Author: IgotIssues

Ummm, my display name says it all.

Can we talk about TP?

If you’re a traveler, I’m betting you’ve run across this situation in your travels.  You’re seated on the toilet in your hotel room taking care of bodily function business, and when it’s time to reach for the toilet paper, you can’t get what you need because the roll is jammed tightly against the spare roll that’s in place behind it!  OTight toilet paperh, how clever the housekeeping staff is in that they’ve figured out a way to keep two rolls of TP in your room so that you don’t run out.  You  know what I’m talking about, and you know it’s a bitch to work with.

As you grab for 3 or 4 squares, you can’t get even 1 out!  The harder you pull, the quicker to rip.  And the ‘finesse’ approach doesn’t work either because the geniusly-placed spare roll is so tight, you can’t move it even with gentle tugs.  Now it takes two hands to free the toilet paper, sometimes to the point of having to remove the roll.  WTF.

Can a business traveler get a little love?  Is it too much to ask housekeeping to use common sense before jamming the spare roll in place?  Here’s an idea – if the existing roll is brand new, don’t place a fucking spare roll behind it.  All better now.

Mixed Message?

SIMG_2251potted this while out couple weeks ago and thought his message was interesting.  A shot at any “idiot” that could read the sticker on the back of his car, while reminding that idiot that the driver loves Jesus, for life apparently.

Got me to thinking if this was a message about the driver sharing that Jesus was the way, or was he sharing that he was pro-life?  And if it was about being pro-live, then how did that message co-exist with his first message about only idiots tailgate?  Tailgaters are people too….and they may not technically be idiots.  It might be that the guy in this small Ford is a real slow and shitty driver – nothing more.  I’m not tailgating, I’m just waiting for the light to turn green.  Am I an idiot? Do I need Jesus?  It’s been a long week!

President Obama – Not a bad Egg

Really enjoyed President Obama’s state of the union speech the other night – the last one he’ll deliver in his role as president.  He handled himself with grace and measure as he spoke to us, the people, not defending his time in office over the past year but rather, telling us what to expect and how to succeed as we move forward.

He spoke with purpose and passion and despite all the craziness in the world over the past year, he reminded us that we are part of a great nation and that is the basis of how we can move forward as a united people.

He’s disappointed me at times over the past seven years and I think it was because I expected he’d fix ALL our problems, and right away.  Looking back, he’s made an impact for the better in so much of what goes on around us that I’m certain of two things:  first, that history will show he was one of the greatest leaders this nation has ever had, and second, that he’s not a bad egg after all.  😉

Poor bedside manner

IMG_2290Okay, I’ll call this ophthalmologist Jim.  And I’ll keep the Detroit area hospital nameless – just in case I ever need their services.

Took my 84 year old father to this renowned institution yesterday to see if they could help him gain back some of his lost vision.  I wasn’t expecting they could help him, but it was important to my pops to ask again because “maybe there is new technology that can give me some lift.”

We all know that the doctors can see notes and charts from previous visits, and that we were told twice in the past five years that there wasn’t much that could be done to help my dad with his poor vision due to some deep scarring in his eyes.  And I’m not saying it was intentional, but this doctor made me feel like shit as he seemed to just go through the motions with us.  He seemed interested in studying what was wrong with my dad’s eyes but he didn’t seem to care about my dad and ‘his story’ – the one he kept trying to share with this younger fellow.

There is an old guy sitting in the chair, me sitting in the corner because my dad needs help getting in and out of these appointments.  The doctor has his back to this hard-of-hearing old guy that is fighting to stay awake in the dimly lit room, and he’s firing away questions that my dad couldn’t hear.  I had to answer several of the questions on his behalf and then at some point, I stopped – because I was enabling this doctor to have a poor bedside manner.

He barely faced my dad as he spoke to him.  Never once fully squared his shoulders toward my father. So as I stopped answering and my dad was answering with “pardon me,” it forced this doc to look over his shoulder and ask the question again.  Sometimes he didn’t even do that, he just raised his voice and asked again.

