potatoradio

Have they changed these spots so she's even more nails-on-a-chalkboard? Because I remember thinking "clean" was a stupid concept, but not feeling like I wanted to punch this chick in the throat. But now, every time I hear her "sooooup and saaadwiiiiich" and "good, clean, fewwwwwwwd," I scare everyone in the room lunging for the mute. I cannot listen to her. And I liked Panera fine when it was one of the few places that you could get a quick salad and hot sandwich that actually had things like spinach and chunks of chicken on them, but they need to get over themselves. Their food is not "clean" by a long shot, if you take the bodybuilding definition of "clean." Mayo, bread and sugar much?

Really? Hmmmm. *considers upcoming international flight*. Thanks for the idea! I've had a few makeup consultations in my life and my pet peeve was that I would explain, up front, that wearing tinted Blistex was the extent of my comfort. I was promised, over and over, that they'd do nothing "heavy" and that it would be "natural." An hour later, I would sit there absolutely caked in foundation, concealer, powder, eye goop, mascara (and, hey, let me put on the mascara, k? I don't want you near my eye with a chemical stick). "Don't you just feel so much more you?" No, no I do not. And THANKS to the person who brought me there, trying to convince me that because I'm older than 25 and a woman, I must put something on my face. I was vacationing with a friend of mine in the Grand Canyon and she wouldn't leave make up off even for a hike in the canyon on a summer afternoon. Nope. Full base, eye stuff, lipstick, hairspray. It seriously hurt to even think about. Plus, it made us get a late start. Because you know, the burros really care about extended lashes. Also, I'm not a radical animal lib kind of person, but come on, do we seriously need to keep harming animals to test new formulas of lipstick? Don't we know by now what chemicals are harmful? Ah, shoes. I like the styles that Stacy from "WNTW" would call "horse hoofs." I like me a solid shoe. Not quite at the five feet thick "nurse shoe" style yet, but I ain't tottering around in heels for anyone, not even Stacy and Clinton.

I can understand kids in PJs or even swimsuits at the breakfast lobby in hotels (because, yeah, I get that it's vacation and what do I care what your kid wears as h/she stares at the waffle iron?), but adults? Put your d*mn clothes on. I don't want to see a grown arse man sitting in bare feet and long underwear and a wife beater. That much intimacy with strangers is just stomach churning. Stop it. Yoga pants. Flip-flops. T-shirt. Not hard. And probably more comfy than stepping in spilled Froot Loops in your bare feet. I adore the fact that I can now sip coffee at the library while I work. Freaking love it. But for crying out loud, drinking is very different from the a-hole next to me who opened up a giant Tupperware container full of stinky salad and started chomping away. Knock it the f*ck off. Oh, and speaking of libraries, just because you're whispering your conversation doesn't mean it's not annoying as h*ll. There's a coffee shop downstairs. You can use normal voices there AND chew as disgustingly as you'd like.

*nods head so hard it almost falls off and rolls into a quirky corner* Maybe I'm wrong in the head, but I would almost prefer someone cussing me out or outright judging me to someone who patronizingly "praises" what a "free spirit" I am or how I am "my own person." Ya, guess what? I read subtext. Just say, "You are one freaking weirdo and you stick out like a sore thumb and I can't even try to get to know you because you're just. so. WEIRD." So I hate small talk and rarely take conversation at face value - if it makes you uncomfortable, fine, but chitchat and prattle make me mental, too, so how about we both suck it up and refrain from calling each other names like we learned in kindergarten. Fakey Boring Plastic McFakerson. Yo, food companies: if you put ANY artificial sweetener in something, label that sh*t. I just bought over 10 cups of something I thought had sugar because it wasn't marketed with "light" or "lite" or "diet" or even "sugar free." And....phhhttttt! Stevia! F*ck you, I don't care if it comes from a plant, by the time you mortar and pestle it and bubble acid through it or whathave you....it's artificial sweetener and I shouldn't have to read the fine print to discover that. Totally thought this was true, bilgistic! Then again, I've fallen for the 'did you know gullible isn't a word in the dictionary?' joke. Twice.

