Too late review: The threatening non-threat

This isn't a Review, per se, but it is a comment left on a Facebook post.  

What happened to make this person comment doesn't really matter, what matters is how threatening his non-threat is.

By saying "Now that's one business that surely won't get my business." he really means "I've never been to that place before and have never thought of going there, but now that YOU"VE had a bad experience you so called Fauxbook friend, I now have a reason to be outraged.

That's what it is.......people just want to be outraged, no matter what the situation is.

Are you outraged?

Grindr is dead as it's sold off to a Chinese gaming company

It's official, Grindr is dead. 

A 60% stake of Grindr was sold to a Chinese Gaming Company based on a $155MM valuation (so around $93MM)

Why do I say it's over?  The owner is the person who has the greatest stake in a company and since Grindr just sold off 60% of it that means it's no longer owned by the person who started the company.

He's gettin' out while the gettin's good.

Spirit Airlines has the worst in-flight service

A recent survey shows that Spirit Airlines is the WORST in-flight service, I sort of disagree.

I recently had the opportunity to fly Spirit when I went to visit my parents in Florida, it was my first time flying them, like Jet Blue was the first time I flew them last year when we went to Puerto Rico.

I sort of figured that Spirit would be like Jet Blue but without all the bells and whistles, I was correct.  But I wasn't disappointed, it's what I expected.

I think that air travelers expect too much from an airline.  One of the funniest things I heard while waiting at the gate for my flight was a gentleman sitting behind me saying "I like Spirit, but they nickle and dime you to death." Uhm, dude, isn't that their entire business model?

I just don't understand why someone, like him, would ride a low-cost carrier and then complain about it?  oh that's right, because he expected more.  He thought he was paying rock-bottom prices and getting top-notch service, guess he enjoys the taste of champagne but only has a beer budget.

I actually enjoyed my flight on Spirit, I got to my seat quickly because people weren't clogging up the aisle trying to shove their oversized carry-ons into too full overhead compartments, there weren't people trying to decide "oh where I can I sit but at the same time inconvenience everyone else so I can sit alone," it was actually quite pleasant.

Everyone that I encountered on both trips, were pleasant and helpful and did their jobs, oh wait, I should have expected them to go above and beyond and perhaps meet me at the gate with a bowl of warm nuts, but I didn't, and I didn't get warm nuts.  But I wasn't disappointed either.

I knew what I was getting into, I took my own entertainment, my own bottle for water, my own snack, so all I expected was someone to check my bag, someone to check my ticket, someone to explain the safety procedures to me, and someone to deliver my bag to me in the end.

I got exactly what expected.  American's are turning into a bunch of whiney children who get frustrated or upset when they don't get the treatment that they expect they should have - regardless of who they are.  It's sorta sad

Happy New Year 2016

I just have to share this story from last night, because it's just the funniest damn thing.

Some things to know:
- our house is always cold, even with the heat on
- the floors are cold because we're over an unheated storage area
- whenever we have company I always have slippers on hand for people to wear

We had friends over for NYE last night, drill was the same, come in, hug, kiss, take the coat, take off the shoes put on slippers, time to party.

Everything is going fine until Deeohji decides that because Uncle Logan is here, he needs a late night walk.  So Logan agrees to go for a walk, Deeohji is excited.  He goes to put on his shoes and I hear him say "Where'd my shoes go?"

Shortly before this, David had left to go pick up his boyfriend from work, so we figured that somehow, David must have accidentally put on Logan's shoes, because Logan's shoes were no where to be found, I mean we even looked in the closet like a ghost had stolen his shoes and we couldn't find them.

So yeah, David had to have had them, size 11 and all.

I take Deeohji for a walk, come back, we're all settling down in the couch to watch something on TV when Logan looks over at Gregory and says "You're wearing my shoes.  I know because I walk on the outsides of my feet."

Well come to find out, when Gregory came in, I took his coat, offered the slippers and he grabbed the biggest closest pair....which just happened to be Logan's.

I know it's a stupid story, but it was just so funny last night because it was such a big deal of not being able to find Logan's shoes.

I hope you have a wonderful 2016.

