Okay, I usually rant about traffic-related stuff because that's usually the most annoying thing to me, but I'm going to take a break today to rant about something else.
Yesterday, 09/12/12, the headlines were all about an angry mob who had attacked a US embassy in Cairo because of a viral video some idiot posted on YouTube degrading the Islamic religion. 4 Americans were killed in the attack. The riots continued and have spread into Yemen, to yet another US embassy.
Everyone is pointing fingers at the extremists, which don't get me wrong are totally to blame and are acting irrationally, etc ,etc...
But... why isn't anyone chastising the idiot who posted the video in the first place that pissed all these people off?
They are religious extremists. They have already proven that they are violent, that they are not afraid to hurt people in the name of their religion and God, etc. Why would you then go and make a video antagonizing these people into action? Freedom of speech at what cost? The lives of hard-working Americans? And for what? Fame? Recognition? Online get rich quick scheme? Really? Is there no end to the risks we are willing to take at someone elses' expense?
We ought to pack up the person who made the video, and ship him/her into Cairo with a sign on their head that they are the one who made the video and see how well that goes over. Let's see if you are as willing to talk shit about another's religion when it is you who has to pay the price. Maybe then you will think twice about your precious freedom of speech.
Thursday, September 13, 2012
Motorcycle Tailgaters
This is a huge pet-peeve because not only is it terribly annoying, but it's dangerous and potentially life-threatening. Don't you hate it when you are driving down the street and you look in your rear view and the car behind you is so far up your ass that you could almost reach back and smack his face because he's so close? We've all been there. You tap your break to get them to back off... or you slow WAY down hoping that he'll either change lanes, or catch a clue and back off a little bit. It's annoying and God forbid you have to slam on your breaks because a bunny runs into the road or something, but there is no way in hell that guy isn't going to go smashing into your backside should anything happen.
Well imagine now you are on a motorcycle and this same guy is riding your tail. More than annoying right? Because if you have to make any immediate speed adjustments, that guy is no longer slamming into the back of your car. He's slamming into the back of your skull (helmet or not, which if you are a safe motorcyclist, you'd be wearing a helmet).
The other day I saw a scenario that I swear, made me wish I had a bazooka launcher on the front of my car. So 3 vehicles ahead of me is a truck, 2 vehicles ahead is a motorcycle, and then between us is an asshole (in a car). We're on a 3-lane highway and we're in the left lane so naturally we're all a little but antsy with the truck being in the left lane slowing things down. The asshole is right on top of the motorcyclist. To the point where I'm actually pissed off and cussing him as we're going down the street. The motorcyclist, backs off from the truck to give himself a little space realizing he's crunched between a truck and an asshole... The asshole doesn't let off at all. So the motorcyclist moves to the far left of the lane, hoping to get some space. What does asshole do? Asshole starts closing in the space between himself and the truck, basically pinching the motorcyclist out of his place in the lane. WTF??? Then suddenly traffic slows and I swear I was about to watch Mr. motorcyclist get his body scraped off the pavement. It was horrifying. I wanted to get in the middle lane zoom ahead of the asshole and cut him off and then back him off so that the motorcyclist could have some space, but the middle lane of traffic wasn't moving any faster.
Finally we were able to get to a spot where the motorcyclist could change lanes and he got into the middle lane. Guess what asshole does? He changes lanes with him and once again is right on his ass. I swear to God... if I could have chucked something out of my window at him, I would have. Eventually the motorcyclist was able to weave his way out from behind the terrorist, but I'm sure he was extremely uncomfortable for a good chunk of time. Man, I hope Karma gets that asshole.
Well imagine now you are on a motorcycle and this same guy is riding your tail. More than annoying right? Because if you have to make any immediate speed adjustments, that guy is no longer slamming into the back of your car. He's slamming into the back of your skull (helmet or not, which if you are a safe motorcyclist, you'd be wearing a helmet).
The other day I saw a scenario that I swear, made me wish I had a bazooka launcher on the front of my car. So 3 vehicles ahead of me is a truck, 2 vehicles ahead is a motorcycle, and then between us is an asshole (in a car). We're on a 3-lane highway and we're in the left lane so naturally we're all a little but antsy with the truck being in the left lane slowing things down. The asshole is right on top of the motorcyclist. To the point where I'm actually pissed off and cussing him as we're going down the street. The motorcyclist, backs off from the truck to give himself a little space realizing he's crunched between a truck and an asshole... The asshole doesn't let off at all. So the motorcyclist moves to the far left of the lane, hoping to get some space. What does asshole do? Asshole starts closing in the space between himself and the truck, basically pinching the motorcyclist out of his place in the lane. WTF??? Then suddenly traffic slows and I swear I was about to watch Mr. motorcyclist get his body scraped off the pavement. It was horrifying. I wanted to get in the middle lane zoom ahead of the asshole and cut him off and then back him off so that the motorcyclist could have some space, but the middle lane of traffic wasn't moving any faster.
Finally we were able to get to a spot where the motorcyclist could change lanes and he got into the middle lane. Guess what asshole does? He changes lanes with him and once again is right on his ass. I swear to God... if I could have chucked something out of my window at him, I would have. Eventually the motorcyclist was able to weave his way out from behind the terrorist, but I'm sure he was extremely uncomfortable for a good chunk of time. Man, I hope Karma gets that asshole.
Thursday, July 26, 2012
Splatter Shield
Ok, here is my road rage rant for the day...