My. God. BriWi. So much for being flexible. He was rambling on about what was coming up on his all mighty coverage of the results last night and all of a sudden, he says, "Oh! Hello, Senator!" Yeah, smooth. Also, way to recover by rushing the "interview" as much as you could. Because, it's the senator's fault you flubbed the intro and had to pull your head out. I want this election over with for many reasons, but getting rid of the BriWi on every MSNBC talking table is topping the list. Rachel won my heart the other night when she started drumming on the desk to that godawful "election news intro" music. She has to be positively insane from listening to that. Plus, BriWi probably has it set as a ringtone.

Is he the guy with sleeves rolled up who mans the maps and can't quite get the hang of "tap on a county to show detail?" Because he cracks me up. So excited by teknologee and yet so defeated...

Ha - I thought of Red from Fraggle Rock. And DW asked why Ariel was wearing a Mickey Mouse hat on her head. Chad always looked constipated, but he seemed like a pleasant, somewhat nice guy? And not bad on the eyes? Since this show isn't about cooking at all, couldn't he have stayed a bit longer and one of the plants dispatched? Don't need both Manda and Jackie fakeouts. And I didn't realize how long Jackie's hair was. Holy crap, even tough girls know a bottle of deep conditioner is a good thing. Capiche?

I wasn't expecting a "law and order" type of wrap-up, with the "truth"wrapped up in a bow via a courtroom drama, but the finale didn't have a huge emotional impact on me. It just seemed to leave things deliberately muddled with the idea that "life is complicated" and "there is no real truth here, just a big old mess of pain. How tragic." Well, yeah, life is like that, but I can read or watch documentaries for that. I hate to see complex characters wasted in such a weak ending. Because of the acting, I was very connected to many of the characters. The set up was wonderful - complicated and nuanced, but ultimately wasted. I don't want a pat ending, and I can certainly handle an ambivalent one, but there's a big difference (to me) between ambivalent and unresolved. Still, I hope this comes back and I'll probably watch again because I loved the character set up and the acting. I'll just adjust for weak storytelling. The acting is worth that!

Erm, that's "Tay-Tay" to you. Hater. Just kidding. A hoo-hah does not a feminist make and people don't criticize you because they think women don't deserve to be so rich or popular or powerful; they criticize you because you've morphed into kind of a scary Halo-esque brat, T-Swizz. Feminism is earned. Go earn it. I also can't stand that opinions are either "haterade" or "drinking KoolAid." Is there no room anymore for complexity or nuance? I just want to apologize to anyone stuck behind me at a pet food store. First, the coupons are good only for enormous quantities (20+ cans) and, of course, the store doesn't have boxes or anything, so each can is separate and takes forever to pile on the counter. Then, I usually screw up and think I've gotten "tender morsels deluxe" when instead I've picked up "tender morsels supreme." This takes some finagling. Then, by the time I'm rung up, so much finagling fries the system and a manager must come over to reboot. Then, the friggin' card swipe. Here's my peeve: why do I have to try swiping six or seven times? Fast, slow, with paper, without paper, backwards, gettin' jiggy wid it...I mean, come on, just let me type in the d*mn account. Why else do you have a keypad on your swiper? Gah!!! And, no, I do not have another card, or cash, and, huh, ya don't take checks? Well, I ain't walking out of here without all 4000000 cans of food, so ya'll better get cracking on this technology here...

Oh dear Lord. I've listened to Roxette songs that made more sense. By the way, woman in the library who holds a patronizing "just a moment" finger up to the poor maintenance guy: how much of a brain do you have if you can't finish your d*mn assignment before the library closes? I'm sorry, but it shouldn't take you all night to work out a basic business "deck."

Heh - as an "up nord" kinda person (geographically and politically), I assure you, some of us consider Indiana part of the south. Mason Dixon line is actually just south of Chicago and creeps further north all the time, it seems....

