Thanks for the memories...

Which of the following is most irritating?

A) The service light of my car turns on and I have to go to the dealership to have it taken care of?

B) The guy in front of me in line at the dealership parks his car and refuses to get out of it. When he decides to get out of his car he looks at my car, half in the garage, half out of the garage, looks at the entrance, back at my car, and then proceeds to walk to the entrance. He then looks at me dumbfounded as a honk the horn at this asshole and ask him to pull his car forward so that I can be completely in the garage.

C) I must spend the next hour and a half listening to this idiot asshole abuse his "courtesy phone" privledges and make 5-8 business calls speaking as loud as a Penguins fan during yesterday's overtime win against the New York Rangers.

D) Pay $35 to have my tire "plugged" and have to deal with idiots at the car dealership.

E) All of the above

DC Metro and baseball

The angry consumer is back. Let me just say that I spent a good deal of time on Thursday traveling to the DC Nationals new baseball stadium. I was not very impressed with the new stadium, but it is a work in progress. Maybe I have been spoiled with PNC Park, but the food selection was poor and there was a minimal view of anything. Outside the ballpark there is virtually no development and no where to go for a quick bite to eat or drink. I think that once building was in place investors should have been breaking ground for some sort of convenience store and/or restaurants. I’m sure it will happen soon enough and is under development right now. The fact that I paid $7 for $18 seats and then received 5 free tickets, 3 of which were 3 rows from the 3rd base foul pole, shows how great the demand for Nats tickets and development really is.

As I stated earlier it took me some time to travel to the game. I drove to the Metro station and parked the car. I quickly arrived at the stop and was given the wrong information on the price of the subway ticket by a woman who would not accept my money, or for that matter teach me to use the vending machine card dispenser. Thankfully another frequent customer helped me out. I was also quite disappointed that I had to pay $10 to park at the Metro station. Yes they advertised it as $4.75, but either I did not understand the sign correctly, or they mislead me to understand that you have to pay an additional $5 for a Smartcard, a piece of plastic that probably costs $0.10 in addition to my $4.75 to park. If I was a regular using the DC Metro maybe I would not have issues with them. However DC is a major tourist center and should be a lot more “user friendly”. I have been to NYC, London, Atlanta, and several additional cities in Europe and the States whose system is so much better. The only city that has worse public transportation is Florence. However my experiences with public transport in that city are a whole story in itself, which involves a high fair and the possibility of jail time. I will save that store for some other time.

The angry consumer returns

I will have more to report on my experiences as an angry consumer with a certain Maryland subway system and a certain Maryland baseball team, but I'm mostly upset with Starbucks. Can someone explain to me why I paid nearly $3 for 8 oz of coffee? They reduced the size. I may not be the first to report this, but seriously I think a "tall" (8 oz. is not tall at all) used to be 12 oz. Good thing I'm not a Starbucks regular.

How much is a tree worth?

What do the following items all have in common? The answer is in the comments section.

Crystal Palace
Queens Park
Wembly
Norwich

I am an active recycler (is this a word?). I save my bottles and paper among other things. If I can reuse something I will get it fixed. I hate throwing stuff away. With that in mind I ask how much is a tree worth?

Not long ago I moved into a house which requires a homeowners association membership. The fees are bearable and I know that value of my home will not drastically decrease because my neighbor's house is an eyesore. I'm not exactly an expert on homeowners associations, but I'm sure that there is some relationship between the developer and the homeowners association. All of this leads me to the following scenario.

The homeowners association requires that there is a tree on the front lawn. I like trees, but they do shed in the fall which means I have to rake leaves. Insects, birds and other living creatures make their abodes in the tree as well, which is a little bothersome. That being said, I have to ask what the point of this "tree requirement" is. They developer came in and ripped thousands of trees to build my home, ruining the habitat of the local ecosystem. Is this some sort of guilty feeling? Some sort of unfair trade? The developers kill so many trees developing the land and later use wood in the home construction. I'm quite confindent that at least 10 trees were probably killed in the process of the construction of my home, yet they demand that I have one tree in my front lawn. I'm not griping about the tree or griping because I want to tear it down and replace it. I'm merely pointing out the contradiction of the developers and homeowners association.

