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Rants! & Raves! 2.29
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Off-key
I completed my income tax last Saturday. Posted it Monday morning. In the mail Monday afternoon, came another 1099D, and 1099INT. Now I have to file an amended return. Think I’ll wait a while.
I must have several raves, but can’t think of any. I think I’ve said that my oldest granddaughter is pregnant again. Big raves,but it’s a week old.
Rant: Easter is early this year and my rant is that half the store will be littered with racks and rack of beautiful little girl Easter dresses and I will have to wade through them to that one pitiful little rack of little boy sweater vests. I really don’t want to dress my son like Chandler Bing again.
Rave: He is gorgeous and will look adorable no matter what he’s wearing.
Rant: My heart just sunk this week when my sister-in-law sent another of her anti-christian rants. She is not only lost herself, but actively leading many away from Jesus Christ.
Rave: God granted us the gift of prayer so that we may bring our own needs and those of a hurting world before Him. He grants us peace in spite of our circumstances.
KBells have you looked at the Talbot’s for Children catalog. Some of the things are pricey but it’s Easter. How old is he? 4? Enjoy him while you are still in charge. I used to make Chloe the most beautiful smocked dresses…..this year she has already picked out a fake silk taffeta from Target. Price was great. $22!
Rave: Half the kids went snowboarding today. That means a quiet house until after school when the other half will want to go surfing.
Rave: Our church has sunrise service on the beach so the most we have to do to dress for it is make sure our jeans are clean;)
Thanks Kim, I will look into that. A little pricey wouldn’t be bad if it were something classic that he could wear for other dressy occasions. And I do intend to enjoy my little Ken doll for as long as I can get away with it.
KBells, I hate to tell you this, but if you’re trying to dress a boy with fancy clothes, it won’t work. My wife was lucky in that she had granddaughters. (That’s where the family fortune went. But she enjoyed it as long as she could. But there came a time when they didn’t want Nana picking out their clothes.)
Most boys don’t care what they’re wearing. They will get them dirty anyhow.
Rant: This is the stupidest, most insignificant rant in the world (or on the “World”?), but it really irritates me when people use “which” when they should use “that.” It occurred on several posts this week (the original post, not comments, WHICH I understand are hasty and subject to typos and quick thinking). Now, wasn’t that really stupid?
Okay, problem solved. He just told me he wanted to wear his “Tigger” costume for Easter.
I researched and wrote a killer batch file, and a VB script to make it link to our database, so that when the guys are outputting code for the CNC router, the batch file runs and automates all the file checking, moving, and naming - and solves about 5 separate problems all in one fell swoop. It took me about a week to make it all work, and I rolled it out this morning, and it worked flawlessly for all my co-workers, but then
the boss walked in and it screwed up when I showed it to him…
Not to worry, I fixed it…
Thanks KBells that made me giggle. I bet if you did it every other parent there would grin. I would caution you on one thing although I don’t get that impression from you. One Easter the children were doing some sort of project in Sunday school and a little girl got something on her Easter dress. The mother went ballistic over it and that it was ruined and she had paid so much for it. I thought then if that had happened to my daughter I wouldn’t have even bothered to send it to the cleaners I would have packed it up stain and all to drag out in my old age and remember that special Easter Sunday she had such a good time. (we do have a $250 raw silk dress that she only wore twice, as a flower girl and for Christmas Ever service, barefoot both times–she was beautiful! I have fantasy of posting the picture of her in that dress dancing with her daddy at her own wedding while she and her daddy dance to I loved her first. It makes me cry just to think about it.
Rave: After driving 450 miles this week around town chauffeuring three kids, I will have alone time tomorrow. I plan to drink my green tea w/ pomegranates and cranberries, munch on 1/2 a bar of dark chocolate and devour two new books from the library all from the comfort of my bed. Oh yes, I will also be blessed to watch the snow flurries. What could be better?
Rave: My oldest daughter has found a church home in her new city. Very welcoming and she feels plugged in after only two weeks. Amazing!
I know I posted it on WV, but my son is coming home for 10 days on his spring break from grad school.
I proudly bought my nephew a suit when he was Kbells’ sons’ age, light grey pinstripe with a pink bow tie. He wore the suit to Easter service but put the bow tie in a planter when no one was looking.
