Minor things that bother you

[Beltway]

People who belch in restaurants.

People who puke in sinks.

[Max Rockatansky]

Do you regularly encounter people puking into sinks?

[Beltway]

No -- thank goodness!

[D-Dey65]

This morning, I found somebody's Instacart Shopper debit card, and I can't contact the company to have the thing returned to the owner.

UPDATE; 9:45 AM I just turned the card over to a local deputy sheriff, just in case the card wasn't cancelled.

[vdeane]

I had a good tire pressure gauge that I kept in my car's glove compartment.  It went missing recently, almost certainly while the car was away for maintenance (complete with the glove compartment noticeably being pawed through - I'm a neat freak, so it's very noticeable when people go through my stuff because even when they try to put things back, they're always misaligned or something).  I found out when I went to check the pressure this morning.  Had to buy a replacement, but the stores don't sell quality stuff anymore, so I had to get an el cheapo plastic one that's more finicky than the old one ever was.  And because I had to go and get one, I couldn't fill the tires until after the snow started, and a bunch went right into the car while this was going on.  I tried to brush it off the seats, but the snow brush was dirty, and now there's black stuff all over the seat.  And, of course, still a ton of snow in the car, a car that's prone to moisture even when it doesn't have a ton of snow dumped in it.  I have no idea how I'm going to fix this complete disaster.  It's been enough to ruin my Christmas vacation.

It's also further proof that the Mannheim Steamroller version of Carol of the Bells is a harbinger of doom.  Every time I hear it, something horrible happens.  First the storms that merged and made the worst drive home from Thanksgiving ever (a few days after I first heard it on the radio).  Then COVID (I bought the MP3 and played it a ton before I knew the song was a harbinger of doom).  And now this (it randomly played on the radio Saturday).

[kkt]

I had a good tire pressure gauge that I kept in my car's glove compartment.  It went missing recently, almost certainly while the car was away for maintenance (complete with the glove compartment noticeably being pawed through - I'm a neat freak, so it's very noticeable when people go through my stuff because even when they try to put things back, they're always misaligned or something).  I found out when I went to check the pressure this morning.  Had to buy a replacement, but the stores don't sell quality stuff anymore, so I had to get an el cheapo plastic one that's more finicky than the old one ever was.  And because I had to go and get one, I couldn't fill the tires until after the snow started, and a bunch went right into the car while this was going on.  I tried to brush it off the seats, but the snow brush was dirty, and now there's black stuff all over the seat.  And, of course, still a ton of snow in the car, a car that's prone to moisture even when it doesn't have a ton of snow dumped in it.  I have no idea how I'm going to fix this complete disaster.  It's been enough to ruin my Christmas vacation.

It's also further proof that the Mannheim Steamroller version of Carol of the Bells is a harbinger of doom.  Every time I hear it, something horrible happens.  First the storms that merged and made the worst drive home from Thanksgiving ever (a few days after I first heard it on the radio).  Then COVID (I bought the MP3 and played it a ton before I knew the song was a harbinger of doom).  And now this (it randomly played on the radio Saturday).

I'm sorry to hear that.  I sent away for a good tire gauge, it's worth it in saved frustration.

[DTComposer]

Another opening and yet again WISN radio in Milwaukee is keeping the mid-day slot local instead of going with Glenn Beck like 98% of the I heart talk stations do. I think this time however it may backfire. Their program director Jerry Bott needs to be fired.

I think staying local is the correct decision, assuming there's more than one iHeart talk station in range. We don't need multiple stations airing the same content at the same time.

Drop the iHeart branding while you're at it.

KGO - an AM news/talk station at 810 (a clear channel, 50,000-watt broadcaster) - was the #1-rated station in the Bay Area for over 30 years with entirely locally-based programming, save for Dr. Dean Edell (who started his show on KGO, so it still felt local) and some short-form syndicated programs like hourly news and Paul Harvey. As late as 2011 it was still the #3 station in the market - then Cumulus bought it.

Cumulus futzed with the format (including abruptly firing most of the hosts), and ratings plummeted. They tried to backtrack on the format over the next few years, but the damage was done. In 2022 they (again) abruptly switched to a sports-betting format, which lasted for two years, before KSFO (another Cumulus station) moved to 810 with a syndicated conservative-talk format. The KGO call sign was retired after just over 100 years. KSFO is now the 27th-rated station in the market.

I don't mind syndicated radio, and I get that terrestrial radio is not ever going to be what it once was, but I strongly believe that the monopoly-like ownership of Cumulus, iHeart, Audacy, etc. did as much damage as anything in accelerating radio's decline.

[thenetwork]

Another opening and yet again WISN radio in Milwaukee is keeping the mid-day slot local instead of going with Glenn Beck like 98% of the I heart talk stations do. I think this time however it may backfire. Their program director Jerry Bott needs to be fired.

I think staying local is the correct decision, assuming there's more than one iHeart talk station in range. We don't need multiple stations airing the same content at the same time.

Drop the iHeart branding while you're at it.

