The Vent and Rant Thread

[RickyMaveety]

Originally Posted by phenomshel

Don't drive in Illinois, is all I have to say. They're even worse here. Having experienced both, I can say this with assurance.

Oh my non-existent god .... WORSE??? Than the drivers here?? I'm already jittery about driving around here, what with the good-ol-boy drunks in their big ol trucks, leaving whole families just a smear on the pavement. I would hate it (HATE IT) somewhere where the driving was worse.

Oh, and by the way, they paved over the burned part of the road where my former car started on fire. Not certain if I'm happy or sad about that.

Well, back to painting, and general furniture repair ... and waiting for the dishwasher repair guy (different company, I'm hoping this company has competent employees).

[Lady Blue]

Originally Posted by pshrynk

This is in addition to the necessary hole for drainage. And, since it is a concrete construction, it weighs in at about 300 pounds so a replacement is not happenning as far as I know... they intend to patch it.

I bet they have no intention of giving you any kind of price break on the sink for not getting the NEW, PRISTINE PIECE you paid for, either, right? I'm sure they figure if they can make it look as good as new, then there's no credit to be had.

I sure hope they can make it look as good and 'perform' as well as its pristine counterpart.

[RickyMaveety]

Originally Posted by pshrynk

This is in addition to the necessary hole for drainage. And, since it is a concrete construction, it weighs in at about 300 pounds so a replacement is not happenning as far as I know... they intend to patch it.

They aren't going to charge you anything .... right?? Because, patching concrete is screamingly simple to do. Although, the downside is that patched concrete generally looks like patched concrete. Not a huge problem if it's a small hole. But, how does one get an unintentional hole in thick concrete???

[phenomshel]

Originally Posted by RickyMaveety

Oh my non-existent god .... WORSE??? Than the drivers here?? I'm already jittery about driving around here, what with the good-ol-boy drunks in their big ol trucks, leaving whole families just a smear on the pavement. I would hate it (HATE IT) somewhere where the driving was worse.

Oh, and by the way, they paved over the burned part of the road where my former car started on fire. Not certain if I'm happy or sad about that.

Well, back to painting, and general furniture repair ... and waiting for the dishwasher repair guy (different company, I'm hoping this company has competent employees).

Well, in IL's defense, (according to Chris, who is Chicago born and raised), look who we have making our traffic laws.

But drivers here are fearless and stubborn to the point of being stupid. State Rt. 2 runs through the middle of town. There are two ways to get to it. One involves a suicidal corner, and the other involves a left turn off the main road through town with no left turn lane. Anyone trying to turn left off Galena Ave. onto Rt. 2 at certain times of day can tie up traffic for half an hour. Turning left ON to Galena at certain intersections can be just as problematic.
I saw a lady turn left off Galena onto Rt. 2 the other day in front of a semi...missed her by thismuch. No one else even turned a hair. I shook for half an hour.

[kazbates]

Originally Posted by phenomshel

Well, in IL's defense, (according to Chris, who is Chicago born and raised), look who we have making our traffic laws.

But drivers here are fearless and stubborn to the point of being stupid. State Rt. 2 runs through the middle of town. There are two ways to get to it. One involves a suicidal corner, and the other involves a left turn off the main road through town with no left turn lane. Anyone trying to turn left off Galena Ave. onto Rt. 2 at certain times of day can tie up traffic for half an hour. Turning left ON to Galena at certain intersections can be just as problematic.
I saw a lady turn left off Galena onto Rt. 2 the other day in front of a semi...missed her by thismuch. No one else even turned a hair. I shook for half an hour.

I'll have you know that my father used to teach driver's education at our high school (a small town south of Chicago and north of Joliet) for 35 years. On the last day of behind the wheel training, he used to give each student a dime and told them to give him a call when they started driving on their own so he could get his kids off the street. He stopped doing it when toll calls went up to 25 cents.

