Archive for the 'Annoyances' Category

We got hit with a “winter weather storm” here in North Carolina, and it was a colossal disappointment. A forecast 1 to 3 inches of snow (with a 1/4 inch of ice on top of that) turned out to be a light dusting, most of which melted in a few hours time. It seems like every state in the US has gotten tons of snow this winter; it even snowed in the Arizona desert! But does North Carolina get anything? Not around here. It’s like we’re cursed or something.

Some time ago, my family tried out digital cable. We were thoroughly unimpressed at the ‘digital quality’ and subsequently dropped the service. But strangely enough, the digital artifacts that annoyed us so greatly are now showing up in the analog signal. We routinely see compression issues and dropped areas in the picture, and it only seems to be getting worse. Is Time Warner digitally encoding the signal before they send it out on the analog line? It sure seems like they are, but I don’t see the benefit in doing that. Maybe it’s cheaper on their end? Does anyone else with cable see this problem?

I had the great fortune of being rear-ended tonight while coming home from work. What a wonderful Christmas present, delivered early for my enjoyment! I wanted more than anything to spend the next several days dealing with insurance, collision shops, and going without a car. Whee!

It turns out that DreamHost does not allow system() calls to be executed from PHP. This nugget of knowledge essentially throws a gigantic monkey wrench into my plans for the photo album software I’m writing. I was planning on allowing the large thumbnail creation process to run in the background, while the user continued to do whatever else they wanted. Since I can’t spawn another process, these plans are shot.

So here’s what I plan to do for the time being: instead of using two thumbnails (100 x 100 and 640 x 480) and a base image (1024 x 768), I’m switching to one thumbnail (100 x 100) and a base image (800 x 600). It’s not what I had planned, but it’ll have to do for now. Thoughts? Suggestions? Sympathy?

I’ve been meaning for some time to comment on several fast food commercials that have been airing on TV. I find each one quite repulsive, and each motivates me to stay away from its respective establishment.

First up is a McDonald’s ad. In it, a team of girl soccer players plays a game on an incredibly muddy field. I guess that the McDonald’s folks are trying to appeal to those who have a thing for mud-covered young women. But what really gets me is what the narrator (one of the girls in the ad, presumably) says. She tells the viewer that she is someone. And not just someone, but someone like you. So, are they trying to say that if you work at McDonald’s you’re a nobody? Or some kind of freak? I’ve certainly never thought that way of McDonald’s employees. While I do consider McDonald’s among the lower echelons of the job pool, I don’t go around each day making fun of those people. It’s sad that McDonald’s own self image is so poor. I guess it’s somewhat deserved, however.

Next up, is any Hardee’s ad that’s aired in the past few years. Hardee’s has tried vigorously to change its image, after suffering incredible setbacks a number of years ago. Their new image strives to be “tough” or “macho.” But, at least to me, they end up being homoerotic. There’s something about listening to two scruffy guys chew that’s just not appealing. I get a major case of the jibblies any time I see one of these. Jibbly jibbly.

Finally are the recent Wendy’s ads. What’s up with the off key whistling that goes on? It’s not musical and it’s incredibly disturbing. I really miss Dave Thomas; his ads were simple and to the point.

I don’t know what it is with ads these days, but the quality has really gone down the toilet. Not that ads were that good to begin with.

It’s time for a rant that I’ve been saving for some time now.

I spend more time these days walking the virtual aisles of Amazon.com than I do the aisles of a brick and mortar store. And I couldn’t be happier. No lines, no travel, and no hassles from the sales staff. But I have become startlingly desensitized to the actual shopping experience. I recently went into the local Best Buy in the hopes of looking at a Canon A620. Not only did they not have a Canon A620, their camera selection was literally worse than the Wal-Mart next door (I know because I drove over there to look).

Immediately upon entering the Best Buy camera department, one of the oh-so-helpful sales staff came up and, unsurprisingly, asked if I needed help. I said no, he said OK, then followed that with something which I have yet to fully understand (he said it all so fast). The only part I truly remember were the words “non-commission.” After realizing they didn’t have what I wanted, I began to wander around the store aimlessly, pondering the Best Buy shopping experience as a whole.

The particular store I happened to visit is surprisingly small. As a result, each aisle is, quite literally no more than 2 or 3 feet wide. Two people can barely pass each other on any given aisle, making it difficult to even browse their merchandise. I wouldn’t be surprised if some of the more obese shoppers occasionally get stuck, requiring the aid of the local rescue squad and the Jaws of Life to extract them from their predicament.

As I’m wandering around, I casually glance at their CD collection. They have absolutely nothing from my wish list. Which isn’t too surprising, considering that I’m into some rather obscure music. But I’ve been to Best Buy stores in the past looking for the staples, stuff like Abbey Road and Pet Sounds, and they didn’t have either. How shocking is that?

As I’m leaving the store, disappointed in my quest and vowing never to return, a Best Buy manager busily chased after another guy who was also leaving. This particular individual had a bag with what looked like both an item and a receipt, but the manager kept insisting on writing him a citation. If the local police force is turning to Best Buy employees for help, we’re all doomed. Doomed I tells ya!

This final little charade a least brought a smile to my face. Something that the Best Buy shopping experience has never done. Or never will do. Why go to a store that doesn’t have what I want, charges higher prices, is cramped, and has surly employees? Until I can find an answer to that question, I’ll be doing my best to avoid all Best Buy outlet stores. I couldn’t be happier.

This week, Circuit City is selling Half-Life 2: Episode 1 for $8. You read that right: eight dollars. I paid $17.95, thinking I was getting a “pre-order discount.” Although I am aware that I recently said I’d gladly pay $19.95 again for another episode, I’m afraid that this revelation has changed my mind. Never again will I pre-order a game from Valve. It’s highway robbery, plain and simple.

Another thing that I’m mildly annoyed with is that episodes 1 through 3 are Half-Life 3, according to Gabe Newell. What? So why aren’t they being called Half-Life 3: Episode X? Well, it seems that the folks at Valve screwed up. Things seem to be getting a little sloppy over there. Could this be the beginning of the end? I certainly hope not.