Random Bits

The TSA – those wonderful people who only seem to produce narrow-visioned responses to terrorist threats – bring us yet another set of rules to fly by. This time their sole focus is on preventing bombings during approach and/or landing. Don’t you just love how they only seek to prevent the exact thing that’s been most recently attempted? Remember, these are the same folks who now force us to take off our shoes because some bozo attempted a shoe bomb. Thank god it wasn’t in his underwear.

In their infinite (*cough* knee-jerk) wisdom they’ve decided to “let pilots and airlines determine whether in-flight entertainment systems that show a plane’s location should be turned off to avoid a security risk” because as we all know, terrorists are too stupid to look out the window. Next they’ll stop announcing that they’re starting their initial descent and offering estimates of how soon the plane will be landing. And if that doesn’t work, they can always glue the window shades down, you know, in an attempt to avoid a security risk.

Since there’s no way to stop someone from hearing the landing gear going down or looking out the window, or using their watch for that matter to estimate location, perhaps the TSA should implement mandatory anesthesia.

Some of you may remember when Vista came out I felt compelled to add my 2 cents regarding a review I’d read touting how terrific Vista was going to be (Feb. 5, 2007). Well here comes Windows 7 (can Microsoft PLEASE settle on a versioning scheme? Do we need to go from straight numbers: 1, 3.1 to years: 98, 2000 to codes: XP, Vista back again to numbers?! Really Microsoft?) and once again I’ve just read my first review and it touts the following – red text denotes my keen insights:

A taskbar that allows you to stick icons of your fave apps to launch them quickly, “combining the best features of the old Windows taskbar and Apple’s Dock”.
Really? “launch them quickly”? Launch them quickly. Launch them quickly… waaaait a minute! You mean like the Quick Launch portion of the existing taskbar?? Does the reviewer not know this feature has existed for quite some time, or is Microsoft trying to sell this as new to Windows 7?

File folders can now be organized into “libraries.” You can have a photo library, for instance, that gives you quick access to pictures in folders spread out over your hard drive, or even several hard drives.
I’m sorry, you mean like creating a folder on your desktop and then in that folder adding shortcuts to the folders…. spread… out… over… your… hard… drive(s)…. oh right. Yeahhhhh, ummmm… forgot that you could already do that.

Like Vista, Windows 7 will ask you twice if you really want to make changes to your settings or install programs, for the sake of security. But Windows 7 does it less often, and the prompts can be turned off.
Are we seriously this desperate to find good things to say about Windows 7? “We’ll still bug the shit out of you asking ‘Are you sure? Yeah but are you really sure?’ but we’ll do it slightly less often!”

Windows 7 has implemented more touch screen-like functionality.
Great for those of you who have touch screens or touch pads! The other 95% of us don’t give a rat’s ass.

And of course, the usual litany of “if you (can) upgrade we’ll make it as painful as possible AND break as much as we can”:

• Windows 7 is 64-bit, so some of your hardware drivers may no longer work. Kiss your old workhorse printer goodbye.
• Upgrading from XP involves reinstalling every single app you HAD installed and “find[ing your] files in the folder where Windows 7 tucks them away”. Not much incentive to upgrade, now is there? I don’t intend on spending a few days reinstalling the gargantuan number of apps I currently have installed. I dread the task when I purchase a new PC or have to replace a hard drive, I’m certainly not going to willingly do it for virtually NO gain.

New features? Not so much. More like Microsoft holding the hand of the less technically savvy of us and trumpeting it as a good reason to drop a wad of cash – $120 to upgrade. And as usual error messages are obscure and troubleshooting from the website provided no answer to the problem (at least in one reviewer’s experience). And oh yeah, the reviewer noted an increase in boot time. His suggestion? Don’t power down, just start using sleep mode. WTF? I’ve run out of band-aids.

Apparently around 10 or 10:30am there was a call put out for all seniors to get in their cars and head for the highways. I ran an errand this morning and on the way home got stuck repeatedly behind some bad driver doing anywhere from 5-15mph under the speed limit. While 5mph might not seem like much, realize that it’s mid-morning, the freeway is clear of heavy traffic, and most motorists are doing 5-10mph over the speed limit.

