tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-78030265311966080902024-03-13T12:22:03.567-07:00Stones' RantsMy occasional rants about life, the universe, and everythingDaveLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01837748113498012191noreply@blogger.comBlogger44125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7803026531196608090.post-79340247175015346312022-12-24T18:07:00.000-08:002022-12-24T18:07:08.312-08:00It's the Most Horrible Time of the Year<p> Every year, some butthole ruins christmas for me. Sometimes it's an overenthusiastic douchebag deciding everyone needs some "christmas cheer" a bit early. I think October is a bit early, but nobody ever asks me what I think. Sometimes it's a TV commercial for cars or something where a popular christmas song has been usurped and the lyrics changed to promote this years models. This year, it was a frigging ice cream truck playing christmas carols in frigging September! There are only a couple dozen or so traditional christmas songs, and everyone and his brother has recorded a christmas album featuring these same songs. "Classsics," they call them. Fine. I would like to listen to my favorite christmas classics on frigging christmas eve, however, by the time christmas eve rolls around, I am so goddam sick to death of them I don't want to ever hear another carol as long as i live. People don't reaize that I've been forced to listen to these same goddam songs, year after year, for over six decades. And some of them I don't even like, such as "Frosty the goddam snow man," I have come to hate that song. Maybe it's because of endless repetition, or the fact that it's pretty trite, I don't know. It's not that great a song to begin with. Oh, and "Here comes santa claus," screw you, Gene Autrey. Horrible, horrible song. I never liked that one. Yet, every year, for months, I am literally assaulted by christmas, starting in September or October, and it doesn't let up until frigging January. I'm so sick of it, I could puke.<br />I'm not a believer. I don't begrudge you your holiday celebration. Celebrate away! Christmas, Hannukah, Kwanzaa, Winter Solstice, whatever! Enjoy your time with your family or your other believers or whatever the hell. Just leave me out of it! I don't give a rat's testicles about your imaginary friend's imaginary son's imaginary birthday. Give me a freaking break. And I certainly don't appreciate being bludgeoned with it for freaking months! <br />Another thing, what the hell is wrong with your Business Plan if it's contingent upon every man, woman, and child going into serious debt to "celebrate" the "holidays?" Doesn't sound like good business to me. But what the hell do I know? I don't really participate in big way. Hardly even a small way. Hardly at all, really. As little as possible, to be honest. <br /></p>DaveLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01837748113498012191noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7803026531196608090.post-50363797198251171482021-09-09T12:57:00.001-07:002021-09-09T12:57:53.775-07:00Amazon<p> I Received an Amazon gift card as a gift (imagine that!) and tried to use it today. The whole point of it is convenience, right? Take my laptop, find a thing I want to buy, go to checkout, try to enter in the number on the gift card. I get an error, something like "not a valid number" or something. Maybe I typed it in wrong? Try again, same error. Maybe it's not this number, but the other number? Tried that one (it's fucking thirty digits long!) Nope, same error. I try examining the physical card. Am I missing something? It's in an envelope, with a window. The window shows a bar code and some numbers. I notice, just below the edge of the "window" is another number. I tear the envelope just enough to enter this number. Nope, same error. The "card" is in the envelope, but there is no way to open the envelope. The envelope is glued shut! The fucking card is glued inside it. I carefully tear away the envelope, trying not to damage the card. This reveals another goddam number; but, it's under a "scratch and sniff" thing, like a lottery scratch card. For fucksakes. I peel away the scratchy bit, and try this number. SUCCESS!!! I spent the better part of an hour fucking around with this shit. What kind of a drunken monkey would engineer the card to be impossible to remove from the fucking envelope??? I can't be the only one that finds this ridiculously complex. WHY? What is the point of it? The Amazon Gift Card is supposed to make my life easier, not harder. That's an hour of my goddam life wasted that I will never get back. Kind of takes the joy out of giving, doesn't it? Or receiving, for that matter. <br />I wouldn't use Amazon at all, except that, no retailer, not Walmart, not Target, not Home Depot, not Lowe's, not anyone has any kind of variety, anything other than stuff they think they can sell quickly. It's been bad for awhile, and it's only getting worse. <br /></p>DaveLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01837748113498012191noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7803026531196608090.post-50150555950936890912017-12-07T19:03:00.000-08:002017-12-07T19:03:25.762-08:00I Got a New PhoneGot a new phone a couple weeks ago. It's a Samsung Galaxy Prime J3. Still figuring it out. It's not quite as frustrating as the goddam Iphone, but it's not easy to use, either. The design still has the same kind of flaws the Iphone has, a lack of visual cues as to how, when, and which way to swipe.<br />
Case in point today, my wife shows me " all you have to do is swipe down to see what's open and running,"<br />Swipe down? How the fuck would I even know that. There is no arrow, icon, flashy thing or other indication that there is anything to swipe down. So frustrating.<br />
<br /> So, earlier, I got my bluetooth headset working and listened to a podcast. Tried to do the same with Pandora, couldn't figure it out. It kept telling me I needed to log in, which I did. I even created a new Pandora account, still not working. The problem here is a lack of meaningful error messages. That is to say, the error messages, if any, are completely usless in determining what the actual error might be. <br />Finally my wife says "you need to download the Pandora App," Again, how would I know that? It worked fine on the podcast website, no app needed. Pandora has a website, but apparently, that particular thing doesn't work like that. Again, how the fuck would I even know this? The 200 page manual is pretty good, I got the bluetooth working, but it's a little vague on some things. So, I finally got Pandora working, and I couldn't get my frigging bluetooth headset to work. Again, my wife intervenes, something in the settings was turned off. How would I know this? It was working fine, earlier. I'm ready to bring this back and get a flip phone again. So frustrating....DaveLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01837748113498012191noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7803026531196608090.post-3643686209771985162017-09-01T14:39:00.002-07:002017-09-01T14:39:56.813-07:00Stupid Phone CallsI've been getting a lot of stupid calls lately. Multiple texts from wrong numbers, when I send a string of obscenities via text (to get their attention) I get the; "I'm sorry, I don't know why you are so upset, this was our first text. We'll take you off the list," I'm upset because it wasn't the 'first text,' this shit had been going on for months. <br />Then there's the "You've won a cruise!" phone call. Not even from a real person, but a clever recording, pretending to be a real person. I didn't realize it at first, until I tried interrupting it, "it" kept on talking. "Hello? Hello? Oh, hi, I was having trouble with my headset. The reason I'm calling is....."