Must you clean your windshield while you are driving down the highway? From point A to point B there must have been a stoplight or stop sign when your windsheild wiper fluid actually had a better chance of landing on your windshield rather than flying off in the wind to splatter all over mine. This of course causes a chain reaction because tiny splatters of someone else's windshield fluid just puts little splatter marks all over mine so then I have to clean mine doing the same thing to the car behind me, etc.
I just don't understand why people are so pea-brained. Unless a bird suddenly poops on your windshield as you are driving down the highway, and you really can't see around the poop... I see no good reason why you have to clean your windshield at that precise moment in time. If you got all the way to the highway without it bothering you, surely you can get to your destination before cleaning it.
Must you clean your windshield while you are driving down the highway? From point A to point B there must have been a stoplight or stop sign when your windsheild wiper fluid actually had a better chance of landing on your windshield rather than flying off in the wind to splatter all over mine. This of course causes a chain reaction because tiny splatters of someone else's windshield fluid just puts little splatter marks all over mine so then I have to clean mine doing the same thing to the car behind me, etc.
I just don't understand why people are so pea-brained. Unless a bird suddenly poops on your windshield as you are driving down the highway, and you really can't see around the poop... I see no good reason why you have to clean your windshield at that precise moment in time. If you got all the way to the highway without it bothering you, surely you can get to your destination before cleaning it.
Friday, June 22, 2012
OMG Thing #2 just outdid Thing #3!!
Okay so I literally just hit publish on my last ranting post and got an email that just made thing #2 an even bigger problem than thing #3 so now I'm going to rant some more.. Why? Because it makes me feel better and I get to document my problems in case I need it all at the same time!!
So... about 2 months ago I bought a house on the north side of my city because it's closer to my work which I currently commute an hour each way to get to. Days after I closed on my new house, I put my house up "For Sale by Owner" just to see if we could sell it before having to resort to using a real estate agent's help (for a fee of course). My mom has a lot of experience buying and selling houses so this should have been no big deal.
To give a quick back-story, despite the issues many homeowners are facing with selling homes in this economy I wasn't as concerned about that because the last 4-5 homes that have gone up for sale in my neighborhood were sold to Bermese refugees, so I knew that there would be a demand for the home.
Well not even a day after we put up the sign we have an interested buyer. Sounds great right? Sure! To sweeten the deal the buyer doesn't even try to price negotiate on the house because they wanted to be in this neighborhood and wanted the house and decided that my asking price was reasonable so they sent over a purchase agreement for my asking price... Even better!
We go back and forth and finally I've signed the purchase agreement, and the buyer has signed the purchase agreement under the caveat that I can't close until July because the house I purchased was a renovation property and wouldn't be ready for me to move into until that time. The buyer had no problem with that. We went ahead and got the process moving in the meantime. (Meanwhile I have "removed my house from the market" due to entering into a purchasing agreement with the buyer.)
A couple of weeks go by and the buyer orders a home inspection. No problem, I expected as much. The inspection turns up a couple of small odds and ends, but nothing that presents a safety issue nor impacts the integrity of the house so again the buyer and I go back and forth and reach an agreement which we both sign off on.
So far so good... until today when I receive a couple of documents from the mortgage lender. One of the documents was an FHA Escape Clause that basically states that the buyer is released from any obligation to purchase the house without any penalty including earnest money if the requested selling price is more than the FHA appraisal on the property. HUH? I was confused by this because I thought I had already received pre-approval documents regarding the loan and therefore didn't understand why I should have to sign such a thing. After emailing back and forth with the buyer's agent and the mortgage lender, I learn that this is just part of an FHA loan. Well this seems ridiculous to me because basically as the seller I assume all of the risk. I've taken my home off the market for a month already and still have nearly another month to go before closing only to find out that my purchase agreement might become completely null and void if the appraisal doesn't match up to the asking and agreed upon amount.
I asked the mortgage lender to move the appraisal date up because I was going to be out of town on vacation in July until the day before the closing. She agreed to make a note in the account and I decided I would wait to sign the paperwork until after the appraisal to see if this would even be an issue because for all I know the property would appraise at the agreed upon price. I was only asking slightly more than what I paid for the home, I knew that the other homes in the area sold for a little more than what I was asking and that what I was asking was reasonable.
Worried, but waiting on the appraisal to determine how worried I should be, all I could really do was wait.
Well right after submitting my last rant, I checked my email and I got a message from the buyer's agent saying "hold that thought, the mortgage lender has determined that my house is in a partial flood area and the buyer would not be able to get down payment assistance. HUH? I have no idea what she is talking about. This home is not in a partial flood area. This neighborhood has storm drains that direct all storm water to the retention pond at the front of the neighborhood. To top it off, this house sits on an incline, so any excess water would run down the slope away from the home and to the storm drains. That is how most of the newer neighborhoods are designed specifically to avoid any flooding issues. How can the mortgage lender even make this claim?
I'm so pissed right now I don't even know what to do. I basically can't do anything until the purchase agreement has been broken or voided because I'm legally bound to it, but none of this makes any sense to me at all. What is the point in having a legally binding purchase agreement if the buyer is so protected by their loan that I have to sign an amendment that basically states that the buyer is in no way obligated to withhold their portion of the purchase agreement without penalty. That defeats the purpose of a purchase agreement, and it defeats the purpose of paying earnest money in the first place. The whole point in a purchase agreement is to protect both parties from each other. It states that I agree to sell at a given price under specific circumstances, and the buyer agrees to purchase at agreed price under the same circumstances. That way we are both protected. Why then require one party to sign an amendment that says the other party is in no way bound to this agreement? Someone please explain this to me. It makes no sense.
