argh!!!!!!!!!
Mood:  irritated
Now Playing: the screaming children outside
Topic: Rants
Now I know that it's only 7:30, not late at all... but the damn kids are just screaming outside and I'm having a hell of a time with this assignment. Every time I think I'm onto something, I hear the little brats yelling to eachother... grrrrrrrrr

I think I'm going to go ask them to shut the hell up!!!!

Is it bad... (rant)
Mood:  irritated
Now Playing: Eminem
Topic: Rants


To be as skeptical as I am?

Okay, here's the thing........ now listen up, all of you blog readers, because this is important - I HATE FORWARDS! Now, this is not to say that I hate ALL forwards, just MOST of them.

Forwards you shouldn't send me:

Anything that you haven't verified on snopes.com
Anything that specifies the number of people you need to send this on to
Anything that says if you don't forward, something bad will happen
Anything that says if you DO forward, something good will happen

Forwards that are okay to send me:

Jokes
Silly little quiz things
Good stories
Funny or inspirational quotes
Links to good websites
Other forwards that have been found true on snopes.com


Why this rant? You probably figured it out already... I got an email today (forward) from a coworker warning me about some serial killer in Louisiana that is luring women by saying they dropped a $5 bill. Now, it is always a good idea to be cautious when going to malls, driving at night, walking alone, etc., but I am so tired of hearing these stories about serial killers luring women with knock-out perfume samples, flyers placed in rear windows, hiding under cars with knives, etc. 90% of all forwards I get are bullshit. Virus warnings, communist plots, whatever.

To all of you paranoid people who forward this crap, please just use COMMON SENSE! If it sounds outlandish, it's probably not true. If it even sounds credible, it's probably still not true. I started on this crusade a year or two ago when one of the project managers at work handed me a chain letter from a kid that was dying and was part of the make-a-wish program... it was this kid's dream to get the biggest collection of business cards and make it into the Guinness book of world records. I retyped the letter and started making up the envelopes, but then I decided that I might want to research this a bit. So I used a search engine and that's when I happened upon the wonderful resource of snopes.com. Here's what I found:
There really is a Craig Shergold, and he did have cancer. In 1989 an appeal was made on behalf of this then 9-year-old English boy afflicted with a terminal brain tumor. Young Craig wanted to be in the Guinness Book of World Records for having received the most greeting cards. By 1990, 16 million cards had arrived, and his wish had come true. (According to the 1997 edition of that book, by May 1991 he had collected 33 million.)
Ah, but that was then, and this is now. Shergold's tumor was successfully removed in March 1991, and this lad (born 24 June 1979) is now a healthy young man. However, like the implements in the Sorceror's Apprentice, the cards and letters have proved impossible to stop -- they just keep rolling in. Several versions of the Craig Shergold appeal still circulate, and almost every one of them now asks for business cards, not greeting cards. (In yet another form of the same hoax, compliments slips are solicited.)

I'll give you the top searches for today - now, some of these are true or have some bit of truth to them, but not all of them. If you want more info, go to www.snopes.com.

Various items about Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts and Teresa Heinz Kerry.

Glade plug-in air fresheners pose a fire hazard.


Photographs of a statue made by Kalat, an Iraqi sculptor.


Computer virus: WTC Survivor.


A scheme for carjacking that involves placing fliers on rear windshields.


Sears pays the difference in salaries and maintains benefits for their called-up reservist employees.

About the Annie Jacobsen/WomensWallStreet.com article -- did she encounter terrorists on an airline flight who were making a dry run at assembling a bomb on-board? (24 July 2004)

Missing child alert: Penny Brown.


How a Budweiser employee handled Arabs celebrating the 9/11 attack.


Did President Bush misspeak at a right-to-life rally and repeatedly say 'feces' instead of 'fetus'? (19 July 2004)

Teenagers are playing deadly games of Spunkball by throwing lit, gasoline-soaked rags into cars.

A large number of UPS uniforms are "missing" and presumed to have been acquired by terrorists.

Microsoft's Bill Gates is paying people to forward an e-mail message.



I've probably gotten about 8 of these....... Let me just tell you right off the ones that are outright false: Penny Brown, Bush, Spunkball, UPS, and Bill Gates. The others I haven't really looked at, but I'm willing to bet half of those aren't true, either.



