Tag Archives: Gripes

Mar 12

Commuting

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Since I now live in Grand Rapids, and my job is in Lansing, I get to commute 2 hours (roundtrip) every day on the expressway route from hell. I touch 3 major expressways on my way:

  • US131 in Grand Rapids (Wyoming, technically)
  • M6 along the south side of GR metro area
  • I-96 from the east side to Lansing

[Google Map of route]

I usually need to leave my apartment by 2:30pm to get to work just before 4. Sometimes I’ve left later, and still gotten to work on time. Today was one of those days.

It seems there is no discernible traffic pattern. It doesn’t seem to matter which time of day I pick to leave, new day, new assholes. People are either pushy, or they’re a pussy. And sometimes the pushy ones turn into pussies, and vice-versa.

On my way home, there’s usually a lot less traffic, but about the same amount of dumb. One night I had someone come up behind me real fast, then pace me for about 2 miles at 1 car length off my bumper. Then they decided to shift into the passing lane, and hover in my blind spot for about half a mile before they finally passed me. Once they passed, they immediately got back over in front of me, making me hit my brakes and break out of cruise control just to get some space between us. Then they continued to drive almost directly in front of me for no reason, even though I’d slowed down by about 5mph.

Another thing that irks me is that it seems like people refuse to even use their cruise control. Or, when they do, its set ridiculously fast, or ridiculously slow. Why not just pick the speed limit and set it to that?

Also, police presence on the freeway seems to be inconsistent at best. One night I counted no less than 5 traffic stops, and most nights its none at all. There is also a truck weigh-station on I-96 between Portland and Ionia that I have only seen open and in-use one time since I started commuting 5 weeks ago.

Oct 28

Car Annoyances

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Bart purchased an after-market alarm/remote start for my car back in August. We ordered 3 remotes (1 two way and 2 one way). The 3rd remote wouldn’t program. After a few weeks of fiddling with it, the guy who installed it finally got it programed, in the 4th remote ‘slot’, and the general consensus is that slot 3 doesn’t work.

A couple days ago, I was taking a nap and Bart was up working at his desk, and my remote started going off, like someone was trying to break into the car. He rushed out, but didn’t find anything suspicious at the time. We figured someone just lifted one of the door handles to see if it was locked, and ran away when the alarm went off.

Tonight when I got home, I got out of my car, locked it, and went inside. By the time I kicked my shoes off at the front door, my remote started beeping, and the shock sensor icon was on. I put my shoes back on and went back out. The alarm didn’t seem to be going off, but as I was standing there, the shock sensor gave warning chirps like someone bumped the car. Nothing was touching it. It wasn’t windy, and there were no trucks rumbling by.

I’m starting to grow very suspect of this alarm unit. My remote has also randomly rebooted itself on several occasions, despite the battery icon showing ‘full’.

Aug 22

Sweet Tea Does Not Compute.

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Almost every time I go somewhere that serves both sweet and unsweet tea, my order of “Unsweetened, please” gets screwed up. Even when I say it “Regular, no sugar” or whatever, they still manage to mess it up.

I don’t drink pop (soda, coke, carbonated-non-alcoholic-beverage-with-artificial-and/or-natural-flavors) anymore because it makes my body go whack. Sugar (well, in pop its most likely to be high-fructose corn syrup) makes me jittery. Extra caffeine in coffee or pop magnifies that effect, and also makes me cranky and unable to function once it wears off.

So, I drink iced tea. I get a little bit of caffeine so I can function, and it has a subtle tea-taste. I can’t stand sweet tea. It tastes like sugar-water. However, at this point maybe I ought to switch to just plain water to keep myself sane.

Dec 28

Weather freaks people out.

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I took this picture today on my way to the ATM, which is normally a 5-minute drive from my apartment. It took over 20 minutes to get there today. For those that know Lansing, I am on Saginaw going west toward Canal, about halfway between Creyts and Canal. Traffic was backed up in both directions on Saginaw as far as I could see, presumably all the way from Lansing to I-96.

Dec 19

Unsolicited Bulk Advertising

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We live in an apartment, and as such have a small mailbox in the front part of the building. I don’t always get to check my mail every day of the week, and lately it seems we’ve been getting an excessive amount of mail, most of it junk, albeit directly addressed to us. Our mail carrier also delivers a wad of ads called “ShopWise” which is delivered on Tuesdays and totally fills the mailbox from top to bottom – this is addressed to “Resident” and our apt number. Its all coupons and ads for some local and national businesses (ie, Rite Aid, Big Lots, etc). In over a year of living here I have only read it on rare occasion and never use any of the coupons from it.

I hadn’t checked our mail on Monday and we apparently got a big pile of stuff since its the holidays and everyone is sending holiday cards and such. I also got a Netflix, and Bart got quite a lot of mail, some bills, mostly credit card junk mail. On Tuesday I retrieved the mail, and found it all crunched up in the bottom of our mailbox because the postal carrier decided to stuff the “ShopWise” mailer in on top of it and smash it all down so it would fit. Because of this, when I opened the mailbox about half of everything in it spilled out on the floor everywhere. I took the “ShopWise” and put it on top of the mailboxes and left it there because I didn’t want it.

Today when I went to check our mail the only thing I found in the mailbox was the  “ShopWise” mailer, with a note written on the back of it – “This is mail! Please treat it that way! Thanks” — this is where I vehemently disagree. This is NOT mail. This is a prime example of “Unsolicited Bulk Advertising.” Or, the real-world version of spam.