Hey Noreen » Rants

Transformers Sequel Rocks

Noreen — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 00:05:24 +0000

After two months of hype and a bombardment of movie trailers, we took the 6 year old to the second day’s showing of the new Transformers movie, Revenge of the Fallen. He was so excited, he sat on the edge of his seat for most of the movie. We did it up all the way, with a big overpriced bag of buttered popcorn and a large coke that he plopped into the armrest cup holder like a pro.

The movie was great – a lot of fighting and destruction – just what the kids were hoping for.

However, I think the movie has way too much smutty reference and bad language for a children’s movie. Maybe the Hollywood suits were trying to also appeal to the older kids and young men by including all the sexual scenes and cursing. But in my mind, it was totally unnecessary and almost ruined the product for being appropriate to the younger ages that most appreciated the movie.

It could have been just as great a movie without the smut. In fact, if they had a financial incentive to do so, I bet if they stripped out the nastiness and replaced it with other clever dialogue then relased it, audiences would still love this movie.

Firewood falling from a truck

Noreen — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 01:07:10 +0000

My neighbor told me today that his car was struck by some firewood falling from the truck that he was driving behind. It did over $800 worth of damage! I’m glad it wasn’t me!

Mosquitoes

Noreen — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 16:38:32 +0000

The mosquitoes have been particularly bad this season; I suspect it is a result of all of the rain we had a while back. We’ve been trying to avoid going out during the mosquito feeding hours (sunrise and sunset) but they seem to be bad all day long the past couple of weeks. One of my neighbors told me that she had heard that there was a new breed of mosquitoes that is smaller than the “usual” ones that has stripes on it that feeds around the clock! Oh, lucky us!

Lexmark printer

Noreen — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 02:19:42 +0000

Several years ago I bought a Lexmark X6170 all-in-one printer. Naturally it came with a CD installation disk which I used to load the drivers onto my computer. A few weeks ago I bought a new computer (YAY!) and could not find the installation disk. No biggie (I thought) I can download the driver off of the internet and I’ll be all set. Well, little did I realize until earlier today that the OCR software that was on the installation disk that works on the printer was not included in the driver download off of the Internet. So I called customer support and they told me that the OCR software was not available through them, I had to go to the OCR vendor’s website. The OCR vendor’s website was not helpful at all. Luckily, I remembered where the installation disk might be and FOUND it! So I downloaded it and now I’m all happy again!

So poo on Lexmark and ABBYY for your horrible technical support!

Looking for free wifi hotspots

Noreen — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 02:37:59 +0000

I just bought a small laptop that is ready to connect to wifi. I plan to use it when I travel. I hope I can find plenty of free wifi hotspots!

Do they EVER grow up????

Noreen — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 23:26:09 +0000

I would never have expected in a million years for tonight’s scene to happen. My significant other came home from work and announced that he had an Elks meeting tonight and he needed to take a nap until about 6pm.

Much to my surprise, as he was walking out the door to go to the meeting he said to me “Oh, by the way, I’m supposed to bring several dozen home made cookies to tonight’s meeting!”

Well, you know what? I haven’t made home made cookies in years, and I don’t have any just lying around the house, either! When my kids were in elementary school, they used to spring that kind of thing on me, but it was at least the night before we needed the cookies, not as we were walking out the door!

So, I ask you, do they EVER grow up?

I’m listening to a bunch of propaganda about oil

Noreen — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 22:22:36 +0000

I’m listening to the news on television right now, and I am not happy about what they are saying about the price of oil continuing to rise, and the profits of the oil companies are continuing to rise, and there just seems to be no end in sight. It seems that every time I hear about how the government or big businesses have the opportunity to promote alternative energy sources they do everything they can to sabotage the idea. It’s really quite sickening. I think that the oil companies are gouging us, and there seems to be little I can do about it. I’ve already cut down on our energy consumption as much as possible. The whole thing is very discouraging.

More unsafe food!