So... about 2 months ago I bought a house on the north side of my city because it's closer to my work which I currently commute an hour each way to get to. Days after I closed on my new house, I put my house up "For Sale by Owner" just to see if we could sell it before having to resort to using a real estate agent's help (for a fee of course). My mom has a lot of experience buying and selling houses so this should have been no big deal.
To give a quick back-story, despite the issues many homeowners are facing with selling homes in this economy I wasn't as concerned about that because the last 4-5 homes that have gone up for sale in my neighborhood were sold to Bermese refugees, so I knew that there would be a demand for the home.
Well not even a day after we put up the sign we have an interested buyer. Sounds great right? Sure! To sweeten the deal the buyer doesn't even try to price negotiate on the house because they wanted to be in this neighborhood and wanted the house and decided that my asking price was reasonable so they sent over a purchase agreement for my asking price... Even better!
We go back and forth and finally I've signed the purchase agreement, and the buyer has signed the purchase agreement under the caveat that I can't close until July because the house I purchased was a renovation property and wouldn't be ready for me to move into until that time. The buyer had no problem with that. We went ahead and got the process moving in the meantime. (Meanwhile I have "removed my house from the market" due to entering into a purchasing agreement with the buyer.)
A couple of weeks go by and the buyer orders a home inspection. No problem, I expected as much. The inspection turns up a couple of small odds and ends, but nothing that presents a safety issue nor impacts the integrity of the house so again the buyer and I go back and forth and reach an agreement which we both sign off on.
So far so good... until today when I receive a couple of documents from the mortgage lender. One of the documents was an FHA Escape Clause that basically states that the buyer is released from any obligation to purchase the house without any penalty including earnest money if the requested selling price is more than the FHA appraisal on the property. HUH? I was confused by this because I thought I had already received pre-approval documents regarding the loan and therefore didn't understand why I should have to sign such a thing. After emailing back and forth with the buyer's agent and the mortgage lender, I learn that this is just part of an FHA loan. Well this seems ridiculous to me because basically as the seller I assume all of the risk. I've taken my home off the market for a month already and still have nearly another month to go before closing only to find out that my purchase agreement might become completely null and void if the appraisal doesn't match up to the asking and agreed upon amount.
I asked the mortgage lender to move the appraisal date up because I was going to be out of town on vacation in July until the day before the closing. She agreed to make a note in the account and I decided I would wait to sign the paperwork until after the appraisal to see if this would even be an issue because for all I know the property would appraise at the agreed upon price. I was only asking slightly more than what I paid for the home, I knew that the other homes in the area sold for a little more than what I was asking and that what I was asking was reasonable.
Worried, but waiting on the appraisal to determine how worried I should be, all I could really do was wait.
Well right after submitting my last rant, I checked my email and I got a message from the buyer's agent saying "hold that thought, the mortgage lender has determined that my house is in a partial flood area and the buyer would not be able to get down payment assistance. HUH? I have no idea what she is talking about. This home is not in a partial flood area. This neighborhood has storm drains that direct all storm water to the retention pond at the front of the neighborhood. To top it off, this house sits on an incline, so any excess water would run down the slope away from the home and to the storm drains. That is how most of the newer neighborhoods are designed specifically to avoid any flooding issues. How can the mortgage lender even make this claim?
I'm so pissed right now I don't even know what to do. I basically can't do anything until the purchase agreement has been broken or voided because I'm legally bound to it, but none of this makes any sense to me at all. What is the point in having a legally binding purchase agreement if the buyer is so protected by their loan that I have to sign an amendment that basically states that the buyer is in no way obligated to withhold their portion of the purchase agreement without penalty. That defeats the purpose of a purchase agreement, and it defeats the purpose of paying earnest money in the first place. The whole point in a purchase agreement is to protect both parties from each other. It states that I agree to sell at a given price under specific circumstances, and the buyer agrees to purchase at agreed price under the same circumstances. That way we are both protected. Why then require one party to sign an amendment that says the other party is in no way bound to this agreement? Someone please explain this to me. It makes no sense.
DiscountWomensDressShoes.com Sucks! (and so does PayPal)
Wow. I have so much to rant about today! This is actually thing #3 and I already ranted about thing #1 but for now I'm skipping over thing #2 because thing #3 is even more irritating that thing #2!! haha
So... many many moons ago I ordered some boots from discountwomensdressshoes.com. BTW if this blog comes up in a google search you do for this company, don't walk RUN from making a purchase with this company.
Okay so I went online and wanted to buy a couple of pairs of boots. Since DWDS was having a special where if you spent a certain amount you would get free shipping I actually ordered more than I even intended to because it would have been like $14 to ship, but like $20 to order another pair of boots and get free shipping. You do the math.
Anyway, DWDS charges me and ships part of my order, but then sends me an email stating, although our inventory online stated otherwise, we don't have 1 of the pairs of boots you ordered in stock. (BTW after doing some review reading of my own online, I have realized that they do this a lot. In fact, they even have an ebay scam where they list items they claim not to have in stock but you can order them on ebay for a higher price even though it comes from the same company... I'm just sayin' pretty scandalous if you ask me.) At this point they offered to refund me for the 1 pair of boots that they glitched on inventory or send me a different pair of equal value. (Had I foreseen the issues I was going to have with this company, I would have just said refund my money.) But I didn't because it was one of the two pairs I originally wanted and they had already shipped the third pair that I only ordered to meet the free shipping promotion, so at this point I figured, what the hell, let me go on their site and see what else is available.