When I finally managed to catch a break and was able to cut over into the next lane to pass (waiting rather impatiently while the rest of traffic blew past me doing 70+) inevitably it was an elderly driver I glared at. This includes the lady who refused to accelerate past 40mph all the way up the freeway on-ramp; despite the fact that the on-ramp was completely straight and went for at least 150 meters. She’s still doing 40 for all I know, as when I finally swerved over a lane and joined traffic doing 65 she was still doing 40.

Below are 2 paragraphs taken straight from the Wall Street Journal’s opinion pages. What bothers me most is not the politics of the matter. I’m more than willing to leave them completely out of the rant. But what I’ve noticed as I’ve matured (and hopefully become wiser) is that most reporting, whether it be done in a newspaper or a magazine, a well-respected publication or a rag, leaves out information or makes misleading statements in order to get your dander up in support of their arguments (see this other rant).

This opinion article lists a series of tax credits Mr. Obama proposes. These credits include college tuition, child-care, clean car, mortgage interest, etc. First we talk about the middle-class, then we throw out the tantalizing statement that “…more than a third of all Americans already pay no income taxes at all.” Then we read the following:

“Here’s the political catch. All but the clean car credit would be “refundable,” which is Washington-speak for the fact that you can receive these checks even if you have no income-tax liability. In other words, they are an income transfer — a federal check — from taxpayers to nontaxpayers. Once upon a time we called this “welfare,” or in George McGovern’s 1972 campaign a ‘Demogrant.’ Mr. Obama’s genius is to call it a tax cut.

The Tax Foundation estimates that under the Obama plan 63 million Americans, or 44% of all tax filers, would have no income tax liability and most of those would get a check from the IRS each year. The Heritage Foundation’s Center for Data Analysis estimates that by 2011, under the Obama plan, an additional 10 million filers would pay zero taxes while cashing checks from the IRS.”

Now again, leaving the political arguments out of it – yes some of it could be considered welfare, but that aside, what’s wrong with providing middle-income families with tuition or child-care tax “credits”? Anywho, here’s what I find really misleading… let’s break it down:

“…you can receive these checks even if you have no income-tax liability. In other words, they are an income transfer — a federal check — from taxpayers to nontaxpayers.”
After opening salvos (a couple of paragraphs) revving you up to think about the poor… welfare… “demogrants”, this statement immediately gets your dander up thinking people are getting a free ride. Why those no-good nontaxpayers! 1972… welfare… whyyyy I oughta! Whaddya think you’re doin’ there Mr. Obama? You can’t fool ME calling these “tax credits”!

“The Tax Foundation estimates that under the Obama plan 63 million Americans, or 44% of all tax filers, would have no income tax liability and most of those would get a check from the IRS each year.”
44%? FORTY-FOUR PERCENT?!! Most not paying taxes but getting a check back anyway?! THE OUTRAGE! But… wait… didn’t… aren’t… waaaaait just a minute! Something’s not right here… back the truck up.

You got me thinking about low-income folks and those who “…already pay no income taxes at all”, then said “no income-tax liability” and threw in the word “welfare” just to make sure I was thinking about those folks, so maybe I wouldn’t question what you meant by “no income-tax liability”. And in my outrage I missed that you said 44% of all tax filers. We’re no longer talking about just low-income folks, are we? Youuuu! Youuuuu! You had me going there for a minute. What you’re REALLY saying is that anyone who doesn’t have to file due to a low enough income (which doesn’t just mean the poor!) and anyone due a tax refund! I’ve got news for you buddy: “nontaxpayer” and “no income-tax liability” are NOT interchangeable terms!

So which is it? Are we talking nontaxpayers or people who don’t owe and/or have overpayed (no income-tax liability)? Talk about a “clever pitch”. Talk about an “illusion”.

In a perfect example of “Be careful what you wish for” BART, who repeatedly raises fares due to their complaint of low ridership, has seen a surge, apparently to record highs. The local paper states “high gas prices, traffic jams and concerns about the environment have driven commuters to BART stations in record numbers”, which is basically another way of saying “duhhh“. For a system which can’t handle its current ridership gracefully, BART’s wish is a knuckle-headed one.

