Petty Vents

[GotGarlic]

I have owned my domain name since 1996 and use it for email forwarding only. I have it set to forward to a Gmail account and then I download it to my laptop because I like Outlook. This way, my email is always available from anywhere. With Gmail, you can set different return addresses, so I can make it look like it's coming from my domain, my Gmail account, or my Cox account. But it all ends up in the same place. As an added bonus, Gmail catches a whole lot of spam, so I never see it.

 

[taxlady]

I got my own domain in ~1998. I added the .ca version in 2004, when it became easier to get a .ca domain. I gave up the .com version a few years ago. All my email forwards to my Gmail account, just like GG. I usually access it on the web, but I also access it using Thunderbird using IMAP, which means it stays in Gmail, but I can look at it and reply to it. I can also delete or move it with IMAP.

 

[CharlieD]

Yesterday, when we came home there were two messages on the phone, from some “officer Brad Williams”, yeah right. Heavy accent. “You have a criminal case #... against you, I am with investigating office of … in Washington DC “I do not even remember what office, mostly because I could not understand, ”you have to call this number …... to talk about your problem”

My wife almost had a hardtack; I was calm enough to call my friend, lawyer, who of course told me not to call anybody or to talk to anybody. After I spoke to him, I Googled the number. I guess it was a scam of a sort, there were a whole bunch of messages on line of the same exact call, same exact message. I guess they are targeting venerable people who would be scared and called back and give up all kind of personal information. Bastards.

P.S. I was not as scared of the call, I knew I have not done anything, but my wife's reaction scared even more, She probably thought I was a KGB operative, of some sleeper sell.

 

[Chief Longwind Of The North]

Yesterday, when we came home there were two messages on the phone, from some “officer Brad Williams”, yeah right. Heavy accent. “You have a criminal case #... against you, I am with investigating office of … in Washington DC “I do not even remember what office, mostly because I could not understand, ”you have to call this number …... to talk about your problem”

My wife almost had a hardtack; I was calm enough to call my friend, lawyer, who of course told me not to call anybody or to talk to anybody. After I spoke to him, I Googled the number. I guess it was a scam of a sort, there were a whole bunch of messages on line of the same exact call, same exact message. I guess they are targeting venerable people who would be scared and called back and give up all kind of personal information. Bastards.

P.S. I was not as scared of the call, I knew I have not done anything, but my wife's reaction scared even more, She probably thought I was a KGB operative, of some sleeper sell.

Charlie, they know you're trying to thrust your Russian Pancakes into the homes of innocent Americans. It's a well known conspiracy. Buddy, you can come to my house and we'll eat pancakes together, with real Michigan blueberries.

Seeeeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North

 

[luvs]

my petty vent is that some people think they're better than another, when they're not. they're people, too; sometimes i think that that gets to be somehow forgotten. to them. not to other folks. we've various personalities, & friends, & things we have in life & stuff we love.

 

[CharlieD]

Charlie, they know you're trying to thrust your Russian Pancakes into the homes of innocent Americans. It's a well known conspiracy. ...

Seeeeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North

I knew you are a good chef/cook Chef, but I did not know you are a stand up comedian on a side.

 

[Addie]

I knew you are a good chef/cook Chef, but I did not know you are a stand up comedian on a side.

The Chief is a man of many talents.

 

[Mad Cook]

Why do people drive large vehicles with trailers so darned fast?

On our way back from the mountains a truck passed us (big dual tire tandem axle) hauling a trailer with a huge a/c unit, the type you would see on the side of an office building. I was going 75, he had to be going over 80. Not long after he passed us, we hear a loud BANG, see lots of black smoke and he starts swirving all over the road, steel belted rubber coming down like rain. How he managed not to hit the person in the other lane is beyond me, that SUV did some pretty fancy maneuvering as did the rest of us.

Either he was driving faster than those tires were rated or they were in poor condition. Either way he came really close to hurting a lot of people or even killing someone. That is a huge load to be driving that fast.

Most lorries/trucks over here seem to have speed limiters fitted. Not sure if it's the law or whether it is to stop driver's inadvertently (oh, yeah!) going over the speed limit for heavy goods vehicles, which is 60 MPH even on the motorways.

Over the last few years they have tightened up the "syllabus" for the driving test in the UK to include a written test as well as the driven one. It doesn't seem to have done any good. I was tailgated and horn-blasted last night for being so stupid as to drive at 39 MPH on a 40 MPH limited, very dangerous road. I wasn't aware that a 40 MPH speed limit meant you have to drive faster than 40 MPH (sarcasm off). The idiot doing the bullying (because that's what it amounted to) eventually overtook me on a double white line (ie "NO OVERTAKING") on a blind bend at about 60 MPH!!! Not a rare occurrence on that road.

