More First-World Grievances

1/4 of the year down, 3/4 to go! How many more FWG's can we dig up?

My favorite brand of bread, Vital Vittles is so organic, it molds if I don't either eat it in a week or store it in the fridge. :(

Today's first-world grievance is becoming less of a grievance with better notes and liberal application of <brand redacted>, which is apparently no better than fast-food-for-cats. Our sweetie's tastes in wet food seems to change from week to week.

My husband's book (iOS Programming arrived today, but he ordered his several days after I placed my order. The injustice of it all! :(

To clarify, I am not ordering my own copy of iOS Programming.

Rozax, I grew up in the tropics and we kept our bread in the freezer so it wouldn't go bad faster than we ate it.

Hmn, any bread that stays "fresh" more than a week probably is too packed with preservatives to be healthy. In my opinion ;-)

4 & 5: Truth on both accounts. The lack of preservatives is part of why I like this stuff so much. The majority of the reason being, it just tastes good.

New FWG: My plants were wilting again, already, as they were day before yesterday, so I watered them, and now it looks like rain! My husband might say, "It's only a drop in the bucket," but it's the principle of the thing! I can't help looking at the watering can and thinking of how many thirsts that amount would have quenched in an area that doesn't have plumbing.

4 - I'm having that problem. I buy bread, but living alone means that it always goes mouldy, and I don't like bread in the fridge (it does funky things to how it tastes). Preservatives or not, I get about two days to eat a loaf on my own.

Well, I'm just exhausted. I had to reboot two Kindles and then register and de-register a Kindle app. Because the devices weren't syncing as they ought to have done. Technology was supposed to make my life EASIER. You can understand how this has just worn me out.

(reposted from the earlier thread because I didn't notice until after the fact that the old thread had been continued over here. The agony of my life as it pertains to technology just continues...)

#8 Choreo

I have the same problem with not being able to use a loaf before it'll go bad. A better method is to store the bread in the freezer. I separate out enough slices for a few uses in freezer bags and take it out as I need it.

(Some more info about storing bread, etc at http://bread.com/content/keeping-bread-fresh )

I'm another bread freezer :)

Me, too.

I've always hated fridging bread, but this brand seems to be able to handle it. It probably also helps that we put it in pyrex dishes rather than leaving it in the bag.

I wore some really cute socks today and nobody noticed. More importantly, I had to wear regular shoes to wear these socks, as I am partial to my VFFs. Most importantly of all, these were Snoopy socks! How could anyone so cold-heartedly not comment on my Snoopy socks??

Re: preservatives in food.

As my father says: "At my age, I need all the preservatives I can get!" ;)

I refrigerate my bread and it keeps for ages, but I only use it for toast or eggy bread so any variation in taste is disguised.

#15 - Ahhhh, if only it worked that way! :D

@epochwolf decided to grill me on a picture of an ocelot. I wasn't sure if it actually was an ocelot, because he knows enough about cats to find something similar.

For example, this is a clouded leopard, not an ocelot.


This is the picture he sent.


I rushed to wikipedia to find the requested "genus, species, and subspecies", whether ocelot was correct or not. Wikipedia refused to load. Wouldn't you know it, the picture he sent was from wikipedia page.

And, no, there was no checking the URL. We have ways around that.

That's a South Brazilian Ocelot. (leopardus pardalis). For the record, Rozax, I dragged the picture above to the search box in Google images and Google spat out the specifics. If there's a subspecies, it wasn't on the first page of results.

But yes, when Wikipedia is down, the sun goes behind a cloud in Our World.

#19 - Regarding #18, @jillmwo, that particular picture is from wikipedia. The one that my friend sent me was pulled from wikipedia and sent to me from his personal server. I was not about to post it here with his private information. He also sent me that clouded leopard clip, taken from wikipedia, and I shared it here on Muzy before posting it here.

#20 - Many search engines can analyse images for information. No URL, no embedded metadata needed - they just look at the pixel-patterns. Google is one of those - just use Images Search and then Search with Image; do drag and drop, and voilà!

How do you titillate an ocelot?

Oscillate its tits a lot!

#21 - I use Chrome for that. Wiki's just my go-to source for information <3

AAARGH! I just accidentally muted a thread, but I don't know which one it was!

Chrome IS Google ;-)

FWG of the day is I need to print the tickets to my niece's circus show. All colour ink cartridges are almost empty but the blacks are all new and the file is all black on white paper. So why don't my printer understand Print B/W?!?!?!

Now I need to go buy more ink. *sigh*

I was in that shop yesterday!!!

PEOPLE OF THE GROUP! I AM NOT COMPUTER ILLITERATE! Sorry for shouting, but these misunderstandings are seriously starting to annoy me.

I'm sorry, I did not mean to be obnoxious or a besserwisser.
And perhaps not everyone even here know what modern search engines can do so even if you already knew someone else learned something?
*shrugs*

And, oh, sometimes I learn something, too.

27: My apologies, too. These were just a couple serial events compounded by a couple in-person events.

This speaks truths to me.

oh, boy, so much truth there. Can't handle the truth, too early in the morning!

Rain.

I got an iPad on Monday and my daughter drops it and shatters the screen Tuesday. I get a new one Wednesday at the Apple Store (replacement out of warranty) and come home to restore it from the cloud server; it won't connect to WiFi. :( So now I have to go back to the Apple Store (20 miles away) tonight to get another one. Three iPads that I have owned in less than 2 days.

My macbook went comatose, so I had to go out and buy a new macbook pro.

Discussed cheese with colleague and now I can't concentrate on work...

Dealing with the insurance coverage prior to a visit to the doctor's office. I swear I want a nationalized health care system for the United States because this is just asinine. Common sense, routine requirements have to be turned into deeply complicated, arcane processes.

This likely ought to have been posted to the Stabbity thread, but when one is sputtering with annoyance over a situation, it's sometimes hard to find the right one. Apologies for not keeping this light hearted. Of course, it really is a first world grievance to moan over healthcare.

Really! no apologies needed. That is a first world grievance and you are justified in being annoyed. Most of us are, about health insurance any way!

Agreeing with maggie, jill. You are more than welcome to post about healthcare here, no apologies needed or required.

NOOOOO!

http://rozax.muzy.com/post/43665810

This post may have gotten a few people interested in LT, though.

I need to do something today. Do a dry-run with packing for our trip, head up to the human society to play with some cats, call the music store to see if one of their practice rooms is open so I can play my saxophone (it's been tuned since February, and I've yet to do that), or clean my house so it can be nice and pristine when we get back from our trip. Sitting at my computer all day typically leads to depression. ^^;

I'm looking at you, Rozax. I'm the same. I'm mostly packed, and then I spent probably 30" walking all over the house trying to find where I had tucked away my camera bag with the extra lens, extra battery, etc. etc. Also, could not for the life of me find the tripod, either! Boo hiss! Looked up, looked down, looked inside/out...

