Tag: Annoyances

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Poor Jesse!

Let me explain. Jesse knows all the dirty words, long before he came to live with us he associated all of those dirty words with being punished.

I’ve been trying to control my language around him because even saying “Shit” can cause him to get nervous.

One of my pet peeves is technology arbitrarily claiming that configuration has changed when in fact I’ve made no changes to the configuration. Apple I’m looking at YOU!

Microsoft of course has been doing this kind of thing for years. That’s one reason that I don’t use Microsoft in my daily computing.

It looks like Apple is getting more like Microsoft every day. Eventually, they’ll equal or surpass Microsoft in annoyance factor and spawn a whole new computer or technology industry. One where user convenience, customer service, and reliability are the top concerns of the company.

Sadly that day is not today.

Microsoft and Apple are like two political candidates. You are faced with shitty choices so you choose the least shitty choice and hope it works for you

This rant started because I wanted to have lunch. When I have lunch, I usually watch an episode of Archer, or Rick & Morty. So, as I’ve done for the last year I grabbed the Apple TV Remote, pushed the button to wake up the Apple TV and waited for the monitor to clunk on.

Everything looked normal. I clicked on TV Shows and got a black screen. It was working last night. I was watching another TV show I’d purchased. I’d shut things down last night when I went to bed and again noticed nothing amiss.

I restarted the Apple TV. Still got a black screen when I asked for TV shows, but the Movies I’d purchased displayed properly.

Wondering if the problem was on the Apple side, I picked up my phone. I’ve used my phone to watch shows before. This time nothing worked. I was apparently logged into the right stuff but my phone said I had no purchases. And no subscriptions. That’s not correct, so I restarted my phone too.

Then my watch claims there’s something going on with passwords. This was my first and only clue about what might have been going on.

Needless to say my frustration level has been steadily rising during all this idiocy. All I wanted to do was watch a TV show while I ate lunch. I didn’t want to deal with some long drawn out technology troubleshooting situation.

As my frustration rose so did the level of swearing. All of which freaked Jesse out.

Once I finally figured out that the phone, and the AppleTV were effectively lying to me. Something was totally wrong with the credentials. Signing out  took forever. Much more swearing and a colorful vocabulary ensued.

The problem is that I haven’t touched logins or passwords for months. There’s no reason for these devices to believe there’s been a change, and none of the other devices in the house appear to have been affected. Although I should probably test all the HomePods just to be sure.

Jesse, disappeared. While waiting for all the logins to do their thing, I noticed he was gone.

He was hiding out in his room/cage.

I’d lost my temper. He thought I was mad at him. I wasn’t but he doesn’t understand the difference.

The poor puppy!

This is going to cost me plenty of cuddles and treats.

I honestly don’t know what is going on with Apple lately. But I’ve noticed that the software isn’t as elegant as it once was. I’m not at all thrilled with the System Settings on my Mac. Was there really an overwhelming need to change systems settings? Or was this all driven by someone who needed to keep their job and redesigned settings for no other reason? There are other aspects of the system(s) that are clunky and frankly confusing.

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Was just thinking, I’m catching up with Hillary Clinton.

Since 1992 I’ve had 3 members of my immediate family die by suicide. In December I lost my Stepmother and her husband to natural causes.

In January I lost my husband of 34 years.

I bring you all up to date because there have been some of his friends who keep telling me they know how I feel.

In short, they don’t!

These folks are trying to be kind and supportive. They wax on and on about how difficult it was for them to lose a sibling or a parent. Then they start telling me how I should live my life now.

My friends, those who really know me, have been very supportive and kind. They’ve taken a step back and responded instantly when I’ve asked for help. They’ve done what I asked, maybe made a suggestion or two to make things go smoother and then butted out.

They’re the ones, who like my brothers are concerned, but respect me enough to let me work through this gut punch in my own way. They’ll text or call just randomly to ask how I’m doing and that tells me I’m in their thoughts. They’ve lost parents and siblings, but they’re not banging on about their trauma. They’re providing a wall of strength, occasional guidance when asked, and staunch solid support.

The only people who know how I feel, are those who’ve lost their spouses. There have been a couple of folks who’ve come to me privately offering support or a shoulder. Some of them, I didn’t even know had lost their spouse. I thought they’d been through the more common event of divorce and were single by choice.