Video Store Review

Not necessarily a too late review, but a gem on it's own.

So this reviewer has experience with late fees, which means that he's done it before.  He's probably of the age of the end of Blockbuster when they would do anything to get you to walk in to their fucking store.  He's probably a little bit entitled.

I love his "unfortunately" dude, if it's right before Christmas shouldn't you be packing and buying presents instead of renting a movie, why you waiting to the last minute?

I think he finally came to his own conclusion though, he wishes Blockbuster was still around.

Everyone hates grapes unless it's jelly or wine

Have you ever noticed that people seriously don't like grape....unless it's in jelly form or it's more popular form, wine? Way back in 2005 I coonducted a very scientific poll to determine what the most/least popular flavor of Jolly Rancher candy people liked, here's a link to the results.

The most disliked flavor, all around was Grape, and its not just candy flavors.  If you ask people what flavors they like they say cherry or watermelon or blue raspberry (uhm, when was the last time you saw a blue raspberry, I think those are called blackberries - and no, not the phone type) or fruit punch, hardly anyone says "Oh I just love grape" do they?  Grape flavored gums suck, grape flavored medicines suck, grape flavored Slurpees suck, but there is one grape flavor almost everyone gets behind - grape jelly.

Now I don't know about you, but I just LOVE grape jelly, and so does my husband, so much so that we have TWO opened bottles of grape jelly in the refrigerator right now.  It's my go to jelly, now don't get me wrong, I've got other jellies in there, some cranberry jelly from the amish and some marmalades, but grape jelly is my go to jelly.  If I'm having a PB&J, that J had better mean Grape Jelly.  No Strawberry Jelly and PB - ick, no Blueberry Jelly and PB - urgh, but Grape Jelly and PB - a match that rivals PB and Chocolate.

When you have a PB&J, what flavor does your J equal?  Leave a comment

You thought your love of the McRib was strong? You got nothing!!!

Here you thought that your undying love of the McRib was the strongest in the land, but you're so so wrong.

Introducing, a lovely young lady who's name the mayor of Santa Clarita nor myself can pronounce:


Just imagine, a family tradition has been ruined because some lousy local managers have decided that they would not bring the McRib back to Santa Clarita, but instead have an "all day breakfast". Using the online tools don't help her, they only mock her by telling her that she has to go to the Bay area for some lovely pressed meat delight. The Mayor NEEDS to help because the folks that she talked to on the hotline don't take her seriously, it's too bad.

Getting caught in the rain and too soon Christmas decorations.

The lunchtime dog walk started like every other lunch time walk, only this time we were trying to get in between rain showers.

We had tried to go out an hour ago, but it was raining, now the sun was out and it looked delightful - dog leash hooked to dog, dog and I out the door.

As we get around the corner from our house I saw the first one....a fully decorated Christmas tree showcased in someone's window.  Fuck it's JUST Thanksgiving.

Then it hit me, food......as we walked down the street I could smell food, turkeys roasting, hams glazing, pies baking, and someone else was burning a real fire....oh it smelled so good.

As we got further down the block - there was ANOTHER Christmas tree on display in all it's glory - seriously people, are you that into Christmas?

When we were half-way through our walk, literally the farthest distance from the house, the skies opened up and poured down the rain on us.  When I dumped Deeohji's waste in the waste can I was tempted to grab a piece of cardboard to cover my head for the long walk home....but I didn't.  I just grinned and bared it, took my justice with a side of soon to be smelly dog.

Fortunately on our return trip I saw someone who hadn't quite taken down their Halloween decorations, perhaps they'll just leave them up for the rest of the year, who knows.

Can I give my dog a concussion?

Because he REALLY loves it when I play tugsy with his stuffed animals in a rough way hard with him...but then I remember that "oh yeah, he's trying to kill it, not play with it?" But I wonder, could you give a dog a concussion by playing rough with them? I don't wanna give my puppy brain damage.

Imma Bee

Needs to be seen, to be believed.