<br />And then there are the surveys. The first thing they say is, "I'm not selling anything," so why did you call. I ask what the survey is about, and who is funding it. Usually, they are not allowed to reveal this. This is when I hang up. Sometimes, depending on my mood, I may actually take a survey (depending on the subject) and halfway through realize that I've been conned, the survey questions are slanted to get the desired outcome regardless of your actual opinion. So I hang up. I know what you're thinking, "block the number," you think. It doesn't work, they have multiple numbers. I get the same call from different numbers, over a period of weeks. Don't put your personal info on a "Do Not Call" list, where do you think they get your number to begin with?<br />Then there was today. A live person, a Real Estate Agent called me and asked if I was thinking about selling my house. I was stunned. Stunned by the fact that it was a live person, stunned that this person actually thought I would be willing to transact business with SOME GUY I didn't know, quite possibly the largest transaction I would ever make in my entire life. <br />Then I was thinking, 'hey, waitaminute, my number is unlisted, HOW DID YOU GET MY NUMBER?'<br />He mumbled something like, "why, does it matter? I HAVE it," like that was an answer. I guess I should have gotten his name and number, and the company he worked for, and stuff. But, as I said, I was stunned.<br />So then I said:"I don't understand. You're cold calling random people to see if they want to sell their houses? That has to be a colossal waste of your time. Not to mention, a waste of MY time." Then I started screaming obscenities at him, and hung up.<br />Like I said, I should have gotten his name and number, so I could post it all over social media. Maybe I could have had a face to face and taken his picture, and put that all over the net. You can't undo something like that. But like I said, I was stunned...DaveLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01837748113498012191noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7803026531196608090.post-44205622930658306322017-03-19T16:17:00.001-07:002017-03-19T16:17:20.722-07:00The Promise of LinuxI've been hearing about Linux for over twenty years. The first time I looked into it, it was more of a "roll your own" operating system, you had to build and compile the kernel from scratch. I decided it was too much work at the time. Periodically, over the years, I looked at it again, even tried "test driving" a few different versions. Ultimately, the lack of documentation, and the steep learning curve, dissuaded me from taking it too seriously.<br /><br />I have an aging computer, the last of a series of older machines with Windows XP installed, and for one reason or another, the last remaining working computer is also one of the slowest that I've had. So in addition to the hardware being years out of date, the Operating System is showing signs of age. Newer web browsers don't work right, forcing me to use older versions that many websites declare "are no longer supported." A new computer is in the works, but not in the immediate future. <br /><br />Part of my motivation for investigating Linux again, is Microsoft's total abandonment of loyal users like me. I have been using Windows for over twenty years, since Windows 3.1. Windows 10 isn't Windows anymore, looks more like the Apple desktop, which I hate, since it's counter-intuitive to what I am already accustomed to. I've already put in enough time on the Windows learning curve for over twenty years, I don't want to have to learn it all over again. I just want it to work. I don't want to fight with "versions" or drivers, or any other goddam thing. I just want to use it. I got things to do, and learning a new Operating System isn't one of them.<br /><br />I also object to Microsoft's "business model," where you "rent" software on a yearly contract, instead of buying it outright, and possibly paying for upgrades. I've bought MS Office a few times, now they want me to pay for it every year, in perpetuity? No. Not going to happen. <br /><br />So, Apple is out, Microsoft is out, what's left? Linux.<br /><br />Started looking for a version that was easy to use, and would run on my aging and obsolete computer. One of the things I found was "Puppy Linux," which will run from a thumb drive. Which is a good thing, because my goddam CD player doesn't work anymore. Fortunately, whoever designed this machine, made the BIOS in such a way that it's possible to boot from a USB thumb drive.<br />Linux comes in many versions, and Puppy Linux comes in several versions, as well. The first one I tried was version 4.30, because it was easy. It worked fine, was lightweight, seemed to run fast, installed in a few minutes, and then i tried to access the internet. That actually worked, too, except the browser was so outdated, I was unable to login to my email, Google+, Facebook, or any other site that required a secure login. In order to update the browser, I had to update the version of Linux. (sound familiar?)<br /><br />Tried a Debian install first, and after 3 hours gave up, I don't think there was enough room on the thumb drive, I have no idea. The first attempt took about ten minutes, this was taking hours, and I don't know why.<br /><br />The next attempt was with "Slacko Linux 6.3.2" based on the famous slackware. Well, they said it was famous. I never heard of it.<br />Ok, did this, now try booting it up. OK, it installed in less than ten minutes, BUT, there seems to be some kind of video driver problem? click on something, it opens a window, but the window is missing stuff, there are buttons, but the buttons don't have any labels, can't figure out what I'm looking at or how to fix it. Very fucking frustrating. The good news is, it's on a fucking thumb drive, and I can just reformat and move on to:<br /><br />Installed Tahr 6.0.5 PAE<br />everything installed OK. Tahrpup is based on Ubuntu. Help file is completely useless. Internet installed seamlessly.<br />The built in browser was a firefox clone called "Palemoon." the problem with it is that websites like Google and duckduckgo didn't recognize it. Kept getting weird errors. The forum had some "solutions" to fix this issue, mostly blaming the unfairness of life, etc... the actual "fix" was convoluted and you had to do it separately for each site, and ultimately, didn't fucking work. <br />Installed Firefox. imported bookmarks via a second thumb drive. This worked ok. Started using the browser, logged into yahoo mail, Facebook, Google Plus. I noticed it runs a lot slower than previous attempts and previous browsers. Sometimes it freezes up for half an hour!!!! this shitting thing makes windows look good!!!!<br /><br />From the "Puppy Linux" official website<br /><br />Puppy Linux advantage<br /><br /> Ready to use → all tools for common daily computing usage already included.<br /> Ease of use → grandpa-friendly certified ™<br /> Relatively small size → 200 MB or less.<br /> Fast and versatile.<br /> Customizable within minutes → remasters.<br /> Different flavors → optimized to support older computers, newer computers.<br /> Variety → hundreds of derivatives (“puplets”), one of which will surely meet your needs.<br /><br />1. Let's take them one at a time. Yes, it's ready to use, and Yes, there is some version of a word processor, a web browser, and a bunch of other commonly used stuff. But, it's all stuff you never heard of, and it doesn't work quite the same as whatever you were using before. Again with the learning curve. And it's a learning curve for each and every program, and even things like Firefox, which I am intimately familiar with, is different under Linux. <br /><br />2. Ease of Use. No, it's not easy to use. Easy to install, yes, it's done in about ten minutes, unlike windows, that used to take hours just to get back to where you were before it crashed. They jokingly say "grandpa friendly certified." I'm a grandpa, and it's not friendly, its not easy to use, the help files are useless, and documentation, if you can find it, may not even apply to whatever version you are using. <br /><br />3. Relatively Small Size. Yes and no. The initial installation is small, yes. Then you install a browser that actually works, and this inflates the installation quite a bit. There is a swap file on the thumb drive that takes the place of the swap file on the Hard Drive. So you are restricted to the speed of your USB card, internal memory, mother board, etc., etc.