I may feel differently after watching the entire season, but after this episode, I really wish they hadn't written a school shooting into the storyline. I keep waiting for the initial focus of the party and rape accusation to develop further - there's plenty there to develop. I was hoping for more nuance and depth of the original "problem." Bringing in another crisis point makes the story feel unfocused to me, not more dramatic. And I don't see how interviews with real survivors is going to add much, any more than I thought the dancers and the spoken word added anything other than feeling tapped gently on the head with a two-by-four so that, you know, in case I missed it, school shootings and rape are REALLY AWFUL!! The actors convey that very powerfully already. Anyway, this is still a show that I am completely riveted by and am very glad it's on the air - I've missed a quality, layered drama with top notch acting that's so compelling I want to watch it alone because I don't want real life interrupting at all while I watch.

What is with this trend of promoting "clean" food and how can it be stopped? I mean, yay, I'm happy you're not serving food that's been dumped on the floor and gone past the five-second rule, but "clean" is another meaningless, pretentious definition that makes me want to inhale a bunch of filthy, dirty cookies. If I want to eat "clean," I'm perfectly happy to bake a plain chicken breast and steam spinach at home. Delurker, do you have a cat that may have run away with your flash drive as its new toy? It's not just you - I've had something in my hand and then, not two minutes later, it's not there. I have moved maybe five feet. I have found it helpful to chalk it up to curious kitty.

We are currently at war with Eastasia. Eurasia, though, offers a doubleplusgood degree in six sigma blackbelt project management. Way more effective than a useless philosophy degree. We want a trained society, not an educated one. Oops. My bitter is showing. Better take whatever drug will also make me prone to giving strangers flowers and jumping in pools... Wh-wh-whhaaattt???!!! You're joking, aren't you? Please tell me you're joking...

Oh.my.God. I have heard of these circles of hell. Collaboration, my arse. Are there communal bathroom breaks, too? Synchronized lunches? All together now, lift the pizza and chew three times. Everyone doing OK? Great! Now take a sip of Coke. Yes, Coke. One sip of your allotted sugar, comrade, and then you may have a Frito but not before everyone has one in their hand. OK, all, time for your afternoon bowel movement! We can't move without everyone on board! Excuse me while I go kiss my office door like a mad religious convert.

And if this happens, I'm going to be P.O.'d. Complexity is one thing. Resolving/enlightening the main hook of the story with a pat "it's complicated and it depends on who you ask" is crap storytelling. As much as I admire the acting and character nuance, having so many P.O.V.s may be hindering the story instead of layering it. Speaking of acting, d*mn you, Felicity Huffman, for having just enough vulnerability in your portrayal of the ice queen to make me interested in your character's motivation. I know, blink and you'll miss it, but it's there. Color me impressed.

MD is hilarious in this. Thanks for posting it. Loved seeing the humorous/goofy side to RJC and everyone else

I thank my liberal, tree-huggin', pinko commie stars every day for you, MSNBC, but... 1. Please fire your intro music composer. Did you hire that character from the movie 'Broadcast News' who composed relentlessly OTT, cheeseball fluff? Because I cringed every time your Paris attack coverage came on and now I wince every time your political coverage intro starts. It's really distracting. Stop it. 2. Thank you already for putting together another Democratic debate. Kudos. You were right. You did a good job. Now stop with the self-congratulations every single time you bring it up. I don't need Chris Matthews starting coverage by going on and on and on about how great Todd and Maddow were. Unless there was a spectacular gaffe or incidence of "not being nice," I trust that professional commentators or journalists can ask questions and let the candidates know that they have 30 seconds to answer.

Finally - a different scene for Thomas besides "Andy...would you like some help with..." Andy: "NO, GET AWAY FROM ME!!" Thomas *retreats with stilted sad face*. I was about ready to toss my glass of wine all over my teevee when that scene was replayed for the gajillionth time. I might not mind the Spratt/Denker storyline if they were more integrated with the rest of the staff; they always seem separate. I can't recall seeing them eating with the others or being involved with them at all, but maybe I missed that. Their separate storyline is far too weak to carry on its own. I would pay good money for a Baxter/Barrow/Patmore spinoff.