Well I wanted white boots and I found a similar pair of white boots in inventory so I sent them a link and said please send me this pair instead. They weren't as cute as the pair I originally wanted, but what the heck, they had already charged me so why not.
Okay no problem. Except that is not what they sent me. Instead of sending me white boots, they sent me grey boots. Well I didn't want/need any grey boots so again I contacted the company and said "Hey, first you guys messed up my initial order by listing inventory you didn't have... and now you offered to send me an alternate product, and you sent me the wrong thing. Can you please send me a return shipping label so that I can send these boots back to you, and then just issue me a refund?"
The company basically responds and says, "No we are not going to send you a return shipping label. If you want a refund you will have to pay to ship the item back to us and we will issue you the refund." Well that hardly seems fair. Why should I pay even more to ship boots back to them that I never wanted in the first place. Right? So I emailed them back and said "But this is your mistake. I shouldn't have to pay even more money to ship the boots back to you. Please send me a return shipping label or I will have no choice but to dispute the charges on my credit card because you did not send me what I ordered."
I never heard anything back from them. And having forgotten that I used PayPal to purchase the item, I opened a dispute ticket with my credit card company. After forwarding them the email conversations with DWDS showing everything that transpired, my credit card company issued me a refund. Hurray! Thank you Chase VISA!!
Only... several weeks later I get a notification from PayPal that my account has been put into a "limited access" status because of the disputed charges. Huh? I emailed PayPal and explained to them what happened. After several emails PayPal says we will lift the limitation on your account as soon as you return the unwanted merchandise, to which I of course responded. "I'd be delighted to send back the boots as soon as I receive a shipping label from the seller." *crickets* I never heard anything back. Then another couple of weeks later, I get another notice email from PayPal again stating my account is under limited status. Again I email back and forth explaining the situation. Again we get nowhere.
Meanwhile, weeks and weeks have passed since all of this started and suddenly I want to buy something on eBay that requires PayPal payment. Oh no! I can't use my PayPal account because it's frozen. I need a quick resolution. So I call PayPal customer service and speak with the accounts limitation department. After explaining the WHOLE scenario for the 3rd? 4th? I've lost track... time, the CS agent with PayPal says, I can't help you with this you need to speak to our dispute department. So I hold for a dispute agent. After several minutes I have to explaining the WHOLE scenario yet again to this new agent who says, I can't help you with this you need to speak to our accounts limitation specialist. HUH? He just sent me to you! I told him...
We go back and forth several times about how I need to ship back to merchandise in order to get the issue resolved to which I tell him I'd be more than happy to send back the items I NEVER ORDERED IN THE FIRST PLACE... that as soon as DWDS sends me a shipping label, they will get the merchandise back. Until they do we are at an impasse... except there is a problem. I'm still the one being punished and held accountable by the freeze on my PayPal account not allowing me to make any further PayPal purchases.
Does any of this make sense? Why isn't PayPal harassing DWDS since this whole issue began with them in the first place. They are the ones who sent random merchandise that I never ordered and therefore shouldn't have to pay for. Why am I the one being harassed, spending hours and hours of my time trying to resolve something I thought was resolved months ago with my credit card company?!? Seriously? Buyer protection? The PayPal agent said if I had disputed the charges with PayPal instead of my credit card company this wouldn't have been an issue. Okay, my bad. I forgot that I had used PayPal for this order. But I still don't see why that means this is my problem and not the company who is fraudulently listing merchandise as "in-stock" when it's not, and then randomly shipping whatever they want to the customers regardless of what was originally ordered. This all makes no sense to me what-so-ever. Why isn't anyone harassing DWDS? They are the scammers!!
So... many many moons ago I ordered some boots from discountwomensdressshoes.com. BTW if this blog comes up in a google search you do for this company, don't walk RUN from making a purchase with this company.
Okay so I went online and wanted to buy a couple of pairs of boots. Since DWDS was having a special where if you spent a certain amount you would get free shipping I actually ordered more than I even intended to because it would have been like $14 to ship, but like $20 to order another pair of boots and get free shipping. You do the math.
Anyway, DWDS charges me and ships part of my order, but then sends me an email stating, although our inventory online stated otherwise, we don't have 1 of the pairs of boots you ordered in stock. (BTW after doing some review reading of my own online, I have realized that they do this a lot. In fact, they even have an ebay scam where they list items they claim not to have in stock but you can order them on ebay for a higher price even though it comes from the same company... I'm just sayin' pretty scandalous if you ask me.) At this point they offered to refund me for the 1 pair of boots that they glitched on inventory or send me a different pair of equal value. (Had I foreseen the issues I was going to have with this company, I would have just said refund my money.) But I didn't because it was one of the two pairs I originally wanted and they had already shipped the third pair that I only ordered to meet the free shipping promotion, so at this point I figured, what the hell, let me go on their site and see what else is available.
Well I wanted white boots and I found a similar pair of white boots in inventory so I sent them a link and said please send me this pair instead. They weren't as cute as the pair I originally wanted, but what the heck, they had already charged me so why not.
