Rants

Apparently when I accidently switched formats it changed the default setting for line breaks from “press enter” to “use the
tag”

Seriously??

Yes, I’m grumpy with blog software in general at the moment, why do you ask?

Well, attempts to contact their tech support for help importng the blog met with a resounding silence. An attempt tp get help through their forum got advice (admitedly from another regular person, not support) that didn’t work. I finally solved the problem by doing the opposite of the suggested advice. Not the best ever first impression.

I also have to admit to being spoiled by Blogger’s allowing of modification of the template, I can play with the HTML & the CSS, rearrange the sidebars to my content….and it doesn’t look like any of that is allowed on the free WordPress, I can’t do ANY HTML or CSS modification without paying a fee. Anyone reading this have experience the self hosted version? How easy is it to use? I mean, I can do some HTML and the like, but I’m not an expert, and thanks to a pair of puppies I’m a little short on the time it would take to figure it out.

by refusing to make sure various of their “NEW IMPROVED!!!!!” Blogger pages work in the iPad version of Safari, but NOW I’m intermittently having trouble typing comments in various blogs using my iPad.  And its ONLY happening when I attempt to type comments in Blogger based blogs, not on ANY OTHER webpage.  WTF?!  And yes the iPad is up to date on all updates and what not.  Actually I’m not happy about that, ever since the upgrade to iOS5 the iPad Safari has randomly crashed on a regular basis.  I say randomly, but the more intensive the webpage the more likely it is to crash.  Sigh.  Online search proved I’m not the only one with this problem and that there doesn’t appear to be an actual fix for it, just things that seem to keep it from happening quite as often.

I accidently clicked on the thing to use the new Blogger format and apparently they took away the option to switch back. God I hate this format, and they still haven’t fixed the compatibilty issues with the iPad so half the pages don’t load right. Fricken hell Google, either fix it or let me switch back for heavens sake!

To the brilliant person who decided that busy corner needed one of your stores.  Bravo.  Thats a HUGE intersection with a ton of traffic, and no coffee or fast food of any kind for over a mile in any direction.  You even designed the traffic flow in the parking lot such that it should work well in such a high traffic area.  I was thrilled when I saw what was going in since I was having to go way out of my way to hit a Dunkin Donuts if I wanted something on my way to work.

To the idiot who decided to make the store a “small” store with a “limited menu”, I hope they fire you.  Seriously.  I can understand the lack of seating, but to essentially cut your menu in half, to the point where you don’t even carry everything on the drivethru menu (and aren’t GOING to carry everything on the drivethru menu) has got to be one of the stupidest things I’ve ever heard.  Especially in a location like that.  And I don’t mean that you decided that location would only carry donuts/sweets/breakfast sandwiches with none of the main meal pieces, I mean you decided not to carry half the standard menu.  AND THEN you put things on the drivethru menu that you aren’t EVER going to carry.  Nice.

Well, I WAS thrilled to see the store going in.  Instead you folks just lost yourselves a customer, one who was likely going to be stopping in several times a week on  her way to work to buy a coffee and a snack for later.  And I made sure to tell all my co-workers about your “limited menu” idiocy.

Look, I understand that potentially loosing your license and not being able to drive is a horrid thing in an area with really bad public transportation.  But there is a point at which you need to consider hanging up the keys and cutting up your license.  A sign that you have reach that point would be when you’re passing a Speed Limit sign that says 55mph and you’re doing 20mph and the roads are in perfect condition.  When you are driving that far below the speed limit, for mile after mile, you are a hazard.  Not only to yourself (which is, after all, your right), but also to everyone else on the road (which is NOT your right).

And whiny, consider this your only warning before you read further.

Its been one of those weeks.

Sunday I got in an argument with a former schoolmate resulting in a rant on here and me severing ties with her.  I then proceeded to stay up WAY TO LATE playing Lego Harry Potter (years 5-7) with Husband, resulting in barely 5hrs of sleep that night.  Which in turn proved to me that I’m getting old, used to be that little sleep didn’t faze me at all, extra caffeine and keep going no problem.  But not any more, Monday and most of Tuesday were spent in a fog of not getting much done while I tried to catch back up on my sleep.

Add in that Tuesday was the day we’d scheduled an ultrasound for Janie to try to figure out just WHY her kidneys and liver keep giving off REALLY HIGH numbers on her bloodwork, which in turn resulted in a diagnosis that basically means that she’s a dead kitty walking.  Oh she’s stable NOW, but its just a matter of time, and there’s no way to predict if its a matter of months or a couple years.  I guess on some level I was expecting it because it didn’t hit me quite as hard as I’d have expected it to.