 

[Mad Cook]

It's been about a month since my neighbour sprayed her anti-critter, garlic concoction in my yard and on Shreddy's grave. It worked. No more signs of skunk digging.

Well, today, it had stopped working. I guess all that rain we had washed it away. I found a biggish hole at the edge of the patio stone that covers Shreddy's grave. There were bits of Shreddy fur. I'm not a happy camper.

It's probably shutting the door after the horse has bolted but some years ago we had problems with a fox digging in Mum's garden where my cat had been buried. We settled its hash by getting some thin dowelling about the thickness of a pencil, cutting it down to a bout 12 inches and sticking it in the ground so that it stood about an inch above ground level all over and round the grave. It did the trick. Wouldn't help the smelliness though

 

[taxlady]

It's probably shutting the door after the horse has bolted but some years ago we had problems with a fox digging in Mum's garden where my cat had been buried. We settled its hash by getting some thin dowelling about the thickness of a pencil, cutting it down to a bout 12 inches and sticking it in the ground so that it stood about an inch above ground level all over and round the grave. It did the trick. Wouldn't help the smelliness though

We haven't had any skunk smell issues. I wonder if that would work for a skunk. Skunks are awfully good diggers.

I think it was back last night, but it couldn't get very far with the heavy stones I piled around the edges.

 

[Cooking Goddess]

... I was tailgated and horn-blasted last night for being so stupid as to drive at 39 MPH on a 40 MPH limited, very dangerous road. I wasn't aware that a 40 MPH speed limit meant you have to drive faster than 40 MPH...

Huh, that sort of thing happens around here in the 40 zone...if you're doing 45! I swear the idiot drivers around here think that the speed limit posted indicates the SLOWEST speed you are to maintain.

When I get a tailgater and I feel I'm speeding enough, I usually slow down to the speed limit - or an MPH or two slower yet. Usually gets them to back off after a minute. Meanwhile, I'm busy scanning the side of the road to see if there is a wide enough strip of land I can pull off onto safely enough and let the jerk pass me.

I swear I'm going to print up and sell bumper stickers that say "I refuse to get a speeding ticket because you want to go faster". After all, the lead driver is the one who's going to get dinged.

 

[taxlady]

When someone tailgates me, I get nervous. When I get nervous, I drive slower. I often tap my brakes to signal that I don't want to be tailgaited. It even works more often than not.

 

[Aunt Bea]

When someone tailgates me, I get nervous. When I get nervous, I drive slower. I often tap my brakes to signal that I don't want to be tailgaited. It even works more often than not.

I do that on two lane country roads and sometimes put my turning signal on as I pull towards the side of the road. It amazes me how many people refuse to pass me until I'm almost at a complete stop. As they drive by they always look at me as though I'm completely nuts, how do they know?

 

[tinlizzie]

I do that on two lane country roads and sometimes put my turning signal on as I pull towards the side of the road. It amazes me how many people refuse to pass me until I'm almost at a complete stop. As they drive by they always look at me as though I'm completely nuts, how do they know?

More than once I have signaled and turned into the next street -- meaning to let the tail-gater past -- only to have him/her turn into that street behind me. Phooey.

I'm more and more apprehensive about other drivers texting, especially when the car in my rear view mirror is still coming up pretty fast as I wait for a light to change. Are they paying attention to their driving or not?

 

[Aunt Bea]

More than once I have signaled and turned into the next street -- meaning to let the tail-gater past -- only to have him/her turn into that street behind me. Phooey.

I'm more and more apprehensive about other drivers texting, especially when the car in my rear view mirror is still coming up pretty fast as I wait for a light to change. Are they paying attention to their driving or not?

The older I get the more convinced I become that I'm the only good driver on the road!

How is your hand doing!

 

[Mad Cook]

Huh, that sort of thing happens around here in the 40 zone...if you're doing 45! I swear the idiot drivers around here think that the speed limit posted indicates the SLOWEST speed you are to maintain.

When I get a tailgater and I feel I'm speeding enough, I usually slow down to the speed limit - or an MPH or two slower yet. Usually gets them to back off after a minute. Meanwhile, I'm busy scanning the side of the road to see if there is a wide enough strip of land I can pull off onto safely enough and let the jerk pass me.

I swear I'm going to print up and sell bumper stickers that say "I refuse to get a speeding ticket because you want to go faster". After all, the lead driver is the one who's going to get dinged.

