Foo Fighters Independence Day Blow-Out

The Foo Fighters put together a great Fourth of July event celebrating the 20th Anniversary of the release of their first album. The all-day event featured many great opening acts, including Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, Gary Clark Jr, Heart, Buddy Guy and LLCoolJ.  A rotating stage allowed the music to flow continuously, as each act's stage set-up was prepped on the back of the stage while another one was performing.

As much as I enjoyed the opening acts, the Foo Fighters were by far the best part of the show, putting on a full two-plus hour show encompassing songs from their entire 20 year career.  Questions as to how Dave Grohl would cope with his broken leg were answered by a giant ornate mobile throne that he explains was envisioned while he was recuperating  from leg surgery in the hospital.  Grohl milked the injury for all it was worth, repeatedly showing video of himself falling off the stage in Sweden, to the DC crowd's amusement. 

The concert opened with "Everlong", one of my favorites, and a great song, reminding me why Dave Letterman chose it for the final montage on his farewell show.  During one of the more powerful moments of the show, Grohl left his throne and walked to the end of the stage extension on crutches, to perform an acoustic rendition of "My Hero".  The last song in the encore-less set was "Best of You".  We ranted about radio overplay of this song in 2005, but a decade later it was a great finale.  As to be expected for July 4th, a fireworks show followed the concert.

The biggest disappointment of the day was the concert venue, RFK stadium.  Parking at the stadium cost an obscene $40.  The stadium staff did not seem prepared for an all-day concert venue.  The first set started at 1:30 PM, and by 4:00 PM trash cans were overflowing and the bathrooms were disgusting.  Long lines of people waited to get cash from the ATM's, because all stadium concessions were cash only.   Food and drink prices were jacked-up sky high.  The food was terrible, even by stadium standards.  Many of the food stands started to run out by ~7 PM (including all food stands in the upper levels).  This is especially obnoxious considering that no outside food or drink or readmission was allowed for an event that opened by 1PM and lasted past 10PM.

Your Guess is as Good as Mine

My son is going to camp for the next two weeks. Unfortunately the camp is being run by the Loudoun County School system, which means that the safety police will be making our lives miserable.

I went to check what time to pick him up from the bus stop. There was a list of bus stops, accompanied by the following:

"For student safety, the bus drop-off times will not be posted."

Ok, let me get this straight. Your going to drop off a bunch of kids at some random time, and have them wandering all around the neighbrohood? And what exactly is this protecting them from? Are there a bunch of pedophiles who are trolling the Loudon County website looking for drop-off times so they can snatch kids walking from the bus to their Mom's mini-van?

This definitely ranks up there with the most boneheaded safety decisions I have seen.

Kids Choice Awards

I don't mean to question the integrity of the Nick "Teen Choice Awards", but there are two facts that have me wondering about the voting process:

1. Twice during the voting process, there is a brief delay as you are forced to watch a video preview for "Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2".

2. After you finish voting, you are presented with this invitation to VOTE AGAIN:

By the way, the fine print under the "VOTE AGAIN" button says: "Winners are determined by voter preferences and other considerations."

I, for one, will not be tuning in to watch this mockery! (Hmm, actually nevermind; I'd better watch in case One Direction or Taylor Swift decide to make an unscheduled appearance)

Moronic Dialog Boxes

Just take a moment to soak in the above prompt that I get every week after I submit my timesheet.

You don't need to know anything about the timesheet system to appreciate what a truly idiotic prompt this is.

C'mon GHG Corporation - you're better than this.

What the Go Ruck?

On a company retreat last week in Miami, I was pleased to learn one evening that we'd be doing a Go Ruck Scavenger event. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a disappointment.

The first issue was that every participant had to stop working and register an account on the Go Ruck website. This required submitting all sorts of personal information on three different screens, and it took me a few tries to get it to work.

