Land of the Mini Rants and a Rave

Today was a day of minor irritations. Most of them weren't enough to be rant worthy on their own, but there were several that made it to the level of deserving a good mini-rant. After all, one of the crossword puzzles I did last week had "blogger's self-indulgent prerogative"as a clue with the answer "rant". Since I am always for self indulgency, here is my collection of mini-rants for the day. Plus, to end on a positive note, a rave is included at the end.


Mini rant #1: Weather. The air pressure fell to extreme lows today, meaning that I hurt. Remember a week ago Monday when I showed the high pressure on my goose neck barometer:

 

Notice that the fluid in the neck has been forced all the way back to the body of the barometer by the high air pressure. That means I felt pretty good. Now contrast that to the same barometer this evening:

Notice how the low air pressure has the fluid streaming out of the neck. That means I ache all over.


Mini rant #2: Medical tests and getting older. With every year older I get, the more and more "recommended" tests and tweaks happen during my annual exam. When turned fifty, it was time for the initial colonoscopy. This year I turned 55 and with that milestone came the addition of the infamous "manual rectal prostate exam" to the standard PSA blood test. I can hardly wait to turn 60 and see what else gets added. {*grin/2*} It didn't help any that the phlebotimist had trouble drawing the three vials of blood for all the blood tests and so had to poke and jab multiple times to get enough blood.


Mini rant #3: Mail order fulfilment oddities. When you are my size and wear size 16 shoes, you seldom get to walk into a store and shop. Same goes for clothing. So you have to order from the few places that specialize in big and tall sizes. Last week I went online and ordered a pair of shoes and some other items. I specifically chose a pair of shoes that were shown to be in stock because I needed them *now*. Today the order arrived with everthing in it *except* the shoes. Instead there was a note saying that they were on backorder and would possibly ship later. Not only did the company lie about having the shoes in stock via their online order system which *should* have been tied directly to their inventory, but they are not even sure they will be able to get them to me at any time in the near future.


Rave of the Day: Kudos to Country Bob's BBQ Sauce. Today they sent me a very nice BBQ cookbook and coupons for Country Bob's at a local store so I could gift friends and family who haven't yet tried County Bob's with a bottle. What an inspired word of mouth campaign!  I think this is a great idea. Not only do they have a great product, but they really understand grass roots marketing. Go Country Bob's!



Time to figure out what I am going to talk about on the radio in the morning. Maybe I'll feature the radio show nude tap dancing team. {*grin*}