Ronalfy.com

Blog Rerun - Illegal Immigration

The following posts are my views/opinions on illegal immigration.

• Amnesty and a Day Without Mexicans

  We should not give illegals amnesty.

• It’s Okay to Give Illegals Credit

  Either give illegals credit legally, or they’ll obtain it illegally.

• Good Fences Make Good Neighbors

  A wall is needed to help stop the influx of illegal immigrants.

• A Texas-Based Pizza Chain is Accepting Pesos. So What?

  Should the dollar be the only acceptable currency in the United States?

Blog Rerun - I Can Be Humorous (I Hope)

The following are what I consider humorous articles.

• Ten Book Titles to Scare Off People

  Read books with these titles and you’ll be sure to have people running away.

• Ten Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Write a Top 10 Topic

  It’s hard to write a top-10 topic. Why not write a top-2 topic?

• The Traumatized Squirrel

  Bes traumatized a squirrel in San Francisco. The squirrel consequently retaliated.

Blog Rerun - I’m a Poetrist

These next few posts are some poems I have written over the years.

• Wallowing in Friendship

  Some people have trust issues. What is that fortress like?

• Waves of Bitterness

  Caught off guard, a man is swallowed by the waves of bitterness.

• Silent

  Do you see someone who could be that special someone? Are you silent?

Blog Rerun - The Iraq War

These next few posts deal with the war in Iraq.

• Airing Insurgent Videos

  I got really heated when I found out that CNN actually aired footage of members of the U.S. military being targeted and shot down by insurgent snipers.

• Iraq is Beyond the Global War on Terror

  Should the Global War on Terror be focused on Iraq? Why are our military simply target practice for the insurgents and terrorists in Iraq?

• The Troops Should Stay in Iraq

  As much as I’d like the war in Iraq to end, the military shouldn’t come home until the job is finished.

Blog Rerun - Morality and Homosexuality

These next two posts have to deal with Christianity and the issues of morality and homosexuality.

• Walking on the Eggshells of Morality

  When was the last time you felt like going on a murderous rampage? Hopefully never, but I imagine that there are days when you just want to choke the life out of somebody. The thing that keep us from going on our ‘murderous rampage’ and other hateful acts is our sense or morality, or our sense of what’s right and wrong. Any reasonable person will realize that taking someone’s life is inherently wrong. When the issues of right and wrong are out in the open and plain to see, it is easy to make decisions. However, what happens when our sense of morality is clouded or doesn’t happen to fall in line with the societal norm? My wife calls this slip in morality the ripple-effect of consequences.

• Does Religion Promote Hatred Towards Gays?

  Does religion actually preach that homosexuals are supposed to be hated? And does God really hate fags?

Blog Vacation

I’ll be in Austin, Texas for a week or so starting tomorrow. I’ve decided to experiment and post “blog reruns” of some of my older and more focused posts next week. The reruns will start next Monday and end next Friday. There will be no Weekend Survey this week.

If you really need to get in touch with me, please contact Bes Zain and he’ll contact me on your behalf. If you’re in the Austin area and would like to have lunch or coffee, please let Bes know and he’ll relay the message to me.

Thanks and take care

Ronald

Peeve Week 2 Poll Winners

Congratulations to Bes and Jess (hey, that rhymes) for winning the Peeve Week 2 poll.

Bes won for his “Is Love at First Sight Sex at First Light?“.

Jess won for her “My Lifestyle is My Personality, Not My Country.”

Congratulations to both of you.

Eight Things You May Not Have Known About Me

I was walking down the virtual street when I felt a tap on the shoulder. I looked behind me and saw a menacing smile, and she screamed, “Tag! You’re it.” She quickly bolted away before I could tag her back. So now I am forced to find my next victim.

Since Vivien (from InspirationBit) was kind enough to tag me, you all will have the great pleasure of finding out eight things about me that you might not have known before.

1. I scarred my sister for life.

When I was younger and living in the Philippines, I got very angry at my sister and threw a glass Coke bottle at my sister. It shattered and the shrapnel was embedded in her lower leg. To this day she has a nasty scar where the glass cut her.