RAVE: I can’t remember what I was ranting about earlier in the week and wishing this section would post early. Ah, the joys of delirium!
RAVE: In addition to daffodils, we’ve got the glorious hyacinths out and perky tulips smiling at the world. The birds sing in great full chorus and all is right with the world–I can even smell the flowers today!
I never pay any attention to the Rants/Raves thread, so forgive me if I repeat anything that has been said before.
Also forgive me for what will surely step on some toes.
Rant! - I get REALLY irritated when posters use certain sayings which once upon a time might have been catchy and hip, but are now tired and spent. There are many, but only two come to mind at the moment: “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results” and “Denial isn’t just a river in Egypt”.
The first one bugs me because that is NOT the definition of insanity, just an interpretation. Look it up. The second is just not funny anymore, and nowadays it is being forced into responses where it doesn’t exactly fit.
There, I feel better. I’ll let you know when I remember others.
And trust me, Chas and Kim, I’ve accepted that little boys get dirty. I don’t buy gallon jugs of Shout for nothing.
Which reminds me of another rave: They served the children blue Cool Aid at church Wednesday night and nobody spilled it. Usually it is a given that the stainy blue stuff will be spilled on someone wearing white or on the child who has just shown everyone her brand new dress.
NJL, what makes you think that just because they enacted this law, the behavior will stop? Do you really think the police will enforce it?
graceland - your comment reminds me of the movie “Anchorman” with Will Farrell. Ever see it? He has no idea what the phrase “When in Rome” means, but likes to use it anyway. It pops up at times that make no sense - good humor!
Rant: We have to spent another $1300 repairing a vehicle - that makes about $2300 in 2 months’ time.
Rave: We’re getting a tax refund, so at least we can pay for it.
Rant: We wanted to use that money to pay off debt. Oh well - easy come…easy go.
TL: Beautiful. I love the Anchorman reference. You know, I could go for an Anchorman-inspired Rant/Rave.
Rant! “Milk was a bad choice”
Rave! “I’m kind of a big deal.”
Rant: The sleeveless “summery” dresses that are sold for Easter. Quite often it’s much too chilly to wear those comfortably this early in the year.
KI - What did you mean by your comment that your SiL sent another anti-Christian rant?
And I am encouraged by your RAVE in the same post. (3)
NJL - Talking on a cell while driving has been illegal here in NY state for several years at least but it sure hasn’t changed - you still see it happening ALL the time and I have yet to hear of anyone receive a ticket for said offense.
I love Mommy’s handle! I think I am probably one of the worst offenders in her aformentioned that/which controversy. She is definitely on a which hunt, but her scolding is so easy to take because . . . well . . . she’s Mommy.
adios, That was a hold-over from my im name that I came up with years ago when the boys were young and we im’ed each other because one son was roomed in the basement and the other on the third floor and it was an easy way to communicate with one another. I still have that im name and it’s humorous because we use im here at work to communicate amongst ourselves. Most of folks I work with are young techy guys and they all im me as mommy[lastname]. When WMB went to the new format, I offered to change it but everyone said, “no.”
p.s. I told you my rant was stupid; I know it is, really, I do.
I just looked up some grammar rules so I could post the rule on that/which, but found this. I think it puts me in my proverbial place:
“Many grammarians insist on a distinction without any historical justification. Many of the best writers in the language couldn’t tell you the difference between them, while many of the worst think they know. If the subtle difference between the two confuses you, use whatever sounds right. Other matters are more worthy of your attention.”
Rant: Laws about using the cell phone while driving! You might as well make laws saying that you can’t talk with passengers, or that you can’t have little kids in the car, or that radios are banned. LOTS of things are distracting to a driver. The cell phone is no worse than many other perfectly acceptable things, and sometimes it is far more necessary! I have hands-free now, and I challenge a cop to know when I’m talking on the phone vs. just talking or singing to myself!
RANTS: I’m still being logged off at whim or so it seems!
Can’t seem to get the correct formula for bolding and doing italics! I can get the first part of it but then the bolded as well as the italitcized goes on to the end of the post. I have shied away from using bold too much as I don’t want to be known as VS the Bold.
