Month: August 2018

Cockroaches, AND weeds

Posted on by backuphill

white dandelion

Photo by zhang kaiyv on Pexels.com

Alright, you all know the joke about the only living thing being able to survive a nuclear holocaust is a cockroach, right? Well, I think we can add one more thing to that list…and they’re living in my yard (and likely yours too). As we work in the flower beds or mow the lawn, we all refer to them as – “F$%*#@ weeds!” We just get tired of them always being there.

Weeds. Weeds! How is it that the grass can turn brown and die, but there are weeds flourishing in my yard? One the side of the road? In fields everywhere? How is it that they can get NO WATER and still live? They can’t be killed! You spray them with killer. You burn them with flamethrowers. And they just keep.coming.back. How can this be?

So, I think we need to change the joke. We can just simply say that there will be two living things on Earth after a nuclear war…cockroaches and weeds. It will be a perfect world where two of the most unwanted, least desired, most indestructible life forms will live in our place. Perfect.

I wonder if it really makes a difference

Posted on by backuphill

smartphone car technology phone

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

On any given work day, I have nearly two hours of commute (round trip) time. Yeah, I can feel your groans. I do it too. To be honest, the commute is the worst part of my job and if I could not do it and make the same income I would change in a heartbeat. But, it is what it is.

So, I have been using the Waze app to see if it can help alleviate the commute time a little. Supposedly it is “real time” traffic routing based on user reports. It is owned by Google, so all it does it take the traffic reports and move it to a different app instead of the regular Google Maps app. Anyway, I am not sure it is helping.

Why is it not helping? Or at least, why do I not think it is helping? Well, it takes me just as long to get home when I use it and when I don’t use it. By time it routes be down some obscure neighborhood road, or through every traffic light in town, it has taken me roughly the same amount of time to get to the exact same choke point at just going the most direct route, via the highway where all the other cars are sitting in traffic. Maybe it is just the nature of the necessary route to get home (there are literally only two ways to get home via two choke points). But, one would think that you could at least get to the choke point a little faster using the app. Not so.

Anyone else have a similar experience?

#trafficiskillingme #smh

That zit, I’ve had it!

Posted on by backuphill

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Stock photo from some random Google search.

Of course, I wake up and there is a freaking beacon of red, flashing on my forehead this morning. Of course. Where the hell did that come from?

Zit. Pimple. Blemish. Skin eruption.

Is it me, or do guys/men have a distinct disadvantage when dealing with this kind of stuff? I mean, if something of this sort happens to a woman (ok, I am generalizing here), they have products to deal with it, AND at the very least something to cover it up. Guys, we don’t have those kinds of products…or at least a vast majority of men don’t. So, now what?

To add to this already relatively unattractive mug, I now have something to stare at as I present in front of a group or talk to clients. Great. Just great. As if I didn’t already have a reason to feel self-conscious.

Oh, you must be exempt from traffic laws

Posted on by backuphill

auto automobile blur buildings

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Wanna know who is exempt from traffic laws? Cops, apparently.

You see them speed all the time on the highway. You see them make a flagrant u-turns in traffic. You see them park on the side of the road (especially on overpasses) with a portion of their vehicle in traffic. You see them park in “No Parking” or “Fire” zones. You see them park on sidewalks. You see them using their computers and their cell phones while driving. You see them not use their signals properly. So, they must be exempt, right?

I was always under the impression that the only time they were exempt from traffic laws was when they had their lights on and were responding to a call. They don’t even have to have their siren on, but they at the very least had to have their lights on. Otherwise, I was under the impression they should act as though they are the same as any other citizen. Well, we clearly and regularly don’t see this happen, right?

So what gives? I have never had a law enforcement official clearly explain this to me. When asked if they are exempt from the law, they say no but they can’t explain why it is acceptable why they violate traffic laws on a regular basis. Anyone got an answer?

Do you know why I pulled you over?

Posted on by backuphill

*Disclaimer #1, no, I haven’t been pulled over for this yet.

There are some really dumb traffic laws out there, and this happens to be one of the dumbest. The sheer nature of the law assumes that someone will be speeding and someone else will be impeding their progress.

Bahn Storming

wesleychapelcommunity.com

So, let’s talk about this for a second. Let’s assume you are trying to follow the posted speed limit and are not exceeding it. Slower vehicles are supposed to stay to the right (it’s the law, right?). If, by the nature of traveling the speed limit, you are able to pass people while traveling in the left lane then you are not causing anyone grief because you are in fact going the speed limit.

Let’s just say an emergency vehicle comes up from behind you with their lights on. What do you do? You move to the right, like the law says to do. If you don’t move right, you can and should be ticketed for not following the law. So, is this an issue with traveling in the left lane?

If you are going slower than the speed limit, well, then you could be pulled over because you are actually being a hazard to other drivers and should be pulled over for being a danger to yourself and others.

Finally, that leaves anyone who is going over the speed limit, which I do regularly. *Disclaimer #2 – I do not condone speeding, I am just merely using myself as an example. First, if you are speeding you can be pulled over for that because you are violating a law already on the books. However, since you are speeding you are likely passing slower people who are staying on the right. Thus, no need for the law. If you are one of those jackwagons (is that gender specific or is it all-inclusive?) who decides that you are going to speed at an unreasonable rate and unsafely, well then there is already a law on the books for that. It is called reckless driving.

