Land of Oz

Snow!

Hokey smoke Rocky - it's been snowing! This photo is from Saturday, 24 January. I had just finished shoveling out my driveway. Yesterday we had nearly another 30 cm/ 12" of snow. Most of my driveway and sidewalks are relatively clear today. I wimped out after work tonight and decided not to shovel. I'll try to get some more done tomorrow morning. Basically, I'm now trying to find more places to stack the snow.

I have a teeny front yard next to the driveway and the driveway borders the house on one side and the neighbor's drive on the other. That means I have to move the snow to one end or the other and pile it up. I'm griping (aren't I always?) but I actually prefer shoveling snow to mowing the lawn. Especially the dry light stuff like we've had over the last few days. It's supposed to be below freezing for the foreseeable future, so my piles aren't going anywhere soon - sublimation only goes so far.

2fers: Snow 1 and Snow 2

Back to normal

I thought the great service of the other day was an aberration. Today I went to Sears during my lunch to check out their clearance shelf. I did find a spray can of Miniwax dark walnut stain with a clearance sticker on it, which is actually something I'd been on the lookout for. I asked at the paint counter and they said the price was half off -- just tell the checkout person.

So I go to the checkout lane with the can of paint and couple of other items. She scans the paint as $4.60. I said no, it's got a clearance tag -- it's half off. She says she'll have to call. So she calls someone and there's no answer. She asks someone else where so-and-so is and they say he's at the paint department today. My first question is if she's checking a paint price, why didn't she call the paint department. She finally gets the guy at the paint department and he confirms it's actually half off. Hey, you can never tell, I might have been covering up the fact that it was only 20% off and I wanted to get that extra 30% off. I told her if they would mark these things with a price, this wouldn't happen. She told me basically that there wasn't anything she could do about and she really didn't care if it wasn't marked. And oh, by the way, I have to call a manager to approve this sale.

So now I have to wait for a manager to show up. This is for $2.30 remember. The manager finally shows up and I again complain about things not being priced -- in fact a lot of the stuff in the clearance isn't and never has been price tagged. She has the audacity to say that bothers her to. What the hell -- she's a manager! I told her that if she's a manager why doesn't she do something about it. That's what managers are supposed to do, isn't it?

So anyway, what should have been a simple, run-in and run-out purchase during my lunch break ended up involving, a checkout clerk, somebody she had to ask about where someone else she had to ask was at. (got that?), the somebody she finally asked, and a manager who can't manage.

2fers: Minwax and Tractor Supply Co -- again

Tractor Supply Co

Surprise! I'm not going to gripe about a store today. Actually, I'm going to sing some praises of one. Last year I bought a Union Tools aluminum scoop shovel for snow removal. One of the funny things at the time was that while it was advertised for shoveling grain and was sold in an farming biased store, it wasn't guaranteed for "agricultural use."

Anyway, I thought it was kind of expensive ($30) compared to other snow shovels, but I thought that since it was guaranteed for 10 years it would be worth it. And it did seem solidly made with Fiberglas handle and fairly heavy aluminum scoop. Well, last year it did fine. This year, a couple of days ago, the handle became loose and allowed the scoop to twist in relation to the end handle. Made it hard to keep snow in it. I looked at the tag on the handle and thought, why not try returning it. I didn't have a sales slip, or any other proof of purchase, but I thought I'd try. I got myself all psyched up for a real battle.

Alas, no battle ensued. I walked in with the shovel in hand and a clerk came up to me and asked if he could help. I explained I'd like to return the shovel and showed him how it was loose. He said, "No problem - follow me" and we walked over to the shovel display. They didn't have the particular brand or model I bought, but he pointed out a similar wood handled shovel and said they replace it with that. I was quite shocked actually. We took it back to the counter and they rung it up and handed me a new receipt! Wow! Sad to say, I'm was really impressed with what should be normal service. Can you believe they actually people working who knew what to do without running for a non-existent manager? Count me as a satisfied customer.


Only a 1fer: Tractor Supply Co.

kids and adults

I'm not one for eulogies and such, but this week two guys who I've had a lot of respect for have died. In many ways these two guys are at the opposite ends of the spectrum. One is Captain Kangaroo and the other is Helmut Newton. For those of you who aren't familiar with these two guys, one was involved in kid's entertainment and the other in adult's entertainment. My memories of both are the grays of black and white photography. For one it was the grainy black and white pictures on an old television as the Captain and Mr. Green Sleeves wandered around their set interacting with various puppets and cartoons. For the other it was the stark sharp black and white photos of stern faced, magnificently figured women, usually in naught but heels and an attitude.

