driest places on the planet*
Guest Posted October 18, 2014 Posted October 18, 2014 *Really wants to live in snow, is instead stuck in one of the driest places on the planet* Snow is great... between December 15th and March 1st Any snow falling outside this span is unwelcome. Snow is also preferred if it falls during the week-end as opposed to during the week. It is also better if snow falls after traffic hour and in between traffic hour As for dry, we had the worst coldest driest winter ever! It was still -30°C at the end of March :angry: Every single cold record ever recorded where beaten last winter Ugh, yes! Seriously, we'll have people slowing down because there are clouds. Clouds? Really? Where do you live?
TwiLyghtSansSparkles she/her Posted October 18, 2014 Posted October 18, 2014 Snow is great... between December 15th and March 1st Any snow falling outside this span is unwelcome. Snow is also preferred if it falls during the week-end as opposed to during the week. It is also better if snow falls after traffic hour and in between traffic hour As for dry, we had the worst coldest driest winter ever! It was still -30°C at the end of March :angry: Every single cold record ever recorded where beaten last winter Clouds? Really? Where do you live? Arizona. We only really get rain for 2 months out of the year, so none of the state natives know how to drive in it. I guess part of it is the fact that the rain comes in monsoon form, which can make it impossible to see--for the 5 minutes or so that it rains. Even so, you'd think people would know that drizzle =/= monsoon. But nnnooooo....they all go very slowly when they even think there'll be rain.
Guest Posted October 18, 2014 Posted October 18, 2014 Arizona. We only really get rain for 2 months out of the year, so none of the state natives know how to drive in it. I guess part of it is the fact that the rain comes in monsoon form, which can make it impossible to see--for the 5 minutes or so that it rains. Even so, you'd think people would know that drizzle =/= monsoon. But nnnooooo....they all go very slowly when they even think there'll be rain. Oh yeah. Arizona is quite dry, but beautiful scenery. Made a trip there once. Was amazing. I thought I was in a Lucky Luke comic book.
Talanic he/him Posted October 18, 2014 Posted October 18, 2014 Three winters ago, I went through three different cars in one year, at a cost I really couldn't afford but had to cough up regardless. The first was a 1996 Saturn, whose days were numbered anyway, due to a bent engine cradle that caused it to run through one tire per week. (Yes, I bent the engine cradle in a curb collision on an icy curve; $700 to fix it, in theory). I was considering whether or not to fix that when it turned out Saturns of that make and year couldn't handle a start at -40 degrees, resulting in a fair sized repair bill. A month later, the exhaust manifold fell off; three days after that, my decision to not immediately repair it paid off, as the engine failed to the degree that it no longer even cranked. I gave up, sold it for scrap, and, having just received my tax return, went to work trying to replace it. My best friend found me a Beretta. It was old, but in good condition. He brought along a friend of his who raced Berettas and could give it an even more thorough investigation, as it was from a private seller and would be sold as-is. They took it for a spin on the highway, told me what I needed to know, and I purchased it for a steal - $1000. It lasted six days before the engine threw a cam shaft, resulting in irreparable damage. The only thing - the ONLY thing - that I could find was a 1990 Chevy S-10. A car that was very nearly older than my wife. I had to learn to drive stick in three hours in order to use it for my work shift that night; I couldn't afford to miss any more. For a couple months the S-10 served me adequately. No air conditioning, but it was the heart of a Wisconsin winter, so I was more concerned with the gap between the door and the frame that would dump snow on my neck at unexpected times, or the fact that the passenger door had two modes: unable to open, or unable to stay closed. Later, my worries over that were overriden by the brake failure. It wouldn't have been so bad if the parking brake had worked. I managed to avoid getting in any accidents and my best friend (as mentioned before) fixed the brake line. But the S-10 nightmares were just beginning. It was out for a week when we had to replace the plugs and wires and he hooked up the distributor cap wrong (Really, he had about as bad luck with this car as I did - he's normally excellent, and he helped me a lot without complaining, so I don't want to give the wrong idea). But then the strangest thing I'd ever seen in a car happened. The car would function just fine until I turned left. While turning left, the engine was guaranteed to die. Putting it in neutral during turns or letting the car push-start itself with its own momentum worked, but I was worried. That symptom lasted a month; then it reversed. And I mean it reversed completely - the car's engine would chug mightily when