2. I almost joined the U.S. Army.

When I was attending college in Phoenix, Arizona, I saw several Army recruiters because I was worried about having to pay back student loans. My dad spent an hour on the phone with me trying to talk me out of it. He gave me some very sound advice: “Ron, try living as a civilian for a while. You don’t know what it’s like yet since you’re still in school. Spend a year as a civilian. If you don’t like it, then join the Army.” I took his advice.

Continue Reading…

Please Vote For Your Favorite Peeve Week 2 Posts

All the Peeve Week 2 entries are in. Now it’s time to vote. Please vote for your top five favorite Peeve Week 2 posts. The two most favorite articles will receive a $25 dollar Amazon.com gift certificate (subject to rules). The poll will be active until June 21st at 2200 (CST). At that time, the two winners will be announced and given their prize.

Please read all the peeves and choose your top five favorite ones. Unfortunately the poll doesn’t allow links, but there are a few easy ways to read all the peeves. You can go to the official Peeve Week 2 conclusion post and also view the peeves via the June archive.

The Code…

If you would like to include this code on your own site, please copy+paste the code below (make sure you also include a link to the Peeve Week 2 conclusion post):


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25 Peeves That Irritate the Hell Out of People

What really pisses you off? Is it relationship problems? Is it being stereotyped or labeled? Is it a horrible website? Is it work? Here are twenty five peeves that will be sure to irritate the hell out of you.

Culture/Relationships

• Pushing My Buggy, Er, Shopping Cart

  Discusses the cultural differences in ordering sodas, saying Nevada, and pushing around a shopping cart.

• Vain Celebrity Fair by Vivien.

  A peeve about why celebrities can get away with so much and our obsession with celebrities in general.

• Is Love at First Sight Sex at First Light? by Bes Zain

  Is it really love at first sight, or it something else?

• My Lifestyle is My Personality, Not My Country by Jess

  Just because you are from a particular ethnicity doesn’t mean you are to behave in a certain way.

• What Happened to the Revolution? by JH Siess, Esq.

  A peeve about reality TV and how women are being wrongly influenced by these types of shows.

Misconceptions

• The Most Infuriating Misconceptions by Vivien.

  A mother doesn’t have to choose between family and career, the capital of Canada is not Toronto, and not everyone can become a web designer.

• Tattoos Are For a Lifetime

  Tattoos are for a lifetime and not just for the moment as some people might suspect.

• Taking a Simple “I have to go” Out of Context by Bes Zain

  When someone has to go, let him/her go. Don’t take it personal.

• The Art of Misconceptions by Jess

  Life is all about misconceptions, whether we’re labelled incorrectly or a conversation is taken out of context.

• Parents - It’s Not “All About The Kids” by Rory Sullivan

  It’s not exactly wrong to tell your child “No”.

Work

• My Favorite Job Hunting Pet Peeve by Jacob Share

  Job hunting can be a pain, especially when nobody cares about your career but yourself.

• Pet Peeves Around the Office by G.L. Hoffman

  Various office peeves including people not making the coffee, gum chewers, and more.

• Work Place Annoyances (Speakerphones, Nail Clippings, etc…)

  Work isn’t always fun. Speakerphones, nail clippings, and other annoyances can drive you crazy.

• Thank You For Your Opinion, But No Thanks by Bes Zain

  A peeve about how many people ask for your opinion, but not many people act on it.

• The Joys of Working Retail by Jess

  Retail is not the perfect job. People take credit for your work, and the boss gets on your nerves.

Internet

• Mixing Spam and Invitation Perceptions Together by Bes Zain

  It’s an invitation to test out a new website. You feel special. Then you delve closer… and realize it’s just spam.

• 5 Reasons Why I Hate Your Site by Luis Cruz

  There are some things to be hated. One of those is crappy websites.

• A Website is About the Content, Not the Bling by Shane

  There are bad websites. And then there are BAD websites. Too much bling doesn’t make a website better.

• Can You Complain When Something is Free?

  Open source is all about giving out stuff for free. But what is the real cost of giving stuff away?

• Viva Free Internet by Vivien.

  Why does getting wireless Internet still cost an arm and a leg?

Stereotypes

• Stereotyping Serves No Purpose But to Hurt by Ranjani

  For all of our sanity, stereotyping, this one descent into madness — this childish slander upon people of our world — forever condemns us to regard others (and be regarded by others) as second-class citizens of the same planet.

