a99kitten's Musings

Was emailed this in a joke list and yet…not entirely funny so much as pathetic….

Pythagorean Theorem………………………………………………………24 words.
The Lord’s Prayer……………………………………………………………..66 words.
Archimedes’ Principle……………………………………………………….67 words.
Ten Commandments……………………………………………………….179 words.
Gettysburg Address………………………………………………………..286 words.
Declaration of Independence………………………………………..1,300 words.
US Constitution with all 27 Amendments………………………..7,818 words.
US Government regulations on the selling of cabbage……26,911 words.

Sort of puts things into proper perspective…

I read a story today about an NBC newswoman who had to undergo facial surgery due to being bit by a dog on set during a “feel good” segment.  The dog has been quarantined for 10 days by animal control. They better not hurt that dog. I’m assuming it is a rabies quarantine. And the owner, who the news station asked to bring the dog, gets a ticket for “allowing the dog to bite.”  Umm.

Don’t get me wrong, I hope the woman is OK and her face is fine, I’ve been bit before and it frackin’ hurts. And let’s be clear – if that dog wanted to savage her, she would have no face left. The dog bit her in a reaction to make her get away. It was her own STUPID fault. Here is a dog who just went through a traumatic experience (had to be rescued from ice, etc.), was now on a crowded, highly lit and probably hectic set and the woman bends down and puts her face right in the dog’s face. She clearly knows nothing about dogs. Which would seem not to be true since they do these feel good segments regularly apparently.

But anyone who knows anything about dogs should know not to get in the face when they are experiencing any kind of stress or stressful situation. And you are a stranger to them. DUH!? People come up to pretty much every single day and ask to pet the huskies. And if they just want to pet their backs or heads, fine. But the people whose kids come running up to them, and who are basically on eye level with them,  I have to go through the whole teaching experience of how to properly approach and pet dogs. Mind you, 9 times of 10 the parents don’t do that. Or even say “Ask first.” A few have – which is nice but mostly nope.

And the huskies are sooooo well mannered and gentle., But guess what? If they feel threatened in a weird way or some kind of stressor (someone walks by with a growly dog, etc.) they can react. And frankly, they are also really good judges of character and might want nothing to do with you. They have successfully picked out the bad employees at work. They are also huskies and generally want nothing to do with people who aren’t in their pack. But I just don’t let people come up and put their faces in theirs. Ever.

And of course the dog in the story is a mastiff who already get this mean/bad reputation since people use them as guard dogs. And they are HUGE. So really…you thought it was wise to get in his face?

Again. I am not shocked but simply annoyed by the never-ending stupidity.

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/cutline/rescued-dog-bites-nbc-anchor-face-during-feel-141755422.html

*According to the online Merriam-Webster dictionary, the words “stupid” and “stupidity” entered the English language in 1541. Since then, stupidity has taken place along with “fool,” “idiot,” “dumb,” “moron,” and related concepts as a pejorative appellation for human misdeeds, whether purposeful or accidental, due to absence of mental capacity.*

Yesterday once again proved to me that the work ethic and personal responsibility level of the average person is crap. Now, I feel this way pretty much all the time but sometimes things happen that make is SO glaringly obvious, it makes me sad for mankind’s future.

Yesterday I received our FSA  accounting for the new plan year from the company that handles our COBRA and FSA administration. I’ve had issues with them in the past but I complained about the account manager and told the CEO that the idiot needed to be removed from our account and never deal with me or our account ever again. Anyway, yesterday I was going through the data they sent over and I found 2 people missing from the spreadsheet and not showing any contributions for the 2012 Plan Year (which there were in January.) No big deal, I send our account rep an email saying “Hey, you forgot to add these 2 people. Please correct it and send me the updated info.”

I get back an email, in a rather terse tone, saying I never sent the enrollment forms for those 2 people nor were they on the spreadsheet I sent her so it all had to be re-done and to please send over the missing information ASAP. Umm. OK. So, I’m pretty anal retentive about making sure people’s benefits are correct. I pulled up the email I sent her on January 17 and oh look – there are not only the 2 “missing” enrollment forms attached along with all the others but the spreadsheet attached has them listed with all of their data as well (so even IF I hadn’t sent the enrollment forms, you’d think she would see the names on the spreadsheet and ask me about them?) So I forward that email to her with a simple note “Here is the email/data you were sent on 1/17/12.”  I get back “Oh, sorry. You are right. I missed the scroll. Sometime I am too blond.”

