What's bugging you? (2011)

[Invader3K]

I know this happened yesterday, but it might be worth calling the police and filing a report. I know you said you don't have a very good description, but having something recorded is better than nothing at all.

 

That said, I doubt you ever see or hear from the jerk again.

[Patrick425]

Thanks for the advice. I was going to call the police last night, but I was trying to play down the event as much as possible because my son was a bit freaked out. I called this morning and reported it.

 

Don't think I'll go as far as setting up fake security cameras, but I was thinking of putting a web cam in one of our upstairs windows. Can you get wireless web cams? I'm not even sure how they work. How much will it record? I'm assuming you can set up some sort of "loop" system. Do they still work when the computer goes into sleep mode? We have 1 lap top and 1 desk top and the desk top is a bit outdated and slow.

[RightFieldCoder]

Yes, there are wireless webcams. They don't record locally. They stream the video to your network. One of your computers must capture the stream and save it locally. So there is no looping, it always records. It's up to your computer and software to turn it into saved video files. At work, we use Blue Iris Software. You can set it up to run as a service (as long as windows is running, the service will run) so sleep mode, logging off, etc won't interrupt it. It also lets you re-stream the video out to a web browser. At work we gave it the name of "DVR". That's all you have to put into a web browser and you can then look at all of the videos it has saved. We also have it set to only record when it detects movement, so there is little wasted video. It also saves time when reviewing the videos. This software runs on an old desktop that was decomissioned, but this is the only job it does now.

[chuckiehacks]

Good old ESPN. In Buster Olney's latest column, about "breakout" players for 2011, he lists Adrian Gonzalez. Pretty sure a guy who is good enough to be signing a $154MM contract has already broken out. Oh wait, he was in San Diego and I'm sure Buster only watches games on ESPN, so he's probably never actually seen him play.

 

In fairness, he did list Marcum as the most likely to break out, but still...

[dadofandrew]

A video baby monitor is cheap and would work as well, doubt you can save it easily however. You might have one, or be able to get one used for nothing from a friend as well.

[TracyThom]

Either I must be getting old or the Grammy's have gone totally hipster... Arcade Fire wins album of the year, Black Keys wins best rock performance, and Esperanza Spalding won best new artist. I've heard of Arcade Fire and Black Keys, but have never listened to their music. Never heard of Spalding. I listened to Arcade Fire's Ready to Start and Black Keys Tighten Up. I didn't like either, especially the Arcade Fire song.

[owbc]

The fuel injectors went on my car. Yeah, it has 143,000 miles, but they should last for the life of the car. It's a $1,000 repair to have them replaced--1/4 the value of the car.

[danzig6767]

The nanny state is full of inconsistent silliness. You can't fix stupid.

 

I've pointed it out before, but it seems very curious to me the two biggest problems are childhood hunger and childhood obesity. I'm sure both exist, but to pretend they can both be huge trouble spots at the same time tells me the old media needs to do some digging.

Why do you seem to have a problem acknowledging that both can be serious issues?

 

There are tons of irresponsible parents out there who constantly feed their children junk food snacks and fast food for dinner, the end result being kids ranging from being just fat to flat out obese. It sickens me when i'm places with lots of kids and i see how many of them at young ages are already fat and the odds are very high that they'll continue getting fatter as the years go by. No surprise either that these fat kids usually have fat parents also. I have a cousin who is very overweight and so are her kids. One is only 6 or 7 years old and he's a friggin obese tank already. Whenever i see him at a family gathering, he's stuffing his face the whole time with junk food and my cousin does nothing. If someone has a really fat kid, that parent is failing in their job as a parent.

 

As for child hunger, while obesity i think is a bigger problem, there are kids out there who just don't get enough food to eat on a daily basis for a variety of reasons whether it be irresponsible parenting or a parent struggling badly financially to support their children. Many children have high metabolisms and thus burn calories fast. Kids in homes without an adequate supply of food on a daily basis will be kids more likely to struggle in school and other endeavors.

 

In both cases, i generally blame parents, especially when it comes to child obesity. That said, in a country as wealthy as America, no child should ever have to live in a situation where he/she regularly doesn't have enough to eat.

[Point Beer Is Best]

So I'm in the market for a play mat for my 3 month old son, one that has low-hanging objects that he reach for while he lays on his back. So imagine my enjoyment (and then disgust) when we got the Toys 'R Us mailer this week, and featured on the front page that states:

Save 20% on ANY one regular-priced baby item. Choose from thousands of items!

 

Disclaimer: Excludes ALL toys, baby food, diapers, formula, wipes, Ameda, Aprica, Baby Brezza, Baby Jogger, BOBgear, etc., etc.

Well, what the heck can you use it on?

[GAME05]

that was basically my reaction when i bought my first "$5 footlong" from Subway. apparently "any" means those select few sandwiches that used to cost $4.50. naturally, i only discovered this after they'd already made my $8.50 steak and cheese sandwich. i could have gone to a real restaurant for that price.

 

it also bugs me that pharmaceutical advertisements are forced to list all of their warnings on the tv commercials. but since the drug is prescription-only, then isn't that what the doctor is there to warn you about? they shouldn't be forced to have to say that on tv. and while i'm on the subject, other tv ads will list paragraphs of fine print at the bottom of the screen, but then give you a half-second to try and read it all. if they legally have to include the fine print, shouldn't they also have to offer an adequate amount of time to actually read it?

