Common Sense + Facebook =

Nothing. Nada. Zip. Zero. As in, there is a serious lack of common sense when it comes to Facebook.

Lately, I keep seeing this story being shared on Facebook:

You will love this one, I haven't stop laughing yet.

For those of you who have never traveled to the west, or southwest,
cattle guards are horizontal steel rails placed at fence openings,
in dug-out places in the roads adjacent to highways (sometimes across highways), to prevent cattle from crossing over that area. For some reason the cattle will not step on the "guards," probably because they fear getting their feet caught between the rails. 

A few months ago, President Obama received and was reading a report that there were over 100,000 cattle guards in Colorado . The Colorado ranchers had protested his proposed changes in grazing policies, so he ordered the Secretary of the Interior to fire half of the "cattle" guards immediately!
Before the Secretary of the Interior could respond and presumably try to straighten President Obama out on the matter, Vice-President Joe Biden, intervened with a request that...before any "cattle" guards were fired, they be given six months of retraining.

'Times are hard,' said Joe Biden, 'it's only fair to the cattle guards and their families be given six months of retraining! '

And these two guys are running our country,

Passed on to you without further comment...

I CAN'T STOP LAUGHING - - - -

OH LORD HELP US!!!!

I can honestly say that I remember reading this about Clinton. It has been the same story about multiple presidents of both parties. Know what that means?

IT'S NOT TRUE!

Seriously, people, if something like this were to actually happen, you think they would let it leak out on Facebook? No! If it ever did get out it would be through the media. FACEBOOK IS NOT THE MEDIA. (Yes, is it social media, but not "the media.")

There's another one about spiders that hide under toilet seats and bite your ass. Really? And supposedly a guy got bit by one of these spiders on an airplane. AN AIRPLANE. I'm guessing that the only people who believe that have never used the toilet on an airplane. The seats are tiny and the flush has so much suction it almost drags you in. You think a spider could live in that?

Look, I know snopes.com may not always be the most accurate, but to date, it's never let me down. So do me a favor and check things out before sharing them on Facebook. Or at the very least, think twice about it. Does it have a source? Does it sound too good/absurd to be true? Better to keep quiet than open your mouth and prove you're a fool.

Reply To All: Please Don't

OMG, haven't posted on here in ages!

But instead of bitching to the hubs, I decided it was time for a post. Hope I haven't written about this before.

Reply To All - this button should come with a warning label. I'm a member of an organization that sometimes does e-voting via email. I do (somewhat) understand hitting Reply To All when responding, voting, etc. so that everyone knows what's up.

HOWEVER, when someone sends an email saying, "Hey, there's a meeting at this time on this day for those of you that signed up."

OH. Oh, oh, oh.

First off, don't you have the list of people who signed up? I know I did not put my name on that list, so why am I getting this email? I don't want to go and never showed any interest in going.

Second, when responding to said email, is it necessary to let EVERYONE know that you can or cannot make it? I wasn't interested in the first place! I don't care if you go or not! You don't have to hit Reply To All and let everyone and their mother know that you can't make the meeting at that time. Let the one scheduling the meeting know that you won't be there and leave me out of it!

Seriously, people! I get this all the time. I've even seen it on dumbass forwards. Someone sends a forward to everyone on their contact list (coughDADcough), and someone else replies To All with their response/request to never be spoken to again. I don't know you! I don't give to flying monkeys! (Whew, glad for some last minute censorship there.)

I would love to see the Reply To All button have some kind of pop-up warning before letting people hit send. Something like, "Are you sure you want to send this to everyone on earth? Are you a total dumbass?" I know some people would still hit OK! and complete morons and send me inane crap that I could not care less about. But maybe, just maybe, a few of them would stop and think about it, and I would not get so angsty when checking my email.

/rant

Don't Shop Here!

Yeah, so it's been a while, but I've been busy. Time for a mega rant.

I bought a pair of shoes on Famous Footwear's website, www.famousfootwear.com. I have a rewards card for that store since they had a decent one back in KS. I had to create an account to use the rewards card.

OK.

I get the account created, and see my shoes still in the cart, and click to purchase, and it says my cart is empty. What?! Fine. So I go back and add the exact same shoes to my cart again and make the purchase. Then I leave the house to run errands.