I'm thinking of "I don't have to drive dangerously just because you're an idiot"

 

[Mad Cook]

When someone tailgates me, I get nervous. When I get nervous, I drive slower. I often tap my brakes to signal that I don't want to be tailgaited. It even works more often than not.

I put my hazard warning flashers on. That works too.

 

[Mad Cook]

More than once I have signaled and turned into the next street -- meaning to let the tail-gater past -- only to have him/her turn into that street behind me. Phooey.

I'm more and more apprehensive about other drivers texting, especially when the car in my rear view mirror is still coming up pretty fast as I wait for a light to change. Are they paying attention to their driving or not?

It's illegal here to operate a cell phone while driving unless it's hands-free. It doesn't stop them and there seems to be no enforcement of the law.

There was a piece on the radio the other day about arrests for dangerous driving in the UK and one of the examples was a guy doing the crossword in his newspaper while driving at 80mph in the fast lane of the motorway!

Reading newspapers while coasting along the motorway seems quite common

Quite terrifying really.

 

[Chief Longwind Of The North]

When she was young, my eldest sibling used to do her eye makeup in the visor mirror while driving. I've known other women who did that two. I always made a fuss about it if I was in the car with them.

I was driving south on I-75, just north of Saginaw Michigan when I noticed a very large pickup truck coming toward me from the rear, at a high rate of speed. Just when I thought he was getting too close, he backed off. I continued watching him from my rear view mirror. His driving was eratic. He would surge forward, making me nervous, then back off again. This went on for about five miles. I was on a 3 lane part of the highway at that point and pulled into the right hand lane, to get away from this clown.

I have my driver side, outside mirror pointed so that I have elliminated blind spots in my car. I watched the guy through my driver's side mirror, and was glad I did. The guy who had been in front of me was getting the same treatment by the erratic driver as I'd seen. Suddenly, this idiot surges forward and pulls into my lane, forcing me off of the road. I was certainly glad I had my mirrors set up the way I do as he would have been in the blind spot found in most cars. I was able to avoid a collision from this clown. I had some choice words for the guy, none of them swear words. I have no clue how someone can drive as badly as he did, unless he was drunk or something.

One time in San Diego area, I was driving on highway I15 South at 2 a.m. I was in the far right hand lane, you know, the slow lane,doing the speed limit, which was at that time double nickle. This goofball in a convertable sports car started tailgating me. Now mind you, I was on a four lane highway with no other cars on the road. Finally, the pinhead, yes, you heard me right, the pinhead moved into the next lane and passed me, flipping me the bird as he did so.

I really hope that my religious beliefs are correct, and that there will be an accounting at the end of it all. People who purposely drive dangerously, and show no courtesy on the road should be restricted from driving, IMHO.

Can I drive fast, and a bit crazy by most people's standards, ask P.A.G. about my winter driving skills. And yet, I've never done it in such a way as to put anyone else at risk. I normally drive the speed limit, or drive appropriately for the conditions. I have been known to push the envelope when I let emotions cloud my better judgement on the rare occasion. But then again, I know the limits of my abilites, honed by dirt-biking, snowmobiling, and other such activities both on ice, and in places where a tree limb could knock you off of your vehicle, or you could plow into an immovable tree. It quickens your reflexes, and forces you to watch everything all the time. If not, it just hurts. I don't play on the road, never have. I saved my motorized play for ice, and dirt, and clay, and mud, and all kinds of snow.

But the point of this is that we all have to be both courteous, and responsible on the road. If a situation suddenly develops, it's a very good thing to know your vehicle, and what it can and can't do, and what you can and can't do.

Seeeeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North

S

 

[Addie]

My daughter works for the RMV. So she has to keep her driving record clean if she wants to keep her job. When she comes across an idiot that is tailgating she learns on her horn as if there is something in front of her and then slows down. It gets the tailgaters attention. He can't see in front of her and has no idea of what might be up ahead that is a problem. But it makes that driver more alert and stops the tailgating. Using your cell phone is also illegal here. So she refuses to answer her phone when she is driving. If the person keeps her phone ringing or keeps calling her, she will pull off into a parking lot or driveway to find out what is going on. She now realizes that most of the time it is her daughter with her latest disaster in life. "Pick me up some nail polish remover." Or some such foolishness. My kids are about the only people I feel safe with when in a vehicle. Sometimes I get very nervous in the pickup vans that Winthrop sends out for me. There is a really serious curve on the road to Winthrop. You are going from straight East to directly West in that curve. A lot of drivers take that curve really fast. I hold my breath every time.