Don’t sugar coat it. Tell us how you really feel.

Reminds me of the time Tom Morello made a political statement and magats got into a huff, saying that he is a musical artist and should stay out of politics. My favorite comment online was “What machine do they think they were raging against, the toaster?”

My parents “pirated” all the time when I was a kid. We’d generally have no more than basic cable (usually just antenna). There would be free weekends for HBO, Cinemax, or Showtime back when there was only one of each. My parents always had blank 8hr VHS cassettes and they’d record three movies to each. They recorded on SLP or EP mode (depending on the VCR model) to get that much time per cassette and it would end up with the crappiest quality ever. If you think VHS is shit quality, watch a movie on EP mode. Our movie collection was pretty extensive, but 90% of it was this.

You’d have to remember to reset the counter when putting in the tape and fast forward to a specific counter time written on the cassette in order to see the movie you want. My favorites were always second or third.

I vaguely remember talk of Dad climbing the pole to connect the cable himself but that went away when cable boxes became a requirement. There was also a time when he ran a coax from the neighbor’s apartment and we split the bill. That didn’t last long though because that neighbor moved.

My parents were sailing the seven seas back when your only option was a row boat.

I can show you the world.

The same thing he distracts from every night, Pinky. The fact that he’s in the Epstein files.

Everybody focused on the sticker when I’m wondering what type of gas this is. It certainly isn’t a capital R to the left of “egular.” Perhaps it’s a lowercase r and this is Irregular gas?

Watch My Name is Earl instead. Much better.

I prefer Edge at work. We can choose between that or Chrome, but add-ons are blocked and Edge syncs my bookmarks between computers automatically. I work IT, so jumping between computers is frequent. Edge isn’t horrible, it just isn’t great.

I have had plenty of girlfriends in my 45 years, and none of them used bobby pins. My mother had some that she never used, though. By the time I came around, she had had enough with the long hair life and went short.

It’s Bubba’s shrimp monologue from Forrest Gump.

We have two-pronged campfire sticks that we call twoks.

I’d argue that they get better as leftovers. It’s the additional time to meld flavors. Chili is another great thing to bring to work, but I guess that’s basically a type of stew.

Chicken/tuna/egg salad is my suggestion. Though the way I do it may not work for your situation. I make up a container of it on Sunday and keep it in the work fridge. I keep a loaf of bread in my desk and make a sandwich each day. It’s a great way to have sandwiches without the bread getting soggy. This can also work with cold cuts, but it gets complicated if you want condiments.

It takes money and know-how to create and maintain a real website, but Facebook is free and requires little knowledge of how websites work. Add the fact that many rural folks still don’t take the Internet seriously, and you get businesses that don’t realize that they’re neglecting a useful tool to help them gain and maintain customers.

What I said before was a little exaggerated. An example of the experience: this weekend I was looking to order lunch in an area that I don’t frequent. There was a sandwich shop that I had been meaning to try because people rave about it. I tried to call to place an order and the phone just rang. No voicemail, just ringing. I went looking for a website, thinking maybe they’re closed on Sundays (I hear the owner is religious) and I find nothing but Facebook. The latest post was from November saying something about the owner having broken his arm, so they’ll be closed until further notice. So I guess they’re closed?

I move onto another shop who does have a website, but it’s bare bones: just the name, address, phone number, and hours that are probably outdated. No menu. Their Facebook wasn’t any help. I had to Google to find pictures of the menu. I called them and ordered. If I wasn’t willing to take an extra couple of steps, I’d have to resort to Subway for a sandwich… no thanks.

The usual experience is like what happened with the second shop, sometimes with a menu, sometimes it’s up to date. No online ordering, no Doordash. Maybe they have a new customer form to fill out to get a call back for a quote, but don’t be surprised if they don’t call, because they don’t check those messages because they don’t take the Internet seriously. They’re great at their job, but suck at current forms of communication. If you want to support local businesses in a rural area, you call them or just show up. It’s like the 2000s out here.

As someone who used to work retail, I feel this. I have trouble socially and just want one phrase to mindlessly close out every interaction. I started with “have a good day,” but as the day progressed, I would get more funny looks or comments like “…what’s left of it.” I’m sorry, is after 6pm no longer today? Today is a day, right? I ended up using “have a good one.” While less formal, the funny looks and comments stopped.

People are funny. They think it’s strange that I say have a good day as it’s starting to get dark, but don’t bat an eye at the fact that I’m only wishing them a good day. What about tomorrow? “I hope today goes well for you, but fuck tomorrow.” Is the idea that they expect to see me every day? I deserve days off, too. I’m not going to be here tomorrow to wish you a good day, so maybe I should tailor it to my schedule to make sure you’re covered until I see you again. “I have tomorrow off, so have a good couple days!” No, I’d have to change that every day… maybe “Have a good time until I see you again!” is better. What happens when I change jobs? I don’t think I’ll see them again, so I need to make sure their days are good from here on out? “Have a nice life!” That’s worse somehow.

This reminds me of the end of sophomore year in high school. We were signing yearbooks, “Have a nice summer, hope you don’t drown!” Thanks for the positive wishes, but now I’m going to worry about drowning every time I go swimming!

You obviously don’t live in a rural area where almost all businesses do exactly this, minus the WhatsApp part. If I had that attitude, I’d only have Walmart and nobody should live like that.

You can also think of it this way. Clock turns clockwise = time goes forward. Steam deck turns clockwise = webpage moves forward. Forward on a webpage is down because of reading direction.

Some people are bigger opinions than others!

I’ve referenced it a few times in the past and they didn’t complain. Oh well.

As a dad who tries to connect with his kids, I made a 67 reference last week. Their response: “Oh Dad, 67 is old now.” Kids these days can’t even commit to the bit. 🤣