turned on, until the first time I turned right, at which point it would work perfectly until I turned off the engine again. This would have been far less of an issue if the car had a parking brake, but I managed until my wife graduated college, got a job, and managed to contribute to our finances to the point that we could afford a car. Just in time - the car's starter failed, and the starter turned out to be located in a place that could only be accessed by removing the engine, or possibly by employing Gumby as a mechanic. I selected a PT Cruiser. Things went okay for a while, again - I had no idea the dealer had neglected to inform me that the car had been salvage. My first indication was when the weather got cold and the body started to overlap the door frames, resulting in a mighty CRUNCH and TWANG whenever one tried to open or close one of the front doors. Later, my best friend helped me perform a brake job. As he was handling the hub, pointing things out, he suddenly got "Oh Crap" face. Only his expertise kept me from going bankrupt right there, as he replaced a shock, two wheel bearings and two tie rod heads for the cost of parts. Unfortunately the mechanic that we had to resort to to press a bearing into place flubbed things and I had to do that twice. Also, the Cruiser's air conditioning only lasted the rest of the summer - about two months. The dealer gave me a 'Too bad, so sad.' I kept the Cruiser until, well, the end of August of this year. Since seeing my friend detect a bad wheel bearing, I always checked when having to work with the tires (oh, by the way - the chrome rims on the Cruiser were awful and the tires were always losing air). I felt the telltale wobble and had him confirm; another bad wheel bearing. I didn't want to put him through the trouble (after all, he doesn't have the bearing press) and a coworker volunteered his services, if only I could meet him to do so. As it turned out, that coworker (now former) is the biggest flake I've ever met, and it's not just me saying so. Five times he scheduled a day to get the repair done (and yes, I was paying him for this) and each time, he skipped out on it without messaging me - the only indication that he wasn't coming was that he wouldn't answer his phone. After a month and a half of this, knowing that the bearing wouldn't last forever and my wife's family reunion trip was coming up, we decided to pay off the remaining hundred bucks on the Cruiser's car loan, trade it in and buy something better. This had been our rough plan all year, it just had to move up a few steps. So. Six weeks ago, I bought a car. Used - I'm a pizza guy, so while a car is a top priority, I don't actually have the money to get something new. It's nice. A 2009 Kia Rondo, with not-as-good gas mileage as the Cruiser but significantly more comfort and a lot less oh-god-is-the-wheel-going-to-fly-off-and-kill-me? Yesterday, on my way to work, the engine started to rumble ominously. Seconds later it was joined by a flashing "Check Engine" light, which is generally code for "Pull over and turn that thing off right now, idjit." It's going to be a week before I even know what's wrong inside, but the good news is, whatever it is, it's not my problem. For the first time, my trouble is covered under a manufacturer's warranty and won't cost me anything. I'm seriously considering an extended service plan, based on my luck with cars.
Guest Posted October 18, 2014 Posted October 18, 2014 Gee..... Bad luck with your cars.... Too old cars tend to have issues with winter... Over here, cars tend to rust early due to the salt being spread on the roads to keep them clean. Not too many very old cars either, winter kind of force us to change them once in a while. Try a Toyota, never had any issues with mine Good reliability. Never had to change any parts on any of them. Alright, my cars were quite new, but I still see Tercel on the roads and these must be at the very least 15 years old. One of my colleague is still driving his 15 years old Civic as well. I had a Hyundai (which is quite similar to Kia) once. Storming piece of crap The storming thing was new and it kept breaking apart, not to mention this sickly metal crushing noise it made each time I turned left The car even managed not to start on a cold morning and it was just a few months old. Gee. Both my Toyota always started easily even on extremely cold mornings, which was pretty much everyday last winter. I recall driving a rental PT Cruiser once. That car was so unnerving... as the gaz went below a fourth of the tank it suddenly started beeping annoyingly as we were on the verge of running out of gaz.... Stupid car. And it had such an ugly color
