Random Rants ΟΔ: broken record

[MaryKB]

I once did the math and the cost of her habit is $200-$300 monthly, which we really can't afford, but any time I try to bring it up to her she just starts screaming.

I'm so sorry Aimee, I went through something very similar with my mother, except her vice was lottery tickets instead of smoking (but she still suffered financially). I remember finding hundreds and hundreds of dollars' worth of her scratch tickets, she's especially fond of Bingo scratch-offs. She'd always complain about having no money, even though my parents had a respectable combined income, and she also had thousands of dollars in credit card debt (because any time she got a new card she would immediately max it out buying useless things).

I really remember this time when I was about 22, I was just out of college and I was working part time helping with an insurance adjusting company, and I treated myself to a nice new jacket. I remember my mother complaining "I don't have a new jacket ..." and she totally sucked my enjoyment out of it (probably part of my complex I have now with buyer's remorse). I'm so sorry your mother gave you such a hard time over just an $8 second hand book, like are you supposed to give every penny you have to fund her addiction or something?

 

[Valka D'Ur]

Apparently faxes are preferred over emails because of privacy reasons. I thought that's what PGP was for?

The excuse people give me is "what if I type the wrong email address? Some stranger would find out your information."

Well, what if the wrong fax number gets entered? What if they dial the wrong phone number to speak to me on the phone? What if the sky falls?

This email basically consisted of them asking if I give consent for my father to have a flu shot, and me saying yes. As I'm his guardian who makes his medical decisions for him, I'm required to give consent. Email was good enough last year, so I don't see the problem this year. It's not like account numbers are being included in it.

 

[MaryKB]

I've never had any company or agency tell me an email won't do ... I mean sometimes I have to print out their pdf, sign it, scan it, and attach it to my email (because they want my signature), but that still works for them, right?

 

[MagisterCultuum]

We used to regularly email my mother's blood sugar information to her endocrinologist/diabetes specialist and receive back instructions on how to adjust her insulin dosage, but this summer she said we had to stop that because new HIPAA regulations forbid any email communications of health info. Now the options are to call a number to leave a spoken message on her voice mail, or use the "ask a question" button on a very awkwardly designed website. Luckily her numbers have been stable enough for long enough that we can now just wait for her check ups to share the data and don't need to contact her anymore unless there is some emergency.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

I'm so sorry Aimee, I went through something very similar with my mother, except her vice was lottery tickets instead of smoking (but she still suffered financially). I remember finding hundreds and hundreds of dollars' worth of her scratch tickets, she's especially fond of Bingo scratch-offs. She'd always complain about having no money, even though my parents had a respectable combined income, and she also had thousands of dollars in credit card debt (because any time she got a new card she would immediately max it out buying useless things).

I really remember this time when I was about 22, I was just out of college and I was working part time helping with an insurance adjusting company, and I treated myself to a nice new jacket. I remember my mother complaining "I don't have a new jacket ..." and she totally sucked my enjoyment out of it (probably part of my complex I have now with buyer's remorse). I'm so sorry your mother gave you such a hard time over just an $8 second hand book, like are you supposed to give every penny you have to fund her addiction or something?

More than that, I'm afraid. I was saving up over several months for something a bit pricey and made the mistake of asking if she'd chip in the last $20. She decided that since we lived in the same apartment, it was only fair that she took the money for herself. (She claimed she'd pay me back later. I doubt it.)

 

[Takhisis]

So learn how to keep a private stash, then. :/

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

I don't think I'll try again.

 

[Takhisis]

made the mistake of asking if she'd chip in the last $20

Don't make that mistake again, but why wouldn't you buy your own stuff?

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

It's not worth the arguing.

 

[cardgame]

So in the pre-dawn hours of this morning, I happened across a box.