VS,
To turn off whatever you’ve turned on (bold, italic), type the same keys in the same order but put a / just before the b or i. So you’d type a at the end of the text you want bolded.
Rant- Along the that/which line my peeve is using “then” where the word should be “than”.
Rave- I attended a great Creation vs. Evolution presentation by Brian Young of Creation Instruction Association last evening. A fantastic program on Creation Science from a Biblical Perspective. It blows evolution out of the primordial soup. Check it out at creationinstructionassociation.com
Okay, that previewed right, but doesn’t show up even though I have several words interrupting each character involved. Second try: type a less than symbol, a backslash (looks like /), the letter b, and a greater than symbol at the end of the text you want bolded.
Our remote control worked for about 13 months. When we called the company, it was $50 for a replacement. We got a generic replacement for under 4 dollars. Now my tv won’t do all it can, but the thought of spending $50 for something that lasted such a short time in the first place was too much for me. The tv also goes to black and white for short periods with no seeming rhyme or reason. It’s a dud.
My husband always grumbled about cell phone usage in the car, until I started getting after him when he reached for a cd or his coffee or was eating something while driving. There are already laws for inattentive or careless driving. Use them. Otherwise to be fair, we should outlaw every other distraction, IMO. Not that I have ever used a cell phone while actually driving.
VS: my sister-in-law has a couple of books out that are very anti-christian. She still says she listens to the real Jesus. All other Christians are wrong. She mixes up Judaism, some of Jesus’ sayings, eastern thought and Native American teachings and now has several books out. She just sent me a couple more emails of her thoughts. We pray, as talking does no good.
Rant: my computer has been giving me fits all week, working so slowly that I could cook and eat dinner between clicking on something and having that something appear.
Rave: It’s not much better today,but I may have a new computer before the day is done.
VS: make sure there are no spaces between the codes and what you want to bold/italicize, and that there are spaces between that section of type and others in your post.
California will allow only hands-free cell phone usage come July. I already have a little Bluetooth device clipped on my visor that allows that, but I don’t use the phone when driving unless someone calls me [then I keep it short], because it’s not a person’s hand usage that causes the problems, it’s their brain usage.
Hey, I can tell by the reaction to my cell phone post that you think I’m being Pollyanna! You’re probably right, but hope springs eternal. I like to think glass half full. NJ needs money. We have a joke here that towards the end of the month when they need money, the cops go out and write tickets. The whole state needs money now, and I have this vision of state troopers on the Garden State Parkway “enjoying” their summer! Please don’t burst my bubble. (We will allow handsfree usage, but I agree there’s a lack of concentration while talking on the phone during driving. Why people can’t hang up is beyond me. Who can talk that much?)
Speaking of cell phones, tell me what you think of this. I was in the Post Office - a rather large one with lots of open space. The line was long - 7 or 8 people in front of me. My sister called me (we’re close, but sometimes let a few weeks go by without chatting) to ask how the kittens were doing and if all had gone to new homes. I was telling her about each one when the woman in front of me turned around, put her hands on her hips, and very gruffly said, “Do you mind! I don’t care to hear about your kittens.” I didn’t respond, but turned my back to her to finish the conversation. My question is this - was I rude to chat on the phone under those circumstances? What would have been the difference if my sister had been standing there next to me and I was talking to her?
The punch line to the story is that when her turn came, that woman marched up to the desk, put her hands on her hips, and very gruffly said, “I want to speak to the manager. I’m here to complain about my mail service.”
Make it Man’s quick html tutorial.
Use the greater than, less than symbols instead of the brackets:
Italics:
[i]put italics here[/i]
Bold:
[b]put bold here[/b]
Both:
[i][b]bold and italics[/b][/i]
On different lines:
[i]Italics[/i] and [b]bold[/b]
[b]Don’t work if you put the end tag on a different line.[/b]
[i]So you have to have both starting and ending tags on lines that are separated by a space.[/i]
Mommy, the punchline says it all:)
But you have to be careful; I was sitting in a medical lab waiting room once. A twenty-something gal came in and talked to the receptionist and everyone ignored that conversation. Since everyone was reading it was hard to ignore when she called her boyfriend or parents to whine that if they didn’t pay $65 dollars to buy stat status on her lab work they’d have to wait a week to find out the results. She whine and whined and whoever was on the other end finally agreed to cough up the money. When she hung up a surly old man across the room said, “Pregnancy or AIDS test?” To which the whole room cracked up and waited for her answer. She was quite upset, but then she brought us all into the conversation.
