Smarts
Mood:  irritated
Topic: Rants

Some of you may find this an elitist entry, but I'm going to post it anyway.

Have you ever wished you were surrounded by intelligent people? I do. Sometimes there are just way too many idiots around me. It may not even be that they are total morons. They could very well be average or even slightly above average IQ, but geez Louise...give me some people at my own level!

Usually it's their language that gets to me the most. How about  expanding your vocabulary a smidge? Include words other than the Seven Bad Words You Can't Say On TV when you describe your life! I'm not against a swear word or two, but every other word does not have to be one of the seven! And for crying out loud - learn to use the word "have" instead of "got"!

Excuse Me!
Mood:  irritated
Topic: Rants

Whenever I go to a work-related class, I always introduce myself as a developer which is what I do 85% of the time. The other 15% is database work. So when I attended the SQL Administration class last week, I made my introduction and the instructor, after saying he was glad I had “admitted” I was a developer, proceeded to insult me at least three times in the first hour alone, each time being sure to glare at me over his glasses. He claimed programmers put bad code out on the server which bogs down the server and then who has to clean it up? The DBA…glare. He claimed programmers don’t know database design and should take that class…glare. He claimed some programmers use tempdb over and over again…glare. After 45 minutes I was ready to knock his glasses off his face. Where do these people get off?! I certainly made my feelings known in the course evaluation, but I’m sure I’ll never hear anything back.

Snow :-) Traffic :-(
Mood:  irritated
Topic: Rants

After my 14 mile, 2 HOUR commute home – 40 minutes of which was ONE city block long -  I have only one thing to say…

Stay the fuck out of the intersection if there’s not enough room for you to make it through before the light turns red!

Bastards! It was only about 5 inches of snow, traffic didn’t have to be so bad.

The Dry Sponge Curriculum
Mood:  down
Topic: Rants

Just after we had eased by the "Reading is boring" situation, Lauren came home from school and announced, "Math is boring". And, really, who can blame her when the lesson of the day was which number is higher?

During Curriculum night, the teachers had mentioned that they use a system called everyday math which is supposed to help kids see how numbers fit into the real world. At the time I thought that sounded well and good. Then came the homework and I knew it was not going to be well and good. The number order homework was followed by: tally marks (i.e. lll = 3), find and count the thermometers in your house, write your phone number, and count the clocks in your house. 

These kids are 6 and 7 years old for crying out loud. Which number is higher...hmpf! They should be doing addition and subtraction! Everyday math is fine and dandy, but why can't that be supplemental to some good old fashioned math?  These kid’s brains are sponges ready to soak up anything and everything, why not throw in something more complicated than which number is higher? Time is being wasted here and the sponges are slowly drying out.

After the tally marks I decided I was going to have my own math lessons with Lauren. She was already doing simple addition and subtraction, so I added easy double digit addition and subtraction, then double digit addition with carrying the tens and for good measure, I even threw in a double digit addition that resulted in a triple digit sum. I even had her adding fractions! I drew four pies, a whole, one in halves, one in quarters, and one in eighths and we did things like how many eighths would it take to make three quarters? She got it people...she got it all. And many times on the first try. I haven't yet gone to the double digit subtraction with borrowing a ten, but that time will come. There will be no dry sponge on my watch!

No Sale
Mood:  irritated
Topic: Rants
I like your newpaper, I really do. I read it every day at work and I even look up articles on your online site at times, but if you call me at 8:35 in the morning on a school morning when I'm in the throes of getting breakfast in my kid, making a school snack for her to take to school, getting her backpack ready, making sure she is dressed, has teeth brushed and hair combed all before the 8:44 bus arrival time, then forget it. There is no way I'm going to sign up for the daily newspaper online. Even if it is at no extra charge to my weekend subscription. My answer is and always will be...click.

An Ass IsAn Ass Is An Ass
Mood:  irritated
Topic: Rants
I am embarrassed to say I’m from MN right now. In fact, I’m going to stop saying it. I’m going to say I’m from WI and live in MN (which is true). In case you haven’t heard, you can read about it here - the second page has most of the printable detail. If the allegations are true, then there are more than a few Minnesota Viking football players that deserve some punishment and not the slap on the wrist kind either. The good old fashioned kind. The “know you’ve done something wrong and you’re in big trouble now” kind. The “sweat it out until dad comes home” kind. As embarrassed as I am though, if having the story air across the nation (and internationally thanks to CNN) facilitates appropriate and adequate punishment, then great! I’m all for it!