On the heels of this influx, BART has decided to investigate raising fares yet again; considering a fare hike against those who use BART during commute hours. Showing that the intelligence of the common man (woman in this case) trumps that of those running BART, rider Cathy Torres suggested lowering prices during non-commute hours rather than raising them for peak commute, as anyone with children or any basic common sense would be able to tell you as Torres states, “incentives are far more likely to succeed than penalties”.

To be fair BART has made several attempts to clean up its act however its list of woes is as long as Svetlana Pankratova’s legs (now how’s that for a pop-culture reference?!)

Fellow riders, if you thought BART had problems before, in the immortal words of Al Jolson, “you ain’t seen nothin’ yet!”

The holiday season is at an end, and with it my hopes for finding BART parking.

About 2 weeks ago I was reading an article in the paper about how a study showed that marketing was shaping toddlers’ taste buds.

The article states that Stanford University did a study of preschoolers and discovered that food wrapped in a McDonald’s wrapper “tasted better”. And then it goes south. Ready?

It quotes a childhood development specialist who campaigns against advertising to children – a role which I applaud heartily. However, such an individual should have a better grasp of the English language than to say “You see a McDonald’s label and kids start salivating”. Is that to say whenever I see a McDonald’s wrapper, somewhere in the world I’ve made a kid salivate? Try this on for size Ms. Specialist: “When kids see a McDonald’s wrapper, they start salivating”. This same specialist goes on to say that it’s “the first study [she knows] of that has shown so simply and clearly what’s going on…”. Seriously? 63 kids and you’re ready to decide it’s simple and clear? It’s simple, I’ll give you that much. Has the paper left out pertinent information, or did the study? Because between you and me…

The parameters of the study are sketchy. We’re told they studied 63 low-income children. So right off the bat not exactly big numbers to establish a trend, now is it? Nor are 63 low-income kids exactly representative of toddlers in general, sorry. Sadly the author feels his tiny sampling would reflect the same results for children from wealthier families. Somehow I doubt that, as I also doubt that income matters as much as parenting style. And speaking of parenting style, what the newspaper fails to mention, and what cannot possibly be accounted for in such a small sampling of toddlers is…

…whether eating habits were taken into account. Two of the 63 stated they’d never eaten at McDonald’s but we’re not informed as to how often the remaining 61 ate there. If they ate at McDonald’s on a frequent basis, can you honestly say marketing is to blame for the childrens’ response? Bullshit. This is something I noted when I subscribed to U.S. News and World Report. I used to take their stories and studies at face value before I realized that by carefully omitting details the gee whiz factor can be intensified. If you actually think about what pertinent information is missing and how it affects the presentation of said facts you’d realize you weren’t getting all the information necessary to shape an informed opinion.

It’s not until the second to last paragraph that they quote a marketing professor as saying that parents play a strong role in controlling food choices for children so young. Bully for him. It’s wake up and smell the coffee time for pete’s sake. If these kids are salivating over a McDonald’s wrapper… c’mon parents! Be more selective in what you allow your child to eat. Be more selective in what you allow your child to see/be exposed to. My child hardly watches the television, and when he does, it’s movies, not television interrupted every 5 minutes by advertising aimed at him. My child eats home-cooked meals 99% of the time. He’s eaten a hot dog on rare occasion, enjoys pizza a few times a month, PB&J when mommy and daddy are at their absolute worst at parenting, and at 5 years old has eaten at McDonald’s maybe TWICE that I know of. I’m not going to say he doesn’t know what McDonald’s is, but he sure as heck wouldn’t salivate over a wrapper and sure as heck wouldn’t think something tasted better because it was wrapped in a fast food wrapping.

It’s been suggested that it takes a village to raise a child – most notably of course by Ms. Hillary Clinton, however please take note Ms. Clinton – as long as the village is targeting and bombarding my child with inappropriate material, the village can kiss my ass – I’LL raise my own child, thank you very much.

I was about to post this to a site where fellow Coke rewards people exchange codes and tips, but then decided that no one there would probably care very much. As I’m still astounded by the point values of the prizes I decided to post my rant here. The exorbitant cost or prizes is the only point on which Ms. Havey (see post below) and I agree.

