We all have pet peeves. Some are really annoying, some are dangerous behaviors and some are just plain pains in the butt! When I see a mother in an SUV on the phone with kids in the car running a stop sign - that really gets my goat! (Sometimes a father!) When I see two cars abreast of each other stopped and the divers are having a conversation and blocking the street - I really get pissed. When an 18 year oild waitress addresses my wife and I as "you guys," - that is annoying.
When I am watching a TV program and the news anchor comes on and poses a question such as "Nuclear attack, we will tell you where at 11!" Now you've go my dander up and my blood pressure as well. (DVRs are great for not getting that teaser.) AND ... when I get the message when I call an 800 number, "Our agents are busy helping other customers." Wow, all the other customers are more important than me - good to know how they feel about my business.
Everyday there is somehting that annoys us - some things more than others and to some people they just don't get annoyed! In this day of tough economic times, we try to make our days as pleasant as possible, these people who block streets or talk on cell phones while making illegal turns really want to ruin the day for me. If I could only tell them!
Facebook - that is really strange. I see parents communicating with their kids - who live in the same house, by posting. I see people revealing their innermost feelings that should be kept private being shared with their 1600 friends, most of whom they don't really know! Who cares - we have our own problems. Frankly, I don't care if you are going to the market, or the beach or to the doctor or to a poker game or walking in the mall - why do I have to know? Why do you have to tell me? (I don't have to look, either, but I do - it is entertaining).
One of my biggest pet peeves is when I buy a shirt and I go to check out. I fold the shirt so that the price tag is exposed for scanning. BUT, the cashier insists on unfolding it, scanning the tag and rolling the garment up like a rag and throwing it in the bag. So, I ask some questions such as, "do you thnk that the shirt is wearable now?" "Why do you feel the need to destroy my property?" 'If this was your shirt would you want it?"
Now that I have vented I want to hear from you. What are your pet peeves? What pisses you off? (Don't tell me people who write blogs about being pissed off!)
Monday, September 27, 2010
Friday, September 17, 2010
THE DANGER OF KNOWING TOO MUCH
"The Internet says." "I just Googled it." "Bing banged the data home." I know know that I am going to die with the disease that I have, or not!
We are all individuals and react chemically, physiologically and mentally to our bodies. We know when to go to the doctor, if we should go to the doctor and how long we can put off going to the doctor - after all the Internet says I have six months to live so I got time.The other web site says I have more than a year - well that was because I hadn't been in Tasmania in the past 12 months - does Tarzana count? Wait! I found a web site that says I will live forever. Forever, that is a long time, hmmm!
Here's the rub. We have a world of information at our fingertips and we read everything as if it was written just for us. Because it is in writing it is gospel. But self diagnosis is at best dangerous. We have a great deal of information without the data to back it up. So, we do go to the doctor. We are ready for the worst because the Internet says so.
Recently we had a family member who got sick with a viral infection. He spent seven days in the hospital, he had more images of his body taken than Lady Gaga at the MTV Awards.They suspected so many things and found - nothing. No, he had something, but the answer to what it might be was never found - nor will it ever be. The problem resolved it self in two weeks.Some anti-biotic and plenty of fluid. Get the fever down and some food, if he could. The Internet was sure he had Hepatitis A, maybe some other exotic infection, limes disease, mono - run down the list, take your pick, test for them all.. The Internet knows. It knows symptoms, treatments, medications, side effects, but the Internet does not know the patient.
The cadre of doctors preformed so many tests that they ran out of machines. Literally, there were no more machines to scan, poke, nudge and annoy the patient. A simple thermometer was the indicator of the progress of the patient. It appears that the severity of any illness is in direct proportion to the amount of information on the Internet and how many machines that the hospital has that they can bill for.
I can recall when I had a similar set of symptoms. I did not go out of my neighborhood without my mother's permission, so travel was limited to a few blocks. No exotic tick bites. When I walked in the house, I was light headed, dizzy, running a fever and threw up. My mother called the doctor. He said I had the Grip. Give him fluids, best rest and keep him cool for about two weeks. It worked. My mother paid the doctor about $5 for that regimen.
In spite of the tests and all the Internet data, this patient was monitored with a thermometer, kept cool, got plenty of fluids and lo and behold he is better in two weeks. Where is good old Doc Shapiro when you need him.(He'd be about 123, if he were still alive).
Is there a moral to this story? No. Just see the doctor and tell him how you feel and not what Internet says you should feel.
