Last I heard she was in south africa and her internet was spotty, but that was more than a year ago so I dunno
I was hoping to hear that her alternate-history post WW2 stories were published and available. Nothing on Amazon, though. Her pen name is Ctibor Skarka. As for what annoys me and (maybe) shouldn't, why do they make insulated, carry-around bottles that are too big for the cupholders in your car? In November I returned one to Amazon because of that. Now the company I work for has given each of us salesfloor employees one of the same kind. Nice bottle, handy features, inobtrusive company logo. But if I use it in my car, it's gonna end up under the brake pedal.
There's a thread around here called "The Train Station" https://www.writingforums.org/threads/the-train-station.10874/page-56 that's for announcing your intention to disappear from the forums (for awhile or for always). Also good for announcing you're back. But I see it hasn't been used since 2017. May I be unreasonably annoyed about that?
I have a theory about that. Lots of people don't have cars in cities like mine and carry mugs around it seems. And the ones who do, grab their coffees at drive thrus and don't use travel mugs at all. I don't know... it's not a great theory.
I'm a little surprised they haven't build a Keurig style of coffee machine right into the dash. Not that I'd buy a new car until I had to. Haven't had payments and years. And whip gets dinged and scratched to shit. Parking a dozen times a day around the city.
"Room temperature" in recipes. I mean, this is very Iain-specific, but my apartment doesn't have central heating and air, so room temperature can go from 5c/40f to 30c/86f, depending on the season. Sometimes the butter is liquid, sometimes the soup isn't. Sigh.
Me to parents: hey so i want to do this writing competition but i only have a week to write, polish, and submit a short story. I might need someone to look it over before i submit. Mom: well just ask us! Dad -who really enjoyed my last publication and even went through it line by line and gave feedback-: ill read it! ........ Me:-enters competition, finishes writing story- hey dad, this is what i have... I've got to submit by the end of the week. Could you check to see if i hit the criteria? Dad: YOU ALWAYS DO THIS! I have stuff to do! Do i have to do it now? -grumble grumble grumble- Me:...... Just read it when you can, i guess. Or dont. Its whatever. (I shouldnt have been surprised. Or annoyed.)
Just had a brief telephone conversation with a rep from my state's Department of Motor Vehicles (called the Secretary of State here) and I can't honestly tell you if I spoke to a human being or an AI bot. Creepy.
I recently had a conversation with an AI and when i challenged the answer the AI started over on the script. Maybe it was human I don't know.
There’s a bit of a story to this one… A few years ago a pharmacy opened in the strip mall where I work. After them, a health club opened about a year or so later; Fit Body Bootcamp. They specialize in high intensity aerobic type workout sessions, and hold four sessions throughout the day with night club volume level music. It doesn’t bother us, but we don’t share a wall with them like the pharmacy does. The health club also fills the parking lot with each session(so I guess they’re doing some good business down there). The pharmacy owner got a little testy about the parking situation and had some reserved parking signs made for the four spots directly in front of his store, as if he has any real authority to enforce it. Lately I’ve noticed health club patrons parking in our handicap parking, but not at the pharmacy. So, apparently, inconveniencing someone else doesn’t bother them that much, but the threat of a fine of up to $500 from the state means less to them than an imaginary parking ban imposed by an overly entitled DB PharmD.
I dunno. He doesn't sound at all falsely entitled or anything like a DB. If I'm feeling rotten and need to pick up my prescription, I'd hope for a spot right in front of the pharmacy. Sounds like he's looking out for his customers. If anyone's falsely entitled, I'd say it was the health club patrons.
His wife drove her car into their front windows last year. We’ve often wondered just how much of an ‘accident’ that was. Nobody was hurt, but she managed to not hurt their own store.
An appeal to my fellow Web surfers: if we all stop signing up for websites' newsletters, they'll stop throwing those maddening popups in our faces.
They're super annoying. I recommend using a browser that allows you to turn up privacy features etc. to the point that you never see them.
