The Ottermanempire.com

I have realized that a good exercise for any political philosophy  would be to see  how well it works on the camping scale.  I’ve just been through that this weekend with Creddy.   

Simple Idea.    People say in advance what they are going to do , what they will bring.

We had the Sat AM breakfast which meant that Friday night we’d not have to do anything other than eat.   I wish.  You see just because someone makes an offer to do a meal  you shouldn’t expect them to have the pots, pans and ,er , oh  the  goddamn stove available to do it.   Luckily we brought two, why? let’s just say we have a  pretty good handle on  this kind of thing and spent more money on a stove and gas to accommodate a shortfall that came up earlier. I doubt it will be repeated unless we’re doing all the food / cooking since buying at the last minute is way too costly on a few people. 

Additionally we  ended up doing extra cooking that negated the entire point of organizing it. E.g we rest on the meals we’re not doing, ha!  

Next.

A disappointing  trip to J G guns in Prescott.  We used to love driving up there for food at one of the local eateries, buy ye olde  gun, come back happy.

Over the last year though it ceased being fun and the counter on a Saturday seemed to be more competition than commerce. 

Creddy has a full post over here and while we thought that she was being ignored at the show in Phoenix a year back this one was far more obvious. I can’t think of a single person with a passing interest in guns that  we’ve not told about the store, e.g it being worth the drive, but those days have come to an end.

I don’t know a lot about the older 9mm Smith / Wesson autos  so her asking what differences in the  model numbers they had was perfectly valid since, er that’s their job to know. DA?  DAO?   Mag disconnect?   Sorry but you only get to pull off a “superior”  we know more about guns than you attitude when you back it up with something.Anyway see her post for the rest of this it’s quite annoying.

next Up Wanted! 

We must go looking  for this treatment.  I think our expectations on how one should be treated at a fast food drive in has been spoiled by the  two local McD’s  staff there seem  happier than  BK and Wendies and the night shifts at Jack in the Box  are downright scary :)   Yet until tonight no one had called Erin, least to her face,   a bitch.  Her crime?  Expecting that her order and change would be correct.

Here’s the run down

Wendy’s

W GREENWAY-PHOENIX
3450 W GREENWAY
PHOENIX, AZ 85023 US
(602) 548-1966

1745
Order kids meal , cheeseburger nothing on it,   They have no choc milk,  no orange juice for option for
kids and  didn’t understand the concept of root beer thinking Mr Pibb qualifies as such.

paid  1st window, asked for receipt
said  do it next window
wrong order with receipt for chicken nuggets.
Had to wait for them to  recognise she was still at window
came back  with order correct, waited another  45 secs while they realised she’s waiting.
Erin asked , where’s the change   for correct order.
They then said you paid  for nuggets  , not a burger,  eg,  not recognizing that was the point.
woman heard   through window, never saw her said “the bitch wants her change too”
our  toddler heard this, and said bitch after it.

Called  JMJ the  franchise owners, closed. SO called  1800 829 3639 Corp relayed story.

There you have it.   They  fuck up an order,  argue about it, don’t follow their own guidelines on receipts and then  call you a bitch.  I am so looking forward to my chat with their  franchise owner:)

While sitting in ER for oh say; six hours I have come up with several ways to improve the process and nearly all of it is to do with data. and one to do with the kind of service that makes me want to put people in ER , sadly they are already there.

In a nutshell.; If you have to have a sign up saying; that your company cares it’s already too late for you.

Erin was carted from the workplace today  after chest pain; with all the accompanying symptoms that suggest something is having a hearty old attack on the main pump. She’s stable and hopefully resting after a long time to get from waiting room to a waiting room to a bed  in the corridor to one in the ward to having the room usurped

Early indications are that nothing immediately serious is present but  we’ll know more in the morning.

