Things I’m Still Mad About

A non-exhaustive list, in order of how mad I still am:

• Swift Boat Veterans for Truth
• 2000
• Harriet Miers
• 2004
• Cancellation of Firefly
• Romney’s NYTimes editorial
• Certain people who eavesdropped on a game of Truth or Dare 10 years ago, which is not cool
• That Jackie and Hyde didn’t get back together on That ’70s Show

What are you still mad about?

Bi-monthly Comcast Post

For a good hour today, my rage budget had been thus revised:

Comcast – 100%

Today I discovered that for the past two weeks, the serial port on my cable box hasn’t been working, so my TiVo has been unable to change the channel on the box. Not a huge deal as most channels I TiVo stuff on comes via the cable directly, not via the box. Except for the SciFi channel and BBC America. Which sucks, because instead of all the things I wanted on those channels (including Razor, the BSG movie) I got episodes of Ninja Warrior on G4. Which I do like, but no.

The Internet reported that the same thing had happened to many people at the same time, around Nov. 14. I called Comcast and mostly played dumb. It was a weird call, because after I explained the problem, I was told that the woman I was talking to needed to talk to a manager, and then I was on hold for 15 minutes. When she came back she said that I would need a tech visit.

Swapping the box apparently fixes the problems, which were possibly caused by a firmware upgrade and was either done on purpose or inadvertantly, depending on who you ask. I kept looking in various forums and found the contact info for the Product Manager for the New Englad region. People calimed to have had success emailing or calling him and having him remotely reset their boxes. I gave it a shot and he totally emailed back a few hours later, apologizing and letting me know he’d fixed it!

I’m pretty mad at Comcast because even if it was inadvertent, as the very nice Manager Jeff claims it was, because it has been broken for 2 weeks, and people have been reporting it, so they should have already fixed it or told people. And, if Jeff can fix it so easily, they should maybe share that fix with the front line people instead of scheduling tech calls (one that I was going to have to pay for, by the way).

Um

Sorry, I was all set to post, but then I logged into WordPress and saw the “Hawt Blog,” which really threw me. It’s about Mars.

Anyhow! I am off to Harrisburg this very even to see my grandparents, as I will be unable to see them at any of the upcoming holidays, and don’t want it to be a whole year before I do see them. This seemed like a capital idea a month ago. Unfortunately, this week has been a total shit show at work, and it became clear over the course of today that I have at least 15, probably more like 20, hours of work to do this weekend. That is obviously basically impossible, given the times I will be unavoidably away from the computer. In fact, we are not so sure my grandparents have wireless; I vaguely recall leeching off an unsuspecting neighbor last trip. So I guess I’m screwed? I’m pretty tense/overwhelmed, but trying to acknowledge that my task is futile and I ought to just do the best I can.

I am also trying to look forward to the parts of the weekend where I won’t have Internet, and thus cannot work (no Internet = can’t log into the online database to review documents). On the plane, I can play Zelda. At meals, I can see my family. In the car, also with the family. So that’s nice.

Anger Budget

I was talking to Ro on Sunday about budgets (nothing but crazy times here in the RoTa manor). And then later, I was talking about the latest thing to make me angry (which is, since you’re wondering, the whole tricking kids into eating things or taking medicine by hiding vegetables in cookies or medicine in candy or whatever, because all that does is make kids like junk food, NOT vegetables, and jeez). I commented that there are so very many things that make me angry, and that perhaps I’d best just make an anger budget. Here is this week’s anger budget. Of course, it changes based on whatever I happen to see in the news or whatever happens to me at work

Global warming and lack of action with respect to same – 28%

Iraq War and related U.S. actions toward rest of world – 24%

Anger at the AMPTP over the WGA strike – 15%

Oil spill in SF bay – 12%

Work (This week, specifically the fact that because of others last-minuteness, I am scrambling and working a ton. Also, that our vending machine vendor quit, and we haven’t had soda or snacks in weeks. Weeks!) – 11%

Whatever lame thing Congress did this week (this week I am mad about the sexual orientation bill that doesn’t really go far enough and also won’t pass) – 5%

Subprime mortgage business – 5%

There is more, and each of those categories breaks down further. It’s hard to be angry about so many things! Can I be angry that there is so much to be angry about?

Things I am outraged by at this one moment in time

1. The cancellation of Andy Barker, P.I.- Even though Ro told me about this days ago, outraged I remain. I mean, I guess the ratings were terrible, but as Ro pointed out, the first episodes were all during weeks where they were only showing repeats of The Office, and I would additionally point out that it was up against new episodes of Grey’s and CSI. That just seems like stacking the deck; I seriously doubt NBC has something better in development, and it should have been given a chance, like The Office was, to build an audience.