Mommy,
I don’t think it’s rude to talk on your cell while standing in line at the Post Office, unless you were speaking louder than you would if your sister were in line with you. I’ve noticed that some people still tend to speak more loudly than normal on a cell, because they think the other person can’t hear them.
I’ve heard women using their cells while using a booth in a public rest room, so nothing surprises me anymore.
Rave: After being randomly logged off and locked out for almost a week, I’m back in to WotW.
Rant: Trying to get my new credit card has turned into a comedy of errors. It was hand carried to Africa by a fellow missionary, but never got to me. You think taking care of a lost card is hard to do, try doing it from Africa.
Kayvee, cell phones should be banned in the ladies room. It’s offensive on so many levels.
Rave: My husband has heard back from the auto repair shop and the repair was only $1000, not $1300! Yesterday, $1000 would have been a kick in the head. But, today, it sounds pretty good! It’s all relative, isn’t it?
Robhays,
I know lamp to be Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP, an open-source Web development platform. Is that what you’re referring to? (if so, you need to get a life, my friend!)
Rant: I had to track a package that should have been here quite awhile ago and found that the post office claimed to have tried to contact us on Feb. 23. We received no notice and had one other package left on our porch from them in the meantime. We have always had excellent service from our little local post office, but the newest driver who has been on for a couple of years now is terrible. She regularly gives us the wrong mail.
Rave: I stopped by the Post Office and the package was there. The carrier was quite befuddled, but the Post (Mistress?)knew where it was right away. What is the right term for a lady Post Master?
KI, if you need someone to go complain for you, I can probably look up the lady I encountered.
#15 NJLawyer,
That’s why I got Blue tooth for her car. She is upset that it won’t text for her too instead of just talk. I am hoping that Blue tooth will eventually break this texting thing kids have now a days instead of talking.
I think they do it out of spite
Taliking about daughter.
Ooh, MIM, I never knew you could be bold and italized at the same time!
I understood what you meant, Llama. If we have to have it, and I suppose there should be something for “safety” (emergencies), blue tooth is the way.
MOMMY: Thanks for the offer. I have always bragged about my post office, so it is quite a let down to now have such a poor employee. Especially when I know there are so many others who would probably love to have the job and would be better at it.
At any rate, I am reminded of what a little thing it is, since I just finished reading about the bad afternoon my uncle had. He is getting both radiation and chemo for a cancerous tumor the size of a baseball and that is located in his pancreas. Surgery was not possible. He is blessed with a wonderful wife and grown children. I know he would love prayers from those of you who pray. His name is Tim.
KI,
Praying for Tim. Is he a believer?
RAVE: Wufoo.com for making forms!!! I’m starting online writing classes this spring and Wufoo makes registration forms so easy it’s fun!
RAVE: We spent the whole day cleaning and rearranging my 8yod and my bedrooms (my bedroom is 1/2 office). They’re both beautiful now!
RANT? Can’t really think of one. It’s been a wonderfully productive day!
RobHays, sorry to hear about the break-in at your place.
KI, praying for your uncle Tim.
RobHays,
I know what it’s like to suffer a breakin of one’s home. It happened to me 4 times in 6 years, the last time was last summer. Steel doors, deadbolts and an alarm system didn’t faze them. I sold my home and moved. I couldn’t take worrying every time I left the house that I would get that call from the alarm company telling me the police were on the way to my house again. It’s a sickening feeling.
I think it’s absolutely shocking that in Dallas the Secret Service dismantled metal detectors and to the amazement of the local police quit checking people for weapons at an Obama rally where Obama spoke publicly and walked unknowingly through the crowd.
Some could certainly come to the conclusion he was being set up at an assassination friendly venue. Later, the Secret Service, for justification said the crowd of more than 17,000 “seemed” friendly.
Of course, assassinating a Democratic politician has not been terribly unusual in Dallas, but never has collusion with the Secret Service been such an obvious possibility.
Hopefully, Bush will take this seriously and try to find out who issued the order. Hopefully, the order didn’t come from a member of his administration and he will take steps that ALL of the candidates running for the office of the presidency are equally protected.
