Month: July 2023

Jury duty

Posted on by backuphill

Photo by Zachary Caraway on Pexels.com

Civic duty, but….

There has been a change in the way you have to find out if you are to report for jury duty and I don’t like it. I don’t know what other places have to do or go through for this process but from my experience here locally there has been a definite change and I don’t like it because it keeps you in a hold pattern for two weeks.

It used to be that you filled out the form, sent it in, then called at the appointed time to find out if you needed to report for the next week. For the second week, typically, it had been that you would have to call a second time for that week but not always.

So, I had a vacation planned last week and I also got notice that I would have to call for jury duty that week too. So, any plans I had (luckily just a staycation) were immediately out the door and I couldn’t plan anything either because I wasn’t sure if I would have to report. I called at the appointed time and they said call again in two days.

For the entire first week, and now for the entire second week, they have you calling every two days to see if you are going to report to the courthouse the following day. They are literally stringing you along for two weeks instead of just releasing you when they have nothing on the docket.

Highly irritating!

So, I have been in limbo for two weeks, playing jury duty roulette with vacation plans and work because they have a different way of doing things now.

Stupid.

Give up

Posted on by backuphill

What’s the deal with these spam sites? This guy has me deleting his subscription every other day or so. I have lost count, but I would bet it has been about 25+ times.

Click on the name and it takes you to a page where a webpage/blog isn’t even set up. There are about 5 (that I have counted) variations of this “site.” What is the point of all the attempts to spam me with subscriptions?

I wish WordPress had a way to block people who are obviously spammers.

Forced charity

Posted on by backuphill

Charity is great, but when it is forced charity, well, that Pisses me off. Then it isn’t charity, it’s just big business charging you a fee (read that as “tax”) to cover the cost of doing their business. So, I am going to Moan really loudly about this.

Cascade Natural Gas in Washington has asked the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission for a fee that will basically recoup the cost of it’s service to people who can’t afford it. Rather than covering that cost themselves and using it as a write-down on their taxes (I am sure they will do this too – as in, double dip), they are going to charge all their customers an extra fee on top of all the other fees to pay for a program most people don’t even care about.

There is no option to opt out. There is no option to opt in. It’s just, “Let me reach into your pocket once again and take your money without consent.”

I say without consent because the WUTC is an unelected, oversight board that is filled with people appointed by our governor (Democrat) and approved by the state senate (Democrat). Essentially, there is no recourse for customers because these things get hard stamped approval because – liberals.

I shouldn’t be forced to pay for something someone else can’t pay for. That’s robbery. That’s a tax. That’s coercion at it’s worst.

And, once again, it’s government approved.