We are all individuals and react chemically, physiologically and mentally to our bodies. We know when to go to the doctor, if we should go to the doctor and how long we can put off going to the doctor - after all the Internet says I have six months to live so I got time.The other web site says I have more than a year - well that was because I hadn't been in Tasmania in the past 12 months - does Tarzana count? Wait! I found a web site that says I will live forever. Forever, that is a long time, hmmm!
Here's the rub. We have a world of information at our fingertips and we read everything as if it was written just for us. Because it is in writing it is gospel. But self diagnosis is at best dangerous. We have a great deal of information without the data to back it up. So, we do go to the doctor. We are ready for the worst because the Internet says so.
Recently we had a family member who got sick with a viral infection. He spent seven days in the hospital, he had more images of his body taken than Lady Gaga at the MTV Awards.They suspected so many things and found - nothing. No, he had something, but the answer to what it might be was never found - nor will it ever be. The problem resolved it self in two weeks.Some anti-biotic and plenty of fluid. Get the fever down and some food, if he could. The Internet was sure he had Hepatitis A, maybe some other exotic infection, limes disease, mono - run down the list, take your pick, test for them all.. The Internet knows. It knows symptoms, treatments, medications, side effects, but the Internet does not know the patient.
The cadre of doctors preformed so many tests that they ran out of machines. Literally, there were no more machines to scan, poke, nudge and annoy the patient. A simple thermometer was the indicator of the progress of the patient. It appears that the severity of any illness is in direct proportion to the amount of information on the Internet and how many machines that the hospital has that they can bill for.
I can recall when I had a similar set of symptoms. I did not go out of my neighborhood without my mother's permission, so travel was limited to a few blocks. No exotic tick bites. When I walked in the house, I was light headed, dizzy, running a fever and threw up. My mother called the doctor. He said I had the Grip. Give him fluids, best rest and keep him cool for about two weeks. It worked. My mother paid the doctor about $5 for that regimen.
In spite of the tests and all the Internet data, this patient was monitored with a thermometer, kept cool, got plenty of fluids and lo and behold he is better in two weeks. Where is good old Doc Shapiro when you need him.(He'd be about 123, if he were still alive).
Is there a moral to this story? No. Just see the doctor and tell him how you feel and not what Internet says you should feel.
Thursday, September 9, 2010
MADE IN OCCUPIED JAPAN
That is what we found stamped on the Jacker Crack prizes, toys, some other low cost items that we found in the five and ten or the drugstore. (Dating myself, am I!). The one thing that these products all had in common, they were crap.
Fast forward a few years and we have "Made in China." These products, too were crap. And many still are considering the materials that are used to make these items. Lead in the paint and other dangerous materials they use to keep the costs down. Would you trust a sipping straw that said it was made in China? That is what it said at the hospital where we got a drink. The problem is that we, Americans, don't make anything anymore. Maybe that is an exaggeration,or maybe not. How many factories are there in your city? Of the ones that are functioning, what do they make?
Go to you local Home Depot and look for made in the USA on products that sound like USA products. Tools, power tools, building materials, all made in China. Consider the drywall made China that was corroding wiring and creating unhealthy conditions for new homeowners where they had to tear the home down - now that is crap. There is no pride in workmanship.
What happened? Starting in the 80s our government said that we should build things cheaper, borrow more money to buy them things and we will all prosper. The government gave tax credits to companies that moved their manufacturing off shore - and the companies obliged by moving manufacturing to places we only heard about in musical comedies - such as Bali, Sri Lanka, etc. and of course China where slave labor was real cheap and there were no unions.
It started with Ronald Reagan, who famously said and we forgot that he said it, "Taxes should hurt." "Deficits don't matter." He forgot to enumerate who taxes should hurt - after all it was the middle class that pays the bills for the top 2% of the US. Since George Bush (W) took a surplus, gave tax cuts to the top 2% and went out an borrowed the money to pay for it, he agrees, deficits don't matter. Where did the borrowed money come from - yep, China!
In an overstatement, let me say we don't make anything in the US anymore. Remember when the GOP wanted not to bail out the auto companies? They want to continue to make things elsewhere - even if it is crap. Toyota is a good example of crap wrapped in a pretty package. Their opposition was so overt it screamed "I am being paid by Mazda, Infiniti and other made somewhere else products. Yes, there are factories in the US assembling parts made in Japan - lower wages are being paid to assemble there cars - no union benefits such as health care, vacations, pensions, etc. I am not a big fan of unions, but they have their place - and they are not where they should be.
