We’ve noticed that the beastie has learned to head bop along to music he likes.
Current Mood: Amused
The beaver is a proud and noble animal
Notes from a bemused canuck
We’ve noticed that the beastie has learned to head bop along to music he likes.
Current Mood: Amused
Katy got some postal spam yesterday from a “personal finance” company that targets people with a bad credit history. It’s all shiny and lovey and sparkly, telling her how she can get lots of stuff for cheap, and how she can “make this Christmas the best ever!”
Among the shiny-shiny, there’s this little gem:
At first, I thought it was a typo, but no. It does, in fact, say 235.5% APR.
And if things couldn’t get any sillier, I went on their website and had a play with their loan calculator. There’s a little disclaimer, hidden away in the FAQ, that reads:
The Annual Percentage Rate (APR) on your loan will depend on how much you want to borrow and how many weeks you choose to repay it over.
So, if you try and borrow the maximum amount of money they’ll lend (£500) for the shortest period (23 weeks), it works out like to a weekly payment of £32.50, for a total repayment of £747.50. In other words, you get charged an APR of 545.2%
And people wonder why the UK has one of the worst credit profiles in Europe.
Current Mood: Enraged
Mr BenBen as a demotivator:
Katy, when left alone with Christmas decorations:
Current Mood: Busy
We were in Leicester last weekend to celebrate the Beastie’s first birthday. One whole year of us not killing him by incompetence. Go Team!
All pictures, and more, are online: http://www.flubu.com/various_pics/ben_birthday_2009
Current Mood: Contemplative
Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize you’re wrong.
More often than not, when someone is telling me a story all I can think about is that I can’t wait for them to finish so that I can tell my own story that’s not only better, but also more directly involves me.
Have you ever been walking down the street and realized that you’re going in the complete opposite direction of where you are supposed to be going? But instead of just turning a 180 and walking back in the direction from which you came, you have to first do something like check your watch or phone or make a grand arm gesture and mutter to yourself to ensure that no one in the surrounding area thinks you’re crazy by randomly switching directions on the sidewalk.
I totally take back all those times I didn’t want to nap when I was younger.
The letters T and G are very close to each other on a keyboard. This recently became all too apparent to me and consequently I will never be ending a work email with the phrase “Regards” again.
I would rather try to carry 10 plastic grocery bags in each hand than take 2 trips to bring my groceries in.
Sometimes, I’ll watch a movie that I watched when I was younger and suddenly realize I had no idea what the fuck was going on when I first saw it.
How many times is it appropriate to say “What?” before you just nod and smile because you still didn’t hear what they said?
Our generation doesn’t knock on doors. We will call or text to let you know we’re outside.
I hate when I think of something really great to say during a conversation but by the time I get a chance to speak, we’re on a different topic. Do I let it pass and keep the good thought to myself, or do I awkwardly bring up the old topic again?
I think part of a best friend’s job should be to immediately clear your computer history if you die.
Nothing brings two people together like the mutual hatred of another person.
Upon stubbing my toe while at my parents house, I yelled out “Mother Fucker!” at that my dad responded “Present!”… as gross as that was, I had to high five him.
How the hell are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet?
I have a hard time deciphering the fine line between boredom and hunger.
I think my other three stove burners are becoming jealous of front-left.
Whenever someone says “I’m not book smart, but I’m street smart”, all I hear is “I’m not real smart, but I’m imaginary smart”.
Was learning cursive really necessary?
Every bar bathroom should have a cupholder.
I hate when I plan out a conversation with someone in my head and they don’t follow the script.
You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you’ve made up your mind that you just aren’t doing anything productive for the rest of the day.
I hate when I just miss a call by the last ring (Hello? Hello? Dammit!), but when I immediately call back, it rings nine times and goes to voicemail. What’d you do after I didn’t answer? Drop the phone and run away?
I like all of the music in my itunes, except when it’s on shuffle, then I like about one in every fifteen songs in my itunes.
If anyone found out the one password I use for everything I’d be fucked.
“I had to walk to school 40 miles in the snow… barefoot” was good in it’s day. But imagine the sheer terror on your kid’s face when you drop “When I was born there was no internet”.
There’s no worse feeling than that millisecond you’re sure you are going to die after leaning your chair back a little too far.
Why is it that during an ice-breaker, when the whole room has to go around and say their name and where they are from, I get so incredibly nervous? I know my name, I know where I’m from, this shouldn’t be a problem….
Eating dessert, skipping class, and having sex all have one thing in common. Once the idea crosses your mind it’s almost impossible not to do it, and if someone else says it out loud, it’s 100% going to happen.
Sometimes I’ll look down at my watch 3 consecutive times and still not know what time it is.
I can’t remember the last time I wasn’t at least kind of tired.
Obituaries would be a lot more interesting if they told you how the person died.
“Do not machine wash or tumble dry” means I will never wash this ever.
I find it hard to believe there are actually people who get in the shower first and THEN turn on the water.
I keep some people’s phone numbers in my phone just so I know not to answer when they call.
It never ceases to amaze me that the little space between the driver’s seat and the center console in my car will fit any object that can possibly be dropped, but will not fit a hand.
