Protesting Yahoo Advertizers

An email interchange, sent to me by my dear friend BG. Dear Yahoo Advertiser, I noticed your ad in Yahoo Answers and I just wanted to let you know that I am never using your services so long as you associate yourselves with Yahoo. Bobby's Girl Hey Bobby's Girl,   I'm incredibly sorry for any frustration caused by our site! However, I'm a bit confused as we are not affiliated with Yahoo. If you could be more specific as to the issue you are facing I would be happy to assist you. Help Team (@Yahoo Advertiser) Dear Yahoo Advertiser, Uhmmm, I owe you an apology - but I saw your ad on Yahoo Answers & this website has become a cesspool; I wanted to complain to the advertisers since Yahoo does nothing about our problems with the site. I randomly clicked - and you were the unfortunate recipient of my bad mood.   Please, I invite you to share with your co-workers my deepest apologies for being mean to you. I try never to go that direction - but I often detour from Idiot Street to Imbecile Avenue when I really wanted to take the High Road.   (I will ask directions next time.)   Sorry.   BG.

Letter to John Boehner

My sister sent a letter to the Speaker of the House of Representatives.

 It said:

Dear Mr. Speaker, John Boehner,   If I don't get a social security check I won't eat this month if I can't eat no one in the House of Representatives should be entitled to a pay check. I worked hard all my life and paid into SS and you people think you have the right to play games with me, and all the seniors who paid into SS all their lives?   An Irate Retiree

 

Montclair Fakery (or how to declare "bike"-ruptcy.)

Last month I was driving through Montclair, New Jersey wishing I were bicycling instead, but my bike had two flat tires.

Instead of going to the store and spending $22 on a bike pump, I stopped in an upscale bike shop in that town and asked how much it would cost to get air in the tires. Two nice women answered me, one saying "air is free" and the other saying "They can check your brakes for $5 a bike too, but if something needs adjusting it will cost more.

Thanking them, I gather my bike and a friends, loaded them on my bike rack and went off to the store the next day. First mistake. They are CLOSED on Wednesdays. Oh well, my bad.

The next day, we did the same thing. The owner/manager was on the phone for 10 minutes having a social conversation before he could address me. I assume if he weren't the owner, he couldn't get away with that.

I explained that I was told air was free, and that while I hadn't used the bikes in two years, that two years ago I had put a $100 into them and used them exactly once. So I would like to know if anything needed tuning up (which I could do myself) but didn't want to spend more than $30 total. He said, no problem, explain that to the mechanics downstairs.

So I went downstairs and explained to the young man fixing bikes that I didn't plan on spending more than $30, and why.

He says, "Let me look at the bikes." One is a used mountain bike that I bought for $30. The other is an ancient Schwinn that cost $10 in a yard sale.

"Okay, I can fix them for you. That'll be $90 a piece, up front."

I admit, I raised my voice. "Are you CRAZY?"

He looked at me as if I had committed the most heinous of sins.

"Are YOU raising your voice at ME," he asked.

I paused for a moment, Montclair after all being a communist city, the might have an ordinance against loud talking. But I decided to take my chances.

"YOU'RE DAMNED RIGHT I AM RAISING MY VOICE AT YOU! ARE YOU INSANE?"

I and my friend grabbed our bikes to leave.

"Where are you going?" The young man asked surprised.

"Is there a problem?" The manager said, from the upstairs window, cell phone still in hand.

"YOUR EMPLOYEE WANTS TO RIP US OFF, AND HE IS SURPRISED WE AREN'T BUYING!" I shouted so that people up and down the street looked up, surprised.

"DON'T GO!" he shouted as we left.

Don't go, is right. $22 dollars and a pair of pliers and we are riding the bikes just fine.

Always wear a helmet. And use your head when dealing with salespeople.

Ranting on Hurricane Sandy

Sandy came and went and New Jersey will not be the same for a long time. I wish I could tell stories of heroism and pulling together, but my experience of Sandy was the insanity of other people. When I realized the storm was going to be historically bad I put four 2 liter bottles of water in my freezers (next to the bread and milk I always keep frozen for emergencies, and as usual, on Saturday I filled my tank for the week. On Monday I was called into work for a forty hour stretch, but otherwise (including Halloween Costumes, Party for the kids at work, and a haunted house) my week was typical. I drove 300+ miles on 2/3rds of a tank of gas, with no extraneous trips, or purchases. All along the highways, the usual 75 mph traffic was driving 85 (90?) cutting each other off and generally being a nuisance. At 50 mph, to save gas, I was the obstruction they were all honking and screaming at in the slow lane. When I was driving home from work, at 1:30 am or 2:30 am during the week, I saw them waiting 3-5 hours on long gas lines in the middle of the night often (according to my co-workers) to be turned away 2, 4 or ten cars from the stations as the gas ran out. Every car in line RUNNING THEIR GAS, LIGHTS AND MUSIC continuously, as if the dead cars (that ran out of gas ahead of them) were not symbolic of any concern or fear.

Almost every store, employer or business ran at half staff because everyone took the week off. People abandoned clients, customers and needy people in their pursuit of a crazed and untenable lifestyle. Store threw out food rather than donating it, when the power went off and the fridges stopped working. The whole state seemed to be, well, in a state. Topping it off was Governor Half-Wit yelling at mayors and assigning blame to a natural disaster. He cursed out reporters who asked him about the elections, because it will read well for him in 2016 if he was more concerned with hurricane relief.

Why has the human race abandoned, cooperation, conservation of resources and even self-preservation, in pursuit of ease, indulgence and plastic lifestyle?

WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?

I am starting to miss the days after 9/11 when everyone pulled together. Even despite the jingoism and racism (anti-Muslim sentiments) it was a time of caring and cooperation. Then again, if the Patriot Act was the result, maybe Hurricane Sandy's self-destructive insanity is less problematic in the long run.

Trees leaning on telephone poles or wires were becoming a common sight.	Another Tree leaning for support on our antiquated New Jersey infrastructure.
The 800+ lb. branch that landed on my car Monday morning. It did virtually no damage miraculously. some scratches and a ding.	The neighbors will even luckier with this enourmous tree that merely knocked off a rain gutter.
A church also fared well when their giant tree feel taking out a twelve foot wide swath of roots.	The same tree from another angle.
Another church, another tree and a another narrow escape.	From the same spot as the last picture, but in a different direction, the Freedom Tower, Tower Four, reminds us that we can rise above any difficulties.