Without further ado:

Just my 2 cents… I’m still floored by the point values. Just a random “for instance”: 2500 points for a $100 gift certificate. Let’s do the math shall we?

Assuming you enter only 3 point caps:
2500 points / 3 points per cap = 833.3 caps
834 caps * $1.50/soda = $1,251.00. (By the way, at 10 codes a day this is 84 days – almost 3 months!)

Assuming you enter ALL 10 point codes:
2500 points / 10 points per 12-pack = 250 12-packs
250 12-packs * $3/12-pack = $750. (At 10 codes a day this is 25 days)

WHAT? Yeah, sure, you’re drinking the soda for the $1.50 AND getting 3 points, but c’mon… a $100 gift cert. for the equivalent of drinking 834 sodas and spending $1,250?? Why not drink 67 less sodas (66.6 sodas * $1.50 = $100) and BUY a *&@#^$ gift cert. yourself?!

And before you say it, yes I know lots of you collect your points via sporting events, friends, etc. But still… how does a $100 gift cert. go for the equivalent of $750 – $1,250 worth of soda??

Instead of encouraging people to drink Coke products, if anything, they’re showing people the folly of their ways. Instead of buying sodas you really should set that money aside and in about a month you can treat yourself to a $100 purchase!

And again, before you say it, I know you’re getting points basically “for free” by doing what you’d be doing anyway (drinking Coke) but as many people have bemoaned, the point system isn’t based in anything resembling reality. Seriously? Why not save up $100 and buy myself something instead of spending 10x (!!!) that much in soda purchases??? The ONLY winners in this are those who get their points for free.

I was recently Googling for some free Coke rewards codes, when I stumbled across this blog, referencing this blog, referencing Ms. Havey’s site. Although all the postings noted are several months old, I felt a strong need to respond to the “woe is me, I’m just a victim” attitude growing more prevelant in our litigious society.

Below is the email I dashed off to Ms. Havey and those who responded to her posting. I sincerely hope to hear back from her and will update here if it happens.

Dear Ms. Havey –

I recently stumbled across a reprint of a blog posting that referenced your efforts against Coca Cola’s current rewards campaign.

While at first blush I couldn’t agree more with the frustration you and others express at the sheer number of sodas one must redeem in order to “win“, I think you and your supporters are being very narrow minded. Don’t get me wrong, I think redeeming several hundred, or even a thousand plus points, for some small trinket, while the “really good” prizes cost ridiculous amounts is reprehensible. However, you and others have failed to consider the following:

1) No one said you HAD to win that walk-on role in a television series. If every grand prize were attainable by every person interested we’d have a lot of grand prize winners and not many runners-up, now wouldn’t we? Personally, I’m drinking the same number of sodas as I normally would and entering the codes. When the end of the contest looms, I’ll happily redeem my points for whatever’s in my range. Note the lack of greed. Note the lack of victimization. Note the accountability and responsibility for my own actions.

2) You assumed a time limit on the quantities to be consumed. While all contests eventually end, no one said you had to imbibe the quantities you describe within a year. Maybe this contest will run for 2, 3… even 5 years. You just have to take your chances and drink responsibly. Which takes me to my next point.

3) I’m sick and tired of people blaming the food industry for the state(s) we find ourselves in. No one is forcing you to drink that much soda, so don’t whine if you can’t get the 26,000 point Trip to Vegas and don’t want to find a way to collect that many points. No one makes you stop at McDonalds every day, but we’re blaming them for making the public obese. Now it’s Coke for offering us the hood from Kyle Petty’s car and somehow it’s their fault we’re guzzling soda at irresponsible rates. Remind me again… who held that gun to your head and told you you had to win that prize? How about instead of playing victim, we take responsibility for our own damned actions for once!

4) As I suggested in point 3, there are many ways to collect that many points. The complaint that you can’t pool points is a ridiculous one. Yes, it’s true, you cannot pool points ONCE YOU’VE REDEEMED THEM. But who’s stopping you from collecting codes from your friends, neighbors, dog-walker, or off the Internet. How do you think I found your site? After finding, and entering, codes that netted me 200 points I stumbled across a blog referencing another blog referencing your site… while searching the Internet for free codes. Huh.

