Rant VII: Now With 25% Less Drama
- Thread starter North_Ranger
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Yuuup.
I think my computer has a virus... :-/ will have to have roomie check it out tomorrow. Never had a virus before, this stinks... and all I was doing was a whole lot of nothing. Pandora, facebook, googling reference pics for costumes and then bam! Weird stuff happened and my computer is acting funky. I tried to do a system restore on it, but it's not finding a system to restore. Poopy.
Heather, I had something similar just happen. Doing normal routine on the internet, when suddenly, nothing works. Ended up having to start up the computer in safe mode and restore my computer to factory settings. Ended up fixing whatever the problem was.
When I choose safe mode I never know what to do next haha /fail
Hoping roomie will be able to help!
Brace yourself, this is going to be a long one...
So, South Carolina has had a lot of stupid stuff going on over the last few years. Most of you may remember our governor going AWOL and flying to Argentina and the giant brouhaha that came along with that.
Well, apparently it has been too long since someone last made an idiotic political decision, so our state legislature got together and really out did themselves.
See, Amazon had been working on a deal with our state to build a giant new distribution center here. It would bring 1200+ jobs and add an estimated $20 million to the state's economy. All Amazon wanted in exchange were a few concessions like ending our ridiculously out-dated restrictions on sunday sales, discounts for equipment, and a 5-year deal for South Carolinians to pay no sales taxes on items bought from them. That doesn't sound like much, does it?
Apparently a coalition of local businesses got together and convinced our government that such a tax break would kill small businesses by giving Amazon an unfair advantage. The best part about that is the fact that the group of "local" and "small" businesses was spearheaded by none other than WAL-MART. The very same Walmart that kills more locally owned small businesses than any other company. I saw ads on tv decrying the tax breaks and proclaiming how if Amazon gets this deal, then more than 3000 local jobs will be lost, etc. etc.
So, of course, they won.
And now the fallout begins.
So, SC State government, you have now successfully driven away 3 companies looking to set up facilities here. Also, many many more that may have considered us specifically because we had the Amazon facility in-state. Not to mention costing us all of the jobs created to support the new workers, the new home sales, the income tax, the lowering of the unemployment rate, the list literally just goes on.
The stupidest part of all of this is that since Amazon is now going to build the facility somewhere else, we here in South Carolina WILL STILL NOT PAY ANY SALES TAX ON ITEMS BOUGHT OFF OF AMAZON! Only now it's for far longer than 5 years and we don't get any benefits out of it.
I truly, truly hate my state government.
tl;dr version: South Carolina dumb, not want money & jobs Amazon offered, Amazon takes ball and goes home.
So, South Carolina has had a lot of stupid stuff going on over the last few years. Most of you may remember our governor going AWOL and flying to Argentina and the giant brouhaha that came along with that.
Well, apparently it has been too long since someone last made an idiotic political decision, so our state legislature got together and really out did themselves.
See, Amazon had been working on a deal with our state to build a giant new distribution center here. It would bring 1200+ jobs and add an estimated $20 million to the state's economy. All Amazon wanted in exchange were a few concessions like ending our ridiculously out-dated restrictions on sunday sales, discounts for equipment, and a 5-year deal for South Carolinians to pay no sales taxes on items bought from them. That doesn't sound like much, does it?
Apparently a coalition of local businesses got together and convinced our government that such a tax break would kill small businesses by giving Amazon an unfair advantage. The best part about that is the fact that the group of "local" and "small" businesses was spearheaded by none other than WAL-MART. The very same Walmart that kills more locally owned small businesses than any other company. I saw ads on tv decrying the tax breaks and proclaiming how if Amazon gets this deal, then more than 3000 local jobs will be lost, etc. etc.
So, of course, they won.
And now the fallout begins.
So, SC State government, you have now successfully driven away 3 companies looking to set up facilities here. Also, many many more that may have considered us specifically because we had the Amazon facility in-state. Not to mention costing us all of the jobs created to support the new workers, the new home sales, the income tax, the lowering of the unemployment rate, the list literally just goes on.
The stupidest part of all of this is that since Amazon is now going to build the facility somewhere else, we here in South Carolina WILL STILL NOT PAY ANY SALES TAX ON ITEMS BOUGHT OFF OF AMAZON! Only now it's for far longer than 5 years and we don't get any benefits out of it.
