A List of Stuff I Hate

When Blogs End With No Warning

2013-05-14T06:30:00.000-04:00

I follow a few blogs online (mostly food but others, too) and every so often I stumble upon a new one that has ended for absolutely no reason. I'm sure the blogger just got busy and forgot to write, and then all of a sudden it had been 3 years. But I just wish the person would come back and say "yeah this ain't gonna happen again so give up."

I'm not about to say that, but I am here to let you know that I'm going on hiatus. I am going to be working in a medical setting for the foreseeable future. I don't want anyone who sees this blog to think I may have written about a patient or a patient's family (and also I will have very little free time). So for the time being, you will have to go somewhere else for your dose of complaining. I hope I'll be back, but I really want to play it safe for now.

Thanks for listening and laughing!

Red Onion Aftermath

2013-05-02T22:43:00.005-04:00

As a vegetarian, sandwich options are a bit limited for me. They are usually just veggies and cheese and maybe some hummus, and that can get boring. A common addition is red onions, which are tasty and add a nice zing to the meal. However, for the rest of the day I feel like I have terrible breath, and also my hands smell like onions. I chew gum, and brush my teeth and drink a ton of water and wash my hands but it takes forever to go away. For that reason I really dislike eating raw red onions.

UPDATE: You can SOAK red onions in ice water for 10-15 minutes before using and that removes a lot of the bite and harshness from them. I'm cooking this recipe tonight and I'm using that trick. Hope it works or the rest of the night will be horrible.

This

2013-04-15T21:14:00.001-04:00

Two Explosions at Boston Marathon Finish Line - WSJ.com

When People Park and Leave Half a Spot

2013-03-27T16:41:00.000-04:00

(Thanks to Allison for the idea for this post.)

I try not to drive in the city, mostly because no one in Boston knows how to drive, but also because there is usually no place to park. It is therefore so extraordinarily frustrating when you think you find a great parking spot but there is a car parked such that there are two half-spaces surrounding it. Yeah yeah, they could have been parked normally and then the cars around them moved and were replaced by smaller vehicles, so now it looks like they don't know how to park. But in reality, you know that's not what happened. They just decided it wasn't worth letting someone else find a parking spot. Sometimes, I see a person parked between two driveways, and if they just picked one side or the other, two cars could fit, but they chose not to. It's like these people have no idea that other humans exist in the world, and that some of them like to park their cars.

This phenomenon is not just relegated to parallel parking on the street. Sometimes I will see a car straddling the line in a parking lot, stealing two spots, or even three. Are you really in that much of a rush that you can't manage to stick with convention and park between the lines? Or do you really think your 2001 Ford Taurus needs a buffer on both sides to prevent damage? (Hint: It doesn't. It's already a POS.)

The people behind YouParkLikeAnAsshole.com understand my plight. They provide notes you can print out and leave on cars that are not parked appropriately. But if you get caught you may get beat up, which is why I am just complaining to you.

Pool at Hotel but You Didn't Pack a Bathing Suit

2013-03-12T14:48:00.003-04:00

I was away for business last week for two nights. As I checked into the hotel, the receptionist informed me that there was a pool on the 12th floor. WHAT!!! Why did you not tell me this sooner, like before I left home? I hadn't packed a bathing suit, of course, owing to the fact that it was approximately 34 degrees and snowing out. I wasn't about to buy one just for a dip, but had I known it would have been lovely. I guess I should have known to double check the website, as this has actually happened to me before. When will I learn??

Burrito Physics

2013-02-26T08:29:00.002-05:00

I'm currently eating a store-bought burrito for breakfast. Spare time is not something I have a ton of at the moment, so please reserve judgment. Also, it's delicious. (Thank you, Amy!)

Anyway, I'm thoroughly enjoying my non-breakfast burrito except that I am having difficulty with burrito physics. You know what I'm talking about. It's when all the filling works its way to the bottom of the burrito and starts to drip all over your hands and plate. I know this is one of those things that I can't change, but it annoys me anyway. I am eating while typing and I have to keep wiping my hands after every bite. Plus, I've had a few bites with hardly any filling, which is obviously the whole point of eating a burrito in the first place. If I wanted to eat a tortilla I would just just eat one plain from the fridge. Maybe there are more experienced burrito-eaters who do not have this problem, but it's something I cannot prevent.

Also, if "burrito eating" is a metaphor for something nasty in Urban Dictionary that is totally unintentional but might make this post extra hilarious. I'm too lazy/busy to check.