Be careful - we are in a time that Seinfeld called Bonzo time. Up is down and down is up. The United States Chamber of Commerce is not part of the US Government, bet you didn't know that. The 95% of Americans that got tax cuts are convinced they got raises - Bonzo! Letting the Bush tax cuts expire and return to where they were is not raising taxes - it is reducing borrowing - but you are being told it is an increase in taxes. They want us to pay back the loan to China for that tax break - now that is crap.
Oh, but don't pay any attention to this stuff - the Muslims are building a terrorist operational center at ground zero. Look there, that is where the problems are all coming from! Or, watch out of all of the illegals coming in to the US taking our jobs and beheading citizens. Now this is real crap - made in the USA.
Fast forward a few years and we have "Made in China." These products, too were crap. And many still are considering the materials that are used to make these items. Lead in the paint and other dangerous materials they use to keep the costs down. Would you trust a sipping straw that said it was made in China? That is what it said at the hospital where we got a drink. The problem is that we, Americans, don't make anything anymore. Maybe that is an exaggeration,or maybe not. How many factories are there in your city? Of the ones that are functioning, what do they make?
Go to you local Home Depot and look for made in the USA on products that sound like USA products. Tools, power tools, building materials, all made in China. Consider the drywall made China that was corroding wiring and creating unhealthy conditions for new homeowners where they had to tear the home down - now that is crap. There is no pride in workmanship.
What happened? Starting in the 80s our government said that we should build things cheaper, borrow more money to buy them things and we will all prosper. The government gave tax credits to companies that moved their manufacturing off shore - and the companies obliged by moving manufacturing to places we only heard about in musical comedies - such as Bali, Sri Lanka, etc. and of course China where slave labor was real cheap and there were no unions.
It started with Ronald Reagan, who famously said and we forgot that he said it, "Taxes should hurt." "Deficits don't matter." He forgot to enumerate who taxes should hurt - after all it was the middle class that pays the bills for the top 2% of the US. Since George Bush (W) took a surplus, gave tax cuts to the top 2% and went out an borrowed the money to pay for it, he agrees, deficits don't matter. Where did the borrowed money come from - yep, China!
In an overstatement, let me say we don't make anything in the US anymore. Remember when the GOP wanted not to bail out the auto companies? They want to continue to make things elsewhere - even if it is crap. Toyota is a good example of crap wrapped in a pretty package. Their opposition was so overt it screamed "I am being paid by Mazda, Infiniti and other made somewhere else products. Yes, there are factories in the US assembling parts made in Japan - lower wages are being paid to assemble there cars - no union benefits such as health care, vacations, pensions, etc. I am not a big fan of unions, but they have their place - and they are not where they should be.
Be careful - we are in a time that Seinfeld called Bonzo time. Up is down and down is up. The United States Chamber of Commerce is not part of the US Government, bet you didn't know that. The 95% of Americans that got tax cuts are convinced they got raises - Bonzo! Letting the Bush tax cuts expire and return to where they were is not raising taxes - it is reducing borrowing - but you are being told it is an increase in taxes. They want us to pay back the loan to China for that tax break - now that is crap.
Oh, but don't pay any attention to this stuff - the Muslims are building a terrorist operational center at ground zero. Look there, that is where the problems are all coming from! Or, watch out of all of the illegals coming in to the US taking our jobs and beheading citizens. Now this is real crap - made in the USA.
Friday, September 3, 2010
HI, MY NAME IS PEGGY!
There is a new movie coming out call "Outsourced." It is supposed to be a comedy but I find nothing funny about it. Have you seen the commercial with a guy spouting an eastern European accent who calls himself Peggy and the only English word he knows is "yes." Many US companies are outsourcing middle class jobs - where does it stop.This is the reason why qualified graduates of United States universities and high schools can't get jobs. It is not the immigrant that sneaks into the US at night that is taking the jobs - it is the Dells, the Hewlett-Packards, the Intels, the Bank of Americas that are taking the jobs and sending where the pay is little and the number of people that fill them is amazing.