My memories of the Captain need a little google help these days. Forty-year old childhood memories of Tom Terrific and Bunny Rabbit come to mind. Compare those to today's animatronic/cgi developed equivalents of Yoda and Nemo. The visual qualities are so much better, but is the content any better? Mostly I remember a kindly old gent wearing a coat of big pockets (hence the kangaroo) with simple cartoons in a simple day. Rest easy Captain.

What Helmut brings to mind is something else altogether. Childhood is left far behind and stark black and white images of imperious women are still freshly remembered. His series of Lisa Lyon contains some of the best woman bodybuilder photographs ever taken. What fantasies his photos bring forth.

I can't help but wonder when these two meet up in whatever afterlife there may be what they might think of each other.

2fers: Helmut Newton and Captain Kangaroo

 

 

 

spam is not SPAM®

Have you noticed how well the fed's laws on spam are doing these days? I can honestly say my spam has increased since then. I have one account that is getting upwards of 200-300 spams a day. That is the account I use for most of my online info, so I guess it's to be expected. I have a couple of other accounts that don't get anywhere near that amount of spam.

A couple of thoughts about spam. One, is that obviously I hate it. But I'm not sure who I blame for it the most. The spammers out there are reprehensible, however, they only do it for a profit. Somewhere there is a bunch of idiots who actually read spam and what's even worse, act on it.

How completely brain addled can you be people?!?!? Do you really think that a company who is sending an e-mail to you (on the rare occasion your address is in the To: block) and can't spell free or mortgage without resorting to ** and ^^ is really to be trusted?

Are you so absolutely bereft of common sense that you will actually send money to one of these jokers? Nothing that is sold from a misspelled, badly written e-mail can in any way add hair to your head, inches to your p3n1s, or $30,000,000 from Nigerian politicians to your wallet. Quit answering these idiots.

So yes, I do hate spammers, however I hate even more the idiots who keep spamming a profitable business.

By the way, SPAM® is a food (so I've been told) product of the Hormel® company while spam is a communications (so I've been told) that is unwanted. Got it? You can eat SPAM® and only read spam.

addendum (01-23): I just looked at 110 spams in one of my accounts. I've noticed that the latest trend seems to be gibberish in the subject lines. Are there really people who are that stupid or hard up to read a message with a virtually random collection of letters for a subject and then reply to it?

2fers: SPAM® and spam

edittting

I do writing for a living. Most of what I do is technical writing as opposed to marketing writing (or fluff as some call it). Most of what I do is supposed to be reviewed by someone. That someone will make their revisions and then send it back to me to update and then finally I post it online or have it printed.

Here's the question I have. The editor is one of those who likes to re-write stuff in his style, and makes sure to really nitpick things I've written (like isn't to is not or do not to don't). He will change procedures which are technically accurate into a "marketing" style prose that in all honesty is inaccurate. Another problem is that he will require things written in a certain manner for the first draft and then change that in subsequent drafts, and probably change them again. For example, we may describe a feature in general terms and then spell out specifics about it, while in the second revision, we describe specifics and after that tell the customer what they are using.

So, what do I do when he has errors in his revisions? For example, "we like it's color" or "... going home.The truck..." It drives me crazy. And when I get this stuff he makes me feel like I have no idea of what is expected -- which is true, because while I followed his last explanation, his new expectation is once again different.

What I've decided to do is to revise to his latest version (however poorly written it is) and then once it's online and under his radar, go in and correct all the little typos and such that he's added to the mix. Oh, and one last thing. Project requests from his office are usually "we need this now" and then it sits for a month, and then all of a sudden, it's we need the latest version tomorrow for a launch. Sigh... Dilbert is alive and well in my company.

BTW, don't look for acccuracy here -- this is escapism for me and I'll rite how I want to write.

Neighbors from hell

Yep - I got them. When I moved here, there was a real nice couple who lived next door. That lasted for about 5 months. The wife got a job offer in Wisconsin and off they went. Then disaster. Two brothers and a friend bought the place. Naturally, they have a rock band. They got so noisy one day that a house at the other end of the block called the police. The police had to cuff one of the band members when he got belligerent with them.

They were kind of quiet for awhile after that. You should see the house and yard though. A tree blew down in front of their of house in a summer thunderstorm and they dumped all the branches behind their house on top of the air conditioner. After a week I couldn't stand it anymore and let them know that they stood a good chance of burning out the air conditioner. They growled at the "old man" and went on their way. Several days later I noticed the branches had been pulled off the air conditioner and piled next to it.

About once a month I have to pick up beer cans or bottles in my yard. Last week there was a whole empty case sitting in my front yard. They've shoveled their sidewalk exactly once since they moved in. There is a pile of garbage bags, old cardboard boxes, beer cans, and who knows what all, sitting outside of their backdoor -- it's been there about three months.