I appreciate their support and kindness. I think that them putting themselves in a position where my spouse’s death could reopen their old wounds takes a lot of courage. Maybe someday I’ll have that same courage, but I don’t see that in my immediate future.

To the people that would tell me, “I know just what you’re feeling…”

I say this.

Until you’ve bagged up shirts, pants, suits, ties, and shoes that you saw your spouse wear often, into garbage bags to go to a donation site. You have no fucking idea what I’m feeling.

Until you’ve occupied a house where the grim reaper’s handiwork is laying on your bedroom floor for 9 hours, You don’t know shit.

Until you’ve cried yourself to sleep out of guilt and loneliness after masturbation. No words, anecdotes, or over sharing of your personal drama even compares.

Until the future you’ll have to forge into alone yawns before you, almost everything you think you know is absolute and complete bullshit.

Nothing prepares anyone for losing a spouse that you’ve spent almost your entire adult life with. It’s massive! It’s a kick to the balls and the kicking just doesn’t stop.

Telling me “You’ll have to sell object X, Y, or Z,” to keep the lights on, mentioning a person’s name over and over but not providing a phone number after repeatedly being asked to do so isn’t helpful.

It’s cruel! Especially when the person you mentioned is hidden behind multiple websites with no fucking phone number on any of them. It’s also not helpful at all to keep saying that the objects in question are valuable. Duhhhh! I fucking paid for them! The objects in question are also not the kind of things that sell like hotcakes, especially in this economy. Which means these objects are not instant income streams. Despite what you think.

So for those of you who keep saying, “I know just how you feel,” shut the hell up!

You’re not being supportive. You’re not helping, all you’re doing is ripping the bandage off again and again and pissing me off. I’ve got better things to do right now than listen to you blather on about your trauma and attempting to use me as a free psychologist.

You deal with your own shit and leave me to deal with mine.

Yeah… There are some phone calls you just let go to voicemail!

I’m getting better at that every freakin day.

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The Jan 6th Committee does what we all knew they’d do. Yawn!

In a stunning surprise, the Jan 6th Committee has asked the DOJ to investigate Trump. Just to be clear, that is sarcasm.

I’ve never had any doubt that the kangaroo hearings would try to have the DOJ try to prosecute Trump. 

I call the Jan 6th Committee a kangaroo hearing because they relied on hearsay, and allowed no opposing council or views to be heard.

To their mind, Trump was guilty of something, anything, or everything, they said he was guilty of, before the committee sat their fat asses down in chambers. 

Personally I think the whole hearing mess has become a nuclear powered political hot potato, and they’re hoping they can hand it off to the DOJ. When the DOJ and Merrick Garland are unable to find anything that is actionable under the law, the Jan 6th Committee will wail and gnash their teeth then blame the DOJ for failure. The bright side is that Merrick Garland could be thrown under the bus and tossed out of his position at the DOJ. That might help but I’m not holding my breath.

I’m just sick and tired of the endless hearings that have always looked like Wile E. Coyote chasing the Roadrunner. What have we endured two, three? impeachments, that were big vegan nothing burgers, I don’t remember the number at this point. The impeachment hearings all ran together, It was four years of “smoking guns” and “We’ve got him this time” which ultimately were pointless wastes of time. Now the Jan 6th bullshit. 

Personally I’d love to be able to walk into that chamber with CSPAN broadcasting live to the nation and give these congresspeople a piece of my mind. The only question is, when would I tell them to fuck themselves? Would it be before I told them all to sit the fuck down and shut the fuck up or afterwards?

Liz cheney january 6 primetime AP 640x480 1I noted Liz Cheney said that Trump is unfit to hold any office. God, I’d have loved to be in that hearing room. I’d have joyfully pointed out that the good people of WY have recently decided she’s not fit to hold any office either. I’d have asked her if this is a case of the pot calling the kettle black or if it’s just sour grapes that she has become so universally detested it’s unlikely she’ll be able to get a job as a truck stop waitress.

From my perspective at this point it’s not about Trump, I don’t give a shit! I’m deeply angry and offended that these jackasses have wasted all this time, and taxpayer money for jack shit. Trump isn’t the President anymore and hasn’t been the President for two years. Even the hearsay “Damming Evidence” is too thin to prosecute in a real court with actual prosecution and defense lawyers.

On the plus side, these “Lawmakers” have amply demonstrated the rampant corruption in Congress.

