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Wednesday, December 26, 2007

#305: TV Station Logo Promo

It's common practice for TV stations to have their little icon in the corner, and this is annoying on its own, but so common that I've accepted it. However, when they augment the logo with an even bigger distortion advertising some new show that is going to be on, and then in the other corner put the name of the show that you are watching, this is too much. I don't need to see that Dancing with the Stars is premiering the entire time I'm trying to watch my show. BBC America is guilty of this, though I'm sure other channels do this as well. Severity: 3

#304: Throat Clearing

Person at my work sitting near me who is everyday clearing their throat every 30 seconds. Real annoying. Severity: 4

Sunday, December 16, 2007

#303: Axl Rose whining

On Guns N' Roses' Appetite For Destruction, Axl Rose is heard whining in foul-language at the close of some songs about a dissing that occurred in some rock magazine magazine and it takes away from the music. He should have realized that years later, no one would care about his beef and that it would appear stupid to have that on the recording. It does not withstand the test of time and takes away from some good songs. He could have done something a little more creative like what Lynyrd Skynyrd did in Sweet Home Alabama and turned a current event at the time (Neil Young's dissing of Southern culture in Southern Man) into the actual lyrics of their song which is more acceptable. Severity: 1

Saturday, December 15, 2007

#302: "Good" penalty

I hate when in hockey the announcers commend a player for taking a penalty to stick up for their teammate. The purpose of the game is to win and if you have a penalty against your team resulting in a power play for the other team, I fail to see how this is good. If you want to show grit, there are plenty of legal ways to hit the other team during normal play. Severity: 2

#301: Privacy Notices

I'm tired of getting dumb mail containing privacy policies for various financial institutions that I deal with. Practically no one cares about this stuff, so make the 1% of people that care about this seek out this information rather than give it to everyone which creates a lot of waste. Severity: 3

Friday, December 14, 2007

#300: Low Flow Toilets

I'm all for conserving water and I think low-flow urinals are fine, but in the building I now work in, they use low-flow toilets that do not adequately WHOOOSH the offending item down enough and you see residue either from your own "dooings" or the previous patron and it's really not something that enhances the bathroom experience or it makes me feel bad that I will lessen the next person's experience. Severity: 2

Thursday, December 13, 2007

#299: Online Statement Notification

When I get an email that I have a new statement online for one of my numerous credit cards that are idle, but they don't specify that there is no balance due. I have to go check it anyway, just in case there is some auto charge or fraud going on and it's a pain. They should specify in the email if there is no balance due so you don't have to log in to see the statement. Severity: 3

Sunday, December 09, 2007

#298: Music Rights for WKRP

The WKRP in Cincinnati DVD is out, but they've had to cut out a ton of music from the background because they couldn't secure the music rights. The music rights holders are stupid in this case. They should realize there's special situation where a show like this has so much classic music playing in it and is such a big part of the show that they could never afford to pay the normal amounts and there should be special dispensation to give them a lower rate so they can afford to put out the DVD. Instead, the DVD gets put out in a sub par form. Severity: 3

#297: Building Security

The building in my new job requires you to sign up if you leave the building after 6:00pm which I think is way to early. I mean, I agree that people shouldn't work past 5, but 6 is really not all that late for shenanigans to be occurring and it's stupid to make everyone sign out that early. It should be 7:00pm. Also, they don't even check you ID so you could put fake information (unless they check your name in the computer while you walk out). Severity: 3

#296: Caldecott Tunnel Merging

I hate when the Caldecott Tunnel has only 1 bore open in your direction, and there's light traffic, but people in the lanes that need to merge don't get offer till the last second. It's like they have some perversion to cut over quick and cause some possible conflict when they could be continuing their same speed and just plan a little earlier to get over and avoid any possible merging problems. I don't have any problems with people merging at the last minute when the traffic is heavy, but when it's light, you should not wait till the last second. Severity: 2