• All In Favor of Being Stereotyped, Please Raise Your Hand by Cetroyer

  Being a young adult, one should be partying and chasing the girls, right? Or, as a Christian, one should always be in church, right? Or, maybe not.

• Not So Beautiful Stereotype On Physical Attractiveness by Vivien.

  Being beautiful no longer has to be natural. It can be achieved, if you are willing to pay. However, there is a bigger price to be paid that hardly anyone talks about.

• Men With Long Hair

  Not all men with long hair are gay, bikers, criminals, or have tattoos.

• Please Stereotype Me In 5 Ways! by Bes Zain

  Are you gay, Jewish, gangsta, a girl, Asian, or some other “label.” Stop labeling yourself and stop letting people label you.

Peeve Week Contributors

An extra special thanks goes out to all of the Peeve Week 2 contributors. You not only made Peeve Week 2 a tremendous success, but you helped give the blogosphere twenty-five awesome peeve posts. An extra extra special thanks goes out to Bes, Vivien, and Jess, who contributed a total of twelve posts combined to Peeve Week.

Thank you…

• Bes Zain
• Cetroyer
• G.L. Hoffman
• Jacob Share
• Jess
• JH Siess, Esq.
• Luis Cruz
• Ranjani
• Rory Sullivan
• Shane
• Vivien

Peeve Week 2 Conclusion

I personally had a lot of fun reading all of the various Peeve Week 2 entries. I am thankful for the authors that did decide to participate, and am thankful that the readers didn’t mutilate me for the sudden onslaught of posts.

Please let us (me and the Peeve Week authors) know what you thought of Peeve Week, the various peeves, and what could possibly be improved if there is another one. I personally am open to all feedback (positive or negative). If you would like to help the Peeve Week 2 authors out, please consider digging this post and visiting the respective authors’ websites and subscribing to their feed (if applicable). Also, please vote for which Peeve articles you liked the most. Thank you.

Please Stereotype Me In 5 Ways!

This post was written as part of Peeve Week 2: Stereotypes.

“So, are you a student?” I get asked when I go to a mechanic wearing a winter cap. “So, do you work?” I get asked at the bank when I may look scruffy. At bars I’m sometimes picked on by both girls and guys if I even look at them for a second, since they assume I’m looking for a date; even when I am there only to give someone a ride.

Stereotypes are everywhere, and so are stereotypical questions. Many of such questions start with assuming something, which is the stereotype itself. Religion, culture, politics, gender, sex, weight, ethnicity: even having different kinds of blogs gives people more incentives to stereotype. It is like me going to a party where everyone is of a different skin color like black/white/brown/grey/orange/purple/green/blue/violet/pink, and some stranger asks me “You sure you at the right party?“, as if I don’t belong there.

5 questions to help you Stereotype me

Bes Zain spends his time cruising the streets of Berkeley for squirrels and reason. He currently writes for The Reasoner and the Reader Appreciation Project.

Men With Long Hair

This post was written as part of Peeve Week 2: Stereotypes.

One evening in late July 2006, my brother and sister went on a cutting spree. That was the day I cut my long hair after growing it out for over two years.

I can’t exactly say I was treated the best with my long hair. The service I received at restaurants was horrible, and my co-workers didn’t exactly treat me as pleasant as they could have.

I’m really glad I cut my hair, since most people treat me a lot better. I was also sick of people mistaking me for a woman. However, I want to de-bunk some of the stereotypes of men with long hair coming from my personal experience.

Men With Long Hair are Gay

Although I can’t speak for all men with long hair, I am not a homosexual. I grew out my hair because my wife wanted me too. I did it out of respect for her. So the entire time I had long hair, I was married to a woman. I would hope that alone would speak to my sexual preference.

As for the reason I cut my hair… that is slightly personal, but let’s just say the reason to keep my hair long was no longer there. Continue Reading…

Not So Beautiful Stereotype On Physical Attractiveness

This post was written as part of Peeve Week 2: Stereotypes.

Quoting Wikipedia: “The physical attractiveness stereotype is a term that psychologists use to refer to the tendency to assume that people who are physically attractive also possess other socially desirable personality traits.”