Now, I wasn’t upset by the initial mistake. They happen. Whatever. And you could have avoided looking SO stupid on this one by first searching for the data I sent you to make sure you didn’t leave it off and then, seeing that you did, fixing the error and letting me know it’s all fixed. No big deal. But no. You felt it more fitting to get pissy with me and say how I must have not sent it to you. And then your response to being wrong is Oops you are too blond? Really? That’s how you handle clients?

Happened a couple weeks ago with our old 401k vendor. They insisted we hadn’t paid for a Final Plan Report (we switched vendors after our acquisition) and were quite rude in their assertion. Really? So I dig through my old file and emails and find copies of all the emails where we discussed the costs, the reports needed and finally my signed form requesting the report along with a copy of the check we sent with the fed-ex airbill. The check that was cashed by them in August of 2010. The email I get back is “Oh. right.”  So there was no way for you to look for that data before being a jerk with me and me having to spend time getting it out and sending it to you again?

In my job, I see this kind of stuff fairly often (again…sad) from employees doing things incorrectly. I don’t understand that since it directly effects you – so shouldn’t you understand insurance, 401k, payroll, payroll taxes, etc??? A little bit?? The basics? You’ve been in the workforce for how long now? BUT, from companies whose sole jobs it is to manage these things, I expect you do to your job very well. Silly wabbit.

Maybe I’m the odd one because I will make sure I have the back-up data before calling someone out on something. Stupidity bothers me. Mistakes don’t bother me so much (unless they are mine) when they are identified, easily fixable and fixed without much fuss (as long as you don’t keep making them.)

But stupidity? Or laziness No, there is no excuse for that.  I wonder quite frequently how people manage to get through life if they typically handle things with such (non) care and (non) attention to detail. I would assume your job is a place you DID pay attention and want to do well. But I know that assumption is making an ass out of u and me.

And rudeness? Well, you sure as hell better be right if you are going to play that card with me. And that doesn’t excuse it – just makes you appear not necessarily stupid and instead simply like the ass you are.

Just ranting examples of why I want my own island. And why I prefer dogs. And now I think I should have a glass of wine…

Feeling quite sickly for the last couple days. So I broke down and bought the liquid version of NyQuil on my home tonight. Shoot it like Jagermeister (pretty sure they are the same.)

Reading the directions for the  dosage info and the 1st warning was “Do not to give to child to make them sleepy.”

Really?

You had to spell that out and put it on the bottle?

This is why I am fairly sure the human race is f’ed and need to get on building my bunker.

I just made a year-end donation to The California Wolf Center. I make monthly donations to Defenders of Wildlife but I think the smaller places need a lot of help since they don’t typically get big, corporate sponsorship money like Defenders, World Wildlife Fund, etc do. Plus after visiting the Wolf Center this past summer for the first time, I LOVE it. And what to do more to help them whenever I can. Plus, they are the feral cousins to the huskies :)

I only donate to animal charities. At Thanksgiving and Christmas I will donate food to the food banks, etc (I’m not entirely heartless) but I’ve always felt human charities get a LOT of corporate dough and general donations versus animal charities. And frankly, I just prefer animals.  I know…sounds mean. Meh. My general opinion is that people (other than kids) are generally responsible for their own conditions. Animals have been put in bad conditions BECAUSE of humans. Plus, they are fluffy (well, most of them anyway.)

I was just reading articles yesterday about the first wolf who has crossed into California last week since like 1934. You know…when humans wiped them out. #wonderful And reading the “plight of the rancher” makes me want to beat their heads in with sticks. It’s not like California is being taken over by a rabid wolf packs roaming the countryside.  Reading the comments from ranchers make me SO angry. There ARE ways to protect your livestock. And 1 or 2 wolves DO not hunt down cattle. And guess what? They do NOT attack humans. That is a vicious lie aka fairy tale created by stupid humans. Gah! It’s a PROVEN fact that when the top level predators (not humans who destroy everything in their path, but nature’s predators), the eco-system is balanced and is healthy. I kinda wish they wouldn’t have even put that story out there because I can totally see some assclown wanting to hunt the wolf as “sport”. A better sport would be hunting hunters. I’m all for that. They need to make THAT video game and sell it at Cabela’s. And then stuff THAT and put it on display.