Advertised Gas Station is 3 Miles from the Exit

2013-02-22T17:43:00.000-05:00

It is convenient that highways let you know what amenities are available at the next exit. This is especially important when you are running low on gas. Usually on long trips you want to avoid stopping as much as possible, so stations that are close to the highway are ideal and expected. It really annoys me when you see a sign advertising a gas station at the next exit, only to find that it's not immediately off the exit. Oh no. You keep driving and driving... and finally you discover this gas station is actually 3 miles down the road. I'm sorry, what?!? That is not acceptable!!!

Extra Noises on a Conference Call, Especially Breathing

2013-02-17T13:37:00.002-05:00

I don't much like conference calls with a ton of people on them. 4 or 5, sure you can figure it out, but with 20+ people it is chaos or complete silence excepting the person in charge. I know they are a necessary evil but it's like no one knows what to do. One of the worst things is when people don't have their phones muted and you can hear them talking to a friend, walking through a wind tunnel, or breathing into the speaker like it's an oxygen mask. WTF people. Especially the breathing, what is up with that? It is weird and creepy and totally distracting. I was on a call a few weeks ago and I could hardly pay attention. I kept imaging Darth Vader on the call. "Luke... I'm on an important call."

FYI:
Breathe = (verb) to inhale
Breath = (noun) an inhalation
eg. Remember to breathe by taking a deep breath.

People mess those up a lot and it's dumb. Stop doing that.

Grocery Store on a Sunday Night

2013-02-03T16:08:00.004-05:00

The grocery store on a Sunday night is a horrifying place. First of all, most of the produce is gone, so that you are left to choose between one semi-rotted red pepper and one semi-rotted yellow pepper. The cilantro you hoped to buy for a delicious meal later that week? Only scraps of leaves can be located on the bottom of the shelf. Secondly, everything that was on sale is gone. Don't bother to get your hopes up because the cheese you wanted is sold out. Third, the place is a disaster zone, like everyone ran through and uprooted boxes of cereal on their way to the cheese section. You can forget about finding a plastic bag for those bruised apples; those are all missing in action. The floors are dirty, the shelves are disorganized, and shopping carts litter the parking lot. Also, somehow the store is still crowded, even though there is hardly any food left. It's just a bunch of people wandering the aisles hoping they hid the avocados somewhere between the rice pilaf and Uncle Ben's.

I usually try to food shop Sunday mornings, because it is peaceful, empty and the shelves are full. But sometimes I am out of town, or I have to work early on the weekend (that will probably be another post someday) or I'm trying to get laundry done before everyone else does (another popular Sunday activity). Somehow, I always know the store is going to get me angry, and yet I can't help going back. This is two weekends in a row. Shame on me.

When You're Running Late and There is Traffic

2013-01-17T08:58:00.001-05:00

In this case, actually, I was running late this morning and the subway is experiencing delays due to a disabled train. So now I'm really really late which makes me so stressed out. The same thing goes for traffic though, and that's probably more applicable to my (tiny) blog audience. It seems like when you're late you always miss the lights, get cut off, or get stuck behind someone who goes 2mph through the toll booth. It's probably just a heightened awareness of these things, as they likely happen with the same frequency when you're not in a rush, but it still seems like the world is personally attacking you.

Writer's Block

2013-01-10T14:58:00.004-05:00

I'm supposed to be working on the introduction to my dissertation, but seriously, there is so much to cover that I am completely overwhelmed, and I don't even know what to say. I wish I could have a glass of wine in lab. That would certainly help me get words down on paper, although who knows if they would be coherent. "Then the cells do a tiny little dance and it is just magic how I did the experiment! ;-P"

Or perhaps I just need to pay someone to slap me. That would at least keep me off Facebook. GAH I hate writing sometimes.

Rebooking Fees

2013-01-07T11:21:00.000-05:00

A few months ago I went on vacation, and it was lovely. A few weeks before we left I realized the cost of my flight had decreased by $250. I called the airline for a price adjustment and all they essentially did was change the price of my ticket. However, in order to do so, they had to cancel my ticket and then rebook me, a task that apparently costs $150 to perform. I don't really understand why it costs that much. Is the service rep on the phone being paid $600 per hour and so the fee pays for 15 minutes of her time? If that is the case, then it's no wonder airlines charge all sorts of ridiculous fees--it's to pay their employees an absurd amount (also if that is true, I am definitely changing jobs). Is it because it requires a lot of paperwork to change a passenger's documentation? Unlikely, because even though airlines and their employees sometimes seem very disorganized and painfully slow, I'm pretty sure they've upgraded to electronic records. And what about the issue of revenue dilution, aka, if you cancel and the airline looses the money because they can't resell the seat? Hotels, rental car agencies, even massage therapists all have a cancelation policy. I'm sure airline CEOs are smart enough to understand that. And with priceline.com and other discount flight locators, airlines should easily be able to sell a flight even at half the price, and fill the seat.
So seriously, can anybody explain this? How are airlines able to get away with this? What if other types of businesses started going with this model? "You want to change your hair appointment? That is totally fine. It will be a $150 rebooking fee, however."

