For Fuck's Sake - WHY!?!?!? (annoyed)

[Greg Nog]

Yeah, my main advice would be Aquaphor, which is the bastard child of Eucerin and Vaseline.  I get massively dry hands in the winter, and it helps a lot.  They give it to burn victims, apparently!

[slow west vultures]

so, my sister is coming in tonight.  my mom was all stressed cleaning up the kitchen and washing down various surfaces which she normally doesn't do.  in general my sister coming in is a high stress time because she tends to have a blow up over things being out of place every time she comes home.  so we're a little mroe on edge when she does come home.

my mom, had an mri this morning, and decided last night to bring her youngest sister- who has down syndrome- over here for the day and basically distract her.  my aunt has her own bedroom at my aunts house where she stays at weekends, so there was really no need to it, and i'm just kinda pissed at my mom for adding all this unnecessary work and stress for herself on  a day it really didn't need to be done.  there's more to it than that, and i probably sound bad, but my mom's a really anxious person and i think this is one of the main ways she kind of medicates her own emotional unstability - to my dad's chagrin and my continual bafflement and frustration.  :/

[davy]

Aquaphor rules.

[diesel_powered]

Yeah, that was actually what I was thinking of with the petroleum jelly. Something to make a waterproof barrier to keep the environment from washing away the natural oils. Also, you may want to try nitrile or vinyl gloves anyway. I'm not allergic to latex, but latex gloves seem to be the hardest on my hands. It could be the powder or whatever.

[C of heartbreak]

Guys don't spill couscous all over the kitchen. It is the worst.

[dumbfish]

Not necessarily. If you had a dog, your kitchen floor would now be spotless.

[davy]

Life sucks when your kid is sick.

[C of heartbreak]

Not necessarily. If you had a dog, your kitchen floor would now be spotless.

Well I have a rat, who helped quite a bit, but he couldn't do much for everything all over the counter/the stuff that was on the counter. Though I guess the advantage of a rat over a dog is that you can put him up on the counter or in small areas for clean-up duty.

[clare]

Life sucks when your kid is sick.

QFT. Sounds like our lads have the same thing.... :-( D went to bed last night with a fever, woke up vomiting and continued all day until this evening, when he suddenly started feeling better. I'm hoping it's fixed and he's off to his dad's tomorrow... My problem is that I get in a bad place when they are sick, and I can't do anything other than sit around and wait for the next spew...

[davy]

Yeah, basically.

[ieatrats]

I'm fucking annoyed that the $100 rear light for my road bike seems to have slipped and tumbled off somewhere on a 5 mile stretch when I wasn't even really out for a ride, and that I dropped a benjamin on this thing in the first place because it was one of those "oh well, even though it's egregiously expensive and is not useful for anything else it's way better than something cheaper and I will never have to buy it again" purchases.

Note to self, and maybe to any other owners of Dinotte lights - do NOT leave them disconnected in hopes of extending the battery life a little bit, because if the stupid o-ring slips off at least the light will dangle and not just drop off somewhere.

[davy]

I can't imagine spending that much on a light. I've only had to buy two in my life, and both were around $15.

[ellaguru]

I just use the $3 Mountain Equipment Co-op lights on my bike. That way I can just leave them on the bike and not worry about them getting ripped off or falling off, because they were only $3 anyway.

[dumbfish]

I have to believe ieatrats's lights were nicer than those. Not like he's Mr. Consumption-for-its-own-sake. And added safety while riding at night in Philly qualifies as a necessary expense.

Bummer, man. Guess an extra ziptie or something is warranted, eh?

[davy]

But I mean...a light is a light?

I suppose if you're a hardcore roadie, weight would be an issue.

[morgan]

I spent $50 on my front and rear lights together, and they are both INTENSELY bright, which is why I put a little extra money toward them. $100 is a lot of money for a light, though! Sometimes it's necessary to spend more if you know it'll be a lot safer (brighter and therefore more noticeable). I don't know if I'd spend $100 on one light, but I am all for putting more money toward brighter lights, particularly in a place like Milwaukee (and maybe Philly?), where drivers are not all that likely to notice cyclists in the first place.

Edit: I know plenty of people here who have rear lights that are barely noticeable even when I'm riding right behind them. That is scary to me, and I would not be comfortable riding with a light like that.

[ellaguru]

Oh, yes, it all depends on what you're doing. My night-time riding is pretty much all busy downtown big city lots of trafficky (with lots of other bikes around), so I only need blinky LEDs. I can think of lots of situations where my lights would not be sufficient.

[Bernard]

My beautiful, smart, talented friend is marrying a guy with a neck that looks like a matchstick dipped in pubic hair. And that's in the 'good' photo of himself that he put up on facebook. God, I want him to have a horrible Nair accident.

[diesel_powered]

Okay, somebody needs to convince my emotionally retarded father that badgering me about getting a job at a copy shop while I'm in the middle of preparing to submit multiple portfolios for magazine consideration isn't the best way of being supportive. All after I'm waiting to hear back from a job interview. Guy needs to get his ass back to work and out of my fucking hair.

[donblood]

If you worked at the copy shop you could make copies for the multiple portfolios, so that's a time-saver

[Bernard]

hang in there, everybody

[ieatrats]

Incidentally this rear light is easily visible a mile away, and was got because the majority of roads outside Philly aren't lit (heh or in depending on the neighborhood), have rolling hills and lots of twists, no shoulders, and they're loaded with wealthy 'burbs full of people driving huge trucks or fast import cars on autopilot.  It's the kind of light that when flashing is impossible to miss - a better description might be "seizure-inducing."  All about comfort and confidence in visibility - since I got it I shudder to think that when I was out and night fell the only thing visible on my road bike was like the reflective jawns on the backs of my shoes maybe.

In town I just have cruddy blinkies and anyone who says "I didn't see you" I just toss some sugar packets in their gas tank and take a few quick bites out of their liver and say YOU SEE ME NOW?

[diesel_powered]

The thing that annoys me the most is the assumption that retail is the best I can do. Like I couldn't, y'know, teach. Like I did all last year. But no, seeing as I haven't turned into Don Draper yet, I'm doomed to make minimum wage. I've long since stopped giving a shit what my parents think of the life I've chosen, but it's still a distraction to have to stop for lectures in the middle of doing your work.

Edit: x-post, etc.

[diesel_powered]

OH GOD WHY DO I ALWAYS PUT THINGS OFF TO THE LAST SECOND?

[morgan]

OH GOD WHY DO I ALWAYS PUT THINGS OFF TO THE LAST SECOND?

Me too.