RANT/ Product review: John Deere D105 riding lawn mower. Background: One of my dad's life-long dreams has been to own a John Deere riding-mower (Yes, my dad is essentially Hank Hill), but he could never afford one. A couple of years ago, he finally bought one, and he wouldn't let anyone touch it but him (which is understandable). But last week he underwent some surgery, which keeps him from doing any sort of strenuous activity, so he called me to mow his lawn/driveway area. I couldn't believe it. I got to drive it for the first time today, and I think it sucks. - It's got a hydrostatic drive. I've never liked that, not on lawnmowers, tractors, etc. - It gets stuck way too easily. If you cut a turn too sharply, or if there is a slight (and I do mean SLIGHT!) change in elevation, one wheel starts spinning, and suddenly you aren't moving. -There are too many safety features. Remember what I said about getting stuck? On most lawnmowers, you just lean on the side of the wheel that's spinning, and you get yourself out. But the safety switch (which shuts off the engine when no one is sitting in the seat) is so easy to trip, you turn the engine off when you try doing that. Also, if you try putting the mower in reverse with the blades turning, it shuts off the engine. Other mowers I've driven just turn off the blades, or better yet, keep going. -The blade-PTO takes FOR-FUCKING-EVER to turn on; I'm talking 20+ seconds. I actually think there might be something wrong with that, and I'll check it out.
Rant: This. On rare occasion I feel like they're actually getting something, but frequently it's astonishing how little they retain. As an experiment I actually flat out told the kids the exact questions and answers that would be on the test when we did a review. We played a game, and the questions and multiple choice answers were literally, word for fucking word, what was on the test. I still had 10 kids fail. How the fuck do you even do anything with that? I have tried everything to get their attention. Make it relevant to their lives? Done it, or tried. Tried different methods, quick lessons, debates, let them talk it out, all these strategies we are told, and it is still impossible to reach every single kid. Not hard... Impossible. In education is that we are told that, as teachers, we can reach anyone, but the harsh reality is that there are kids who flat out do not give even the slightest of fucks about anything school related, at all. We had a kid punch a teacher in the face for making him do a 5 question worksheet that he just didn't feel like doing. Teacher told him to sit and do it, kid went off. How the fuck do we handle that? I'm genuinely asking. if we just toss him out, we're considered failures as teachers and as a school, but we sure as fuck can't keep him. This is the single most frustrating job Ive ever had.
Rant: My cat is an asshole and got into his bag of treats in the middle of the night. Treats were everywhere. Plus he threw them up because he's a gluttonous pig and ate too many. So I woke up and had to clean up his treats and vomit and he had the fuckin balls to meow for his breakfast?
RANT: I thought it was just mine... I was really tired Monday night after not getting any sleep Sunday night, so needless to say I went to bed really early Monday night and forgot to feed the cat his wet food for the night. Needless to say he jumped on me and howled at me and was pissed, but eventually gave up. Next thing I know I hear a massive ripping and tearing of plastic sound coming from under the bed. I figured it was him ripping apart one of his toys so thought nothing of it. Woke up in the morning to seeing the shredded carnage of a big bag of treats, now empty. The fucker had managed to get up onto a top shelf in the kitchen where I keep his bag of treats, get the bag down, haul it under the bed, and then proceed to rip it open and eat the 3/4 of the bag that was left in it. Fair enough... I didn't feed him, so it was my bad, and good on him for fending for himself. I then grabbed a shower, and while walking back to the bedroom the little fuck was prancing down the hallway, on his way to under the bed, dragging along a new, unopened bag of cat treats. He was looking very pleased with himself, to say the least. The fucker. Needless to say cat treats are now in a drawer.
Rant: My wife's cat is an obnoxious asshole, too. Rave: It's old. Can't be around too much longer. This cat is such a prick he has turned my wife into a non-cat person.