What about those in the services industry that find themselves buying in bulk? I’ll bet their main problem is not consuming the soda (after all, they turn around and sell it to, or pour it for, us. Their main problem is the 10-codes-redeemed-a-day rule. That means only 100 points max a day. Roughly 3,000 a month. 18,000 in 6 months. I can’t believe there are no caterers or others in similar industries out there that don’t have an enormous amount of points.

Coca Cola themselves frequently publishes codes worth anywhere from 3 to 100 points via other advertising outlets (i.e. magazines). I’ve personally redeemed several hundred points worth of free codes. And I ran across someone saying they’d soon be offering codes for 750 – 1000 points.

While I agree with your basic premise I wholeheartedly disagree with your stance that the prizes are unattainable unless you’re willing to hurt or kill yourself AND that it’s Coca Cola’s fault if we do and responsibility to see that we don’t. It’s time that we as a nation grew up and acted like adults. Adults with control over our own actions. Stop blaming everyone else and take responsibility.

I’ll end with the following quote from your site:

“the POINTS for the TOP PRIZES are so excessive that if someone actually DRANK the Coke that they’re buying to win those prizes, then they would die (FACT)”.

Who said you had to drink the Coke Ms Havey? Who?

Sincerely,

Jeff Roseman

http://blogs.ca-rosemans.com/jeff

Well, isn’t it ironic that while writing a post to lambaste rebuttals against this blog: 10 reasons not to get Vista, IE (not my usual browser of choice) chokes and crashes, losing all I’d written so far? One more reason to LOVE Microsoft.

So I’ll try to step back into this… basically I had to laugh while reading rebuttals to this post.

This author tries to pass off Vista’s new search capabilities like it’s something important! Ooooh, how about the new UI for handling video and digital photography? “Music folders come up in columns of ID3 tags”? Hmmm, last time I checked it works that way in XP already. And let’s not forget the all-important sleep mode! What would I do without sleep mode?!

Other rebuttals include the fact that Vista has now incorporated a lot of new features we once had to rely on a myriad of 3rd party apps to provide. Problem is, I’ve been using my favorite little 3rd party apps for years now and am quite fond of them. I know their ins-and-outs, tricks, and have a vested interest in their future developments. So by incorporating them into the OS you’re not doing anything I really need!

How about this rebuttal? “Can I change the volume on a per-application basis in Windows XP? Do I have integrated system-wide search in Windows XP? Can I set the language on a per-user basis in Windows XP? Does Windows XP have per-file emails and contacts? Does Windows XP have a photo organiser application (the fact that it sucks compared to iPhoto and especially Picasa2 is irrelevant)? Does Windows XP have an up-to-date, modern look? Does Windows XP have all those under-the-hood improvements like address space layout randomisation, a new networking stack, and so on?”

Must be terribly embarassing if you have to lead off your rebuttal with a list of “nice-to-have toys”. I mean, really, who cares about controlling the volume on a per-app basis or an “up-to-date, modern look”? How does he know the picture I have of my son as wallpaper is out-of-date?!

How about having a photo organizer that sucks compared to Picasa2? Irrelevant? What an assinine comment. Of course it’s relevant! You basically said Vista is better just because they bundled some crap application into the OS. Why, if it’s crappier than Picasa2 (which is FREE by the way, dimwit), would I want it in my OS??

He then goes on to say backwards compatibility problems with hardware and software are to be expected as this “…is usually the case when an operating system has seen massive internal restructuring, like new frameworks for graphics and audio.” however at the end of his article complains that “Microsoft’s obsession with backwards compatibility is hindering its development”. Hmmm… which is it buddy? Logic eludes you, doesn’t it?

Sad to say, most of his arguments go on like this. Let’s move on to what’s important.

I went to the Microsoft site to see what it would take to upgrade to Vista. Now mind you I run XP Pro. My choices were to install Home Basic or Home Premium by “copy[ing] all your files and settings to an extra hard drive or other storage device, and then install[ing] Windows Vista. After the installation is complete, Windows Easy Transfer will reload your files and settings on your upgraded PC. You will then need to reinstall your applications”. REINSTALL MY APPLICATIONS?! WTF?! OR I could upgrade (without reinstalling everything) to Business or Ultimate.