KGO - an AM news/talk station at 810 (a clear channel, 50,000-watt broadcaster) - was the #1-rated station in the Bay Area for over 30 years with entirely locally-based programming, save for Dr. Dean Edell (who started his show on KGO, so it still felt local) and some short-form syndicated programs like hourly news and Paul Harvey. As late as 2011 it was still the #3 station in the market - then Cumulus bought it.

Cumulus futzed with the format (including abruptly firing most of the hosts), and ratings plummeted. They tried to backtrack on the format over the next few years, but the damage was done. In 2022 they (again) abruptly switched to a sports-betting format, which lasted for two years, before KSFO (another Cumulus station) moved to 810 with a syndicated conservative-talk format. The KGO call sign was retired after just over 100 years. KSFO is now the 27th-rated station in the market.

I don't mind syndicated radio, and I get that terrestrial radio is not ever going to be what it once was, but I strongly believe that the monopoly-like ownership of Cumulus, iHeart, Audacy, etc. did as much damage as anything in accelerating radio's decline.

iHate Radio is the worst of the bunch (if they supposedly "love" radio, then why do they try to direct people to podcasts -- which are NOT necessailrily on the radio -- or to TV for their music awards). 

Cumulus' original owners were from Toledo.   Even 40+ years ago, Lew Dickey amd his AM & FM stations were looked at as stations that took the fun out of radio.

And what started happening about 30 years ago in radio is now starting to happen in TV, with the big conglomerates (Nexstar, Tegna, Sinclair) buying out all the mom & pop stations, only to get rid of the longer-tenured talent in favor of minimum wage talent that have little experience.

Most of this younger talent spend more time on their selfies, stupid Tik Tok videos more than they use social media to be an extension of their actual news stories.

[Beltway]

It's also further proof that the Mannheim Steamroller version of Carol of the Bells is a harbinger of doom.  Every time I hear it, something horrible happens.  First the storms that merged and made the worst drive home from Thanksgiving ever (a few days after I first heard it on the radio).  Then COVID (I bought the MP3 and played it a ton before I knew the song was a harbinger of doom).  And now this (it randomly played on the radio Saturday).

Spiritual warfare?

[mgk920]

WISN (1130am) is the highest rated radio station in the SE WI market using local programming during the drive times.  I do agree with the other thoughts of I(heart) selling it off.

Mike

[gonealookin]

A note in this month's Spectrum bill says they are eliminating their $5 monthly discount for using Autopay, meaning the monthly bill for Internet-only goes from $85 to $90 in January.

It's about time to give T-Mobile home internet a try.  I guess the question there would be whether it's reliable enough for routine television streaming.  I wouldn't want a football game constantly pausing.  Does anybody have experience with using T-Mobile's off-the-tower home internet service that way?

[Scott5114]

Telecom reliability varies so much from area to area that you'd need to check with people local to you to get a correct answer.

[SSOWorld]

I pay brightspeed 65 a month for 1G fiber internet - never had problems outside a dying ONT (the device that translates the fiber to Ethernet, not the Canadian Province). BS bought the network off Centurylink in 2020(?). A little guy called Astrea came in and built a competing fiber infrastructure in town, managed to nab 25-30% of houses in town (and surrounding residences in adjacent townships - where BS doesn't have coverage) - there was zero competition in town prior to Astrea's arrival.  I stayed with BS on the count that 1G was $5 more a month at Astrea

Lo and behold, Charter-*cough*-Spectrum buys out Astrea this year 🤮🤮

[LilianaUwU]

I pay brightspeed 65 a month for 1G fiber internet - never had problems outside a dying ONT (the device that translates the fiber to Ethernet, not the Canadian Province). BS bought the network off Centurylink in 2020(?). A little guy called Astrea came in and built a competing fiber infrastructure in town, managed to nab 25-30% of houses in town (and surrounding residences in adjacent townships - where BS doesn't have coverage) - there was zero competition in town prior to Astrea's arrival.  I stayed with BS on the count that 1G was $5 more a month at Astrea

Lo and behold, Charter-*cough*-Spectrum buys out Astrea this year 🤮🤮

Y'all remember when anti-monopoly laws were a thing?

Me neither.

[kkt]

I pay brightspeed 65 a month for 1G fiber internet - never had problems outside a dying ONT (the device that translates the fiber to Ethernet, not the Canadian Province). BS bought the network off Centurylink in 2020(?). A little guy called Astrea came in and built a competing fiber infrastructure in town, managed to nab 25-30% of houses in town (and surrounding residences in adjacent townships - where BS doesn't have coverage) - there was zero competition in town prior to Astrea's arrival.  I stayed with BS on the count that 1G was $5 more a month at Astrea

Lo and behold, Charter-*cough*-Spectrum buys out Astrea this year 🤮🤮

Y'all remember when anti-monopoly laws were a thing?

Me neither.

We could use a president like Teddy Roosevelt again.

[hbelkins]

A wireless printer that you can't print wirelessly from.

