Rant Thread II

[Alan]

friend - what did you drink yesterday?
me - everything

[Hearts_Purple]

Don't drink the bleach, Jill.

[Ben Lahnger]

Treating my dog for fleas really sucks. It's been a much bigger project than I would ever have imagined. Those fuckers lay eggs that can stay dormant in your carpeting for years ... and then hatch when they "sense" vibration and heat near them, signifying that a live host is waiting nearby.

Those flea collars are useless. Also the flea drops you apply to their back do not work (I've tried 2 brands.) I kept working him over with a flea comb but that only caught a few at a time. Flea baths only work for a few days.

Now, I have meticulously vacuumed the apartment, then thoroughly sprayed the carpeting, kennel, bedding and furniture with a long-term flea killing spray. Now I've sprayed him down thoroughly with Hartz Ultra Guard Plus Flea & Tick Spray, then massaged it into his fur and skin.

I hope this does the trick. This shit is wearing me out.

[carakitty]

Ben + everyone else PLEASE DO NOT EVER use Hartz flea treatment again!

The company has recognized their product kills peoples pets yet expresses no sympathy toward the owners for their loss nor are they doing anything to change their product formulation.

[Saya]

Oh shit Ben, stay away from Hartz! Lots and lots of pets get poisoned from that shit.

EDIT: carakitty beat me to it.

Oh, and what happened to Ducky and Wolfie? They're banned again?! WHAT DID I MISS?

[Fruitbat]

Originally Posted by carakitty

Ben + everyone else PLEASE DO NOT EVER use Hartz flea treatment again!

The company has recognized their product kills peoples pets yet expresses no sympathy toward the owners for their loss nor are they doing anything to change their product formulation.

CK- Far out!! and they can still sell this stuff?

BEN I had flea problem (with cats). I used a flea bomb and some frontline (the drop stuff on the back of the neck) *shrugs* but it works.

Saya - you missed everything - I missed most of it too! but I think there are a couple of new members

[*Twitch]

Originally Posted by Alan

friend - what did you drink yesterday?
me - everything

Me too. Damn you blackbull and your 10% beery goodness!! Oh well, it's time to go out and get more, Happy birthday to me!!!

Also what the fuck? Again? JCC. this time? What happened?

[carakitty]

Originally Posted by Fruitbat

CK- Far out!! and they can still sell this stuff?

*sigh* Yes, at least here in the USA. Sometimes I really dislike my country. Seems like the rest of the world is so much more 'with it' than 'we' are

[korinna5555]

My darling Irish Dean went back to Cork today. NOW WHO AM I SUPPOSED TO DRINK WHISKEY AND SCREAM WAGON WHEEL WITH?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! *sobs*

[Ben Lahnger]

Frontline drops were a fail for me ... have been trying to avoid the bomb but it may come to that.

Already used the Hartz spray (the health warning is for the neck drops, not the spray, and includes other brands too) and it killed a lot of fleas with no ill effect on the dog.

In fact, his appetite has picked up, so that's an improvement.

[Ben Lahnger]

Oh, and the wedding on Saturday went off without a hitch (so to speak) and a good time was had by all.

Oh, except for me. Because after going to the reception and drinking some delicious Blue Moon Ale and a few shots, I got a flat tire on the way home ... on the expressway. And I thought there was a chance I could blow .08 on an alcohol test and didn't want to chance an encounter with a helpful law enforcement official ... so I drove on the flat to get off the freeway and into a parking lot.

Then I changed the tire (which is trashed) and put on that ridiculously dinky donut spare they put in cars now ... in the 92 degree heat (with a feels like temp of 101 degrees). I was sweating so much I could have given someone a shower.

I got home safely, but ... what a buzzkill.

And that's why I didn't do a damn thing all day yesterday.

[MollyMac]

I am all for animal rights and all, but, between you and me, the mosquito can go passionately fuck itself

[Saya]

If Noah had been truly wise he would have swatted those two flies.

[Ben Lahnger]

And the drama continues ...

The passionate couple were engaged two Saturdays ago, got married this past Saturday ... and today the Immigration department came and picked him up because (according to the story I've been told) of some internal mishandling of the Green Card renewal paperwork, which was most assuredly filed on time and filled out correctly.

The panicked bride is headed down to the Immigration holding center in the morning, where the lawyer will meet her after a bit. She is not optimistic about the prospects but swears if they deport him to Columbia she will follow him there.

*sigh*

[Fruitbat]

Ah young love Ben.

dealing with all the people required to settle on a house is frustrating. Winter is frustrating and editing my book is even more frustrating. I've got 60 pages to go.

As a side I got the vegan cookbook Saya recommended. Looks fantastic! Can't wait to try out a few recipes. (wrong thread but I'm too lazy to go looking for the other one)

[Solumina]

Originally Posted by Ben Lahnger

that ridiculously dinky donut spare they put in cars now

This is why I love my Forester, it has a full sized spare. getting said full sized spare out of the in a well is a bit harder than lifting a doughnut, but it is totally worth the momentary struggle (plus having great legs makes it pretty easy to find someone willing to help ).



On to my own rant: weddings are overwhelming, especially catering. I swear they just randomly assign prices to things, not that I think the price I'm being charges isn't fair (it is actually pretty damn reasonable for what I am getting), I just don't really understand how changing one thing affects everything else. Whenever I want to make a change the resulting total is almost never what I expect. Thank god RSVP gives you a consultant or I would be totally screwed.