Various studies have been conducted on this subject matter. Despite feeling jealous of others being more physically attractive, people tend to prefer to work with, be friends with, hang out with, and look at beautiful people. For one study they showed pictures of different kids to a group of children, ages 4 to 6. Each child from that group was asked to choose who they’d like to be friends with based on those photos. Surprisingly or not, everyone picked the good looking, slim kids opposite to chubby and/or not so handsome peers.

So how does it work, how do we become so prejudiced to the looks of people from such a young age? Why is it so common to think that more attractive people are more successful, happier, or self-confident? On the other hand, why do some perceive people with good looks to be less intelligent, more obnoxious, or less loyal?

Famous Russian author Dostoevsky once wrote in his novel “The Idiot” that “Beauty Will Save the World.” Unfortunately our society took that prophecy to its extreme. More people become unhappy with their looks than ever before. Both women and men go under the knife to enhance their physical attractiveness.

Of course, Hollywood, the fashion and music industry, television, and press add even more fuel to this fire of obsession with beauty. The newest tendency that is extremely scary is the fact that the distinct perception of beauty in different cultures is slowly but surely disappearing into thin air. An increasing number of Asian Americans are going for eyelid surgery. The corrective nose surgery and BOTOX treatments are becoming one of the most common and fastest growing types of plastic surgery for both genders.

While researching this topic for my peeve post, I was shocked to come across a flourishing online business founded in my own Vancouver, Canada. Justgotem.com is the only website that is successfully selling breast augmentation recovery gift boxes. For only $89.99, you will get “Pre and Post Surgery Checklists, Exclusive Recovery Halter - Pink or Baby Blue, A 12cm X 6cm sheet of Cica-Care Scar Reducer, 1 pack of ReadyBath Cleansing wipes, 1 Hot/Cold Gel Compress, 4 Nipple guards, A Hairband, A Justgotem.com Pen, A Justgotem.com Branded shirt”. The best part of this is the good feeling you’ll get knowing that “A portion of all sales are being donated to Breast Cancer Research.”

The tragic part is to see those people on TV, crying from joy that all those surgeries have boosted their self-confidence, that now they’re much happier. I only wonder how long that happy feeling lasts?

Only a quarter of century ago very few have heard of the term Anorexia Nervosa. The death of Karen Carpenter in 1983 brought the world’s attention to this life threatening disease. Sadly though it didn’t help to reduce our society’s obsession with the promotion of thinness as the “ideal female form.” So many teenage girls and women are being brainwashed that you have to be thin to be beautiful, or you look so beautiful now that you’re tens of pounds lighter than before.

And all of sudden nobody wants to age gracefully. Everyone is so preoccupied with looking younger, getting rid of wrinkles and gray hair. The cosmetic industry is blooming like never before. I guess we should all thank Cleopatra for taking those long milk&honey baths and staying so youthful until she died at the age of 39.

So will Beauty save the world? I truly hope so. There ought to be something that will save our civilization from going to Hell. However it’s not going to be our fixation with Beauty as it is now. We must learn to see the beauty in every human’s soul, the beauty of nature, and all those things that surround us. We must see beauty in us before seeing it in others.

If you would like to read more of what Vivien - the Canadian blogger/Career Mom/Web Designer - has to say about facts of life, design and blogging, head to her site Inspiration Bit and get inspired.

Weekend Survey - What is Your Biggest Pet Peeve?

A pet peeve is a minor annoyance that can instill extreme frustration in an individual (source: Wikipedia).

Since it is Peeve Week at this blog, I thought it would be appropriate to ask the ultimate question (not really): What is your biggest pet peeve?

All In Favor of Being Stereotyped, Please Raise Your Hand

This entry was written as part of Peeve Week 2: Stereotypes.

Not many people like being stereotyped, myself included. Stereotypes put you in a box with a label on it. Once you’ve been stereotyped, you are seen only in the context of “your” box. Kiss rational thought goodbye because it is “impossible” for you to think outside of “your” box.

The Young Man Stereotype

This one probably bothers me the most, at least at this point of life. Since I am a young man (25), I must be out drinking all weekend and partying it up at all the clubs. When I started working in Germany, one of the secretaries introduced me to the other young man working there, seeing as we were roughly the same age, thus must have everything in common. Well, once we figured out that I wasn’t much interested in the “night scene”, we didn’t have much in common. The sad part about this one is that it is fairly accurate for my age group; I just don’t fit it very well.