Once again Politicians being Politicians, 

Lying, cheating, stealing, saying anyone who questions them crazy, or a threat to democracy.

The DOJ ain’t got shit, and they know it!

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My GOD! I hate Bureaucratic little despots!

The saga of the solar panel installation may be coming to an end.

That’s a good thing. I’m really kinda over it. As in losing my ability to give a shit!

This morning, the final inspection is supposed to take place. The representative from the panel installation company has been out. He’s doing some final tweaks which is a good thing.

But first thing this morning he hands me a clipboard with a a county form on it asking me to sign to attest that I have smoke a CO2 sensors in my house. The paperwork also wanted to verify that the water heater is grounded. It’s natural gas, and the pipes in the house are copper going to ground. So uh yeah! The water heater is freaking grounded!

I ask him what any of this has to do with the dang solar panels on the roof.

He’s not sure, it’s just something The County requires.

I look at the form and tell him I’m going to get my glasses to be able to throughly read the document he’s handing me, so that I know what I’m actually signing.

When I come back, the first thing I notice is that the documents have someone else’s name and address on them. So I ain’t signing shit.

But it got me to thinking.

The invasiveness of regulations has been a royal pain in my ass since this house was rebuilt, and even before then.

When I bought this house, there was a fire suppression system installed. This was mandated by the County when the house was originally built in 1992. For 15 years or so, I paid $300.00 every year to have someone come out and inspect the system. This was to prevent the antifreeze from draining out of the suppression system back into the main water lines.

When the house burned, the fire alarms worked, the fire suppression system didn’t. One of the inspectors had left the dang valves closed so that fancy assed fire suppression system was offline. (That’s what comes from constantly fiddling with something. The possibility of mistakes increases.)

When we rebuilt the house, the county mandated that he have 6 CFB fixtures built into the ceiling of the house (This was more lights than we had total in the house prior to it burning.) Supposedly this was to make the house more energy efficient. I asked the building inspector how having more lights in the house made the house more energy efficient. Those lights still pulled, (at the time 40W). 

Five years later someone in the State of California noticed that compact fluorescent bulbs contained mercury vapor. Fluorescent lights have always contained mercury vapor. That’s how they work. OMG! These bulbs if improperly disposed of can be environmentally dangerous! 

A few years after that, someone else realized that as these bulbs age they can emit high levels of UV, which might be hazardous. Again, DUH! It’s not rocket science. Pass a current at a specific frequency through mercury vapor and it emits UV light, coat the inside of a glass tube with a fluorescent material that glows when exposed to UV light and you get visible light.

It’s simple science. Pity we apparently don’t teach Science anymore.

At the time I was laughing because it was another case of unintended consequences due to petty bureaucrats deciding they had a good idea with absolutely zero knowledge of the underpinning science and therefore no understanding of the potential consequences. I also had a good laugh at the sudden plethora of UV sensors that hit the market to make sure you were safe from the evil older CFBs the State demanded you put in your house.

My sensor, was my glasses. Yeah, my Photo-chromic eyeglasses. See, they darken due to UV light so if I suspected that a CFB was aging or the fluorescent coating was getting flaky, I’d hold my eyeglasses near the bulb. If they got dark, I knew it was time to change the bulb.

Again, if you know how things work at a basic level, you can save yourself $29.95! Unfortunately, retrofitting the fixtures to LED costs a lot of money. Although, all of the other lights in the house with standard A26 screw in sockets have been updated to LED and if those lights are on full blast they use less power than the fluorescent fixtures. 

Move forward a couple of years and the County comes through telling us that we have to remove plants at the very edge of our property line from our landscaping because these plants can burn. Uh yeah sure, but the plants in question have been in that position on the property for 20 years. Oh and they survived the actual house fire that burned the house to the ground. Not to mention that ALL plants can burn!

Another expense, due to bureaucrats. I just know one day these morons are going to figure out that native Pine Trees can burn and demand the removal of trees from my property.

FYI, some of these trees have been here since before the house was. I also water them regularly because I happen to like trees. That’s becoming more difficult due to water restrictions in California, however I’ve adapted.

In Winter, I pile the snow up around the trees and in my yard in general. It doesn’t last the whole summer, but the trees are watered by this process throughout the spring and into early summer.