<br /><br />4. Fast and Versatile. Meh. Not that fast, in some cases, much slower. "versatile" is a relative term. Compared to other versions of Linux? Maybe, I have no idea. Compared to Windows? There's the fucking learning curve again. It took me a week to set the clock in Linux. Again, finding relevant documentation is nearly impossible, again, the internal help files are not very helpful. Followed one of the many procedures I found for setting the clock, nothing worked! Then, maybe a week later, I had at it again. I'm not even sure what I did, something to do with the "time zone?" Now it works! What a fucking pain in the ass!<br /><br />5. Customizable withing minutes. Seriously? I'm afraid to "customize" anything, because it might stop working altogether. If it took a week to figure out setting the goddam clock, why would I even attempt to customize it? You've got to be kidding me.<br /><br />So, let me sum it up here:<br /><br />Pros & Cons:<br /><br />Puppy Linux<br />Pros:<br />It's not Windows!<br />It's not Apple!<br />Will run on a thumb drive!<br />Has a FREE native program for just about everything<br /><br />Cons:<br />It's not as fast as the claims<br />Some shit is hard to get working<br />Some of the browsers just don't work right<br />It's always "behind the curve"<br />The learning curve is brutal<br />The documentation sucks<br /><br /><br /><br />DaveLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01837748113498012191noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7803026531196608090.post-67524184945774399992017-01-14T17:44:00.000-08:002017-01-14T17:44:42.327-08:00Alexa, The World's First Artificial StupidityA six year old girl in Dallas asked the Amazon Artificial Intelligence Alexa to buy her a dollhouse and some cookies. Apparently, there was no fail-safe set to prevent such things, even though the settings exist in the device. Yes, because of a parental oversight, one of the most popular AI's on the market today was confounded by a six year old girl. Not high marks for AI in the 21st century. The parents were puzzled when an expensive doll house and 4 pounds of cookies showed up a couple days later. Eventually they questioned the girl, and she confessed to sharing her desires with Alexa. It is unknown if the girl is grounded or what at this time. (read the story here:)<br /><br />http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/05/health/amazon-alexa-dollhouse-trnd/index.html<br /><br />Then, to add insult to injury, a news reader in San Diego apparently set off an avalanche of doll house and cookie orders by merely reading the story on the air. It is unknown at this time exactly how many Alexa-equipped households were ordering dollhouses and cookies. Maybe Amazon should have better setup instructions? Way to boost the economy, eh? So the six year old's parents weren't the only stupid people in the world, apparently, there's a whole pile of them in San Diego! (read the story here:)<br /><br />http://www.cw6sandiego.com/news-anchor-sets-off-alexa-devices-around-san-diego-ordering-unwanted-dollhouses/<br /><br />Not an auspicious beginning for AI. The problem appears to be, the designers keep trying to make it more user-friendly, and easy to use, and wind up making it unusable. Now some sort of security codes or passwords or something have to be implemented to prevent the thing from just randomly picking up words off the TV or the Radio and acting on them. The problem in past was in the voice recognition, it had to be "trained" to identify a users voice, vocabulary was limited, and complex commands like "Alexa, buy cookies," were a little beyond it's capabilities. With the technological obstacles removed, it now becomes a problem of common sense. Was no one on the design staff able to foresee this might become an issue? If I tell Alexa that I really want a Rolls Royce, will it actually attempt to have one delivered? How do you draw a line that it cannot cross without human intervention, without rendering it so inconvenient that you're better off just using your computer or smart phone? I don't believe these challenges to be insurmountable, but we're going to have to do a lot better than this moving forward. AI is here to stay, how do we integrate into our already tech-heavy lives without letting it take over? Perhaps "AI" is too strong a term, the thing isn't really intelligent, it's basically a voice-activated personal assistant. Strangely, the hardest part has been getting the voice activated interface to work reliably. Now that we seem to have that obstacle removed, maybe we should be trying to make the thing more intelligent.DaveLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01837748113498012191noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7803026531196608090.post-31532353981421226932016-10-05T11:35:00.000-07:002016-10-05T11:35:14.481-07:00https://www.yahoo.com/style/tranny-granny-halloween-costume-recalled-by-164654452.html<br /><br />you've got to be joking. Are we so ultra-sensitive that the slightest deviation from the <br /><br />mainstream is considered offensive? Are we so easily offended that this fairly innocuous <br /><br />costume is the source of such controversy, yet police in other states continue to gun <br /><br />down unarmed civilians. We're one election away from an Orwellian Dystopia and THIS is <br /><br />what you're upset about? This is the most important thing in the news to report on? <br />
<br />The article further states; "Fortunately, college student Mahala Herron has some pretty <br /><br />sound advice for avoiding controversy, specifically in regards to cultural appropriation. <br /><br />“Halloween is coming up, so everyone please remember that my culture isn’t a costume,” <br /><br />she tweeted. She shared this alongside an illustration of three figures symbolizing <br /><br />different cultures: One head is adorned in a hijab, another is wearing cornrows, and the <br /><br />third is in a headdress." Since when is 'Mahal Herron' the goddam costume police?<br />I see things that are offensive to me ALL THE TIME and nobody gives a shit that I'm <br /><br />offended. Seriously, this PC nonsense has gone too far. If you find this offensive, DON'T <br /><br />BUY IT!!! seriously, WTF?DaveLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01837748113498012191noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7803026531196608090.post-66040559244221635532016-01-18T15:49:00.000-08:002016-01-18T15:49:48.680-08:00My New (Old) Iphone 4
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I was informed by my spouse that we
could save ten dollars a month on our data plan if
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I got a "smart" phone instead
of the stupid flip phone I've been using for the last 8
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years. My step daughter had an Iphone 4
she wasn't using, and so we set out to get it
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registered and set up. Now mind you, I
was an early adopter of computer technology, my
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first computer I got in 1979, and
proceeded to teach myself how to program. But
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nothing could have prepared me for the
level of frustration I was about to experience.
