My gripe? My wife and I are doing our best to be responsible parents. Long story short, the kids are 7 and 9. One of their favorite shows was cancelled off of Nickelodeon, but we found it on one of the off shoot channels (Teen Nick or something like that). The kids are watching the show, which was always a pretty good show for them (age level and all) and a commercial comes on for another show on the channel. In the commercial they are talking about this kids inner struggle with homosexuality and he calls his friend a bitch in the commercial.

I am sorry, but at the age my kids are, they do not even know about the birds and the bees, let alone homosexuality. Needless to say, we changed the channel immediately, but come on, that is not even appropriate subject matter in my opinion for pre teen or early teen kids (the show it was on during takes place in middle school AND the show was on in the middle of the day).

More and more crap is being exposed to kids when other people think they are ready or can make money off of them than when it seems to be the actual right time to do so.

 

My propensity to bitch knows no boundaries, and you have opened yet one more avenue.
I'm going to try and make this short for once in my life, -(whether it happens or not...we'll see.)
One of the tactics sometimes deployed by a defense lawyer in a brutal murder case, is to show pictures of the victim's fatal injuries over and over and over. The point is, the prosecution is going to present those pictures as evidence. By showing them over and over and over, the jury is desensitized to the shock factor of seeing the mangled victim.
Well this very phenomenon has altered society as we know it in the last few decades, ( probably more, but I haven't been around THAT long).
So- Anyway, that is how evil creeps into our lives, one small step at a time. It's the same with our freedoms, which are under attack as we speak,- but that's for another time and post.
Just like I mentioned earlier about the lack of common courtesy being accepted as commonplace- so goes the lack of morals. The sheer amount of repetition has desensitised us to the point that almost anything is fair game in Primetime now.
I do have to salute you in your due diligence as a parent, though- yet another area that the commonness of poor parenting has made the reality of it the standard.

 

Thank you sir. I work in a field where I see not only the poor parenting, but the results of such too. I can honestly say I am astounded by the lack of common sense of "parents". These people never cease to amaze me with the new mental that these kids need to express themselves and their parents take a hands off approach. It is obvious their kids call the shots. It really makes me appreciate how strict my parents were growing up.

I agree that is how evil creeps into our lives, and we are supposed to be ashamed of ourselves for not embracing this society and immersing ourselves in it. I am scared what will be for us.

 

Doug, this is quite possibly the most thought provoking thread I have read in a long time here on FTE. My gripe is I hate when older people generalize the youth of today as a whole. Yes, there are some astounding idiots in my generation, (I'm 19), but the generation as a whole are not stupid, slutted up drug addicts as many older people seem to think. I graduated high school with a 3.8 this past year, and have never been arrested. I obey the laws of my state and country, do community service when i can, and try to live my life as God wills it, although i stumble sometimes as EVERYONE does. Yet, just because i may listen to a different type of music, or just because my truck is a little too loud for some people, they label me as a trouble-maker or a no good teenager from the ME generation, as it was put earlier in this thread. It just really pisses me off, when people stereotype the teenagers of today. I for one get disgusted at some of the commercials that are aired in the middle of the day. Halloween night, i was with my best friend and a few others. Among us was my best friends little sister, who is 11. We were listening to a radio station that plays a variety of music, from rap to country. Around 10:30 a commercial came on...IT WAS A TROJAN CONDOM COMMERCIAL!!! I was horrified, but luckily one of my other friends covered her ears. The world we live in disgusts me on a daily basis on so many levels, and as a depression survivor myself, the extent that people take their lives for granted infuriates me. Thats it for today...

 

The Me generation I was referring to was your parents and even older.
I am much more inclined to cut teens some slack and my daughter is your age and is doing well in school and working, and I don't have a problem with any of her friends.
It's the people over forty who are still smoking weed and act like they are 13 that bother me.
I can't get into rap much, but I love all the new rock. I think Linkin Park has to be one of my favorite bands, but Slither and All Summer Long are probably my favorite songs.

BTW- Trying to learn both of those songs- just lack a little bit of the lead on Kid Rock's tune, but I can't seem to get that funky rythym down that Slash plays.( At least not as quickly as I usually pick stuff up.)

