Dean Barlow Blog » Rants

Grass clippings

Dean — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 22:22:28 +0000

This is the season where people are starting to mow their lawns and blow their grass clippings out into the roadway. Every time I see some grass clippings on the road like that I think about how dangerous those clippings are to people who are riding their motorcycles. Grass clippings are very slippery, and it would be extremely hazardous to a motorcyclist to be riding along on the road, minding his own business, and then suddenly have to swerve to avoid hitting a deer or a dog or cat, and be in the middle of a section of road that was covered with grass clippings.

I want to write to a congressman to ask him/her to introduce a bill to make it illegal to dump grass clippings on a public road. I’m not quite sure which one to write to. Probably would be a good idea to write to one that rides a motorcycle, don’t you think? I wonder how to find out that information……

Doing business with family

Dean — Sat, 17 Mar 2012 02:35:44 +0000

On the surface, one would think that doing business with your own family would be a good way to get started in business. After all, families are supposed to be supportive of each other, right? There is another saying, though, that the prophet is scorned in his own village. I’m sorry to say that my wife’s family appears to be the type of family where they will not be supportive of each others efforts and will not do anything to give each other a break. That is really sad, and makes it very difficult for anyone to become successful. Family members should not be haters, and yet it seems as if that is exactly what is going on here. Very sad, really.

Like throwing money down the toilet

Dean — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 17:30:42 +0000

For my birthday last month my mother bought me an “Infinity Razor.” She bought it at her favorite drugstore in the aisle where they sell the “As seen on TV” junk items. She was excited to give it to me because she thought that it would be a great way to save money for me. It claims to stay “new blade sharp” and that it will be “the last razor you’ll ever buy!”

Well, I gave it a try, and the blade was a dull as a ball of dryer lint. If you are thinking about buying one of these things, my advice to you is, don’t waste your money. I recently found a blog on the Internet that was discussing this same product and there were many comments about the product, and it seemed to me that the general consensus was the same. One of the comments wrote that they tried to return the item and was told that it was only returnable if it had not been used! So I’m not even going to try to return mine, I’m just throwing it away and chalking it up to one more way the consumer has been cheated. Maybe I should send a note about this to the local television news lady who does special stories on rip-offs!

Can we have a little respect here please?

Dean — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 01:10:46 +0000

This morning I went to a networking meeting in town at a local restaurant. During the meeting different people were supposed to stand up and talk about themselves for a minute or two so we could learn who was there and what we do and what we are hoping to get from the meeting. During most of the meeting there was a busboy nearby stacking dishes very loudly. It almost sounded like he was throwing them around, the clatter was so very loud. I was extremely tempted to yell at the guy to quiet down. I really don’t know how he could have been any louder if he had tried. If that happens next week I think I’ll complain to the manager. There is no need of that.

So many scams out there

Dean — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 22:47:00 +0000

I have been astonished to find out how many scams are “out there” nowadays. So many advertisements for “working at home and making a million dollars” are tempting the people who are having a difficult life to send in their hard earned dollars to sign up for a “pie in the sky” scheme. I feel so badly for the thousands of desperate people who are scammed by these piranhas of society! Even I have been the target of some scams where someone sent me a fraudulent money order and wanted me to cash it at my bank and send them money by Western Union. What is coming of this world?

Freecycle

Dean — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 14:29:10 +0000

I think Freecycle is great, but it has its limitations. We get (and give) some great stuff for free, but there are times when it can be aggravating. For example, when you are trying to negotiate a pickup or dropoff, the other party involved doesn’t seem to want to exchange telephone numbers, they simply state that they are leaving something by the curb for you to pick up at a certain time. But sometimes that certain time is simply impossible to meet, and when you send them an email about it to try to let them know (and renegotiate) they don’t always respond. So it can get quite frustrating! And if you are trying to give something away and the person doesn’t show up to get it, and doesn’t call you to let you know that they aren’t coming (or got lost) or to renegotiate a different time, that is very frustrating as well!

Maybe they ought to develop a rating/ranking system like e-bay, where feedback is given. I think that would make it a lot easier to use!

Bad girl!

Dean — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 22:46:40 +0000

I have to give my niece a little bit of credit for creativity, although I’m not too happy about it. What is it I’m not happy about? Well, apparently she has been giving out my cell phone number as a “can be reached” number on a number of her credit accounts. And you can guess what happened next, right? Right, she has fallen behind on paying her bills, and now I’m getting a lot of debt collection calls for her on my cell phone!

Well, that is, admittedly, one way to Stop Debt Collectors from harassing you – giving out the wrong “can be reached” number! When the telephone call is being made by a real live human being, I don’t mind it too much because I explain that they have reached a wrong number and then they update their records, don’t bother me again. What I DO mind, however, are the collection calls that are dialed by a machine and when I answer the phone I get a recorded message that the call is for so-and-so and if I’m not that person, to hang up.

Shrinkage

Dean — Sat, 13 Aug 2011 17:48:33 +0000

I am outraged at how the consumers are being ripped off once again at the stores. Companies are raising their prices and providing less product, both at the same time. This means I often have to buy two of a product when I would normally only buy on. When I think of how much more plastic and cardboard is being wasted and put in landfills, just so I can have the products I need, I get really upset. We are paying more money for a product AND creating more waste at the same time. This really bothers me a lot!

The aggravation of owning vehicles

Dean — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 01:04:05 +0000

Today I suggested to my wife that she drive our son’s car to work so I could work on her car. Her car needs new brakes. So off she went in the Subaru, while I started to tear apart the Lumina. Well, the new brake kit I had bought was the wrong one, so after I had torn apart her car for nothing I had to put it back together and order the right kit.

And then when my wife got home from work she told me that the Subaru was making a bad noise. She insisted I go for a short drive with her so I could listen to it. Well, she was right, there IS a bad noise. I don’t know if it is a bad wheel bearing or a bad brake, but I’m going to have to tear it apart tomorrow and find out! When it rains, it pours!

Mowing the lawn

Dean — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 00:45:23 +0000

I love to mow the lawn. Some people may think I’m crazy, but it really is something that I love to do. I love riding around on my Walker zero-radius mower. I mow the lawn in practically no time at all! The challenge this year has been to find a time to mow the lawn when it hasn’t been raining! Seems to me that every time I want to get out there and mow, it starts to rain. Although I have mowed the lawn before when it is wet, it just doesn’t look as nice as when it is dry. We’ve been having a spell where it has rained every day for over a week, and it is killing me watching the grass grow and not being able to mow it!