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I have a podcast I listen to, and since
my mp3 player croaked, I've tried to load it
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onto an ipod, which I believe I
succeeded, but I can't find the goddam thing, since
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there is no readout, just a big button.
Nice design, Apple.
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Next I tried to put it onto the iphone,
but for some reason, two different computers
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were having two different issues and I
couldn't do it. It should be a simple thing,
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moving a file from one device to
another. But, Apple's convoluted and counter-intuitive
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system is completely foreign compared
to Microsoft's convoluted and counter-intuitive
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system.</div>
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Research into my desktop conundrum
shows I need to download Service Pack 3. See if
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that does anything.</div>
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So, I downloaded service pack 3, big
time consuming pain in the ass, still can't
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connect to the goddam iphone. Get an
error saying the device "times out." Whatever the
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fuck that's supposed to mean. If it was
a Microsoft compatible device, you could just
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drag and drop the files, like I did
with the MP3 player. But since it's Proprietary
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Apple nonsense, you can't perform
simple functions like that. I was never a big fan of
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Microsoft, but Apple is downright
pissing me off. Reboot, AGAIN.
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Ok, finally got the computer and the
iphone talking, itunes can see the device, was
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able to sync it. Now, where the hell
are my podcasts? The 274 page manual is
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absolutely no help. There is no icon
for podcasts, anywhere.</div>
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Further searching reveals I may need a
specific podcast app for iphone 4, altho it
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does have IOS 7.1.2. Why? I can' listen
to any mp3 on my computer, whether it's a 3
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minute song or a two hour podcast. Why
do I need a specific ap for this?</div>
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Ok, downloaded two different aps, still
not seeing anything on the phone, even though
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I was able to sync it multiple times.
Now, itunes is not seeing the phone, for some
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reason. Trying another hard reboot.
This is getting frustrating.</div>
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Ok, now it sees the phone, in the
middle of syncing it gets an error saying the backup
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failed, now it doesn't see it anymore.
However, the battery icon is still green, which
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means the phone is seeing the USB port,
and is charging off of it.
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I've been fucking around with this for
a fucking week. All I wanted to do was listen
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to a podcast on my goddam "smart"
phone. I guess it's not all that smart. It shouldn't
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be this hard. It's a simple thing. I
don't know why I can't get it to work. I followed
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all the instructions on line, it'
looked like I was making progress, but, ultimately,
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for reasons unknown, it still doesn't
work. As a phone, it's only fair, the microphone
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points down away from your mouth, so it
tends to pick up ambient noise. Haven't tried
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it with a headset yet, that's
frustration for another day.</div>
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<br />
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Monday. So, I accidentally figured out
how to get this crap to work. I don't even know what
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the hell I did. I don't know why it
worked today, and I couldn't get it to work for
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the last week. My earbuds work ok, too.
Not very loud, however. I keep getting errors
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from itunes saying that sync has
failed. Yet, somehow, I got it to work. The manual
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(all 274 pages of it) is completely
useless, as is most of the online info I searched
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out for this phone. You would think
that after five or six years, there would be
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accurate and useful info on this phone
compiled on the web. No such luck. It's been
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immensely frustrating, to say the
least.
