Daylight Saving Time begins on Sunday in most of the United States and Canada. One doesn’t realize how many devices have clocks on them until one has to change the time on all of them. Fortunately, the time on my TV, computer, GPS, and phone change automatically. I have a bunch of other devices that I have to change manually.
My watch – Fortunately, I got a new watch for Christmas and all I have to do to change the time is to hit the “DST” button and it goes to or from Daylight Saving Time.
My coffee pot – I have a bad habit of not changing the time until I use the timer feature. I’ll want the coffee brewed at 7:00 and it will brew at 6:00 because I didn’t change the clock.
My alarm clock – for good measure, I usually change it the Friday evening before if I don’t have to wake up on Saturday. I make a point not to look at the alarm clock on Saturday.
The clock in the car – This one is difficult because it doesn’t work according to the directions in the car manual. I have to do other things not mentioned to get the time to change.
Synchronizing the sundial – this is the most difficult of all because it is hard to move the sundial EXACTLY one hour. I’ll overmove it and the sundial will be running fast or I’ll undermove it and it will run slow. Worse yet, I’ll move it in the wrong direction and it will be off by two hours.
I hate Daylight Saving Time. I am more of a “set-it-and-forget-it” kind of guy.
I know I have been ranting about the place I work out. Before I go on about today’s rant, I should explain the good points of the gym/ resort:
The people who work there are top-notch. If I was running a gym, I’d try to persuade them to work for me. I know I complained about the cleanliness of the track and will complain about the basketball court today, but it is not the fault of the workers. When it is clean, it is a very nice place. It helps that it is around the corner and don’t have to drive and try to find a parking spot.
The basketball court is to the immediate right of the main lobby. I like to get to the court by 8:40AM and finish before the morons take over the court. The problem is that the cleaning crew thinks like I do. They like to start cleaning soon after I start shooting around. The resort needs an overnight cleaning person for the common areas. Especially for the money they charge for both the hotel customers and the gym customers. The cleaning guy shouldn’t have to dodge basketballs and clients shouldn’t have to worry about tripping over a broom or mop. For those of you not familiar with this concept, it’s called common sense.
From the basketball courts, I head to the pool. There is usually a water aerobics class for senior ladies, but there is usually a place in the pool where I can swim. The lone exception is when someone with a senior fetish bobs himself up and down in the area where there would otherwise be room to swim.
After the swim (or instead of if the pervert is bobbing), I like to soak in the Jacuzzi. There’s usually a person in there, but sometimes it’s empty. I’ll be relaxing when some guy will come in and for some bizarre reason, think that I am lonely and would enjoy his company. Sometimes it’s the idiot who was texting on the track. Sometimes it’s the jerk chilling out on the ab machine that I want to use. But it’s usually someone with already at least one strike against him and it’s always a male that thinks I would enjoy his company.
Does this face look lonely to you?
This concludes the gym rant. I will pick something else to whine about soon.
Last year I went into a rant about people at the gym I have been working out at for the last two years. Nothing has changed. I take that back. It has gotten worse.
Last spring (after the previous rants), I started running on the indoor track. It was great the first three weeks. The first two weeks I had the track to myself and got much accomplished. A runner joined me the third week and we had a mutual understanding of how each other trained so we could both get our full training in.
Then the fecal matter hit the fan. All of the treadmills were being serviced so the treadmill people came up to the track. The track is a short track with 15 laps equaling a mile (as opposed to 4 laps on a standard U.S. track) or 40% of a lap at the Indianapolis Speedway. And instead of eight lanes, there is one lane (which is supposed to be wide enough for two people comfortably.) The corners bank upwards much like an auto racetrack.
There is a sign of the track rules on the wall across from the stairwell. The problem with the location is that the newbies stand in the middle of the track while reading the sign. The following are the types of people who make training at the track a burden:
Lovebirds – Walking next to each other hand-in-hand makes it impossible to run without having to stop every lap and scream “EXCUSE ME” because for some reason, they can’t hear my grunting and heavy breathing when I am running.
“Day-Care” Parents – Parents who drop their children at the track and go to the Jacuzzi and drink pina coladas. (One of the rules on the sign is that children under 16 must be accompanied by an adult at all times.
