Annoyance of the Day: Incompetence

I'm always surprised at the incompetence of people. I don't want to sound arrogant or suggest that I'm better than everyone else (I'm not), but it just frustrates me that there are people out there like this.

Incompetence, to me, is basically not doing a good job at what you're paid to do a good job at. I'm not saying that in order to be competent, you have to be amazing at what you do. I'm just saying to be incompetent, you're not doing what's required of you (and what's required of you can and usually does include being good at what you do).

And this can take many forms. These include, but are not limited to:

• Being too slow when your job requires you to handle things at a certain speed (and your speed is below that speed required of you)
  
• Being too careless when attention to detail is required
• ...
  

My apartment complex recently put in place a parking policy that says if you don't have a parking permit that was obtained from the leasing office, and you park your car in one of the parking spots, then your car might be towed. This is reasonable enough, considering there are not that many parking places on my street and you always see these random cars parked in people's spots for a long time.

Everyone who lives here have until the end of May to get a parking permit from the office. I got mine last week. At the time I got it, I asked them if there's a spot I should put the sticker on. "No, you can put it anywhere that can be seen," said the lady at the office.

OK. Not wanting to purposely hide the sticker and thereby risk my car getting towed, I put the sticker at what I thought was a pretty prominent-but-not-so-prominent-as-to-block-my-view-while-driving place--at the bottom right corner of my right rear window.

Today, when I got to my car, there was a sign taped to it that says something to the effect of "We can't find the parking permit sticker on your car, if we can't find it starting tomorrow, then your car may be towed." I noticed that it was taped to the side of the car that didn't have the sticker.

W.T.F.
Just to confirm that I wasn't crazy, I went to the other side of my car to see if the sticker was there. It was.

So...I can't think of any reason for them not being able to find it aside from:

• They were too lazy and only checked one side.
• They don't know what the sticker looks like.
• They checked the other side, but somehow missed it.

With respect to the last bullet, I really can't see how they could have missed it. Even though I put it in the bottom corner, it's still on a window, and it's not microscopic. So, unless the person examining was blind, there's no way they could have missed it.

Regardless of what happened, all of the possible reasons for them not seeing it is a sign of incompetency. I'm not being harsh here, it doesn't take much to see that there is a "Parking Permit" sign on my car.

That said, it would really be unfair (not to mention upsetting, to put it lightly) if my car was towed due to their mistake. I would seriously not appreciate that.

Furthermore, if they're really having trouble finding the permits on people's cars, then they should have enforced a rule by saying "You have to put the permit here", thereby getting rid of all ambiguities as to where the permit could possibly be.

And while we're on the subject of incompetence, note that it is actually all around us.
Some examples:

• That server at McDonalds who gave you a McChicken sandwich when you've clearly articulated to them you wanted McNUGGETS.
• That cashier who, instead of refunding you the amount he/she's supposed to refund you, charged you again for that same amount and does not know how to undo it.
  
• That Seattle's Best coffee shop server, who took forever to get you your drink even though you didn't have any special requirements and there was no one in front of you.

I suppose it's reasonable that these positions are not filled by rocket scientists, but still, one would think that they would be a little better at what they do.

"The Ultimate Blonde Moment"

Today was not a good day...at all.

I set 3 alarms this morning, 7:50am, 8:15am and 8:45am. Did not get up until 9:50am.

I called the Franchise Tax Board because it's been more than a month since I've filed my California taxes and I still haven't gotten the refund that I was supposed to get. Apparently, I owe them money. No. Fucking. Way. They have my Employer's withholding down as a different number -- way less than what is shown on my W-2, so they told me to fax it to them.

And the fun starts here. I went to my apartment office because I had to take care of something else (way to start the work day on time...x_X). When I was about to be done, I realized I could just fax the W-2 from there. So I asked them if I could and they said yes. So I went to the fax machine and tried to fax it. Turns out, faxing something is more complicated than just dialing the fax number!! I tried to fax it 3 times. Did not work. Fuck. I'm soo fucking late for work now.

I didn't want to leave this thing hanging so I decided to go to the nearest FedEx to try to fax it from there. Same--did not work. Ok did I write down the fax number wrong?! I asked the FedEx people to get the fax number for the Franchise Tax Board for me and 10 minutes later, the lady returned with 5 pages of numbers for the Franchise Tax Board...W.T.F.!? There's like a different fax number for each department!! So I scanned through the whole thing to try to guess which department I should fax my W-2 to (the number I wrote down wasn't on the list). Finally, I found 2 that I thought could be the right department--Filing Enforcement Notice Information and Withholding Services and Compliance.

So I went over to the fax machine and punched in the numbers for Withholding Services and Compliance. Did not work. On the other end of the line, some lady starts talking...What is wrong with these numbers!? At this very exact moment, a guy next to me asked if I have the right number down. Yes, I believe so, I said. "Did you dial a 1 before the actual number?"

...

No!!!

Wow, I can't believe I was so out of it.
Damn it, not only did I not save any time, I LOST ABOUT HALF A DAY!
It turned out the original number did work--I just had to dial a 1 before everything. If I had been more alert, I would have thought of that.