[DHonks]

I know this gets political, but I hate that Wisconsin teachers are being so selfish. I'm a cheesehead (displaced in AZ) and a teacher, and they don't realize that they have rights that few in the nation have. All the teachers at my school today were laughing and shaking their heads at what is going on in Wisconsin.

[pitchleague]

yeah, DHonks, us too. Of course, today was our "furlough" day, so I got to spend it at home and running errands.

[DHonks]

i hear ya pitchleague. We avoided a furlough this year, but the 2.62% cut last year was painful. But this is my 4th year, I don't automatically move up in pay every year since there is no generous salary schedule like in other states. In AZ we are the biggest contributors to our own Retirement System. We do not get automatic 3-4% raises in base salary every year like in Wisconsin...in fact my pay has never kept up with inflation because of the hard economic times. Some Wisconsin teachers seem to think education is a recession-proof profession. In most states there are huge classes, paycuts, and all sorts of problems that are a result of the economies and short-sighted planning by government officials. They don't need to have as much reform as we have. In fact, I hope they preserve many of their rights. But I can't fathom the selfishness needed to fake a sick day for personal reasons when I know it will close school. I hope they start to realize that they are looking like fools.

[Hofbraunhaus]

that was basically my reaction when i bought my first "$5 footlong" from Subway. apparently "any" means those select few sandwiches that used to cost $4.50. naturally, i only discovered this after they'd already made my $8.50 steak and cheese sandwich. i could have gone to a real restaurant for that price.

 

it also bugs me that pharmaceutical advertisements are forced to list all of their warnings on the tv commercials. but since the drug is prescription-only, then isn't that what the doctor is there to warn you about? they shouldn't be forced to have to say that on tv. and while i'm on the subject, other tv ads will list paragraphs of fine print at the bottom of the screen, but then give you a half-second to try and read it all. if they legally have to include the fine print, shouldn't they also have to offer an adequate amount of time to actually read it?

Strangely, as I was reading this, the Subway commercial for 5 dollar footlongs came on and they specifically mentioned the steak and cheese sandwich as being only $5 so it sounds like you got screwed. I guess it's possible franchisees have the option about whether to be a part of the promotion or not. Also, I agree with everything you said in the 2nd paragraph.

 

[logan82]

First time in weeks I have sat down to watch the hockey team and we are housed by the goofers.

[Invader3K]

that was basically my reaction when i bought my first "$5 footlong" from Subway. apparently "any" means those select few sandwiches that used to cost $4.50. naturally, i only discovered this after they'd already made my $8.50 steak and cheese sandwich. i could have gone to a real restaurant for that price.

Sounds like a screw up. I'm pretty sure you were supposed to get the steak and cheese for $5.00. It's being advertised as part of the promotion, like someone else pointed out.

There's a good discussion on the current Walker bill debate here.

 

[GAME05]

they just recently added the steak and cheese to their $5 list. i bought the $8.50 sandwich about a year ago, but i think about it every time i see those terrible commercials.

[stoutdude04]

Game, the steak and cheese has always been a 'regular' sub. The BIG philly cheesesteak is the specialty. Ive always gotten the steak n cheese for 5$.

[dadofandrew]

Yep, my Subway only has one sub not on the list, the cheese steak. Have to double check your order next time.

 

As for TRU, you can you the coupon on a monitor, or a baby item that is not a toy. They are trying to promote themselves as more than a toy store, but granted, when you put a coupon like that out, you are bound to be mocked.

[danzig6767]

that was basically my reaction when i bought my first "$5 footlong" from Subway. apparently "any" means those select few sandwiches that used to cost $4.50. naturally, i only discovered this after they'd already made my $8.50 steak and cheese sandwich. i could have gone to a real restaurant for that price.

Go to Cousin's instead, their subs taste much better and are worth the extra 50 cents to a dollar they might cost.

[NeedMoreFans]

We went to Home Depot today to order some stuff for our house. While the sales associate was helping us, answering questions, and taking our order, two different people came up to him and asked him when he would be available. It upset me. We took up maybe 10 minutes of the associate's time, and the guy didn't dilly-dally. No customer is more important than another customer, but these people clearly believed they were much more important than us.

[GAME05]

for now, i'm working as a low-paid sales associate at an outfitters (backpacks and such). a customer has come in a bunch of times since he is about to attempt a thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail. Since i have done it twice, he of course talks to me a lot about it. and he's a talker--i've been scolded a couple of times for talking to him for too long. i've spent a lot of time with this guy and helped him out a bunch. what bugs me is that he's left already and he never stopped back in to say goodbye.

[Invader3K]

Bought a grill yesterday at Menard's for my sister-in-law and her husband as a sort of house warming present for their new house. Nothing extravagant, just a Charbroil brand charcoal grill that cost about $50. I knew they want to get a gas grill eventually, but figured this could tide them over for a while.

 

I spent a little under two hours putting it together yesterday (by myself). During the process, one of the legs "broke" due to inferior soldering. That wouldn't have been the end of the world, as the grill was still usable. Then I realized whoever put the parts in the box provided hinges for the bottom part of the grill that were an exact match (supposed to be facing inwards toward each other). The result? Impossible to put the top lid on the grill.

 

Needless to say this Chinese made piece of junk will be returned to Menard's when I have a chance to get back to Janesville.

[Teatoe993]

Spend the big dollar and get a Weber. You can get an 18.5 inch model for around $60-$75. And they're made in the USA. Stimulate that economy.

[Invader3K]

I'll probably do that. I didn't see any Webers at Menard's yesterday.