21 December, 2007

Things that Irk Me - Part 3

Parts 1 and 2 of this series was posted back in January and July of 2006.

I’ve had another year and a half for more things to irk me.

Window Media Player’s Sync Function

Why can’t it just have ‘Before’ and ‘After’ views? “Hey, here’s your media player now, and here’s what it will look like after I sync it.” Seems simple…but no…one has to sync first, then figure out what the device looks like. It should first analyze the player, combine the sync playlists, into a view, and present that to me. Why not?

TV Shows that Run Over or Start Too Soon and Screw up my Recordings

My DVR’s guide is good, but it only downloads every few days. Why do networks change their start and end times so that sometimes shows go from 8:00p-9:01p, or 8:58p-10:00p? And they’re scheduled that way…but not when my DVR gets its guide. Thus, I either miss some of my show, or my DVR disallows me from recording the following show, due to the over-run. <sigh>

Parking Lot Drivers

Okay. You’re out on the road. There are lines. Generally, you stay within them – more or less – and we get along fine. Sure, you turn in front of me, or you turn your signal on way too early…or not at all…but again, generally, we’re cool. Then you drive you’re a__ into a parking lot, and apparently, all rules are off. It’s Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome, and you’re insane. You drive diagonally, across the entire lot, to get your big a__ pickup or SUV to that prime spot that you should be leaving for people who haven’t chosen, like you have, to be lazy a__es, but who actually need to park in the second spot away from Target’s doors. And then you shoot me a look when our paths intersect, because golly gee, I happened to be actually going up the up lane. What, are you… high? Jeez. You’re the same person who thinks they’re the world’s best driver-with-cell-phone. Here’s a tip; I’m a great driver, without a cell phone, and I suck holding a cell phone; we all do. You suck without the cell phone, so do the quick math, and guess what? You really, really suck, while holding a cell phone and driving. Now, pull into a parking lot with that cell phone, and you’re just asking parents to lose a toddler or two to your stupidity. Have a nice day.

GPS Units Sold With Old Maps

I get it. Products age on the shelves. New buildings and roads go up all the time. Fair enough. Okay then, make it easy to download at least the maps as the world exists when I buy the unit. A year or two down the road I’ll gladly plop another $50-$60 for updates. But until then, I’d really appreciate finding my own home actually exists, instead of irritating my English AI who screams at me for parking each day in the middle of the farmer’s field that existed four years ago, before we built our house. Don’t make it so hard for me to give you my money, Garmin.

Bluetooth Headsets While Ordering

I can’t believe I haven’t put this one up before. Have you ever been in line behind some prima donna (male or female) who is having a conversation, on via their headset, while ordering at Starbucks/the deli/fast food restaurant? Of course you have. The poor clerk starts answering the person, only to feel embarrassed that they misinterpreted the customer was talking to them. What the ?!?! Embarrassed? I’d say, “Hey, Bud, you gonna order or stand there talking to yourself?”, and if they replied, “I’m not talking to myself, I’m on the phone,” I’d reply, “I didn’t know, because you’re looking right at me and your lips are flapping, so I just sort of, you know, assumed you had something to say to me.” Folks, I have a bluetooth headset. Guess what? Almost no one has ever seen it on me, because I only use it in the car, or on a long phone conference in my home office. I’m a Science Fiction geek, and I even I think they’re just about the dorkiest looking things. And I wonder. Perhaps they wouldn’t look so dorky if people wouldn’t act so damn dorky wearing the things. Hmmm.

People Who Chew Clerks Out Over Return Policies

Sometimes we all buy things we regret, or the items don’t fit, or they’re defective, etc. Other times folks buy tons of crap, on impulse, leave it in their car for six months, stink it up with cigarette stink, and then take it back. Then the chew the customer service rep. out when the rep. mentions the products smell like a__. Dude, you stank the product up, like a__. That’s not the rep’s fault. So, take your bag full of a__ smell, back out to your car, and use it for ballast. It’s icy out there.

20 December, 2007

Randomly sorting a list in Excel - Cool trick

I needed to randomly sort a list, in Excel, and I had forgotten how to do it, so I performed an ask.com search and came up with this:  http://www.mrexcel.com/tip093.shtml

Basically, simply add the '=RAND()' function, in each cell adjacent to your list cells -- in a new column -- and then sort the range by that new column.  Each time you sort the range a new sort order will result, due to the random numbers.

Very, very cool.