word!

Yuck. Every election cycle gets worse it seems. I was so fed up with every media type outlet in the last month/year, I actually stopped using a few of them. So we have a new President. I can actually say we had a decent choice this cycle for candidates, I didn’t feel like I was choosing between two douche bags the puppet masters danced out for us, like has been done for the last 8 years. A person could feel good about either candidate.

None the less, McCain didn’t win. I think he was screwed over since his initial presidential run in 2000 when his campaign stalled as a frat-boy from Texas noodled his way into the White House. McCain never really recovered from that. His form in the campaign was off, and the administration sure didn’t do him a single favor for torpedoing his run in 2000. Ah, time for a change.

As for the US Senate race in Mn, it was ridiculous. Why didn’t the two main idiots just say they were gonna bash the other in so many ways that it would look more like a sissy fight than a run for elected office. These two took pride,it looked like, in hating the other guy and finding new ‘campaign’ ways to do so. Yuck.

Al Franken got what he deserved. After losing outstate Mn in the primaries to his DFL competitor, he was blase enough to admit that his real opponent was Norm Coleman the whole time. I sure that statement and attitude were enough to convince some couple hundred voters to switch to GOP or even Independence Party, which fared better than may have been expected. It is of note that the Independence Party did play a spoiler of sorts in this election as well. Just goes to show that 3rd party politics may liven up the electoral scene.

As for the citizens of Minnesota, the majority of them took it upon themselves to raise their taxes via a sales tax increase. They bit this propaganda hook, line, and sinker (or art piece, I forget). Little did anyone mention that the arts and parks would greatly benefit from a good chunk of this amendments ‘great outdoors’ improvement plea. Little did the state government have to worry about, because with it’s passage, they passed the buck (no pun intended) and get to bask in squandering my generations taxes on whatever they have to money to.

Where did all that ’state lottery’ money go we Minnesotans were promised a decade or so ago? All I have heard was embezzlement charges against the big shots running that gig. Yuck.

These taxes tend to stay on the books too. Mankato for one, is a city around the area that has had implemented an extra sales tax to pay for a ‘regional’ project in the Civic Center, but now after the initial taxing period has expired, they conveniently found numerous other ‘priorities’ that needed funding. Yuck.

Almost can’t wait for another even numbered year. Yuck.

Browse back a few posts and you’ll see a breath-taking image of our fine township roads this spring. It’s taken the last few months to get over that seemingly endless ‘rut’ of a spring.

But wait, there’s more to this saga.

Seeing as leaving a frost-heaved road to it’s own devices is not sound township governing policy, the local intelligencia has come up with a few marvelous solutions.

Alfsborg Township to the immediate west of us has tried a few different tacts. First wise idea was to put rather large (think knuckle sized) rocks down, to ‘fill in’ the frost heaves and then put new gravel over that. While this has seemed to work, it scares the hell out of you when you’re driving and it sounds as though one of those rocks is coming up through the floorboards at you after you kick up one of these rocks. A tad disheartening. Not sure what to make out of it if one of those rocks were to fly/hit anything with so much as a pulse.

Alfsborg has also been ripping up the middle of some real troublesome spots that were pretty much pure dirt/mud and replacing that with pure gravel. Interesting take, haven’t had a problem with these yet, although a good dousing of rain could hamper things (maybe not this year though).

But the blockbuster, cake winner, hands down idiot award goes to the local township buffoons in good ol’ Sibley Township. Seems that in a effort not to be outdone by the upstarts to the west, Sibley Township came up with it’s own harebrained scheme to rid the township of previously mentioned frost-heaved roads. It started out peculiarly one morning with a fellow, presumed to be in the employ of the township, seen discing up the roadside slope of 481st Avenue. While this seemed like a ill advised attempt to dissuade neighbors from haying their ditch easements, it got wilder. A two mile stretch of this roadway was eventually worked up and left fallow.