What were you thinking??

So I awoke an hour ago, like I do everyday and pondered to myself a few things. Is it wrong of me to think this?

When I woke up
Maybe I don't have to go to work today. Maybe there was a flood, an electrical problem, Maybe the non-existant air conditioner, which has supposedly been turned on blew up. Ah it would be so nice to not go into work this morning. I'll hop on the computer and check the website. Maybe, as has happened in the past, I will get a nice "you don't have to go to work today" surprise

When I sat on the toilet

No, I did not think about child birth. Instead i thought to myself as I stared at the scale, "I really should have weighed myself before I sat down here". I followed that up with "I really should weigh myself after I sat down here". I wonder how much weight I lost in the process. Yea maybe I'm a little sick today.

As I jumped into the shower

How come the Flyers won last night? If they lost I would be able to see every game of the series. Now I may miss a few games. I hate the Flyers. Let's go Pens.

As I jumped back onto the computer

This Democratic primary season has really lasted a long time. Now that Hillary won PA, what does this mean for the election? Would Hillary have quit if she lost PA?

Before I log off the computer until I return home from work.

Will there please be some sort of electrical problem, a landslide, a flood, something that will force my place of occupation to shut down for a couple of days and provide me a couple of paid days off? I really need my coffee.

Bad Facial Hair Day

For my 18th birthday I received a brand new razor from Gillette. This was quite a bold move, but one that was brilliant. You see, since I received that Gillette Sensor razor, I have used Gillette products. Later I shifted to the Mach 3 razor. It provided a nice, clean and smooth shave. Being that I have a think beard, I needed a rugged razor like this.

Over the past year or so I have started to notice that my shave is far from perfect. Did my face change? When you look at your face daily it is tough to notice. I really don’t know. What I have begun to notice is that there are definitely some “trouble spots” in my shave. I can shave to same spot, to no avail, repeatedly. It is probably something that no one, but myself actually notices, but there is this tiny area underneath my huge snoz and an area on my chin that I just can’t get. Seriously though, how many people are 3 inches away from my face examining microscopic facial hairs? Probably not many.

Why am I blabbing about troubled facial hair spots on my face? Truthfully, I am wondering does anyone else experience these problems from shaving? If not, is it time to invest in a new razor? I am hoping that someone out here in cyber land can help provide me with some direction. You see if other people have these tiny areas then it is not just me. If they don’t, well Gillette I may have to say goodbye or demand that you stop spending money on British soccer teams and invest some money into some research and development projects. If that doesn't work I could always abandon the razor in favor of facial hair. Please feel free to help my by providing some input.

Oh and by the way, which of the following from this site, looks the most intersting? I may grow one if I receive enough feedback from this blog posting.

Bush Stimulus Package

As I have mentioned before on this blog, I am an amatuer economist. I asked that we cut the price of gas to help stimulate the economy. Obviously John McCain has been reading my blog. Read what McCain proposed in Pittsburgh today.

To Fart or Not To Fart... That is the Question

So youth sports in this country is a bit over the top. Parents spend thousands of dollars so their kids can play on "elite" teams in hopes of getting their kids a full ride to college. Needless to say it really doesn't happen that way.

So yesterday I was reffing some soccer games. It is sad to say, but there are certainly a number of parents who are more competitve then the kids. Yes everybody wants a winner, but is this one parent a little over the top in demanding that her son, the goalkeeper have a shut out to "get his XBox back" a little much?

As a referee I hear constant bickering about calls from the sideline. When the kids aren't complaining this should tell you something. Running as a linesman I also hear the snide comments directed at me as well. Some are subtle others are more direct. "Hey do you have a brother that works at soccer facility" as others are laughing. Others just want to know the time or score. I'd love to answer pay attention to the game or buy your own damn stopwatch, as the true professional I am, I don't respond to any questions a spectator on the sidelines has to say or even ask.

After hearing this bickering and annoying questions all day I am tired of it. I am thinking in the back of my head, what can I do to shut these people up? Shortly there after, I feel that bubble in my stomach, and the gas is ready to go. Now I have to think quickly. Do I let it rip or hold it?