Wednesday was better….till I got the box of Christmas presents from my parents, at which point I discovered that our argument back in September hadn’t been settled after all.  Toss in some additional old arguments for old times sake and I spent Thursday in a serious funk and Friday was almost as bad.  Basically my mother has a really poor opinion of me as a person.  She won’t ADMIT thats the problem (“well no honey, I don’t think you’re stupid or a bad person, but as your mother I just know that….”), but its the only explanation for her steadfast refusal to accept any evidence or discussion that goes contrary to her assumptions of me and how she expects me to handle things.  I don’t get it, I wasn’t a bad child, ok, I was a bit stressfull to manage, but I never got in trouble with the law, I never did drugs, I don’t drink, I don’t recall ever breaking curfew even.  I went to college and paid for a huge percentage of it myself by working two jobs, I searched out and found a job after college that would pay my bills and allow me to live in an apartment of my own so that I wasn’t a drain on them (and keep me out of my mother’s radius so we wouldn’t fight quite so often).  I’ve put a great deal of effort into managing myself and my life so that I’m the only one responsible when something goes screwy that’s my fault, and I’ve spent large amounts of time, energy and money making sure that my pets get the best care I can manage.  Yet somehow its my fault that my cat’s kidneys are shot, and I can’t be trusted to understand that her litter box habits can effect her kidneys, and its probly my fault for somehow not managing her litter box correctly that resulted in her kidneys going bad in the first place.  Oh, and I’m apparently rotten housekeeper (I’ll admit I’m not Martha Stewart but really mother, neither are you), though how she knows this when she hasn’t seen the house since September, hasn’t asked any questions as to Janie’s health, hasn’t so much as hinted as to an interest in any of that information I have no idea.

Add in little things, like the fact that I’ve somehow not managed to do any Christmas shopping yet this year (thanks mostly to the fact that things keep happening that require money that was supposed to be set aside for things like Christmas), and various odds and ends not quite going right and this week has not been one of my favorites.

Can I turn off the world for a little while so I can take a nap?

And it sucks.

I wasn’t always allergic to my antiperspirant. As recently as 2007 I could wear any antiperspirant I felt like, generally I switched back and forth between an unscented invisible Degree for Women formula, and an unscented invisible Secret formula.  Liked them both, had no issues, just generally bought which ever was on sale at the time.

Then, spring of 2008, my underarms started itching.  It started out as really minor, hardly noticeable itchiness.  Then slowly got worse.  About April or so I realized that I had to be having a reaction to SOMETHING, and started working my way through all sorts of things, soap, body wash, detergent, etc, etc, trying to figure out what was the issue.  I was already using as many free and clear products as I could, cause I can’t stand scents, but maybe a formula had changed?  Nothing worked.  Then, beginning of May, just as a heat wave (80f + mostly, which I realize for your southern folks isn’t that hot, but it is up here), I was walking into work one day when I realized I didn’t remember putting on antiperspirant.  Since I was working a commissioned sales job at the time antiperspirant was a must, so I dumped my purse in my locker, grabbed the stick of antiperspirant I kept there and headed for the bathroom.  It BURNED when I put it on.  Oh god, I’m allergic to my antiperspirant. 

By the time I got home that night my underarms were noticeably swollen and broken out in a rash.  I had the next couple days off, so I headed down to the local “natural foods” store to see if I could find something I’d not react to.  Of course, antiperspirant is a no-no there, it contains aluminum “of COURSE you reacted to it, it’ll give you CANCER, here try these all natural deodorants instead”.  Arg.  Well I didn’t have much choice at first.  It was 3 days before I could put ANYTHING on my underarms, it took another week for me to decide that deodorant alone wasn’t going to work for me.  Course, the first time I tried my old antiperspirant I broke out again.  That wasn’t going to work.

Research online wasn’t very helpful.  Lots of sites talking about people reacting to aluminum and not much else (recently, though only barely, someone did a study and realized there were alot of other things in antiperspirant that could cause reactions.  To late to help me though).  I didn’t see how I could be allergic to the aluminum itself, I’ve been using antiperspirant for years, including some ultra-high test stuff.  I was leaning towards a formula change in one or both of my usual products (something I was never able to confirm btw).  Finally ran across a reference to some people who otherwise had issues but had been able to wear Mitchems Women’s sensitive skin gel antiperspirant.  I hate gels, but I needed something.  I could wear it without problem, oh god that felt good.  Then while shopping I ran across Almay’s line of antiperspirants, and sure enough, I could wear those too.

Since then I’ve narrowed down my actual problem to something in the “invisible” antiperspirants rather than an actual issue with the aluminum itself.  I don’t know WHAT the problem chemical is, but regular (non-invisible or clear) antiperspirants almost never cause me issues, but every invisible one does, if not right away then always after a few weeks of use.  I keep a couple sticks in my cupboard, of the ones I can tolerate better than others, for the occasional fancy need to go sleeveless and not show antiperspirant marks.  I keep hoping though, every time one of the major brands comes out with a new sensitive skin invisible product I end up trying it.  So far no luck.  But non-invisible antiperspirants are hard to find, so I keep trying…..had to give up on another invisible one this week, been wearing it successfully for a couple months now, then all the sudden, itchy underarms.  Aaahhh!

To all the idiots I passed on my way home today, who did NOT have their lights on in the rain:  NY requires lights on while wipers are going.  You CAN be pulled over for that.  (seriously, what is it lately, you always see one or two cars without lights on in the rain, but lately its been a signifigant percentage of them)

Especially to the idiot in the silver Honda with the Ontario plates:  not only were your headlights not on (which can get you a nice ticket all by itself), you were blatently talking on your cell phone (which is another nice ticket here in wonderfull NY state), while driving 15 under the speed limit.  Were you TRYING to call attention to yourself?

To all the 10+ cops I saw on my way INTO work this morning, where the fuck were you on my drive HOME??