This was a long weekend due to  MLK day.   I’d love to  pick up that hot potato but frankly you can pick your own version of the man. I’m just convinced that we should not be so happy as to call this equality by any stretch of the imagination.    This country is so far away from  treating people by the content of their character but instead attempts to treat them based on atavistic ass hattery, having the right combination of chromosomes , which invisible friend they have and a myriad of seemingly hardwired behaviors  that have people acting as  a walk on part in their own life.  ( Notice we often talk about the lessons we need to learn? )

Here’s a view that may seem over simplistic but seems to fit most of my experiences with groups .Welcome to the monkey sphere.

Onto something happy.   Today was a matinée  ice hockey game.   Dobh was in attendance and was  being wickedly cute, and  while a bit difficult he took a three hour trip pretty well. He howls  along to each score for the home team. He had a lot of opportunity today:)    This is the first time in  over a decade  I’ve made a point of watching a sport that wasn’t a national event such as Wimbledon or the Super bowl. The fan attire fits me nicely, there’s a level of skill immediately apparent that I can’t discern in baseball and I don’t even want to get into professional  football. I live in Phoenix for fucks sake ;)   Even though I never had a sporting background. I still had to play  rugby, soccer and hockey at school , I lived in the country with one non driving parent. It wasn’t that big a deal we could only afford one car.( you tell the kid’s that today and they won’t believe you </python>
 so it wasn’t really an option. 

Next post:
Boy do the American’s know how to put on a show,
 

Phoenix Coyotes - The Official Web Site

That these items are considered dangerous is a sad indictment of the USA. I grew up on a farm.with guns, chainsaws, poison, tractors and animals that can take out a five year old, That’s before you consider  Scottish winters and food. :)  Anyway it’s entertaining and hopefully it inspires a family to build a potato gun this weekend:)

Today was my second real day back at work after the new year. It was to last  oh about 2 hours before I had to head out to meet Erin at the ER.  Dobhran had began shaking in distress and was having considerable pain issues while running  a fever.    Looks like he had very early pneumonia and was taking an adverse reaction ,   drugs,  breathing treatment and some antibiotics to take home. He sacked out, letting me get some work done.  

Which is great since I couldn’t get up the “important” story about Facebook taking action against screen scraping and could have spent all day shouting at the screen.  Really  on days like this it’s hard to get the Golgafrincham B Ark out of my head.

Oddly enough this is my first submission to a site and I know there’s a better caption there but I am not able to reach it presently.

moar funny pictures

Dobhran, aka “pork chop” , “dosbin”, “Dobie” and on special occasions little lord farfanoogan  will be having a nicely manufactured Christmas this year.  Many licenced, plastic and on the whole  worth their weight in lead toys are awaiting his rapt and often violent attention.  Next year though? Erin’s been out in the woodshop between hobbling ( it’s like PT for her bunghole, er leg ) between a new play cube and my delightful ( so far)  bike  which has gotten us talking about making more of Dobhran’s toys.   I found this jet on my  web travels and have to say I’m impressed by it, though not the price of the plans. I think I want to build the wee one some form of gentle motion simulator but he’s really into bikes and cars. How the hell we make him a mini “hang on” that he won’t fall off is another matter..  maybe I’ll stick to cars for the time being.

Build the AQUAPLANE kids backyard fun ride!

 Over the last couple of weeks my parents have been in town.  Since I have a massive amount of vacation time , and Erin’s recovering from her bike 2.0 mashup, I took all of it off +1 day to get Erin to an appointment tomorrow morning.   On the whole we had a sedate  type of vacation with much of the usual touristy stuff  bypassed in favour of the practical nature of finding another vehicle, making sure  kids trip to ER was the only one  ( he’s taken a real shine to climbing and falling) and working our way through casual diner attitudes.  I’ve  barely touched computers,  read only a few deserving blogs and kept my email to  under 5 pieces  and don’t feel the worse for it.

Purely anecdotal but since the last visit it seems like wait staff, retail clerks and most service industries we interacted with are staffed by  humorless, cookie cutter clones that seem to have totally bought into their commerce cog role.Anything that’s not in the line of being an expert at detecting false currency  or fake id’s is usually not going to interest them.  Why am I being asked if I could  find everything?