Threre are so many things to consider, so let me ask you, the audience, what would you do if you want someone to get away from you quickly? I mean these are people I never expect to see again. Is farting in front of them a good way to get rid of them? What if it is not a smelly fart? What if it is? Do I really want to be remembered as a referee? They say the best referee is the one you don't notice. Do I really want to be remembered at "Farty the referee"? Please let me. know

I-70 mileage sign

Today is my birthday!!! Alright. I'm a year older. I won't reveal my special age.

On another note,

Can anyone tell me why it is that if you take interstate 70 in PA and Maryland the distances to Baltimore and Washington DC change. Near Breezewood there is a sign stating that DC is 128 and Baltimore is 126. That is all fine and dandy, however later, on the same road the distance seems to widen: Baltimore 94 miles and DC 98. Later on I-70 the mileage changes again, this time the distance is 3 miles. Now, I'm not exactly a physicist, but if I am traveling on the same road, why is it that the distances between the 2 change? If I look at a map I know that they aren't really 2 miles apart, but the distance you need to travel to each shouldn't change.

Dunkin Doughnuts and immigration

As a 2nd or 3rd generation American, I know the importance of being given the opportunity to make a better life. Unless you are a Native American your family has immigrated to the U.S. If english is your first language assimilation is easy. If english is a secondary language assimilation is more difficult.

For some reason I have always been attracted to immigration stories, why people came, what it is like etc. I'm sure that life as an immigrant is difficult. It is why so many immigrants cling to what they know and form insular communities. The historical side of me has found that generally an immigrant comes to a new country and locates to an area where people who speak their language. If there is an absence of this particular area then a community center, church, synagogue, etc. usually will fill the void. Those people help with assimilation, finding jobs, housing, and teaching the english language to new Americans. However thriving in the good ol' USA is generally much easier when you are not abrasive. Take my experience at Dunkin Doughnuts yesterday. I know that many Dunkin Doughnuts are foreign owned, but was it really neccessary to yell at a customer when they don't understand you? Here is my situation.

I pull up to the drive thru and do the whole drive through. I realize that we made a mistake by changing the #1, and asking for OJ instead of coffee and asking for no bacon. DD guy says in a very think accent "that will be $X pull around". I said and I'd like a Vanilla Creme doughnut and ask him to repeat the order to make sure he has it correct. Is this unreasonable? I'm not up on Pakistani, but the tone of his voice jumped at me "how dare you question my ability to place your order". I then asked him how much. He responded by giving me some number I could not make out and "pull around".

I pull around. I'm in a hurry to get to Pittsburgh and figure I'll find out when I pull around anyway. Naturally I ask how much. Again I can not understand what he is saying. Naturally I repeat my question. I don't know, should I give him a few $1s, a $5, $10. How the hell am I supposed to know if I can not make out what he is saying. Naturally I ask again. At this point he snaps at me I can finally make out the $7 (not how much in change) and he yells in his indecipherable Pakistani accept "What can't you understand what I'm saying!" Truthfully the answer is no. I can't understand a damn thing you are saying. I didn't say that to him, but I thought it. I did manage to get "what an asshole" out of my mouth before I left, but seriously is it unreasonable to ask someone to repeat what they are saying if you don't understand them?

I think that this guy was a little over the top. I am speaking English, the official language of the country, state, region, city, etc. I am sorry that you are having a bad day or that your mastery of the English language is not exactly up to par. Maybe your perception of your mastery of English is higher then it should be.

Needless to say snapping "Don't you undertand" is not only poor customer service, but irritating. You have come to my country so speaking to me in my language is what I expect. I am the grandchild and greatgrandchild of immigrants. I am sure they struggled grasping the English language, however they were able to grasp enough English to make a living and communicate with the people they were expected to communicate with. I am sure that they did not yell at people "What you don't understand what I'm saying". I think that they understood they had to work harder and change to get by. I'm sure they would have repeated it until the customer understood and simply written it down, but not yelled at the customer. You are in America, work harder on your English and don't expect others to automatically know what you are saying. Work harder.