Intolerance

It's a word that didn't get much use when I was a kid.... unless you were referring to Uncle Joe's second cousin Ethel... now SHE was intolerant....



Now though, it usually refers to somebody's inability to withstand peanuts, or dairy products... or something in their system.... for instance, my son's friend Justin is very intolerant of peanuts... ( I know this, cause I made some lovely chocoloate chip cookies one time and inserted peanut butter chips just for a thrill....Justin and his mother were thrilled.... they got home from the hospital somewhere around 4:30 am ) ........



anyway... MY intolerance is not food ( though onions make me WISH I'd been less tolerant ) ..... My intolerance stems from two expectations ( or character flaws ) that I have:



[1] that things should be where I left them; so that when I need them , I don't have to spend hours hunting.... ( did you know that in any given work day, the average North American worker spends nearly an HOUR looking for some lost piece of information, either in written form or electronic?? ) ... I cant' stand that...
Abby and I spent a long time this morning looking for the manual for the Magic Bullet ( one of those blender thingys ) ... so she could make a milk shake... but the manual was NOT where I'd left it ( in the middle of the kitchen table, sometime back in August ) ... I'm blaming the cleaning lady for losing my manual!! )



[2] I'm also overtly intolerant of things that don't WORK.... no, not at a factory job for $8.67 an hour .... but that they should operate properly... the way they were designed to WORK.



for instance... that the "POWER" button on my vcr remote should work...

or that the coffee maker should work properly..... it should shut off automatically, and it shouldn't DRIP when you pour.... burned my tummy this morning, but that's partly cause it was sticking out too far... see how easily I digress?



this has been a frustrating couple of weeks for stuff not working....


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Last weekend, my computer wouldn't work properly..... the sound was not functioning, at all, nor was the cd burner..... jeepers.......I didn't want to take it in to have the sound repaired, just in case they wiped it clean ( again ) and I lost all my photos and files.... and I couldnt' burn them to a cd, cause the burner wouldn't work... so I sat here, grumbling in silence....


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Also when I got home a couple of weekends ago, I found my coffee carafe was broken... just a piddly little crack in the bottom corner.... not sure HOW that happened.... ( don't think me nasty, but I'm blaming the cleaning lady for this too!! ) ... I went to get a replacement pot, and couldn't find one.... so to make a long story short, I bought a generic replacement that was the EXACT same height... but didn't fit when i brought it home... I've hunted high and low for a new coffee maker, annoyed that I have to buy an entire new system but not wanting to pay $26.95 just for a special order pot, and then to have to drive to Hamilton to get it... JEEPERS.....

So today, in a state of caffeineless frustration, I went to Sears and bought a Black & Decker mini ( 5 cup ) coffee maker.... $24.95 ... less than a replacement carafe, and it saved me a trip to Hamilton....

But the new pot leaks when you pour ( hence the second degree burns to my protruding stomache ) and.... it takes 312 minutes for the water to filter through... jeepers, I think I need some mood swing meds...

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For the past few weeks, my windshield wiper spray nozzle has not been working well.. not at ALL ...... I figured it was the pump.... Monday this week, on my way to Thornton, I went through a bottle and a half of fluid... mucky weather, for starters.. but the pump just wouldn't push the fluid high enough..I kept having to spray LOTS of fluid onto the windshield, and hope enough of it would land above the wiper, and then spread the fluid around with the blades.... it was getting frustrating, but I didn't want to spend the $$ on a new pump.. not yet anyway.....

so anyway... while I was filling the tank for the third time on on Monday, I was standing on the side of highway 400, and I noticed fluid dripping down from the underside of the hood.... I looked closer, and the little plastic pipe running the fluid to the spray nozzles had a huge chunk missing.... whoo ahh... wasn't the pump after all..... So I stopped at the Outlet Mall in Cookstown, and bought a roll of electrical tape for 99 cents and repaired it myself.... I was SO proud of myself!



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oh... and my desk chair is on its last legs... I bought this thing in 1998 when I was managing an insurance brokerage in Burlington.... it had a " He's The Manager " kind of look, i felt..... and it has the older style look to it.. I like those better...




anyway... I found out later why they had a $400 chair marked down to $75 !!! ... whoo ahhh....

anyway... when I got uh... downsized, ( that's a story for another day, when I'm not in such an intolerant mood!! ) the chair went to the girl who replaced me....

and ( is this a LONG story paul ????? ) .... SHE kept falling on the floor, cause the casters wouldn't stay in properly...

so she pitched it.... I found out about it, and went and got the chair... and brought it home....

it was a small victory for me... I may have lost my position, but I GOT THE CHAIR, by gum!!!!!



anyway.... the base has long since worn out, and the chair tilts ( even after my friend Russell welded it for me ) ....... plus the castors still fall out ALL the time, inspite of the many layers of duct tape I have around the shafts.....
at any given time, I could be sitting here typing, and in seconds, my chin has smashed the keyboard, and I'm laying on the floor uttering things under my breath...


so the chair is going....but I love this chair... sigh

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so I just went to take pictures of the chair... and my camera wouldn't turn on... batteries ( which have been in there for all of one day ) were dead... I forgot to tell you about them.... Panasonic Ni-MH 2300's ..... they have honestly been really good batteries... they normally last 3 full days of inspecting.... I take about 150 - 175 photos per day when I'm working, so these batteries have served me well....
but they're pooched ( I love that word ) ..... for the last month or so, nearly every time I turn the camera on, the "change batteries" sign comes on, and the camera goes dead... I have to open the battery hatch, pull them out, stick them back in, and then the camera will start..... Part of it I think is the cold... standard Alakline batteries function well in the cold, Ni-MH's don't seem to....sigh...

ok.. lets see... anything ELSE that is broken? oh yeah... the hair clippers ( man that sounds funny coming out of my mouth! ).... I bought new hair clippers last fall at the Black and Decker outlet.... I have to use them about every three weeks... I hate paying someone to cut my hair, when it takes about 3 1/2 minutes, with a # 2 buzz cutter.... so I do it myself... and every few weeks, I'll have Anna help me cut the back... so that I don't look like a mutant.... last weekend, I went to trim my beard... and the new clippers would only make a loud buzzing noise... jeeeeeeeeeepers... it's not like they've been over USED.... so this week when I was at the Cookstown outlet mall, I bought new clippers that were onsale... $9.99.... wonder how long THEY will last....

ok.. then...... if you 've read this all the way to the end, .... you will fall into one of two categories...

You're either a VERY loyal friend.....

or you need a life...

hope the rest of your day is wonnnnnnnnnnnerful wonnnnnnnnnerful ( to quote Lawrence Welk )