Noreen — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 01:00:56 +0000

Good grief, it is getting to the point where I have to get up and ask “what’s the unsafe food of the month?” Is all of this unsafe food a result of laziness, corporate greed, sabotage, what is it? Thank goodness there are mechanisms in place for recalls, but really people, we shouldn’t HAVE to be recalling all of this stuff! What a horrible shame that someone has dropped the ball, making so many people fall ill because of unsafe food making it to the grocery store. I’m starting to be ashamed of the human race. We OUGHT to be better than this!

I don’t know what set him off

Noreen — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 01:21:10 +0000

Tonight my significant other came home in a bad mood. I don’t know what happened, but he was NOT pleasant to be around. He wasn’t hungry for supper, so he didn’t eat. He decided he needed/wanted to do laundry tonight (I like to do laundry on Saturday) so he sorted some laundry and started washing some clothes. That would not normally be a problem, but he wanted to run the washer at the same time that I needed to shower, so words were exchanged when I turned the washer off so I could have decent water pressure in the shower.

I hope he gets a good night’s sleep tonight; I can’t take too many more nights like this!

Customer service

Noreen — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 21:40:51 +0000

I keep meaning to share a story with y’all about a customer service nightmare that my son recently had. He bought a defective video game at the local NEW Best Buy. The store has only been open a few months. When he brought it home and realized it was defective, he took it back and they exchanged it for another game. This one was defective, too! So my son realized that the entire shipment at Best Buy was probably defective, so he tried calling the customer service telephone number on the package of the video game to ask them about replacement options. He couldn’t get through – he left several messages on their voice mail and they didn’t call him back. So then he tried emailing them, and they didn’t respond. Finally he called customer service again and started dialing all of the extension numbers offered by the machine and left messages everywhere that he needed some help.

Long story short, the PRESIDENT of the US branch of the company returned his call and left a nasty message on our voice mail that unless it was a game they had recalled (it was) he really didn’t give a rat’s behind about the problem my son was having. He said (and this is a quote) “we don’t pride ourselves on customer service!”

Well, by the time that jerk returned the call my son had actually spoken to a real person who told him how to exchange the defective game, and that was all taken care of. The whole point of my story is that the PRESIDENT of the US branch of the company called and said that they don’t pride themselves on customer service! Can you imagine!??????

Gang activity

Noreen — Sat, 24 May 2008 00:46:21 +0000

It seems that every time I turn on the television, or pick up a newspaper, or read the local news on the Internet, I am hearing about the increase in gang activity across the country. I am hearing and reading a lot of stories about home invasions that just make my hair stand on end! As the economy worsens, crime is bound to increase because people are going to be more desperate and take measures they would not normally take during prosperous times. This is a frightening situation for us all.

Shopping at Wal-Mart

Noreen — Fri, 23 May 2008 22:07:56 +0000

I avoid going to Wal-Mart in the middle of the day on a weekend. The crowds are huge, the lines are long, the aisles are crowded, and people get short tempered and rude. I don’t understand why it is that people will park their cart across the aisle from the product they want to look at, and then stand in front of the product to read the label. This effectively blocks the entire aisle!

People, park the cart on the same side of the aisle as where you are standing! This at least leaves half of the aisle open for people to pass you!

Looking for the cheapest gasoline

Noreen — Sat, 17 May 2008 22:09:36 +0000

This afternoon, as I was driving home from work I was noticing what the gasoline prices are at the gas stations that I pass by. The prices made me almost sick to my stomach! I find it interesting how some stations are 20 cents a gallon cheaper than others! Of course, that is where I stop to buy gas! I am going to have to seriously look into buying a car that gets better gas mileage the next time I buy a car. My car gets good mileage, but I’m going to need better!

Thought I was gonna freak out!

Noreen — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 16:22:17 +0000

I got up this morning at 6:30, hoping to get on the Internet to catch up on several days worth of emails, and pay some bills through my bank’s e-bill service. But, my Internet service was off-line. I don’t know what the problem was, I called my service provider and just got a recording that there was a widespread outage in my area. The service just came back on a few minutes ago, so now I am happy again, except that I’m now five hours behind my schedule for the day!