2. The weather – What is UP?

3. The girl who tried to kill me last weekend – Still mad about this, too. Or maybe it’s that I get newly mad each time I think about it? Some dumb girl pulled up alongside me as I biked along Mass Ave. and kept pace with my bike for a few seconds before deciding that what she really wanted to do was make a right-hand turn from the left side of ME. I don’t generally get road rage when I have the occasion to drive (or, I guess, when I used to drive) but I sure do get bicycle rage whenever someone does something that could result in my physical injury.

4. Comcast – I am always outraged at Comcast. Always. It is a permanent state.

 5. People who don’t say thank you – No one says thank you to the guy who hands out the Metro at the bottom of the stairs in the T. No one. I don’t understand; dude just handed you a newspaper, which you took. What’s wrong with you?

6. The guy who gets behind someone in a left-turn lane and then honks when the person in front of him stops because they are waiting to make a left – Specifically, at the intersection of Mass. and Somerville Avenues in Porter Square, there is a left-turn only lane, a straight-through only lane, and a lane from which both of those things are possible. But if you want to turn left, you have to wait for the light. Everyone who wants to turn left can’t fit solely in the left-turn only lane, because it gets backed up, so eventually a few left-turners end up in the combo lane. And inevitably, some asshat who wants to go straight gets in that lane behind them, and then beeps, repeatedly, and waves his hands irritably, because he CANNOT COMPREHEND the existence of a lane in which people may turn left or may go straight. It’s a crapshoot, dude, and you picked that lane, so either wait quietly or wait until it’s safe to change lanes. No? You’re going to honk and honk and honnnnnk and then peel out dangerously as though you’ve been personally wronged? Ok, cool.

Tired of (part one of eighty billion)

These two photograph compositions:

1. Looking down at photographer’s shoes. Tips of shoes take up bottom 1/4 of frame. Top 3/4 may be floor, ground, or the actual subject of the photo.
2. Frame about two feet above and looking directly down at a surface. Subject often objects on a table.

Stop taking these pictures, please. I’m sure it’s just overexposure, but they are driving me right out of my goddamned mind. I look down at the floor and down at my desk all day. Also, your shoes aren’t that cute. And yes, you have evoked the charm of everyday objects, congratulations, so has everyone else with a digital camera and a knickknack.

And then he had to go and RUIN IT

I have this draft post saved in Google Docs that says: “gays in the military – woo!” Last week, there was so much positive gay-related news! More specifically, the Metro  was all gayed out. Sometimes the Metro, perhaps accidentally, perhaps not, seems to have a theme: lots of articles on gun violence, gubernatorial initiatives, whatever. And one day last week, the theme was definitely gays in the military related. There was a story on the ex-servicemembers whoa re trying to get their lawsuit regarding their dismissal from the military back in the courts, a story about Massachusetts representative Martin Meehan’s bill that would repeal Don’t Ask-Don’t Tell, and a local puff piece on the path to marriage a local gay couple took. All awesome, especially the possible repeal of DADT.  A few former officers, now openly gay, are joining up with Meehan to try and get the bill passed (former Marine Sgt. Brian Fricke and former Marine Staff Sgt. Eric Alva). The article in the Metro also highlighted Alva, who lost a leg, and won medals, and who is clearly exceptionally brave and patriotic.  He was the first serviceperson to be seriously wounded in Iraq. He talked about how scary it is to be gay in the military – if you die, the government isn’t going to inform your partner, because to them, you have no partner. You are not allowed to tell them you have a partner.  Every interview I’ve read with a gay former servicemember cites that as their biggest concern – not that the partner won’t get their military benefits (which is also terrible), or that they are afraid their colleagues would be awful to them, or that they would lose their job (although also certainly at the fore of their stress) – it’s that if they died, their partner would be the last to know.

So I was happy to see action being take on the DADT front. Now, of course, I am very very angry at Gen. Pace. Well, maybe not so angry – I’m not really surprised that he thinks that being gay is like being an adulterer, and is “immoral.” I’m surprised that he said it out loud. But I think it reflects a problem common to many in the Bush administration – a total lack of understanding that not everyone sees the world the way you do.  I think that he is probably surprised that so many people were outraged by his statements.

