Month: July 2018

34 days of Piss & Moan

Posted on by backuphill

Piss & Moan Home

I started this blog 34 days ago.

In that time I have pissed and moaned about something for 33 of those days (I missed one day because I ran out of time to write one before I went on vacation). Is it weird that I can find at least one thing a day to complain about?

Anyway, during the course of the last month (+/-), I have had 41 “followers” follow. Most of them are spam since they are just trying to sell me a product or push their “get rich quick” scheme on the internet.

Thanks for nothing people. Thanks for all the love you can’t muster. I appreciate it. Just for that, I am going to Piss & Moan about YOU today…or is it the lack of you?? Are there really not more people out there that can identify or relate to my pissing and moaning? Does no one else have something to complain about?

Well, I am just gonna keep on keeping on. Eventually you’ll all see this is going to be a great place to lodge a complaint about something. You just wait and see.

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Scouring history for offense

Posted on by backuphill

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I have got to say, we are some kind of stupid trend as a society.

There are people (trolls) out there scouring the historical Twitter posts (or other social media) of “celebrities and stars” so they can be “outted” as having offensive ideas/beliefs or having said something offensive.

Really? Like no one has times in their past where they said something offensive? Like no one has had an episode in their lives where they had poor judgement? Like no one has said something in jest or made a statement about something while they were showing off to their friends? Or, like no one has ever said something they didn’t believe just to get a reaction out of other people?

If this is going to be the trend and we are going to go back and vilify people for things they did in their past, then we better just fire EVERY comedian alive, even our favorite ones. We should scour every past performance and just ax them on the spot – because I am sure they probably said something insensitive, politically incorrect, racially or sexually offensive, ageist, blah blah blah…

How about we judge people on their present rather than their past? And, how about we leave history as history – then learn from it rather than scrub it clean or hide it.

#smh #thisisridiculous

Motorcycle riders are the worst

Posted on by backuphill

man riding boxer motorcycle on road

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Ever been so irritated at something that you just want to scream? Yeah, me too.

Motorcycle riders are the worst. They are the worst because the constantly break the law. They break the law because they feel they are entitled to. That must be the case or they wouldn’t do it.

I commute 88 miles to and from work five days a week, so I am on the roads a lot. I was also a driver’s ed instructor for 6 years and a state license tester for 5 of those years (those were my side gig). So, I think I have a pretty good idea of the law. And let me tell you, motorcycle riders break the law on a regular basis. I am sure, if you drive a vehicle, you are well aware of this already so maybe I am preaching to the choir here…

Motorcycle riders routinely roll through stop signs, because putting your feet down to actually come to a complete stop is apparently to big an inconvenience. Of course, they exceed the speed limit, but not at the same level you are exceeding the speed limit because they have to go faster. They weave in and out of traffic, cutting people off as they go. They lane split (ride between cars on the white line). They ride on the shoulder in traffic jams. They tailgate you when you are too slow, but actually doing the speed limit. They park their bikes in places that aren’t parking spots. I could do on, but I think you get the picture (and you probably already knew all this).

When you ask (or confront) a motorcycle rider about it they almost always come up with the excuse, “It is safer for me if I do it that way.” Oh, ok, so you are more important than everyone else? I get it.

If you are a motorcycle rider, the rest of the commuting world is tired AF of you. You aren’t special. Obey the damn law!

*Yes, I realize some of the things mentioned are legal in some states – all of the things mentioned are NOT in my state.

Lunchroom litter

Posted on by backuphill

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Why does there need to be 90 (ok, exaggeration) old magazines in the lunchroom? Why do they need to be spread out on the table like a bad potluck of 12 different kinds of spaghetti? This isn’t a dumping ground for your magazines and flyers.

Why doesn’t someone get rid of these things and just move on? Better yet, if I just tossed them would anyone mind?

#smh

Social (and media) double standard

Posted on by backuphill

I am sure you’ve seen it. You’re probably wondering how in the hell it can only cut one way…

People losing their jobs. Reputations ruined. Companies destroyed. Stocks punished. TV shows cancelled. Public apologies issued.

The media chirps about this or that, a perceived injustice or slight. Social media ablaze with trolls who spout hatred and stir fear. Both seeking “justice” but really only picking and choosing certain things to make an issue of.

Some seem to get a free pass and others are vilified. Some communities cry foul over language used by others, but then use the language they just condemned themselves.

Instagram supposedly has “community standards” but they appear to be subjective as some hate is singled out and some hate is not. Some language is banned and some is not. How can it be ok for some but not others?

If you’re gonna eliminate the problem, there can’t be a double standard. Otherwise, the problem will always exist. I have always been a proponent of free speech and I always will be, but it is frustrating to see that the freedom only goes in one direction. There is no scorn over the posts above, instead they continue to gain followers.

What do you think? Should the accounts above be given a free pass for the language they use or held accountable like the rest of society?

I see how I rank

Posted on by backuphill

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I was gone for five days on vacation.