I truly, truly hate my state government.
tl;dr version: South Carolina dumb, not want money & jobs Amazon offered, Amazon takes ball and goes home.
Gardening? They have a whole world of knowledge dedicated to how to maintain lawns and gardens? Why didn't someone tell me?! I only wish there was a store or two where I could easily obtain the necessary tools and materials.
fade
Staff member
I would be fined to bankruptcy in an HOA, which is one of the things I dread about moving to Houston. I like the look of fallen leaves. I like the look of dandelions. I've always liked when grass grows in a sidewalk crack. If I wanted my lawn to look like a carpet and my shrubs to look like stone walls, I'd put down carpet and stone walls.
Blasphemy! Dandelions are the Devil!
So my roommate fixes computers at work. He got home from work ready to start his weekend and I was all, "Hey welcome to your weekend, can you check my computer out???"
He turned it on and started laughing "oh I know exactly what this is." Lots of people have been taking their computers in with the same virus... >.> it hides all your files, and he had *just* finished telling his fiance/my bff about it on the way home.
Anyway, we went bridesmaid dress shopping while he started on my computer, got home and he told me... "You had 49 viruses. You bad girl!!"
So... my computer is almost fixed and I will probably get a new one soon. It is a little dated now, in a small-ish case and my hard-drive sounds awful. So noisy!!
He turned it on and started laughing "oh I know exactly what this is." Lots of people have been taking their computers in with the same virus... >.> it hides all your files, and he had *just* finished telling his fiance/my bff about it on the way home.
Anyway, we went bridesmaid dress shopping while he started on my computer, got home and he told me... "You had 49 viruses. You bad girl!!"
So... my computer is almost fixed and I will probably get a new one soon. It is a little dated now, in a small-ish case and my hard-drive sounds awful. So noisy!!
Well, at least you can console yourself with the knowledge that Amazon probably wouldn't have paid any business taxes in SC, just like they avoid doing here in Washington. But yeah, it always confounds me when governments do dumb shit like that. Case in point, I used to live in the little college town of Pullman, WA, home of Washington State University. Back in the 70s or 80s a company representing a mall approached the chamber of commerce and mayor/city council looking for permission to build a mall in Pullman to serve the town and college. The entire city was up in arms over how the mall was going to destroy the small businesses in downtown, so they refused to let them build the mall there. Instead, the mall went in in Moscow, ID, home of the University of Idaho, which just happens to only be 8 miles away. Now, everyone from Pullman and the university go to Moscow to shop at the mall, and the downtown stores in Moscow are thriving, while last time I drove through downtown Pullman there were only 6 stores open, the rest were empty shells. And the local business owners still protest every single new business that wants to build in Pullman, causing several other large companies to have gone with Moscow over the decades.
Cajungal
Staff member
I have a family member who is truly a monster. That is so hard to face, but what's harder to face is my exhausted, half-destroyed mother crying over a brother that no one and nothing will ever save. Part of me feels awful saying this, but I care more for mom than for him: I'd rather he be homeless and starving again than for my mom to have to feel hated and threatened by him for one more day. I hate you, you manipulative and selfish human being. Every bridge is burned except hers, and you have no one to blame but yourself.
figmentPez
Staff member
The 14 year-old son of one of my mom's friends died today, he had a seizure while in the bathtub. My sister had baby-sat/nannied for him when he was 2 or so. He was autistic and went through so many troubles, but his therapist had recently said that he was finally starting to really learn stuff. They thought they were really on the verge of something, and then... It's already hitting the family really hard.
I don't know the specifics here, obviously, but we've been through something similar with my uncle (my mother's brother). He took complete advantage of the family, especially my mother's goodwill. Brutal what kind of psychological hell some people will wreak for their own selfish ends.
Cajungal
Staff member
Sounds very similar. He's just an awful person, and I'm sick of him. Thankfully, he's been so terrible lately that I think even mom is ready to say good riddance. He's a middle aged man who's leeching off of his sick mother and bullying her in her own home. If we put her in a retirement community--which she is really excited about--he'll have nowhere to go. He does nothing. He's left every job he's ever had because the people he worked for were "too stupid." Mom's been taking care of my grandma nonstop, and he still calls her selfish and phony all the time, and even though he has NO job, he insists he's too busy to care for the mother that he's been mooching off of. Recently when he and my mom argued, he pushed her. I'm buying her pepper spray today, because I don't trust him at all. He's totally unstable, but only dad could drag it out of mom that she feels scared around him now.