The Christian Stereotype

Nothing like a little religion to get some stereotypes going. America is rife with with people who call themselves Christians. Not many people have a problem with that. There is a subset of that group which takes what the Bible says and applies it to life (probably “fundamentalist” is the most popular
label). Well, I’d put myself in that group (oops, just stuck myself in a box). The fun part comes in when people figure out that that’s how I live or it comes up in conversation. At that point, I no longer am capable of rational thought, I sit at home all day and read the Bible (King James Version, of course), and my idea of fun is going to church 5 times a week. All of which isn’t true: stick around on this blog long enough and you’ll find out I can string thoughts together fairly well.

I do read the Bible, but prefer the New American Standard Version. I don’t think I’ve ever been to church 5 times in one week, although I do enjoy going to church. I also happen to enjoy playing computer games, hanging out with friends, surfing the web, watching movies, reading a good novel, etc.

Why I Don’t Like Stereotypes

I don’t like stereotypes because they are the easy way out of getting to know a person. If I can label you, I “know” you. Unfortunately, stereotypes are hardly ever accurate when you get down to a personal level. The longer you know a person, the better you come to know how they think and what they think on various topics. Oddly enough, people tend to turn out to be far more complicated than the stereotypes that can be applied to them.

A last thought: the ironic part of this is that I just wrote a stereotype about being stereotyped. As with all stereotypes, what I wrote is broadly accurate, but becomes less and less so on a personal basis.

Cetroyer writes to us from Germany. He is also a very active member and moderator/editor of this blog.

Stereotyping Serves No Purpose But to Hurt

This post was written as part of Peeve Week 2: Stereotypes.

We are one race, one people. Even with the colors of our skin, the boundaries of our countries, the languages that we speak, we are one. Yet every day, we debilitate our own diversity, furiously establishing our small — and so insignificant — niches in the world that we call home. Each community learns to trust or fear another; each community closes their doors and so the wheel turns, creating in each of us a dangerous inclination towards prejudice. But for all of the differences that we claim to welcome and rejoice in, there are those that, by merely existing, can embody an entire race in an instant — stereotyping, the sameness in diversity.

The best examples of stereotyping occur in times of war — during World War II, all Germans were Nazis by virtue of their residence; during the Cold War, all Russians were Communists. Now that we have plunged fully into this unending second Gulf War — for it will never be a War on Terror, as Bush longs to call it; it has never had that characteristic of glory that a War on Terror would require — there are those who believe that all Muslims are terrorists and that all Iraqi people are insurgents. This must not continue.

For all of our sanity, stereotyping, this one descent into madness — this childish slander upon people of our world — forever condemns us to regard others (and be regarded by others) as second-class citizens of the same planet. There is a difference between teaching ourselves to better understand other cultures and playfully depicting every person of an ethnicity, religion, or social background as the same. Such a system ruins the purpose of diversity: to enlighten and expand.

I am Indian, as were my relatives for as far back as I can reasonably recall, but I’ve lived in Houston, Texas my entire life. While walking my dog a few months ago, I passed these two boys — my age, teenagers — on bicycles. They took one look at me and they did not see how Americanized I was — walking a dog or wearing a Beatles shirt. They saw the color of my skin, and as they rode by me, they shouted, “Suicide bomber!” I stopped, not knowing why I was so angry. They had already ridden down the street at that point — angry words and gestures would do anything. But it finally came upon me, as I walked, that I finally knew what it felt like to be victimized like I’m now sure my Muslim friends at school are every day. It’s not right to look at a minority and apply them instantaneously to the majority. It’s not right to judge on the color of one’s skin. It’s not right at all to stereotype, and yet we do. It’s as if we’re removing weeds from a garden and plucking useful plants as well as the useless. Stereotyping serves no purpose but to hurt. Do our world a favor. The human race is waiting.

Ranjani (aka, Biscuitrat) is a writer, singer, pianist, and a trombonist. She writes to us from Texas where she spends time with her brothers, her dog, and her runaway cat. If Photoshop were a man, she’d marry him.

