I’m not feeling too good… think I’m coming down with a cold. So I figured today was as good as any for some down-home whinin’ and moanin’.

  1. The damn garbage trucks
    I live and work in a typical residential neighborhood, but I have no idea why we have so many garbage trucks go by. The regular truck goes up one side of my street and down the other once a week (every other week the recycling truck does the same). Then special trucks come on different days for different commercial/multi-housing bins. So almost every day at least one truck comes by at least one time. I also live near a military base with its helicopter and jet trainings, plus the airport is right here. And the highway. And one car with an overly sensitive car alarm.
  2. My antivirus software
    This morning my Norton 360 alerted me that my computer was no longer protected from something. Fix this problem! it said. Ok, so I pushed the red button marked “FIX.” And the problem was fixed. Why in the world did I have to go push the button? Did the system think that today I suddenly didn’t want to be protected anymore? It also went through a phase asking me to fix every tracking cookie. Mostly tracking cookies are good. They make it so John & Kira’s Chocolates remember me when I go back to drool. I don’t want to delete all my tracking cookies, and it’s a pain that everything comes to a screetching halt when I don’t “FIX” the cookie.
  3. Spam
    My gosh… does spam still work? Are people really clicking on these things enough to make it worthwhile for the spammers to still send me 50 emails overnight? Here’s a direct quote from one of my emails from last night: “It would work up into inconceivable copy for the devoted mothers and wives, to men who deserved two young people one evening in july seemed to great mutual esteem, i bet harry haydock’s never a natral death. There is no reason at all to believe.” Who would click on that? Who would think that an email from a person named “Kermit Lang” was actually “a charming blue-eyed blonde, who looks for a male pen friend, or just a man to talk with on Skype or in real life!” Don’t we all know not to click on spam yet?
  4. My cat
    Ok, this may anger my friends who love cats. And please remember that I love Mickey Mouse dearly. But right now the dang animal is sitting between me and this monitor, and she keeps getting up to stretch. I don’t like to reject her, so I keep straining my head from side to side to read around her. Something is wrong here! My cat should not affect my productivity.
  5. My neighbors
    The guy directly across the street from me is home all the time. I’m not sure why. He stands outside his apartment and does this hoppy/skippy/pace-y thing outside his front door, and he always looks up at me when I exit my front door. I’ve heard he’s nice, but I’m afraid he’s going to be too friendly if I say hi, so I remain sullen-looking and business-like when I see him, which makes me feel like a heel. And another neighbor talks on his cell phone loudly from the driveway between my house and his. He also let his smoke alarm battery die, and for three months I heard CHRRRP at irregular intervals all night and day. He is very nice, and when I met him the other day, he apologized about the alarm and fixed it right away. After three months, mind you.