The kicker? Upgrade advisor tells me that my sound card won’t work with Vista, and my anti-virus software would have to be uninstalled before the upgrade and then wouldn’t be re-installable due to incompatibility. There were other issues called to my attention but after reading just those two, I knew Vista is just another example of Microsoft’s irresponsible coding.

Home Basic goes for approx. $100. Business, approx $192. Ultimate, $260.

So let me get this straight. I can move all my software settings, install the OS from scratch, move the settings back, then reinstall every single app I own AND it’ll cost me at least $100?! Or I can upgrade more gracefully and it’ll cost me somewhere around $200. And let’s not forget that some of my hardware and software won’t work. Nice.

Of course with logic such as our friend above; “If you use Windows for mission critical environments (dot dot dot), you should wait until SP1 or maybe even SP2 anyway. That’s called common sense”, who needs intelligence? Microsoft will never launch a responsible product when they know lame-brains such as this person exist and will eat up whatever crap product they market.

This morning after dropping Josh off at school I had to run back to the local police station and rent-a-mailbox place to coordinate the printing and notarizing of a document we needed to refresh for the adoption paperwork. After setting the wheels in motion I ran over to Lafayette BART (I’m a creature of habit, and besides if there’s no parking I can get street parking at Lafayette for $5 vs. garage parking at Walnut Creek for $8).

Of course there was no parking, so I drove over to the street parking and got a spot nice and close. I gather my stuff and head to the station, but as I near I hear the train coming into the station. Knowing full well that rush hour is long over I bolt, since if I miss this train the next one won’t be along for another 15 minutes. I get through the ticket gate and fly up the escalator, taking the moving steps 2 at a time. There’s a guy ahead of me and he actually gets his arm into the door but yanks it back when he realizes he has no chance of any other body part making it in to prop the door open.

Now for the fun part – the doors have quite literally closed on our faces. The BART engineer does her (it appeared to be a her from that distance) usual “open window, stick head out” check and LEAVES US STANDING THERE! Would it have killed her to cycle the doors? What would that have been, a 5 second delay? No, she takes off and now we stand there in disbelief as the jumbotrons tell us the next train is 12 minutes out.

F* you BART. F* you.

There’s this little coffee shop about a block from my office. It’s pretty small in that they serve various coffees, have about 3 or 4 dozen bagels, a few dozen donuts, croissants (with ham, egg, and cheese), cookies, and slices of cakes and pies (which I’ve never seen sold). They also do a pretty good lunch business, but honestly, they’re just this little coffee shop.

Now this little coffee shop, like I said, is about a block my office. My office, is deep in the advertising district, which means there’s not a whole lot close by. If you want a restaurant you have to walk several blocks. If you want shopping, it’s several more. We’d never be confused with being in the heart of the financial district; surrounded by shops and stores and restaurants *OH MY!*

Anyway, babbling on and haven’t even gotten to the point of this posting yet!

What possesses people to come in and clean this place out in the morning, so they can supply their morning meeting with pastries and bagels?! For one thing, this isn’t Noah’s, an establishment best known for bagels *hint*. The name of this place alludes to coffee: The Roastery. Get it? C-o-f-f-e-e   s-h-o-p. For another, this place is so far off the beaten path that when people clean them out of bagels and donuts first thing in the morning, then the rest of the people who work in this area are S.O.L.

How hard is it for you to get your @#*$&^ up a little earlier so you can spend the extra time going to a place that specializes in bagels in quantity?! I’m sure The Roastery doesn’t care. A sale is a sale. But the rest of us do. You know, the ones in line behind you waiting 5 minutes while you occupy the only person behind the counter so you can get all 7 plain bagels, the 3 onion bagels, all the remaining sesame, 5 “everything”, all the egg bagels, and a random assortment of a dozen donuts. We’re hoping you’ll actually leave 1 or 2 for us, thanks.