So that leaves a scenario where I am traveling over the speed limit and passing people on the left when a jackwagon speeds up from behind me and tailgates me as I don’t move immediately out-of-the-way. Who is in the wrong here? As we are both exceeding the speed limit, both of us are passing people on the left. We are both speeding, only one of us is doing it in an unsafe manner. I am not really impeding anyone in traffic, except the jackwagon behind me who feels the need to run everyone off the road to get to where they are going. Get my drift here?

The “keep right” law is dumb.

Fleeing followers on Instagram

Posted on by backuphill

close up of smart phone

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Growing an Instagram account can be tough. Getting people to follow you, to share you, to like and comment is down right challenging.

What really sucks is that you start to see some results and people are beginning to follow you and then they flee – unfollow almost as fast as they followed you. At first I was being courteous and following them back, but I soon learned that these accounts were following my account just so they could get a follow and then they would unfollow my account.

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Well, if that doesn’t just burn ya up, I don’t know what will. People work really hard to create good content so the can get followers and really make an effort to do it via a legit method (I mean I get spam offers for “follower generators” all the time). Kinda makes ya mad, ya know?

Is that really how people get followers to their accounts? Spam follow accounts and hope they follow you back?

Lunch at the park

Posted on by backuphill

pexels-photo-1149058.jpeg

Photo by Scosche on Pexels.com

I see you, dude.

I see you in your jacked up, shiny, big tired, over-sized pickup, that you’ll never take off road. Your windows down and engrossed in some kind of reading. But…

But, before I noticed you in that truck I SMELLED you. Yes, I smelled you!

Yeah, your stench is undeniable and totally recognizable. Because while you are sitting there with your windows rolled down, the breeze is wafting the smoke of that joint in your hand all over the other people sitting in their cars trying enjoy their lunches. Thanks, jerk.

Then after we have all suffered through your bad habit, which is illegal to smoke in public, you start your vehicle and drive off, also illegal. Nice.

I guess there are very few places you can go these days without having to deal with this sort of entitled, “it’s my right,” behavior. No courtesy for others, just “all about me.”

#smh

Moss knows no bounds

Posted on by backuphill

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com
Photo by Daniel B on Pexels.com

Well, except for a rolling stone, supposedly. If you are familiar with the quote, then that will make sense. Otherwise, it won’t. Anyway, I think here in the Pacific Northwest moss would give that rolling stone a challenge, for sure.

Moss is everywhere. In the trees. In the grass. In the shade. In the sun. On the roof. On the sidewalks. In the driveway. On the windows. Dare I say, even some have it on their cars. Hanging low. Hanging high. It is freaking EVERYWHERE!

A couple years ago I tried to kill the stuff in my lawn. Guess what? Yes, it died briefly. Along with the grass that was barely hanging on because of it. Then it came back in the fall, thicker and more robust, like it was just taking a breath before it decided to take over the rest of the yard. So, I gave up. I am just letting it take over the lawn…I mean it’s green, it’s soft, and it needs to be mowed less often than real grass…

The war on moss is not over, but the battles have certainly no gone in my favor. I will continue to battle, right after I take a nap on that soft stuff in the shade.

 

My love/hate relationship with toilet paper

Posted on by backuphill

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What to do…what to do…well, this blog is going in the toilet…

The picture above was from a recent trip to the men’s room at work. Yes, I needed to “cop a squat” and empty the main tank. There were so many choices for toilet paper that it was a little overwhelming. However, there wasn’t really a choice because they all were of the same relative quality, which got me to thinking about my love/hate relationship with TP.

It’s too thin. It’s too thick. There is not enough on the roll (or worse, there are no rolls at all). The roll is too big to fit in the dispenser. Use too much and you plug the toilet. Use too little and you’re sporting a brown racing stripe in the undies. Sometimes protects the fingers and other times you’re using TP to wipe the fingers before your next wipe on the rear end.

At least one of these problems occurs during each visit to “the can” and you *literally* sit there fuming. So why is that we can’t figure out an alternative to this stuff? Yes, there are “adult wipes” but they plug the toilets or sewer systems. There are bidets, but that hasn’t caught on in the US and I am still not sure what you are supposed to do about a wet ass…(as you can tell, I have never been presented with this option).

Anyone else feel me on this love/hate relationship? What do you think is the solution?

Clickbait and Google News feed

Posted on by backuphill

Click bait 1

The clickbait around here is so obvious it hurts. The screen shot of the Google News feed from a few days ago is a prime example. All of the news articles are about the same topic, on the same day, but one of them is using the “clickbait” title tactic.

Click bait 2

CNN should know better than this, but I guess that is what we can expect when you’re desperate to compete. Notice all of the other headlines are pretty much the same, but CNN takes it to the next level of sensationalism. Also, when you look at the timing of the article – “one hour ago” – you can clearly see that it wasn’t “just tweeted” or “something new”. Again, it is an under-handed and dishonest attempt to get traffic on their site. Pure clickbait and there is no way of defining it any other way.

The fact that is stands out so obviously is disturbing, though I suppose if you get your news via social media or something similar there is probably no point of reference and you probably would click on it. CNN once used to be a reliable source of news info, but as you can see headlines like this make it a “less than news service.” You can also see why so many people bash on CNN for being a terrible purveyor of news and information.

People need to stop “consuming” this crap. It is time for CNN to go away because it’s desperation is showing.

* Discussion for another time: The Hill is the only balanced reporting on the list above.