In discussions with local governing officials, it seems the plan was to work up the ditches unto the road because they contained so much gravel and redo the road from these slopes.

WHAT THE HELL?

How the hell is putting black dirt on a gravel based, gravel covered road supposed to help? This is the rationale though, because someone somewhere heard that this may have happened somewhere else and worked? Whatever.

So today, these bozos went through with their little plan to screwup the road even worse. As I was coming home my normal route, I notice a completely black dirt covered road with two graders grading gravel on top of this. This effectively shut down this road, with no warning or heads up from the township other than to relay their plan when asked about it.

But they didn’t do all of the road, no. They still have roughly 1.5 mile stretch to go, once again on the main route I take to almost everything in Gaylord on a daily basis. I cannot imagine how this fiasco will end up. No doubt it will rain and create a soup hole the likes no one alive could imagine a township government would pay for. I can only imagine they hoarded all this money away from the last few comparatively mild to blow on the craziest frost-heave suppression scheme ever proffered.

Good riddance!

**UPDATE**
As of 8.21.2007, my complaints have been somewhat resolved. I have contacted the Better Business Bureau in regards to all 3 with mixed results. Crucial.com does not admit that they may have misled me either via their website or in person, BBB closed case. (I begged to differ).

Thrifty indicated via phone call they would send me out coupons for $100. Only recieved $50, which expire in a year, only in my name and again would have to use Thrifty.

Days Inn responded by indicating I was diserviced by a indepedant owner working under Days Inn name. They said they would contant him and he would get back to me in 10 business days. That deadline came and went with fanfare. So DaysInn coporate is supposedly sending check for $45. Will wait to see that money.

**UPDATE**

I am fed-up with companies charging you for their service/product and then not delivering on it.
I have had recent run-ins with Crucial.com,Thrifty Car rental and Days Inn, SFO to prove it.

Crucial sells memory and I used their service to scan my computer for an upgrade. All well and dandy, found out that two - 2 gb memory sticks would fit my system and give me the appropriate upgrade I wanted. Installed it today and found out that my computer can’t use all the memory I bought, only about half of it. Customer service says I should have seen a Q&A section where it would state the XP would have this issue. Thanks, I had bought and paid for the memory already. I could return this and get new smaller sticks, but then I’d be out a restocking fee plus time and effort spent in getting this all in order. Money out: $100

Second business on the list is Thrifty Car Rental. Thrifty was used on the recent trip out to San Fran. I requested a Dodge Charger, but was given a Dodge Avenger, which is a smaller car. This gem of a car also did not have a working cruise control or any type of working interior dome lighting. Plus they get to tack on all these neat little rental fees that they put in fine print without much of any explanation. Called customer service, all they could do is issue a voucher for my next rental. Fuck you, I don’t want to use your service again. Money out: ~$100

Third business is Days Inn. The email I sent them via DaysInn.com

What a joke! This hotel was squalor and scary to visit. First off, the motel is located no where near the airport and after circling the airport for 20 minutes, finally learned that it was on a ‘airport rd’ some considerable distance, and tucked away from 101 as so prominently stated on your site. When we got there, service was lackluster in the cramped lobby. Our room was scary. Numerous holes in the walls were merely pasted over with scraps of wallpaper and all furniture/fixtures were in bad, dilapidated shape. Room was almost unfit for a Days Inn property. Were given a handicap room, but if it was for handicap people, I could not see how they could move about without getting stuck. We booked this room for 2 nights. After our first night, the room was not cleaned or refreshed at all. After requesting new linens, I waited 2 hours with no service to the room, even though I was told they would come. I went back a second time to request them, and was given them after another 15 minute wait. They claim to offer a breakfast, but all it consisted of was cold coffee, watered down orange juice,few pastries and fruit. The pastries had visibly been eat off of and this had to be before we got to lobby which was first opened to myself @ 7 a.m. on a Saturday morning. Staff barely spoke English and had worse time understanding it. They didn’t seem to know what was going on either. Continuously asked me room number, but did nothing about it.