#295: Voice Customer Service

I don't like when you call up customer service lines and they make you speak your information and don't give you a button-pressing option. I always feel like a fool when I'm at work that people hear me speaking odd words into the phone and I could just as easily and quickly type in the information. Severity: 2

#294: Another Dumb Thing Announcers Say

Usually in hockey, when the score is like 3-1 and the announcer says, "The next goal that's scored is REALLY big." I mean, of course it is; either it's 4-1 and the game gets almost out of reach, or 3-2 and then the other team has a definite chance to come back. Saying this statement is just stupid but the speaker thinks it sounds smart so they constantly spout it off. Severity: 2

Sunday, December 02, 2007

#293: Gift Cards with Fees

Anyone that buys gift cards that have fees, annoys me. For instance, if you give someone a $25 American Express gift card, there is a $3.95 fee. I find it dumb pay a fee to give someone what is essentially cash. Even though I appreciate the fact I'm getting it, knowing this fee was paid makes me annoyed and I'd almost rather get just a store gift card which does limit where you can spend the funds but at least makes me know that no fee was paid. Severity: 1

#292: Cheap Mail-in Rebates

Mail-in rebates are already a scam in that they hope the hassle causes you not to apply for it or to mess up somehow and they take forever to send you your check. But what really gets me annoyed is when I see ads for products like Scotch tape that have some price listed which includes something like a $1.50 mail in rebate. Then, the hassle really isn't worth the trouble and the cost of a stamp alone takes 1/3 of the rebate away. These cheap mail-in rebates are simply scams so that ad pages like Walgreens can brag about low prices and hope no one notices that this price is after the mail-in rebate that is not worth doing. Severity: 3

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

#291: Interviews during game

When I'm watching a game, usually hockey, and they are interviewing someone during a stoppage but then when the play starts up again, they and them in a little box that blocks part of the action. There is no reason to have to keep showing the fool being interviewed. The main action of the game is the important thing and they should just have the audio of the interview as the game continues leaving the screen uncluttered. Severity: 3

Monday, November 19, 2007

#290: Bad Thinking

Someone that says "Who'd 've thunk it?" Another tired cliche that has ceased to be clever. Severity: 1

Thursday, November 15, 2007

#289: Cursive Capital Q's

I don't think they look like Q's, they look like 2's. I always had trouble making them when I was a kid and I think they should be abolished. Severity: 1

Sunday, September 30, 2007

#288: Airline Beverage Service

I can't figure out why they don't ask you before the plane takes off what you want to drink. If they did, then they could immediately start bringing the drinks out much faster. Severity: 3

Wednesday, September 26, 2007

#287: Poker Players Saying "Sick"

When I watch poker on TV, every time some low probability event occurs or some other surprising action, like a tough call is made, many of the pros always say "That's so sick" and I am sick of it. It's gotten real old and these people are lame for saying it so much. Severity: 4

Wednesday, August 29, 2007

#286: Incorrect Tip Calculation

In restaurants when you pay by credit card, they provide a recommended tip calculation for various level of generosity, 15%, 20%, 25%. However, they do this calculation based on the total AFTER tax. The tip calculation is supposed to be done on a pre-tax basis. This obviously is a scam intended to extract extra tip from the patron, or make them feel guilty for giving below the recommended amount. I don't feel guilty, but I'm mad they are trying to pull this scam. Severity: 3

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

#285: Crazy Password Rules

At my work, the restrictions on what you can use for your password that controls your access to all interal systems is crazy. How can they impose higher restrictions on this compared to accessing online banking or stock trading accounts where someone could steal others' funds? Here are the rules which are much to strict for the importance. Severity: 4

Password Setup Rules:

1. Must be exactly 8 alphanumeric characters in length.


2. Must include at least one numeric character separating the alpha characters. eg: pass2you


3. Must not contain your user-id or any portion thereof.


4. Must not include your first name, last name, full name, or parts of your name.


5. Should not use any full proper name or certain key words.


6. The password cannot be the same as the last 16 passwords used (for iChangePassword).

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

#284: no menu prices

I don't like it when online menus for restaurants don't list prices. What are they trying to hide? Severity: 2