Crazy Christmas Drivers

2012-12-23T12:32:00.000-05:00

I love Christmas. Who doesn't? I love the spirit, the music, the beautiful lights everywhere... But I hate (HATE!) all the crazy people driving around. I'm not sure if they only drive during the month of December and are out of practice, or if they are too busy belting out Christmas carols to check their blind spots, but it seems like Christmas and the associated shopping really brings out the worst in drivers. Parking lots become war zones, with every spot worth battling to the death for. Cars zoom out of side streets across two lanes of traffic. Every mall and shopping center entrance causes a traffic jam for a mile in advance. And if you think I'm exaggerating the last piece then you obviously were not driving through Connecticut yesterday. What a mess! Luckily I'm holed up inside today eating my mom's cookies and watching Christmas movies. Here's hoping we don't run out of hot cocoa, because there is no way I'm driving anywhere today.

Bags on Seats

2012-12-19T11:55:00.001-05:00

I currently have a bad cold, which is terrible, obviously, because who likes being sick? Certainly not me. I worked from home yesterday, since I wasn't doing any experiments and had planned to spend the day working on chapter 1 of my dissertation. This morning I managed to get myself to work (we're having a holiday party at lunch that I didn't want to miss out on!). I was a bit slow in the morning, as one often is while under the weather, so I took the train after rush hour had already finished. I was looking forward to grabbing a seat and listening to a podcast during the 25-minute ride. There were only 3 seats not occupied by human bottoms, but instead of being able to sit in them, they were being misappropriated by someone's bag. Look, lady. Your backpack is a cheep POS, and doesn't need to be on a seat by itself. I know it's only there instead of on your lap because you want to play a lame-o game on your phone. Why don't you look up from the screen for 2 seconds and notice the red-nosed sniffling girl in front of you and the elderly man to your left and move your giant bag to your lap or the floor where it belongs.

Yeah, yeah, I could have asked one of these individuals to move their stuff so I could sit down, but I'm not a particularly confrontational person, and also was seriously lacking the energy to do so due to the aforementioned cold. I feel like we need booklet listing the expected behaviors for public transit riders. Maybe the 10 commandments of public transportation: 1) Thou shalt never put thy bags on a seat. 2) Thou shalt always move as far into the bus/train/etc. as possible. 3) Thou shalt not roll thy eyes when asked to make room for another passenger. 4) Thou shalt not play music, sing, or be otherwise disruptive to fellow passengers. 5) Thou shalt always have thy pass ready, or else let prepared individuals enter the train or station ahead of thee.

I'm sure there are others, and even others that I have written about here, but it's almost lunch time. It's a start at least.

People who Shoot Innocent People

2012-12-14T14:46:00.001-05:00

WHAT THE FUCK?! Pardon my profanity but seriously, WHAT THE FUCK. How are so many people in this country so messed up in the head that they take weapons into schools, malls, movie theaters, and other public places and just open fire on people they don't even know. Or even on people they do know!
I know both sides of the gun control debate will have arguments in light of the latest school shooting (on innocent CHILDREN!!!) and I know there will be many discussions on what can be done, but I think we can all agree, no matter what your stance, that something has to be done. I'll be honest in that I don't know what is best. More gun control? Arm teachers and other public workers? Police officers and metal detectors in every school? Better gun education? Changing the "gun culture" of the US? Now that the elections are decided, I hope--no, beg Congress to please have a discussion about what we can do as a country to eliminate these horrible and repulsive shooting sprees. Sign this petition to let your voice be heard: http://wh.gov/RNew

When People Don't Push in Their Chairs

2012-11-28T17:10:00.000-05:00

I was at a seminar today and the room was set up with a bunch of long skinny tables in narrow rows, and chairs behind them for people to sit. After the seminar was over, we all got up to leave. However, my path was impeded by multiple chairs because people just stood up and didn't push in their chairs. Yeah, okay, it wasn't a huge deal for me to move the 4 chairs in so I could get by, but this happens all the time in other places (the library, restaurants, my office conference room [*coughcough* all my office-mates who read this]) and it pisses me off! Maybe this is just one of those things that drives me bananas but it makes no sense at all, like my hatred for windshield wiper overuse. Except there it doesn't even impact me at all, and here there is a chair physically in my way. I'd like to say that today is just an especially cranky day for me since I have a lot going on at school and in life, but that would be a total lie; the chair non-pushing-in thing annoys me even on the best of days. In summary, be polite, and push in your chairs. Always.

