Thursday, August 13, 2009

Thursday Thirteen

Today I write about minor (or maybe major) aggravations...

1. about:tabs. Every time I want to go to a new website in Internet Explorer, there it is. Those words show up in the URL area. Sometimes you can go over them without issue, other times you have to stop and delete them. What is up with that?


2. Check-out clerks who hand you your candy bars. What is the deal with this? If I buy one candy bar, they give it to me immediately. Do I look like I'm having a chocolate attack right there? Do they think I can't wait until I get in the car? I know I'm overweight but sheesh. I notice that it is only female clerks who do this. I've never once had it happen with a male check-out clerk.

3. No backwards compatibility. Windows keeps evolving and Microsoft apparently has decided to not care about programs that were created a long time ago. It was bad enough losing all my DOS games but now even Windows games, created for those long-ago operating systems of Windows 3x, Windows 98, and even Windows ME, will not work. That started with Windows XP and is dramatic in Vista. What am I supposed to do with these games?

4. Supposed improvements in software. I wonder how much lost productivity has occurred because Microsoft changed Word 2007 so dramatically? I've been using word processing programs since the 1980s, starting with something called Wordstar. From there I went to WordPerfect (still my favorite) and then finally to MS Word simply because I had to. Word 2007 is substantially different, so much so that for the first time since I switched over I felt compelled to buy a Dummies book to figure it out.

5. Things that don't work very long. My dryer conked out on Saturday. It is a Whirlpool, purchased in 2006. Just three years ago. Fortunately my husband is a great handyman. He tore it apart and found that the heater element had burned in two. He beat the closing time for the parts store and $125 later had the thing running again. We bought it to replace a dryer that I bought in 1983. It ran for 23 years and went through a flood. We only replaced it because we couldn't get parts for it anymore.

6. The weather. This has been the weirdest summer. Cool days, rain. Lots of fog in August which is supposed to mean something about snow in January.

7. Things that don't work like they're supposed to. My printer is an HP Officejet Pro K5400. It is supposed to be able to print front and back on the paper, but I have never been able to get it to work. It always jams up when I try duplex printing.

8. Leftover food. I keep leftovers think I will serve them another day. Sometimes I do, but just as often they end up pushed to the back of the refrigerator. I try not to fix so much food that leftovers are necessary but sometimes it happens.

9. Phone calls from politicians. During the last election I thought I'd go nuts with the phones calls, mostly from Democrats, about the congressional election. Now I'm getting phone calls all the time from Republicans about the governor's race. At least I am annoyed by both parties.


10. Emotional thinking, which isn't really thinking, it is only reacting. This is all the place in the media and this is how our politics are run these days. Whatever happened to rational thinking? When did this become normal?

11. Rising gas prices. What, there's a Labor Day holiday coming up? Of course, let's creep those gas prices higher and higher so that we're at $3 when folks want to travel. Do the oil companies think we don't notice?

12. People who call and don't leave a message. I was in the shower yesterday when the phone rang. The machine kicked in before I could answer. No message. I cancelled call waiting a while back. And I wanted to know who was calling!

13. Ink pens that stop writing even though they have ink. I don't know why this happens. Thankfully it doesn't happen often. I use a specific pen - a Pilot G2 05 (extra fine). I don't care if the ink is blue or black, but I won't use any other kind of pen. Occasionally they just stop writing for no apparent reason.


Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; you can learn more about it here. My other Thursday Thirteens are here. This is number 104!

12 comments:

  1. Good post. I can relate. I'm trying to lose a little weight and it's hard to refuse that chocolate at the check out. Happy TT!

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  2. Gosh... lots of computer probs going on there, Anita. Just kick the thing... that's what I do... (jk)

    Yes, it has been a weird summer so guess we better buy those chains we need for the tractor so we don't slip and slid when Hubby is clearing the snow from the driveway...

    AND, fyi, my blog name has changed from The Blue RIdge Gal to Snappy Finger.. Come see when you get done kicking your printer.. hee hee

    Di
    Snappy
    http://snappyfinger.blogspot.com/

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  3. I agree, I get annoyed by political phone calls and from the high gas prices. In my opinion- you want my vote, come knock on my door and ask for it because computer recorded voices don't do it.
    I am up with #25, come stop by.
    http://themochamom.blogspot.com/2009/08/thursday-thirteen-25.html

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  4. I do not like Internet Explorer and use Mozilla. There is 1 application at work which requires me to use IE and I hate it.
    I'll add my McAfee software. When my computer bogs down I can always count on the cause due to McAfee updating or scanning.

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  5. OMG! I agree with and complain about all of these!

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  6. It must have taken some discipline to list only 13 pet peeves! My list would have gone on and on...You're so right about those candy bars. What's with that?

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  7. Several of the things on your list 'resonate' this morning ... though I do my best to let go of such 'stuph' in order to relax into the moment without stress. I do miss Word Perfect. It was a much better program than Word ever will be. I've shared T-13s at Sacred Ruminations and Happily Retired Gal this week ;--)
    Hugs and blessings,

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  8. 1. Why I never use Internet Explorer. Too many annoyances. Foxfire is way better, or Safari (for Mac).

    2. They give you the candy bar or other small stuff that would get crushed in the bag or melt in the trunk on the way home. If you buy a greeting card, they usually hand you that in a small bag. (What do they do for a guy who doesn't have a purse?)

    3. I hate that too—from the MAc perspective. My Photoshop Elements won't work with the new operating system, but still works fine on my two older Macs.

    4. Most improvements, I've noticed aren't. They're just different.

    5. If stuff lasted, the whole parts business would suffer—aS well as the new "improved" replacements.

    And I agree with all the other complaints, too.

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  9. I had to laugh about the dryer. My grandparents bought their first dryer in the early 60's and they had it until 1995, after that they couldn't get a dryer that worked well for more than a couple years.

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  10. Great list! I related to and agreed with them...

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  11. Yes, all are aggravating, but #7 is very aggravating.

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  12. #11 cracked me up. Why don't you ever hear about them lowering prices because the holiday is over?

    Most retailers have a sale for holidays. Blah.

    Happy belated TT.

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