Sunday, April 15, 2007

#283: Hand Pass Explanation

In hockey, it's illegal to make a pass to another teammate using your hands EXCEPT if the beginning and end of the pass is within your defensive zone. It's not that hard of a rule to know and any hockey fan knows this. Yet every time a legal hand pass happens in a game, the announcers have to mention the exception and how it's not illegal like everyone watching the game has never seen hockey before. It's insulting and annoying and even for the viewers that might not know anything about hockey that are watching (of which I estimate are very few) they most likely won't care about this fact, which if they don't know, probably means there's a ton of other things going on in the game they have no clue about which aren't being explained to them. Severity: 3

Friday, February 09, 2007

#282: Mission Impossible

In the old show, they often went through elaborate tricks to get one bad guy to kill another bad guy by making them think they are double-crossing each other. But why then doesn't the IMF just kill the evil dictator themselves? Is it more moral to orchestrate a plot to get another guy to do the killing rather than doing it yourself? This is similar to my Scooby Doo annoyance. Severity: 2

#281: Facemask Penalties

In the NFL, the refs always call the 15 yard version of the facemask penalty and never the 5 yard. It can't always be the more severe one. Why have the lesser foul if it's never called? Severity: 2

Sunday, January 28, 2007

#280: Bouncing Fans

I think basketball is already an inferior sport to watch (so much time watching boring free throws) but when I stumble upon a game that is running over into my hockey game (another annoyance) I can't stand the dumb college kids that bounce up and down while they stand up cheering for their team. I can't explain why, but I just find it extremely lame to the point of annoyance. Severity: 2

Friday, January 26, 2007

#279: Everyday Voicemail Outgoing Message Updaters

I don't like people that update their voicemail outgoing message everyday. I can understand doing it when you are out of the office on occasion, but it's when people have one that says "Today is Friday January 26 and I'll be in the office all day today" it's like they are saying that they are such jetsetters and important people that they have to give a daily report of their whereabouts to all the people desperate to talk to them. Severity: 1

#278: People wearing sweatsuits in fitness clubs

You are indoors and sweating and obviously it's not cold. So why do people where sweat suits on the treadmill? As I'm sweating like a pig in my shorts and short sleeve shirt, I see these people dressed for the cold outdoors and can't understand their thinking. Of course, it must be for fashion, but that also is annoying to me. Severity: 1

#277: Low Threshold for 1/2 mast flags

Everywhere, I see flags at 1/2 mast. Is it for Ford still? Or some other unimportant thing? Whatever the case, I feel I'm fairly well-informed as to world events and I know of nothing that makes me a sad enough American to need to see flags at 1/2 mast and therefore I gather that it's some lame reason. They need to reserve this tradition for when something really bad happens. Otherwise, the gesture is cheapened. Severity: 2

Friday, January 05, 2007

#276: Songs from movies not on soundtrack

When a song is a major part of a movie, yet is not in the soundtrack, for some licensing dispute usually. It's very disappointing to me. Best example would be Vanity 6's Nasty Girl from Beverly Hills Cop which was almost was played in it's entirety during the strip club scene in the film, yet is missing from the soundtrack. Severity: 1

Monday, January 01, 2007

#275: Car Peekers

When traffic is slow on the highway, I don't like when people pull off onto the shoulder a little bit to try to get a look to see what's causing the backup. Not sure why this annoys me, but I think it's something to do with people not being able to deal with a little slowdown in a calm manner. Severity: 1

#274: Car Flags

You don't see too many these days, but I just saw today a person with one of those US flags attached to the roof of their car on the highway. The flag increases drag, reduces gas mileage, and hence forces the person to buy more gas to support regimes that are against the American Way. I don't see how this is supporting the country, as the person obviously feels they are doing by being patriotic with the car flag. Severity: 1