Well I did it. I managed to survive 6/6/6. No hell-spawned demons issued forth from some sulfur-belching fissure in the earth. No fire and brimstone rained down from the sky. Interesting concept that. If hell is “down” or beneath us, how exactly does the fire and brimstone get above us to rain down? Perhaps from some cataclysmic volcanic eruption that would put Mount Tambora to shame? Ahhh, but I digress… Nothing hellish or hell-related occurred today unless you count that it’s trash night. Oh yeah, and our instant hot water dispenser went kaput. But technically Lori told me about it a day or two ago, so I guess that doesn’t count either.

On a side note, I think Hollywood really missed the boat on this one. I mean c’mon, this is a once-in-a-lifetime *no, scratch that* a once-in-a-millenium opportunity. This is a PR person’s wet dream. The perfect date for the scariest, most wicked, scare the *@#$*&^ out of you horror movie to open and what do they give us? A remake. A rehash of an old movie – The Omen. Ooooh boy, talk about blowing it. Un-frickin’-believable. I guess they can always try again June 6, 3006.

Grumpy #1: I own a portable DVD player which helps pass the time during commute. I’ve been a little behind in getting my kind of movies as we’ve had a little backlog of us kind of movies. Yesterday 2 of my kind showed in the mail so I made sure to charge up the player last night. I was all set to watch one on the way in this morning, however as I arrived at BART parking I started thinking about whether or not I’d get a seat, blah blah blah when suddenly an alarm goes off in the back of my head and I remember I’d taken my headphones out of my bag because they’d been badly tangled. And guess what? I’d never put them back. No movie for me this morning.

Grumpy #2: My stomach has been talking to me all morning… kind of a low-pitched grumbling under its breath kinda thing. I planned to sit down to breakfast with Josh but time got away from me. As I reached street level here in SF it’d grown to a full-fledged “feed me Seymour“, take-no-prisoners kinda thing. I decided what better way to put the DVD mishap behind me than breakfast at my usual spot; a place I’ve been going to for so long now, and with such regularity, that when I walk in they smile, nod, and make my breakfast without even asking what I want. Except this morning as I neared my place, 5 construction-type dudes poured out of their pickup truck 1/2 block ahead of me. No no no no nonononononono DAMN! Yes, they were heading for my breakfast place. Now on a “good day” when I’m the only one in line, or the first one in line, breakfast can take between 5-10 mins to make. It’s a small place you see, and there’s only enough room and equipment to make breakfast for 1, maybe 2 people at a time. When I neared the doorway I saw the 5 clustered around staring up at the list of breakfast possibilities and knew it’d be at least 20+ mins before I’d walk back out with breakfast in hand. With a giant disappointed *sigh* I kept walking.

Grumpy #3: Resigning myself to not getting the best breakfast this side of the bridge (Millie’s wins on the other side) I figure I can at least stop at the little mom & pop shop a block away from my work and pick up my morning caffeine (Diet Coke) and a ham, egg, and cheese croissant. A far cry from the minced ham, egg, and cheese scramble, breakfast potatoes, sourdough toast, a side of sausage (links), and a large side of grits. Damn I’m hungry. Anyway… I approach the entrance and swing in, only to practically run into the end of the line! It extended from the counter almost to the door! This place is a little faster than my breakfast place, but only marginally. A quick estimate puts it at anywhere between 10-15 people in line – it’ll take me nearly 10 mins just to pick up my sub-par breakfast. With an audible curse I press on to the office and head straight to my blog.

UGH!

Have you ever noticed how often people um? Maybe it’s just me or maybe I just deal with some people predisposed to using the filler. I remember from a speaker I’d heard once, that people use it as filler while they collect their thoughts. It’s a crutch really and the sign of a weak speaker.

I’m usually ok if I just listen to the person speaking, but once I notice the ums, I can’t stop noticing them. And then I start counting them… and then I get frustrated and antsy. That many ums and I can just feel my time being wasted.

An average um + pause can use, let’s say, 2 seconds. In a 30 minute meeting/conversation with ummage occuring every 10 seconds on average, that’s 180 ums. You have literally wasted 6 full minutes just saying “ummm“. Think about that the next time you reach for an um.