I get home and find 2 confirmation emails waiting for me. Huh? Yep, 2. Apparently, when I thought the order hadn't gone through because it said it didn't go through, it actually went through. And once the order is being "processed" you can't cancel it. Not online anyway. Yeah. Last thing I want at this point is to have to call someone and probably be on hold forever. I sent an snarky email to customer service.

Their response was to tell me how to return them. Gee, you are so helpful.

So, with a plan to immediately return a pair to the store, I wait. They got here today. Not bad. Took 6 days.

Mind you, this is 2 pairs of the exact same shoe. Same size, same color. I get 2 different sized boxes. I open the smaller one and find a shoe box that fits snugly in there with a packing slip. The boots are still all packed with paper and crap, like they are brand new.

The second box is bigger, the shoe box moves around a little, and they have those air pocket packing things. The shoe box looks a little squished. The tissue and cardboard stuffing is not in the boots, one boot is unzipped, and they look just generally tossed back in the box. Like someone else tried them on or returned them. Couldn't they at least repackage them nicely? And one of those stupid silica gel packs popped open, so I had tiny beads rolling around that had to be collected and thrown away before the dog got one. Then, to top it all off - NO PACKING SLIP.

That's right, there was absolutely no packing slip in the second box. Thank god I had one in the first box so I can return the stupid things! Of course I'm keeping the ones that look brand new and unworn.

So yeah. Not ever buying shoes from Famous Footwear's website. Ever. Never ever. They make me angry.

I am however excited to wear my new boots.

Who The Hell Thinks They Have The Right To Rewrite A Mark Twain Classic?!

Here's the CNN Video Link

Seriously? I mean, really? They want to remove the word "nigger" from Huck Finn and Mark Twain.

That's right, I used the word, instead of saying "n-word" like they're doing on CNN. To me, it is just a word. I would never use that word when describing another person. I use that word when referencing the way white people used to refer to blacks.

I read both of those Mark Twain classics back in school. We were taught that the books were written to sound like the people of that time spoke. The people of that time called black people niggers. It's a historical fact. When I was in school, it was understood that, just because it used to be acceptable then, it is not acceptable now. If any of my classmates had been caught calling someone else a nigger, they would have been corrected and disciplined.

In my opinion, this is a simple matter of laziness. People, teachers even, are too lazy to teach students about context, about history. They would rather just change the word "nigger" to "slave." So does this mean we are going to pretend that black people were never called horrible things? Does this mean we are going to pretend that the racism and bigotry weren't as bad as they were? As they still are?

History is history. No, we can't change it. No, it wasn't always good, BUT, we can learn from it. We have learned from it. We ended slavery in our nation. We pushed through with the civil rights. Look at our current president!! Imagine what people from the time of Tom and Huck would think about Obama. Look how far we have come!

I am completely disgusted that people think they can rewrite Mark Twain. They are, in my mind, trying to change history. And it's not going to work. It is censorship, and I believe it is wrong.

Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, Kiss My Ass...

I promise I won't drag this out.

I have a few friends that believe "we" should stop being "politically correct" and only say "Merry Christmas" instead of "Happy Holidays."

I would agree, if we all celebrated Christmas. But as it is, I celebrate Christmas and Chanukkah. I have friends and family that only celebrate Chanukkah. I have friends that celebrate Yule instead of Christmas. I probably have some friends that don't really celebrate anything at all.

Thing is, when you see someone on the street, how do you know what they celebrate? I have been known to respond to a "Merry Christmas" with a "Happy Chanukkah," even if it's past Chanukkah. Then again, I'm a bitter person.

So why is it so wrong to wish someone a Happy Holidays, knowing that it includes any winter holidays they may celebrate. When I wish someone a Happy Holidays, I mean it to include the new year as well. I will NEVER be offended when someone wishes me a Happy Holidays, because that includes all the winter holidays that I choose to celebrate. I do, however, get sick of hearing Merry Christmas all through my Chanukkah celebrations, even on years like this when Chanukkah is over well before Chriatmas.

In other words, it's not rude, or offensive, when someone wishes you a Happy Holidays. Perhaps they do not celebrate Christmas, and wanted to include you if you do. So take it easy and stop pushing your holiday on everyone. Stop being offended if they want to include you in the happiness of their season.