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So, overall, I'm not impressed. The
only thing that surprised me was the keyboard, it
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actually works surprisingly well. The
swiping thing is very frustrating, inasmuch as
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it's unreliable. Sometimes it does what
I think it will do, and frequently, it does
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something else. I'm still finding my
way around this thing, so it may take a while to
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feel comfortable with it. Either that
or I'll smash it with a hammer until I feel
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better.</div>
DaveLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01837748113498012191noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7803026531196608090.post-71357113461344388442015-12-29T13:02:00.001-08:002015-12-29T13:02:21.246-08:00Spoiler Alert! Star Wars Episode VIIFrom a technical standpoint, it was well made, well acted, and well done. It did, however, have some serious flaws. The problem with the new Star Wars movie is it's the same as the old Star Wars Movie. The plot of Episode VII is exactly the same as the plot to Episodes IV thru VI. <br /><br />There's a young person on a desert planet that get's caught up in the bad guys looking for a droid. (plot point from episode IV) <br />The droid has info vital to the good guys plans. <br />The bad guys have a scary leader in a mask. <br />The guy in the mask has a scary boss. <br />There's a cantina scene with weird aliens. (another plot point from episode IV) <br />One of the characters has father issues. <br />A mentor type character is killed by the bad guy in the mask. (another plot point from episode IV) <br />The bad guys have a giant space weapon that can destroy worlds. <br />The good guys must destroy the space weapon. <br />Somebody has to disable the shields. <br />There's a sword fight at the end.<br />And so on...<br /><br />There's more, but I hit the high points. ALL of this crap has been done before, by different characters, in the original trilogy. Seriously, with all the money and resources that fucking Disney has, they couldn't have paid some writers to come up with an original plot???<br /><br />I was disappointed that they killed off Han Solo. One of my favorite characters, and iconic to the series. Harrison Ford is elated, however. He believed the character should have been killed off in Episode VI. And Luke basically gets a cameo, right at the end. So you don't get to see a reunion of Luke, Han, and Leia, which is the one thing I was looking forward to since I learned the original cast would be in the film.<br /><br />What Lucas should have done is make Episode VII thirty years ago, instead of the "prequels" which, while technically superior to the original trilogy, suffered from having a lot of stupid stuff included. Young Aniken Skywalker having built the droids R2D2 and C3P0, really? And the stupid race. And fucking JarJar. All of this should have been a cartoon, and the events directly after Episode VI should have been the next movie. If Ford didn't want to be in them, fine. He's not the only scruffy looking nerf herder in the galaxy. If Leia is a princess, why isn't Luke a prince? If Luke is the last Jedi, why didn't he train Leia in the ways of the force?<br /><br />I was cautiously optimistic prior to the release, now that I've seen it, I'm a little disappointed. It could have been so much better. I don't know how Disney is going to release a movie every two years if they can't come up with an original plot. After all the hype dies down, I'm sure there will be backlash. This movie made tons of money for Disney, will the next one?DaveLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01837748113498012191noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7803026531196608090.post-39322327897839562802015-12-22T12:03:00.002-08:002015-12-22T12:03:34.483-08:00I Hate XmasThree days out and I'm done with it. If I see one more bellringer, I'm going to commit homicide. If I hear one more bastardized xmas carol trying to sell me something I'm going to have an aneurism. I would like to enjoy the holiday but the constant bludgeoning by radio and tv ads makes it distasteful to me. I'm so sick of it, I don't ever want to hear another xmas carol again, as long as I live. <br />
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Satan Claus says:<br />
"In hell, every day is christmas!"DaveLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01837748113498012191noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7803026531196608090.post-68762374530425345922015-09-13T16:39:00.003-07:002015-09-13T16:39:50.039-07:00Changing the LookI read a lot of blogs, and one thing I noticed with the white-on-black look is that I get a headache trying to read it after a few minutes. I have come to hate this on other people blogs, so I figured I should change it up on my own. Finally...<br />
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Nothing much else new here. Waiting for the above average temperature blazing frigging hot summer to end. Any day now will be the last hundred degree day of the year. DaveLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01837748113498012191noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7803026531196608090.post-33375598160701439812015-04-28T13:28:00.000-07:002015-04-28T13:28:39.802-07:00The Robot Revolution is HereThe revolution didn't come with autonomous drones firing tear gas into a crowd, it came quietly, without fanfare or mention on the Six O'clock News.<br />
I tried to make an appointment with Quest Diagnostics for my semi-annual routine blood tests. The website was not working properly and kept giving me errors. I called the toll free number, which, if you have ever tried to do anything via phone these days, was a tedious and frustrating experience. When I asked the robotic voice if I could "speak to a person," I was informed that this option was not available. Seriously, "option not available." While certainly, advances in voice recognition and "machine intelligence" have been made, I still should have been able to speak to an actual person.<br />
The nearest office was around two miles away, so I drove over to try and make an appointment in person.<br />
"I'm sorry, the appointments are made by a third party, and we don't have access to it," she said, handing me a sticky note with the phone number and website printed thereupon.<br />
After I finished screaming obscenities at the poor woman, (woman? she looked to be about twenty) I got in my vehicle and returned to the domicile. Whereupon I was able to make an appointment in about five minutes. Why my earlier attempt failed, I cannot say. The screens the second time around were completely different from the ones earlier. Was or is there an earlier version of the website still on the net, unbeknownst to current webmaster and corporate management?<br />
All of this horse pucky aside, Quest Diagnostics is one of the worst companies in the world, both to be a customer of, and, to work for. I have inside information on this. A friend of mine has worked there for almost twenty years, has weeks and weeks of vacation time, which is always a struggle to get them to approve. They are currently trying to force her to quit, giving her increasing responsibilities, and not filling job vacancies of people who got frustrated and quit.She is stubborn, though, and refuses to give in. However, the stress may be killing her.<br />
