Netflix

Let me start off by saying this: I LOVE Netflix. I think they have a great system and a relatively good selection. I am addicted to Netflix,  as well as several of the other competing systems.

Here's my problem...

I'm rolling through one of my favorite shows (binge watching, of course) and I have to leave for a little while. I come back, and suddenly the shows cut off! Not only were the next episodes not available, but the previous 10 weren't there!  What the heck? I was gone for less than 8 hours and the episodes I need are gone?!

Gone, gone, GONE!

This isn't the first time this has happened either.

Sigh. Now I have to find something else to binge on.

Slow WiFi

I'm really tired, so I'll keep this one simple and something everyone can relate to. In lieu of length, I encourage everyone to comment with their own gripe story about this particular topic.

If you did't read it above, I hate slow Wi-Fi. Really I just hate slow internet in general. So much of my life is wrapped up in the internet that if I have a slow connection, I start to lose my mind. I'm not one of those "check my Facebook every 32.9 seconds" people, and I'm even less a "tweet every little action and thought I have" person. But I do a lot with the internet, including entertain you, my faithful readers. When my webpage does not pop up in a time frame meeting my expectations, I start to wonder if something is wrong. I go into "diagnose" mode, where I search my computer for connectivity problems, maybe a virus, maybe I'm pushing my computer too hard. Oh, wait. No.

It's just slow Wi-Fi.

Arg! All the other things I could have done something about, but I'm in a public place, or at a friends house, and there's nothing I can do about it. Now I have to wait an extra 5 seconds to get my site up, or worse, have to refresh the page because it timed out. Refreshing is even worse on a mobile device, because I have fat thumbs, and I often end up not hitting the little refresh circle/arrow combination, but something else entirely. Oh well.

I'm sure all of you have your own experiences with slow Wi-Fi. Again, please feel free to comment below (or however it is you comment, I've never actually commented on my own blarg) with your own tales of Wi-Fi woe.

Goodnight. I'm tired.

Accounting

I hate accounting.

I hate it with a passion that burn brighter than the fiery pits of Hell combined with the righteous indignant fury of the Hosts of Heaven.

I've taken the same stupid accounting class for my university classes hmmm... lets see... oh just THREE TIMES! I hate this class with every fiber of my being. I can't stand not being able to get the concepts, and there is nobody in the world who is able to explain it to me in a way I understand (with the exception of one, who is a Godsend, and may actually be able to pull my butt through this class). Before I found this guy, though, I'd been through everything I could think of to get my brain to wrap itself around the concepts put forth by my professors.

There is an accounting lab on campus, which is supposed to specialize in tutoring morons like me in a way that is understandable. I think "Great! That will allow me to get some help and get the accounting juices flowing!" Not wanting to look like a total doofus, I make sure that I have read the book, looked over the homework, and come with a list of specific questions to ask the tutors there, so I can walk out of there feeling confident that I can last one more day in this nightmare of a class. I finally get the attention of one of the tutors, and he comes over, sits down next to me, and says (Verbatim) "Well, everything is in the book. Why don't you read the book and see if that helps."

Like I haven't already thought of that.

You idiot! I came to you because I've exhausted all the other options I can think of. Don't tell me to just read the book and all will magically become clear! I've done that. Now answer the questions that I've brought to you AFTER having read the book.

By the time I come out of my shock of him having said this, however, he has already stood up and moved on to help another struggling student. I never got help from there. I'd like to say this was a one time occurance, too. Unfortunately, this proved to be the rule, rather than the exception, when it came to the amount of help I recieved from that disgrace of a tutoring center.

I hate accounting.

My cupholder

I love my car. Love it! I love everything about it. It's very versatile (go hatchbacks!) and it gets great gas mileage. lots of little accessories in it that make driving it a pleasure.

Between the two front seats are two cup holders. One sits in front of the other, and the one in the back sits just a little bit higher than the other. The one in back is perfect for pretty much everything. Soda cans, water bottles, fast food cups, again, everything can fit in this cup holder.

The partner cup holder does not perform the same job with the same vigor and excellence, however, and it is very upsetting. For whatever reason, it is just a little bit smaller than the other one. It won't hold a soda can, and it's too close to the rear cup holder to allow anything with a lid to sit in it without the lid popping off. About the only thing that will actually fit in this cup holder is a standard 16.9 oz water bottle.

I'd like to know why on earth the designers of this otherwise wonderful car would put in cup holders of differing sizes? It seems like a completely idiotic thing to think of, let alone actually put into practice. I mean, who on earth designs something with two separate size cup holders? I get the idea that some beverage containers are different sizes, but there are many ways to make a larger cup holder work with smaller objects, but there are no ways to make a smaller cup holder fit larger cups.

Really, Kid?

Here is a current event for you!

My son, who is two, is extremely smart. He grasps concepts quickly, he is helpful, cheerful, and overall a great little kid. I could compare him to your kids, but I'm pretty sure it would end up in an argument, and eventually, you would see reason and begrudgingly accept that my son is pretty much the greatest kid around.