Okay no problem. Except that is not what they sent me. Instead of sending me white boots, they sent me grey boots. Well I didn't want/need any grey boots so again I contacted the company and said "Hey, first you guys messed up my initial order by listing inventory you didn't have... and now you offered to send me an alternate product, and you sent me the wrong thing. Can you please send me a return shipping label so that I can send these boots back to you, and then just issue me a refund?"
The company basically responds and says, "No we are not going to send you a return shipping label. If you want a refund you will have to pay to ship the item back to us and we will issue you the refund." Well that hardly seems fair. Why should I pay even more to ship boots back to them that I never wanted in the first place. Right? So I emailed them back and said "But this is your mistake. I shouldn't have to pay even more money to ship the boots back to you. Please send me a return shipping label or I will have no choice but to dispute the charges on my credit card because you did not send me what I ordered."
I never heard anything back from them. And having forgotten that I used PayPal to purchase the item, I opened a dispute ticket with my credit card company. After forwarding them the email conversations with DWDS showing everything that transpired, my credit card company issued me a refund. Hurray! Thank you Chase VISA!!
Only... several weeks later I get a notification from PayPal that my account has been put into a "limited access" status because of the disputed charges. Huh? I emailed PayPal and explained to them what happened. After several emails PayPal says we will lift the limitation on your account as soon as you return the unwanted merchandise, to which I of course responded. "I'd be delighted to send back the boots as soon as I receive a shipping label from the seller." *crickets* I never heard anything back. Then another couple of weeks later, I get another notice email from PayPal again stating my account is under limited status. Again I email back and forth explaining the situation. Again we get nowhere.
Meanwhile, weeks and weeks have passed since all of this started and suddenly I want to buy something on eBay that requires PayPal payment. Oh no! I can't use my PayPal account because it's frozen. I need a quick resolution. So I call PayPal customer service and speak with the accounts limitation department. After explaining the WHOLE scenario for the 3rd? 4th? I've lost track... time, the CS agent with PayPal says, I can't help you with this you need to speak to our dispute department. So I hold for a dispute agent. After several minutes I have to explaining the WHOLE scenario yet again to this new agent who says, I can't help you with this you need to speak to our accounts limitation specialist. HUH? He just sent me to you! I told him...
We go back and forth several times about how I need to ship back to merchandise in order to get the issue resolved to which I tell him I'd be more than happy to send back the items I NEVER ORDERED IN THE FIRST PLACE... that as soon as DWDS sends me a shipping label, they will get the merchandise back. Until they do we are at an impasse... except there is a problem. I'm still the one being punished and held accountable by the freeze on my PayPal account not allowing me to make any further PayPal purchases.
Does any of this make sense? Why isn't PayPal harassing DWDS since this whole issue began with them in the first place. They are the ones who sent random merchandise that I never ordered and therefore shouldn't have to pay for. Why am I the one being harassed, spending hours and hours of my time trying to resolve something I thought was resolved months ago with my credit card company?!? Seriously? Buyer protection? The PayPal agent said if I had disputed the charges with PayPal instead of my credit card company this wouldn't have been an issue. Okay, my bad. I forgot that I had used PayPal for this order. But I still don't see why that means this is my problem and not the company who is fraudulently listing merchandise as "in-stock" when it's not, and then randomly shipping whatever they want to the customers regardless of what was originally ordered. This all makes no sense to me what-so-ever. Why isn't anyone harassing DWDS? They are the scammers!!
Be Honest About Nutritional Information
Every morning on my way in to work, I think about all the stupid people on the road and think to myself... I should write a blog about that person. But then I get to work and get settled in and forget. It's time to wake up the Glitchy Rants blog! Viva la rants!
So this morning I am blogging about a different sort of annoyance - nutritional information. Now, I'm not one of those hard-core calorie counters like some of the girls I work with are. I don't eat particularly healthy and I'm terrible at dieting. I do still check the nutritional information from time to time to see just how bad some of the food is that I am eating.
Pet Peeve: Why can't the manufacturers just be honest about the serving size? My son really wanted me to buy Pop Tarts for him for breakfast and as an adult, I still love Pop Tarts so who could deny him that simple pleasure? And of course if they are in the house, I'm likely to sneak a couple so I decided to check the nutritional information to see how bad it really is for me.
Serving Size: 1 pastry.
Really? You mean there are actually people out there who open one of the packets (which if you don't know has two pastries in it), take out a single pastry, put it in the toaster, and then find a zip-lock baggie for the other pastry? Come on! The packets have 2 pastries in them, thus the serving size is 2 pastries, not 1!! Stop lying to consumers to make your products look better than they are. Just be honest with us and let us make our own decision on whether or not we are willing to burn off the extra calories that these little heavenly pastries are packed full of... Let's be real here, if a parent is buying Pop Tarts for their child for breakfast, they are obviously not all that concerned about the healthiness of the meal.
Snack food manufacturers are the worst at this. Cookies and chips always have very low serving size counts. Serving Size: 2 cookies Serving Size: 13 chips
How many of you open a pack of Oreos and stop eating after 2 cookies? How many open a bag of chips and put it away after 13 chips?
My favorite are the ones (like the Pop Tart) example above that are pre-packed into a serving, but then the serving size is actually half of that. Take for example a can of pop. I haven't checked one in a while, but a 12oz can of soda used to say servings per container: 2. Really? You are going to drink half of a soda and then put it back in the refrigerator to drink the VERY flat other half tomorrow? Come on!! Who does that??