In the local office where I attempted to make the appointment, there was no receptionist. The phlebotomist(s) are forced to do everything, as well as draw blood. This makes it a very stressful work environment, because Quest, in their infinite greed, do not hire adequate staff, and this is why they are able to undercut other labs, and become a virtual monopoly, and the only lab that my insurance will cover.<br />
I'll save my tirade about Health Plan of Nevada for another day.<br />
So, what does this have to do with a Robot Revolution? Everything. It's here, there is some kind of robotic presence in every piece of consumer electronics, we use a virtual AI to give us directions when we're on vacation, every phone call to a corporation has to go through some kind of robotic AI phone system, most of which don't work very well. I wonder how many companies are like Quest, where there is no option to speak to a person? I know Fedex has the robot operator, but if you press zero enough times, you do get through to an actual human. If you scream obscenities at it, it hangs up on you, so it's smart enough to recognize that.<br />
The "Internet of Things" is the next automation hurdle. So called "Smart Phones" are ubiquitous, (I'm still resisting this, I can't see spending $600 on a goddam phone) and it's just a matter of time before your refrigerator will call the grocery to have milk delivered.<br />
I went to my bank because I was having some issue with my account, they sat me down in a little room with desk and a telephone and instructed me to "call the 800 number" as they couldn't be bothered to help me, even though I drove all the way across town to try and resolve the issue. Needless to say, I no longer bank with those assholes.<br />
The robots are here, lurking behind toll free numbers and automated fulfillment systems. They don't look like C3PO or R2D2, they don't walk around on two legs, or roll on wheels, they are invisible, they are apps running on your phone, they are a presence on a corporate website. They are taking over the world, and we are letting them.DaveLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01837748113498012191noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7803026531196608090.post-6237939781186397042012-07-25T11:59:00.001-07:002012-07-25T11:59:36.175-07:00Windows 7Windows 7 is like a recalcitrant child. I click on something, it might open, it might not. It might do something unexpected, not surprisingly so like a master of arts doing something unexpected, but stupidly so, like a two year old child might do to see what sort of reaction being an asshole would bring.<br />
I've been a windows user since the mid nineties and windows 3.1 on a 486. We almost bought an apple, but the sales rep talked us out of it. I always wondered what may have happened if we had bought the apple. Windows was counter-intuitive and frustrating, but the user could actually FIX things, whereas, with the apple, if it broke, you couldn't fix it yourself, you had to return it to the store from whence you purchased it. That, and the price. Apples cost around twice as much as the equivalent windows desktop machines, and there has always been a lot more available software for them.<br />
So I bought a used Toshiba laptop a few years ago, it just died last week. I think the hard drive is toast. So now I'm using my spouses Toshiba laptop with Windows 7, and I fucking hate it. It's as if the machine knows this and intentionally does things to piss me off. I'm not a fan of the laptop touchpads, but my last machine I kind of got used to it. This one is squirelly. Sometimes the page scrolls for no reason when I'm moving the cursor, which can be frustrating. My wife says she doesn't have these problems, so I think the machine just hates me. Because it knows. It knows I hate it. Windows is 2 million lines of spaghetti code that no living person fully understands. Instead of just starting fresh, they keep adding to it. Which is why on a fast machine with lots of memory, windows 7 runs as slow as windows 3.1 did on my 486. Did I tell you how much I hate it?DaveLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01837748113498012191noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7803026531196608090.post-72664156946012440322011-04-23T20:21:00.000-07:002011-04-23T20:56:50.731-07:00K-Mart sucks, so does TargetOur television gave up the ghost, finally. Maybe if I blew the dust out of it once in awhile it may still be working. So we looked online to see what was available. Didn't want to spend over $300 bucks. Kmart supposedly had an RCA for that price, drove down to look at it. They had some weird sports feed on, every TV on the same channel. It looked like an old '70's video tape, it was all blurry and splotchy, even on their biggest high end set. The chic behind the counter was no help whatsoever, was unable or unwilling to change the channel (I'm guessing she didn't know how) We left in disgust. How can you sell HiDef TV's with a lame feed that isn't Hidef?? WTF, over?<br /><br />So we went to Targetmart. There was a tag on a shelf for a TV on sale at the price we wanted. They were out, checked other stores, another store had it, off we went. The "other" store was one we had visited the previous evening. The sale item wasn't tagged, even though they had 4 on hand. Had the goober do a price check, and sho' 'nuff, it was the sale item.<br />"If I had known it was on sale last night, we would have bought it then," I said.<br />"Oh, I'm printing those tags right now..." she said.<br />I get that you have a shitty, low paying job for a company that doesn't give a rats ass about you. I get it, really. But, you're never leaving this crappy job if you don't show a little interest in <span style="font-style: italic;">keeping </span>your job, actually <span style="font-style: italic;">doing </span>your job, having a little more <span style="font-style: italic;">professionalism</span>. Come on, is it that hard?DaveLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01837748113498012191noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7803026531196608090.post-74089779805867669442010-11-21T10:34:00.001-08:002010-11-21T10:35:02.682-08:00Wherein I review the new IPhoneGet a life, it's a <span style="font-style: italic;">phone </span>for fucksakes....DaveLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01837748113498012191noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7803026531196608090.post-48854069770635444722010-08-22T14:13:00.000-07:002010-08-22T14:19:46.467-07:00Iran develops unmanned bomberAccording to yahoo news:<br />http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100822/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_iran_unmanned_bomber<br />Iran just announced it's development of a new unmanned bomber, or drone. Although publicly claiming "The 4-meter-long drone aircraft can carry up to four cruise missiles and will have a range of 620 miles (1,000 kilometers), according to a state TV report — not far enough to reach archenemy Israel," But, if you look at a map, draw a line 620 miles from Israel it makes it just inside the Iran border. Clearly, this is intended to intimidate Israel at the very least, and possibly start a third world war at worst.<br />These pricks need to be watched on all fronts and the slightest infraction should meet with immediate consequences. Arrogant bastards. The US hasn't used nuclear weapons against an enemy since WWII, but I'd be willing to consider it for these extremist nutjobs, just as a preventative measure.DaveLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01837748113498012191noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7803026531196608090.post-90307075547206156312010-06-11T11:17:00.001-07:002010-06-11T11:25:13.049-07:00ArghIt's been six or seven weeks since I'm off my meds. Is this it? I don't feel significantly different, unfortunately. Were the effects so weak, and the side effects so strong? Fuck!! What a waste of 8 years! All of my bad habits have gotten worse with age. All of my good habits (?) haven't changed or have gotten weaker.