Today, however...

In the basement, I have a little mini office set up. It allows me a space to work on my homework (and my blarg) in relative peace and quiet. So today, as I'm studying, I hear this drip drip dripping noise. I go to investigate. No signs of dripping. The faucets are all off, the toilet isn't leaking, etc. so I go back to my homework.

The dripping continues

and continues

and, well you get the picture. So I go to investigate again. I look around a little further, and in the storage area, I notice a puddle on the ground. Upon further inspection, I realize there is water dripping down the walls! Holy Smoke! So, I get on a chair, look around, but can't find the source of the dripping. So I go upstairs. The bathroom right above me is totally dry. No dripping, no water running, nothing. But in the closet right next to that bathroom, I can hear dripping. So I think "What on earth upstairs can be... OH NO!!!"

I sprint up the stairs and slam open my sons room. He has the sink on. Normally, not a bad thing in and of itself. The problem is, he has deposited some toilet paper in the sink, which clogged it. The TP then clogged the emergency drain in the front of the sink. The sink then overflowed. The bathroom rugs got to sop up a lot of the water, but they were not enough to handle it. So, where can the water go?

Down the AC vent!

Apparently, the water drained down the vent, and when it got the bottom of the vent, leaked into the ceiling of the basement, and onto the floor. The carpet in several places is soaked, and the restoration guys say that there is water in the ceiling and some of the walls. Great. That's a boatload of money I wasn't planning on spending. Sigh.

Two-year-olds... It's a good thing he's cute.

Nothing

So, here's something ironic. I'm blarging about not having anything to blarg about!

It's actually quite frustrating. Here I am, living my life, which is pretty dang good. But I write a blog of complaints. My life is so good, I have nothing to complain about. Even the little stuff hasn't bothered me enough to consider actually writing something about it. How great is that? Great for life, not so good for my readers (you know who you are!)

I was actually thinking about it this morning while at work. I was intentionally trying to come up with things to blarg about, and I was having a tough time. The best I could think of was counting dimes. (more to come, I guess).

What am I supposed to tell my fans? The thronging masses need my literary work, and I'm depriving them of it because I'm too happy! Man, I'm a jerk

Ooh! I just thought of something! I'll put it up as soon as I finish it!

In the meantime, please, if you have any ideas on topics, or a mildly depressing story you want to share, please email me at thisismyblarg@gmail.com. I would love to look over your material and add it to my menagerie of mayhem!

Too Big

This post brought to you by General Mills' Peanut Butter Toast Crunch. No, seriously! My computer is RIGHT NEXT to a box of it! It's not a half bad cereal, actually. I would probably buy it again


Oh, right... blarg... uh... oh! Here's something!

Pet peeve of mine: over sized packaging. Especially in board games. I love board games. I practically collect them. If I play a board game and I love it, I will probably buy it (or ask for it for a birthday/Christmas/anniversary/Saturday). This ads up to a lot of games though

A LOT of games.

I need somewhere to put these games, and it would be much easier if the boxes weren't so stinking big! Now, this doesn't apply to all game packing. A lot of games are right on the money with their packaging (Card games are awesomely sized), but there are some that are fairly boneheaded.

I'm referring to games where all it is is a pictionary sized box of cards and a small or nonexistent board. I open this huge box to find most of it is empty air and cardboard to keep the smaller box inside from moving. Why on Earth would you make a box so big? I don't want to open a set of Russian dolls just so I can get to my stack of cards. Just give me the stack of cards with a box that fits it perfectly.

In more recent years, a lot of the classic games such as monopoly and sorry are making their game boards foldable into quarters. This is a wonderful development! It makes it so everything is more compact. The width of the box doesn't change, but the length can.

But it doesn't.

The length of the box remains unchanged, leaving room for the tray of pieces on the side. Here's a novel concept, guys. Do what every other game maker does and put the pieces in little bags that can be easily shoved underneath the little cardboard rule shelf you always make. That's where they all end up anyway! This makes for more organized boxes AND can reduce your box size by 20-25% Awesome! That means I have more room in my game closet for MORE GAMES! Woohoo!

Before anyone gets all snarky on me, remember that I am a business person. I am fully aware that a larger box means essentially more advertising space on the shelf when people are looking to buy me games for birthday/Christmas/anniversary/Saturday. I get that. I don't care. Make it smaller.





Perfect sized game boxes:
Phase 10
Settlers of Catan (actually, this one is a tad big until you start stuffing expansions into the same box)
Dominion
Skip Bo
Jenga
Bohnanza
Flux
Blokus


Games that should rethink their packaging
Sorry
Munchkin
Buzzword
Killer Bunnies
Monopoly
Yahtzee (this one is one of the worst)
Wackee Six (not bad, but still big for what it is; six decks of cards)


Again, I don't hate the game. I own every single one of the games mentioned above. They are all wonderful games. I just wish I could fit more of them into the limited space I have.

Speaking of games, if you haven't already, you just lost The Game.