Hands Free Paper Towel Dispenser

Work just installed a new paper towel unit in the bathroom and I have to admit, I don’t like it. It’s one of those hands free units similar to the picture below, but it does not have a sensor. You have to pull the sheet yourself. This would be fine if the system worked, however with wet hands you end up tearing little pieces of the towel off instead of the entire towel. The bathroom ends up littered with scraps of paper. Overall the system is pretty frustrating. There is no way to get an entire sheet out without ripping the corners. Spend the extra $50 and get the sensor.

When it’s Advantageous to be 280lbs plus

I don’t shop for clothes much. In fact, I don’t shop much in general. But when I do, I have a complex about spending more than I feel is fair for an item. So on those rare clothes shopping occasions, my first, and usually only stop is in the clearance area (because come on, a “graphic t-shirt” shouldn’t cost $18). You can be guaranteed two things when browsing in this section.

1. The area is a disaster of clothes
2. For every medium sized article, there are 50 XXL. For every pair of size 32 pants, there are 20 pairs of 44×32 pants

I’m tired of being discriminated against in the clearance section. Why don’t they order more medium sized clothes and less extra large? It seems like they have the demand for the medium size clothes, since there are hardly any left for clearance. Instead, they run out of mediums and are overstocked with XXL. Come on. This may cause there to be less in the clearance area, but it can’t be any worse than it is now.

Cleaning Corn in the Store?

Since when are you able to shuck corn in the store and leave the husks all over the display? I have seen people doing this multiple times and I feel it is quite rude. What makes these people think this is OK? You don’t see anyone opening up a cantaloupe, scoping out the seeds, cutting up pieces and leaving the rind behind do you? Put your corn in a bag, take it home and clean it there, just like everyone else.

One Birthday Card for everyone

Have you ever stood at the card racks at the store for 20 minutes trying to find just the right birthday card?  If not, have you ever stood with someone for 20 minutes while they looked for a card?

Why do we do this?  I know you want to get a meaningful card, but really.  Do you keep all the cards you get?  Maybe for a week, but sooner or later they get pitched, no matter how funny or clever the card was.  And in some cases, the card you spent so much time painstakingly picking for the birtday boy ends up being a dupliate of a card someone else has given.

So I ask, why not publish one birthday card for everyone?  Publish it in 4 colors, all with the same wording.  You’ve just saved yourself 20 minutes.  And you can personalize the card and make it really funny or extra meaningful by writing your own words inside. 

Or, I’m even open to a mad lib style card.

Dear ________,

I want to wish you a _______ birthday.  You are __________________.   I hope you ______________________.  Happy Birthday!

Love _________.

Dear Sally,

I want to wish you a happy 34th birthday. You are the best. I hope you get all the presents you asked for. Happy Birthday!

Love Steve.

Wii, Playstation, Save Game Progress – Annoying

Recently I picked up Tiger Woods 09 for Wii.  Here is my interaction every time I go to save my progress:

Wii:  “Do you want to save Now?”

Me:  “Yes”

Wii: “User Steve already exists.  Do you want to overwrite?”

Me: “Yes”

Wii: “Are you sure?”

Me: “Yes”

Wii:  “Saving.  Do not turn off power or hit reset.”

Wii: “Save Complete”

Me: “OK”

After five dialog boxes I finally have saved my progress and can interact with the menu again.  What a pain.

HELP! My System Tray is Overflowing

Does your System Tray look like this?  Believe it or not, I’m pretty anal retentive about my desktop, email folders, and especially my taskbar and system tray.  I need minimal clutter – everything in one of these places should be there for a reason.

Luckily, most programs give you some control over where and when they display.  Winamp is by far the best example I’ve found of allowing customization though.  You can choose if Winamp will show in the taskbar, system tray, both, neither, and the icon if you choose to show it in the system tray.

Anyway, for those of you interested in cleaning up your taskbar/system tray, check out these step by step instructions.

The Price Is Right CONTINUES to Disappoint

This is nothing new, but in an hour long episode of the Price is Right you have at least nine commercial breaks. One after every individual game (6), one after each showdown (2) and one in between the showcase showdown bidding and results. This show is probably shorter than most half hour programs, which only run 22 minutes after you take all the commercials out.

And Drew Carey, well he just hasn’t gotten any better.

And You Thought It Was Cold

Unless you live in Jamestown ND, I don’t want to hear your complaints about how cold and terrible your weather is.

And to top if off, schools are opening after a 2 hour delay. The kids must be tougher in ND than in MI or OH where they close schools when its 10 degrees out. You can see the news story here.

Charmin: Just Not Right

I saw this commercial last night and it didn’t sit well with me.

Scrabble on ESPN

There has to be something other than scrabble that ESPN could have on at 3 PM on a Sunday. Maybe if scrabble was on ESPN2 I could understand a little more. Or maybe if it was the National Scrabble Finals, like the Spelling Bee, it would merit being televised. As I type this, Lindsay asks “Isn’t there football on?”