[phenomshel]

Originally Posted by kazbates

I'll have you know that my father used to teach driver's education at our high school (a small town south of Chicago and north of Joliet) for 35 years. On the last day of behind the wheel training, he used to give each student a dime and told them to give him a call when they started driving on their own so he could get his kids off the street. He stopped doing it when toll calls went up to 25 cents.

My husband's parents live in Lockport. We've been there twice. The first time it had been so long since he'd been there, he got us lost and I ended up in some section of Joliet til he figured out where he was, and then coming back I got stuck in Aurora in bumper-to-bumper three lane traffic. The second time we took all back roads, and my nerves stood that a little better. Going to his sister's in Carpentersville isn't much better.

[krisk]

I had a rather fortuitous traffic tie up in Chicago that made me miss a plane last year. I had been at the Great Lakes Naval Training Base doing a job and was ready to fly back to Seattle. I ended up on this horrid 4 lane highway with traffic lights. I couldn't figure out how to get away from it and sure enough missed my flight. that night was the beginning of all of the little airlines shutting down and other airlines cancelling flights for a variety of reasons, this was last April. In addition to all of that, a monster storm went through Minneapolis where I was supposed to change planes which shut that airport down over night. the company got me one of the last hotel rooms in Chicago that night, and I got out around 10 the next day. it was a good thing too as I had less than 36 hours to turn around and go to Hawaii for another project. that was a grueling job.

[phenomshel]

Originally Posted by krisk

I had a rather fortuitous traffic tie up in Chicago that made me miss a plane last year. I had been at the Great Lakes Naval Training Base doing a job and was ready to fly back to Seattle. I ended up on this horrid 4 lane highway with traffic lights. I couldn't figure out how to get away from it and sure enough missed my flight. that night was the beginning of all of the little airlines shutting down and other airlines cancelling flights for a variety of reasons, this was last April. In addition to all of that, a monster storm went through Minneapolis where I was supposed to change planes which shut that airport down over night. the company got me one of the last hotel rooms in Chicago that night, and I got out around 10 the next day. it was a good thing too as I had less than 36 hours to turn around and go to Hawaii for another project. that was a grueling job.

Yeah, that whole bit with all the little airlines shutting down has caused major problems for us. We used to be able to fly Jay (my son) from Dallas/Ft. Worth into Chicago Midway on a nonstop flight via AirTran. Now there ARE no direct non-stop flights from DFW to Midway, and this trip he'll have to fly into Chicago O'Hare via American, for over a hundred dollars more than it used to cost us.
Not to mention American's unaccompanied minor charge (Jay is 13, American requires unaccompanied minor on all passengers under 15 flying alone) is almost twice that of AirTran's.

[ShortNCuddlyAm]

Venting and ranting at myself for thinking I was too ill to go and vote on Thursday, and at the fact that the BNP got two seats in the Euro Parliament.

[yvanleterrible]

Originally Posted by Lady Blue

Now why would you want to go and do that?

It was meant for DG(since Marc is not there) and you got between us. Thanks!

[montsnmags]

Originally Posted by Verencat

...
No one was taking the lead while the boss was out on vacation, everyone "throwing the monkey" (poor Adrian)

As Ricky is always reminding me, Adrian is an ape, not a monkey. I know this, but I tend to take a rather relaxed attitude towards little, arbitrary things like "word definitions". Of course, I'm a (interfenestral) monkey, but still, no offence taken.

Originally Posted by ShortNCuddlyAm

If it helps to talk about it here, talk about it here. Bottling things in is really, really bad for you. Voice of experience, 'n all.
...

Two years ago I was fired from a company I had been employed by for 12 years (and by a boss I had worked for for 19). The Loved One doesn't like me saying "fired", but rather "let go" or "made redundant", but to me, particularly at the time, it was "generously fired". The boss was also a "friend". I was fired as a bargaining chip to improve a relationship with another (non-customer, shit-full) company who didn't like me doing the job I was charged with (project management and system security monitoring and "policing"). I excelled at what I did. It was because of this that they wanted me gone. The boss himself said and says this. He fired me anyway, thus simultaneously humiliating me in front of what is a fairly incestuous industry.

