Random Rants
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I have two Rotties, and people ask me once in a blue moon why I worry about defending myself when I have them. I actually come unglued when they say that.
I've raised these two since they were pups, all they want is to sleep and make me happy, and some coward thinks it's a good idea for me to send them down to fight with their faces because they are so spineless they can't do it for themselves?
Fuck off. I defend my house for my family, and that includes the dogs.Same, but I'm not always at home, and I don't mind a big ass dog with protective instincts satisfying his genetic intent as part of the package whether I am or not. Push comes to shove, your dogs probably feel the same way about protecting your family that you do. My wife is not trained in any kind of self-defense.
That said, we've socialized him so much it's hard to imagine him doing so.
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We thought the same until they were between 1 and 2 years old (maybe a little later for Lia).
Something in them switched over in them at that time and they didn't want us to talk or touch another person, including each other.
They grew out of it but it was pretty interesting to watch the change.
I'm too lazy to look up the study to reference, but violent felons were interviewed when they were in prison and the three deterrents to home invasion were in this order:
1. Getting shot by the homeowner (specifically shot, they were largely unimpressed with knives/blunt weapons/pepper spray).
2. Getting eaten by your dog.
3. The police showing up.It was a good article, I think it was from the 90s.
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i could send you some tripas.
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It seems everyone in Pa. is armed to the teeth break-ins are rolling the dice.
Short barrel shotguns can be inexpensive and hold 5-8 shells
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I just made the mistake of looking at my 401k after the rockiest week the market has had in a decade. ???
Same. Mine went down $5k in 2 months [emoji107]
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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A good friend of mine is a very serious practitioner of T'ai Ch'i. This photo is of his teacher Master Lee in 1972, the ritual is called the Iron Shirt. I have a few iron shirts now but nothing quite like this.
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It is strange that people say Happy Holidays on Christmas, @Dion. I don't have a dog in this fight, but I do find "people's" overly cautious nature about saying Merry Christmas funny.
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Eh, I don't see why it's a big deal. Hanukkah, Christmas, New Year's, Megatron's birthday- all the major holidays are in December. It's easier to say "Happy Holidays" and cover the bases. Though usually I just respond with, "you, too" to whatever people say to me.
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See? Easy and accurate.
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Eh, I don't see why it's a big deal. Hanukkah, Christmas, New Year's, Megatron's birthday- all the major holidays are in December. It's easier to say "Happy Holidays" and cover the bases. Though usually I just respond with, "you, too" to whatever people say to me.
Agree. We live in such a diverse society that it's hard to know who celebrates what, so saying Happy Holidays is just a generic way of communicating the holiday spirit to someone who may not celebrate it x-mas specifically. I don't celebrate x-mas personally outside of giving gifts to my son. There's no tree, no lights, nothing.
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I don't want to rain on anyone's parade and don't like to participate in ranting on the internet but I do dislike the tendency that Merry Christmas is being degenerated into Happy Holidays.
The exact reason that I said Happy Holidays this year, due to last year I posted Merry Christmas and some one replied what about Hanukkah. Funny thing is the person isn't Jewish. Next year I won't post.
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Ultimately, as far as holiday greetings go, someone is attempting to wish you well. You can get bent out of shape at the presumption that you celebrate a certain holiday, or you can let it go, take the win that someone tried to say something nice to you, and return the favor. The latter seems easier and I'm lazy.
Besides that, if someone wishing you a "Merry Christmas" or a "Happy Holidays" has any bearing whatsoever on your holiday spirits, you're doing it wrong.
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today's random rant:
I ordered a hat on the 19th and it was scheduled to be delivered on 12/22. Something happened along the way and for some reason my package got diverted to Wisconsin, came back briefly to Minnesota and then get rerouted to St.Louis, Missouri instead of staying in Minnesota which is where I live. I realize that all the mail carriers get bombarded every holiday season but this circuituous route by USPS takes the cake
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I ordered a pair of shoes on Nike's SNKRS app about 20 days ago. I was "in line" on the app and had no idea if I was selected to buy the shoes I would automatically be checked out without requiring me to verify shipping information…. I was selected, automatically checked out, and the shoes were to be sent to my old office address. I realized this less than 10 minutes after buying the shoes. I contacted Nike. They tell me I have to wait until the shoes have a label generated for them and then I can update the address (wrong). Fast forwarding I spend another solid hour on the phone over the course of multiple calls dealing with multiple Nike reps trying to get the address updated after the label was generated to little avail (one even tells me the opposite and that if I had called within 30 minutes of the order I could have updated it then). All of this because Nike does not allow the recipient to communicate with the shipping company and edit the delivery address or preferences in any way. So instead I have to deal with their less than stellar customer service. Finally someone arranges for me to pickup the shoes at a FedEx office. I show up to pick up the shoes. Literally 30 minutes before I got there Nike requests the shoes be returned. At this point I'm pretty pissed. I call again. Get hold of someone who is clueless. So I call again and have my issue "escalated" to their "elite service team". The pending result as of today is that my shoes have made it all the way back to their warehouse and there has been a note placed on the order to re-ship to the correct address..... But, if they can't find my order I will simply be given a refund.
For a company with the resources and technology that Nike has this entire ordeal absolutely blew my mind at how inefficient and idiotic their systems are.
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first issue. if only i had access to SNKRS app. nike's presence in AU has been so shit that we barely get anything. being in london's niketown was like for me like a kid in a candy shop.
second. i suppose a refund wouldn't necessarily be a good thing, considering that whatever is usually launched on SNKRS is usually quite sought after..
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Totally sucks. Part of the reason you had this experience is that many of the systems you interacted with are not owned or operated by Nike itself. Corporations have been in a constant push to get departments and employees off of their books. If they can outsource order fulfillment and customer service to others they'll do that. If they can turn previously benefited internal hires into line-item contractors they'll do that.
This is a fact that's somewhat hidden by our (in the US, at least) relatively low unemployment numbers. People have jobs, yes, and thus not seeking unemployment benefits, but they increasingly "employed" as non-benefited contractors when they would obviously prefer a direct-hire position. It's not something that people in previous eras would recognize as "employed." More like make-work until the real job comes along.
I recently had a problem with some incorrect medical bills and it was virtually impossible to navigate the web of insurance call centers, and 3rd party billing call centers and the bill originator call centers. Everyone I contacted was seemingly informationless and powerless and I had to contact someone else. One of the bills had strangely (and even admitted by one of the people I talked to, inappropriately) been sent to collections which added yet another party into the mix.
This desire to sell something and then immediately jettison responsibility for it was the root of the recent housing market crisis. Once the mortgage was repackaged and sold off, its provenance was obfuscated, and no rational decisions could be made about its quality. Once my medical service was rendered, and the bill was released into "the system" it becomes little more than a dollar value, an identifying number, and billing code, which describes such a vague and broad "service" that there is no way for anyone to determine if I'm paying for what I actually got. My insurance company and the bill originator are happy assume that the other party might fix the mistake, because they both know that the responsibility for the bill ultimately lands on me.
All this stuff "works" as long as the consumer just shuts up and pays, and everything goes where it's supposed to go. But, like you (and I) experienced, if there is something wrong there is no clearly responsible party that will have a vested interest in fixing it. Passing the buck to someone else is a "fix" as far as they're concerned (to include perversely asking you at the end of the call, after telling you they can't help you, if they can do anything else for you before you hang up). And why would this call center employee bend over backwards to help me anyway? They're likely just employed as a contractor…