And, like Tim Hardaway a few weeks ago, he isn’t sorry for what he thinks, nor does he believe he is wrong to think that, he is only sorry that people heard him. It’s the non-apology, “I’m sorry you feel that way.” Just typing those words almost sent me into a rage blackout. I HATE the non-apology. So condescending!

I suppose I have nothing more to say on the subject, except to say shut up, Gen. Pace.

Just…shhhhh.

More delayed news! On Monday, there was an article in the Metro, my daily morning “don’t make eye-contact with the other people on the train” reading, about the fact that the T is no longer giving people a free ride when going outbound above-ground on the Green Line, and about the OUTRAGE that the poor, underprivileged BU undergrads were feeling. Not new news, as this change was announced along with all of the Charlie Card business. And I think most people shrugged it off. I used to live in Brookline and Brighton, and it was nice, the free ride, but not a huge deal, especially since I always had a T-pass. And it did seem like a giant waste of money for them to let everyone ride free going outbound, and the T needs every fare it can get. In fact, I am much more annoyed that they no longer let T-pass (or Charlie Card) holders bring a guest rider along for free on Sundays. (As MJC pointed out, it was just a nice little thing they had, that made you not hate the T so much.)

So. I knew, KNEW this would piss off the BU undergrads. When I was in law school, oh how I hated those undergrads. BU’s campus is stretched out along Comm Ave. And it is long, I’ll grant you. But the way the undergrads use the T as their own personal shuttle, you’d think it was like the Incredible Journey to get from one end to the other. A huge part of the reason I moved out of Brighton was that I could not physically tolerate taking the B line any longer. On the way to school, as soon as we got within 2 stops of the first BU stop, 200 hundred undergrads would thrown themselves at the train, shoving their way on, tripping over their Uggs, loud and rude and wearing velour tracksuits with words on the ass and legs that were 4 inches too long, so they dragged along the ground, dirty and tangled. ANYWAY. But that was mostly ok, because it was a solid 15-20 minute walk to their classrooms from there, and if it was winter it was cold, and they were paying (in theory), so whatever.

What was not ok was trying to go home. Attempting to get on the train at BU Central induced such rage, I am actually having trouble writing about it. The trains would be filled with undergrads who had hopped on one stop earlier at BU East. A stop I could SEE, with my EYES, because it was about 3 blocks away. They would ride the T for two or three stops, then hop out again. And while it is everyone’s right to ride the T, it is not your damn personal shuttle. Often, you couldn’t even get on the train, because it was already so full. I started walking over to the C line, adding a 7 minute walk to my commute, rather than face the B line ride home.

My anger was not just at the undergrads who refused to just walk down the road to their dorm or next class, it was also at BU for not providing actual shuttle service for these kids. Lazy BU. The T, while sucky, is not responsible for schlepping these kids around for free. BU is.

All of that was a long introduction to the point: There was an article in the Metro about the BU kids being mad that they could not ride the T for free any more. The story reported that undergrads are taking cabs or just (gasp!) walking rather than pay the T fare. Some quotes:

“We always used to take the T, but now I think a lot of students are going to walk instead,” Fryburn said.

“They’re going to sneak on because people aren’t used to paying for outbound. It is too expensive for when you just want to go a few stops,” Bencic said.

“I was with two friends and my cab ride was $5.85, so it was actually cheaper to take a cab. I heard other people talking about it, and a lot of students aren’t taking the T either,” Chavez said.

And, in a description that highlights what I described above:

“At the BU East stop at 10 p.m. Friday, MBTA personnel on the platform ordered students to board on the front of the train, and they stood in front of the back doors forbidding students to enter there. Despite these efforts, many students still succeeded in sneaking on because the students jammed themselves onto the train until it was so crowded, enforcing the outbound fare seemed impossible.”

You stay classy, undergrads.

1) Really? You are going to take a cab instead of just walk half a mile? You sure showed the T by throwing your money away on a cab instead. The kids don’t seem to get that the T isn’t losing anything by them not riding – the T wasn’t making any money off of them in the first place, as they were riding outbound FOR FREE. Yes, the loss of that NOTHING will surely cripple the (already mostly crippled) MBTA.

2) Yes, it is too expensive for just a few stops. You should not be taking it for just a few stops. As to the undergrad who thinks people will walk instead: YES! Yes, you should be walking, you lazy, lazy spoiled bratards.