 

Time for another long post. It's been a hell of a day. I figure it's gotta get better from here on.

I gotta throw in a little back story, so bear with me. About 6 years ago I went through 39 radiation treatments and 8 Chemos. At the tail end of this, I had second to nearly third degree burns on my upper back and shoulders. My radiation doctor called them "exit wounds". He was an oriental guy and a hell of a card. When he scoped me once it made my eyes water and he said " Bet you didn't know I could make you cry." Then there was- "When all your teeth fall out, don't blame me." But the best was my first Pet Scan results after finishing treatment. He was holding the results and you could see in his face that he was struggling how to break the bad news, such a long pause.... I was braced for the bad news- then "well, everything is OK." He got me good that time. But he was serious when he told me as bad as my back looked it was 10 times worse in my throat.But I digress...

My Chemo doc was the one in charge of medicating me, though. He made sure that I was doped up enough to make it all bearable.The point is, when you are doped up to near the max amount the human body can bear, your sex drive all but disappears. Coupled with the fact that some of my meds would require re-dosing every 4 hours, I took to the couch to keep from disturbing my wife in the middle of the night as I would toss and turn just before waking up and re-medicating.

My wife had already had two back surgeries and about this time was getting in real bad shape pain-wise. She went on SS disability and her doctor put her on Hydrocodone. So just about the time I was through with the with-drawls and my sex drive started to return- she switched places with me with a lack of drive and the inability to sleep through the night. So she took the couch and me the bed. Soon after, we put a bed in the living room for her. Days turned into weeks and and weeks months, then months years. We got together occasionally, but not very often. I was very understanding of her situation after being there first, so I gave her a wide berth on when.

So last year, she got a different doctor because of SS. He put her in re-hab and took away the narcotics. I would have never thought that she would come out of that like she did. But also, she came back different than before- and I mean ever before. I felt a distance in her that I didn't feel even when she was on the drugs. Then she decided she was leaving. I could see that we hadn't had much of a relationship in the last 6 years and had to agree with her that things weren't good.

What blew my mind though was her determination that it was over. She wouldn't consider counseling, and she said she loved me but wasn't "in love with me". Even though she was now off drugs, she still had had a hysterectomy and was supposed to be taking hormone pills that she wasn't. Yet another sex drive killer. So my thought is this- what the hell is she talking about? If you love someone but aren't "in love with them" doesn't that mean sexually aroused? How do you arouse someone who is not responsive?

She left in March and August 4th would have been our 25 wedding anniversary. Everyone that knew us said she'd be back. The first 19 were good and frankly I was looking forward to getting rid of the kid and starting over -so to speak. For 25 years she bitched the house was too small, now she lives in a one bedroom apt. with our daughter and sleeps on the couch. She was always stressing about the insecurity of my work- being self-employed and in construction. Now she was getting just enough income to pay her bills and got laid off Sunday.No stress there. She didn't work for 5 years and now she can.

Anyway, We met at the bank and I signed a paper for the divorce and then we had lunch at Golden Corral. The "Oceans of Shrimp" that I wanted to go for are only available on the dinner buffet. Then on the way out, I spotted the clam chowder that I forgot to try the last time I was there!

So- Enough back story. While at the bank today I threw some money into checking so I could pay for an eBay item through Pay-Pal. I guess my mind was slightly distracted and I wasn't thinking about what I was doing. I found an email in the spam folder from eBay concerning a transaction. I've found them there before and they were legit, just got moved there for some unknown reason.

So this thing asking me about shipping cost to a zip code. I'm not selling anything so I thought I'd straighten this up. When I clicked it took me to eBay and asked me to sign in. With all the problems I've been having with this computer lately, it didn't raise a red flag with me when it didn't auto-fill my name and password. Then it directed me to my secret question which I was relieved to find I remembered correctly. ( I don't know if I did or not, as far as choosing the correct question.) When it didn't direct me to the item listing- it dawned on me I'd just been scammed by some scumbag and they now have my eBay info. What they will do with it IDK.
Like I said what a F-ing day.

Edit: The item I needed to pay for was won several days ago, so I thought the Email concerened it.

 

Change your eBay password immediately (if you haven't already).

