We had the right of way, not you.  Dipshit.  Your little green arrow wasn’t lit and our little “cross now” numbers were still in the 30 second range.

I highly suggest some anger management classes.

Current Mood: Exhausted

That’s not right. Rape, for me, is right up there with murder.

I can’t believe any US State would even allow such a law.

Current Mood: Speechless

Three times now… yes, three… I’ve forked over another $8.99 for a whole new tooth brush simply because I cannot find the refill bristle thingies.

You’d think the places that sell the whole toothbrush would also stock the refills.

Rite Aid by my work:  nope.

CVS by my house:  nope.

Target by my house:  nope.

I guess I should switch toothbrushes.

Harsh words, but sadly, there is at least 95% accuracy to the statement.  They can be some of the kindest people in every other aspect of their lives, but the lack of responsibility comes when they carelessly toss the butt of their cigarette, still lit, into grass, mulch, or other flammable-when-dry material.

Walking my usual route to work, I pass an apartment complex surrounded by bushes with a great deal of mulch all around them.  As I approached, I smelled the faint aroma of burning wood, which normally isn’t alarming in and of itself.  The smell could have wafted from a fire blocks away, as is normally the case.

Not this time, though.

The closer I got, I noticed a small tuft of smoke rising from the mulch, and sure enough, an area of about four feet in diameter was just smoldering away.  I immediately moved through the branches and started swiping the mulch onto the sidewalk with me feet.  Drivers stopped at the red light (this was right at an intersection) watched with interest.  Curiously enough, the smoke only increased as I tried to stomp it out, which I discovered was due to the seriously deep burning of the dry chips of wood.

After a few moments of this, I decided to trek back to the gas station a block up the street for a huge bottle of water.  As I was hurrying to do this, others passed by me on foot and bike only to completely ignore this little fire.  Purchasing the water and returning to the corner took about five minutes and of course no one else stopped to investigate.  If they did, they just didn’t care and went about their merry little way.

I don’t think I got a big enough bottle of water, but I did my best at more stomping, swiping and dousing the areas that looked the worst.

I now smell/reek of burning wood.  I was essentially dancing around in the smoke, so I’m not surprised.

I wonder if the scent is a pheromone and will attract me some hot chicks…

There’s just something inordinately wrong/disgusting to me about a place that makes Chinese food, seafood, subs and pizza all in one area.

Ok, ok, they’re convenient, I’ll give you that. You’ve got higher odds of your craving being satisfied quickly in just one place.

Still.

Generally, they’re dingy and not at all welcoming from the outside. There are never any seats inside (it is a carry out only place, after all) and more often than not, you’re yelling your order through bulletproof glass to someone who can barely speak English. I’ve been witness to this in passing the many I have discovered. I have never, and don’t see myself ever, stepping foot in one. They frighten me a little.

Here is my commentary from this past week, most of which probably classify as mild annoyances:

1. To the guy who tied his beautiful (but clearly agitated and whining for you) Alaskan Malamute to a pole outside the bar, during happy hour (read: rush hour for foot traffic), so you could go in for a drink… what the hell were you thinking? You are just plain wrong for doing that, and I don’t care how judgmental that makes me out to be.

2. To the lady who approached me on the metro selling bootleg DVDs at the super cheap price of seven for $20… Even if I was interested in purchasing badly pilfered movies, do you think anyone has time to select seven movies during their train ride? I don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t want to be rushed in making my choice.

3. To the DC metro system… why, oh why, do you insist on performing track maintenance that requires trains to share the same track on a weekend night of a baseball game?!

4. To the DC cops ticketing jaywalkers… is it really necessary to ticket those who are obviously crossing when there are NO oncoming cars? I mean, seriously. I’m all for ticketing those who are playing chicken with the vehicles, but if a perfectly abled human can cross quickly and safely against the light - why shouldn’t they be able to?

Really, though, I only use the site for its entertaining, insightful quizzes.

I know, I know, that sounds almost the same as a guy saying, “I only buy Playboy for the articles.”

But, I have proof! Just look at my quiz history!

Nothing interesting so far, I know.  I’m getting to my point, I promise.

After a few seconds, I noticed a sign angled to stick out for easy view from the aisle number next to me. The sign was a circle, designed with cool greens and eye catching yellow print and along the perimeter read: Smiles for All. A Family Friend Aisle.

I scanned the rows again and noticed only one other aisle had the same sign.

So, I guess this means two aisles in this grocery store are geared to families with children, but for the life of me, I can’t figure out just how the cashiers are trained for such a thing.

Are they trained to smile at your children and say hello? Are they trained to not let that smile waver, even if those lovely brats are grabbing at the packs of gum and chocolates across from the conveyor belt and whining for their mommies to buy them candy? Do they give free candy if their moms actually don’t give in to the kid’s tantrums? Will they make balloon animals?

And what about all those other cashiers? Are they actually allowed to wear that unfriendly snarl or blank stare, while dragging your items across the price scanner and bagging your groceries improperly? You know… mixing canned goods with bread?

I can easily see those being assigned to the ‘family friendly’ aisles for their shift being teased by their co-workers… it’s gotta be a rough job. Maybe those who are assigned aisle four and eleven should be paid more.

Like realizing 99% of vendors are just out for the buck and don’t really care about the level of service they provide you.

Case in point: Our building needs a compressor replaced on one of our rooftop HVAC units. Both units are old models that were only refurbished when we moved into the building three years ago, which probably wasn’t a good decision to start with, but clearly more cost effective than purchasing completely new models. This work is well above our preventative maintenance agreement, which we already pay an arm and a leg for every quarter.

I received the quote for the work a couple days ago, but the amount for parts and labor was lumped together in one total. I requested a breakdown to see the more detailed costs. I expected a price mark-up on the compressor. That’s common practice. What I didn’t expect was this:

Parts: $1294
Labor: $1171

This vendor only offers a 30-day guarantee of workmanship, and the cost is almost identical to the part itself?

That’s just… wrong.

Age old saying, right?

Well, that’s the kind of irony I can do without, thank you very much.