3) Still not the T’s job to cart you around campus. Boo, your campus is big. How big? SO BIG! Whatever. I had a solid 15 minutes walk to class every day after freshman year in college. The college ran shuttles, and you could wait for a shuttle or you could walk. Or bike or skate or whatever. If you want a shuttle service, ask BU to start a freaking shuttle service. Not the T’s job. That free ride was a bonus, one of life’s extras. They didn’t take anything from you. Also, I bet your parents will buy you a T-pass, so shut your whining.

Distracted

I caught the first part of the President’s interview on 60 Minutes on Sunday. I started to get all worked up by his obnoxiousness (“Yeah, I was wrong about the WMDs, everyone was wrong about that!” GRARGH) when my rage was diffused by my confusion over his outfit. Particularly his shoes. He was wearing regular business casual President at Camp David attire with these brown…hiking loafers? That’s the only way I can describe them.

Endless Love

Sometimes, when I think about the eight years Bill Clinton was president, I get so sad. He wasn’t perfect, but a quick rundown and compare of "Major Problems Caused or Faced While President" between Bill and our current "leader" really gets me in the gut.

Last week, Mr. Clinton was on the Daily Show. I didn’t get to watch it until this weekend, when I was cleaning out the old TiVo (much more fun than, say, cleaning out the fridge). It was as excellent as every episode of the Daily Show always is.  But the real fun was yet to come, when Bill appeared on FOX News in an interview with Chris Wallace.

FOX News gives me hives, so I didn’t watch it live, but of course it’s been all over the news. Chris Wallace is now saying, asshat that he is, is acting all confused as to why Bill got so riled up in his answer, claiming, "All I did was ask him whether he felt he did enough to connect the dots and go after Al Qaeda."

Actually, CHRIS, I am looking at the transcript right now. What you actually did was ask the world’s longest question. You started by saying this was a question that many viewers e-mailed into you: "Why didn’t you do more to put Bin Laden and al Qaeda out of business when you were President?" Then you highlight claims made in the book The Looming Tower, which says that Bin Laden was talking shit about the U.S. back in 1993, and you wondered why, after the attack on the U.S.S. Cole, we didn’t strike back. You end with: "[B]ut the question is why didn’t you do more, connect the dots and put them out of business?" That seems to me like a pretty confrontational way to ask that question, Judgy McBlamey.

Clinton goes right after him, though, bless his heart. He points out that while he will answer all of the questions that Wallace smashed in there, he wants to note that he is being asked this on FOX news.  He goes on to acknowledge that he tried and failed to get Bin Laden, and calls Wallace out for doing "FOX’s bidding" and doing "a nice little conservative hit job on" him. Wallace tried to make out like Clinton is not answering his questions. This brings us to my favorite part of the interview, which I will quote in full, because it’s awesomeness cannot be contained by summary. My comments are in brackets.

Clinton: It was a perfectly legitimate question but I want to know how many people in the Bush administration you asked this question of. I want to know how many people in the Bush administration you asked: ‘Why didn’t you do anything about the Cole? I want to know how many you asked: Why did you fire Dick Clarke?’  I want to know . . . [Bring it, sir!]

Wallace: We asked . . .

Clinton: . . .

Wallace: Do you ever watch Fox News Sunday sir?

Clinton: I don’t believe you ask them that. [Ohhhh, SNAP!]

Wallace: We ask plenty of questions of . . .

Clinton: You didn’t ask that did you? Tell the truth.

Wallace: About the USS Cole?

Clinton: Tell the truth. [Do it.]

Wallace: I . . . with Iraq and Afghanistan there’s plenty of stuff to ask.

Clinton: Did you ever ask that? You set this meeting up because you were going to get a lot of criticism from your viewers because Rupert Murdoch is going to get a lot of criticism from your viewers for supporting my work on climate change. And you came here under false pretenses and said that you’d spend half the time talking about . . .

Wallace: <laughs> [Yeah, laugh it up, jackass.]

Clinton: You said you’d spend half the time talking about what we did out there to raise $7 billion dollars plus over three days from 215 different commitments. And you don’t care.

No, they DON’T CARE. I love you. There’s enough fodder here for a series of posts – not just the rest of the interview, which continues to be super, but also the reporting on said interview in the conservative press, which is infuriating, or the things he says in the interview about the administration’s lack of focus on Afghanistan, or on Bill’s Global Initiative, which has potential.

I think the thing I like best about this, besides the calling out of FOX, is that Bill admits he failed. I’ll grant you that the consequences to him for admitting this failure are not as great as they would be for, say, a current President. But still, he admits that he tried and failed. SOMEONE could learn a lesson from that, surely.