Finally! opened the broom closet and there sitting on tall stool, right in front of my face! One camera bag, and the tripod in the corner right behind it. Duh!

So, now on to cleaning up the house and being sure I've got all the supplies staged by the door so I can leave in peace tomorrow.

Bon Voyage, to you, too! Hope my house is as clean as yours will be!

One of the hats I wear is the copy room person. I run the monster Xerox and do basic maintenance on the little Xerox and two Risos (major workhorses - kind of like the old mimeographs without the smell). First one Riso went down and as I was on the phone requesting serivce a teacher came in to tell me the second one was causing fits. No problem, I'll do all the copies on the big Xerox. Unfortunately, it chose that moment to have a jam and the paper I cleared was missing a corner that was too far inside for me to find. Oh, and did I mention we're getting close to finals week?

*ugh* Long flight. I go to bed, now.

#42 I have long held the view that all these things (especially computers) belong to the same union, whose main aim is to drive humans round the twist. But how do they know when there's a deadline that makes it a "good time" to go on the frits? And they always do. (Guess who had a very similar problem today with one that got 3/4 way through an urgent job and then decided that eating paper was far more satisfying than working ...

No kidding! I think it has a name like the Peter Principle or something where something that can go wrong, will go wrong, at the worst possible time. On a happy note, they are back in action today.

That's Murphy's Law (whatever can go wrong, will go wrong). The Peter Principle is something to do with "rising to the level of one's incompetence" in an organization :)

I am back and working my way through a gazzilion emails and threads. Reading, reading, reading

Dogs are sleeping. Greta Garbo was given treat of being free to chase rabbits!! Rabbits... what are those? I'm gone......

Had a great trip.

>4 mamzel: & >8 Choreocrat: (which is how far I've read)... Oh and >16 Sakerfalcon: (after backtracking before posting)

What I do is buy the bread (several of the brands that are in the grocer's freezer, one or two on the shelf ) and then triple bag them (with saved bread bags, alternating the front and rear ) and keep them in my own freezer. when I want to use the bread, I unbag it and if necessary pop the frozen (stuck) pieces in the micro for 5 seconds and presto!

FYI (in case you like REAL peanut butter):

Natural, fresh self-ground peanut butter (my market still has a peanut grinding machine, the ONLY one left in this area... and they USED to be quite popular) can be kept safely, without separating, for at least several months (I recycle old plastic PB jars) on a shelf in the 'fridge.

#42-I call it "The Law of the general oneryness of things!"
I used to work in a school print shop & our offset press would suddenly take to folding, mutilating & flinging sheets across the shop-usually in the middle of an important job, with a short deadline, of course!
#44-I am sure that there is a 'mechanical/electronic' conspiracy amongst the machines we all rely on. Big mistake. Huh? 8^)

#48 - Our grocery has a peanut grinding machine, too. I love it. Can't abide any other peanutbutter now.

Don't even begin to talk to me about machines not working. This is one of our biggest revenue weekends of the year. Rooms are priced at a premium and we are sold out. Soooo,

I am the shiny GM at our hotel, today I had to buy snake repellent (with my own cc, which will be reimbursed someday, and on my own time), then I get a call, "Can you please stop by the hardware store on your way to work? A toilet handle broke and we need to replace it." I get to work and the manager of our sister hotel calls to tell me that not only will the man in charge of our maintenance not be coming this week, but he has also not hired a local person to do the job. So, I call the plumber to fix an out of order toilet at our hotel and a leaking jacuzzi at the other one (cheaper than losing the revenue on those rooms), and, the phone guy comes in and is working under my feet because our phones are going wonky. Head housekeeper comes and tells me the dryer is also behaving badly. I know, I just KNOW that the computers will go down sometime on Fri. or Sat. in the midst of everyone trying to check in and rush off to their family activities.

I hate being sold out, it almost guarantees that kind of day.

I am sorry, MrsLee, but isn't that why they pay you the Big Bucks? (smirk...sarcasm)

maggie, yes, I only wish that there were Big Bucks involved. Ooo, that didn't sound just right. *distracted* Um, yeah, I just wish their idea of a big salary matched my idea. ;)

yup! From your thoughts to God's ear! Hope things "lighten up" for you really soon!

>50 MrsLee: thru>53 maggie1944:

( thinking...commemt...ah yeah....man proposes...God disposes...seems appropriate- these things happen...)

National holidays and observances that are so similar that - from the perspective of a civilian - they are hard to tell apart: Armed Forces Day, Memorial Day, Veteran's Day, Patriot's Day, and probably a few more I don't know about, but someone is going to expect me to. I'm confused.

>55 walk2work:

Most of these commemorate some aspect of our Military Veterans Day was VE Day (Victory in Europe ), another was VJ (Victory over Japan) Day that was unofficially 15 Aug 1945, but became official with the signing of the surrender aboard the Battleship Missouri on 2 Sept, I think that is Armed Forces day. Memorial day is for all war veterans. Patriot's Day is a Massachusets commemoration of the battle of Lexington and Concord at the beginning of the Revolutionary War in 1775. Patriot Day, 11Sept., was the day in 2001 that 2977 were killed when AL QUEDA rammed those planes into the twin towers and Flight 93 passengers sacrificed themselves and saved the White House. The last two names can be easily confused. All of this information you can find on Wikipedia.

> 56 Except, some of what you said is wrong; which only confirms my whiney point.

Memorial Day is the day we remember soldiers killed in the line of duty. Patriot's or Patriot (?) Day happens in April and is the reason taxes weren't due until April 17 this year. Armed Forces Day is tomorrow.

See? :)

November 11 is when WWI ended on the 11th hour, on the 11th day, in the 11th month; and, most importantly for me: it is my birthday. I have little problem remembering this holiday.

When I was growing up it was called Armistice Day but then we, of course, had more large wars and it was changed to be Veterans Day. I hope these facts help you keep this one day a little bit special.

How hard can it be to get buckwheat flour?!?!
Incredibly hard, apparently...
Oh well.

I wouldn't have thought it was that hard, Busifer, but given the number of people who no longer cook from scratch, some basics seem to be forgotten in the store inventories. Buttermilk shouldn't be an exotic ingredient either and I frequently have to check two different stores to find it when I need it.