Viva Free Internet

This post was written as part of Peeve Week 2: Internet.

Internet has evolved quite a lot since 1969 when ARPANET first launched it. Thanks to Tim Berners-Lee’s invention of HTTP in 1989 we got the 8th wonder: the World Wide Web.

Now, in XXI century more and more people are getting Internet connections. As of June 10, 2007, 1.133 billion people use the Internet according to Internet World Stats.

Some of us can’t even imagine life without the Internet anymore. It’s the easiest and often cheapest way to connect with our family and friends, especially if they’re scattered all over the world.

With the popularity of Instant Messaging applications, more and more people abandon the expensive long distance phone calls in favor of IM programs. Even businesses now recognize the great potential of IM programs and rely on Skype for their daily phone calls and conferences.

I did mention the word “cheap” earlier, didn’t I? But unfortunately it’s not always true. And the Internet is not always accessible. Some airports, hotels, and cafes charge an arm and a leg to go online. During my recent business trip I was stuck at the Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport for 2 hours, but when I tried getting online I was shocked by the charges. I had two options: pay 6 euros for 30 min of internet access or 10 euros for 24 hours of internet. Of course, you don’t have to be a Math genius to realize that in the end it’s cheaper to get the 2nd option. But I wasn’t spending 24 hours in that airport, not even 10… not even 5.

Fortunately one of my colleagues had purchased some kind of universal Internet access and connected me to his laptop with an Ethernet cable. And I was online in no time.

But then that grueling 9 hours flight from Vancouver to Amsterdam… Why don’t they have Internet access on the planes? They do have radio and BBC news, but why not the Internet? Don’t they know it’s 2007 already?! They had Hal in 2001: A Space Odyssey.

And what’s with the hotels charging for the Internet access? Shouldn’t it be included in that astronomical fee we pay for staying there? The same goes for cafes - I already bought coffee from you, now you want me to pay for getting online too?

Fortunately in Vancouver, BC the Internet access at the airport is free (although the signal is pretty weak), and there are many cafes in the city offering free WiFi. Actually, there’s a very useful website - WifiMug: Caffeinated and Unstrung. Currently it lists only four cities with an extensive collection of cafes that offer free internet access. Vancouver is one of them. It’s a Wiki site, so if you know such cafes in your city, it would be great to add them to this website.

We need more places that offer free Internet. Viva Free Internet!

If you would like to read more of what Vivien - the Canadian blogger/Career Mom/Web Designer - has to say about facts of life, design and blogging, head to her site Inspiration Bit and get inspired.

Can You Complain When Something is Free?

This post was written as part of Peeve Week 2: Internet.

I helped found a website called the Reader Appreciation Project. Seeing that the site was really young, I wanted to build links to the site as rapidly as possible. The best way I knew how was to write a WordPress plugin. I wrote a plugin that allows users to edit their comments, and the plugin turned out to be insanely popular. Links poured in, and eventually I had to turn off trackbacks since the links were so excessive.

Those first few weeks after the initial release were murder. As much as I wanted to ignore the bug and feature requests, I found that I simply couldn’t. My reputation as a plugin author was riding on how well I could support and maintain my plugin.

During Memorial Day weekend, I spent all four days working on an updated version. I re-wrote a lot of the code and added in several features that people wanted. The holiday weekend wasn’t enough and spent several more late nights during the week adding in a few more features and bug fixes. All the while, I’m trying to keep up with blogs, work, and bills.

I worked on this plugin to allow readers to edit their comment easily. This functionality didn’t exist before in an elegant form. It does now. And the features I added in were the features I thought were beneficial to the betterment of the plugin.

However, it seems that day after day I get a comment or e-mail saying, “Your plugin should do this” or “I would use your plugin but…”

The WordPress plugin is free. You can choose to use it as-is, or choose not to use it. I am doing my best to adhere to the users, but I simply can’t please everybody. I refuse to adhere to design by committee.

So Can You Complain When Something is Free?

Of course you can complain. People do all the time. People making 100k+ a year still complain about their day jobs. I see it almost every day. However, I refuse to be taken advantage of. When it comes to my plugin, I will listen to people. But I can’t support everybody’s wish and desire. It’s impossible. And my life doesn’t depend on someone using or not using my plugin. I use it. The people I originally created it for use it. That’s all that matters to me at this point.