I'm sorry Emrys. I hope that he gets the help he needs to get through this, and that you get some support too. It's tough when your friends are hurting like that.
So, about 3 1/2 months ago my fiancee was rear-ended on her way to work, and even though the guy that hit her was only going 20mph at most, it totaled her car (which was a pretty crappy Lexus that had been a fleet vehicle for a number of years in Louisiana and was flooded in a hurricane, but not Katrina). The guy who hit her had insurance, but the value of her car was so low that it took us a couple months to scrape together enough money to make the down payment for a recent year used car, and at the end of March managed to get her a 2008 Ford Fusion SE.
She's had the car less than 2 months now and was rear-ended on her way to work this morning, on yet another on-ramp. Luckily, this time there's only some minor damage to the rear bumper (it's cracked in the middle and pulled away from the sides about an inch) and luckily the driver's seat didn't fail this time (last time it slid backwards and she slammed her head into the column between the front and rear doors and fractured her skull). This time the guy that hit her is on a business trip, in a rental car, but his company has corporate insurance that will cover it, but apparently their claims person is out of the office today so we have to wait for him to call back with his insurance info (she did get his personal auto insurance info though, just in case). So yeah, tl:dr my fiancee is cursed and has been rear-ended twice in 4 months, while driving to work. Her boss says she should buy a tank, or a bumper-sticker that says "I hit back."
So, about 3 1/2 months ago my fiancee was rear-ended on her way to work, and even though the guy that hit her was only going 20mph at most, it totaled her car (which was a pretty crappy Lexus that had been a fleet vehicle for a number of years in Louisiana and was flooded in a hurricane, but not Katrina). The guy who hit her had insurance, but the value of her car was so low that it took us a couple months to scrape together enough money to make the down payment for a recent year used car, and at the end of March managed to get her a 2008 Ford Fusion SE.
She's had the car less than 2 months now and was rear-ended on her way to work this morning, on yet another on-ramp. Luckily, this time there's only some minor damage to the rear bumper (it's cracked in the middle and pulled away from the sides about an inch) and luckily the driver's seat didn't fail this time (last time it slid backwards and she slammed her head into the column between the front and rear doors and fractured her skull). This time the guy that hit her is on a business trip, in a rental car, but his company has corporate insurance that will cover it, but apparently their claims person is out of the office today so we have to wait for him to call back with his insurance info (she did get his personal auto insurance info though, just in case). So yeah, tl:dr my fiancee is cursed and has been rear-ended twice in 4 months, while driving to work. Her boss says she should buy a tank, or a bumper-sticker that says "I hit back."
Thank you, Gared. I've been playing tag-team between him and his family (they don't get along) and have convinced him to see a psychologist and get back on his medication. I also told him that if he tries this again, I'm going to go down and kill him myself. He laughed because he knows what a big wuss I am when it comes to him.
Maybe your fiancee should accessorize her car with pneumatic cushions on the bumpers. Or 3-ft long spikes.
Maybe your fiancee should accessorize her car with pneumatic cushions on the bumpers. Or 3-ft long spikes.
Spikes might not be a bad idea.
I do, because my parents were hit 4 or 5 times in a one year period of time, and I remembered all of your car drama from last year. Still sucks though.
Almost hit a little girl today. I was driving through a shopping center parking lot when this little toddler comes darting out between two cars parked in front of a store. She was so small that I didn't see her until she was almost in the road in front of me. Luckly I wasn't going that fast and was paying attention enough to stop fairly quickly. But all I can think of is the horrified look on the poor thing's face as she saw me stop so close to her. Then I see her mom, with another child in her arms, running after her screaming. The girl rushed back to her mom and she was alright, but I'm still kind of shaken by the fact of just how close I came to hitting her.
Well, thank you for paying attention.
So, ummm... anyone know how makare is doing? This was one of her last posts, and she's been gone for quite some time now.
figmentPez
Staff member
Good question. I've been wondering about her myself.
(and Philospher B. has disappeared as well.)
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