I swear, this will be my downfall on the Amazing Race--constant grogginess.

Thoughts on the Amazing Race

After watching (and almost finishing) 2 seasons of the Amazing Race (seasons 13 and 14)--the most AMAZING show ever, here are some of my thoughts.

Important Lessons:

• Read the clues CAREFULLY and THOROUGHLY. If it says not to take your cow costume off before you get to the next destination, DON'T TAKE YOUR COW COSTUME OFF. If it says to get to a place by foot, DON'T TAKE A TAXI. (That said, if you're not sure about something, RE-READ the task)
  
• Bring EVERYTHING with you when you're doing a task. DO NOT assume you will have a chance to come back. This has screwed 2 teams over...
  
• THINK before you choose to do a fast forward. E.g. If you have dietary restrictions, and the fast forward involves eating...DON'T DO IT.
• Do not attempt a fast forward unless you're VERY confident you can do it.
• Try to stick to one detour and don't give up on it unless you absolutely have to. Don't think of the other detour as another choice.
  
• Always stay positive and encourage your partner. This is the most important thing. And it may seem obvious, but when you're not winning, it's really easy to blame the other person, or say things to put them down. This can get ugly really fast and hurt both your morale for the rest of the race.
  
• Never give up. This one is pretty obvious too. But when you haven't been doing well and always come in last or near last, it's pretty easy to not want to try anymore. BUT, you never know. Someone could be behind you. Always always try your best.

Logistical Observations:

• There's at least one camera man following each team everywhere. So I'm surprised at points where two or more teams merge, you don't see a bunch of cameramen filming... I guess they either must be very careful, or have one camera man take over and film the whole thing?
• I always found it funny that sometimes a team will miss something (e.g. an object they're supposed to look for or a sign), and the cameraman will pan to that thing and zoom in. I swear, the teams should pay more attention to what the cameraman is filming. Or maybe they filmed that at a different time?
• I always wonder how Phil knows whether a team has violated the rules. I guess the cameraman must have called it in before they get to Phil.
  
• The show always makes the last two teams seem like they're neck and neck. But I doubt that's the case. I feel like it's probably pretty spread out.

Other comments:

• Despite the fact that a lot of the time, teams are at the mercy of cab drivers, I don't think that affects the ultimate outcome at the end of a leg too much, since it's probably pretty likely that more than one team, if not a few, will encounter an incompetent driver. The editing always makes it seem that the cab driver is going to screw people over, but I doubt it's actually like that. If one team's stuck in traffic, so are other teams.
  
• I think my perception of "frat brothers" DEFINITELY changed after watching Dan and Andrew in the 13th Season.
  

100th Post!

It's always really bothered me that if you get one comment on your post, it says "1 comments". I mean, come on Google!, you can do better than that! This disappoints me. And to think Google, the company that outdoes itself with every new product it puts out, neglected to see this just really pisses me off. Actually, I don't think they failed to notice this. They know about it, but choose not to do anything about it, which pisses me off even more!

Speaking of things that piss me off (this is not a happy 100th post at all...sorry), here are some more things:

• That annoying ass barking dog next door. Sometimes I'd be walking home at night, thinking about things to myself. And all of a sudden, OUT OF NOWHERE, comes this bark, which makes me jump 10 feet into the air. I hate small dogs with a passion...
• People who get scared off from hanging out with you because they think you like them. Honestly, are we all still in 5th grade!?!? Just because someone's nice to you and thinks your fun and want to hang out with you does not necessarily mean they like you (as more than a friend). It could just mean they think you're a cool person they want to hang out with. Ever thought of that!?!?
• People who think they're better than everyone else and think they're always right. Please, no matter how fucking smart you are, there's going to be someone out there who's smarter than you. It doesn't hurt to listen to other people's ideas once in awhile!

The Little Engine That Could?

I got inspired by this Well Blog article, which basically states that any couch potato can run a marathon, if they so choose. Well, I can be quite sedentary at times, but I don't think I'm a stereotypical "couch potato", who perches in front of a TV/Computer screen and snacks on junk food for long periods of time. I think at least I try to be active and am, somewhat.

So this gets me thinking...maybe I should try running a marathon. I mean, I'm not a couch potato and heck, I'm in my prime!! If there's a time to do marathons, this is the time to do it. I think a lot of times I just want to do something to prove that I can. It gives me a great sense of accomplishment.

And actually, if you think about it, a marathon isn't that big of a deal. It's basically just running for 4-5 hours straight. And if you can do that, you can tell everyone that you just ran A MARATHON!!! and yea, that just sounds pretty fucking awesome.

So the method the article prescribed is the run-walk method. It stresses that a mistake that beginner runners often make is that they push themselves too far, they overdo it--and that's where they get injured. The run-walk method basically states that you should train in run-walk-run-walk intervals, at a pace that works for you. For example, one can try running for a minute and walking for a minute, and repeat. The thing about walking is that it relieves a lot of the stress that your muscles endure when you run, so it's a good way to recover. And apparently people who trained with this method were able to finish in less than 5 hours.