My biggest rant ever.
#53: Is he a believer?
In what?
RDean 58,
In the One Who cares for him beyond the care of any finite being. In the One Who desires to give him the deepest joy and peace and love, beyond his fondest dreams. In the One Who gave up His Life so Tim could have true life. In the One Who is filled with compassion and love for His broken creation and has a plan for redemption that only He can offer.
broken creation????
When it was created, its Creator called it “good”. Then we decided we were as good or better than the Creator and should have as much or more say in things. Since then the creation has been suffering the loss of the fellowship with the Creator. Played out in various ways but symptoms include death and illness, hatred, conflict, that sort of thing. With the good news being that the Creator loved the created so much and desired that fellowship so much that He came to live as a man, suffering death though He was sinless, that that fellowship could be restored.
Mumsee and all the rest of you: Thanks so much for your prayers. My uncle has been a Catholic all his life and believes in prayer. He can always use more wisdom and depth in his relationship with the Father.
#61: Sounds like the perfect magical creator made a few “mistakes”. Does that make it still “perfect”?
RDean,
The mistake was made by Adam, as you well know. I admire Mumsee’s patience with you.
RDean 63,
No mistake made. As we are merely human, we need to use the tools at hand so I offer an analogy with the understanding that all analogies fall apart. As a mom, I brought four lovely children into the world. It was my hope that each would develop into responsible adults, becoming independent functioning citizens while maintaining a loving relationship with me. As they grew, they had to make decisions, whether to listen to my “words of wisdom”, what education to pursue, what job to follow, whether or not to make my God their God. If they choose to never contact me again, that will be their choice and I will be grieved but it would be their choice. Whatever their decisions, I do not regret bringing them into the world and offering them the chance.
How this works with “free will and “predestination”, I do not know. I do know that He is greater than me and His love for my children is greater than mine and I will trust Him. I am grateful that He made a way for me to come to Him after my choices to turn from Him. While I was yet dead in my sins, He died for me.
whether or not to make my God their God
I understand the need for some people to be watched over by a mystical and supernatural spirit thing. It can help you from feeling lonely or give some kind of importance to your life when you may feeling simply being a human is not enough. It’s ok as long as you don’t force others to make “your” God “their” God and live by a code of ethics that doesn’t penalize innocent Americans for not living by the sliding moral code of an anchient desert people.
But in this world, I found the following article on the shocking lack of security provided by the Secret Service at last weeks Obama rally. I suspec this story won’t be going away anytime soon.
Submitted by JimWilliams on February 22, 2008 - 7:57pm. Hot Off the Presses Barack Obama
This post analyzes an apparently deliberate security breach at the Obama rally held in Reunion Arena in Dallas on Wednesday, 2/20/08.
Failing to inspect purses and packages that might contain weapons is, obviously, a security breach. According to the Star Telegram, the breach occurred when Secret Service personnel were ordered to stop searching, showing that the breach was deliberate at some level. The fact that the Secret Service is denying the incident, rather than investigating it, indicates high-level culpability.
But what could be the purpose of such a deliberate security breach? One possibility is that, after the successful assignation-by-security-breach of Benazir Bhutto, elements in the Bush administration are now planning a similar fate for Barack Obama. Since there was no actual assassination attempt on Wednesday, it would appear that the purpose of Wednesday’s action was merely to test the security-breach mechanism, which failed by the way. Their operation contains stooges, and they will have to be eliminated before the plan goes live. After that, all that remains is to insert a secretly groomed assassin, as for example, an embittered Klu Klux Klansman with a terminal illness.
Does this mean Obama is just another dead man walking? Or is there a way out? There is. To begin with, the Obama campaign will have to insist on reviewing all security plans in advance. Assuming a plan is acceptable, campaign observers with cell phones must then watch every Secret Service agent to ensure that the plan is actually being followed, while reporting to a central control station that will whisk Obama to safety if the plan isn’t followed, or if the observers are obstructed (as for example, by jamming their cell phones).
Bush isn’t’ running against Obama. Why would he do that? Any chance the whole thing was set up by Obama himself to up his Messiah image. Can’t the protected person counteract the Secret Service’s orders?
No.