[Apathy's_Child]

God damn it, one of my best, oldest friends can't come to my birthday because her boyfriend's sister is getting married and he booked her in freakin' January. I haven't seen her in like 4 months. She promised to come see us right after the wedding, but she won't be here until the next day, when there will undoubtedly be 14 or so people sprawled over various items of furniture, coming down hard and moaning at the light coming in the windows. Then we'll all watch Withnail & I with the shades drawn because we can't be bothered to talk - it's gonna happen, I know it. This really sucks.

[The Divine Ms. M]

The guy I've been involved w/for 5 yrs. just left me...enough said

[Ben Lahnger]

Ms. M, I am truly sorry to hear that.

***

Well, the order to deport the "son-in-law" is the result of an internal screw-up. Supposedly, the paperwork to renew his Visa/Green Card was filed on time, but the Immigration Department failed to get a copy of the paperwork to one destination in a timely manner, so the order was filed. And they say that once a deportation order has been filed, it has to be processed, regardless of the reason it was filed. We have an attorney working on it, but it sounds messed up to me.

It gets worse. The order states he is to be deported on Friday (he's being held internally until then.) And the way this works is that HE has to raise the money to pay for his own airfare to Columbia in time to pay for his flight on Friday, or he gets to spend 6 months in a jail cell "earning" the money to pay for the plane ticket. So of course family and friends are scrambling to come up with the money to pay for the flight by Friday.

And once he is successfully deported, due to having a deportation on his record, he'll have to wait 2-10 years before he can successfully apply for a Visa again.

So my "step-daughter" is making arrangements to store all her possessions at a friend's house, is applying for a Visa and Passport to travel to Columbia where she and her husband will live with one of his cousins there. The cousin has internet, so she will be able to stay in touch, and they tell me it's a "safe" part of the country. She plans of spending her time there working as an interpreter, supporting her husband and petitioning at the U.S. Consulate on a daily basis to get her husband's case expedited.

This is the most jacked-up thing to happen in my life in about 30 years. I sent largely hopeless emails to our two conservative Senators, but I'm not expecting a timely response. They tell me the attorney still thinks there may be a chance to fix this. I am not optimistic.

I can't invent new swear words foul enough to express my disgust with the government bureaucracy right now.

[Apathy's_Child]

Shit, Ben, sounds like quite the cataclysmic circle-jerk. That is serously fucked up. Best of luck to you & the family in unravelling this bullshit - I hope it all works out.

[Ben Lahnger]

AC, thank you, sincerely, for the kind words.

[*Twitch]

Originally Posted by Ben Lahnger

[b]
So my "step-daughter" is making arrangements to store all her possessions at a friend's house, is applying for a Visa and Passport to travel to Columbia where she and her husband will live with one of his cousins there. The cousin has internet, so she will be able to stay in touch, and they tell me it's a "safe" part of the country. She plans of spending her time there working as an interpreter, supporting her husband and petitioning at the U.S. Consulate on a daily basis to get her husband's case expedited.

An aunt of mine lived in Bogota for 15 years, apparently it's quite nice there, and fairly safe as long as you keep your eyes open.

That's total bullshit though, quite possibly the biggest visit from the cock-up faery I've heard of in a long while. Here's to hoping that load of shit gets sorted soon.

[Ben Lahnger]

*Twitch, thank you. I hope so too.

[Solumina]

I have my Verizon and my Directv services bundled and there is a slight issue. Technically the issue is with Directv but they need Verizon to officially tell them to fix it. The Directv reps that I have spoken to were all very nice and we able to figure out the problem very quickly. Unfortunately the only verizon rep that has been able to understand what the fuck is going on was in a location where she didn't have the power to do what is needed, everyone else has either been a fucking moron, a bitch, or someone who doesn't actually understand enough English to know what is going on (like the guy who transferred me to the "Directv department" which just ended up being the main number for directv, despite me telling him multiple times that Directv reps can't do anything for me without the Verizon reps authorizing it, and the guy who was going to do a conference call with a rep from Directv who also just ended up transferring us, but at least he transferred us to a person).

Fucking shit. I had been so happy with the customer service that I got from Verizon back when I had Fios, but those are different reps, apparently with very different standards.

[Ben Lahnger]

Solumina, I'm sorry you're going through that.

When I was working customer service and tech support in the wireless call center, it took a while before I knew what to do with certain incoming calls, particularly "One Bill" customers who had the bundled services. If they weren't calling for help with the cell phone, it was difficult to determine what number to transfer people to. Part of the problem is the sheer, unbelievable amount of information the call center reps are supposed to keep track of ... but in this case I have no doubt you've also reached some very unhelpful people.

I do know you don't want to call or get transferred to the Verizon Wireless call center ... they can only remark your wireless account, not the overall billing account that includes your DirecTV service. You want to speak to the people at Verizon Communications ... and possibly the One Bill department.

You might try the residential contact number here: http://verizon.com/contactus ... I got 1-800-VERIZON (1-800-837-4966) when I looked it up there. You might have to ask to get transferred to the One Bill department if they can't assist you at that number.

I hope that helps.