Not a single person at home to greet me upon my return, not even my wife. At least the dog was home, so it could have been worse.

I can see where I rank around here…not important, not needed…at the very bottom.

#smh #guessishouldstaygone

Fishing is not relaxing

Posted on by backuphill

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THE activity of vacation was a fishing trip off Vancouver Island, BC, Canada (you have probably heard me talk about this a little this week). It was the whole purpose of the trip, to put fish in the boat and fill up the freezer with as much salmon and bottom fish as possible.

Well, I would like to tell you that fishing is not relaxing and anyone who tells you otherwise is lying…

Early mornings. Why is it the fish only seem to want to take the bait early in the morning? How early, well, for nearly a week it was 4:30 or 5:00am so in my case that is at least 30 minutes before I normally get up for work.

Rough waters. Now, some of you probably fish on the bank of a river or on a nice calm lake. Honestly, that isn’t fishing…if the fish you catch are less that 5 pounds, all you caught was a “water rat.” Anyway, that is beside the point. Ocean fishing involves waves. Rolling waves and choppy seas. You spend much of the time fighting to maintain your balance and the rest of the time trying not to fall overboard. Never mind the rough bouncing and banging of the boat trip just to get to the fishing spot. Yeah, not relaxing.

Stress. There is stress in fishing. Why? Well, because you want to catch fish, that is why you’re there. When you aren’t catching fish, the stress mounts because you aren’t catching fish. Each time you have a fish on and then don’t get it into the boat, the stress builds a little more until finally you’re so high strung that jumping overboard actually becomes an option.

Lost fish. With each fish that doesn’t make it into the boat, you start to wonder what you are doing wrong. “I must be doing something wrong because I’m not getting it into the boat,” you think to yourself. So you try something different, only to not have it work and then you return to what you were originally doing. Let me tell you, those thieving sons of fishies will take your bait in a heartbeat and then spit the hooks like they were tossing garbage to the curb. Frustration mounts.

Cleaning and packing. If you happen to catch fish, then you have to clean them, pack them, then ice/freeze them. The boat has to be cleaned eat night from the saltwater and the fish guts. You have to pack for a trip of uncertain weather and success. You have to unpack from the trip and do laundry, after getting very little sleep all week.

Tell me, where was the relaxing vacation again?

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Why does vacation go so fast?

Posted on by backuphill

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I think we all ask this question at one point. Actually, we all asked it as kids each year when school was about to start again and we just weren’t done with summer.

Well, now well into the “adulting years”, I have to ask that question at the end of each vacation, no matter whatever it was that I was doing. Obviously in most cases, I was enjoying myself and don’t want it to end.

Adulting sucks. Going back to work after vacation sucks. Actually, having a job sucks…

#happymondayaftervacation

How do stupid people live so long?

Posted on by backuphill

two yachts floating on body of water

Photo by Jared Lung on Pexels.com

I was on vacation this last week and went fishing off the northern reaches of Vancouver Island. There was a lot of boat travel involved, including the very large ferry boat to get to the island.

In the adventures of a ferry line, there are all sorts of people. I happened to be in line behind the biggest idiot on the boat. Let me set the scene…

We arrived at the ferry an hour before the appointed sailing time. There were already nine or so cars in the line (including said idiot directly in front of me). We killed time in the shops and grabbed some coffee and then with about 25 minutes before sailing time we headed back to our vehicle so we were ready for the loading announcement (typically they load the boat 15 minutes before sailing). The idiot in front of me had the back of his vehicle open and the bikes that were on the back of the vehicle were propped up next to the vehicle.

The first announcement to return to your vehicles came and people began loading back into their cars. Idiot? Well, he just stood there looking at his phone.

The second announcement to return to your vehicles came and, again, idiot just stood there fumbling around with his phone. Now people’s cars were starting and people were prepared to board the boat.

Cars in the line ahead are now moving and beginning to load onto the boat. Idiot, looks up, sees that cars are moving and finally begins to move. He closes the back of his vehicle, no urgency involved, then proceeds to load the first bike back onto the rack on the back of his car. The cars in the front of the line are now gone and he is holding up the entire line…and now he can’t figure out how to secure the bike. So he fumbles around trying to make it happen. He wife now jumps out of the car, puts here coffee on the top of the car, and tries to help him – only it appears she is just getting in the way rather than helping.

We sit. We can’t move. We can’t go around and neither can the cars behind us, because when you line up at the ferry line you park close enough the to car in front of you that you can’t escape. We sit some more.

Finally, the guy decides that he can’t take any more time (now at 5 minutes since the car in front of him moved) and he just throws the second bike onto the rack and jumps into the car. He wife jumps in and closes here door, only to jump back out and grab her coffee off the top of the car. They are finally moving…

Good grief…the two loading messages 10 minutes before loading were apparently not enough to get this idiot moving.

All I could do was shake my head and wonder how stupid people survive so long.

#smh