I have yet to see a movie or TV show accurately depict anything near my experience in high school.
Whizzing backwards in my wheelie chair to get a book from the other side of my office makes me feel like a dynamic go-getter. Awkwardly waddling back to my desk again, not so much.
I can’t help but wonder how I would fare if I were born during a different time period.
‘m at that age where I don’t like to be called “dude” but being called “sir” makes me feel really old. So until further notice, please refer to me as “big guy.
I’m much more prepared to handle an insult than a compliment.
Man, that .01% of germs that can’t be killed by hand sanitizer must be some bad ass shit.
The worst feeling in the world is when you are in the middle of a good story and realize no one is listening to you.
As far as I’m concerned, the weekend really only has one day: Saturday. Friday doesn’t count because we still have to work and Sunday doesn’t count because its haunted by Monday
Kids today will never experience the joy and excitement of hearing the sound of dial up internet actually connecting.
It’s never a good sign when you’ve exhausted your daily website routine within the first hour of being at work.
I know I would have no friends left if they could ever hear my inner thoughts.
Source: http://ruminations.com/
Current Mood: Amused
They’re antsy and edgy, tired of waiting for promotion opportunities at work as their elders put off retirement. A good number of them are just waiting for the economy to pick up so they can hop to the next job and get what they think they deserve. Oh, and they want work-life balance, too.
Sounds like Generation Y, the “entitlement generation,” right?
Not necessarily, say people who track the generations. In these hard times, they’re also hearing strong rumblings of discontent from Generation X. They’re the 32- to 44-year-olds who are wedged between Baby Boomers and their children, often feeling like forgotten middle siblings and increasingly restless at work as a result.
“All of a sudden, we’ve gone from being the young upstarts to being the curmudgeons,” says Bruce Tulgan, a generational consultant who’s written books about various age groups, including his fellow Gen Xers.
This isn’t the first time Gen Xers have faced tough times. They came of age during a recession and survived the dot-com bust. In recent years, though, more members of the generation – stereotyped early on as jaded individualists – began settling down. It was time, they thought, to enjoy the rewards of paying some dues.
“We were starting to buy into the system, at least to some extent,” Tulgan says, “and then we got the rug pulled out from under us.”
Now, in this latest recession, nearly two-thirds of Baby Boomer workers, ages 50 to 61, say they might have to push back their retirement, according to a recent survey from Pew Research.
Meanwhile, on the other end of the age spectrum are members of Generation Y, who are often cheaper to hire and heralded for their coveted high-tech knowledge, even though many Gen Xers consider themselves just as technologically savvy.
“It’s so annoying,” says Lisa Chamberlain, another Gen Xer who wrote the book “Slackonomics: Generation X in the Age of Creative Destruction.” “First, it was always the Baby Boomers overshadowing everything. Then there was this brief period in the mid-’90s where Gen X was cool.
“Now it’s, ‘What are the new kids doing?’ It’s like ‘Yo, hello, the Google guys are Gen Xers.’ ”
They can sound a little whiny. But there’s also some evidence that Gen Xers really are being taken for granted at work.
One survey done this year for Deloitte Consulting LLP, for instance, found that nearly two-thirds of executives at large companies were most concerned about losing Generation Y employees, while fewer than half of them had similar concerns about Gen Xers.
The assumption is often that members of Generation Y are the least loyal and most mobile, says Robin Erickson, a manager with Deloitte’s human-capital division.
However, she points out that a companion survey found that only about 37 percent of Gen Xers said they planned to stay in their current jobs after the recession ends, compared with 44 percent of members of Generation Y and 50 percent of Baby Boomers.
Current Mood: Blah
Wikipedia has a list of the highest grossing films of this decade so far, and somebody noticed that of the top 20 films at the box office, only one movie was not based on a past film or tv show (remake/sequel), or an adaptation of an established property (be it a comic, book, play, toy…etc).
In fact, out of the top 50 grossing films of this decade, there are only 9 movies based on original properties. And five of those nine films were created by Pixar Animation Studios. How sad…
The full list, with the original material in bold.
Edit: In case the video goes away, which it surely will after a while, here are some screencaps:
Current Mood: Amused
Some people make you feel like you’re wasting their time. Some people just come out and tell you. It’s always fun when some uber-people combine both things in one.
Current Mood: Aggravated
Last weekend was very productive!
Katy’s parents were over for the weekend and we managed to:
– install stair gates at the bottom of the stairs and in the kitchen, because Doofus has officially started to crawl
– put up some Christmas decorations
– clear out some weeds in the garden and rip out more of that bed liner crap
– plant our tulip and crocus bulb
– put the sleepers back around the empty pond
We also got our FU DOGS!!! Woot!
I’ve been going crazy trying to find a pair of fu dogs for the garden. It took me 6 months to find some. And now we have them! Behold the glory of Elvis and Jeff.
I’m so happy I could burst.
Reenie also showed off her tree climbing skills and I managed to snap a few pictures of the gorgeousness.
It’s been getting colder these days, which is nice. The beastie is also starting to go back to his happy, non-permanently-pissed-off self, for which we are thankful.
Current Mood: Happy