I'm hungry, but I don't know what I'm hungry for. Also, I can't decide whether I want to go somewhere new, or somewhere I've already been. Chinese? Indian? Mexican? Thai? Japanese steakhouse? I just can't decide. I probably should eat at home, but that takes effort.

#59 - I love buckwheat pancakes, but haven't had any for ages. I just learned that apparently, some people get violently ill when they eat buckwheat flour.

>57 walk2work:

I edited while typing & didn't proofread... but I see what you mean, obviously I'm not a veteran.

Perhaps also Wikipedia is mistaken? That is where I confirmed most of the data. Those posts could be erroneous. I knew about "tax day", being a retired accountant, and thought that maybe it was changed for some reason, I could be wrong...

All in all war is a sordid business...

:-/

>58 maggie1944:

The reason for the name change for Armistice day was that there were so few who were still actually alive to remember. The same could be said for both V-J and V-E day. At least that is how I remember. I was about twelve then and didn't much care for the change as I felt that it "papered over" history as >57 walk2work:'s post indicated.

I have an awful headache from my hairstyle for the wedding I stood in today. I haven't counted the bobby pins, but it's formed a respectable pile. My skin is also irritated from washing off all the makeup, and it's going to take a few days for the mascara to clear completely off. I'm glad my friend found someone who makes her happy, though.

(sigh)..warpaint...at least bobby pins can be useful for other tasks!

take heart Rozax!

I always feel that I am putting on my superhero persona when get out the makeup before work. If I have all that on my face, people will not be able to penetrate my true identity, hence, they will have no lasting power over me. When I wash off the facepaint, I wash off the ugliness of the day with it. That is the only reason I wear makeup. It gives me confidence to face whatever.

#62 - Just about the only thing that calls for buckwheat flour here are Russian blinier ("buckwheat pancakes") and galettes (French /Breton, really/ savoury pancakes, filled thin pancakes), of which the latter is what I wanted to make. This means buckwheat flour is down as "regional" here, ie hard to find.
You'd think Thai food was "regional" too but apparently it is the New Swedish Kitchen, so ingredients are available everywhere...

Galettes is just GREAT and as I finally managed to find some buckwheat flour I could serve family just that for dinner yesterday - fresh spinach leaves, chevre, thin slices of smoked ham and some Turkish yoghurt.

#67 - :) I just read about the "New Swedish Kitchen" in Marcus Samuelsson's book, Yes, Chef! Very interesting stuff about traditional vs. new.

Hmn, I read your review, perhaps I ought to read it. He's quite famous here, but mainly for being famous in the US, not for his food or his philosophy ;-)

I think you would find it interesting, but not sure. He does discuss his Swedish roots a lot. Pays homage to his Swedish grandmother for her cooking and inspiration. I find it very interesting that he seems to be a man of Sweden, America and Ethiopia, each having a prominent influence in his life at different periods.

It seems strange that Buckwheat pancake flour is hard to find in some areas. A local market (natural food) has both the flour and Groats (bulk} and the regional supermarket also carries it- but a more "mainstream" brand (i.e. more packaging, additives). I just use the stuff as thickener.

Well, the world isn't truly global (yet) and there are a lot of local varieties. In northern Norway, for example, whale and seal products are ubiquitous in the grocery shops while in Sweden they are impossible to find (thankfully, I think, which might work as an explanation?). In Sweden potato flour is traditionally used as thickener so buckwheat then becomes a Russian speciality. And Sweden's relationship with that part of the world is wrought with tensions...

Because there are shops specialising in US and Commonwealth (Uk+AUS, mainly) groceries here I can also say for sure that there are a plethora of things you'd might take for granted if you live in one of these places but which are hard to find here. Self-rising flour, for example, and 500 kinds of frosting ;-)

And then I haven't even touched on how UK tourists to southern Europe carry foodstuffs with them on vacation, not to have to depend on the scary things sold in Spanish groceries ;P

Airlines charging $9 to pay with a credit card. Also: stabbity.

#73 - That should be crime. Would they rather have you show up with a bag of cash?!

>74 Busifer: All in singles, and making everyone wait while you count them all out. With a gazillion people behind you.
"Oops! Where was I? I'll have to start over!"

why not pennies? That would be another argument for the US to keep issuing them. Canadians will have to use nickles as I understand that they no longer mint pennies (in both countries, not cost effective)

Our smallest coin is a 0.05c piece (more or less a nickel), but there are limits here to how much a provider is obliged to accept in coins, if I recall correctly. It'd be fun to try, that's for sure! >:)

I think I heard the same thing. Probably no one would like to count out (and verify!) 900 pennies (180 nickles is easier, though!)

But these ideas are not punishing the guilty, who are hiding out of sight of actual customers!

>79 littleshell:
OK...
so a way to begin to punish the guilty might be: find an activist investor in one of these firms who can help stir up enough complaints to the board of directors....
But then...If enough people pay their fines with 900 pennies, the airline eventually will lose customers and voila..

just some ideas...

I think we should just all stay home and read books. That'll show them!

But then I don't get to go and see my OH! *whines* *pouts*

I think it's one of those situation where you have to suck it up because there's no other option. All of them do it, so that's it.

Ah... "Monkey see, monkey do... how unimaginative and otherwise prosaic! I like >81 maggie1944:'s idea better

A boycott'll do it, you can see your OH! when the boycott's over.

(thought "why is it boycott? Why isn't it girlcott"?)

Anyone else hate it when you put a bunch of time and effort into an e-mail, and then nobody replies with even as much as a "thank you for the pictures"?

yes

84> I feel similarly about art critiques. They'll expressively ask for critique or submit it to a critique group, and they don't even bother to respond when you spend a lengthy amount of time writing up a long critique.

No, no, no, and NO! Raw fish is NOT sushi, it's sashimi!

It's nice to know that I wasn't the only one confused about this critical issue

I'm a sushi fanatic ^^

sushi is the rice?

Actually Roz, I think Sashimi might not have fit in the Sunday (New Haven CT.,U.S.cartoon).

True enough. I think it's closer to sashimi than sushi, though. All they have to do is slice it up.

90 - The traditional definition of sushi is a Japanese style food composed of vinegared-rice and some sort of topping (often, but not necessarily also with nori-seaweed). It covers a wide range of dishes, many of which contain no fish, cooked or otherwise. The typical sushi often has raw fish (or beef!) though, which leads to the convergent definitions in English.

(big sigh)...leave it to Americans to screw up a name...thanks for the clarified explanation, Choreocrat!

94 - That's a bit unfair. It's English speakers in general in this case, and most languages are guilty of it. That's how you end up with German 'Handy' (for cell phone) and Chilean Spanish 'confort' (for toilet paper).