Rant: My first girl friend from 1989 messaged me last night and of course now she is a 3 child having smoking hot milf on her second very unhappy marriage living in California. Why must the universe throw kryptonite right at my face? Rave: She lives no where close to me
Rave: Our neighbor's 21-year-old son was convicted of misdemeanor stalking against my family last week. The judge sentenced him to 10 days in jail and a year on probation since he had never threatened us, only annoyed us. Extra Rave: The little punk couldn't keep his mouth shut as the bailiff was taking him out. The judge told him 20 days; kid said "make it 30." Judge said "50!" then brought him back to the bench to talk to him. He called him an idiot and a dumbass and changed the sentence to 6 months in jail plus probation. Dad Rave: One of the victim advocates called our 14-year-old daughter "rock star" after she testified. Unfortunately, none of us could be in the court room to see since we all testified.
Rant: Wow, lot's of us with annoying cats. Since I had to put the other one to sleep in December, our other cat howls all night, wakes us up, we feed him, give him treats, brush him, anything to get him to shut up. Rant: I feel real bad for him, he's 15, really healthy, and has never been without another cat. He gets along awesome with the dog, but she's locked up in a separate room at night. We are considering adopting another older cat.
Job Rant continued: Main bartender's last day was this week. Her sidekick and room mate (who was full time) quit without notice this week, too. We are down to me, one other full time, 2 part timers (2 shifts a week per girl), and 2 part time bartenders. And I've got interviews coming up for a decent government job. I wonder how much they really value me? You know what they say about a crisis.
Rave: My middle finger and thumb are healed up now after the little bandsaw incident. The thumb cut basically looked like a vagina as it healed... glad that's over. Rave/Rant: Ms. katokoch is a fantastic accountant and very talented, but after a few years at a Top 4 firm is burning out from the constant stress and work load. Having an asshole for a boss isn't helping her situation. There is a smaller firm that is trying to recruit her and I really hope she takes them seriously once this tax season is over and she can breathe. Rave/Rant: A couple of sales reps and a marketing co-worker all left the company in the same week. One sales rep had the reputation of being a demanding, unappreciative asshole and won't be missed, hence the rave, but the other one was a good guy. I will really miss the marketing co-worker though. She was really friendly and down to earth (in stark contrast to the Communications Princess we work with), and as a yoga instructor on the side she rocked the hell out of leggings and yoga pants. Plus I have a shit ton of extra work on my plate now until we can fill those positions- the downside of being seen as flexible.
Rant: The kid is experiencing separation anxiety from starting daycare. She will not sleep. It turns out that the threshold for parental sleep is 2.5 hours. Getting more than this in a night, you can function but you aren't happy about it. Less than that, you actually wish you were dead.
Rant: I managed to make it the entire youth hockey season without having any sort of memorable cold/illness which is really pretty impressive. I go over to my friends last weekend, she swears she and her kid are healthy, and this week I get hit. I have nothing against little kids but they are walking cold banks who will get you sick. This is not helping the fact that I don't like being around babies and very little kids. Rave: Afternoon drinking. Saw the Wings and Hoosiers win with some friends, came back to my place, passed out around 10, woke up at 1, took some klonopin and aspirin and feel serviceable today. If I drank like that last night and woke up this morning at say 7 I'd be screwed and would feel groggy all day which I hate.
Rave: The Board. You guys make me laugh, and that's always appreciated. Even though I get naked pics from CJ and Nett.
Rant: The fact that we have credit cards with a new expiration date but the same number should not affect our record of transactions online. Get it together, Navyfed. I understand the interruption due to fraud protection and new card numbers but this is some bullshit.
Rave: doctor gave me a script for zyban (bupropion) 150 mg. Smoking cessation. I was so good at quitting I'd done it at least 50 times. He said the two he's seen the most success with were that and chantix, but 1 out of every 200 people taking chantix sees an increase in depression, and I told him that if there was a 1 : 1M chance of death as a side effect I'd be the asshole who dies from it (you know those meds that say "may cause diarrhea" and yet they cork you? Yeah I'm the one person they give the liqui-shits to). Rant: Assuming I am able to quit now, that's still about 7 years of on again/off again smoking, 3 years of consistently doing it. Not bad compared to a lot of people I know, but still not something I'm proud of. The first cig always tastes like shit, but wish I never had that second one when I was 15.
Rant: My company was kind enough to accommodate me by letting me work remotely due to family illness. Now I just found out I can't deduct the expense unless they write a letter saying I moved BECAUSE of work. Any ideas how we'd phrase that one?