I had a lot of expectations from my employment/employer. Do the right thing; receive the rewards. Earn trust; receive it. Loyalty pays. Excel at your job, become a critical employee; get stability and safety. Friendship...

...ah, well, no need to open that cranium of worms. I don't work now, and I'm grateful I don't need to. Suffice to say, none of the variables above mean anything to me. Words...well, they're just words, and they're tricksy, and people will use them and review them in ways to convince themselves and you that "the right thing" is being done and that you/they deserve it. Look after yourself, and give that self with care.

Shaking hands still keeps the other hand free, and you need to watch both.

...all of which is the cynical distrust of post-betrayal. It can leave a taint, and I'm one to rub that taint into stain and that stain into bruise, so consider this simply the morose meanderings of a melancholy monkey. If you do find yourself starting to bruise though, verencat, come talk to us, okay? There's a ways to go past the bruising, and you probably don't want to head down (again?) into those dark, drowned woods. Talking helps, and here folks'll listen. Sometimes it's enough.

Originally Posted by Peverel

Just remember the old saying:

'I'd rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy'

Sorry, Perceval, I can't remember anything since the frontal lobotomy.

Originally Posted by Lady Blue

If I remember correctly, he has relatives visiting.

But I'm often wrong, so . . . where's Marc these days? - not on holiday surely? (I'm a copy kitty.)

Visiting relatives for the long weekend, but now back and catching up. You're a chatty lot, you know?

Cheers,
Marc

[zelda_pinwheel]

Originally Posted by ShortNCuddlyAm

Venting and ranting at myself for thinking I was too ill to go and vote on Thursday, and at the fact that the BNP got two seats in the Euro Parliament.

ouch. in france, the front national (i think it's about the same as the BNP) won 3 seats, which is shamelful. the european parliament is discouragingly conservatist and right-wing. http://q.liberation.fr/flash/electio...rte-Europe.swf (blue is right wing, pink is left wing, orange is centrist). the party i voted for (europe écologie) won 14 seats in france, so that is good, but it could have been better. and the swedish pirate party won one seat, which should be interesting.

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by zelda_pinwheel

ouch. in france, the front national (i think it's about the same as the BNP) won 3 seats, which is shamelful. the european parliament is discouragingly conservatist and right-wing. http://q.liberation.fr/flash/electio...rte-Europe.swf (blue is right wing, pink is left wing, orange is centrist). the party i voted for (europe écologie) won 14 seats in france, so that is good, but it could have been better. and the swedish pirate party won one seat, which should be interesting.

If there was a Dutch pirate party, I'd have voted The PVV (you may know it's main member, Geert Wilders....) here also won four seats...

Disturbing...

[zelda_pinwheel]

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

If there was a Dutch pirate party, I'd have voted

me too, if we had one in france ! especially after the hadopi debacle !! copyright desperately needs reforming and sarko is on the wrong side in this fight. unfortunately, his party (ump) won the majority of seats for france (30). *sigh*

The PVV (you may know it's main member, Geert Wilders....) here also won four seats...

Disturbing...

very disturbing.

[zelda_pinwheel]

little bug has been driving me crazy lately, she spends half the day moaning pathetically. sometimes she wants cuddles but instead of coming to me she complains and complains until i go pick her up. sometimes she wants to play, but instead of playing with her toys (or her mother ! sheesh, that is why i kept both of them !!!) she moans and moans until i pay attention to her ; she wants only to play if i'm playing with her. now i finally got her distracted with one of my nylon shopping bags (it's one of her favorite toys ) and she is fighting with her teddy bear from inside it (teddy bear is on the outside... it's more fun that way apparently... ) and i can hear alarming sounds of tearing nylon. something tells me i should not plan to carry anything heavy in that bag anymore. i wish she would stop being so whiny and complainy !! i have work to do !!!