>95 Choreocrat:
O.K. agreed, there are bastardized loanwords everywhere; but not being a linguist, like yourself, and having been trained mostly in "Americanese" with a healthy dose of "proper"
english, I didn't stop to think about it before posting!

My favourite Swedish bastardized loan is "snälltåg", on loan from the German Schnellzug. The German means "fast train" but the Swedish actually would mean "kind/nice train" if it had been a "real" Swedish word. Whatever that is - most of our words are loans, even if is has been centuries, some times.

I've always been amused by "schnell" meaning "fast" when it sounds like the English word for "snail".

>98 justjukka:

Did you ever wonder who can't spell, the Germans or the English?

I am dooooomed.... learned German about the same time I learned English. No wonder I can't spell. But then, I can't speak German, either. Nor French for that matter. Can't spell in any of these languages. Sigh.

...but Maggie, you're doing pretty well in english.
I wanted to take German in prep school but it was unavaliable until my 2nd year of French and by then it was too late. I wound up with 4 years of french, but don't ask me to converse (or write!) in any language other than this one (sigh...)

My mother is very fond of pointing out how often in english we take loan words and compound them with what they translate to, shiitake mushroom being the most oft mentioned example. I always respond that we have taken the word to denote the particular type of mushroom and it needs to be compounded to indicate what it is to the english speaker.

It's not a new practice either, there are hill hills, and valley valleys all over england that date back to the earliest brits eg cwm is valley in welsh and therefore Cwm Valley is redundant (except that in geology it means a specific type of glacier formed valley), Bredon Hill is famous for being hill 3 times over in german, Old English and English.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tautological_place_names see, look it happens all over the world!

chg1 - oh, I speak English well enough for an American but I was thinking of the troubles I have with spelling. I am very very dependent on my little google spell checker. I misplace letters all the time.

Spell checkers aren't always accurate there's always room for improvement and yet usage changes...they were made by us humans, who change constantly......

@maggie1944: Would you be interested in duolingo? In case you wanted to brush up on your German. We're chatting about it here, and I'd be more than happy to send you an invitation, if you (or anyone here!) are interested.

OK, so when is the rain going to stop?!?! It has rained almost constantly since this past Friday. Today Tuesday morning looked to be a break with fantastic (that is, normal) weather, and then - ka-booom! - the rain restarted, with a vengeance. The ground is soaked and so is everything else.
Enough, already!

I'll take your rain :(

Yes, please send some our way...we are always in constant danger of drought.

I accidentally deleted my text-coupon for free blueberries from EarthFare. Boo-rats.

@epochwolf: Stop recycling bad Garfield jokes!

This made me giggle:

#111 - I saw that when he posted it. I love it!

Bah.
Too busy to enjoy LT fro a while. Have several books backed up needing reviews. Oh well at least I'm still finding time to read which is much more important.

Reviewing books on LT was fun for a while but it became a chore to be done, a veritable Sword of Damocles, so I quit ER some months ago and haven't missed it- Too much backed up to do...!

#114- no not ER books, I've been reviewing every book I read since 2009? or so. ER books are easily accomodated.

I hate FB. I really, really hate FB. How annoyed am I? My husband was late for work this morning, so he asked me to give him a ride. After seeing my level of irritation, he decided to bike, instead.

Why am I on FB if I hate it so much? Haven't I mentioned, many times, that been Facebook free for so many years? I've just been asked to join in order to maintain a non-profit's info page. The president has been looking for someone to do this for months, and since I know I'm good at this sort of thing, I gave in to my guilt. I know I can just deactivate my account again if someone else takes over, but I feel as though I've compromised too many morals for this. :(

Not my FWG, I saw it on FB earlier today: a person in an FB-based book club I'm in might not get to participate in this month's discussion because his/her Kindle can't download things while on a yacht in the Carribbean.

117: Wow. We have a winner.

How many 'likes' did they get for that post?

I'm finally able to enter my cell number for verification! Unfortunately, their system refuses to send me a code. Now they want two forms of ID verification if I want their help. I can't wait for FB to bomb. I haven't had any of these problems on G+.

Mamzel: None, and no one has responded to it either. I'm not sure anyone knows how to respond. I almost posted "#FWG", but thought it would be considered snarky...

Maybe a smiley would soften the snark? She kinda has it coming.

BOYCOTT FACEBOOK!!!!!!!!!!?

;-)

(FYI- I don't use either it or Twitter)

Without FB I'd have lost contact with all my favourite people in hometown. For a lazy person who doesn't have the time for writing letters, it's the only way I can keep up with them.

123: That's the song I'm singing. I like twitter and G+, though.

FB is annoying as all get out, but it does mean I get to see cute pictures of nieces and nephews I'd otherwise be unable to identify on the rare occasions I do see them in real life. And some friends, mostly FB friends that are also LT friends, post interesting, amusing, and thought-provoking stuff.

Is it a first-world grievance if I really, really need a new laptop because this one is so old and freezes and crashes and is really slow, given that I need it for work? Isn't it akin to a carpenter needing a hammer and saw, or a farmer needing a plow?

Real first-world grievance: I don't have an air-conditioner for my bedroom, just one in the living room. Summer only lasts about two months and it's usually quite cool at night here anyway, but still . . . suppose I want an afternoon nap? what then, huh?

126> Sleep on your couch?

>127 pwaites: First-world grievance: I don't have a couch! (I do, however, have a wonderful leather rocker-recliner, and I do plenty of napping in it.)

>125 justjukka:

I think that Google has become too big for anyone's good. They are greedy just like all the other big ones, with its expanding tentacles and control; As far as humanly possible, allowing for LT, I refuse to use anything connected with it. There are other, better, search engines such as Ask.com (even if it is owned by Murdoch, in THIS case, he is the lesser of evils).

I hafta work all day. *sigh* Working on a day my husband has off. *heavy sigh*

FWG: Why are there Kindle books that I can't buy off Amazon because I'm in Australia? I'm buying it from the American site. If they don't have an agreement with Australian publishers, that's beside the point - there's no way for me to buy for kindle in Australia except through (American) Amazon, so I should have access to the American Amazon catalogue. Grr... There's very little reason for things to be artificially unavailable these days.

(I put this in here because I know there are actual legal reasons, but it irritated me, and it really is a FWG).

Yes, it is a first world grievance and it is due to an out-moded business model and I quite agree with you that it is just about the most irritating thing they can do with English-language titles. I encountered the same thing yesterday when I wanted to get a book about Daphne du Maurier only to discover that I could get the print version in the US, but not the Kindle edition. (And at the risk of being indelicate, I had a WTF moment similar to yours.)