Flight Delays

2012-11-02T23:29:00.001-04:00

Does this really need any explanation? Who likes inefficient airlines that put you off schedule and potentially cause you to miss connections? The answer is no one, and least of all me. I am currently waiting for a flight and every ~25 minutes they make an announcement that the flight is delayed another half hour (we're up to 1:30 now). Luckily we're on vacation with no further connections, and we're passing time at the bar. But really, I'd prefer to be at my final destination so I can drink a beer there.

That Not a Single Person in my Office Brought in Leftover Halloween Candy

2012-11-01T10:18:00.000-04:00

The day after Halloween is essentially Grown-ups Eat Candy Day. Parents get to eat the "gross" candy their kids don't want (I'm looking at you Almond Joys. I used to give those all to my mom but now I love them) and all grown-ups everywhere wind up with two and a half pounds of extra trick-or-treat candy. Tradition states that if you have extra junk food you don't want in the house, you bring it to work. Duh. However, it seems that no one in my office got that memo this year. I don't believe that no one had any extra candy lying around, and I was very excited to eat some today. Fortunately, some kind souls in my building put out some bowls of candy last night and left them out, and I was smart enough to grab a few Fun Sized Snickers on the way out the door. I'll have to ration them to make them last all day.

When You Have an Idea for a Great Blog Post and Then You Forget It

2012-10-18T12:11:00.002-04:00

Sometimes something happens to me, and I get angry and I think, "I should blog about this!" But then I don't write it down and I forget and you end up with crappy posts like this. #weaksauce

Checked Bag Fees

2012-10-05T18:22:00.001-04:00

I hate checked bag fees. Yeah they're a rip off and annoy me for that reason, but actually, I hate them primarily because it means that everyone brings as much as they can as a carry on. This causes a huge back-up during boarding as people try to cram their too-large bags into the overhead bins. You have to wait in an excessively long and slow line in the jetway which is always either uncomfortably hot or cold, and you're lugging your heavy bag, and wishing you had just stayed seated in the waiting area. But, of course you couldn't do that because if you did, all the overhead bin space would be completely full, and like the other people who board toward the end, you'd have to check your bag at the gate despite that it is a normal size.

Waiting While on the Phone with Tech Support

2012-10-02T12:05:00.001-04:00

I'm going on a vacation in November (yay!) and I recently noticed that the price of my flight dropped by $250. Sweeeeeet! I called the airline for a price adjustment, and they gave it to me (although they subtracted a $150 "rebooking" fee, which I was so mad about but will not go into at the moment). In order to confirm the amount of the price difference, the airline representative had to look up the flights on her computer. I don't know what was happening but it took foreverrrrrr. And it was so awkward on the phone sitting there in silence while her computer did it's thing. Every 30 seconds or so she would say, "I'm not sure why it's taking so long" or "Sorry the computer seems to be very slow today" or "Still waiting for it to load." And every time I had to say, "It's ok" or "Don't worry about it" or "That's fine."

Every time a similar situation occurs, I think back to a previous roommate of mine who was trying to get her new wireless router to work with my ancient laptop. The computer was so slow and old that if it wasn't plugged in while I turned it on, the battery would be completely depleted from the effort. Anyway, my roomie was on the phone with tech support when the man on the other end of the line asked her to reboot my computer. After a few minutes, he said, "When it's back on, open the Control Panel" to which she replied, "It's not even done turning off yet." About 8 minutes of awkward chit chat ensued. When I got home several hours later my roommate let me know I should get a new laptop and that I owed her big time.

Shopping Cart Chaos

2012-09-20T18:16:00.002-04:00

(This post is for Amanda, who desires order in supermarket parking lots as much as I do.)

