Category Archives: Rant

[Not] Fanning the Flames

Rant, , , , , , ,

My inbox is nearly on fire this morning. Two email lists are very active with heated discussions. One centers on a proposed cell phone tower at the local high school and the other discussion is about accessible PDFs. While I have opinions about both issues I’m not going to participate in either discussion because I really don’t think that the folks with one view are really listening to the folks with an opposing view so participating in either discussion would be a waste of time, energy and emotions.

Passionate discussions on email lists and bulletin boards all seem to follow the same pattern. Someone posts a topic — sometimes it might be a little inflammatory, but many times it is simply an innocent question — which is true of both of the cases that are being discussed on the email lists today. Then someone answers the question or statement with one point of view and someone else responds to the person with another point of view. Then the really passionate folks start chiming in and often someone makes fun of someone on the other side and then someone from the other side defends their position using stronger words and before you know it, unless the moderator (or a seasoned list user) steps in and tells the folks to calm down or take it off-list or cease and desist, someone is being referred to as a Nazi. I’ve seen it so many times that it is actually sometimes fun to watch.

Why I should never leave my attic

People, Rant

If I could explain my behavior this morning, it might help those who know me in person to understand where I’m coming from when I act the way I do in certain situations.

There are times (most of the time) when I’m content to take a back seat. When I’m content to do whatever I’m told and that’s that. Most of my life was spent in the back seat (Indigo Bunting — not that back seat) and I knew very little about the front seat, but once I tasted leadership I was addicted (another blog post altogether).

Anyway, until a few days ago I thought I was going to be the most knowledgeable person on a team of volunteers brought together to redesign the website for our local high school. I’d been on redesign teams before and had singlehandedly redesigned a number of websites. Then I was told that another person wanted to join the team. This person immediately sent out an email with all the thoughts and questions I’d had, but was planning on bringing up at the meeting because I didn’t want to overwhelm the team.

I responded with a couple of paragraphs only to show (the new person) I wasn’t some web design Luddite — that I knew a thing or two about web design. I was also pissed off. And when Dona gets pissed off, she sometimes is impossible to deal with (and talks in Facebookish third person).

So today we had our meeting. The PTSA president had us introduce ourselves and I introduced myself as someone who wanted to learn the content management system that the county provided and as a usability & accessibility specialist. When it got to the new guy he took up a lot of time telling us his credentials (large websites, own company, international blah blah zzzzzzzzz). I admit to not always looking his way and nodding in a polite manner.

Then the PTSA president suggested we talk about the county content management system but newguy interrupted and began talking about why it was a bad idea to use the system that was already in place. He obviously wants a static system where a set number of people are sent things to upload in HTML. Or something. I was wiggling, then sleeping.

Come on. He talked for 20 minutes.

At one point I interrupted him and I think we are now at battle. Unfortunately one of the assistant principals thinks he’s got a good idea.

In the meantime I’m the Usability Queen.

Gaaagh

(Ok, I didn’t explain why I’m such a bitch. Sorry. Maybe next time)

The Battle of the Hand Soap

Musings, People, Rant

Update: The hand soap is back on the counter, next to the sink. All we had to do was discuss it. Yes, you may say, “duh”.

13051As mentioned before, my husband likes tidiness. He becomes ornery if things are not in their places. He dislikes clutter and is not a fan of things that have one use (like a juice maker — it is big and bulky and can only be used to make juice).

He’d prefer the counters to be free of everything, but understands that we need a few things left out — coffee maker, toaster, kitchen-aid mixer (although he’d much prefer that be in a cupboard). He is especially picky about what is left out next to the sink. He’d like the dish detergent under the sink and does not tolerate SOS pads on the counter, even in a container made for the purpose.

He sees absolutely no reason for hand soap on the kitchen counter because, he reasons, a person can wash one’s hand with dish detergent.

I, on the other hand, don’t mind things on the counter. In fact, I like things on the counter — handy and ready for use. Being short, I have to climb on a stool to reach the blender which is kept in a cupboard above the refrigerator. In order to use the food processor, I need to battle the dustpan, broom and mop which hang on the inside of the cupboard door that houses the Cuisinart, often losing when the dustpan falls on my shoulder.  Other appliances are kept in the laundry room or in the pantry where I need to precariously perch on the edge of the doorway in order to reach the higher shelves.

But this post is not about the appliances. It is about a small bottle of lemon-scented hand soap that I bought at Target a month or so ago. The kids and I love the smell — pure lemon — and I feel good about washing my hands with it instead of dish washing detergent for no other reason than just because. I figured that my husband would object to having the hand soap on the counter, but I also thought he’d get used to it like he got used to the small dish detergent bottle that we keep on the counter.

A few days after I bought the hand soap it disappeared from the kitchen counter. I found it on the shelf in the basement. I brought it back up the kitchen. It stayed there a few days, but not long after I brought it up, it disappeared again. This happened a few more times, then it stayed on the counter for quite a while.

This morning as I washed clothes, I saw that the hand soap was back in the basement. I decided not to bother moving it. Apparently my husband didn’t get the same sense of well-being seeing that old fashioned label on the sink as I did. Apparently something about that bottle annoyed him so much that it had to be removed to the basement.

Ah well; I tried.