If you’re in or heading into the medical field, make sure you don’t skip the class on how to work with patients. The class that explains that the greatest skill you can bring to the clinic is your ability to listen.  The ability to really hear what is being said, and to understand and empathize with the patient.  Especially senior citizens.  They come seeking help, and often, they simply want someone that will listen to them and hear them out.  And yes, oftentimes it’s rambling about better days of past but frankly, that’s part of the therapy of the visit.  I paid the $35 co-pay, I expected more than what I got.

(I’m sure Jim is a nice, well-intentioned doctor, and I didn’t call him out on this – no need for any discomfort, just wanted some help for my dad and he held the key to any answers.)

If it ain’t white…

How does that saying go again?  Oh yeah, “If it ain’t white, it ain’t right!”  And in this case, it’s white and waaaaaay right.     😉

Look at that crowd.  No color, no diversity, no personality. Trump draws on the fears of white folk – folk afraid that what they don’t understand will hurt them.  Folk convinced that something of theirs will be taken from them.  Folk determined to live in isolation.  The same people that tell you they don’t have a racist bone in their body are the same ones that say they want a wall built around them to keep others out – as they’re thumping a bible in one hand and claiming their devotion to the constitution and American ideals.

Trump is an entertainer.  He’s an okay business man but ummmmm, don’t think he’s terribly bright or articulate.  He shoots from the hip and therein lies the draw.  Like any good salesman, he speaks at about a third-grade level – and that resonates well once you consider that his audiences appear to be a collective third-grade level of education.

It’s dangerous to be a follower and unable to think for yourself.  Sure, it allows you some sense of security that you don’t have to be accountable for some outcome.  The dangers outweigh any benefit, for sure.  There is great risk of being abused and taken advantage of.  There is great risk of making decisions for yourself.  There are times – regardless of the setting – when you should follow and times you lead.  But never give up your free will to think and decide for yourself – that’s the one thing that sets humans apart from other mammals in the animal kingdom.

Et tu, Tim Horton’s?

No sooner I post about the nasty garbage issue with the Dunkin’ Donuts on Michigan Ave. in Dearborn, I visit the Tim Hortons about 2 miles east of there, also on IMG_2203Michigan Ave. in Dearborn and I’m greeted with this mess as I pull away from the drive-thru.  What the hell?

Is it me or is it coffee shops on Michigan Ave. in Dearborn?  Well technically it’s both and now I have a problem.  Do I have to travel outside of Dearborn for my java?  Or how about if the people running these businesses get their shit together and do a better job of keeping their outdoors as nice as they do their indoors.

Interestingly, this Tim Hortons by the Dearborn train station has the best drive-thru customer service I’ve ever encountered for a food service establishment.  Seriously.  Something going very right with this business and it’s been that way since day-one, going back about a year when they opened.  Definitely the right tone and script and all that good stuff, but someone has to do a better job of tracking the trash bins because everyone that had that great experience at the drive-thru window drove right past this mess.

This is NOT how I ‘dunkin.’

I’m lucky to have two Dunkin’ Donuts stores in my area – and both have drive-thru.  I just wish they were owned by the same person!  The one nearer me does a shitty job at keeping their outside clean – this includes landscaping (unless you like weeds and littered flower beds!).

IMG_2125The garbage can in the drive-thru lane and the one out front is always over-flowing.  So much so that I’ll even let them know, as in “hey, garbage is full, you might want to send someone out to replace the bag!”  Not so subtle, and still it’s a mess.  And this from a guy who is there daily!

Until lately.  I don’t use this DD as much anymore, just got tired of seeing this disgusting mess.  Good news is that the inside is clean, but i wonder what it looks like behind the counter and underneath the machinery.  Anyway, Tim Horton’s is getting more of my business and so too is the DD that’s farther away and I come back to the Dearborn store on Michigan Ave. only when I’m lazy and in a hurry, which is about once, maybe twice a week.

Irony Defined

Like a line from Alanis Morissette’s Isn’t it Ironic, Donald Trump is threatening to run as an Independent if he doesn’t get his due respect from the GOP.  “Isn’t it ironic….don’t you think?”

