The Saga Continues...

Now the homeowners have come down a whole thousand dollars, but the sale is contingent upon their finding a new house. While this is all well and good, why wasn't it included in the first counter offer? I get the feeling that the owners of the house we want haven't ever sold a house before and their real estate agent is an idiot. Here's why: We sent them a counter offer on Sunday evening (27th), to be returned by 5pm on Tuesday (29th). They countered again on Tuesday, but we didn't receive this until today. It was signed on the 29th around 5pm, but wasn't faxed (yes faxed, in a town this size) until nearly 6 last night, so our agent didn't get it until this morning. I'm sure it's not the fault of the homeowners that their agent couldn't be bothered to walk across his office to his fax machine all day Wednesday, while we patiently awaited an answer. Unbelievable.

The House We Want

I didn't take the picture, so don't blame me for the ugly broken car that dominates the photo. But this is the house. Sorry, no inside pictures--trust me, you wouldn't want them--the place was trashed!!!

To Be Or Not To Be...A Washer/Dryer

Phil and I are buying a new home that will support our growing hoards of crap. We found a house we like, and made an offer. Now, I admit we low-balled the offer, hoping the owners would negotiate. And boy did they negotiate....

The original listing included the washer/dryer as part of the sale. However in their counter offer they removed $1000 off their asking price, and removed the washer/dryer from the offer. This was exactly the same as the initial asking price. By removing the washer/dryer they undervalued the house by $1000, which is what they took off on their "counter offer." I was irritated to say the least, but since I have an "in" at the county assessor's office, I just called to ask the actual value of the house. Unfortunately, pissed off as I was, I found that they priced the house right at what it's actually worth.

Oh well, guess I'll have to pay full price. Still though, changing the terms of the listing in a counter offer is just plain stupid.

Personality Inventory

One of my favorite places to go is i-am-bored.com. There I found this place online where you can go and get your Five Factor Personality Profile. This is the one used by psychologists during research studies. It is the most complete personality profile I've found, plus it's free! Yea for free!!!

Anyway, click on the link that says "The IPIP-NEO." Now, I'm not sure what the NEO is, but it's the same test either way. You can do long or short version, although the long is more complete. Feel free to comment to me your results if you want, or anything you found remarkable. Have fun!!

I always score high on Conscientiousness, and Neuroticism. No, that doesn't mean I'm crazy (well, maybe a little), but that I have a high amount of negative feelings: anger, anxiety, depression, irritability. For those of you who know me, this will not come as a shock.

In a class I took last year it said that people with high levels of Neuroticism from this test don't live as long as those with low scores. But then I read that people with high levels of Conscientiousness live longer because they tend to go to the doctor more often. I guess my levels cancel each other out. Besides, in my family, barring major illness, we live for a really long time. Then again, I'm left-handed and we tend to die an average of 9 years younger than righties. I guess I'm screwed all around!!

One more update...

Hopefully not the last. I received an email that everything should be resolved without the formality of an appeal, and they would contact me. I set up a meeting and will be going in on Friday.

I must admit that I'm nervous. I know it's very possible that I screwed up big-time on the final and got the grade I deserved in the class, but I'm wondering what the person I speak with will say. The thing is, she sent me an email that she would speak to my professor today. Then about half an hour later she scheduled a meeting with me. I am very pessimistic, but I get the feeling that if everything were resolved to my satisfaction, she would have just told me so over email. The only reason for a meeting would be if everything isn't OK. No news is good news right? Anyway, thought you'd all like to know.

Yahoo! Answers: The End

Many years ago I took a women's studies course and found that the English language doesn't really have any acceptable gender neutral personal pronouns. This bothered me then, as it does now, but to a lesser extent. The only acceptable way--to the ear at least--to use a gender neutral pronoun is to say "they" which English majors all know is not the correct usage.

In response to this problem I had the bright idea to create a new word. Something to combine he and she; something neutral but not disrespectful. Anyway, I thought up this word, but must admit I had some source confusion, but more on that later.

I posted to Y!A, because, as you know, I am a frequent user of the site. I wanted to see what other people had to say about my new word and how well it would be received. I posted in both the Gay/Lesbian/Bisexual category and the Words/Wordplay category.

The reaction I got was nothing short of a verbal defamation. I was called upstart, a plagiarist, a butcher of the English language, and even that I had something against the GLB community. I was also told that it's rude to call a person anything other than what they wish to be called. This is all well and good, but what if you are referring to a person in conversation and don't know what they wish to be called? How do you know that asking isn't going to offend them? YOU DON'T! That's why I wanted another pronoun.