I'm not going to strive for a time really. I just want to do it and know that I did it. :)

I just went to the website for the New York Marathon, which takes place every first Sunday of November. Apparently there are only 37,000 spots and people flock from all over the world to be in this race so they do it in a lottery format. The deadline to apply is June 1, so I still have some time to decide...

This sounds really exciting and I do have 23 weeks to train...but according to coolrunning.com, a very awesome site that provides training schedules for different types of runs, you shouldn't try to run a marathon unless you've been running on a regular basis for at least a year. So I guess the question I have to ask myself is: Can I do this -- train for a marathon -- in 23 weeks without hurting myself? A part of me wants to bet that I can, but the more sensible part thinks I should take this slowly, and just apply to be in next year's (2010) instead...

Alternatively, I could sign up for the Boston Marathon, which is in April every year. I guess that does give me about a year, but it's cold in April and I'd rather do it in New York. :D I also checked the Chicago Marathon, but that's in October...even earlier than the New York one. Then there's the Shamrock Marathon, which is on Virginia Beach, VA. It's less famous, but sounds like it could be fun. I know people who did that. This is in March...so, also a little cold. But I know that in this race, you can run a half marathon if you choose. (I'm not so sure about the other ones.)

As a first step, I just registered to run a 10K (about 6 miles) in the annual Wharf-to-Wharf race!!! I've done this race two years ago. It basically goes from Santa Cruz to Capitola and is right along the beach. And you have people on the sidelines cheering for you, playing music, and giving you water the whole way. It was pretty fun the last time I did it.

Help Me Pick a Cell Phone Plan!

Before you look at the plans, here are some things you should know about me:

• In the past half a year, I have gone over 700 minutes per month a few times
• There are only a few people I talk to on the phone on a regular basis, but I usually talk a long time with them each time we talk
• My current plan includes 250 text messages, which I usually never go over (I think I came close to going over once...)

Here are a few plans that I picked that could work:
Right now I'm kind of leaning towards T-Mobile plan 1. I feel like with the unlimited minutes with 5 of the people that I talk to most regularly, the other 300 minutes should be enough. Plus the 400 text messages will definitely be enough. The only thing is, I'm not sure how reliable (reception-wise) T-Mobile is... Also, there wasn't a phone in the store that I particularly liked.

And that's the other thing, I'm really afraid to switch phones because I'm soooo used to the way my cell phone works that it will probably take forever to un-learn everything. For example, at the AT&T store, there was a phone that I liked. But for text messages, it uses "0" for "space" and "#" for "next" (in T9word text entry mode, you only have to press each letter once, but there might be more than one combination, so you have to press "next" if the first combination that came up wasn't what you were looking for.) This seemingly insignificant feature is going to be a huge problem for me, because my current phone uses "0" for "next" and "#" for "space". I'm sure this will affect my efficiency in sending text messages...

Oh what to do...what to do?
Which one should I go with?
Refer to the poll on the right to vote.

To Do List

Oy I've wanted to do these things for awhile now...hopefully I'll finally get around to doing them this weekend:

• Laundry -- I have a lot of clothes...so I haven't had to do laundry for a while. But now I'm starting to run out of underwear. x_x I think that's a pretty good indication that I need to do laundry ASAP!!
• Wash Car -- The last time I washed it was probably some time in February. I kept telling myself to wash it..but I never got around to it. Poor car...has so much grime on it...not to mention tree sap on the windshield. I have no idea how I'm going to get that out. Hopefully the car soap I have will do...
• Find new cell phone/Get a New Plan -- My mom's kicking me off the family plan. :-\ I guess it's reasonable considering we only have 700 minutes total--shared between my mom, my stepdad, and me--and my own usage often goes over 700 minutes. x_X Damn it Verizon! I want some roll-over minutes!!
  

10 Seemingly Insignificant Mundane Things That Make Me Happy and 3 Things that Don't

There are many things that affect my happiness. These things change depending on different circumstances at different times. These are what cheer me up at the current moment.

• Banana Nut Cheerios (it's new!)
• Princess Phoebe
• the song, Kids by MGMT
• Haagen Das Snack Size Coffee and Almond Crunch bars
• the song, Echo by Gorilla Zoe
• Pacifica Tuscan Blood Orange Body Butter
• The Santa Clara International Swim Center
• the song, Sweetest Girl by Wyclef Jean
• the show, the AMAZING RACE!!!
  
• the ShamWow Parody (If you haven't seen this, watch the original infomercial first)

On the flip side, here are some things/people that make my happiness meter go down at the moment:

• daily nightly calls
  
• the vastness of the US
• my expensive apartment!!
  

Voldemort might be a Sex Addict

Why am I not surprised about this?

Apparently, Ralph Fiennes, the actor who plays Voldemort in all the Harry Potter movies, was seen leaving an airplane lavatory with a flight attendant behind him. And now there are speculations that he might have a compulsion to have sex.

I guess villains will always be villains...

Original article.