Category: Rants & Observations

Two rants for your pleasure:

I was watching the Food Network and they had some food cooking contest of some sort on. It’s not like I was paying attention. That would require an attention span, which I’m seriously lacking these days. So anyway, I did hear that this one woman was participating again to see if she could win first place for the third time. Ok, maybe I’m out of line here, but my first thought was, “You selfish bitch, give someone else a chance!” How exciting can it really be to win the same award three years in a row? Seems like someone needs to get a life.

Earlier today I came across a weblog where the author was bemoaning her poor credit rating due to running up credit cards and not making payments on time. Oh no, you mean, like, there’s consequences to being irresponsible? No way! Will people just grow up already? I was ready to flame the person who commented that Discover Card is evil. Um, no. The credit cards aren’t evil, you’re just bad with your finances. If you can’t control yourself, don’t blame it on anyone else but yourself. It’s like suing the tobacco companies for getting lung cancer after you’ve smoked for 20 years. Come on, let’s take responsibility for our actions for a change.

I want to write about the cool new *free* service we have through the cable company, but I’m too tired. Maybe tomorrow.

I’ve already come across a few people complaining about Daylight Savings Time. “We lost a WHOLE hour!” Whine, whine, whine. Would you like some cheese with your whine? What is the big deal? It’s one hour on one day. It’s not like each day suddenly got reduced to 23 hours.

I swear if I catch anyone whining about how their sleep schedule is messed up for the rest of the next week, I will scream. All you had to do was get an extra hour of sleep. Is that really so hard?

Honestly, I think the benefits of DST far outweigh any loss in sleep. The sun is shining even longer and personally, that is a good thing. It’s depressing when it’s dark out. I love the sunlight, especially after suffering through a Winter of missing it cause I’m at work all day and by the time I leave, it’s setting.

If you’re really that upset, just remember that you will get your precious hour back in October.

Joe’s on the phone with Capital One Visa right now … and he is pissed! I certainly don’t blame him. What have they done for him lately? Well, besides flat-out lying to him, absolutely nothing! These people told him that they’d credit his annual membership fee, but didn’t, and now even the manager is giving him a hard time.

Looks to me like Capital One Visa doesn’t want business … is it any surprise that Discover and American Express are far superior? I think not. I told him to just cancel the card and tell them to kiss his ass. We don’t pay annual fees to Discover or American Express and they give us cash back, yet Visa thinks they are justified in charging $60 a year? Bye bye!

Our trip into the city on Friday just served as a further reminder as to why I’m really happy I live in the suburbs. The city itself is gorgeous, but the people in it scare me. I lost count of how many crazy people (quite literally) we passed on the street in the few hours we were there.

When we were crossing the river after the boat tour, some guy started walking next to me and asked, “May I ask you a question Miss?” I kept on walking, refusing to look at him as I responded, “No, you may not.” I never stop to talk to people on the streets because they are usually looking for a handout. I worked in the city for many years and I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been dealt the “I just lost my wallet and need bus/train fare to get home” card. People honestly think I’m stupid.

New York may be the city that never sleeps, but Chicago is not. Everything in the Loop area shuts down by 10 pm so our walk back to the L was a bit stressful. The only people left on the streets were of a questionable nature. Of all the time I’ve been in the city, I never saw so many shady people in such a short span of time. We even saw some guy pissing against a building in plain view, right on Michigan Avenue no less. I honestly didn’t feel safe walking through the area after dark even though Joe was with me. To think I used to walk alone through the same area nightly in order to catch the train home from work. I must have been out of my mind. I’m lucky I didn’t get mugged, raped, or killed.

So the moral of this story for anyone thinking of visiting Chicago is to a) enjoy the city during daylight hours and/or b) head up to the Lincoln Park area if you’re looking for somewhere to hang after dark.