The second problem was the communication of the tasks. They had a pretty cool concept of using an Instagram account and hashtags to take photos of achievements and submit them. However, the sheet listing the tasks was confusing to read, many of the items did not have hashtags associated with them (or several just had the same generic #coolpoints hashtag), there was a whole section of tasks that was too far away with no possible way to achieve them, and there were a handful of tasks that were left off the sheet that we had to manually write down before starting (WTGR?)

Finally, we got to the biggest disappointment of the evening which was a complete deal-breaker for the whole event. After our competitive group ran all around Miami gathering points, it was time to announce the results. The event facilitator (who was not very cheerful) simply announced who came in each place. There was no sheet detailing how the points were achieved, not even on the stupid website that we all had to register for. We pleaded for a breakdown of the results, and all they sent was this screen shot from a phone:

So as I type this, we still have no idea what we got points for, what we didn't, or how any of the teams got their points either. How hard would this be, if someone has already tallied the points anyhow? This entire event had zero legitimacy or accountability.

I think these guys should Go Ruck themselves, so they can experience the frustration of expending so much effort with no results.

Johns Hopkins Surpassable Excellence

I think President Daniels needs to hire a proofreader with unsurpassed excellence.

This is What is Wrong with The U.S. Medical Care System

The thesis of this blog post is that the problem with the medical system is that it is impossible for consumers to make informed decisions when it comes to medical costs.  This is an honest-to-god conversation I just had with a durable medical equipment supplier.  I could tell you the name of the company, but I am sure you could have a similar conversation with almost any supplier.

Supplier:  Hello sir, I am calling to see if you would like us to send out the medical supplies that your insurance company allows you to refill.

Me:  Perhaps, how much do they cost?

Supplier:  Oh, don't worry, we will bill your insurance company.

Me:  I am sure that you will, but I would like to know how much they are going to cost.

Supplier:  I don't have that information. 

Me:  You are trying to sell me supplies and you don't know how much they cost?

Supplier:  I am not trying to sell you anything.  This is just a call to see if you want us to ship out the supplies.

Me:  Of course you are trying to sell me something. What do you mean that you aren't selling me anything>  You are planning to send a bill to my insurance company for purchase of your products.

Supplier:  Sir, perhaps you should call your insurance company to find out how much the supplies cost.

Me:  How will my insurance company be able to tell me what YOU intend to charge me for these supplies?  You can't even tell me that.  I want to make an informed decision before I make a purchase, not after I get the bill.  How can I compare your prices to other suppliers?
Am I naive in assuming that the real answer is that they will charge the maximum amount that my insurance company will cover?  

Supplier:  Oh, you can go on Google and see how much they cost.

Me:  That will tell me how much other people are charging for their product, not how much you are charging for your product.

Supplier:  Sir, do you want me to ship these supplies or not?

Me:  I don't think so.  Not without pricing information.

Supplier:  I have noted that on your account.  Thank you and have a wonderful evening.

  "I didn't spend six years in Evil Medical School to be called "mister," thank you very much."

Satisfying Pouch Size

Sometimes marketing people come up with unusual or bizarre words to promote their products.  On a recent product package, I saw the words "satisfying pouch size" to describe the product.  I can tell you that this product wasn't a kangaroo.

Can you guess the product?

Honey - Rant and Rave

I love the Honey plug-in for Google Chrome.  Have you ever bought something from a website, and you felt like a total loser because you didn't have any secret codes to punch in to the "Coupon" box?  You close your eyes and imagine some arrogant twits in cardigans, giving each other high fives as they save 20%, 30%, or more with their special codes.

Well, Honey helps with that.  You click the Honey button on your checkout page and it tries a bunch of codes for you until it finds the best one.  I've actually found that it works about half the time.  So Honey is pretty cool.

Now you may be asking what my rant is about Honey.  Well, here you go:

When I installed Honey on my new computer, they confronted me with the above decision - my choices were to either share my friends' personal information or click a button that says I'm a selfish jerk.  This is almost as bad as the lady at the grocery checkout who makes me admit that I hate kids with cancer every time I buy a 6-pack.

Sorry honey, the buzz is not in your favor this time.