Will someone go get me one? put it on back order and call me when it gets here?  ( I’m old enough to remember that being a possibility @36)  no I didn’t think so. I’d rather we dropped the pretense offer of a service that will never be rendered.

While we’re talking about crappy CS let’s  go a car shopping.

Special shout outs to the car dealers that failed to secure our business.

Bell Road Scion

Aziz you truly suck as a salesman for anybody that gives a rats ass about what their wife thinks.Your insulting manner, refusal to acknowledge what we wanted to buy over what you wanted to sell and general ineptitude with the truth has done your franchise proud.

Bell Road Ford

Josh,  It doesn’t matter that your bosses want you to call up and keep reminding us about their great offers. If you don’t have the car we want , an Escape Hybrid, we’re not going to buy it. Tell those assholes that you’re losing ANY future chance that  we’ll ever buy from their dealership. 

Bill Luke Dodge

Ah Heather  really so SO  very close. We’d agreed on a price after the usual bullshit of having our direct requests ignored in favour of their usual  dog and pony show where they try to sell you  $800 car alarms that costs me $140 online (OEM)it’s plug and play and really easy to install. How hard is it? Patriot, any color, minimal trim and an Auto Tranny? 

I said I would  arrange financing privately and get back with you. Get a call from her before  9am asking were I was at.   Thankfully this convinced me that I didn’t want to deal with ANY  new car dealer and redoubled our efforts to get a second hand one. There’s a second hand Isuzu Rodeo outside.   I own it, no payment , fuck them all.

Walmart:

Bought a fresh turkey, the bag broke on the treadmill covering some produce. Not only did I have to clean it up  but I had to buy the unusable produce.  Supervisor refused to engage Erin on this and wandered off.  Their fucking packaging broke , took out yet to be paid for items which she made us pay for. We’ll see what their reply is on this one.

Finally bought a GPS , Finally bought a seatbelt cutting knife that doesn’t say “weapon” as much as my m16fd does, least that’s what paranoid idiots hear…

We changed the brakes on the Aerio and on the bike. Oh and saw a cop throw a guy to the ground and draw on him for  , what looked like rather non threatening  behavior but hey  you can’t believe your own lying eyes so I’m sure it was entirely reasonable.   Oddly  3 of the party saw this,  my  mother from the UK  totally oblivious   interesting:)

Product: 911 First Response Knife

Widely considered a highly effective emergency tool, this knife features a 1/8″” thick high-carbon stainless steel serrated blade with screwdriver tip, easy-grip handle, solid tungsten carbide striker-punch and spring loaded trigger for high impact. Blade easily cuts thick seat belts. Includes a nylon carrying case with belt loop and clip. Length: 8″” open, 4.5″” closed. One of our most popular items! Designed by Blackie Collins. Made in USA.

Yet another plastic bag with crap thrown on my driveway by a company that thinks that breaking the law is good practice. The receptionist said it works, it’s their only form of advertising.

It’s gratifying that they offer clean up services for yards but a little ironic that the method chosen to advertise that fact by tossing plastic bags of gravel attached to paper onto my yard is the way they are going about it. At which point did they decide they had a right to place garbage on my property in a bid to further their material wealth?

Even if question wasn’t asked try this. Why have they ignored the no solicitation signs ? Why have they a fish on the bottom of their leaflet suggesting that somehow their ethical foundation is a selling point? Seemingly when I called them the most they can do is to remove me from their tossing shit on my yard list. Lovely.

Sec. 3-5. Prohibiting distribution of handbills at private premises where properly posted.(a) No person shall throw, deposit or distribute any commercial or noncommercial handbill upon any private premises if requested by anyone thereon not to do so, or if there is placed on said premises in a conspicuous position near the entrance thereof, a sign bearing the words “No Trespassing,” “No Advertisement,” “No Unsolicited Newspapers,” or any similar notice, indicating the manner in which the occupants of said premises do not desire to be molested or have their right of privacy disturbed, or to have any such handbills left upon such premises.(b) Subject to the conditions set forth above, the deposit or distribution of any commercial or noncommercial handbill on private premises shall be done in such a reasonable manner as to prevent their being carried or deposited by the elements upon any adjoining premises, street or sidewalk or other public place, or upon other private property.(c) The provisions of this section shall not apply to the distribution of mail by the United States.(Ord. No. G-717, § 1)

RENEW YOUR LANDSCAPING - Homepage -

Seemingly I wasn’t the only person having issues.  