A Website is About the Content, Not the Bling

This post was written as part of Peeve Week 2: Internet.

It seems that all of our tastes in life mature with age with the exception of web content. It is usual for young girls to enjoy blingy pink toys & clothes, and young boys to run around in Spiderman pajamas. It would be quite embarrassing to be caught in either at this point in life. The same goes for tastes in foods, hairstyles, room decor, etc. There is a usual procession of tastes with of course a few people that break the mold. In contrast to this it seems that web content runs the full gamut for all ages and lifestyles.

The Internet — Back in the Day

A trip down memory lane takes me to my first web site on Yahoo. I immediately found a limitless collection of animated smiley faces, buttons, logos, cats, dogs, purple people eaters, and of course a pulsing brain. It did not take long to construct an ocular assault that awed my 11-year-old friends as well as my little sisters. Imagine our amazement when we had discovered the sixteen tone Midi file of Yankee Doodle Dandy!

Though quite amazing at the time, the silly animated gif’s and horrible squeaky music lost their luster. I think I left them in a box somewhere with my Michelangelo Ninja Turtle and Pogs. By the time I graduated middle school, I favored web pages with clean interfaces, easy to download content, and sites that worked with a variety of browsers. It seemed just like the natural procession we see everywhere else in life. Why then do useless blinged up web pages thrive both in personal and professional web pages everywhere?

The Internet — Today

Check out MySpace.com. This site is amazing. PCWorld has consistently rated MySpace in the 25 worst web sites ever and it is currently the grand champion. Most people would be completely embarrassed to have their living room decorated with feather boas, gold chains hanging from the sealing and leopard print furniture. Yet they construct a website with horribly mismatched colors, a random assortment of flashing animations, movies and huge picture files (that take forever to download) and call it a representation of themselves.

I can understand a little that MySpace.com is a just for fun site but why do companies do the same when they are trying to portray a professional image. Check out controlanything.com. This site has a completely pointless flash intro that does nothing but slow down your connection down and make you reach for that “Skip Intro”. Another enigma is the Brown University website. If you can find your way around this web page my hat is off to you. A third and final example is the World Glaucoma Congress.

All of these websites seem to think that eye candy will substitute for content and ease of navigation. I’m sure all of us can come up with a list of bad websites that we have had to slosh through and risk epileptic seizures just to get to some content. I can understand first time web designers (with a dated copy of Frontpage) having fun with all the effects, but why do businesses fall victim to the need for bling at the expense of their professional image and the end user?

Shane writes to us from Alabama where he wrestles with giant animated gifs and fights off gaudy Flash intros.

5 Reasons Why I Hate Your Site

This post was written as part of Peeve Week 2: Internet.

I don’t like your site. Wait, that’s not right - I *hate* your site. Don’t worry, it’s not your content - I love your content. I wouldn’t keep visiting your site if I didn’t like what you have to say.

The thing is, everything else that goes along with it is crap. Everything else makes me thankful for feed readers. You want to know what all that crap is?

1. You have a splash page. A main page that only says “click here to enter” is not only useless, it’s harmful - it actually turns visitors away. Your splash page wastes your bandwidth, and worse, wastes my time. For crying out loud, I’m at your site already - doesn’t that already tell you that I’m interested in what you have to say? Don’t make me have to click (and wait again) before you start sharing some useful information.
2. Your text blends into your background. Couldn’t read that last sentence? Good - that should give you a dose of your own medicine. You posted your thoughts online so other people could read them, right? Don’t make it difficult.
3. On a related point, your site is just ugly. You’ve got garish colors, large blinking text, tons of animated images, and… you get the picture. Basically, you’re site is an eyesore.
4. You’ve got Snap Shots^™, Kontera, or other software that makes little (or not-so-little) windows pop up. Unless you hide your links by making them look like regular text, I know what links look like - you don’t have to pester me to click them by having them jump out at me. Besides - this is for you Snap users - Do you think I really care what the site you’re pointing to looks like? If I did, I would click the link myself -it only takes one click. On top of that, it take me away from your page.
5. This point is specific to bloggers, but still a reason for me to hate your site - you make it hard to comment. Yes, I’m looking at you Blogger users - I know it’s not your fault, but your platform just forces me to jump through several hoops just to leave a comment. There are better blogging platforms out there (i.e. WordPress) that are better than your current host in so many ways. You want a free host? Use WordPress.com instead. Heck, I can help you migrate if you want.