Convenience has never tasted so ... Good

I saw this Chicken 65 sauce mix in the store and I just had to laugh.  The picture at the top shows that all you need to add is some chicken and a little oil to the box mix to make some yummy Chicken 65.  Read more carefully under "Ingredients required by the customer" and you found out that you really need to add...

• Chicken
• Cooking Oil
• Eggs
• Yogurt
• Edible orange red colour (wtf?)
• Curry leaves
• Green chillies
• Cilantro
• Mint leaves

Convenience has never tasted so ... less convenient.

One Platers

I hate people who take only one plate of food at a buffet style restaurant.  You know the type.  After you declare that you are going back to the buffet for another plate of food, they smugly push their plate forward and declare themselves "full".  Oh really, after a small salad and a tiny scoop of cottage cheese, you couldn't possibly eat another bite?  Then why the hell did you go to a buffet style restaurant?  Sometimes the answer is because they ate something beforehand.  Why would you eat just before going to a buffet restaurant?  Oh, and the timing is intentional.  They wait until you announce your second plate intentions before they let you know that they are one-plating it so they can rub it in with their smug attitude. 

My strategy is to maximize the value of what I eat.  I skip the cheap and filling stuff like bread and head straight for the good stuff (seafood is often a good choice).  By the time I leave, I want the manager shaking his head in fear that they won't afford to stay open if more people like me come to eat.  When you go to a buffet restaurant with a one-plater, you have to eat even more to make up for them.

Mardi Gras Chaos

According to Fed Ex,  delays are expected in THREE states due to Mardi Gras.  I hope everyone gets their beads on time.

So much for  "When it Absolutely, Positively has to be there overnight" or "The World On Time".

From the FedEx website:

FedEx anticipates local delays in Alabama, Florida and Louisiana Mar. 1-4 because of Mardi Gras 2014 celebrations.
As a result of closed roads in Alabama, Florida and Louisiana, unavoidable service delays are anticipated. FedEx is committed to providing service to the best of our ability and will continue to do so in areas that are accessible during this time.

Workout Class Groupons

I don't know what the impossibly attractive lady in the above picture did to achieve that physique.  Probably some combination of starvation and photoshop.  But if it had anything to do with that ridiculous kettlebell, I will eat my hat.

Hulu Privacy Fail

Hulu has recently come under fire for illegally sharing users' viewing history with Facebook and other companies.  Because of this, I decided to check my account options to see what kind of privacy concerns I might have.  I was disappointed to learn that Hulu is tracking the websites that I visit.  I was even more disappointed that they have an Opt-Out rather than an Opt-In approach to this intrusion of your privacy.  Reading the description of their policy, I am not even sure if I opt out now that I will be 100% out as they mention something about storing cookies on my machine.  Does that mean I need to opt out on every computer that I use?

I Wasn't Finished With That

Dear Waiter at Lucia's,

You did a great job for most of my lunch.  You got my order right and re-filled my drink.  But, without asking, you took my plate away that had food on it that I was still eating.

I'm sorry, but that unfortunate event lowered your tip from 20% to 15%.

Yours Truly,
Rants

FIOS Fiasco

After years of frustration with Comcast (see this or this) we finally decided to switch the household over to FIOS.  Here are a few of the annoyances discovered within the first week of ownership...

SPAM

Within days of getting the new account, spam started showing up.  This is despite that we never even USED the email, let alone gave out the address.  How are the evil spammers able to figure out our brand new email address?


STANDARD TROUBLESHOOTING

After having some difficulty with my digital voice line, I followed Verizon's online troubleshooting guide to figure out the problem.  The first step in solving the problem was to power off the equipment.  No, not the router sitting on the desk, the FIOS box outside in the shed.  And, because it has battery back-up, you have to first remove the access panel, remove the battery, and wait a few minutes before plugging it all back together.  I used to think that unplugging the router all the time (a common occurrence with Comcast) was annoying,  but I can now say that having to go outside into the shed to troubleshoot is much worse.