Get Your Grump on Thursdays - Was (What's chapping my @ss today?)

[Nierman]

People that do doggy sing-a-longs. They're not singing along with you or your kazoo or your slide whistle, they are crying. You sound 5x as awful to their sensitive ears than you do to your fellow humans. May you all find a fetid, steaming pile on your pillow each morning next to a chewed up pair of your favorite shoes. Prepare to be greeted at the Rainbow Bridge with LRAD.

[clweed]

People dragging there dogs around on a leash when it is 100 degrees outside and their fat ass is on a beach cruiser

[zetroc]

Yesterday on my commute home I turned a corner and came face to face with a large dog, what looked to be a German shepherd/lab mix. No owner in sight. It barked at me, I yelled, it strolled away. Awesome. Lock up your effing dog.

[Ben]

I lost an election earlier this month.
By ten votes.
Or 0.14%

My opponent's campaign got ~$30k in the last three weeks of the campaign
from one rich tea-party nutjob way outside the district.
(That's about 50% of what we'd each raised otherwise --
and enough to totally saturate TV and direct mail for two weeks)

The "donor" started two PACs last month
and dropped something like a quarter mil into them.
Made national news.

I did everything short of beg local media to cover it.
Did the research, provided all the documentation.
They didn't much cover it, except to repeat the (false) claims
made in one of the PAC's direct mail pieces.

Today, the newspaper reported that the guy is being hauled
before the state Registry of Election Finance
because the PACs were an illegal "conduit"
that allowed him to circumvent campaign finance laws.

He potentially faces some fines.
Which really worries a guy with enough money
to drop a quarter mil in a fortnight.

He changed the outcome of multiple races throughout the state.

The local reporter -- the one I begged to cover this story prior to the election --
sent me a "heads-up" email about today's story.
Like I was supposed to be grateful that he finally got around to covering it
three weeks after it made any difference.

I genuinely don't mind losing.
If you take on a two-term incumbent in a primary,
you'd better accept it as a possibility.
But I'm heartbroken that our system is so broken.

[Jayme]

The coffee in my office is absolute shite! My office is on the wrong side of downtown... no one runs a good coffee shop within 6 blocks. Too far to go for a quick coffee break.

[rmplum]

People who don't know how to use four-way stop intersections.

Every time I get a test team over here, we hand out a driving sheet with US rules and road situations, etc - and then they each have to do a driving test before we hit the road for two weeks. Four-way stops are always a point of emphasis, and nervousness. And these guys are all trained drivers, development engineers, etc. I asked one of the engineers once about the rule for four-way stops in japan...his response -"there is no rule".

There used to be a four-way stop up by my neighborhood in Ann Arbor, which is highly international - especially on this side of town (NE). You could setp up some lawn chairs, pull up a cooler, and make a drinking game out of predicting behaviors at the four-way.

1. Stop and wait for everyone else to go person (I mean everyone - these people wait till there is ZERO traffic there).
2. Stop and go person. First one there? Last one there? Doesn't matter. I came to a complete stop, I'm going.
3. Indecisive person. My turn? Ok. No, your turn - ok, I'll just stop here and wait in the middle of the intersection. Let's dance.
4. Slow down but don't stop person.
5. The right way.

They put in a single lane roundabout two years ago. I'm not always a fan of these, but in this case, in our neighborhood, it has fixed most of the issues.

[Elefantino]

I lost an election earlier this month.
By ten votes.
Or 0.14%

My opponent's campaign got ~$30k in the last three weeks of the campaign
from one rich tea-party nutjob way outside the district.
(That's about 50% of what we'd each raised otherwise --
and enough to totally saturate TV and direct mail for two weeks)

The "donor" started two PACs last month
and dropped something like a quarter mil into them.
Made national news.

I did everything short of beg local media to cover it.
Did the research, provided all the documentation.
They didn't much cover it, except to repeat the (false) claims
made in one of the PAC's direct mail pieces.

Today, the newspaper reported that the guy is being hauled
before the state Registry of Election Finance
because the PACs were an illegal "conduit"
that allowed him to circumvent campaign finance laws.

He potentially faces some fines.
Which really worries a guy with enough money
to drop a quarter mil in a fortnight.

He changed the outcome of multiple races throughout the state.

The local reporter -- the one I begged to cover this story prior to the election --
sent me a "heads-up" email about today's story.
Like I was supposed to be grateful that he finally got around to covering it
three weeks after it made any difference.

I genuinely don't mind losing.
If you take on a two-term incumbent in a primary,
you'd better accept it as a possibility.
But I'm heartbroken that our system is so broken.

That reporter wouldn't still be working for me. Either that or his ass would have been in a major sling.

And while we're at it, I fukcing hate politics. As I told a state operative for a major political campaign the other day, "you get paid to tell me this [stuff], but I don't get paid to listen." <click>

[Chance Legstrong]

Sinus pressure
the road rash from Sunday's 1st race is oozing and i cant get comfortable
and everyone took the stupid morning pill today

[robin3mj]

Atmospheric mold counts.
50,000 is a "very high" reading.

Last week in Chicago it was 125,000, and has not been below the 50K line in about 2 weeks.