I was going to use that money to buy a new Jimmy Choo purse. It’s a great purse! But really…I don’t need it. And if I do well in the market this quarter, maybe I’ll take some cash out and buy it anyway. But I think the wolfies need it more.They need all the help they can get….

http://www.californiawolfcenter.org/  (if you can spare a few bucks!)

I love Christmas. I love winter generally but I think the Christmas season is the best.

I don’t love idiots who try and get on some soap box about religious tolerance or PC-ness. There is not single damn thing wrong with saying Merry Christmas, sending out Christmas cards, having a Christmas tree.

If you don’t celebrate Christmas because you are Jewish, Muslim, Kwanzian (just made that up) or a Pagan. Good for you. I don’t care. And when you say Happy Hanukkah or Happy Ramadan or whatever – I don’t get offended. Hey – celebrate. Be happy. But don’t try and rain on my parade by insisting we don’t say Christmas because it’s some kind of -ist.

This country was founded on Christian religious beliefs. I am not Christian or Catholic or any offshoot. To me Christmas is not really so much about the birth of Jesus or a time to spend time in church. It’s totally fine if it is for you though. To me, Christmas is about friends and family and feeling happy and putting up my Christmas trees and singing Christmas music every day from the Friday after Christmas until January 2nd. I get the religious aspects of it and respect them and people’s right to believe them. That’s another reason our country was founded and is so great. So if someone wants to put a manger scene up, THAT’S OK. That’s what Christmas it about to them.

For me it’s about bundling up in a big coat with sweaters and scarves and boots because it’s cold out, hopefully with some snow. About walking around the Stanford Shopping Center with all of the stores decorated and lights twinkling everywhere. And almost everyone in a better mood. Unless you are there at like 4pm on Christmas Eve – those people are a bit harried.

It’s about planning and eating some yummy meals that you don’t let yourself have year round. About smiling at total strangers as you walk down the street and wishing them a Merry Christmas. It’s about going to a party or 2 and having fun with friends, family and co-workers. It’s about getting a red cup at Starbucks and hearing the Christmas music playing in there while you warm up from the cold.

It’s about buying a present for someone that you know they will love and wrapping it and putting it under the tree and having the lights sparkle off the wrapping paper. It’s about coming home from work and turning the Christmas tree lights on and just sitting around the tree enjoying it.

It’s about watching It’s a Wonderful Life, A Christmas Story, Rudolph and The Grinch for the umpteenth time and still enjoying every minute of them. And of course new classics like Elf and Love Actually :)

If kids are around, it’s most definitely about Santa Claus and his reindeer and Frosty. And making Christmas cookies.

I could go on listing more things that Christmas means to me. But the point is that if you are such a jerk that you can’t understand and allow people to enjoy these things without making a frackin’ ruckus about the Christ part in Christmas, you are the one with the problem. I don’t care if you celebrate Hanukkah. Or Ramadan. Or Kwanzaa. Or Winter Solstice. Or don’t celebrate anything at all. Do it – have fun with it. But don’t wreck my fun.

So when I say Merry Christmas to you, smile and be happy. As will I if you send good wishes to me. But if you find yourself offended by someone wishing you a Merry Christmas, I think your heart and soul are basically empty voids. And stay the hell away from me.

I just read a story that Ashton Kutcher turned over his twitter feed to his management company. So…what’s the point of having it now?

To be clear, I don’t like Ashton. I think he is douche. I’ve always thought he was a douche. Long before his cheating or replacing Charlie Sheen on Two and a Half Men (which he doesn’t do well.) BUT, I appreciated the fact that he tweeted a lot and seemed to use the medium to connect with fans. He seemed genuine about that at least.

But now, because he tweeted something stupid, and got flamed for it, he disconnects. #fail

He is a celeb living in a very small, protected bubble. So it’s absolutely no surprise to me that he didn’t know anything about the biggest headline for the past few days (Joe Paterno.) I seriously doubt the guy is sitting around watching CNN or Fox News in the morning. Or picking up a paper on the way to the office. My husband doesn’t watch the news. He is not on twitter. And he doesn’t give a rat’s ass about college football. So he also knew nothing about the story. He said he saw a headline and didn’t think about it again.