Lately they've been taking to having parties that start about 3 a.m. and go to 6 or so. This week it happened three times. The second time I finally called the police. The third time I went to their door (mind you it's about 8 degrees right now and I have to get to work in about 4 hours) and knocked to ask them to turn it down. They wouldn't even answer the door. I knew they knew I was out there, because I could hear their dogs barking at me and could even hear them wondering who was at the door. I finally yelled for them to turn the noise down and left -- and then I called the police again. I don't know if the police ever made it, but it did get quieter.

When they first moved here I thought we came to an understanding. I wouldn't bitch about the noise if they kept it to two or three nights a week and quieted down after midnight. This last week, they seemed to give that up. By the way, our city has a ordinance about parking on the streets between 3 a.m. and 6 a.m. so that's one of the things I complain about when I call. They usually have about 6 - 8 cars scattered around the block.

And yeah they do drugs - or at least their guests do. I watched a couple of them this fall smoking crack outside their cellar door during another big party. I let the police know my suspicions, but I don't think they bothered to check. There were young kids at this party too. Their music is so loud that I can hear it over my table saw in the basement when they are playing!

This fall they took all the extensions off their gutter downspouts and just left them on the ground. I don't plan on telling them anything this time. I'm hoping their basement will flood and electrocute the bass player. All in all, the most reprehensible bunch of kids I've ever had the displeasure of coming in contact with. I just hope the police catch them at the right time and bust their ass.

hot and cold

Why doesn't anyone say, "It must be 9 degrees in the shade!" You always hear that phrase in the summertime. Someone will come into the office, their shirt sticking to them, a flushed look on their face, and they say, "It must be 110 degrees in the shade!"

But not in the winter. In the winter, you'll hear things like, "Man, it's freezing out there!" The fact that it began to freeze 22 degrees and 3 weeks ago doesn't seem to fit into the equation.

Personally, I prefer the cold. I've always found it easier to put on some extra clothes or huddle under a feather blanket to warm up than to shed clothes to cool off. After all, you can only take so much off and then you're not only an eyesore (at least I am, unlike say, Demi Moore), but you're still hot, as is Demi Moore.

I actually like to keep my house around 61 or 62 when I'm home. Sometimes, when I'm feeling a little under the weather, I'll crank it up to 64 or 65. When I'm away for the day, I'll turn it down to 55 or so. Normally I lounge around in an old pair of sweats and be perfectly comfortable. Sometimes, if I settle in to watch TV or a video, I'll pull a blanket over me. I spend a lot of time in my basement, where last night it was around 55. I have some woodworking tools down there and with a sweatshirt on under my workshirt I'm quite content. I've not been able to wear my house slippers down there though, they just aren't warm enough.

Speaking of temperatures, you have to wonder why we in the US are still holding on to old man Fahrenheit's namesake. My girlfriend lives in Canada, so when I'm comfy at 62, she's cold at Mr. Celsius' 17. By the way, how did -40 end up the same in both places. (historical aside: When I got my first computer, one of the things to do was to write a temperature conversion program. Hey, when you only 4K and interpreted BASIC, what can you expect. Anyway, when someone would show me a F to C program, I'd try -40. Usually they'd go crazy trying to find the bug.)

2fers: Anders Celsius and Gabriel Daniel Fahrenheit

Paint colors

I went out today to Sears to look for some dark brown paint for a toy chest I'm building. Do you realize that Sears doesn't sell dark brown paint? Actually, after looking over hundreds (at least) of paint chips, I don't think Sears sells any paint that is a real color. I'm not picking on Sears necessarily -- actually I kinda like Sears. I've found any other paint place is just as bad.

Here's what some of the Martha Stewart paint chips I picked up when looking for a brown were labeled:
Ok - so some of these I can understand, sort of; ivory, cornmeal, and tea bath (they're almost white, yellow, and tan). Most are questionable leaning to completely baffling; stone (granite, oil shale, marble?), twine (I've got some white twine and tan twine in my drawer right now), linen white (my linen white or my girlfriend's linen white), pebblestone (whatever that is, they have it as a lighter, more tan version of stone) and sundial (and all sundials are what??).

The problem is that if my girlfriend had been with me, she could instantly tell you how those colors relate to one another. That raw silk and buttercream are in fact completely different colors (not by my eyes). And the current rug in the bedroom I have would or wouldn't "go" with a beeswax and raw silk room decor.

And if you're wondering about what color I finally picked, it's one I found on a different set of paint chips - a non-celebrity/felon version. This one had:

Yes indeed, I actually found a brown. Now while I'm not too sure whose saddle this was copied from (I'd like to think it was John Wayne's), it is a dark brown.

2fers:Paint Colors and Real Colors