I'm on a web conference and we're discussing Problem A for a project. It's the first time we've had a chance to discuss Problem A and we're kind of getting into the weeds, which is fine because Problem A could put the kibash on the project and it needs to be hashed out. On my end, because I'm remote, I can see everyone but they can't see me. All of a sudden, out comes Mr. Helpful from his office and says, "I couldn't help but overhear...I overhear everything... benefit to being in the office, right, Potato? Anyway, how about this as a solution for Problem A?" and proceeds to detail this asinine idea that opens a wormhole of security issues and would put a huge burden of support right on Mr. Helpful's staff. (Not on Mr. Helpful himself, of course, just on the poor guy who's his direct report and already logs countless hours of unpaid overtime because he's actually a very genuine, hard working guy). How about a nice hot cup of STFU, Mr. Helpful? Were you invited to this meeting? No? Then stay in your office and pump your brilliant idea into an email, OK? The leader tried to acknowledge his suggestion while still making it clear that there was more to discuss, and Mr. Helpful would not take the hint. He kept saying, "but this is a really good idea because..." Dude? Just. stop. talking. Then he finally (after, oh, fifteen minutes) realizes that we're not going to jump and scream "hip hip hooray!" at his idea and he finally starts to backpedal a bit. "Well...it was just a thought...I just heard a lot of discussion and thought I'd offer a solution...I just like to solve problems..." Oh my god. Not only did you NOT solve Problem A, you moron, now you've caused another problem because we have to assuage your ego before you'll leave us alone AND we can't continue our discussion of Problem A because our leader now wants to move on and get things checked off her list. THANKS A TON....thank god I was remote and could roll my eyes through his ramblings.

No better start to the New Year than cracking up over the Pet Peeves thread. Quof and GHScorpios, please remember that, because you did not meet under the watchful eye of the eHawmony grandpa and his creepy grandkid, your marriage will fail because it's obvioulsy not twue wuv. Sorry, but someone has to tell you the truth... "If you have any questions, please direct them to myself...." Um...OK, first question: Do you think you sound more educated or formal or Downton Abbey-like or something when you say "myself" instead of "me"? You don't. You sound like you're terrified of making a grammatical mistake and you just made a yyyyuuuuuuuge one. Stop it. "But/however" and "since/because": there's a difference and not a terribly difficult one to figure out. It's easier than drink/drank/drunk and lie/lay/lain, trust me. Not even Strunk and White or my high school English teachers could set me straight on those. I can do "I drank," but woe unto me if I need to use past perfect tense. "I have...drunk? Drank? Have drunken? Have drinked?" Aw, screw it, just give me a beer to consume. I will admit, though, that there are some words that I learned wrong at a tender age and sometimes I screw them up. I once wrote at length about a person feeling "lightening" bolts. Sigh. I think I've been corrected for that one since I was in fifth grade, but my brain just won't accept that "lightning" does not need any extra letters to make it more exciting. You know, I flew overseas with my family when I was four years old. I was a quiet kid who really just wanted to sleep, but even so...I was so excited at the idea of flying that I would never have thought to misbehave. The flight was more important than my being a special snowflake child. I think too many parents have that reversed, in too many situations. Adult coloring books are on the market - maybe someone should market adult sentence diagramming puzzle books. I would buy those in a heartbeat. I loved sentences with adjectives and adverbs. I can't abide the word "melty." No, the cheese it not "melty." It is MELTED. Be a grownup and stop with this goo goo gah gah baby waby Waychel Way foody woody talk crap. On the other hand, "stabby" makes me laugh. I like the irony of the cutesy wutsey ending on such a violent word. If you tell me you have melty cheese, I will become stabby and fulminate a lightening bolt on yourself. Oh, Annzee - "Minnesota nice" actually means "Minnesota passive-aggressive." They won't be rude to your face (so they're nice), but my God, you do something wrong and you will pay, my friend....you will pay. I get to fly tomorrow. Can't wait. It's a short flight, but even so, I dread being in the vicinity of entitled f*cktards with no escape. I generally put on my headphones, slouch, and put on my very best stone cold "I'm gonna cut a b*tch" face so people won't ask me to indulge their specialness, but they can't help themselves...