He told CNN’s Don Lemon last Wednesday that he’d leave the Republican party if “they don’t treat me with a certain amount of decorum and respect.”  What a dick.  (Ahem….not you Lemon!)  You couldn’t define it any better:

  • He’s always railing on President Obama.  Forget what you think about Mr. Obama’s policies, Trump makes it personal against the man, his family and the office! Disrespects the president.
  • He claims that the Mexican government is sly and cunning, and they send the worst of their people to the US – they send murderers and rapists.  Disrespects Mexicans.
  • Claims that overwhelming majority of violent crimes are committed by blacks and Latinos.  No facts, no data, just his usual blathering bullshit.  Disrespects all Latinos.
  • He mocked the handicapped reporter by flailing his arms and twisting his voice as he ridiculed him. Disrespects handicapped.
  • He mocked the Chinese as he shrugged his shoulders and attempted to distort his face, exclaiming “we want deal.”  Disrespects Asians.
  • He made fun of Senator John McCain claiming that McCain wasn’t a war hero because he was captured – topping it off with “I like people that weren’t captured.”  Disrespects war vets.
  • And women – remember the public feud with Rosie O’Donnell where he called her unattractive and made fun of her size, “….she’s a slob.”  And the first Republican debate with his suggestion that Megyn Kelly must have been on her period because he thought the questions she asked were silly, suggesting that “…blood coming out of her whatever.”  Disrespects women.
  • Most recent, he suggested we close off our borders to all Muslims coming into this country, citizen or otherwise!  Disrespects Muslims.

I can go on, but I’m stopping because it’s time for dinner!

Open note to DJTrump:  You’re no better than any of the individuals or groups that you belittle.  You are a zealot with hatred toward others and you are brainwashing weak people that are falling in line behind you, some out of fear, and some out of desperation. Hmmm…this descriptions sounds sooooo familiar.   Isn’t it ironic….don’t you think?   Respect is earned Trump – it isn’t something you can demand, and you can’t hold us hostage with threats to go run as an Independent.  And as an Independent voter, i resent you thinking we’d have you!  You have overextended your 15 minutes sir, and common-sensed, decent people are tired.

What a difference a year makes…8,760 hours..

It’s been just over a year from my last post where I went on and on about being lazy and getting back to posting entries.  Ha! No more excuses.

The events of recent weeks have had me reeling, from the horrific acts at the Paris nightclub and cafe to the shooting today at the Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado. WTF is this world coming to?

The taking of any life is difficult to understand so whether it’s the dark-skinned Muslim killing innocent people in a Paris cafe or the pasty-white Christian punk that killed 20 children as they attended school in Newtown, Connecticut – it’s as though the devil walks among us.

This is not a problem with people hijacking any particular religion because as we’ve seen, these cowardly cold-blooded killers come from all backgrounds and their hatred for humanity does not discriminate between black, brown or white, or between Christian, Muslim, Jew, Atheist, Hindu……

Fanaticism does not come from any holy book and it is not something someone is born with.  It’s a mental health problem.  Something happened in the mind of these people and shit went sideways.  I ask you, what do the following have in common:

  • Simultaneous attacks in Paris cafe, soccer stadium and night club killing 130?
  • Aurora, CO movie goers killed while watching Batman movie?
  • Cowardly attack in Newtown, CT elementary school where 26 people were murdered?
  • Attack on bible study class in Charleston, SC where 9 of the attendees are gunned down?

 

They were all carried out by sick fucks, the devil incarnate, and should be seen as an attack on humanity – not an attack by a single race or religion.

I know….I missed me too!

Thank you to my followers who’ve reached out to see if something was wrong with me, wondering why I haven’t posted to this site in so long. It’s cool mom, I’m okay, just been busy on other things.

Like putting up the most amazing site for sharing stories of random kind acts, check it out here. But mostly, I’ve been busy with work, lots of travel. And if I’m being totally honest, I’ve been a little lazy (and it shows, around my gut!).

And there’s been plenty that has happened in recent months where my mind races and I think of an entry I would have written, if only I had had access to a computer. Lies. I have several computers – a Mac, PC, laptop, iPad, iPhone – so that was never the reason for not writing. (See ‘lazy’ comment, previous paragraph.)

Now that I’m finally off my ass and back to the keyboard, where do I start? Well I’ll figure that out on my own. And mom, say hello to dad – I’ll call tonight.