It's impossible to print a document from my phone/iPad to the wireless printer using the Epson app that's supposed to be designed for that purpose. I have to download the document onto my laptop, physically connect the laptop to the printer via a USB cable, and print it that way.

[Beltway]

A wireless printer that you can't print wirelessly from.
It's impossible to print a document from my phone/iPad to the wireless printer using the Epson app that's supposed to be designed for that purpose. I have to download the document onto my laptop, physically connect the laptop to the printer via a USB cable, and print it that way.

I got an Epson printer about 5 years ago. It was a hassle keeping it properly supplied with ink and properly connected to the network.

So I got an HP printer for less than $100 and I use that exclusively, works fine. I don't do much printing anyhow.

[JayhawkCO]

Do you regularly encounter people puking into sinks?

During my career as a restaurant manager, I think I had to clean puke out of a sink three times (over approximately 10 years).

[kphoger]

Telecom reliability varies so much from area to area that you'd need to check with people local to you to get a correct answer.

This is true.  In general, your typical big telecom providers will have more reliable networks in newer neighborhoods (read:  farther out in the suburbs), simply because the infrastructure carrying your signal is newer.

[hbelkins]

Do you regularly encounter people puking into sinks?

During my career as a restaurant manager, I think I had to clean puke out of a sink three times (over approximately 10 years).

Given the choice between standing upright in a public restroom and vomiting into a sink, and kneeling on the bathroom floor and vomiting into the toilet, I'm puking in the sink every time. At home, I'll worship the porcelain god. In a public restroom, nope, not doing it.

[kphoger]

I got an Epson printer about 5 years ago. It was a hassle keeping it properly supplied with ink and properly connected to the network.

About the bolded part...

A lot of wireless printers will only connect to Wi-Fi on the 2.4 GHz frequency band, which can cause issues with certain dual-band routers.  For example, we have a Panoramic gateway at home from Cox Communications.  A few months ago, after we had it upgraded during a service call, we had intermittent connectivity issues with our printer.  We then had the gateway swapped, downgraded, upgraded again—all to no avail.  Now, a Panoramic gateway has a built-in dual-band router that scans both frequency bands and uses whichever one it determines to be the best at that time.  What was apparently happening is that, unbeknownst to us, the bouncing around from 2.4 to 5.0 was making our wireless printer disconnect and reconnect from the Wi-Fi network every so often.  The solution was to rename our gateway's 5.0 GHz Wi-Fi network to something different (the two have the same name by default), which made our printer unable to recognize it and therefore never drop off the 2.4 band.

Shortly before Christmas, my parents upgraded from an old DOCSIS 3.0 eMTA to a Panoramic gateway as well.  Over the holiday, my mom mentioned that they were having intermittent connectivity issues with their printer.  My wife and I perked up immediately, because we knew how to fix it.  And fix it we did, by helping her download the Cox Wi-Fi app and renaming the 5.0 GHz network.

I work for a cable company that contracts for a couple of MSOs, including Cox.  But it was just one person here at work who first suggested trying the thing that ended up fixing our problem.  No one else had even heard of such a thing as wireless printers getting knocked off the network due to the dual-band thing.  So I shouldn't be surprised if a lot of service techs and IT support people out there aren't aware either.  But it's now work for both us and my parents.

[JayhawkCO]

Do you regularly encounter people puking into sinks?

During my career as a restaurant manager, I think I had to clean puke out of a sink three times (over approximately 10 years).

Given the choice between standing upright in a public restroom and vomiting into a sink, and kneeling on the bathroom floor and vomiting into the toilet, I'm puking in the sink every time. At home, I'll worship the porcelain god. In a public restroom, nope, not doing it.

I would hope that you would take some paper towels and try to clean the remnant mess as opposed to leaving it for an innocent bystander though.

[kphoger]

My most embarrassing puking-in-public moment was when I had picked up my daughter from daycare and the two of us were taking a city bus back to my apartment.  She threw up on the bus floor—down between the sideways-facing-seat and the window—just before we got to our stop.  I told the driver about it, but there wasn't much else I could do at that point except step down onto the sidewalk.

[vdeane]

Years ago, my aux cable broke inside the car's aux port.  Sometime this year, I heard about some tools that are supposed to help (by inserting them in around the broken piece and then pulling it out), so I put them on my Christmas list.  Turns out the tools don't work at all, and if I want to fix this, it's going to be a (likely) very long appointment with the dealer's service department.  Is there a better way to deal with this?  I don't have a ton of time off to put towards fixing this problem, but I'd like to get that port fixed.

[JayhawkCO]

Years ago, my aux cable broke inside the car's aux port.  Sometime this year, I heard about some tools that are supposed to help (by inserting them in around the broken piece and then pulling it out), so I put them on my Christmas list.  Turns out the tools don't work at all, and if I want to fix this, it's going to be a (likely) very long appointment with the dealer's service department.  Is there a better way to deal with this?  I don't have a ton of time off to put towards fixing this problem, but I'd like to get that port fixed.