The neighborhood this Inn was located in was very run down and I was afraid at night. I did not sleep the one whole night because of my fears over this. I believe motel employees were remodeling the room adjacent to ours, but did so after 7 pm at night, when I intended to rest in quiet.

Website states free newspaper, local restaurant in walking distance, 24-hr front desk, wheelchair accessible. It had none of this, or failed miserably to display this.

This was a terrible experience, I am ashamed to have chosen your hotel chain for this trip and all of my previously positive stays with you. This place was a nightmare, I wonder how you could endorse such a shoddy enterprise as Days Inn- Oyster Point.

I expect at least an apology for this and monetary compensation. What a sad, sad business you run.

I don’t know what to think about these businesses. I will be extremely slow to use them again if ever. I urge you to boycott them as well. You pay by their rules and when they fail that, they pay you back in vouchers or saying we’re sorry with out any compensation or such. What a grand system. I always thought the customer was right! Maybe just right to keep paying?!?

I find it endlessly fascinating that a toddler nowadays knows more about computers than most people over 30 years of age. But in some ways, it’s fascinating to watch what draws a toddlers attention on the internet.

Of course, kids are enamored by all the cartoon characters they see on TV. They want to then play games online with these characters in them. So Nick and Cartoon Network are often top destinations.

I wonder who makes the decisions for these websites. They have so very many options that the smallest child is often at a loss for what they really want to do ~ play games. I think it idiotic to try and signup a toddler for email updates or sell them some toy or memorabilia, all from the same webpage. Toddlers and young kids don’t hardly know how to read, let alone comprehend the marketing that these companies are trying to shove down their throats.

They are kids for pete’s sake. They like the pictures they see. They want to interact. They don’t buy online, they don’t know how or even care for that matter. They don’t care about all that other jazz you’re trying to push them the same way you would for adults. That’s grownup material. Get their parents involved a different way, don’t force them to navigate your site because you can’t effectively design the sites for your target audience. Add to your image by letting kids interact with your characters in fun,educational games, but don’t market to them in the same screen.

They don’t understand and you just piss off people by having them navigate around the garbage in order to find the stuff of some value.

Be there for the kids, not the greed!

All in all, today had all the makings of a positive, productive day up until about 4:30 this afternoon. Nothing too exciting usually happens that time of day and nothing too particular. Mine usually involves heading home. So I was off of work and heading home… la te da, nothing new.

Was doing fine until I get about a mile away from home. Going the normal speed limit when I notice a panel truck pulling out of a neighbors’ driveway. The scary part is that this panel truck does not stop at end of driveway as the law requires, but continues to roll through and start to turn onto the main gravel rode.

Now normally this seem all be well and fine, but it does not take into account that this is a gravel road and that this truck driver has decided to take a big ass turn with said truck.

I’m almost in a panic now realizing what this guy is doing as I am coming at him full speed and it appears he does not see me coming. So I slam on the brakes, but realize at the speed I’m going on a loosely graveled road this is not good as I begin fish-tailing. Luckily, the truck driver stops short of his intention as I am coming closer, and I just move closer to the ditch and get by, although a tad closer to the ditch than I would ever had liked to be.

Fine, so this yahoo pulled out in front of me. The real scary part is that 19 years ago a very similar incident happened to me at this same drive way, under much the same circumstances. That time I ended up in the hospital to have a 4 inch gash sewed up from my head.

I honestly don’t know what I would have done had the truck not stopped when it did. My car was loose on the gravel so it made it hard to control, but taking the ditch might have been an option. I don’t want to think about what would have happened had I only the choice to hit the truck with my car. That would not have had a good outcome.

Not fun and having to almost relive that previous accident shook me up a tad. Damn it.

p.s. I called up the business owner that owned the truck and bitched them out. piss-poor driving I don’t need to tolerate!