 

ah ok, sorry if i seemed a little pissy, im just defensive about certain things and i totally agree with you about the over 40 people who still do that stupid stuff.

on a side note, Slash's music is noted for being unusually difficult to play, keep at it, im still working on that song and i started almost a year ago, All Summer Long is the easier of the two by far, but still is a great tune to jam to. Nice to know theres a fellow picker out there on the forums.

 

Is it just me, or has anyone else noticed this? It seems to me that about 80% of the time or better, the people that are so defensive about making sure they don't get screwed are the ones who wind up doing the screwing?

On bid jobs- it's always the ones who want a ton of extra crap done, then want to try and stick to the original quote. As soon as you try to recoup a little of what you've lost on the extras they scream they're getting raked over the coals.

The guy that is so hesitant to lend you money when you need it, is the guy that never pays you back if you loan him some.

The guy that is so paranoid about getting robbed is a thief.

The overly-jealous husband is the world's biggest womanizer.

So I have had 237 transactions on eBay. I've gone through the resolution thing 3 times. Most recently, a guy filed an unpaid item dispute on me with eBay. Now it had been about 7 days since the bid, but he didn't bother to try and contact me first, nor did his listing specify a time limit on payment. I normally pay in a couple of minutes after the auction ends, but I had cash flow problems and it was inconvenient to get to the bank at the time.

So- I contacted him and told him I would fund the next day. He responded that would be fine. I didn't though, because I didn't realize it was Veterans day, (bank closed) but I funded the next day. At the same time I funded a rear view mirror. Days later, when the rear view mirror arrived, this shmuck still hadn't lifted the unpaid item dispute. I had to contact him and point out that it hadn't been lifted, to which he responded "I'll take care of it." He did-2 days later.

I bought an oil pump pick-up out of Oceanside CA about 5 days after that. It arrived today. I still haven't received the valve spring retainers from this A$$. Out of all those transactions this is only the second time I haven't received an item. The first was some hood letters and the guy lived close enough I could have driven over and picked them up. After swearing he had shipped them and claiming he was going to the Post Office to straighten it out, he later fessed up that he had his daughter take them to the PO, and she hadn't quite, actually , physically , done that yet. I had them in 2 days after that.

So that leaves Mr. Wonderful. One of only 2 disputes filed against me, ( I filed the third one against a seller), and now the ONLY transaction out of 236 that failed to be delivered. I'm sure I'll get my money back, (at least) but I have been shopping for about 6 months for this size retainer at a reasonable price. So, I'd much rather have the retainers.

I sent him a contact 2 days ago and he still hasn't responded. This is a holiday week-end so I'm giving him until Monday evening and then I'm filing on him.(maybe...he didn't even bother to try and contact me.....)

Anybody else notice this phenomenon?

BTW- The other dispute against me was quickly resolved, I just hadn't left feed-back and the seller was scared I was going to claim I hadn't recieved the item when I had, I just hadn't installed it or verified it was correct for the application, so I quickly verified reciept for him. I have a 100% positive feed-back rating.

 

i have noticed that as well doug. For some reason it seems to be the way the world revolves now-a-days... I dont get it myself. On the Ebay thing, i have never personally used Ebay. My parents did back in the early 2000's but i've just never fully trusted it. It may be really safe, but i guess im just skeptical? but anways, my gripe is i hate when "friends" more especially "best friends" blow you off on your birthday weekend. It has to be the quickest way to make a potentially great weekend really suck. a short gripe, but honest one. hope all is well Doug

 

A quick update on the retainers. The guy's been communicating and said he may have dropped the ball as things have been a mess around the office. The last exchange he said if they didn't come today he would get another set and send them my way.

Had Thanksgiving Dinner at my mom's Sunday. I thought that my older brother and I were going to start swinging and I'm sure anyone listening in was sure we would. I don't know how it got started, but he claimed he installed a camshaft 180* out. He claimed he lined up the timing marks on TDC on the exhaust stroke instead of the compression stroke.

I told him that was impossible and we spent the next 15 minutes getting into a more heated debate. He proceeded to try and tell me how the piston comes up to TDC twice...Yada Yada Yada. He kept trying to tell me to shut up and listen while he explained it to me and I told him why the "F" would I want to listen to someone who couldn't even install a timing chain explain anything to me. He should shut up and listen.

