Minor things that bother you

[Big John]

^^ i also got those from my high school. Yes they try to sell you the directory at an hyper inflated price.

[Dirt Roads]

^^^ I ignored those postcards so many times that one of those groups actually offered me a significant reduction in the price of the Alumni Directory in an attempt to get my current information.  (IIRC, it was about $10 some 20 years ago)  I wanted one, but I'm so cheap that I wasn't swayed.  And the college still doesn't have my "correct information", which happens to be no longer correct due to retirement.

[J N Winkler]

What really frosted me about this firm was that each postcard came with a deadline.  The later postcards told me I had received an extension, but I needed to hurry.

In retrospect, I should have left instructions with the person fielding the phone calls to ask them not to call us again.  However, I lived in the (futile) hope that each call would be the last.

[D-Dey65]

Why is every phone mount and hands-free device ever made a total piece of crap?

[zachary_amaryllis]

when you allllllllllllmost sneeze, but are denied.

One can go look up at the sun, and that will usually bust it loose, but not so much at 5 am.

[ZLoth]

Why is every phone mount and hands-free device ever made a total piece of crap?

This mount has been working great for me.

[formulanone]

Truly minor thing: when lamp shades aren't twisted down and wobble. Fifty percent of hotel lampshades are loose and I stubbornly tighten them because it bugs me for some reason.

[Bruce]

Why is every phone mount and hands-free device ever made a total piece of crap?

Possibly so that it doesn't actually hurt when it flies off the dashboard after losing suction. This has happened a few times to me because of hot weather. Would consider getting a mount that is stuck to the dashboard, but those are harder to see around.

[D-Dey65]

Why is every phone mount and hands-free device ever made a total piece of crap?

This mount has been working great for me.

I had one mounted on a dashboard. When I turned the heat on in order to use the defoggers, I got a warning on my phone saying it was getting too hot.

[mgk920]

Why is every phone mount and hands-free device ever made a total piece of crap?

This mount has been working great for me.

I had one mounted on a dashboard. When I turned the heat on in order to use the defoggers, I got a warning on my phone saying it was getting too hot.

I've never used a 'hands free' device on cell phones largely because I'm afraid that I'll end up driving into a bridge abutment while I'm setting it up.   

Mike

[ZLoth]

Why is every phone mount and hands-free device ever made a total piece of crap?

This mount has been working great for me.

I had one mounted on a dashboard. When I turned the heat on in order to use the defoggers, I got a warning on my phone saying it was getting too hot.

The challenge for my Pixel 6 Pro phone is that when I'm using Google Maps for navigation and steaming music and have the charger hooked up, that's when my phone gets too warm.

[SSOWorld]

I mount it to the vent, then it will keep cool.

EDIT: Oh, did I forget to say A/C was on?

[jakeroot]

The "too warm" issue is serious, especially if you like to use wireless charging like me. Virtually the only place to mount it is on the AC vent. But then if you live somewhere that is hot enough for the phone to overheat just sitting in the sun, there's a good chance you'll really be missing that AC vent!

[kurumi]

Hip abduction vs. hip adduction. The terms are too similar. Yes, there are diagrams on the machine, so it's minor, but it still bothers me

[J N Winkler]

Today's minor thing:  tendering platforms with nonfunctional search by CPV code.  If I put 45233000 in the relevant box, I want to get highway projects.  I don't want to know the platform in question has a road bridge project, and then get nothing for 45233000, and then stick in 45000000 and get just three hits, one for a housing development and two for work at nuclear power plants.

TED, BOAMP, and PCSP get it right.

[D-Dey65]

Do you know what else pisses me off? Bluetooth. It's a scam. No matter what kind of cell phone I've ever had, I've rarely ever been able to sync it up to ANYTHING! 

Hands-free devices? Hardly ever. The family printer? Not anymore. I keep getting pop-ups from Microsoft trying to get me to sync up my cell phone to my PC. Even if I wanted to, it would never work.

[JayhawkCO]

Do you know what else pisses me off? Bluetooth. It's a scam. No matter what kind of cell phone I've ever had, I've rarely ever been able to sync it up to ANYTHING! 

Hands-free devices? Hardly ever. The family printer? Not anymore. I keep getting pop-ups from Microsoft trying to get me to sync up my cell phone to my PC. Even if I wanted to, it would never work.

Hmmm. I've never had a problem on any cell phone I've ever had. You sure you're putting things in pairing mode?

[zachary_amaryllis]

Do you know what else pisses me off? Bluetooth. It's a scam. No matter what kind of cell phone I've ever had, I've rarely ever been able to sync it up to ANYTHING! 

Hands-free devices? Hardly ever. The family printer? Not anymore. I keep getting pop-ups from Microsoft trying to get me to sync up my cell phone to my PC. Even if I wanted to, it would never work.

Hmmm. I've never had a problem on any cell phone I've ever had. You sure you're putting things in pairing mode?

KDEConnect works well for me, for everything except sending texts. For whatever reason, if I bring up the "Send SMS" screen, it just gives me the spinnycircle trying to get the messages out of my phone. If it does come up, there's like 50 copies of the same conversations.

Frustrating, because it used to work, and work well.