So, see, Choreocrat, I'm fully sympathetic with your unhappiness.

We'll first-world grieve together. ;) I wanted to buy Fuzzy Nation for my kindle, and it's there, and I can see the price, but the 'buy' button has disappeared because I have an Australian-bought kindle. I can't help but wonder whether I'd be able to do it if I used a US proxy (is it an IP thing or a 'where you bought your kindle' thing?), but I'm not motivated enough to try.

E-READERS & E-BOOKS, NO OLD BOOK SMELL, "THEY" CAN SHUT YOU OFF WHEN "THEY" WANT, 'THEIR SERVER CAN GO DOWN, THEIR TOS CAN CHANGE, MORE E_WASTE IS CREATED, IF THE THING IS BROKEN YOU CAN"T READ ANYTHING ... ETC., ETC.,... (and I fully sympathize with 132 & 133)

(Some of my rants against e-readers and e-books which is why I boycott the whole deal. If an e-book is ever written that I might possibly find useful or interesting {or both}, well... that's my tough luck.)

NEW RANT ...l

HTML TAGS... just learned from experience that square brackets create a link, so I had to change the inner brackets to something else...(what are those brackets, {}, called?)

Official name: wiggly things.

>136 MerryMary:

I just researched it on Wikipedia; they are called curley brackets there.

134 - On the plus side for me, my vacation/plane/bus reading only weighs about 150g and slides neatly into my pocket (and I've been flying a *lot* this year).

I really liked my Kindle . . . until it froze up. And I can't afford to replace it right now because I am making payments on a new car. How's that for a FWG?

Have you talked with Amazon. You may be able to reset it and get it going again. Mine froze up once and we were able to get it restarted.

#140: I've reset it many times -- it always freezes up again after a few screens. And I've had it for more than a year, so it's out of warranty. Right now I'm letting the battery drain completely, to see if that has any effect.

Choreocat: It's an IP thing. My dad and I bought our Kindles in the States, but don't live there. We have them registered to my dad's account (so we can share books), and once I gifted a book to him that I wanted to read. Turns out you can buy this book in Israel, but can't download it in Tajikistan. Sigh.

foggidawn, that is a bummer! Still wonder if you've talked with the people at Amazon, or will they just not help if you are out of warranty? I want to know what to think if mine goes down again. It is the first released and so it is definitely getting old. And I've been lusting after a Kindle Fire....

foggidawn, in my experience, the customer service at Amazon is pretty good in helping with such technical difficulties. It would be worth giving them a call.

My dad lives in the U.S. Virgin Islands, an American territory. They speak English (heavily accented, mon), use the U.S. dollar, AC current and everyone is an U.S. citizen. Recently I bought him a Kindle as a gift and when I put his address in I found I had to pay an extra $30+ dollars for the foreign edition (plus shipping). I just came back from there and my U.S. Kindle worked just fine, downloading books and everything. If I had known I would have had the darn thing sent to my house and then mailed it from here! I would love to know why there was an extra charge on it. In the long run, he loves it and all of his friends commented on what a great gift it was for him.

>145 mamzel:

My Aunt and a family friend had a dual bungalo on Water Island in the 60's; Once we went there for a week. This was just before business interests began spoiling the place with huge hotels and modern "conveniences".

(tongue in cheek, but I can't think of another thread for this.) By the way, I'm having a worry about letting the water-buffalo into the pool area of our pub. Just look at the mess these guys have made of their pool, where the water is thickened with mud, coliform bacteria and "fecal matter" in about equal quantities ...

I'm hoping our water buffaloes are virtual, like our alcohol and so have no real "fecal matter" to share in our pool!

My tap water tastes funny.

Drink beer, it's safer.

After looking at this, I'll take that beer!

I'll wonder now whether in the last 1.5 years this chart has become more complex or more simple! I always wonder stuff like this when a fascinating statistic is published, and I look at when the data was collected.

This reminds me of something I came across in Economics for Dummies recently that I'd never thought of. It asked why since the early 19th century we have seen such a rapid development of technology. Are we smarter than our ancestors? No - better educated perhaps but smarter no. It suggested that the reason was the introduction of patents - that until that point there was no incentive to invent as everyone could just copy you to their own advantage. Thus, the inventor soon lost their advantage and incentive to think of new things. But patents give the inventor a chance to make money out of their ideas and for others to pay them for the privilege of using the ideas.

We all want something for nothing but perhaps in the long term what looks like crazy sueing of everyone by everyone else is good for our future.

At least, it is good for the lawyers.

153:  I have friends who keep up with this stuff, and they assure me that it's become even more tangled.  I figure it's a good FWG, seeing as you need to have money in order to fight over such things.

OH WHAT TANGLED WEBS WE WEAVE
WHEN FIRST WE PRACTICE TO DECEIVE

OGDEN NASH Sir Walter Scott

(I think Nash did a parody of that which explains the confusion)

In case you ever lose yours...
twitter.com/#!/NeedADebitCard

>157 chg1: I think Nash extended it a bit:

BUT AFTER WE PRACTICE A WHILE
HOW VASTLY WE IMPROVE OUR STYLE

>159 Marissa_Doyle:

That may be the latter of Nash's verse, but I vaguely remember the first two lines as:

Oh what a tangled web parents weave
when their children they (either try to; or first) deceive
(and then substituting "they" for "we" in the extension.
I corrected my reference in 157 by looking it up on the web, but am relying on my (usually good) memory for this one.

On top of this recall, I believe it was Abe Lincoln who said,"No man has a good enough memory to be a perfect liar."

(However, some of them are pretty damn close!!!)

Is no one else disturbed by the number of people putting pictures of their debit cards on the internet?

>161 justjukka: There is a discussion at http://boingboing.net/2012/07/02/needadebitcard-collects-tweet.html

Or as the writer puts it: Why bother with ATM skimmers when you can just search the web?

161- I'll be upset if they put a picture of MINE on the internet, but why should I be upset by what they choose to do with their own? I didn't read the article, by the way, so if there is something I'm missing, let me know.

Not much to miss.  Just people talking about how dim these people are for posting pictures of their debit cards.  Now, much as I hate hearing "first-world problem", what these people will be facing is just that!

Mosquitoes.
Late spring, lots of rain, standing water. Isn't nature great?! ;-)

Accounting software that randomly adds data to random records for no apparent reason.

Baking hot heat and drought, but we do still have power, a/c, and water. Extended family member calling to whine about a/c being out but not actually asking if she can stay with us. And she did say she had another place to stay with a/c, so I didn't offer my spare room.