Why are they doing it? Pretty simple:
1. Lower wages to pay
2. No benefits to pay - sick pay, vacations, personal time, etc.
3. No unions to consider
4. No 401Ks or any retirement
5. No health care (how many smaller US companies have located in Canada?)
So, these companies find their Peggys. If you call your computer company you are talking to India - they will tell you Kansas. Complain about a charge on your credit card - your are talking to someone in Manila. What is disgusting about this whole process is that the people this policy most hurts are the people that are demonstrating for more such policies. Tea Party sound familiar?
Many are demonstrating and are vocal about the Health Insurance Bill. These people, (many who are on unemployment) are supporting the hundred million dollar salaries of the Insurance execs. It never ceases to amaze me that people can be so vocal and so adamant about being against their own self best interest.
My heaven, how cruel, the government says that the insurers must use 80 cents of every dollar I pay them for my healthcare towards my healthcare - how can they company make any money that way? How can the execs get their bonuses? Please, charge me more - so they did - up to 39% more and these who are demonstrating asked for it.
So, to divert attention, we as a people created an "immigration" problem. When I go to Home Depot. I have never once seen anyone I know standing out there and looking for work. The high school kid looking for summer work is not there. He is doing in store training in hamburger preparation because the job in the factory is gone off shore. The college graduate is not there - they are beating their brains out asking where is the job I am trained for? Ask Peggy, yes!
Not every job can be outsourced but look what happens to the jobs that are left! A hundred people are applying for the same open position. That position used to pay about $30 an hour. You want the job - how's $15 with no benefits?
The right wing does not want money for small business loans that would employ more people. No way! They just killed a $30B bill that would do that through local banks. No, keep them unemployed is their motto. Kill unemployment benefits - keep them hungry is their motto. Then these same people point fingers and say that they can do better if in power. I am not sure what that means but I don't want to find out.
Time to get smart. Sound bites are hazardous to our health. Diversionary tactics like the Mosque that isn't, that is being built at Ground Zero that isn't. The Dick Morrises of the world think we are really stupid, let's stop proving it to them. Then you have HBO - Hannity, Beck and O'Reilly - they could be a singing group the Poison Sisters.
I guess I am jealous. I wish I was a CEO with a $100M a year income that is being protected by hundreds of thousands of unemployed people. At least I would say "Thank you."
With love, Peggy!
Why are they doing it? Pretty simple:
1. Lower wages to pay
2. No benefits to pay - sick pay, vacations, personal time, etc.
3. No unions to consider
4. No 401Ks or any retirement
5. No health care (how many smaller US companies have located in Canada?)
So, these companies find their Peggys. If you call your computer company you are talking to India - they will tell you Kansas. Complain about a charge on your credit card - your are talking to someone in Manila. What is disgusting about this whole process is that the people this policy most hurts are the people that are demonstrating for more such policies. Tea Party sound familiar?
Many are demonstrating and are vocal about the Health Insurance Bill. These people, (many who are on unemployment) are supporting the hundred million dollar salaries of the Insurance execs. It never ceases to amaze me that people can be so vocal and so adamant about being against their own self best interest.
My heaven, how cruel, the government says that the insurers must use 80 cents of every dollar I pay them for my healthcare towards my healthcare - how can they company make any money that way? How can the execs get their bonuses? Please, charge me more - so they did - up to 39% more and these who are demonstrating asked for it.
So, to divert attention, we as a people created an "immigration" problem. When I go to Home Depot. I have never once seen anyone I know standing out there and looking for work. The high school kid looking for summer work is not there. He is doing in store training in hamburger preparation because the job in the factory is gone off shore. The college graduate is not there - they are beating their brains out asking where is the job I am trained for? Ask Peggy, yes!
Not every job can be outsourced but look what happens to the jobs that are left! A hundred people are applying for the same open position. That position used to pay about $30 an hour. You want the job - how's $15 with no benefits?
The right wing does not want money for small business loans that would employ more people. No way! They just killed a $30B bill that would do that through local banks. No, keep them unemployed is their motto. Kill unemployment benefits - keep them hungry is their motto. Then these same people point fingers and say that they can do better if in power. I am not sure what that means but I don't want to find out.
Time to get smart. Sound bites are hazardous to our health. Diversionary tactics like the Mosque that isn't, that is being built at Ground Zero that isn't. The Dick Morrises of the world think we are really stupid, let's stop proving it to them. Then you have HBO - Hannity, Beck and O'Reilly - they could be a singing group the Poison Sisters.
I guess I am jealous. I wish I was a CEO with a $100M a year income that is being protected by hundreds of thousands of unemployed people. At least I would say "Thank you."
With love, Peggy!
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