I was also informed that the word I chose had been used in decades past, and I shouldn't "try to pass off someone else's word as my own." I realize this is plagiarism, but I also realized (too late) that I had some source misattribution. That being said, since the word is no longer in common parlance, I could have suggested another word, with the same results from the community.

I don't know where the backlash I received originated from, because I explicitly stated in the question that it was merely a SUGGESTION and that I wasn't passing judgment on anyone's lifestyle, and am, in fact, very liberal. Didn't make a bit of a difference. Each ensuing answer to my question became more and more hateful. I was so angry that I did the only thing I could do, I deleted my account.

Yes, that's right. The account I spend the last four months building up points in, is now deleted. At first I joined because I thought I could make a difference in someones life, even if just one person, and even if just a minute difference. But now I realize that those people don't care. They get online for one thing and one thing only: to hurt and humiliate all the other users. My suggestion was merely that: a suggestion; a way to improve the English language and make it more bi-partisan. All I got in return was hung out to dry.

For those of you who know me, I'm not an upstart feminist, and didn't become a feminist after taking one single class on feminism. I was raised by a liberal feminist mother and have been this way my whole life. So before you start jumping on me--the same way the Y!A people did--remember that this one course didn't make me want to change the English language, my whole education of life told me it would be a good idea. I realize that this sort of thing takes time (as I was again rudely informed on Y!A), but I think a suggestion of change is an excellent place to start.

Update -- Grade Appeal

I resent the email to my professor as I said I would. However, having not heard back from him, I made my way to the administration and discussed it with someone from there. I was told to send a letter to my teacher and make sure they had it within ten days of the beginning of the semester. (On a side note: I wonder what would have happened if I had not stopped by. It was over a week since I heard anything from them. If I hadn't stopped in the deadline would most likely have passed and I would have been SOL.)

Anyway, I duly composed this letter and expressed my frustration at not being able to resolve this matter. I included a telephone number at which I could be contacted, but have yet to hear anything else. Interestingly, before I went to see the administrator, I went to my professor's office and knocked on the door. There was no answer; however, less than 10 minutes later I watched the professor sidle out of the building, giving me a courteous wave.

I don't think it's my imagination that the professor has completely lost his mind. So, we'll see how it turns out in the future.

Moderation & Common Sense

Do people have a complete lack of ability to moderate themselves? I know that it's difficult in our society to tell ourselves 'no' and stop eating that dessert, or treating ourselves to McDonald's, but what about common sense?

Every day I drive I always find someone driving like an idiot. Now, this may just be me, since I have the tendency to find fault with everything. But sometimes I wonder who gave them the power to break all the traffic laws? I'm sure they can read, but they seem to regard stop signs as suggestions, or turn signals as purely unnecessary. What happened to politeness? What will be their defense when they kill someone? Will they even feel guilty, or just assume it was a random accident?

One of my biggest pet peeves is the way my generation seems to raise their children. I realize that the laws have changed since we were kids (and we're not that old) and you are not really allowed to spank your kids anymore. However, there is a happy medium between not disciplining your child at all and beating the hell out of them. Did we just watch too much television and eat too much sugar? Did it completely rot out the basic common sense we should all have? I find that people my age tend to want to be friends with their children, instead of parents. This leads to children with wildly uncontrolled behavior and parents who want to tear their hair out. I realize that all generations have a few kids like this who are just naturally rambunctious, no matter what style of parenting you use on them, but still! Who told them it was all right to parent this way? Where did they even see it?

I guess my main point is in the title. Why can we find no middle ground? If we're told we can't do something, we go out and do exactly the opposite, which is probably not good either. This problem resonates throughout society. Even our government is guilty of this. In politicking, we see or hear things like "If he's not supportive of the war, he's unpatriotic." There are lots of ways to love one's country without believing that going to war will answer all life's problems.

Another example is abortion. When it was made legal there were no restrictions in place. So we went from all forms of abortion being illegal, no matter what, to anyone can have an abortion at any time. Really, there needs to be some restrictions. The problem is, of course, enforcing them. Again, here is where common sense comes in. How do you deal with someone who didn't know she was pregnant? Answer: her common sense should have told her something was either wrong with her cycles, or she was pregnant, and she should have seen a doctor. Normally I am not for forcing a woman to carry a baby to term as a punishment for being lazy or having unprotected sex, but if your period stops for a good 3 months and you don't notice or care, that's just stupidity. There's a difference between a mistake and just being stupid.