My wife and I are total Luddites and still have (gasp) both a landline and old time flip cell phones for emergencies. The cell phones do exactly what we pay for them to do: help. As in, call when running super late, or when you're lost and need to call a place for directions, or you need to call AAA for roadside assistance. My wife had to replace her cell phone (can't recall why) and she encountered the same attitude you described at the store. It was ridiculous. The guy just could not believe she wanted a plain old flip phone. I mean, you'd have thought she walked in and asked for two soup cans and a string. The douche could barely bring himself to check in the back to see if they had the model my wife wanted. Way more stressful than a replacement phone trip needed to be. I was so pissed when I realized I had no choice but to switch to an iPod because Sony Walkmans are not even being made, let alone repaired, because I tried like h*ll to repair my last Sony, walked in to every store I could think of and, nope..was told pretty much that my old fossil self needed to wakey wakey and get with the times. I like my iPod now, but man, that was a brutal reality.

Two commercials that fry my tool: 1. Children's Hospital. Yep, that's right, their commercial makes me loathe a CHILDREN'S hospital. The voiceover says, "You will never be as strong as a child. Your sense of optimism, hope...never as strong as a child's. Give to Children's Hospital today." Uh...WTF? You've just told me that, as an adult, the only strength I have left is my pocketbook? Yeah, you know what? It sucks when kids get sick. It also sucks when adults get sick. There is no competition for strength and hope, OK? And you want me to give you money? Eat my leek, you jerks. 2. Abby Wambach is doing a commercial for Gatorade (I think? Some kind of sports drink) and she's taking things out of her locker, packing her gear, and says things like "Don't remember me...I want to be gone..." And I'm like, huh? Is she sick? And then she goes on about how she needs to leave the game so people will forget her and the younger generation can have their time. What in f*ck all is THAT?? Uh, the younger generation can play just fine AND you can be remembered, as you friggin' SHOULD BE. G*damn, I was tired of the youth obsessed culture and ads promoting it when I was twenty. It's gone beyond vanity and is now freaking Children of the Corn creepy.

What in ever loving f*ck is this BS? I open iTunes to buy a song. "No more Drama" (judge not, right?). And I buy the first one on the list. It's a completely different g'dmed arrangement. Not even close to the cheeseball song I loved when I heard it on the radio years ago. There are, oh, about five versions of that song on iTunes and not ONE of them is the version from the radio. They're all more "arty" and I hate them. I also discovered that I downloaded a version of "Gangham Style" with MC Hammer making an appearance. Uh....no. Why, why, WHY can't I go to iTunes and just find the freakin' song I heard on the radio? Yeah, artists can do whatever they want with their work, but could it be just little easier for us musical boobs to find our terrible, non-artistic, non-remixed version of the song? Like a big flashing arrow and sign, maybe? I respect the serious artistic impulse, but come on, sometimes I just want cheese, thankyouverymuch.

Hey, welcome back (though sorry the workplace is still such a hellhole)! That is some sort of bullshit bullying situation you're in. I knew a coworker who was being bullied - her boss would absolutely torture her. Change up her assignments, give her work to other people, not let her know until the last minute whether she could get time off, tell her she had to clean her office over the weekend without overtime pay...naturally, everything he did never involved direct verbal abuse (he'd yell, but stop short of calling her any names or threatening her) or physical threats, so the only thing she could do was document the hell out of everything (that's fun) and refuse to sign her performance review. Turns out, if she didn't sign the review, boss got no raise, so the next performance review was magically better. And he found another person to pick on, so it's better for her now (sucks to be the next whipping boy), but I will never, ever understand why people decide to bully someone else as a way of "managing." I don't want to understand it, actually, I just want it dealt with. And funny how it never comes up at all of our friggin' "sensitivity" seminars. Why yes, counselor, I've heard many reports of bullying and ageism, actually. How exactly am I supposed to help when the powers that be are completely on board with picking a scapegoat to blame for the business' problems? My peeve is the gauntlet of small talk I have to endure when I come in early. When I come in later, everyone is busy or in meetings, but on early days, everyone is standing around the water cooler or chit chatting from their offices. Oh, my lord, just let me please, please put my lunch in the fridge, get my water bottle, and sit down and be left alone. Please? No? I have to stand there and talk about what you heard on the radio or the show you watched last night or how much coffee you've had? Oh, thank you, cube gods, for this blessing you have cursed my day with. Good morning, merry everything, and f*ck the h*ll off. Love, the office antisocial introvert who really hates you all...