Apparatus – people who think it’s cool to ride bicycles and skateboards on the track.
Phone / Texters – People who make calls or text while walking (and usually in the middle of the track).
General Dumbnuts – people who don’t pay attention to the sign. (The sign has a few simple rules, some I mentioned before – No horseplay, track direction alternated on alternate days to prevent wear and tear to certain joints from going in the same direction every day.)
There are other things that bug me – they vacuum the track in the middle of the day. I understand not vacuuming in the middle of the night. (the gym is in a hotel) They could still get one of those push duster thingies that they use im movie theaters between film showings. One would think since they are vacuuming that they would pick up the empty water bottles, candy bar wrappers, and Big Mac boxes around the track. They stay around for days at a time sometimes.
I will have another rant tomorrow about the basketball court and pool areas. your eyes need a deserved rest.
Season-to-date: 51-46-6 (.524) Best Bets: 14-3-1 (.806)
Meh. It looks a lot easier on TV. I have found it to be easier to pick winners when there is no record showing how bad I am at it. (Though I am still good at Best Bets). Occupy Wall Street, Pennsylvania Avenue, and a place where you can take action. (Action gets more done than occupation.)
Date & Time
Favorite
Spread
Underdog
10/30 1:00 ET
At Tennessee
-8.5
Indianapolis
10/30 1:00 ET
At Houston
-9.5
Jacksonville
10/30 1:00 ET
At Carolina
-3.5
Minnesota
10/30 1:00 ET
New Orleans
-13.5
At St. Louis
10/30 1:00 ET
At Baltimore
-12.5
Arizona
10/30 1:00 ET
At NY Giants
-10
Miami
10/30 4:05 ET
At Buffalo
(Toronto)
-6
Washington
10/30 4:05 ET
Detroit
-3
At Denver
10/30 4:15 ET
New England
-3
At Pittsburgh
10/30 4:15 ET
At San Francisco
-8.5
Cleveland
10/30 4:15 ET
Cincinnati
-3
At Seattle
10/30 8:30 ET
At Philadelphia
-3.5
Dallas
Monday Night Football Point Spread
10/31 8:35 ET
San Diego
-3.5
At Kansas City
Byes: Atlanta, Chicago, Green Bay, NY. Jets, Oakland, Tampa Bay
I grew up in our nation’s capitol. Washington has a lot of tourist things to do. There are a few things about living there that made me go batty.
The crime – People tend to refer to murders when talking about high crime rates. Other places have a higher murder rate than Washington, but if you live here long enough, you pockets will be picked. Even the pickpocketers are pickpocketed. I have witnessed a pickpocket in action once. I approached the pickpocketer and grabbed the wallet. I was going to return the wallet to the person whom the wallet was taken from, but that guy stole the wallet from me.
Representation – Unlike people living in states, Washington DC does not have a representative in Congress nor do they have Senators. As a local, I have often scratched my head over the people you people send here. A plea to you: Even though I no longer live in Washington, it’s still my hometown and I still visit often. Use some discretion as to who you send here. We Washingtonians don’t send our whack jobs to your town, don’t send yours to mine.
Tourism – Just because you are on vacation from your job does not mean you are on vacation from good manners and basic human decency. The next person who bumps into me while texting will find his or her phone slammed to the ground and kicked into the street. Please don’t litter.
Redskins – Washington is a much happier place to be when the Redskins are winning. The Nationals and the Capitals have yet to win a championship and the Wizards were the Bullets the last time they won. (They last won the championship in 1978, just before my 5th birthday.)
Washington is my hometown. Please be respectful. And put your wallet in your front pocket so your wallet doesn’t get picked.
[This is part of the A-Z of Life series. Check out the other posts!]
I had decided to start a landscaping business when I graduated from college. I made good money the previous summer mowing lawns and I thought I could parlay this to a full-time profession. All that was needed was a riding mower. The mower and the weed-whackers I already were still in good shape and I was about to hire someone to help with the mowing as well as things like planting trees and picking up dog poo.
I went to Sears to check out riding mowers. I found one to my liking as well as a trailer to haul it and my other equipment. I didn’t bring money with me because I wanted to check out other stores before making a decision.