After 15 minutes and 3 drawings, he finally shut up, looked, and listened and thought about it and conceded that I was right. It is pretty simple really, the crank makes 2 revolutions to the cam's one. So, if the dots face each other (as they should) after the crank makes one revolution, the cam gear dot will be facing straight up. After the crank makes one more, everything is back the way it started. So the only way you can screw it up is to install the chain with the cam dot up and the crank gear down, (or both dots down) because even if you installed it with both dots up it would synced correctly. So actually, straight up or straight down, the cam gear dot will be correct if the piston is at TDC. The crank has to be 180* out from TDC to muff that.

Actually, he didn't concede all that quickly because after he grasped the chain scenario, he said it was a 300 with gears. Took me another couple of minutes to convince him that that made no difference, as long as it was a 2:1 ratio, it didn't matter how you mechanically performed it.

 

Guy said he found the retainers and is shipping them tomorrow!

 

Yeah...I have grown cynical of ebay folk. I guess it is a wait and see if he actually found them. I hope so for your sake!

 

He told me yesterday that if they didn't turn up he was going to order another set from PBM. Like I said earlier, if I don't get them it will be the first time out of 237 transactions that I didn't receive the item.

He's an established eBay seller and I paid through Pay-Pal, so it's doubtful that at the very least I wouldn't get a refund. I'll just be happier if I get them. I love eBay and buying online in general. I've spent a few thousand in the last few years and probably saved a few. When you consider the time and gas involved in comparison shopping and even just physically picking up an item from one place, compared to punching a few keys and having it delivered to your doorstep for a lot less than getting it from the local store it's hard not to love it. Most of what I've bought has been 1/2 price or less.

Then there are the used items- to amass the amount of SBF and F150 parts I have would take many years and many, many hours and a whole lot of luck searching classifieds, garage sales and swap meets. Or a lot of trudging through the stickers and mud searching vehicle after vehicle in the bone yards. Then having to pull the parts.

Don't get me wrong, I do that too- but eBay is just way too easy and cost effective.

 

Update- Got the retainers -no problems!

I wish I could say the same about the rest of my life. It's nearly 3 o'clock in the morning and I don't have enough booze. I have a tooth that looks like a rotted tree stump and it doesn't feel very good. But even worse is an infection that has spread into the back of my jaw and won't let me open my jaw over 1/2 an inch. It hurts like hell. I just want to get enough booze in me to pass out for a while and it ain't happening- so I'm half drunk and in pain and pretty miserable.

Well- maybe half drunk is an exagerration. As in I'm way more than half way there. So that means if I can finally fall asleep, when I wake up, my jaw won't be the only thing hurting. Alcohol has to be the worst painkiller there is, but when it's all you got....

I left a message for the dentist this morning and they never called back.By the time I realized they weren't, I was self-medicated to the point I wasn't going there anyway or anywhere else.

So I guess my bitch for the day is pain. Especially this kind. I can deal with trama better than this. It seems like the pain from trama comes on strong, but after a while you adjust to it and it decreases in severity. This crap just keeps on coming and seems to get worse as it goes.

Any Cancer patient is no stranger to pain, but it doesn't mean we like it any better than anybody else. If I were to grade pain, I'd have to say tooth or jaw pain would be third behind burn. Broken bones or injury of any kind to the sexual organs would be second, and then oral. But when you are dealing with it, it seems like there is nothing worse than a toothache, and my jaw hurts just as bad or worse. Just as scary is how they are going to fix me if I ever get around to that.

I mean- think about it.... If I can't open my jaw over 1/2" wide, how are they going to get in there to fix anything? I'm thinking they'll have to knock me out and maybe even come in from the outside to fix my jaw. I don't know how bad the infection is, but it's possible that they would need to remove some bone that would affect the shape of my face. That would suck! Age has taken away enough of my looks already, I don't need disfiguration to add to the problem.

Oh- well tomorrow will be better. I think I'll go draw me a hot bath and see if I can sleep in there for a while. If I can get my jaw in the water and my nose above, it may just work. If you don't hear from me again, then I didn't keep my nose above the water.

And spell-check isn't working and I know I have 4 mis-spellings!