I do like the whole 100 calorie snack packs that are out now, because it does help portion control to package things with "actual portions" that make you mindful of your calorie count, but I'm not even suggesting all manufacturers do that. Package it however you want. Just be honest about how many calories are in the portion that you have rationed out. If a person wants to eat half the portion to watch their calorie count, let that be on the consumer.
So this morning I am blogging about a different sort of annoyance - nutritional information. Now, I'm not one of those hard-core calorie counters like some of the girls I work with are. I don't eat particularly healthy and I'm terrible at dieting. I do still check the nutritional information from time to time to see just how bad some of the food is that I am eating.
Pet Peeve: Why can't the manufacturers just be honest about the serving size? My son really wanted me to buy Pop Tarts for him for breakfast and as an adult, I still love Pop Tarts so who could deny him that simple pleasure? And of course if they are in the house, I'm likely to sneak a couple so I decided to check the nutritional information to see how bad it really is for me.
Serving Size: 1 pastry.
Really? You mean there are actually people out there who open one of the packets (which if you don't know has two pastries in it), take out a single pastry, put it in the toaster, and then find a zip-lock baggie for the other pastry? Come on! The packets have 2 pastries in them, thus the serving size is 2 pastries, not 1!! Stop lying to consumers to make your products look better than they are. Just be honest with us and let us make our own decision on whether or not we are willing to burn off the extra calories that these little heavenly pastries are packed full of... Let's be real here, if a parent is buying Pop Tarts for their child for breakfast, they are obviously not all that concerned about the healthiness of the meal.
Snack food manufacturers are the worst at this. Cookies and chips always have very low serving size counts. Serving Size: 2 cookies Serving Size: 13 chips
How many of you open a pack of Oreos and stop eating after 2 cookies? How many open a bag of chips and put it away after 13 chips?
My favorite are the ones (like the Pop Tart) example above that are pre-packed into a serving, but then the serving size is actually half of that. Take for example a can of pop. I haven't checked one in a while, but a 12oz can of soda used to say servings per container: 2. Really? You are going to drink half of a soda and then put it back in the refrigerator to drink the VERY flat other half tomorrow? Come on!! Who does that??
I do like the whole 100 calorie snack packs that are out now, because it does help portion control to package things with "actual portions" that make you mindful of your calorie count, but I'm not even suggesting all manufacturers do that. Package it however you want. Just be honest about how many calories are in the portion that you have rationed out. If a person wants to eat half the portion to watch their calorie count, let that be on the consumer.
Monday, January 23, 2012
Never Thought This Could Happen to Me
Well it's come to my attention that my attacker is denying responsibility for his actions, so here is my side of the story. Believe what you want.
My now ex-boyfriend is an alcoholic, and a mean one at that. My first discovery of this was a few months after we had started dating. He got drunk, picked a fight and then went a little berserk, threw his expensive electric razor shattering it into pieces, kicked the bathroom door causing the door handle to go through the wall, chucked a lighter so hard at the office door that it actually put a hole in the door, and then hoisted a wooden outdoor glider chair over his car smashing it into several pieces. I had never seen a display of anger of this magnitude before and it not only frightened me, but I was worried about what else he was going to damage and had called the police to be present while he got his things and got out. I should have stuck with my gut and let that be the end of it, but he called me all day the next day once he had a chance to sober up, telling me how sorry he was, and how he knew he had an alcohol problem and that he couldn't believe he let it get the best of him again... promising that he would never do it again. He had even bought me a new glider chair and promised to repair any damage he had done to the house.
Like a sucker I took him back. He came across so sincere and promised that he was going to quit drinking. And he did, for a few weeks, and things were really good. Then it started slowly back up. A beer here, a few there, until he was drinking on a near daily basis. If I brought it up, he'd make me feel like I was nagging him because he had it under control and wasn't getting drunk. Until of course, he did again. And again another fight erupted... This is where my portion of the blame comes in. In various angry drunken episodes he showed that he not only had the capability of damaging property, but physical violence towards me. He had pinned me down, hit me across the face, of one time I actually hit him back and almost broke his nose, not something I am proud of nor had I ever experienced before, just an instinctive defensive reaction.
Anyway, I should have made him leave. I should have felt self-worth and acknowledge that I deserved better, but I didn't. So here is how it ends:
On Thursday, Jan 19th, I came home from work. My boyfriend wasn't home and my son didn't know where he was. I had to take my son to a school function, a little annoyed that he hadn't been in contact with me to let me know where he was or when he was planning on coming home, I decided not to bother letting him know where we were going. I turned my phone off during the school lecture. Apparently he had decided to spend his day off binge drinking and arrived home drunk at 7pm around the time that the lecture began and texted me to find out where I was. Because I didn't have my phone on, I didn't answer right away. In the 45 minutes that I was in the school lecture, he had texted me 4 times, called about 10 times and left 4 drunken voicemail messages on my phone. I checked my voicemail at 7:45pm and knew right off the bat that he was drunk. I called him back to find out why he was freaking out and let him know why I hadn't taken his calls, but he was too drunk to understand what I was saying to him.
As I was driving up to the house I noticed trash strewn across the street, then as I approached the driveway, I saw the mailbox in pieces at the foot of the drive and realized he had run over the mailbox, caught the trash that was on the curb, and dragged it down the street. I immediately went in the house and began packing his things. I was done with the relationship. I was not going to tolerate any more drunken episodes and I hadn't been happy for some time anyway, so I was ready for him to be gone.