It was a nice late Spring afternoon when I walked out of Sears and into the parking lot. A woman was driving in the parking lot and reading the paper. She never saw me, but because I watch where I walk, I was able to avoid her. I dodged away from her car and severely twisted my back. I crawled to my car and drove home. It must have been a compelling news story she was reading while she was driving.
The next month was spent mostly in bed as my back was in agonizing pain. I had to crawl to the bathroom and kitchen because it was too painful to walk. I was uninsured because I had just graduated and I could no longer be covered in my parents’ insurance.
Lately I have been observing that many people don’t watch where they are going. This is true whether people are walking, driving, bicycling, swimming, or using a pogo stick. I conducted an experiment the other day where I would stand motionless at a spot and see how many people would bump into me. Three people bumped into me in five minutes. The last person knocked me over.
If you find yourself out and about, look forward! Don’t look to the left, to the right, at the text message you just received, at the hottie’s boobies, or anything else that is not in front of you. It’s not that difficult. Even I can do this. If I can do this, you can too. Look forward and watch where you’re going!
Day 30 – your favorite song at this time last year
If you don’t count the 3-day lapse between days 1 and 2, I have posted 30 times in 30 days. I think it qualifies as having met the challenge. Meeting challenges is an important quality in presidential candidates.
If I did this challenge last year, Day 30 and Day 1 would have been the same song. If you ever want to hate a song that you really love, have that song sung by the cast of “Glee.”
I used to really like this song when Journey performed this song. But “Glee” changed that. Now when I hear the Journey version, I get tormented by the Glee version. For the purpose of human rights, I will post the Journey version and not the Glee version so you won’t go through the same torment I have.
This is getting close to getting to being the Day 2 song (least favorite song.) I’ve said in the past that I listen to classic rock stations. The gym and the laundromat do not play classic rock. They play modern “contemporary” music.
This song in particular makes me wish there was a day 31 of the 30 Day Music Challenge. Day 31 would be “a song that makes you want to throw the radio at a brick wall.” I almost don’t want to post the video because you have probably heard the song 1000 times already, The song is “I Need You Now” by Lady Antebellum.
A quick look at the name “Antebellum”: “Ante” comes from Latin meaning “against.” “Bellum” is short for “Cerebellum” which is a part of the brain. Hence; “Antebellum” means “against brains.” This is obvious when you listen to the song. I can feel brain cells dying every time the song is played.
My apologies to the decent people for posting this video.
Few tasks are more frustrating than going shopping. It doesn’t matter if it’s a supermarket, a department store, or a general store. If I had the place to grow my own food, I would. I’d have some apple trees, a few pasta trees, and a cow to milk.
The aggravation known as “shopping” starts with the parking lot. A parking lot is a melting pot of idioticity. I find myself transfused with people who don’t watch where they’re going and people who confuse parking lots with freeways.
The ritual of getting a shopping cart makes me want to vomit. Nothing is worse than going through the trouble of removing a shopping cart from the one in front of it when the cart you want is lodged from the child seat of the cart in front. (Except for finding out that at least one of the wheels on the cart locks up and clanks while pushing it.)
Then there is the navigation of the carts up and down the aisles. Many aisles have displays in the aisle. There is usually a shopping cart parked across from the display, making it impossible to go through the aisle. WHY DO PEOPLE THINK IT’S OK TO BLOCK THE AISLE? HOW DIFFICULT CAN IT BE TO PARK IT OUT OF THE WAY AND WALK FOUR FEET TO THE ITEM YOU WANT TO LOOK AT?
After spending a half-hour picking up a handful of items weaving through a couple dozen obstacles with a defective shopping cart that took forever to retrieve, it is time to pay for the groceries I want. I usually have ten or eleven items so I usually go to the “12 items or less” register. I’m not going to make a fuss if somebody has 13 or 14 items at the register, but where I come from, 57 items is NOWHERE NEAR 12 ITEMS!
Finally, it’s time to take the clankity-clank shopping cart out the supermarket and into the parking lot filled with people who don’t watch where they’re going and people who confuse parking lots with freeways. Then it’s just a matter of loading the groceries in the car, returning the cart and getting the hell out.
Formulated Randomness 