What would be an appropriate and adequate punishment for their totally inappropriate and over the top behavior? I say fine them, suspend them, and then sue them. Hit them where it hurts. They love their money, their status, and their “power”. Fine them a year or two’s salary. Suspend them for the rest of the season or longer. Sue they’re asses off. And I think there needs to be a little something extra for those players that showed up at the press conference yesterday wearing a smirk and strutting around like what they did was harmless play. These players need to realize we are sick and tired of their juvenile exploits and the embarrassment that goes along with it. Obviously they have no shame.

Of course, not all the blame belongs on the players - the coaches, the owners, and the franchise should take some too. They are family men, they have children. What do they do when their children misbehave? If these players are going to behave like children, then treat them like children and dole out some consequences! Write conduct clauses into the contracts and back them up with action. They made a start by getting rid of Randy Moss, now they need to keep it going and deal with these others.

I may be in the minority with Jim Souhan now, but I certainly hope the minority is finally about to become the majority.

Did You Hear That?
Mood:  loud
Topic: Rants
It was the sound of the life being sucked right out of me. It’s not from having an active 3 yr old or having too much to do. It’s from spending a considerable amount of time with one of those people - you know the type - the lifesucker.

These people talk and talk and talk. You can’t get a word in edgewise. They ask a question of you, but then rarely let you answer. On the occasion that you are allowed to answer, they seem to listen, or at least hear, but then move on to another topic altogether and you’re left thinking, “what the f…?” Sometimes you try to jump in to add your views on the topic, but then wham, you’re cut short. They talk right over top of you. Sometimes you talk louder thinking they will shut the hell up and let you finish for cryin’ out loud. But it’s just not meant to be. You must suffer and you must do it in silence.

An added benefit is that they say the same things over and over. They forget that they already told you, so you have to hear the same story for days in a row. Sure, you’re polite the first few times, but when you get so you just don’t think you could hear it again, you venture to say “Oh yeah, you told me this before”. Does it help? Ha Ha Ha…no. You get the pleasure of hearing it again anyway because they’re already on their roll.

After days with a lifesucker, I want to scream “just kill me now – please!” cuz it’s too damn much work!

I Knew This Would Happen
Mood:  smelly
Topic: Rants
I knew it - they should have consulted me before they went ahead and set up the toll lane. I've already had one rant, which admittedly was pretty much my own doing, but this time it's all on them.

The new toll lane went into effect Monday and there are already problems. The DOT maintains the purpose of the toll lane is "… not to increase congestion or maximize revenue…” Hmmm, guess where the problems lie.

Congestion

Last week, as they painted the new lane division lines along the toll lane - two solid white lines - to separate it from the general lanes, I knew right off the bat that there was going to be a problem. Every so often the lines went from the double white lines down to a dashed white line to indicate where the toll lane users were supposed to enter and exit the toll lane. It meant the toll lane users would have to “sit” in the general lane until they reached the entry/exit points. The idea behind these sections was to allow for a safer transition to the toll lane. Users wouldn’t be cutting across two lanes of traffic to get in the toll lane right away. Instead, they would take their time and gradually get into position to enter the toll lane. Like that was going to happen. They were still going to cut over. Even though they couldn’t get into the lane right away, they could, and believe me would, feel the need to, “get into position” right away. On top of that, I measured and while it’s generally a half mile, at one point the distance from one entry/exit point to the next is 1 mile! And there are two highway entrance ramps within that mile!! Combine that with the users being forced to “take their time” and to me it spelled disaster. And I was right.


Revenue

They said tolls would range from $1 to $4 during rush hour. While they did fall in that range, I was astounded to learn that from the beginning of the afternoon rush hour at 3:30pm up until 5:40pm (nearly the 6pm end) the toll was $.50. At 5:45pm when I drove past the sign that listed the fee, it was $4. While that seems fine on first take, the lanes are working properly with the fee going up as the lane becomes more heavily traveled thus causing the money conscious solo-drivers to not use the lane and keep traffic flowing at 50-55 mph, look again. If leaving the fee low for so long and only upping it at the end of rush hour is not enticing users to sign up I don’t know what is. Who, other than misers, wouldn’t pay $.50 to get home in half the time? Officials reported a rush to sign up for accounts Tuesday. No surprise. Accounts must be opened with a $40 balance and the transponder is $1.50 a month...