Debit card snafu

Noreen — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 13:39:11 +0000

I was planning on grocery shopping today, and I planned to use my debit card to pay for the groceries. Before I left for the store, I went online to check the balance on my debit card, so I could make sure not to be embarrassed at the checkout counter. I was very upset to discover that when I stopped at the gas station yesterday and bought $43.81 worth of gas, that the gas station charged me not only for that purchase, but they charged me an extra $75! I don’t have any idea why that has happened, but I understand that the $75 charge is considered “pending” by the debit card company and I can’t dispute it until the mark it “complete.” In the meantime I don’t have access to $75 of MY money that I WAS planning to spend on groceries today! I am very upset about this!

Basement flooded

Noreen — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 00:52:07 +0000

Yesterday I had the propane company come over to put a second heating zone in the basement that we are in the process of finishing. We’ve already put in the walls and carpets, and needed the pipes run for the hot water baseboard heat.

Well, the technician did SOMETHING wrong, because today when I went downstairs to get something from the big freezer, my feet went squish squish over the carpet. The entire floor was flooded! I called the propane company, and they came right out and fixed the problem. It was their fault that the basement flooded, so they are going to have to pay the cleaning and drying bill. I called the cleaning service and they came right out with their big fans and dehumidifiers and all of their disinfectant products. What a pain in the neck this is!

Strange dog came a’growling

Noreen — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 23:56:27 +0000

I decided to work in my flowerbed today. I was sitting on the ground, pulling weeds and checking on the progress of the newly planted flowers. I had been out there for about an hour when I heard a soft growl behind me. I turned around to see a large black Newfoundland dog about three feet away from me. His fur was bristled, his teeth bared, his tail down. I have never seen this dog before, but let me tell you, I was NOT very happy to see him now! He was growling at ME. I was minding my own business on my own front lawn, tending to my garden, and someone else’s dog is threatening me!?

I talked softly to the dog, and slowly tried to stand up without causing him any more aggravation. He stood his ground, just growling at me. I slowly backed away from him, talking softly the whole time, and finally made it into the house safely. I called the animal control officer, but by the time he arrived the dog had moved on to someone else’s house.

I hope I never see that dog again! That was very unnerving. I am afraid that I am going to have to buy some kind of dog deterrent spray to keep with me when I go work in my garden in the future. I hate doing that, but I don’t want to be bitten by a Newfie!

Oil change ripoff

Noreen — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 23:13:34 +0000

I took my car to Jiffy Lube to have the oil changed. I was under the impression that it would only cost me about $20 to have it changed. Well, it cost me $40 because they claimed that filters and other “stuff” they needed to change costs more for my kind of car that I drive.

And they tried to convince me that I needed more stuff than I needed – I don’t remember everything they said I needed, but I remember they told me that I needed a new battery because there was a little bit of corrosion around the terminals. So they tried to sell me a new battery. Well, I KNEW that I did not need a new battery, it was a good quality battery and it wasn’t very old and I have had no trouble with it at all. And they told me that I needed a new air filter and that would cost me about $40 for a new air filter. Well, I have bought air filters for that car from Auto Zone for less than $10.

So, I think that Jiffy Lube is a company trying to rip off its customers and I won’t go there again!

Mailbox bashing

Noreen — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 22:59:07 +0000

On my way home from work today, I also noticed a lot of mailboxes on one stretch of the road that had been vandalized. They looked as if some teenagers (or young adult) were bored and went out driving around and smashing mailboxes with a baseball bat.

It really is a shame that people do that kind of thing. So many mailboxes were totally ruined! I sure hope that never happens to our mailbox!

Dogs riding in cars

Noreen — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 22:40:01 +0000

I was driving home from work this afternoon and I happened to notice several cars travelling in the opposite direction from me that had dogs hanging out of their windows. That is a pet peeve of mine! That is so dangerous for the dog! I KNOW that dogs love to hang out of the windows, but I don’t let my dogs do that. When my dogs are riding in my car all the windows are rolled all the way up.

I used to work for a veterinarian a long time ago, and we would get a lot of dogs coming in to be treated because they had injuries to their faces and eyes from gravel/dirt/rocks flying up from the road when they were riding in the car, hanging out of the window. We even had some dogs brought in with serious injuries because they had actually managed to jump out of the window while the car was moving!

Please folks, don’t let your dogs hang out of the car window when you are driving somewhere!