Rozax=

Why are SOME people so DIM WITTED?

(I never believed in using those anyway; might as well use cash, if it came to that...)

>159 Marissa_Doyle:

I finally looked it up and found it on goodreads.com:

"Oh, what a tangled web do parents weave when they think that their children are naive.”
― Ogden Nash

168 - Now THAT sounds like Ogden Nash. I have one of his books, and I think that is in it, but my lazy bone is in control at the moment. :)

I had a FWG moment today, but I can't quite remember what it was (it seems fairly non-consequential in hindsight, now). I think I was grousing about parking spaces (again). I have an SUV - supposedly because it lets little me look down on other cars, instead of attempting to peer upwards, when negotiating traffic. When it comes to parking, I always try to take the time to centre it in the parking space, because I have two kids who have to clamber out of the back, one of whom I have to buckle / unbuckle into / out of a car seat.

So it annoys me when I come back (usually laden with shopping bags, which further limits my manoeuvrability) and find that someone else has come into the space next to mine, and parked as close as they can get to me without scraping wing mirrors; and then, despite my care in parking, I can't get back into my car without climbing over seats, or whatever.

I know complaining about fireworks on the 4th of July is sort of lame; but gosh! That is a 1st world grievance for sure. (Thank goodness I'm not having to listen to hours and hours of gun fire) But, really? Do we really have to shoot off stuff which makes my house shake, makes me jump? Deaf dog did OK, but hearing dog...poor thing was quivering for at least six hours nonstop!

>171 maggie1944:

My Dad used to train our dogs (German Shepards) NOT to be gun shy. I remember us taking one out on the boat one summer to watch the local fireworks. My granparents' dogs (Spic&Span (siblings)-Norwegian Elk Hounds-they had amusingly clever names for the pets- when they were given two cats(also siblings) the names were 'Puss&Boots) would hide under the beds!

I had a Bosnian friend who was in Sarajevo during the siege. He hated the 4th of July because it reminded him of being bombed and he would sit and cower during the fireworks display.

I heard a suggestion that if I gave the dog a treat everytime we heard a boom she would settle down and expect boom to precede treats, and grow to love the booms! Ha! She was so frightened of the noise that treats did not interest her in the slightest. Plus she is a schnauzer who can not over eat, especially yummy fats, as she does not digest them well. We are stuck. I think next year I'll consider loading up the dogs and driving to some much, much more rural place away from suburban noisy people.

Nah, things are loud in rural places too. Just drug 'em up. Good luck!

My son's FWG - he's the only boy who has never seen snow in the whole of his long (8years) life. Poor, put upon child.

Fireworks were banned here, due to drought. The official city display did go on, but we can't shoot them off at our houses.

Stupid accounting program that is apparently having a complete mental break from reality. Seriously, it was making stuff up--programmer has it fixed for now.

167: I don't know, but I hope never to understand them.

I have a major FWG from work, but I don't feel up to talking about it, yet. I haven't lost or compromised anything for it...I'm just feeling stupid for not asking more questions.

I set my dishes in the sink to soak, and the water drained on me.  What good is a plug if it doesn't actually seal‽ 

It was so hot today that I had could hardly undo the mechanism to unlatch the ragtop on my car.

I think the Big Bay Bust might be something of a FWG.

>181 justjukka:
Agreed.
Those folks who paid $$ to see it ought to get a refund.

*thumbs up* to #181.

My own first world grievance this week was that both the elevator to the street as well as the escalators at the same commuter station were out of order. No easy way out except to take the stairs.

An employee with whom I often deal at a local supermarket had her purse snatched (kids on bicycles). A few hours later I realized that her cellphone could be tracked but by the tine I called the store she had left. Hopefully she told someone else who had the presence of mind to tell her that.

:-/

I dunno, is this a first-world grievance?  It's kind of a problem for legit MTs world-wide.

I had my first experience with that today, Rozax. We have numbers in the hotel room for guests to call for massage therapy. Perfectly legitimate and appreciated by many of our guests, but today I had a guest who insisted on trying to make it a naughty thing. I just ignored his innuendos and told him the therapists who came (male or female) were perfectly legitimate and professionals. This is why I don't really like having their number in the rooms though. I feel very sorry for the professionals who get called by numbskulls like that.

Feel free to give the therapists a heads-up when they come in.  I hope he had a male therapist, unless that was what he was looking for.

>186 MrsLee: If the guests have internet access, there are plenty of ways to find people for naughty stuff. They don't need to importune legitimate therapists.

I don't think this man called one at all. He was just being mouthy.

My FWG: I went on a big two week holiday overseas, and now I have to go back to work. Waaah!

3 books from the public library have become available to download all within 3 days of each other. I'm very busy this week and have company coming this weekend, and not sure I'll have time to read them all before the due date...been on the waiting list for one of them since Christmas!

Loving my new job (bookstore!) but annoyed with all the romance that I have to allow to overflow into general fiction.

>193 justjukka:

Roz-
doesn't romance USUALLY overflow into general fiction ???!!!

I didn't know!  I never went looking for it, before!

I went back to work this week to print out the gargantuan newsletter that will be mailed to all students before school starts. Yesterday I put in a new toner cartridge and replaced one part but today a different part needed replacement and I didn't have it! I wish the repair person who was working on the copier at the end of the year had noticed we needed it and had mentioned it. It is not a part I have replaced before!

That and, they are installing wifi so I had no internet, no virtual drive, no printer access! Nothing else to do but go home and wait for the call that the part came in.

196: That's maddening. :(

QUESTION:  Has anyone else made the decision to not own a television?  There's nothing on TV that I want to watch that I can't get on the internet.  However, my grandmother sees it as a travesty that I do not own one.  Anybody else being ribbed for not owning a television?

I have one, but I know people who don't (and claim to love it). I have mine for watching DVDs (better than the computer), and for the occasional special thing I want to watch (Eurovision, the occasional news report, etc.).

I see no reason why you should be ribbed for not having one (or in general, for that matter). If you're not isolating yourself in other manners, it's no big deal. You don't have children complaining that you're cutting them off from their friends' favourite shows or anything, so there's nothing to complain about, really.

MY FWG today - I'm driving my mums car for the day while mine gets a service & although its about 10 years newer than mine I hate it! Its so big & I have an irrational dislike of fords, I feel like a bogan driving it, lol... Then to top it off, the cup holder is not as secure as the one in my car so my iced coffee tipped & spilled all over my lap & between the handbrake & seat when I turned a corner this morning - boo!

P.S - in answer to #197, I'd be very uncomfortable without my TV I think, but I dont d/l TV shows online coz I dont really know what I'm doing & I'm too scared of getting viruses along with the shows!!!

