Today just really sucked. March 11, 2008

1) The city told us our water would be turned off all day because of construction, so we made all these special arrangements, and then they DIDN’T TURN IT OFF.

2) We lost all Internet connection since last night because of bad cabling and Comcast had to come out. I lost an entire day of work (which is why I’m here blogging, heh heh).

3) My mom sent me one of her once yearly manipulative things in which I get all upset and then she wonders why. Passive aggressive much?

4) My nephew, who apparently has his head up his ass, is trying to let us know how much we can afford house wise. Unfortunately, he is VERY inexperienced, and even though we make more than most anyone I know, he’s telling us we can’t afford much. Um, not to be a bitch, but I am not so sure about that.

5) To add to this very special mix, I’m PMSing. If it weren’t already obvious.

I think tonight calls for some majorly good Chinese, wine, and something very Matrix-like.

Take THAT, Sherwood Middle School March 7, 2008

Today my 13 year old called me after school (he usually calls or texts me as soon as school is out just to say hi) to let me know that he had MADE THE HONOR ROLL.

Now, for many kids, this is not a big deal. However, this is the same kid this time last year who was getting straight D’s, who was so stressed out that he was throwing up and having migraines every day, and was generally a giant PITA to be around. Why, you might ask? Because of the hell he was going through at school. He was getting picked on and bullied so badly that he was waking up with a headache every day, throwing up at least once a week from stress, and his grades and general attitude were sucky.

We really tried to work with the school. We called teacher after teacher. We talked to the principal, Anna Pittioni, multiple times. Her best solution was to “give me names”, however, since James didn’t KNOW the kids who were intent on tormenting him, that wasn’t really a great idea. Her advice on dealing with bullies was summed up in a video presentation that all the kids were forced to sit through; basically, it said that bullies won’t pick on you if you don’t respond to them. Uh, really? Because James tried that and it was like open season.

So, since I’m not into homeschooling (I love my kids but I am not that patient; plus, I work full time), we looked into private school. We found one in Tualatin that has a great sports program and popped him in there. Yes, it’s pricey, but the cost of my child being tormented and abused was far more expensive.

Frankly, he’s a different kid. He is obedient, happy, helpful, and thoughtful. He loves hanging out with Mom and Dad. He does his homework without being asked and does extra credit. He KEEPS HIS ROOM SPOTLESS (I know, that one right there is a miracle). It’s like the real James was able to come out when the daily abuse stopped.

Shame on you, SMS - because this kind of shit goes on EVERY SINGLE DAY for countless kids. James was lucky enough to have parents who can afford to put him in private school, but there are plenty of kids still at the middle school who are putting up with unnecessary and easily preventable bullying.

Why having your husband working from home is a bad idea. February 11, 2008

1) Work seems to take a second place to eBay, organizing the garage, staring blankly into space, watching Robot Chicken, etc.

2) You get groped. All. The. Time.

3) You might be working yourself, but hey! We’re home! Alone! Let’s PARTY!

4) Emergencies, such as “somebody gave me a bad feedback on eBay!”, take way too much energy for me to be interested in, yet he can stay up till 2 AM “resolving” them. Why the hell not, right? HE’S GOT NOTHING ELSE TO DO.

5) You have to listen to his whining about how one idea or the other is bound to work out, if you only give him time. Well, how much time are we talking about? Because it’s only been, oh, I don’t know, eight months now that you’ve been at home.

Friends who really aren’t friends, but say they’re friends, but don’t act like friends. February 7, 2008

Did that title make enough sense? Or not? Pretty much not, but I couldn’t think of anything better.

Here’s the situation. I have a friend, let’s call her Pansy, who I’ve known for over ten years now. You would think we would know each other pretty well by now, right? That we would be attuned to each other’s needs, know each other’s experiences, etc.

Well, unfortunately, this is not that kind of friendship. Oh, no. This is the kind of friendship where I get to sit and listen to Pansy talk about herself for hours on end. Where I get to hear PANSY’s needs, PANSY’S experiences, and all about PANSY’S problems. I have to be suitably sympathetic as the need arises, always supportive, and witty, too.

Sounds like a bum deal, doesn’t it? It gets better. See, this friend has no idea Who. I. Am. Here’s a few things we don’t talk about, because they are not about Pansy:

- the fact that I wrote a book this year, and it’s actually been published by a major publishing house, and people BUY IT. It’s in STORES, even. We don’t talk about this (she doesn’t even know I wrote it) because she writes horrifically awful soft porno, and wants to be published in that industry. Believe me, I know it’s that bad, because she made me read it.

- We don’t talk about how my middle son is going to be getting open chest surgery in the next couple of months to correct a heart problem. Because that would take away from her angst about her ex-husband, and Good Lord, we wouldn’t want to do that.

- We pretty much don’t talk about anything that includes anything that is not Pansy. End of story, Amen.

So how did I get into this situation? Why do I allow this to go on? I don’t know. I’ve always attracted friends like this, though, ever since I can remember. I’ve been told it’s because I’m a good listener, which is what a friend should DO, after all, but I just wish this friend was not so damn self-centered. I wish she would be interested in me for ME, not for what I can do to bring the focus on her.

Look at your $*&# customer logs February 7, 2007

Okay.

I think it’s pretty reasonable, in this day and aga, to expect that if you are a business, and part of your business is cold-calling people, that you will have records of when you have actually called these people. Apparently, Beneficial, owned by HSBC, one of the biggest loan companies in the world, does not follow this practice.

Why? Because I’ve gotten two phone calls in two days from these idiots. First call, they wanted to know if they could refinance my mortgage. I said no, and that they had called me one month previous and I had said no then. They had no record of ever calling me. The guy who called me was Ben.