I hate when people leave their shopping carts in inappropriate locations, which means every place except for in specified shopping cart storage zones. Here are some of the reasons why people don't follow this simple rule of society and my explanation of why those excuses are BS:

"I'm in a rush." Oh, and the person who arrives at the store 20 minutes from now and can't park because your shopping cart is blocking a spot, isn't in a rush? That may be you next time, and let me tell you it is SO frustrating. Please, it takes maybe 20 seconds, if that, to return your shopping carts to where they belong.
"I have children in the car." Lots of people have children, and lots of people still return their shopping carts. Don't you want to set a good example for them? Teach your children respect for other human beings, and do what is right. Don't be a lazy jerkface and don't raise lazy jerkface children. Put your cart back.
"I put them on a curb so they're not in the way." That's like saying that you throw your trash on the ground but not in a location where people will really see it so it's totally okay. No, it's still littering. I don't understand why you would take extra time to move the cart out of the way, but refuse to bring it back to its rightful location.
"It is someone's job to collect the carts so I'm helping them keep their job." Do you think that is someone's exclusive job, to collect carts? Doubtful. That person needs to stock shelves, straighten up the aisles, do inventory, etc. They are busy and don't need to trek outside in 20 degree rainy weather to collect your shopping cart because you used some lame excuse to justify your laziness. It's someone's job to give out tickets for running red lights, too. Maybe you should use your "logic" and start supporting the jobs of police officers.

No matter what excuse you use it boils down to not having enough respect for your fellow people: For those who will have to put the carts in their rightful location, and for the other shoppers. I truly believe respect is one of the most important characteristics to have. Respect for people's property, life, religion, personal space, time.... Whatever it is, remember that the people around you are human beings, just like you, and they have feelings, just like you. So the next time you're at the grocery store, and you're "super busy and in a rush," think about the busy worker collecting your discarded cart, and how they are also busy and how much they hate you at that moment. Then put your cart away properly.

Text Message Spam

2012-09-14T11:23:00.000-04:00

I don't get too many text messages, maybe 2 or 3 a day unless I start a little conversation with someone. So I get pretty psyched when my phone makes the little "bleep" noise that signifies a new text. It just happened like 3 minutes ago and I was like, "Ooooo I wonder who that is!!" It was SPAM. Bustoskarate@aol.com wanted to let me know that the "Back to Busto's" One Day Sale is TODAY! Also if I join BBC membership [whatever that is??] I will get get sparring gear FREE! OMG I AM SO EXCITED THAT I-- oh wait I'm not excited at all. First of all I don't think I want to go to a karate place called "Busto's." I'm pretty much picturing Rex Kwan Do. Secondly, and more importantly, don't send me text message spam! My texts are a special place for my friends to make my day happier by 160 characters, or perhaps to quickly convey a small amount of information. I don't need to know about karate sales or any of the other things I have received spam text messages about (usually XXX sites, so actually this one was pretty tame by comparison). I don't like spam in general, whether by snail mail or email, but for some reason it seems more annoying by phone than any other way.

Tailgating

2012-09-10T16:41:00.004-04:00

Let's get one thing straight right off the bat. This post is not about the pre-football game tradition of eating food and drinking beer in the parking lot. If that was your first reaction, then your opinion of me must be very low, because who doesn't love a good tailgate party with friends?

Instead this post is about the other type of tailgating -- when people attempt the world's record for smallest distance between moving cars. Tailgating is dangerous and irritating. Sometimes I wish I had an electronic scrolling sign on the back of my car so I could program it to say things like "Please stop tailgating me." (It would also useful for "Turn off your brights" or "Your left blinker has been on for 4 miles.")

Tailgating always annoys me, but it angers me the most when I am 1) not in the left lane and 2) there is no one in the lane next to me. If I'm driving at or slightly over the speed limit, and I'm in the right-most lane, and no one is in the middle lane, why the &@%*^! are you riding my bumper?? Use your excessive need for speed, and go around me! The right lane is for the slow folks, and the lanes get progressively faster as you move to the left. Look, I hate a slow driver in the left lane, just like you do, which is why I'm not driving there! UGH just writing this post is making me angry!

Difficulty Walking up Stairs

2012-09-05T18:25:00.001-04:00

I don't mean to brag, but I'm in pretty good shape. This past Saturday I did a 40 mile bike ride followed by a 4 mile run, then on Sunday I did a 12 mile hike and ran 3 hilly miles after. I'm not saying this to make you feel bad that you spent the holiday weekend laying on the beach drinking beer or went to four barbecues and ate your weight in potato chips (I'm jealous, btw). I'm telling you this because I just walked up three flights of stairs and I want to die. I mean, I'm out of breath and my quads are burning and I do not understand it. What the heck! *gasp*