[ZLoth]

Do you know what else pisses me off? Bluetooth. It's a scam. No matter what kind of cell phone I've ever had, I've rarely ever been able to sync it up to ANYTHING! 

Hands-free devices? Hardly ever. The family printer? Not anymore. I keep getting pop-ups from Microsoft trying to get me to sync up my cell phone to my PC. Even if I wanted to, it would never work.

Oh? Are you on a Android phone or a iPhone? Usually, the biggest challenge is just pairing up the device to the phone because of the extended press after power-up to place the device in pairing mode. I've checked, and I'm paired up with:

• Both of my vehicles
• Bookshelf speakers on my desk
• A portable speaker
• Several headphones and some earbuds
• My stereo receiver that powers my backyard speakers
• One of my Echo Shows and Echo Dots
• A portable adapter if a hotel's clock radio supports audio input

As for the Microsoft app to pair up to your phone, that's done through regular networking either by WiFi or carrier data, not by Bluetooth.

[ZLoth]

Something that has bothered me for several months, but now I have more information to file a complaint...

I'm a avid listener of the classical music station WRR-101.1 in the Dallas area. Since most of my drives are short, I don't bother setting up the Bluetooth. However, the past few months, I've noticed interference in the mornings, but wasn't able to get more specific information. Then, a few days ago, I hit the right "sweet spot", and actually got the interfering station. It was in Spanish... oh joy if you don't speak Spanish. But, after a few minutes, I picked up enough clues like "Houston" and "Mega 101". Hmmmm.... a quick Google search pulls up KLOL-FM in Houston, TX operating on 101.1 . Dang, their signal is traveling a long way. Why do I suspect a mis-configuration of their daytime/nighttime transmission patterns? I'll let the FCC deal with that as I'm sending a letter out today.

Still, it brings up a weird question. Is it just me, or does it seem like one is challenged when they want to listen to their local station from certain locations, but have no issues with the stations they are not interested in at all? Especially distant stations.

[hotdogPi]

While it doesn't quite qualify for this thread, I've encountered a situation where if my radio is set to 104.9 (analog dial), it will play 104.9 unless I'm personally standing in a specific location, in which case it will get 104.5 instead. (Since then, I've switched radios and 104.9 is under new ownership.)

[elsmere241]

Along those lines, one of Newark, Delaware's old nicknames is "Radio Free Newark" because of different radio signals (from different directions) interfering with each other (including the University of Delaware's radio station overriding the audio of Channel 6 from Philadelphia).  Digital tuners seem to have solved that problem.

[1995hoo]

I used to have a problem with WTOP's FM feed on 107.7 going all to static whenever I passed the Pentagon. The solution was to turn it to their AM feed on 1500, which came through fine. Their FM feed later relocated to 103.5 and that solved the problem. I've never had a problem with any other frequencies when I pass the Pentagon.

There are a few weird places I can think of where the XM satellite radio feed randomly drops out every time even though I'm not passing under an overpass or near a tall building or similar. One such is the location seen in this Street View–the signal will disappear when I pass that GEICO sign visible to the left and it'll come back after I'm beyond the Braddock Road overpass visible up ahead (and it doesn't matter whether I'm in the HO/T or local lanes, nor which direction I'm going–it happens every time). Another spot is this location going northbound, where the signal will cut out and won't come back consistently until I pass the traffic light up ahead–but the weird thing is, it only happens northbound at that location.

[abefroman329]

I used to have a problem with WTOP's FM feed on 107.7 going all to static whenever I passed the Pentagon. The solution was to turn it to their AM feed on 1500, which came through fine. Their FM feed later relocated to 103.5 and that solved the problem. I've never had a problem with any other frequencies when I pass the Pentagon.

There are a few weird places I can think of where the XM satellite radio feed randomly drops out every time even though I'm not passing under an overpass or near a tall building or similar. One such is the location seen in this Street View–the signal will disappear when I pass that GEICO sign visible to the left and it'll come back after I'm beyond the Braddock Road overpass visible up ahead (and it doesn't matter whether I'm in the HO/T or local lanes, nor which direction I'm going–it happens every time). Another spot is this location going northbound, where the signal will cut out and won't come back consistently until I pass the traffic light up ahead–but the weird thing is, it only happens northbound at that location.

This reminded me that one of my former boss's poker buddies lived very close to Intelsat's offices in Northwest, and when we went to games there, you just plain couldn't get a mobile phone signal.  This was about 10 years ago, so I hope they came up with a solution in that timeframe.

[D-Dey65]

Do you know what else pisses me off? Bluetooth. It's a scam. No matter what kind of cell phone I've ever had, I've rarely ever been able to sync it up to ANYTHING! 

Hands-free devices? Hardly ever. The family printer? Not anymore. I keep getting pop-ups from Microsoft trying to get me to sync up my cell phone to my PC. Even if I wanted to, it would never work.

Hmmm. I've never had a problem on any cell phone I've ever had. You sure you're putting things in pairing mode?

Yes. it takes forever to even try to pair up anything. They either conk out before the job is finished, or they say they can't hook up to the device.

Oh? Are you on a Android phone or a iPhone?

Android.