Congestion AND revenue

It used to be that solo drivers could use the commuter lane outside of rush hour and it was a big help let me tell you. When 6pm came there would be a flux of solo drivers moving over to take advantage of that third lane. It really got things moving again. Now, with the toll always in effect, solo-drivers without a pass cannot use the lane – ever! This has bogged up the general lanes and added up to an additional 15 minutes to some commutes. So sorry, they can’t move over to the third lane, but gee, maybe they should sign up for the pass so they could get in that toll lane – then they wouldn’t have to wait so long. Then DOT could up the fee because there are more people in the toll lane.

The director of the project said "...I don't think what we see this week has anything to do with how it will operate." Yeah, right.

"Apostrophes would be out of control!"
Mood:  irritated
Topic: Rants
"The University of Minnesota's Great Apostrophe Debate is over, and defenders of the much-maligned punctuation mark are in mourning." (See story here) Thankfully, we won’t have to go running down the street screaming “The apostrophes are coming! The apostrophes are coming!” For Laukka it may be "…more fun than anything", but there is a much more serious undercurrent going on here.

Personally, I happen to agree wholeheartedly with Ms. Carlson - the apostrophe would make the walkway appear exclusive. In my opinion, the promotion of any form of exclusivity is the last thing needed, especially when, at the same time, there is a strategic planning proposal to close the General College. General College has been around for almost 75 years and its mission is “to develop, through teaching, research, and service, the potential for baccalaureate education in students who are serious about fulfilling their previously undeveloped or unrecognized academic promise”. In other words, General College students do not come from families of doctors, lawyers, and CEOs, but aspire to be doctors, lawyers, and CEOs. Forty percent of the University's freshmen students of color are in General College and they come from the inner cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul and from rural, greater Minnesota. So the U wants to become one of the leading postsecondary educational institutions in the world - a world class institution. Well, it’s been said that diversity is what makes a world class institution just that and closing General College is eliminating an excellent source of diversity.

I can just picture poor Mr. Laukka over in the corner licking his wounds. Perhaps the Board of Regents should join him there.

Just Call Me Rosanne Rosannadanna
Mood:  spacey
Topic: Rants
For the past 'I don't know how many' years, a lane along one side of the highway I take to and from work every day has been an HOV (High Occupancy Vehicle) lane, or sane lane as we lay folk like to call it. Starting in May 2005 it will no longer be an HOV lane; it will be an HOT (High Occupancy Toll) lane. Single occupancy vehicles will now be able to buy their way onto the lane.

My day starts early so on the way in to work, I usually have no problem with traffic. But on the way home it can be a bear. I decided I was going to sign up for the pass for those times when I really needed to get home in a timelier manner. Monday, April 11th was the day we could begin signing up for the transponder that would allow use of the new toll lane to non-commuter vehicles. I went to sign up online only to realize I needed our license plate numbers in order to open an account. I figured I would get the numbers and sign up Tuesday morning. Tuesday morning I went online and found the site did not have the standard https in the url to indicate a secure site. Since I had to give my credit card number, I surely did not want to take the chance that the site was an insecure site. I decided to go in person to the DMV office mentioned online to sign up. Later that morning I finally had Lauren on board with running errands by agreeing that one of them would be to go to the indoor playground. We were off…only I had forgotten that my car was already beeping at me Monday night to feed it some gas, so we sweated out our the 15 mile drive to a Costco station near the DMV office. Of course, it was then that I realized I had left my credit card at home. Not only did I need that card to purchase gas, but I needed it to sign up for the pass. So I emptied out my wallet filling the tank with gas from a regular station and headed home for the card. Then it was back to the DMV office. We went in, patiently stood in line (only two people in front of us, so not too hard to do), and approached the counter.

Me: “Is this where we get the pass?”
DMV: “What?” (With a puzzled expression)
Me: “Is this where we get the pass?”
DMV: “What pass?” (With the same puzzled expression)
Me: “For the HOV lane”
DMV: blank look
Me: “The commuter lane”
DMV: blank look and just as I was about to spell it out in the simplest of terms
DMV: “Oh, you mean the sane lane?”
Me: “Yes” (you idiot)

Now, you’d think since they work for the department of motor vehicles, they would know about the pass, or at least what the friggin’ HOV lane is! All this for a pass I was only going to use on rare occasions. They gave me a number to call. I was pissed. Sure, the first trip was my fault for not having my credit card, but I had just driven 60+ miles just to have the DMV say "what?" so the anger at myself was conveniently transferred to the DMV boneheads.

Eventually I did get signed up for the pass. Then I checked the website to find out the why the DMV didn't know what the hell I was talking about.

The office listed was a DOT (department of transportation) office, not a DMV office.

Never mind.