Category: annoyances

  • Auto Dealer Service “Fun”

    I have been spoilt. In Arizona, the major dealers all competed with each other to provide awesome customer service. As there was plenty of competition with the independent service shops, many who were excellent, they needed an edge to keep customers coming back. I had become accustomed to fast internet, good coffee, fresh donuts and…

  • Public Bathroom Etiquette

    Public Bathroom Etiquette

    A sort of gross topic today, I am going to discuss some of the oddities I have witnessed in the rest rooms at work. This is not solely my current gig, but instead it is a montage. If you are squeamish, navigate away now. The Stall Snob Most public restrooms have both normal stalls, as…

  • Commuting Insanity – the exit shark

    Living in south San Jose isn’t so bad, but it does mean I have a somewhat lousy commute. If it is a lucky day, I can get in in a little over 20 minutes. If I am not so lucky, it can take 45 minutes. This is the drive to Santa Clara, the drive home…

  • Competitive Panhandling

    Competitive Panhandling

    Unless you just arrived from Mars, odds are high that you have see the panhandlers working the off-ramps. It is a pretty simple scam. Look scruffy, carry a sign with a sob story, and make eye contact with the drivers waiting at the light. While there might be some seriously needy people, the vast majority…

  • Car Wash Madness

    I own a nice car, a 2005 Honda S2000, and about 99% of the time I wash it in my driveway. With the move and the selling of our house, I have neglected it, so prior to it being loaded on a transport truck to get it to my new home, I took it to…

  • Apple Mail Madness

    A bit of a rant here, sorry. I use Google for my personal domain(s) email service. Google Apps is a good deal, even for the two accounts my wife and I use. Solid performance, wicked good junk filtering, and they do a great job of detecting phishing and spearphishing attacks. I use the Apple mail…

  • LinkedIn Still Sucks

    Who would have thought that my last rant against LinkedIn would be the third most viewed post on my site. Astounding, and by the comments, it seems to have rung a bell with others. (note: this is a repost from my professional blog) LinkedIn is still crappy, for all the same reasons I wrote about…

  • Coffee time

    Our coffee maker at work (single serving “Flavia” type) broke, and while we wait for it to be fixed we have a loaner. It just makes coffee wrong. Wrong volume, wrong strength. No wonder why it is the “loaner” … So this morning I dropped by the Starbucks on my way in. Early-ish, 7:20 I…

  • My problems with LinkedIn

    I am getting social media swamped.  But there is one trend that I am sure that I am not alone in is the in your face nature that LinkedIn has become since going public.  I have been a member of Linkedin for a long time, and it has been a good place to collect my…

  • My Nomination for the Stupidest Drivers is:

    I would like to formally nominate the drivers in Phoenix AZ as the stupidest in the world. This AM, on the way into the office, there was an accident (not surprising) just before Chandler Boulevard crosses the 101. You could easily see that 2 lanes of traffic were closed about a mile and a half…