My last home, we had a TV, but no cable, no satellite, and never was able to get in network. It was DVDs, VHS, or video games only. My kids were fine with it.

#199 - An ineffective cup holder - a great FWG.

199 - What's a "bogan" precious? Hmmm?

197 - We have several TVs, but not hooked up to cable, etc. The oldest one has a very strange (broken many times and mended with green duct tape and aluminum foil, sure to keep out the aliens) antennae, it receives local broadcasting only and is in my husband's area so he can watch sports. Otherwise, the TVs are for internet viewing and movies. I don't even keep up with my favorite shows anymore, preferring to wait until the whole season is available to watch. I love not being tied to a programming schedule.

Just smile at your grandma and change the subject. ;)

I forgot that 'bogan' is an ausieism... Hmmm, how to explain bogan... Hmmmm... This is really hard because every word I can think of to describe a bogan is an ausieism as well (I’m thinking occa & daggy)

Well its a derogatory slang word, describes someone who is often a bit uncouth, stuck in the past as far as fashion sense & a bit of an embarrassment to friends & family – unless the friends & family are bogans too, lol…

Maybe choreocrat can help explain, he's much better with words than me, lol...

My husband and I are thinking about getting a television for DVD purposes.  He's picky, though, so we won't get one until we find a model that has satisfactory specs.  That might be a while.  I'll really get an earful when we have kids, cutting their poor, delicate selves off from the hours of television from my childhood. *heavy sigh*

199:  I use Netflix, Hulu, and a bit of Youtube. :)

202, 203 - A bogan is somewhat analogous to 'white trash', but with a more Australian flair. If you describe someone as a bogan, they'll be poorer than you, trashier than you, less educated, and probably think that they're better than you. But there's probably someone a step above you calling you bogan as well. If you ask someone from the inner city, bogans are from the suburbs, but if you ask someone from the suburbs, bogans are from small towns. Mullets are definitely bogan, as are flannies, ugg-boots in public, overdone patriotism, too much make-up and old beat-up cars that use a lot of petrol.

They look kind of like this:


Edit: It has a wikipedia article!

I believe Daniel Lawrence Whitney would make good use of that term. :D

By the look of him there, yes. Yes, he would.

I should add that it's quite common for people to refer to themselves (or their behaviour), like Seanie did, as a way of making sure you don't come across too uppity.

#197 "QUESTION: Has anyone else made the decision to not own a television?"

Haven't ever owned one.

My parents had one, and I would sometimes go round friends digs at uni to watch stuff, but when I moved out into the 'real world' on my own, I didn't bother. Was too busy in the evenings to watch stuff, I could see part 3 of a series, but miss the beginnig and end, etc etc, and prefered reading anyway. Just never found the reason to buy one, it's been 15+years now?

Never had any ribbing from friends. The only downsides are at work when there are conversations about stuff you haven't seen, and not being able to catch live sport - although it's best watched in the pub anyway. There's always the interent and DVDs - which play fine on a computer, you certainly don't need a TV just to watch them. With kids the social inclusion factor may be a bit higher though.

Weather - too wet and cold now it's too hot and muggy. Can't we just have a few days of nice weather, once in an while.

The TV issue has brought to mind what surely is a FWG for me: I've only had a Christmas tree about three years of the last 25 or so. Essentially, all of my adult life so far. I am Christian, but they make me sad, ever since my Mom died and I started experiencing Christmas alone.

My FWG is that as a parish minister, people expect me to have one.

We did not have TV or a Christmas tree for the first 15 years of our marriage. And we did have children, and they were not deprived, in fact they got along fine with their peers and managed to keep up socially and not be "out" of popular culture. We didn't forbid them watching TV at friends and relatives houses, we just didn't own one. We finally caved and bought one when we hosted some missionaries who wanted to show some videos from their journeys. So we blame our "downfall" on them. ;)

Each family must do what works for them. Just don't expect others to praise you for it and try to ignore their criticisms. People never really stop trying to make everyone around them just like themselves. I think it's an insecurity thing. If someone is different, it might mean I am wrong. Silly us.

>210 MrsLee: : How ironic :-)

I'll tell you this from painful experience; if you don't have a TV and have / plan to have kids, DON'T GET ONE!!

I suppose this is my FWG for today - can't stop the kids watching TV.

In my youth (Father Williams replied to his son), we had about a couple of hours a day when anything was broadcast, and that on a black and white TV. Then came colour. Then more channels. Then 24 hour a day viewing. etc etc. Now my kids seem to think it's their right to watch TV, and chuck a sook if I ever manage to turn it off.

When I was growing up, the one TV station didn't come on until 3:00 p.m. and logged off at midnight. My brother and I were pretty much left to entertaining ourselves. I read a lot (sometimes the same books over and over) and we both got very involved in stamp collecting (both of our grandfathers collected). We got our big TV fix when we visited our grandparents in Florida over the summer. They had a color set and I can remember the thrill of watching the Disney Wonderful World of Color intro.

I am an admitted TV junkie. (It's on next to me as I type this.) I need the noise and companionship it gives me. I will admit I watch very little network programming having grown used to all the premium and cable channels we have access to now. I still find plenty of time for reading however.

We have a TV but no cable. We watch DVDs from Netflix and I watch the news via streaming video on my laptop in the mornings.

Having grown up in about the last country on earth to get TV, I can take it or leave it, preferably the latter. And when it did arrive (in 1976) it was only a few hours a day and b-awful. In the latter, not much has changed. Rather read a book! (though daughter insists we have one; she and better half have become addicted to an Afrikaans soapie.)

It boggles my mind that my grandparents grew up mostly without television, and now they can't seem to function without it.  I told my grandmother our meager reasons for maybe thinking about getting one, to which she replied, "Oh, then you just need a clunker."  Yeah...my husband doesn't do "clunkers", and we ended up giving away 3 that she gave us (one for every move within a stone's throw of her domicile).  Clunkers of any sort typically end up costing us, in the long run.

Besides, we want something that can easily be moved.  Take it out for guests, then put it away afterward.  There was a silence when I explained this, then she asked, "What do you mean 'put it away'?"  I mean, I'm not going to rearrange my living room just to fit a television I'm not going to often use in there.  "Well, how big is your living room?"  Roughly the same size as theirs, if not a little bigger, but the TV won't be the center of my living room, especially since I already have everything settled in an aesthetically pleasing arrangement.  "Well, what do you do all evening without a TV?"

~_~

New FWG:  My apartment complex forms an enclosed court, so it's very loud when the ground crews come in.