Posted by Michael Lehet on Sunday, November 22, 2015

Katy Perry Panda Circles The Drain

I'd almost forgotten about this

Panda as Katy Perry - Circle The Drain

Panda made another appearance recently and channeled one of Katy Perry's newest songs - Circle the Drain.Music: - Protected under Section 107 - Fair Use of the copyright law "The purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes"

Posted by Michael Lehet on Thursday, November 18, 2010

She really had it out for that

It's has taken Tammy 320 days for her to be able to come to terms with writing this review.

You can tell that she really didn't want to write a bad review, but she just had to do it.

She finally bit the bullet and figured that NOW was the time for her to let people know, just how terrible this meat thermometer was.

She was denied the ability to write an actual review and I think that she still harbors that pain.

I feel for you Tammy, I really do!

Heroes Reborn: Sure ain't what it used to be

Heroes Reborn sure isn't anything like the original.

My friend Logan and I have been watching the new series, and unlike the original, we're just sorta "meh"

I think what the killer for me has been the lack of consistency from scene to scene.  It's almost like they just don't care, they're just there for the paycheck.

For example: in this latest episode: Game Over there was a scene where they had captured Harris and used him to get into the complex, they meet Miko she beats them up and Harris disappears.......and they keep on doing what they're doing.  They don't even care that Harris is gone?  It's almost like he wasn't there at all.

I mean, ok, if it were me, and I had kidnapped someone and used them to gain access to a top secret lab and then during a kerkuffle he sorta disappeared....I would freak the fuck out...where'd he go?  when's he coming back? Who's he coming back with?  But no....they just keep on going like he didn't even exist.

THEN he shows up with his clones and shit and Noah and the others hide on the other side of the bullet proof glass.  They take endless seconds showing them banging away at this impenetrable glass and the glass is all "meh, you can't fuck with me."  Bad guys disperse, Noah and company disperse, the hanger on (the guy in the flannel shirt) is shown walking out one side of the room they were in - the next thing you see, is him walking back into the original room (where the bad guys were) and confront his sister.

Wait, so he walked through a door, down a hall and probably through at least two more doors and he was on the other side of the impenetrable glass where the bad guys just were.  If that's ALL it took, then why didn't the bad guys just run down the hall and through a few doors and capture them?

The original Heroes was rife with hidden clues, you had to watch closely, pay attention, but not the reboot, in fact if you actually pay attention you might as well not watch at all.

Best Grilled Cheese EVER!

I made the best grilled cheese ever over the weekend.  It started out with breakfast, but I didn't know it at the time.

I had gotten some good bacon at the grocery store and decided to bake it in the oven instead of on the stove - hoping to save some of the splatter and mess.  BTW, baking bacon in the oven, on a rack is the best way to make bacon.

Back to my sammich.!  Lunch rolls around and I'm hungry......Along with the bacon I bought some of that Texas Toast because I also made French Toast for breakfast, so I decided to make a grilled cheese....with Texas Toast!

I had been lazy after breakfast and didn't wash the pan that I had fried the bacon in....thank goodness.  Because I used the fat from the bacon to slather on my Texas Toast and then grill to perfection.  I added some of that bacon and two kinds of cheese; some of those Kraft Singles that allegedly have like 3 cups of milk in each slice and some shredded cheddar.

I grilled that baby until it turned nice and golden, then I flipped it over and did the same thing to the other side......then when that bitch was ready I threw it on a plate and sliced it.

Fortunately I took a picture before I scarfed it down.......wish you were here.

Six-months too late

I do have a few joys in life:
- watching people run for a train (or a bus)
- reading one-star reviews on Yelp
- and watching trolls just troll

But one of my most favorite things in the world are negative yelp reviews that begin with statements like:  We went here last year and.....or We were here in February (and it's now December).

So I thought I'd start sharing some of my favorite ones.

In Transit

I feel like a kid today.  I'm waiting for the mail to deliver a package I've been waiting for, for a very very long time.

I got email notification the other day that my "Quarterly Box" had shipped and to just "click here to check delivery status" which is like the worst thing in the world!

Do you remember the first time you ordered something through the mail as a kid?  I think my first mail disappointment were those damn Sea Monkeys.  But oh the excitement of reading the ad at the back of the comic book and then saving money for them.