Not just any box. This box was very large. Think refrigerator box, and then add, i dunno, 15-20% in all dimensions? Now the most interesting thing about this box is that it was in the middle of the highway. More specifically, it was in my lane, and appeared with about half a second of advance warning, thanks to the 90% darkness coefficient, a driver in front of me blocking line of sight, and my own speed of 70mph. I swerved hard into the right lane of this two-lane highway and avoided it, whatever it really was (again, darkness; I am only describing its general shape and dimensions) by maybe 20 feet. Once in the right lane I tried to turn left to even myself out and immediately lost control of my car and spun out 270° precisely, ending in the grassy median about three feet from the shoulder. In the moment, all I could think of was, "I'm gonna roll I'm gonna roll I'm gonna roll," punctuated by half-formed expletives of fear because I was unbuckled*. Thank the gods it was flat ground instead of a ditch like a good quarter of the median is on this road.

All in all, zero injuries to either myself or the car, although the force of the spin did temporarily KO the computer that controlled the fuel injection pump. The only real casualty was being five minutes late for work, where, shortly after my arrival, the electrical lines caught on fire.

Mondays, amirite?

*never again

 

[Farm Boy]

In NM a pack a day is $2500 a year US$

Beggar thy neighbor is always a popular stick.

 

[Lemon Merchant]

...because I was unbuckled*.

Let me go get a big stick...

 

[Takhisis]

Wear your seatbelt, cardgame-san!

i actually called you a five-letter expletive of greek origin in my mind when i first read that

 

[Cutlass]

I spun out in a Mustang once back in the 80s. But back then none of us knew how to use a seatbelt.

 

[cardgame]

Let me go get a big stick...

Read the footnote first please

 

[Kaitzilla]

1 out of every 100 people will die in a car vehicle crash over the course of their whole life.

The main obstacle to living until 8000 years old.

I don't think I know a single person who hasn't crashed, had a close call, or almost died at some point.

 

[MaryKB]

More than that, I'm afraid. I was saving up over several months for something a bit pricey and made the mistake of asking if she'd chip in the last $20. She decided that since we lived in the same apartment, it was only fair that she took the money for herself. (She claimed she'd pay me back later. I doubt it.)

Oh dear I'm very sorry, I grew up in a situation so very similar to yours. Whenever I tried to save money, one of my parents would always find out and take it from me for some reason or another. When I started working and had a few money, my father would come to me practically crying and saying he needed money or our electricity would be cut off or some other horrible thing, so I'd give him what I had (around a few hundred dollars), and then the next day he'd ask us all if we wanted to go out to a steak house or something ... I remember feeling something just wasn't right with what was going on. But even when I was younger, I learned if I got any money from my grandmother or something not to hold on to it for very long. Even now my father still will call me up asking if I can send him money (I've easily given him like ten thousand dollars over this last decade).

@cardgame I'm really so sorry about your accident, I'm very glad you're alright. I can imagine how terrifying that must have been for you, I was in a minor accident myself only a few weeks ago. I'm really impressed you still made it to work after your ordeal, you're a much stronger person than I am.

 

[yung.carl.jung]

1 out of every 100 people will die in a car vehicle crash over the course of their whole life.

The main obstacle to living until 8000 years old.

I don't think I know a single person who hasn't crashed, had a close call, or almost died at some point.

one more reason why I'm never gonna buy a car

 

[cardgame]

@cardgame I'm really so sorry about your accident, I'm very glad you're alright. I can imagine how terrifying that must have been for you, I was in a minor accident myself only a few weeks ago. I'm really impressed you still made it to work after your ordeal, you're a much stronger person than I am.

This might sound insane, maybe just because of the time difference in during vs. aftermath, but I was almost more afraid after it was over and my wheels were locked and my gas pedal didn't do anything. I had no idea that could happen and thought my car was broken.

Actually that's exactly why, it happened so freaking quickly that I have almost no memory of it at all. I really only remember seeing the box, swerving to the right, and then ending up stationary in the median. Memory of the spin has been deleted (by panic?)

 

[Lexicus]

I used to be kinda dumb and not wearing a seatbelt all the time but then I read about this Darwin award won by a guy who was literally an anti-seatbelt law activist (as in, he believed that the government had no right to force people to wear seatbelts). As you might predict he got into a car accident where his car rolled three times and was killed instantly; had he been wearing a seatbelt he would have survived with minor injuries.