>197 justjukka:

Roz-
Just a quick note:
I WAS TV addict until 1999 when a cable company came in. I refuse to pay for something that USED TO BE FREE!!!!

{later}

(Now that I have time...)

I still have the TV, but use it for my collection of DVDs of movies and old TV shows and VCRs. Although I mostly listen to classical music on Public Radio, get news via that and the internet and read.

I am seriously thinking about cutting the cable and turning the TV off, off, off. And I can use the money I save to buy a super cool computer!

My FWG: I am having a hard time deciding what kind of computer I want. I might be migrating over to the Apple world... but can I take my photographs off my PC and put them on an Apple product? Can I edit them still?

What do I want? *holds her head with her hands and sighs*

It depends on what you're housing your photos in. If you use an external drive or cloud storage and they are stored simply as files (not as part of an application) then you should be able to move them or access them with any new computer. As jpg or raw files they can be edited by any editing app that uses those file types.

Thanks! They are currently just jpg and I have them on an external zip drive. I am afeared that this computer will come crashing down, any day now.

an actual zip drive? really? they haven't made them in a long time, right? That you might have issues with new computer wise; no drivers etc.

ok, you caught me. I don't actually know what I have but the nice boys at Staples loaded all my photographs onto it. I have it at home, and I'm not there, so I can't go get it and tell you what it is.

I am such a loser in this computer game!

it's probably just an external usb drive then, which is more easily accommodated. I use two of them myself; one as primary storage, one as a secondary unit. way better than old Zip drives, although they did start the whole thing in terms of higher capacity external storage. They used these things -



which back in 1995 was a big deal.

I have a TV, but don't watch much on it besides DVDs. I don't have cable, so not a real lot to watch when I'm home and awake.

And I had a Zip drive. I may still even have it in a box somewhere in the apartment. If I ever find it, I'll have to see if I could get it to work on this computer. Granted it's not a real lot of storage compared to todays HDs, etc, but it'd be enough for some stuff.

#224 - Don't put anything on it that isn't backed up somewhere else.

I highly recommend Apple.  I converted in 2008, before which, I really liked having a computer and all the convenience that followed.  After switching to my Mac, I love the machine that fosters these conveniences.

Reminds me of this article that I recently read.

WAY back when (in computer years), the choice between an IBM clone and an Apple was determined by Business or Art. The clone had the business over the Apple, but the Apple had the graphics.
Today , especially now that Apples use Intel chips they can run applications that used to be only for PCs (formerly IBM & clones) and the difference isn't nearly as great, but there is still a difference...
The decision as to PC or Mac (Apple) to me is largely by usage. What do you want to do? If your machine does what you want,stick with it; if it doesn't, change.

My list of things I want to do is pretty average: one, participate in LibraryThing, Facebook, Luminosity, Duolingo; two, read my emails, and do my personal bookkeeping by using two credit unions; three, store my photographs so I can occasionally dip into my piles and post or print something; four, very occasionally play some games such as Words with Friends; but, I also want to be able to respond to new opportunities, especially those I do not know about today.

I had my photographs put on a 32GB USB flash drive.

I think if I do get rid of the cable I will want to watch some movies or shows on my computer, maybe....

Oh, I do also plug my iPhone in and occasionally add some more music to it.

See... I don't even know what all I want my computer to do for me.

Still open for your advice......... I think I'll go start a new thread rather than continue hyjacking this one. Go here: http://www.librarything.com/topic/140193#

>228 maggie1944: : First, I had to replace my phone, so I got an iPhone (because my husband had one, and I was jealous); then we got iPads for Christmas, and I was captured. Then I got a Macbook for my birthday, and I'm in love. (When IT was growing up, it was all PCs and clones.)

I pretty much do the same things as you do with computers.

(no wonder Apple stock is so high!)

>196 mamzel: and following: I don't own a TV either. When I moved back to the UK from America, I knew I'd have to be careful with money, and spending any on a TV and the licence fee just wasn't a priority for me. Initially people told me "Oh, that won't last, you'll find you need a TV especially living on your own", but I don't miss it at all. Although, I would quite like to watch some of the Olympics now . . . ;-)

yes, there are the occasional moments when a TV seems like it would be "so nice"; but, I think I'm now old enough to know that I can always go over to a friend's or a relative's for those moments. Most of the time the TV is pretty irrelevant; provides background noise frequently, and not much more.

My internet and landline phone are down and the security system, which relies on the landline, is beeping constantly to remind me that it isn't connected. Cable/phone co. have booked the service call for tomorrow (Sunday) but will try to show up sooner. In the mean time, I'm rushing through my backlog of mail using the public library's wireless. Yay for the public library!

Recently my landline and broadband supplier carried out an "upgrade" at the exchange, which caused some minor inconvenience. To compensate for the inconvenience the company have sent me a voucher which I can spend in one of their shops. So, I can drive to a town which has one of their shops, and then having spent more on fuel and parking than the value of the voucher, I can exchange the voucher for something I didn't know I wanted.

>234 jbbarret:

That is like the company that sold me Windows 7PRO,Staples; The receipt had a rebate offer. After getting all the required documentation together and sending it in in about a month I got an e-mail offering FREE TRIAL VERSIONS OF SOFTWARE...
(Big Woop...)

I've lived without TV twice in my life: from the age five to ten (= why I am a reader, perhaps, though I was really curious about this "Star Trek" show kids were talking about) and for several years during college. I like having it and will watch all kinds of stuff, but I recently got rid of my 200-plus channel package and went to the basic 13, also getting rid of the cable boxes, DVR, etc. at the same time. I miss surprisingly little this way . . . sure, I have to wait until "Game of Thrones" comes out on DVD, but I've read the books, so I know what happens!

Speaking of TV, today I'm watching old episodes of The A-Team on DVD's. I've all 5 years worth (but I've misplaced some of season !- and havn't found them yet!)

My FWG - while I was on holiday (2-week wilderness paddling trip, absolutely lovely BTW) two e-books from the library that I had been waiting months for came available. They only give you 72 hours to download them, so if I still want them, I'll be back at the bottom of the list again :(

I disconnected my cable about 14 months ago, just for the summer, and still haven't reconnected it, even though I splurged on a big new flat-screen TV for Christmas. I get one broadcast channel (very poor reception), and otherwise watch DVDs or download stuff. In the summer I hardly turn it on, anyway, since I have a thing about watching TV in the daytime, and it is light so late here. I may get connected again in September.

Amazon UK have cancelled my order. They are unable to source Mercedes Lackey's Changes MMPB. It's still on the US site though!

ETA: Book depository has it, and cheaper as well! Yay! the day is saved!