Today, Ben calls me again, and wonders if he can do a refinance. I told him that I had already told him, specifically, no yesterday. He has no recollection of the call and no customer records for me.

Would it be so hard to keep records of these things? You’re not getting my business anyway, but dammit, I’m tired of your smarmy salesmen calling me, HSBC and Beneficial. Knock it off.

Thoughts on TechCrunch December 20, 2006

Personally, I’ve been a big fan of TC since it started, mostly because I tend to cover the same stuff at AWS, so it’s interesting to me. I love little startups that target painfully focused niches that actually, you know, serve a purpose.

However, lately it seems that TC has lost its way a bit. Too involved in personal struggles and quarrels, too entangled in interblogger geek fights that really, really could have been avoided. Lots of egos fighting for position when the focus should have been on the outside, not on the inside.

There’s also the firing or leaving of various folks, such as the insanely talented Marshall Kirkpatrick, Natali del Conte leaving because of mean comments (?), and the firing of Sam Sethi from TC UK. Honestly, all this does is shine the limelight on the folks who shouldn’t be there. The true purpose of TC was originally to hold up to the world these teensy weensy little Web 2.0 efforts and say “hey! check this out - you can use this to (fill in the blank).” Now, I think more people visit TC to see which head is on the chopping block. Blech.

Here’s the thing. I enjoy a nerdfight as much as the next girl. It provides much needed entertainment for me while I’m procrastinating actually, you know, getting work done. However, the number one rule of nerdfights is that they’re good in moderation. You’ve gotta know when to hold ‘em, know when to fold ‘em, know when to walk away, know when to run. You never count your money when you’re sitting at the table - there’ll be time enough for counting, when the dealing’s done.

See, in one corner, we’ve got Mike with a big stick, and in the other corner, a dead horse. The initial thrill of the various nerdfights that Mikey has started these past few weeks (on vacation!! the man is a multi-tasking fiend!) has long been over, yet he has resurrected the dead horse and beat it senseless yet again. Oy vey, indeed.

I feel for all those involved. I am embarrassed for Sam Sethi, I don’t know the guy, but to have such a public airing of employer/employee relations has to be absolutely humiliating. I can’t imagine. I wouldn’t want to be in his shoes right now. And Natali - she was doing so well, I’m angry that the asshats in the comments - mostly men - couldn’t get past the fact that she had a set of ovaries and just let her do her job (us geek girls gotta stick together). And I also am feeling for Mike. Yeah, he’s the main perp in all of this crap. And he’s got an incredible talent for pissing people off….it’s kind of like a kid lighting a bag of dog poo, leaving it on your doorstep, ringing the bell, and then running behind the bushes talent, but a talent nonetheless. ANYway, I still feel for the guy; I wish that he would go back to the old TC, get rid of all the drama, take care of his people properly (just like Jason C. always is going on about, you gotsta take care of your talent!), and just blog. That would be nice.

How much snot is in the human body? December 12, 2006

Because I believe the answer would be an endless supply.

I’ve had a cold now for four days - four days of me carrying around a large toilet paper roll for instant blowing nose access, four days of drinking some kind of foul vitamin-y drink guaranteed to get me well (LIES!), four days of not being able to taste anything but the nasty Hall’s cherry cough drops in my mouth. This sucks.

Why I hate buzzwords. November 18, 2006

Buzzwords are an easy way for ignorant folks to get themselves noticed in a conversation.

Buzzwords are formerly useful words reduced down to inpractical soundbytes.

Buzzwords may seem like an instant access backstage pass, but if you don’t use them right, they’ll make you look like a giant horse’s ass.

Certain buzzwords, like “transparency”, set my teeth on edge and make me want to pull my fingernails out slowly, one by one, and then make the buzzword-sayer eat them. With relish.

Note: in a recent PR release that I read (masked as a blog post), the word transparency was used 14 times in the space of three paragraphs.

14 times.

That’s a lot of fingernails.

Ernesto, you bastard August 29, 2006

Shelters are being activated, and Florida and Georgia are both on hurricane alert. This is the one year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, most people STILL are not in their homes, and here comes another one.

Rant of the Day - Contractors, Wankers, and Almond Roca March 17, 2006

We recently bought our first house, and while it was remodeled in about the loveliest way possible, it seems the contractor that was hired to do it SUCKS ASS and completely did the worst job possible. The bathroom tub has a giant hole in the bottom because apparently you need to put something underneath the tub in order for it to be stable; this is probably something our seller’s contractor should have known, but oh, no. And then, he installed every single fucking window in the house wrong. All brand new, lovely windows. And they’re all installed wrong, to the point that the window manufacturer is highly recommending that we take his retarded ass to court. And fast.

The “fast” part because most likely we have major water damage underneath the new siding due to Mr. Retarded Contractor. We also have mildew in the attic due to Mr. Retarded Contractor. And we’ve been bugging the seller and Mr. Retarded Contractor for five fucking months to fix it. So now we have to get a lawyer and take them all to court. Our house will most likely be non-liveable, so they’ll have to pay for an apartment while the house is getting fixed, or, if it’s so far gone they can’t fix it, we’ll have to buy another house.

In other news, one of the people I work with is a complete wanker. He decided to completely lay a bomb at my feet this week that was inappropriate, he got me all scared, and then just left it. A hit and run, so to speak. I don’t ever hear from Mr. Wanker except complaints, and today, I made front page news in one of the most prestigious publications in the world (I won’t name it, but suffice it to say that everyone’s heard of it) and do I hear one word from him? No. Mr. Wanker is most likely offended by me since half the time when I have questions I have to go over his head since HE NEVER ANSWERS HIS EMAILS. Ever.

The Almond Roca is helping a bit, but not so much, because it sticks to my teeth.