Common sense also comes in during legal proceedings like the whole McDonald's coffee debacle. The woman got paid millions because she spilled her hot coffee on herself. Regardless of the fact that the cup did not say "Caution: contents hot," wouldn't you think her common sense would have told her this? I think one of the biggest problems with America is that we keep having to dumb everything down to the level of the stupidest person in society. Not unlike Kurt Vonnegut's story Harrison Bergeron, where everyone is actually forced to be equally stupid, our society is heading in that direction. It's only a matter of time when you can sue the car that hit you after you walked out into traffic during rush hour. "Well, they should have known I was there" will be the defense. We'll know when the country has gone to shit when they actually win.

AHHH, Dentists

Okay, so after I went to the dentist's yesterday and had a bad experience, I was informed that it is now standard practice for dentists to schedule cleanings after the initial exam and x-rays. However, since my last cleaning wasn't more than a year ago, this must be a VERY new practice.

Living in Laramie and having Tricare insurance makes it difficult for me to find a local dentist. I therefore had to go down to Fort Collins, as the ones I spoke with in Cheyenne were either not accepting my insurance any longer, or had a four month wait time. Anyway, I needed to go to the Eddie Bauer store and get new jeans, as my old ones are about to rip a seam, so I figured it wouldn't be a big deal to kill two birds with one stone.

I arrived 20 minutes early, after having used nearly a quarter tank of gas to get there because the headwind was so strong coming over to Cheyenne. Anyway, as I said I arrived early to fill out the paperwork and then had to wait for another 20 minutes while people who arrived after me were allowed to go in and see the doctor. When I finally got into the office I had the requisite x-rays with those little plastic squares that tear the crap out of your gums. The doctor came in to see me and basically scolded me for not using a night guard on my teeth (I clench at night, in case you were wondering). He didn't ask why I didn't use the night guard, which would have been more informative for him, and he would have made more money, as I need to have one specially made because the ones at Walmart don't work for me.

As soon as he left, the assistant or hygienist, I don't know which one, told me I was finished and needed to go back an appointment for my cleaning. This is when I got really pissed. I'd never been to this office before as my old one stopped taking Tricare, so I had to find a new one. I asked why there was no cleaning. They said, "Oh, didn't they tell you that when you made your appointment?" Ummm, no!!! Do they think I would have driven an hour and a half to get there for a ten minute exam? I would have made the cleaning back-to-back with the exam if I had known. So basically, I don't ever want to go back there, but I need a cleaning, which was the whole reason for my going in the first place. I know my teeth are healthy, I could have saved the doctor the ten minutes looking at them. But I need them cleaned.

I called the insurance company. Fat lot of help they were. They want me to submit a formal complaint. How about they just give me the money I wasted so I can find someone to clean my damn teeth? I think I am going to have to find someone locally who will do it and I'll just have to pay the difference. Depending on how much the difference is, I might even save money, considering how much gas costs. Guess I'll just have to wait and see.

P.S. Would you ever go back to a dentist who had bad teeth? I found it a little off-putting.

AHHH, Teachers

So, I'm a little irritated right now because of my grades last semester. I worked pretty hard, but then again, I didn't over exert myself. I have always gotten good grades, but last semester I took English Lit I, which covered the Middle Ages through the Reformation. Anyway, all the papers I handed in received 'A's, except one which got a B. However, when I saw my final grade, I received a 'B' for the class. Now, I'm not sure how the grading scale was, or how it was weighted because this information was never provided for us. Neither was any information regarding grading standards, or paper topics. We were told to write papers, but were given no information on specific topics or format.

Anyway, I emailed the teacher after the semester ended (on the 18th of December) and never received a reply. I have since taken up my complaint with the English department, and have no clue whatsoever as to when I might expect some sort of either answer or resolution. I am perfectly able to say that I may have not done well on my final exam, and it caused my entire grade to drop, but as it stands, since I have no way to know this, I have to challenge the current grade I received.

I am going to resend the email to my teacher. I realize that since he is old, he might not have the best use of his email account, but when I contacted him last semester regarding other questions and concerns, he responded. I know for a fact that he knows how to use his email account, therefore I get the feeling that he's ignoring me. Just thought I'd vent my frustration into the ether, so it can no longer tax my frail brain.