<br />I'm new and improved!! I'm more angry, more depressed, and more pathetic than ever before!!!<br />yippee.....<br />sigh.......<br />fuck.........<br />I move from depression to distraction. I don't have the energy for obsession anymore. (at least that gave me something to DO)<br />54 1/2 years and counting. I've done nothing, I've accomplished nothing, I've learned NOTHING. Or as Edison said, "I now know several thousand things that don't work,"<br />yay. NOW what?DaveLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01837748113498012191noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7803026531196608090.post-67009052202099109342010-06-02T14:34:00.000-07:002010-06-02T14:49:39.139-07:00In which I try to buy pantsI think the last time I attempted to buy clothes for myself was around 4 years ago. My jeans are faded, stained, and starting to show holes. I went to the outlet mall, where a friend suggested Aeropostale as a store that carried jeans made in America. While this may be true, they were apparently in worse shape than the jeans I was wearing at the time. There, on the rack, were jeans that were worn, stained, and full of holes. For twenty bucks.<br />But they didn't have my size.<br />So, across the street we went to another outlet store, at least the jeans were near the beginning of their life cycle and not the end. Made in Mexico, which I think is fine. The more jobs there are in Mexico, the less likely the fuckers are to come over here. Tried on a couple pair, found my size, which unfortunately hasn't changed much in 25 years. Wanted the low cut, since they fall down there anyway, but they didn't have that with a strait leg. Probably 10,000 pairs of pants in the store, didn't have what I wanted. So I got "regular fit," took them home. They didn't fit. Way, way too big. Goddamit. Had to go back, trade them in for ones that fit, but didn't have the strait leg I wanted. So I got fricking bell bottoms, for fucksakes. Cause the fit, sort of. 36 waist I couldn't even get the button closed. 38's are a little loose. Now I need a belt. They didn't have anything that was real leather. Went to several different stores, the closest I came was some sort of "leather amalgam" of leather particles and glue. You can tell by bending it in half. If it cracks, it's the leather and glue crap, masquerading as "real leather." Fucking pirates. You have to read the fine print on everything anymore.<br />So we went to multiple stores, no luck. Finally found ONE belt that was both real leather and actually fit. This is why I hate shopping.DaveLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01837748113498012191noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7803026531196608090.post-61878909487645142492010-05-12T23:14:00.000-07:002010-05-12T23:25:23.094-07:00Press One for EnglishHad a small issue with drunken Mexicans shooting off fireworks at 11Pm tonite. Tried to do the right thing, and not go down there with a bat and start bashing skulls. Called 311 the non-emergency number for the police. Apparently my town doesn't have it's own number, or its different, or something. Got transferred to the correct number for my town. Got a recording, says "Press one for English," but I can't see the numbers, because I'm outside at 11pm at nite, I wind up accidentally disconnecting or something. I try again, he says "we don't work for your town's police dept, let me transfer you to the emergency number-" and does so. Then they want to know the block number. It's a dead end street, its only a block long, what do you need the block number for? This goes on for awhile, finally we determine I'm in the 3200 block. Then he wants to know some other stuff, I'm losing my patience, I scream at him "Just send someone to put these drunken bastards to bed!!!" and then I hung up.<br /><br />It's 11:20 now, it got real quiet over there. I guess they came after all.<br /><br />But my point is, this is America, I'm an American (2nd generation) and the official language is fucking ENGLISH, I shouldn't have to press any buttons for ENGLISH while calling the goddam police in AMERICA. For fucksakes, what a bunch of crybaby bleeding heart pussies we've become. I'm ashamed to be an American.DaveLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01837748113498012191noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7803026531196608090.post-80624727282369223102010-05-04T23:29:00.000-07:002010-05-04T23:40:30.032-07:00Gross Incompetence at Every LevelHere is just one of the many news items concerning the latest colossal cock-up with Homeland Security and our inability to catch these guys:<br />http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100504/ap_on_go_ot/us_times_square_probe<br /><br />Briefly, the guy responsible for the Times Square bomb (y'know, the one that didn't go off) bought a ticket, <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">went through security</span>, and boarded the fracking plane before anyone knew it. How the fuck did he get through <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">security</span>, for fucksakes! What's the point of it if it ain't <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">SECURE</span>??!! If any towel-headed rug-praying MORON can get through it, what the fuck good is it??!!!!!<br /><br />So my question is, why do I have to take my goddam shoes off, and put my belt, keys, phone and laptop through the goddam x-ray machine, while this guy can just waltz on to the plane? I thought the whole reason for this "heightened security" was to catch the bad guys <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">BEFORE </span>they got on the goddam plane. So all of this time-wasting, line-waiting, clothes-removing, emptying of pockets <span style="font-weight: bold;">BULLSHIT </span>is a complete and utter waste of fucking time???!!!<br /><br />Fortunately, for all concerned, the 'terrorist' was as incompetent as the guys trying to catch him. (hint: don't buy an alarm clock at the <span style="font-style: italic;">dollar store</span> for your bomb timer, you fracking imbecile)<br /><br />I'm thoroughly disgusted.DaveLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01837748113498012191noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7803026531196608090.post-88075897232775504082010-04-27T13:26:00.001-07:002010-04-27T13:29:18.392-07:00The World Ends in 2012I found this calendar buried in the sand. It goes up to 12 months. It was apparently left by an advanced civilization, some 13 months or so ago. There is no trace of them, except this calendar. Using my advanced powers of deductive reasoning, I deduce that the WORLD WILL END ON DECEMBER 31ST!!!!!<br /><br />ummmm, DUH, the calendar restarts in 2012, you fracking morons. Geez. Too bad there are no Mayans left to laugh at your sorry ass.DaveLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01837748113498012191noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7803026531196608090.post-91947502630570363792010-04-04T13:05:00.000-07:002010-04-04T13:40:02.038-07:00Load of MalarkeySo the Easter bunny lays chocolate eggs and they hatch into peeps and then we eat them? And this has <span style="font-style: italic;">what </span>to do with anything?<br />Sorry, but I'm not a believer. I wanted to believe, was a seeker for 50 years, <span style="font-style: italic;">FOUND </span>a lot of neat stuff, but in the end, it was just people being delusional about stuff. They were nice people. Very sincere. A little whacked, but sincere. And <span style="font-style: italic;">delusional</span>.