He showed up minutes later at the door and I invited him in to get his things and asked him to leave. He was drunk and rambling and arguing with me. He claimed that he hadn't called and texted my phone in the short time I was gone and denied leaving me 4 voicemail messages so I played them back for him on speakerphone. I told him again that it was over and he needed to get his things and get out. He wasn't listening so I kept repeating it over and over. Finally he hit me across the face, to which instinctively I hit him back. I wish I hadn't because that only angered him more and he hit me 3 more times quite a bit harder. At this point I was VERY fearful and started screaming at my son to call the police. My son took his phone to the utility room of our house to make the call.
As soon as he realized my son was calling the police, he shoved me, knocking me over a TV stand in the bedroom and went after him. I started screaming "Don't you dare lay a finger on my son" and caught up to him a the doorway of the utility room where I tried to position myself between him and my son. He shoved me backward, into my son and then both of us were shoved all the way against the furnace at the back of the utility room where he had us pinned against the furnace. He was shouting and I was shouting back, he took my son's phone and threw it across the room knocking the back and battery out of it. Then he took me by the throat and began choking me. He choked me so hard that I couldn't breathe and I couldn't even call out for him to stop because I couldn't get air. I thought to myself "This is how I'm going to die." Then I thought about my son and between my son fighting back from behind me and me gaining strength from my fear, I was able to turn my head just enough to catch a breath.
He backed off for a moment and said "I'm don't want to hurt you" to which I responded, "YOU ARE HURTING US" and he came at us again pinning us both back against the furnace. We were yelling back and forth at each other and my son kept yelling for me to shut up hoping that if I stopped arguing he would back off again. I did, and he finally let up, giving us a chance to escape from the utility room. He began asking me questions "Why didn't you talk to me? Why didn't you tell me you were unhappy?" I tried to explain to him that I was trying to figure out how to let him know without upsetting him... My son had sneakily grabbed his phone and reassembled the battery and back and slipped off to his bedroom to try to call the police again.
As he realized what my son was up to, he went after him again. I chased after him trying to grab him to stop him from reaching my son. He shoved me hard and my face hit the doorframe of the front door. I immediately got up and tried to get between him and my son again. He pushed both of us against the side of my son's bed and started screaming "I'm not going back to jail. I'm not going to jail" to which I told him, "Then get out! Just leave!" at which time there was a knock on the door as the police arrived at the house. He was startled for a moment which gave both my son and I the opportunity to slip out and open the door to let the officer in. At first he was calm calling out mocking to the officer, "What are you going to do? Arrest me?" The officer began to approach the bedroom door and could tell that he was going to take a physical stance against him so he grabbed his taser. The moment he saw this he slammed the bedroom door and barricaded the door with my son's dresser.
The officer kicked at the door but could not get it open. Meanwhile, my son yelled out "He went out the window! He's outside." To everyone's surprise instead of trying to run away, he came back up to the front door to taunt the officer, laughing mockingly at him. By this time the backup officers had arrived and wedged him in the entryway of the house, got him down on the ground and arrested him.
So that's it. He went to jail, I got a huge swollen black eye, excessive throat pain from being constricted so tightly, along with other bruising on my arm and shoulder, and my son had scratches on his face and arm. All caused by a drunken monster who attacked us for no reason other than not responding within 45 minutes and asking him to leave.
I actually almost felt pity for him because outside of his drunken episodes you could see so much effort to try to become a better man, but he just couldn't give up the alcohol. I even considered appealing to the prosecutors to see if there were any other options besides criminal charges, such as rehabilitation, AA, counseling, etc. But then on Saturday afternoon I spoke to his father who had talked to him from jail and said that he was apologetic but said the charges against him were solely for resisting arrest and denied ever doing anything to myself or my son. This made me lose any sympathy I had for his situation. I thought at least if he felt remorse, or sorrow for what he had done... but to straight up deny any responsibility relinquished any guilt I felt for taking the necessary legal actions against him.
So believe what you want. My son and I have to live with the memory of what REALLY happened for the rest of our lives.
My now ex-boyfriend is an alcoholic, and a mean one at that. My first discovery of this was a few months after we had started dating. He got drunk, picked a fight and then went a little berserk, threw his expensive electric razor shattering it into pieces, kicked the bathroom door causing the door handle to go through the wall, chucked a lighter so hard at the office door that it actually put a hole in the door, and then hoisted a wooden outdoor glider chair over his car smashing it into several pieces. I had never seen a display of anger of this magnitude before and it not only frightened me, but I was worried about what else he was going to damage and had called the police to be present while he got his things and got out. I should have stuck with my gut and let that be the end of it, but he called me all day the next day once he had a chance to sober up, telling me how sorry he was, and how he knew he had an alcohol problem and that he couldn't believe he let it get the best of him again... promising that he would never do it again. He had even bought me a new glider chair and promised to repair any damage he had done to the house.
Like a sucker I took him back. He came across so sincere and promised that he was going to quit drinking. And he did, for a few weeks, and things were really good. Then it started slowly back up. A beer here, a few there, until he was drinking on a near daily basis. If I brought it up, he'd make me feel like I was nagging him because he had it under control and wasn't getting drunk. Until of course, he did again. And again another fight erupted... This is where my portion of the blame comes in. In various angry drunken episodes he showed that he not only had the capability of damaging property, but physical violence towards me. He had pinned me down, hit me across the face, of one time I actually hit him back and almost broke his nose, not something I am proud of nor had I ever experienced before, just an instinctive defensive reaction.