All the while thinking "I'm gonna have some damn Sea Monkey's man....I'm gonna be da shit."  You're already thinking of tricks you're going to teach them because the advertisement said that they were highly trainable.

Then you've saved up enough money and convinced your mother to take you to the post office so you could get a money order for the exact amount of those Sea Monkeys and their dreaded "postage and handling fee" and you stamp the envelope stuff in the money order and hand it off to the postman and tell him to take "dear care of this, I'm getting Sea Monkeys."

And then you wait.....and you wait.....and you forget....and then you remember.....then you wait.....then you wait.......then about a month in you get nervous.  Did something happen to my order?  Is the mail man conspiring against me?  Did i not include enough money?  Every day you come home and ask "did I get anything?" which comes back with a resounding no!

There's no phone number to call, you can't ask the mail man because how the heck would he know where your package was, you couldn't write another letter because it most likely would pass in the mail and you do not want to piss off the Sea Monkey people because they apparently have the monopoly on the much needed Sea Monkey Food!  So you just wait.

Suddenly in one of those forgetful periods, you come home from school and there's a box there and it's got your name on it and it's all beat to fuck.  But you don't care because you just got some god damn Sea Monkey's my friend!  Suddenly you forgot about the time consuming process it took you to get something, you HAD what you wanted!  Hip hip hooray!

So yeah, I ordered the Digg Quarterly and it's being delivered today via US Mail.  And I've been downstairs THREE times already to see if that mail lady has been here yet!

Actually I think my first "mail order" was actually a disk drive for my Ti-99 4/a.

What did you order when you were a kid?

Other Great Stuff Nearby

I love reading 1 and 2 star Yelp reviews.  I can't help myself, I guess I like to see what really pisses people off - and alot of time, it's just petty bullshit, other times though there's a legitimate

My favorite type though are the months (or even years) late reviews: We came here in 2012 or last time my sister was in town for the holdiays.

But what really caught my eye, was this review on Spark Energy...well, not so much the review, but what came after the review the "Other Great Stuff Nearby"links.

Which in this example included:  The Social Security Office, The Secretary of State/DMV Office and finally the Public Library.

I don't know about you, but only 1 out of those 3 would I consider "Other Great Stuff Nearby"

Oh  Yelp, you always amuse!

What I learned about working Downtown, Part 2

After working in the Ravenswood neighborhood for 13 years, my company moved to a new space in downtown Chicago.

These are some of the things that I've learned in my short time of working in our new space:

The prices for snacks is too damn high - alright, I know, we're downtown.....downtown is expensive, but dayum!

Seriously though, at Ogillvie Transportation Center there is a bookstore that sells small packages of Swedish Fish, a 5oz bag mind you, for $5.19.  Woah Nellie!  That's expensive, I'd really need to be jonesing for some Swedish Fish to pay that price!

Fortunately there are regular stores around here (Walgreens, CVS, Walmart) so if you take the time you can get good prices, but if you're in a hurry and want it now - well god damn it, you're gonna pay for it!

But still, I'll just go to Target in Evanston and get my fill for the cheap and stock my drawer!

I enjoy riding the train to/from work - I've been taking Metra (the commuter train) to/from work for about 2 months now.

It's nice to just jump on the train, find a seat, pull my Kindle out and read uninterrupted until we reach our destination.  Yes I may need to move my knees to let someone get by, but not having to worry about traffic, or speed cameras or anything road related is the most calming thing of all.

Plus I've been reading like CRAZY!  I've always liked to read, but as I get older the only time I read is when there is NOTHING else to do.  The train is perfect for that!  I'm embarrassed to admit that I am almost finished reading The Maze trilogy, which I just started reading about 6 weeks ago.

I've got 25 minutes of uninterrupted reading going both ways - and yes I go both ways!

You can eat lunch at a different place every day - WOW much food, such choices, so good!

In Ravenswood, where our office was before, we had limited choices for lunchtime - really limited.  But now that we're downtown we could eat at a different place every day for a year and never have to repeat - there's just that many.