Here’s another tale of going beyond the call of duty to elevate a poor customer experience into something gloriously awful.

For those of you keeping track Erin’s recovering from a motorcycle accident which has made it difficult to walk/stand around. In the short term we’re going to get an SUV with auto transmission that she can get in and out off until she’s able to get back on a bike. Friday: We went to Frontline Trucks on Camelback road and saw a suitable vehicle but it’s stuck way in the middle and would require quite a bit of effort to get it out. Erin was already sore and we couldn’t wait for that eventuality. Called them back today to arrange a test drive , set a time.. got there.

By now you know they hadn’t moved the truck, didn’t seem to fussed that they’d wasted our time or start to provide any resolution on perhaps maybe moving the fucking thing. So the impression of a dealer that won’t even move a vehicle to let you test it when it’s in there interest to do so suggests staying far far away.

4610 W Camelback Rd, Glendale, Maricopa, Arizona 85301, United States - Google Maps

Next up:Glendale Pontiac

Salesman told our max price… comes back with a figure nearly double it .. lovely. Just say hey sorry you’re not spending enough ,you’re not providing us a means to rip you on a trade in and with no finance frankly It’s not worth my time talking with you rather than insulting us.

I’ve been a little underwritten lately  which is odd as there’s a lot to say and I’m puzzled that one of my posts has gone missing.

Since getting back from CA, the Aerio was vandalised, shot rear window.   The Phoenix council will pay for people to do weed complaints and notice items like  doors under repair being publicly viewable  ( naughty)  and send nasty grams and then a follow up.  The car gets shot at, the street lights are shot at and the prior car that was vandalized?  Nothing  no cops, in fact they had “lost” the first report too.   My rates went up 15% for the house this year  which is odd given the market value is NOT indicative of the services received by the occupant.  Seemingly I now must pay this fee or the same police that aren’t interested in  people firing guns at our house( maybe only a BB but the kid’s room is pointing to the street)  will  arrest me eventually for failure to pay for their protection.   I am looking forward to engaging the elected official for this district soon. 

Secondly, Saw my first NHL game which will get another post.

Lastly .. there’s the write up of the  New Media Expo  I attended last weekend.  Stay tuned.

Well this weekend is turning into a phase that hits me every  few months “modern life is  rubbish”. While it’s a ridiculous notion I’m frustrated by the  annoying manner in which cars are “hacked” together to make even basic servicing difficult.  E.g The Suzuki Aerio’s rear brakes.

This is the first car I’ve owned where I couldn’t  maintain, repair or replace the braking system  for example we just replaced the trucks master cylinder and servo( and it still stops) so a consumable part  wasn’t going to give me too much hassle?

Firstly if the brakes were a revelation in extreme stoppiness and the handbrake didn’t need constant adjustment  I’d  be less likely to whine but… these are basic drums yet with more springs,pins  and clips  holding them together  than I’ve ever encountered on a small car.Given that we only have the one car presently ( legal to drive one anyway)  I gave up and  since the wear was about 50%  have deferred that for another 20k miles.

Mime legend Marcel Marceau dies - CNN.com
Marcel
Marceau, who revived the art of mime and brought poetry to silence, has
died, his former assistant said Sunday. He was 84

The moment of silence could take a bit of hashing out but we’ll bring you updates ..really.

Okay onto the eating. Firstly, please let me make clear that the presence of the toddler seriously affects where you dine. Here’s a hint, if there are crayons and a placemat. You’re not in a fine dining establishment I would insert a joke about the south and going to Applebee’s for special events but that wouldn’t be fair. One could easily level the same criticism at people in Scottsdale, visiting the cheesecake factory, oops I just did:)

It’s behind a cut since it’s pretty DRY sorry , just too tired

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