I don't normally get allergies but lately I have felt like sh1t.

[Tom]

"The meeting has been sparsed down to groups A, B and C so you are no longer required to attend."

Oh, no, it has been exiguoused. I'll be there.

Sometimes I think that all some people do is turn every word into a verb. They don't actually do any verbs, they just make them.

[jamesand]

-ables: Adding -able to the end of words. Infuriating.

Lunchables, Grillables, packables, snortables, drinkable, fuckupables. etc.

[MDEnvEngr]

I would like to kick the blockheads at the CTDEEP right in the a$$ sometimes.

[SpeedyChix]

Been staying away from grump on Thursday as I've got a bunch to thankful for and be happy about.
Though I've cracked today. I'm really running out of steam from not being able to get to sleep or once there, stay asleep.
Shingles nerve stuff can take a hike any time. The unwelcome guest has overstayed.
Whine-o-meter OFF.
Thanks for the opportunity to vent.
Back to smiling.

[j44ke]

I lost an election earlier this month.
By ten votes.
Or 0.14%

My opponent's campaign got ~$30k in the last three weeks of the campaign
from one rich tea-party nutjob way outside the district.
(That's about 50% of what we'd each raised otherwise --
and enough to totally saturate TV and direct mail for two weeks)

The "donor" started two PACs last month
and dropped something like a quarter mil into them.
Made national news.

I did everything short of beg local media to cover it.
Did the research, provided all the documentation.
They didn't much cover it, except to repeat the (false) claims
made in one of the PAC's direct mail pieces.

Today, the newspaper reported that the guy is being hauled
before the state Registry of Election Finance
because the PACs were an illegal "conduit"
that allowed him to circumvent campaign finance laws.

He potentially faces some fines.
Which really worries a guy with enough money
to drop a quarter mil in a fortnight.

He changed the outcome of multiple races throughout the state.

The local reporter -- the one I begged to cover this story prior to the election --
sent me a "heads-up" email about today's story.
Like I was supposed to be grateful that he finally got around to covering it
three weeks after it made any difference.

I genuinely don't mind losing.
If you take on a two-term incumbent in a primary,
you'd better accept it as a possibility.
But I'm heartbroken that our system is so broken.

$250,000 is a deal compared to what Karl Rove, the Kochs and Adelson are going to pour into the RR campaign. This isn't even about Democrats and Republicans any more. It is just about money.

The voters don't seem able to sort it all out either. As my wife says, people who make less than $40,000/year keep voting to lower our taxes and increase their cost of living. And when their cost of living increases, they vote to lower our taxes again.

More blood letting, the patient is dying!

[Jaq]

Absolutely nothing.

Which is exactly what's got me in a dither.

[Too Tall]

J44ke and anyone else who quoted or gave meaningful "feedback" - drop and give me 20

Thursday is a wrap. Open for business again in one week.

[j44ke]

J44ke and anyone else who quoted or gave meaningful "feedback" - drop and give me 20

Thursday is a wrap. Open for business again in one week.

1 and 2 and 3 ... and ... f o u r . . . a n d . . .

[roseyscot]

Sorry TT, but I need to get this in. Mine started Wednesday

1. Wednesday morning, rain in the forecast, so of course the car won't start. Got 2/3 of the way to work before the heavens opened. Sat under cover for 35 minutes before just getting soaked for the last 1/3.
2. Had to put my wet cycling clothes and shoes back on to race home to get my car towed to the mechanic by 5:30. Called at 3, tow truck there at 4:30, slow ride, just got to mechanic at 5:15.
3. Thursday morning, since I had no car, I had to take the train for 45 minutes to meet my coworker to drive to Cape Cod for a business meeting. Back in Boston around 6:30, then another 45 minutes on the T, walk in the door around 7:15 to an exhausted wife, hyper kid, and 30 minutes to pack him up to go visit grandma and grandpa.
4. Thursday night, 8pm, driving my wife's car to meet grandma and grandpa half way for the hand off, which goes well. On the way back, night construction on the Mass Pike so we're crawling at 5mph for ~3 miles. Finally home around 11pm, and I need to repair the flat tire I got on Monday evening so I can ride to work this morning.
5. Friday morning, riding to work, and I get pulled over by a traffic cop in Newton Center for riding through the intersection while all directions were stopped and the white pedestrian walk sign was on. $20 fine and an obnoxious tongue lashing from the fatass cop who probably couldn't climb up two flights of stairs, let alone chase someone on foot.

The silver lining? I spent 17 hours on the Zank cx and road bikes so far this week! That helps me forget about all the drama in between.

[randonneur]

Drove 45 mins last night to the trailhead only to realize i'd forgotten my helmet... grumpiness ensued.

[RickM]

People who hold up the entire line at the coffee shop/takeout joint/hot dog truck, etc.. by endlessly interrogating the waitstaff; "Is that good?" "Is that really hot?" "What's that taste like?" etc. etc. etc. Jesus H. Crikey...how risk-averse can some shlub be? It's a goddam coffee flavor, you mook. Live a little and try something new. Take a effin' flyer for once in your pampered, overfed, intellectually lackluster, banal little life.

Hack Kaff....suddenly I feel a little better.