Anyway, I should have made him leave. I should have felt self-worth and acknowledge that I deserved better, but I didn't. So here is how it ends:
On Thursday, Jan 19th, I came home from work. My boyfriend wasn't home and my son didn't know where he was. I had to take my son to a school function, a little annoyed that he hadn't been in contact with me to let me know where he was or when he was planning on coming home, I decided not to bother letting him know where we were going. I turned my phone off during the school lecture. Apparently he had decided to spend his day off binge drinking and arrived home drunk at 7pm around the time that the lecture began and texted me to find out where I was. Because I didn't have my phone on, I didn't answer right away. In the 45 minutes that I was in the school lecture, he had texted me 4 times, called about 10 times and left 4 drunken voicemail messages on my phone. I checked my voicemail at 7:45pm and knew right off the bat that he was drunk. I called him back to find out why he was freaking out and let him know why I hadn't taken his calls, but he was too drunk to understand what I was saying to him.
As I was driving up to the house I noticed trash strewn across the street, then as I approached the driveway, I saw the mailbox in pieces at the foot of the drive and realized he had run over the mailbox, caught the trash that was on the curb, and dragged it down the street. I immediately went in the house and began packing his things. I was done with the relationship. I was not going to tolerate any more drunken episodes and I hadn't been happy for some time anyway, so I was ready for him to be gone.
He showed up minutes later at the door and I invited him in to get his things and asked him to leave. He was drunk and rambling and arguing with me. He claimed that he hadn't called and texted my phone in the short time I was gone and denied leaving me 4 voicemail messages so I played them back for him on speakerphone. I told him again that it was over and he needed to get his things and get out. He wasn't listening so I kept repeating it over and over. Finally he hit me across the face, to which instinctively I hit him back. I wish I hadn't because that only angered him more and he hit me 3 more times quite a bit harder. At this point I was VERY fearful and started screaming at my son to call the police. My son took his phone to the utility room of our house to make the call.
As soon as he realized my son was calling the police, he shoved me, knocking me over a TV stand in the bedroom and went after him. I started screaming "Don't you dare lay a finger on my son" and caught up to him a the doorway of the utility room where I tried to position myself between him and my son. He shoved me backward, into my son and then both of us were shoved all the way against the furnace at the back of the utility room where he had us pinned against the furnace. He was shouting and I was shouting back, he took my son's phone and threw it across the room knocking the back and battery out of it. Then he took me by the throat and began choking me. He choked me so hard that I couldn't breathe and I couldn't even call out for him to stop because I couldn't get air. I thought to myself "This is how I'm going to die." Then I thought about my son and between my son fighting back from behind me and me gaining strength from my fear, I was able to turn my head just enough to catch a breath.
He backed off for a moment and said "I'm don't want to hurt you" to which I responded, "YOU ARE HURTING US" and he came at us again pinning us both back against the furnace. We were yelling back and forth at each other and my son kept yelling for me to shut up hoping that if I stopped arguing he would back off again. I did, and he finally let up, giving us a chance to escape from the utility room. He began asking me questions "Why didn't you talk to me? Why didn't you tell me you were unhappy?" I tried to explain to him that I was trying to figure out how to let him know without upsetting him... My son had sneakily grabbed his phone and reassembled the battery and back and slipped off to his bedroom to try to call the police again.
As he realized what my son was up to, he went after him again. I chased after him trying to grab him to stop him from reaching my son. He shoved me hard and my face hit the doorframe of the front door. I immediately got up and tried to get between him and my son again. He pushed both of us against the side of my son's bed and started screaming "I'm not going back to jail. I'm not going to jail" to which I told him, "Then get out! Just leave!" at which time there was a knock on the door as the police arrived at the house. He was startled for a moment which gave both my son and I the opportunity to slip out and open the door to let the officer in. At first he was calm calling out mocking to the officer, "What are you going to do? Arrest me?" The officer began to approach the bedroom door and could tell that he was going to take a physical stance against him so he grabbed his taser. The moment he saw this he slammed the bedroom door and barricaded the door with my son's dresser.
The officer kicked at the door but could not get it open. Meanwhile, my son yelled out "He went out the window! He's outside." To everyone's surprise instead of trying to run away, he came back up to the front door to taunt the officer, laughing mockingly at him. By this time the backup officers had arrived and wedged him in the entryway of the house, got him down on the ground and arrested him.
So that's it. He went to jail, I got a huge swollen black eye, excessive throat pain from being constricted so tightly, along with other bruising on my arm and shoulder, and my son had scratches on his face and arm. All caused by a drunken monster who attacked us for no reason other than not responding within 45 minutes and asking him to leave.
I actually almost felt pity for him because outside of his drunken episodes you could see so much effort to try to become a better man, but he just couldn't give up the alcohol. I even considered appealing to the prosecutors to see if there were any other options besides criminal charges, such as rehabilitation, AA, counseling, etc. But then on Saturday afternoon I spoke to his father who had talked to him from jail and said that he was apologetic but said the charges against him were solely for resisting arrest and denied ever doing anything to myself or my son. This made me lose any sympathy I had for his situation. I thought at least if he felt remorse, or sorrow for what he had done... but to straight up deny any responsibility relinquished any guilt I felt for taking the necessary legal actions against him.
So believe what you want. My son and I have to live with the memory of what REALLY happened for the rest of our lives.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)