Want Cinnabon for lunch - Check!  Want Chinese for lunch - Check!  Want Greek for lunch - Check!  There's everything and anything you want to eat and even more stuff you want to eat but you know you can't eat - yes Garrett's Popcorn - I'm talking about you!

The food choices is beyond amazeballs, the best thing though is that we found out we're only 10 minutes to the gym.  So even if I eat like a little piggy I can make sure that I work out and not take on the shape of a little piggy!

What I learned about working downtown, Part 1

After working in the Ravenswood neighborhood for 13 years, my company has moved to a spectacular new space in downtown Chicago.

There's been a big learning curve about what it takes to work downtown, a BIG learning curve, for example:

Some people just can't merge - whether they're driving a car or walking down the sidewalk, some people just can't merge. It's like their brain throws up the blue screen of death and they just walk right into you.

People on the Metra though are usually pretty good about merging, we're all going the same way, we're all gonna get off the train eventually so people will let you out in front of them. On the street though it's a totally different story.

Just this week some woman walked right into me, even though I was on the correct side for my direction of traffic and she was coming in at a 90 degree angle - she just couldn't merge! I have a feeling she may drive the same way.

Some people are just oblivious to their surroundings - our new office is not really in the touristy part of the city, but it is right next to Union Station.  So there are a lot of touristy-esque people arriving via commuter train, mega bus and Amtrak who are making their way "through" the business district to get to the tourist district.

You can usually tell who they are because they're lugging a suitcase (without wheels) and walking three-abreast on the sidewalk having a three-way conversation that is way too loud and WAY too personal to be having on the sidewalk.

The best though is when it's lunch time and someone has just arrived and they feel the need to have their picture taken on one of the bridges, in front of a non-descript highrise all while blocking pedestrian traffic both ways while they try to see the screen of their phone to get the perfect shot.  It's even better when they don't apologize for holding up traffic because everyone else has the common decency to not walk through while they're taking a picture.

It's not as easy to navigate a revolving door as you think - Revolving doors are easy, right?  WRONG!

If you're the only one around then YES revolving doors are thuper easy, but if there is a mass of people it's almost pandemonium.

Imagine you're approaching the revolving door, as you get closer you see someone on the other side of the door trying to get in.  You've got to time it perfectly so that when you (or they) push the door to get through that you're not blocking the other person - that's just an asshole move!  You've also got to make sure that you don't push the door too fast, in case the person behind you, in front of you or trying to get in doesn't move as fast as you do.

Finally, if you're like me and you're going through a revolving door with a lot of people, it's better to just pretend that you're pushing the door when you put your hands on the rail, just put 'em there and enjoy the ride.  Let those other suckers spin the door for you!

What a way to shame me ComEd

I got this letter in the mail today from our energy carrier ComEd of Illinois, shaming me into using 673% more energy last month than my neighbors.  How in the world could I use 673% more electricity than my neighbors?

Now here's what had happened:  The room where the electric meters are had a lock changed in November....unbeknownst to us, ComEd was no longer able to get into the room to read the meters so from November '13 through almost June '14 they were estimating our monthly bills

Yes, for almost 7 months they were guesstimating what our usage was....usage history from last year, the year we didn't have a horribly cold and treacherous winter, and it was grossly under estimated. That's ok though because we're using Budget Billing and it really doesn't matter to me - it all comes out in the wash.

We finally had the issue corrected, they got access to the room, they read the meters that day and our next bill was Actual instead of Estimated - hooray!

Because of the long period between actual readings and ComEd's gross under reporting for estimated use, it appeared as though we used 1794 kWh for the month - which is a shit load of electricity!

So they send me this "Home Energy Report" showing that last month the average of all my neighbors electricity use was 232 kWh and the "most efficient" neighbors barely used 112 kWh, all the while I used a whopping 1,794 kWh for the month.  I'm awaiting a knock on my door from the authorities to bust me for having an illicit grow house in my spare bedroom (which by the way I don't), but if the electric company thinks that my absurd electricity use is worth a letter - who knows what anyone else thinks.

I just hope that the police look at next months bill to see that I'm not using all that much energy before they come knocking.

**UPDATE** Uhm yeah, about that next month thing.....we waste energy....I'm expecting a knock any day now!