Yahoo! Answers

For the past few months I've been entertaining myself in the evenings by joining Yahoo! Answers and being (hopefully) a help to other people. During this time I have been shocked and dismayed, to say the least, at the impressive ignorance and otherwise disparaging comments of the other users on the site. Not only that, but the complete inability to use correct grammar, spelling, or punctuation. The class I took that required me to create a blog taught me that it is a genre characteristic to use incorrect or abbreviated words to convey meaning. While I can understand not capitalizing 'I' or saying 'cuz' instead of 'because,' what I cannot handle is the complete inability to speak the English language in written form. While I may be biased because I like English and I like writing, this lack of a brain others exhibit drives me crazy.

In response to this I have created a new profile on the site called "The English Teacher." While I realize this violates community guidelines and it's only a short time before I get kicked off the website, I have taken it upon myself to respond to certain questions by restating the question, but with the correct spelling, grammar, punctuation, etc.

My other complaint with the site is the general lack of either good information in the Health section, or the constant harassment of certain people for their sexual activities. For example, just today I read advice about removing tampons after four hours. Most women know you can leave them in for up to eight. I just get irritated when I see people giving young girls, who don't know where else to turn, incorrect information. My other problem is the sexual health questions. While I may be very liberal and forward thinking, I don't think it's a problem for people in general to have sex. I am not advocating 14 year olds to get busy, but as I feel that sex is a natural part of any healthy lifestyle, I refuse to criticize people who ask questions about normal sexual behavior, contraception, and tips or pointers on sexual activity. I have a laissez faire attitude about sex as long as it is conducted responsibly. That being said, I refuse to answer questions about how to get a bigger penis, or larger breasts.

I find Y!A to be like a video game. It really pisses me off sometimes, but I keep coming back for more. I just felt the need to tell all who read this my intentions to perform what could be called civil disobedience online by purposely breaking community guidelines to make my message a little more clear: grow a fucking brain!!!

Pictures from our vacation

Phil and I in Mexico ---- FIL Walt and I


Sunset at Beach in San Diego ------ Cousin Jake and me in Las Vegas

Ahhh, Cruising

So, the trip went well, and pictures will be following shortly. My infections went away, but took their sweet ass time about it. I didn't really feel better until the 10 days worth of antibiotics were almost gone. I enjoyed the nice tan I got in the middle of winter, and although I did get a slight sunburn, I was very liberal with the sunscreen.

Phil and I had a good time and only fought a few times. In fact, during one day at Los Cabos, we were in different kayaks during our kayak excursion for reasons of snorkeling. While this proved unnecessary, it did allow for us to not yell at one another during the trip.

One of the best parts of the trip was during our expedition to Puerto Vallarta. We were taken to a small beach and given the option of what's called a banana boat ride. Now, for those of you who know what this is, I'm betting a smile is creeping onto your face because you understand how incredibly awesome this experience is. For those of you who don't know what this is see the picture. Anyway, basically you ride on this inflatable raft, pulled by a boat, a little like water skiing. Our first ride was probably the best because we turn a turn so quickly they dumped us into the water. I wish I had had a camera at that point because I had so much fun.

Overall we had a good time. After the cruise was over we went to Las Vegas for New Years and I visited my cousin Jake who works as a supervisor at the Monte Carlo. It was good to see him again, as I haven't since our grandmother's 85 birthday 3 years ago. Phil and I were also really lucky because just days after we left for our trip a giant storm hit and closed the roads. Then, the day before we were to return the roads were closed again. However, by the time we go to the area, the roads were not only open, but dry. I think there was just one patch of slickness that lasted about 300 feet the entire way home.

But we were happy we drove because it was quite a bit cheaper than flying to all the places we wanted to see and gave us time to do what we wanted. In fact, on the day of deboarding, there were a couple people who didn't attend the immigration meeting and delayed the people trying to get off the ship by an hour. My in-laws had a 10 am flight and were almost late because they couldn't get off the boat until 8:30.

I do have one complaint, if you can imagine me complaining. During our trip, there was an outbreak of what they called "gastrointestinal illness," which I would call the stomach flu. Anyway, due to people getting sick, they cancelled the dessert extravaganza they were planning on Thursday. It was supposed to be a chocolate festival and I was disappointed and angry that we didn't have one. Plus they closed the hot tubs down, which confused me because I'm pretty sure that temperature and chlorine will kill most viruses and bacteria. I figured if the ship's captain and staff went through all this effort to prevent the spread of disease, there must be quite a few people sick. I learned on the last day that not only were there only 25 people sick, but that that number was less than 2% of the ship's population. That made me even more angry. How could they cancel a chocolate dessert extravaganza for 25 sick people??? There's no reason that few number of people should have stood between me and my dessert.