And while I enjoyed bagging on Ashton for saying such a stupid thing because…well…I don’t like him much…it seems ridiculous that this much has been made of it. It was crystal clear he didn’t know what he was talking about. Anyone who thinks he didn’t know and was deliberately being an insensitive jerk is an idiot themselves. So call him out for being a bad fact-checker. Call him out for being out of touch. And definitely call him out for being a cheating bastard who is no Charlie Sheen (let’s think about that…) But that’s about it.

And turning over his twitter account to a management team? I think the whole reason people follow celebs on twitter is for them to be themselves and say inane, honest or random things. In the story I just read, one of the PR guys says he would rather his clients, whose tweets go through a vetting, tweet 1 or 2 times per month and say “something of meaning rather than endless prattle every day.” But I disagree. I think people follow celebs FOR that prattle. Otherwise, it’s just a soundbite. Or a story in People or US. And then who really cares about them on twitter at all?

Do I think Ashton is a tool? Yes. Am I on Team Demi when I don’t even really like Demi? Yes. Do I hate finding myself defending 1 word uttered by him? Yes. But I do defend it. Jeez – the guy is a douche. A clue less douche. But hardly worth the vitriol thrown at him on twitter last night (although I did find some of them amusing – especially the misspelled ones calling him an idiot.)

Seriously people…words are words. Stop placing so much importance on words. Actions mean more. Words, pretty/misleading/false/hopeful/hurtful can be uttered by a complete boob. And often are (see Washington DC.)

<iframe width=”420″ height=”315″ src=”http://www.youtube.com/embed/Oe0fGXzKb1o” frameborder=”0″ allowfullscreen></iframe>

Very scary out there boys and girls….

“MF Global Holdings Ltd. acknowledged to federal regulators that money had been diverted out of customer accounts in violation of futures rules and law, according to a federal official.

The Wall Street brokerage, which filed for bankruptcy protection Monday, acknowledged the shortfall amid mounting questions from regulators as they went through the firm’s books while trying to facilitate a sale to Interactive Brokers Group Inc., the official said. Regulators still don’t know where the customer funds went, who directed the move or how widespread the practice was, the official said.”

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204394804577012061970129588.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

What a dumbass.

As someone who worked at a hedge fund, and handled portfolio accounting for some of the funds, you NEVER touch the client’s money. Not to save another client. Not to save yourself.  This is so, so dumb and such perfect fodder for the Occupy losers. Gah.

I guess he got so used to spending other people’s money as a politician, he forgot it really wasn’t his.

Dumb ass.

But then there is this theory too:

http://www.tfmetalsreport.com/blog/2840/mfing-global

Why I buy physical gold and silver.  More hoarding commencing…

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-pensions-teacher-perk-20111023,0,7187206.story?page=1

I’m wondering where is the outrage for stuff like this when it is finally ferreted out? So “we” (the “99%” which I would never be part of no matter how much I had or didn’t have) are supposed to be so outraged because the evil rich people: banks, Wall Street, corporations, etc are so horrible and evil and bad and how they have ruined the world? But stuff like this is OK?

The level of corruption that is rampant in unions and government is WAY more egregious in my opinion. Disgustingly so.  There are tons of stories like these. TONS. Just read a little about the boondoggle that is the California Teachers Union. Good grief. But hey – no big deal. Right?

Where is the outrage for things like this? Where are marches on Washington? Or your local governments? Or your corrupt unions? Oh wait…those are the same people currently occupying or supporting (and dirtying) Wall Street and other cities with their tent towns.

You want to protest? Fine. Go ahead. That’s a right granted by this GREAT nation (you know, the one you want to ruin.) But where does it say you have the right to camp out on city streets that are maintained for with tax dollars? And keep the police occupied so crime can be committed elsewhere? No – you are not entitled to that. Go home. And then come back.  This isn’t Woodstock. And it’s not Motel 6.

The fact that MTV is going to capitalize on the Occupy Wall Street BS by making a “True Life” reality/news segment for it shows this “movement” for what it really is – a circus sideshow.  Awesomely, MTV is owned by Viacom. You know, a big media conglomerate. Undoubtedly run by more of those evil rich people from Corporate America.

And President Obama? What Presidential campaign received more Wall Street dollars than any other in history? He might as well have run with a Goldman Sachs stamp of approval on his forehead. So where is the outrage OWSers? Just can’t reconcile protesting against all that  “Change” you voted in? Change my arse.

But why protest that.