<br />Son of God rising from the dead? c'mon! If he's really god, how can he die? If he really did rise from the dead, doesn't that negate the whole purpose of his death?? The whole thing makes no sense. So what is he, a <span style="font-style: italic;">zombie</span> now? I don't get it. What if it happened today? Some political activist gets arrested, condemned to death for treason or whatever, then <span style="font-style: italic;">rises from the dead</span> 3 days later?! Starts visiting his old followers like the ghost of christmas past?<br />"Thomas, you doubted me. Put your hand in my wound, if you don't believe it's really me,"<br />"Put my hand where? I don't think so... waitaminnit, you're <span style="font-style: italic;">dead</span>! Get away from me! HELP!"<br />Sounds like the plot to a "B" horror movie. If you're going to make things up, it has to be believable, doesn't it? Maybe 2000 years ago it was, I don't know, I wasn't there. Neither were anyone else, including so called experts like bible thumping TV preachers, fundamentalist christians, the Nazi Pope, the creationists (for whom reality is just a <span style="font-style: italic;">theory</span>, apparently) and every nutjob with a cult following that has "jesus" or "lord" in the name.<br />Every religion, tribal tradition, society, secret club, coven, magick circle, etc. so on ad infinitum, has some belief or beliefs that defy logic and/or science, or any logical ordered way of viewing the world. Sure, we don't know <span style="font-style: italic;">everything</span>, probably never will, but, that's <span style="font-style: italic;">no excuse to believe in ridiculous legends as though they were literal truths</span>, and fight wars over them. WTF, over?<br /><br />Here in the 21st century, people have gotten more stupid, ingnorant, superstitious, and irrational. We have access to more knowledge, information, technologies, and the ability to discern truth from fiction, yet these superstitious beliefs stubbornly persist, among supposedly educated individuals, including our world leaders.<br />Muslim extremists are willing to blow themselves up for their god, because they believe they will be rewarded for it in the afterlife. Anyone ever been there? No? Neither have I, or anyone. There is no evidence for an afterlife. None. Zip. Nada. Nice idea, would like to believe, but I need a little more evidence than "faith" in some ancient tradition that died out years ago.<br />Kamikaze pilots of WWII believed that they were dying for the honor of their people and the emperor, who was traditionally believed to be divine. Yep, a god, on earth, in the 20th century. If he was god, howcome they lost the war? Yet millions of Japanese <span style="font-style: italic;">believed</span>. In the 20th century. It took science and the atomic bomb to knock that silly belief out of their heads. What will it take for the rest of us?<br />Until human kind wakes up, I think we are pretty much doomed as a species. My humble opinion, anyway.DaveLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01837748113498012191noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7803026531196608090.post-73270239122597010322010-03-02T15:30:00.000-08:002010-03-02T15:48:24.428-08:00CVS continuedCVS corporate bimbo "Rhonda" finally returned my call. Her position is what is known as a "corporate decoy," a person whose job it is to prevent customers with concerns to actually speak to a person who makes the policies and decisions that have caused the customer's concern in the first place. This prevents the corporate overlords from ever having to be held responsible for bad decisions and/or policies. If no one is held accountable, they can do pretty much whatever they want.<br />The corporate overlords kick the complaint back to the store, and cause an additional headache to their already overworked people. The pharmacist called me to apologize. I've never met the man. I asked what he felt he needed to apologize for. He said the corporation tells him he has to. Ultimately, both Rhonda, corporate lackey, and the pharmacist asked were the same thing, "what can I do to help you today?"<br />In the case of the pharmacist, nothing. It's not his fault. It's not the fault of the employee mentioned in the previous blog. They are overworked, underpaid, short-staffed, and emotionally abused. Said one 10 year veteran of CVS "I didn't used to hate my job."<br />Talks with other employees confirm my suspicions as stated above. The employees can't even get to a responsible person at the corporate headquarters. How can you effectively manage a giant corporation if the "feedback" is all one way? You can't. Period.<br />Way to go, CVS. You've lost 2 pharmacy managers and one pharmacist from that one store in a very short period of time. Isn't that indicative that you might be doing something wrong?<br />I want to talk to Rhonda's boss.DaveLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01837748113498012191noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7803026531196608090.post-78807841903616297442010-02-25T14:40:00.000-08:002010-02-25T15:31:48.494-08:00Goddam Cell PhonesI don't want to download music or watch video or check my email, I JUST WANT IT TO WORK!!! I'ts a PHONE for crissakes, I want to make a CALL without it dropping out. How hard can it be?<br />I've been a touch typist for 35 years, why would I type a message on a tiny keyboard using my thumbs when I have a PHONE in my hand???<br />AND, while I am on the subject, if you're not smart enough to drive and talk on the phone at the same time, what makes you think it's ok to TYPE text messages WHILE DRIVING??!!<br />There should be a new ticket for that, DUIS, or Driving Under the Influence of Stupidity. Oh wait, that wouldn't work, because you're stupid all the time!!!! If you are so busy you need to be texting and talking on your phone as long as you are awake, call a friggin CAB.<br /><br />These people breed, and they Vote! We are DOOMED!!!DaveLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01837748113498012191noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7803026531196608090.post-76185208058450158442010-02-23T19:39:00.000-08:002010-02-23T19:48:01.709-08:00CVS PharmacyI'm all in favor of hiring the handicapped, but COME ON! You at least have to have minimum competence for simple tasks. Had to pick up a scrip for my wife, so they had to enter her in the system. I figured, the insurance card number is already in there for my stuff, how hard can it be? Apparently, it was beyond the poor girls ability. The fact that she had to type everything in by hand should have been the first clue. The fact that I spelled the name for her (twice!) AND she had the frickity fracking insurance card IN HER HAND should have prevented this fiasco, but in spite of it all, she still managed to SPELL MY FRICKING NAME WRONG. Which is why, an hour later, after I was not called while waiting (did I mention I waited for a frickin HOUR) and I went to the counter, the jolly fat man couldn't find me in the computer. After a bunch of questions (which I had already answered an hour previous) numnutz says, "oh, THEY spelled your name wrong,"<br />I said "It wasn't THEY, it was HER," pointing to the idiot who typed it in wrong earlier. "oh, we're all one team here," he replied cheerfully. A team of what? Knuckle dragging imbeciles with delusions of adequacy? You guys make Walmart look GOOD, and they really, really SUCK. Nice job, CVS. Fuck up one more time and I'll transfer all my scrips to goddam Walmart, whom I fricking HATE, but you had your chance. I also expressed my concerns to CVS.com, whose customer complaints are limited to 1000 characters. I was about 1/2 done when I ran out of space. I had to significantly abbreviate it, and told them so. Dumbass fuckers.DaveLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01837748113498012191noreply@blogger.com0