Again, not rocket science, just using the natural elements and conditions to my, (and the trees,) advantage.

It’s really common sense. 

Move forward 10 years after the house was rebuilt, and the fire suppression system FAILS, flooding my living room. Oh, we’d been having it inspected every year like usual. Guess what? While the specialized Fire Suppression contractor was repairing the system, they discovered that the system had been installed incorrectly in the first place and the petty bureaucrat of a building inspector has missed the fault. At this point in time however, I got to pay for the repair and fight with the insurance company about it.

Ahhh, my tax dollars at work!

I probably wouldn’t be so annoyed except that county inspectors kept blowing off their appointments when the house was being rebuilt. It was so frequent that about 3 months got added onto the building cycle and not one of them ever thought to apologize about missing appointments.

So here we are, trying to get the solar panels finished. Once again I’m being held up because of a country inspector who probably doesn’t have a clue about the actual power going through the cables or how the system works in detail. This is the building equivalent of TSA bag checks, or the masking controversy with COVID or half a dozen other examples of hand waving without actually doing something functional.

That’s the sad part of this, we’re trying to “Go Green,” after all. Isn’t that what gruesome Newsome & Sniffy Joe want us to do?  Note the panels have been on the roof since June 2022.

Today the solar panel company sent their guy out and he arrived on time, we’re still waiting for the County Inspector to show up. At this point that county jackass is two hours late after specifying a two hour window. The difference between a business, and bureaucrats feeding on the tax payer dime is striking!

I doubt that the panels will be operational today, and it might not be until Spring of 2023 at this point. I could still be surprised, but I’m not foolish enough to hold my breath.

I’m debating about giving the county jackass a dressing down when they get here. If you’re going to make an appointment, you keep it. If you’re going to be late, you call. It’s just common courtesy.

On the one hand that might prevent me from getting the panels online, and could subject me to a bunch more County bullshit. On the other hand, if no-one calls jackasses out for being jackasses, they’ll never change except to get worse.

The County person arrived. She was late but didn’t bother to apologize. I kept my mouth shut and went back inside the house. 

A half hour later, the solar guy says the inspection is good, and that the panels are online. 

I guess I could have held my breath! I’m calling this a good day.

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It Begins! A PSA

Microsoft account unusual signin activity

The SCAMMERS are out this Holiday Season!

BEWARE of all emails.

If you don’t recognize something or someone delete the email. Don’t click on any buttons, or links.

This email, shown above, is one I’ve been getting over the past few days. It looks a lot like the incessant email that Microsoft will send you if you happen to have an email account hosted by them.

The Microsoft email looks a lot like this, and because they send their Unusual Sign In emails virtually anytime you change networks, if you’re traveling and sign into your Parents WiFi or use a hotel network, you’re likely to have see the real Microsoft version.

This email is bullshit!

If you click on the “Report The User” Button, the handy “Click Here”, or even your own email listed at the top of the email, you’re directed to some website called techconsulting-pay.com not Microsoft.com.

The Indian assholes running this bullshit are targeting Americans who are scared of Russia so that they can rip you off. It’s probably some bullshit “Protection Scam” where they say they’re from Microsoft selling you some obscenely expensive Anti-Virus or “support” package. These “Support Packages” will often screw your computer up more than they help.

Don’t fall for it!

If you’re concerned about some kind of compromise in your email, ask the source!

You can go to www.microsoft.com, log into your account, then look for account management.

Once you’re there Microsoft will ask to send you a confirmation code. Retrieve the confirmation code and enter that into the requested location. From there you’ll be able to check “Security”.

Microsoft will display all the real “Unusual Activity” and allow you to confirm if it was you or not.

In my case, the only unusual activity was from my recent trip across the country. My parents, my brother’s place, and one point when I was using my phone as a hotspot in a hotel room.

There was no record of Russian login.

As noted above, the IP Address these jackasses are reporting is in Delhi India. If this was a real issue, the IP Address would actually track to Russia and there’d be some record of the activity on the Microsoft site.

How? You might ask did these people get my Microsoft email address? That’s easy! They purchased it from one of the numerous job search sites and are now trying to get a return on their investment. This is one of the MANY reasons I hate job search sites! There’s so much scamming on them they are almost unusable!

I miss the old way, the local newspaper and a real address and phone number that was verifiably local to where you were searching for a new job!

Then again, I’m older than dirt!