I have noticed that I get less of those emails now, though - probably because I humiliate whoever sends them by doing a "reply to all" and giving them the link to the appropriate item on snopes. Here's the last email I sent: http://www.snopes.com/crime/warnings/batonrouge.asp

She's right, better safe than sorry, but whenever I get these forwards, I always check www.snopes.com - it's an urban legends page.


That's not too bitchy, is it? I don't think it is... just informative.

Basically, just use common sense. Keep your virus definitions up to date, don't go anywhere by yourself, don't pull over for an unmarked cop car in a deserted place, be wary of strangers, blah, blah, blah. Oh, and yeah - lock your doors. Duh. This kid in my neighborhood comes up to me last week and says, "You need to lock your car doors, because there've been break-ins around here and kids/people are stealing stuff like change out of cars." Now I live in a decent neighborhood, but I still lock my doors! We don't open our doors to people we don't know, etc. It's just common sense, you know?? I think what really happened is that the kids (and I mean kids, because I have a feeling who is doing it) are going into cars with unlocked doors. And really, if you leave your doors unlocked and have something of value sitting in the open, that's just stupid. Even if your doors are locked - if you leave your purse sitting on your seat, isn't that just asking for trouble??

Okay, I'm done... sorry. Just a little fired up!

Have my hellacious night tonight, then Monday night football. Go Packers!!

argh
Mood:  irritated
Topic: Rants
I can't even check the weather right now because there is some kind of stupid parental control set on this damn computer. I guess that I'm going to have to log off and check the weather from Kurtis's account. I wonder if he did that on purpose just to play a trick on me or if it was an accident.

Getting ready now to go to Herndon. The cats are being crazy, I think they're mad because Kurt isn't here.

blah
Mood:  down
Topic: Rants
The car that I really want on Ebay I finally bid on... and was outbid within an hour! It's still below the KBB value, so I may raise my bid. I'm going to wait until tomorrow and see how I feel about it. Since it's inspected, I don't feel quite as reserved about upping my bid. I'm still looking at other cars, but I really want that one... it's in great shape and although it's a 96, it has less than 70k miles on it. I'm hoping to sell my Jetta for $2,000... it really doesn't need that much work done to it, and I may just bite the bullet and get everything fixed that needs to be and get it inspected so that I can sell it for a little more. The KBB value is still $2400 in the shape that it's in now, so I'm pretty sure that I could sell it for $2000 even without fixing the exhaust. Hmmm.

Anyone need a car?

Asinine co-worker/fantasy league member
Mood:  on fire
Now Playing: Build me up buttercup
Topic: Rants

One of the people who didn't show up for our Fantasy Football party on Sunday had the AUDACITY to send me a smartass email. It pissed me off horribly, but thankfully I stopped myself from saying, "F-U, asshole, thanks for calling!!" I composed a reply and sent it to Kurtis and the two other coworkers who attended the party. Bob told me that he liked my reply, but Kurtis told me that I shouldn't lower myself by replying in terms that this jerk would understand. Following is the email that prompted my outrage:

HOW 'BOUT THEM COWBOYS?!

Well, I lost the fantasy playoffs, but that Texas ass-whooping of the Redskins sufficiently comforted me. As Jerry McGuire said, "Show me the money"!!Don't take it too hard, the Cowboys are just a superior team. See ya in the playoffs! Oops, I forgot....the Skins AND the Pansies both missed out. See ya in the funny papers.


Following is the reply that I was going to send:

Uh, no, sorry. The Cowboys aren't a superior team, the Redskins just suck. You'll see soon enough when the Cowboys lose in the wildcard playoffs.

HOW 'BOUT THAT THING ON THE WALL CALLED A TELEPHONE?!

Where the hell were you on Sunday, anyway? Even Dallas fans know that common courtesy is to make a phone call when you aren't going to show up at someone's house! I think that was rude of you to not call us.

I'll have your money on Friday; I spent my last $20 on wasted food for the party.


Instead, I used Kurtis's diplomatic suggestion:

Yes, I was disappointed the Skins lost, it seemed as though they just called the game in, knowing their season was over. I was more disappointed that you didn't show or call, which resulted in a lot of food being wasted.

I'll have your money on Friday.

*sigh* At the very least, he won't be invited to our house anymore! Hopefully Kurtis won't go with him to the Army-Navy game anymore, too. It seems that the past two years that he's gone he hasn't had a good time, and that isn't just because Army lost.

That's it for now, I'm still cooling down.