Love Beats Hate

Love Beats Hate


I know quite a few people with chronic pain of various kinds. I myself have chronic migraines and use prescription medication to help control them.

Apparently, some people have decided it is OK to make fun of us, to ridicule us and insult us. I know it is difficult to understand chronic illness if you have not experienced it yourself, but to make fun of someone for something you do not understand is the lowest of low. It's so childish that children look down on it.

I have chronic migraines. My pain levels to not reach as high as people expect, but I get all the fun side effects. I get sensitivity to light and sound, fatigue, dizziness, vertigo, loss of concentration, tingling in hands and/or feet, random pains (usually in my temples), nausea, and other things. These used to last for days, even weeks, before I would get the standard migraine pain and get over it. I had a manager at one point who also got migraines, but not as frequently, with fewer side effects and higher pain. She couldn't understand that I could work through my migraines, that I didn't have to just go home. She didn't understand that if I went home every time I was getting a migraine, I would never be at work.

With some lifestyle changes and prescription medication, I have been able to somewhat control my migraines. Somewhat. But many people still don't understand.

I have friends with fibromyalgia, MS, migraines, crohn's, depression, bipolar, thyroid diseases, and other things that are chronic and often misunderstood. When I find out a friend has some kind of illness, disease, condition, etc., I educate myself. Of course, I am a little addicted to researching stuff on the internet. But I learn enough that I can be understanding.

I will admit that I am guilty of expecting everyone else to be like me. I expect people to be patient and willing to learn. All the while, I know I'm wrong. So many people are not willing to take the time and learn about a person. They judge, ridicule, and move on to the next victim.

I'm lucky in that my chronic condition is well known. Everyone knows about migraines, so people are more understanding. But diseases like fibro and crohn's are not well known, some people have never heard of them at all, and instead of learning, they ignore.

So how do we fight ignorance? Simple - with education. Educate yourself. Educate your family and friends. Do you know someone with a chronic condition? Look it up, learn about it.

I have focused on health issues, but the reason I am blogging today is to speak out for marginalized populations. This includes so much more. Homosexuals, even among themselves, do not always share understanding. Different races, nationalities, cultures, religions do not understand each other. Even people with different hobbies and styles can't seem to get along. People can't even agree on Star Trek vs. Star Wars (I'm a fan of both, by the way).

I'm not saying we should all be the same. That will never happen. We can, however, learn to get along. Tolerance, people, tolerance can work wonders. I don't agree with everyone's point of view, but I try to not let it get to me. If I greatly disagree, I just don't associate with them. They live their way and I live mine, but we both live in relative peace.

I do tend to ramble, don't I? Let's find a point and wrap it up. Education is the key. We don't all need college degrees, but through education we can learn to tolerate, if not appreciate, everyone around us. I know I'm talking about ideals here, but who doesn't have ideals? The best we can do is to work on ourselves and our immediate surroundings. Stand up for someone you know if they are being hurt or ridiculed. Educate those around you. Spread love, and it can defeat hate.

On a more personal note....

...My hometown newspaper SUCKS BALLS!

A friend who still lives in my hometown posted on Facebook about a rock slide that happened Green River, WY. GR is 15 minutes from my hometown of Rock Springs.

So I went to the local newspapers websites to look for updates.

Green River Star
Rocket Miner

Check those out and tell me, on appearance alone, which site you would trust more.

I knew my hometown paper, the Rocket Miner, was a piece of crap, but I hadn't been to the website in ages. HO-LY CRAP! They don't even have any local news on the home page! Hell, I can't even find any local articles!!

Seriously? How is a newspaper supposed to be taken seriously when they can't even post their local news on the main page of their website? On any page? Are they that ashamed of their articles? I know they have a tendency towards typos and misquotations and all sorts of other BS, but to have such a crappy website?

Rock Springs has a population of about 18,000 people, while Green River has about 12,000, yet GR has the better newspaper. Does this sound completely wrong to anyone else?

To end, let me give a personal example of the Rocket Miner's capabilities. My mother submitted an article for my wedding, back in 2005. They got all the names right in the article (Mr. and Mrs. Welch), but the caption under the picture says, "Mr. and Mrs. Zuehlsdorff." Yes, that is my maiden name.

/rant