TwiLyghtSansSparkles she/her Posted October 18, 2014 Posted October 18, 2014 My bad day: I'm taking three classes this semester, one of which is a 600-level course (which I've learned is grad-school lingo for "kiss your social life goodbye"). One of them (not the 600-level class) is on computers and coding, which is not an area of strength for me. The participation requirements for that class are different from what I'm used to (post 5 times during the semester, keep up with discussions, as opposed to making one original post and two replies per week), and we just finished with a project that required us to post our progress each week. This new project does not require weekly progress reports. I asked my prof, and he said no, just finish the assignment and have it in by the due date. I've kept up with the readings, and I've been posting every time I see a new discussion. I'm currently studying for my midterm, which I think is either next week or the week after. Yet I keep flashing back to the last computer-based class I took, where I missed 3 weeks of discussion without realizing doing so could potentially drop my grade to a C or lower. I passed with a B, but every time I do my work for this class or my other two classes, I think of that one, and I wonder—am I doing everything I have to? What about that one forum for groupware work—no, that's extra credit, and you don't have time to do it what with work and school, so just relax—but what if it's the difference between life and death—no, you got 100% on the last project, so you're doing okay—but that was just completing tutorials; this one is one where you have to actually know computers and coding and oh Calamity the midterm is next week and you're going to fail even though it's open notes and you have 24 hours to finish it, and oh sparks check out your other classes to make sure you're not failing those too, you got a low B on your last assignment for Gov, and you've kept up with discussions but what if you haven't kept up enough, what if there's another assignment you missed, go back and check the dropbox oh sweet Calamity there's two assignments you haven't done and—oh, wait, those are for the undergrads, you're a grad student so you're okay…. Yeah. That's my life right now. 1
Guest Posted October 18, 2014 Posted October 18, 2014 Pardon me if I ask a dumb question, but what are you referencing to when you talk of "discussions"? When I was doing me degree, all I had to do was work, labs and exams. I didn't have to pop in any discussion group to get extra credit, anyway as it was work, labs and exam took up all my time.... Which language are you coding with? The new guy at work keeps talking of some free-ware thing that is apparently amazing if only us old dinosaurs would give it a try... I keep trying to explain to him the old stuff kinda works just fine , if only he would just give a go, but no everything has to be re-written. Sigh. If it ain't broken kid, don't lose your time trying to fix it. And please bear in mind whatever you end up writing need to be written in a language most of us old dinosaurs will be able to understand and update. Same kid wants to have a tool to do all the work for him. Each time he has to make a manual entry, he complains he would rather write a code to do it in his place. Sigh. Kid, you have to learn the value of the occasional manual entry: once you will have made costly mistakes because your bit of code didn't behave the way you planned it to (not to mention the hours you would have spent writing it), you will understand. Storming kid. He's got potential though.
TwiLyghtSansSparkles she/her Posted October 18, 2014 Posted October 18, 2014 Pardon me if I ask a dumb question, but what are you referencing to when you talk of "discussions"? When I was doing me degree, all I had to do was work, labs and exams. I didn't have to pop in any discussion group to get extra credit, anyway as it was work, labs and exam took up all my time.... Which language are you coding with? The new guy at work keeps talking of some free-ware thing that is apparently amazing if only us old dinosaurs would give it a try... I keep trying to explain to him the old stuff kinda works just fine , if only he would just give a go, but no everything has to be re-written. Sigh. If it ain't broken kid, don't lose your time trying to fix it. And please bear in mind whatever you end up writing need to be written in a language most of us old dinosaurs will be able to understand and update. Same kid wants to have a tool to do all the work for him. Each time he has to make a manual entry, he complains he would rather write a code to do it in his place. Sigh. Kid, you have to learn the value of the occasional manual entry: once you will have made costly mistakes because your bit of code didn't behave the way you planned it to (not to mention the hours you would have spent writing it), you will understand. Storming kid. He's got potential though. All of my classes are online, so my profs set up discussion forums and give us weekly discussion topics. I wish I could just do the work and not have to discuss, but oh well. Just html and css. Novice stuff. I doubt I could wrap my head around the more complicated stuff if I tried.
traceria she/her Posted October 20, 2014 Author Posted October 20, 2014 Words cannot describe the level of crappiness of my day. It was just that bad. 5
TwiLyghtSansSparkles she/her Posted October 21, 2014 Posted October 21, 2014 Words cannot describe the level of crappiness of my day. It was just that bad. Upvoted for support.
Recommended Posts