Things I don't understand (also Day 4 of Spring Break)

Today I took the kids to JCPenney for M's 18-month pics with the hope of getting a pic of all 3 of them together.  It was all I had planned for the day since it generally proves so exhausting I'm really not up for much else.

Ok, onto things I don't get or outright annoy me.....

1. Portrait Studios.  Despite taking pictures of mostly young kids, I have yet to see a portrait studio that truly understands the concept of "Windows of Opportunity."  As in if my appointment is 10:00 a.m., you better have my kids' ass in the session no later than 10:05 a.m.  If you want to ask me which background I want, do it online where I made the appointment in the first place.  Have your shit up and ready to roll at 10:00 when you open or arrive ten minutes earlier.  And HAVE SOME TOYS for kids to play with in the studio waiting area.  Parents might be able and or willing to spend more money on pictures if they could actually look through them without having to stop every 4.7 seconds to chase an 18-month-old who is making a mad dash into JCPenney proper.  

2. The phrase "Just sayin."  For the love of g*d, please.stop.using.it.  Thank you.

I also request that people stop over-using the phrase "good times."  Particularly on Facebook.  

3. Technology...all of it that is meant to be helpful but is inevitably just irritating, which I think means all of it.  Period.

On Wednesday D had some kind of GPS thing on his iphone set up to get us to the wildlife center, which is great.  The problem is that it told me stupid shit, like turn right out of my driveway.  Now if technology was really helpful and smart it would know that I probably don't need a direction for getting out of my neighborhood. The lady would only start yammering when I am out of familiar territory.

4. Cords.  I only mention this because I just mentioned my husband and technology and when I think of those two things I think of cords.  Everywhere.  In my basement.  If my husband happens to die by someone else's hands, namely mine, it will be by strangulation with cords.  The same cords that connect all the speakers and hooters and tweeters and whompers and whuppers and whatever other gadgets are down there in the man-hole. 

5. eReaders.  Nooks.  Kindles.  (A friend of mine just bought something like this and mentioned it on Facebook---I really hope she likes her, but since I'm venting about technology I'm just gonna roll with it.....please don't take offense KB; none intended.)

I don't own one.  I don't want one.  Probably if I did own one I would love it, just as I love my iMac even though I groused about buying one.  But I like books.  Real paper books.  I really like real paper books.

And I am just ornery enough to dislike most anything that is even the slightest bit popular even if it is awesome.  Like sliced bread.

6. iPhones or phones that people can fiddle around with so much that they ignore the actual people who are in their physical presence.  Yes, this one is about the husband too, but I've been around lots of other folks who are so engrossed in their phones that it is just annoying.  On par with when a salesperson answers a ringing phone instead of helping me, the real live human standing before her with an obvious need.  I can't tell you the number of fantasies I have about jamming these things up people's asses.  

7. Lazy or negligent home ownership.  Regardless if one's home costs $40,000 or $400,000, that is a shitload of money particularly when you figure in the interest one pays.  Given how much money one pays for a house, it makes absolutely no sense to allow it look like a dump with mismatched shutters or shutters on only one side of windows, broken vehicles or refrigerators sitting in driveways or on porches, missing trim and siding, or craters and pits in the yard.  I've never been one to jump on the "house as insanely profitable investment" train, but it makes financial sense to maintain one's property with basic upkeep.  If people purchase a house and find they cannot do this themselves or afford to pay someone else to do it, perhaps apartment dwelling makes more sense.   

Alright, that is enough venting for now.  Gotta save more for later.