That Old Cape Magic

We are winding-down a nice week on the Cape.  We've had company most of the time, but have had plenty of time to relax, read, fish,eat,drink and swim.  The rental house is on Crooked Pond in Falmouth.  The pond is too small for motor craft, but nice for swimming and there are good sized fish lurking on the shadows at dusk.

We were not worrying about the debt crisis or the wars.  We mainly worried about the next meal and whether there was enough beer in the fridge.  We did not worry about the cats.  Our cat feeder is a professional. 

My 6 year old grandson landed his first fish, a 14 inch bass, and was pretty excited about it. Actually, we were all pretty excited about it.  We all hooked fish, but there were some monsters that got away, honest. 


Today is a typical cloudy day at the Cape - hazy, warm,muggy.  We had clam chowder for lunch at the Silver Lounge on rt 28A.




 

No complaints though, there is something kinda magical about being here.

In Response to Fan's Requests

I recently received a suggestion from a loyal fan that I should re-name the blog, since I am no longer obsessed with making rude (but pithy) comments about companies where I have worked, clueless managers, backbiting co-workers and incompetent subordinates. Not to mention bad software and evil marketers. 

Trying out a new title - keeping same URL - how do you like it?

leave a comment

Bumps in the Vocabulary

Now my regular fans know well that I am not a word snob.  I'm pretty laissez faire about the evolution of language, generally.  I think the most useful grammatical rules of English should be followed, at least in printed form. Most people use the correct tense of the verb, and we usually align the proper pronoun with the singular or plural form.  I'm not nitpicky about ending a sentence with a preposition,  or when it is proper to use whom.

In the library the other day a I saw a sign on a carts of books, "Everything on this cart 50 cents."  I was tempted to take everything on the cart and plunk down my half a buck , but I didn't want anything and I value my time too much to do it just to make a point, so I just scrawled the word "each" at the end of the sign. And perhaps un-necessarily replaced "Everything" with "Anything."

One sticky area is the increasing use of "they" instead of "his" or "her" as in: if anyone wants to join the club they should send in their application right away.  
This is much less awkward that the correct grammatical usage and therefor I approve.

One rather jarring term used in popular media is "Baby Bump" to describe the abdomen of a pregnant celebrity.  This just sounds wrong, crude and if I may be judgmental ignorant.  I would rather use the ancient terms to describe pregnancy than to read and hear about baby mamas and baby bumps.

Another really annoying trend is the proliferation of the word Grab.  Twice recently, I found the word grating on my ears.  Once when the waitress asked if she could grab somethings.  Can I grab you something to drink?  No, just go and get us a coupla martini's honey. Or,  maybe why don't you just grab this!

Perhaps this annoyance like so many other catch phrases was started by the slogan "Grab some Buds."
Which is mainly offensive in the suggestion that one would drink such insipid beer, but also suggests that one should get fist fulls of Buds and get sloshed.  Lord knows where the grabbing could lead...some one could end up with a bump in the oven.  Just sayin'

The Problem With Online Product Reviews

I got this rejection trying to post my review on the Lowes website:

"Your opinion on 24-1/2" Cognac Weston Bath Vanity with Top is important to us and the Lowes.com community.  Unfortunately, we cannot post your review because it contains one or more of the following types of unsuitable content:


Critical comments not related to the product being reviewed
Obscenities, discriminatory language or other language not suitable for a public forum
Advertisements, spam content or references to other products, promotions or competitor websites
Email addresses, URLs, phone numbers, physical addresses or other forms of contact information
We encourage you to resubmit your review after reading through our guidelines. Thank you for being an active member of the Lowes.com community.
Sincerely,


The Lowes.com Team"

My Rejected comments:
When the plumbers opened the carton, the bottom section of the vanity literally fell apart on the lawn. The cheap staples that had been used to fasten the sides and back had become loose during shipping and the fall-apart-icle boards lay in a jumble in the grass.

The plumbers had already attached the faucet to the vanity top, and it would have meant yet another delay and install appointment, so I decided not to return it. Using wood support blocks and real nails they managed to reconstruct the vanity so it would be useful.

The box says "assembled in the USA" If that is true, we should be ashamed. It is no wonder then that the 3rd world is kicking our butts for quality manufacturing.
I am appalled that Lowe's would offer a product of such flimsy and poor construction at any price.
Needless to say, I will be shopping elsewhere for fixtures for my downstairs bathroom project.


So much for trusting online product reviews.  They will not publish THE TRUTH!