Category: Random

We Really Do Complain Too Much

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So I posted this on Twitter a few months ago:

Kinda funny, right? I mean, the brown box itself might have actually been less obvious than the doormat thrown over the top. I thought it was a silly picture to share. A few hours later there was a response:

It’s official, we have way overused Tweet-shaming. I didn’t even put @UPS in my tweet, so apparently they have some lowly intern who is required to sit at the computer and monitor tweets for any negative mention of UPS.

Really, is that what it has come to? Companies have to constantly patrol the Internet for irate (or even slightly amused) customers? Seems like a waste of resources when there are so many other ways to express dissatisfaction with a company, like those automated phone surveys that call five minutes after you pick up your car from an oil change or off-shore phone centers you can call to berate the underpaid employees who have no connection to your problem whatsoever.

Blast From The Past: My Favorite Shows That Actually Ended Before I Was Born

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Oh sure, everyone knows The Flinstones and the Jetsons. But the other day I was playing the newer Chipmunks movie soundtracks for the boy I babysit, and his mom told me to look up the Alvin and the Chipmunks theme from the 80s, thinking I had never heard of the show. I had forgotten about it until I looked it up, and then remembered it was one of my favorite cartoons growing up.

Sure it’s an 80s cartoon and I grew up in the 90s, but back then Nickelodeon played more than two shows repeatedly during the day. (Not that I have anything against the current Nick shows, but it wouldn’t hurt them to throw the Rugrats or something on at a time other than 2am.) According to Wikipedia, the show was actually in production from 1983 to 1990. Thanks to Cartoon Network (from 1993-2001) and Nickelodeon (1995-1997), this show lived on for another generation.

This got me thinking. What other shows did I grow up watching that ended before my time. Of course there was The Muppet Show (1976-1981) and Fraggle Rock (puppets 1983-1987, animated 1987), but I knew those were old. Muppet Babies overlapped into my lifetime (1983-1991), and Garfield and Friends (1988-1994) was half-new when I was watching. I also remember watching You Can’t Do That On Television (1981-1990) a couple times when I was younger. And who could forget The Smurfs (1981-1990).

Today, thanks to the magic of Netflix, iTunes, the Internet, and DVD, we can share our old favorites with new generations anytime we want. Well, as long as you can find them. (PS, anyone looking for the 90s Nickelodeon Programing: 90sareallthat.com will help you waste hours you meant to be working with the original Rugrats, Doug, CatDog, etc. You’re welcome.)

What shows do you remember when you were growing up? Anyone else grow up watching shows they didn’t even know were out of production?

Aw, Shucks!

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SbazoInSlowMo of She Can’t Be Serious has nominated me for another award. This one is called the Kreativ Blogger Award.

Here are the rules:

  1. Thank the person who gave you the award and link back to the awarding blog. Thanks SbazoInSlowMo!
  2. Answer 7 questions about yourself.
  3. Provide 10 random factoids about yourself.
  4. Hand the award to 7 deserving others.

The questions:

  1. What is your favorite song?I have to pick? Uhmmmmm…Right now I’ll “Particle Man” by They Might Be Giants. Mostly because it’s the one that came to mind first.
  2. What is your favorite dessert?Easy: chocolate. In any form.
  3. What do you do when you’re upset?Listen to music. What music depends on how upset I am.
  4. What is your favorite pet?Considering I only have one, I’d have to say the dog.
  5. Which do you prefer, white or whole wheat?Wheat for me, though my favorite is sourdough.
  6. What is your biggest fear?Honestly, I don’t know.
  7. What is your attitude mostly?Mostly I try to stay positive.

The factoids:

  • I still collect Rugrats videos. As in VHS tapes. That I watch on my VCR.
  • I also collect CDs. You know, those little round discs that contain music. We used them when music used to be sold in actual stores.
  • I also have a mean collection of video games, from the 80s til now.
  • I still own a PDA that is separate from my cell phone.
  • I always have trouble coming up with these random facts.
  • I play piano, flute, guitar, saxophone, recorder and percussion.
  • I taught myself to play the saxophone within a day.
  • Even though I did really well in school, I completely dislike the whole system and never want to repeat such an experience.
  • I’m taking three online classes through the library system at the moment, despite my dislike of school.
  • I just wrote this whole thing in HTML, thanks to one of those courses.

The part where I ignore the final rule:

I have been horribly out of the blogging loop, and I apologize. That means I don’t really have any nominations to pass this on. So I’ll let you decide. If you want the award, you’ve got it. Just leave me a comment so I make sure I go see your post.