It’s a good thing most of you offer feeds. Yup, you got that right, “most of you” offer feeds. One more reason for me to hate your site: you don’t offer a feed. If you don’t know how to offer one, or why, or even what a feed is, well, just read some other posts I have on the topic. Right now, I’m too tired from ranting to write anything more.

Luis Cruz writes to us from the Philippines. He drives around to relax and shoots photos to pay for his gas. He eats enough for two - maybe even three. He also has the tendency to ramble on and on about anything and everything without stating anything significant - you may have noticed this already.

Mixing Spam and Invitation Perceptions Together

This post was written as part of Peeve Week 2: Internet. The discussion has been moved to the author’s website.

It is so hard to define ethics in the offline world, no wonder it is even harder to define such a thing in the online world. The topic of misunderstanding things online is a very sensitive one, since many of us do it repeatedly every few minutes. What someone may consider good for them may be harmful to someone else. What someone may consider good for others may actually only be good for their own self.

I would like to talk about a simple example, which I will dissect for you to show the complex Internet peeve that lies within, thus enabling me to give you some headache.

An example - Tommy from MyBiggestComplaint.com contacting me

Take yesterday, for example. I was talking on the phone, around 8:10 pm, when my phone made a small beep. I had received a text message. Hmmmm, could it be someone or something important? After the phone call was over, I checked the text message. It read:

From: …@mybiggestcomplaint.com
Subject: your blog - quick heads up
Date: 6/12/2007 8:10 PM

Tommy Smith
http://mybiggestcomplaint.com

Hmm, that was weird. Tommy, in the above text, was referring to Ronald’s Peeve Week 2 series, the very series this very post (which you are reading) is part of.

That made me wonder about Tommy’s text message. Is it spam? Is it an ad? Is it an ad spam, or a spammy ad? It sounded interesting; someone thinks that I am, individually, important enough to be considered a beta user. I am thankful to anyone who sends me any e-mail or phone message that is useful to me. Keeping that thought in mind, I decided to check my other email account, the one Tommy referred to in the above text. The e-mail Tommy sent me, in addition to the above text message, said:

Tommy Smith wrote:
I noticed your recent peeve post at Ronalfy.com. I’m part of the beta user team at MyBiggestComplaint.com and we think you’d be great at … well, complaining!

Website: http://mybiggestcomplaint.com
IP: xx.xxx.xx.xxx

Ok, so Mr. Tommy is either really interested in what I write, or Mr. Tommy is spamming me on my e-mail account and my cell phone. If Tommy e-mailed only me, it is an invitation, and I would be honored.

If Tommy e-mailed everyone who participated and is participating on Ronald’s site, then Tommy may be spamming.

If Tommy e-mailed everyone except Ronald, then it is probably not only spamming, but also taking away Ronald’s loyal readers away secretly by e-mailing them directly. Ronald had the idea before Tommy, because Ronald started the first Peeve Week in January and has been executing it successfully for his audience, whereas MyBiggestComplaint.com was registered on April 21st of this year.

Is it good business? Is it spam? Is it back stabbing? Is Tommy and his team focusing only on getting more people to complain so that their own site can grow bigger or make money through ads? Am I myself taking it out of context, and is it simply a unique invitation sent only to me without copy & pasting any e-mail template, since the MyBiggestComplaint team thinks that I can be of value to their site.

So what do I find out? That MyBiggestComplaint.com is sending the same e-mail and messages to everyone, copy pasted word for word. Inspiration Bit also got the exact same e-mail, since Vivien from Inspiration Bit is also participating in the current Peeve Week 2 series.

That is spam. The site can be famous in the future, but this is spam. The site can make money in the future, but this is spam. Such a tactic is frowned upon when done by someone like Microsoft, but in the case of a new website where people complain, many or most people do not notice.

Tommy and My Biggest Complaint Team Misunderstanding and Assuming what I want

One of the many things that Tommy assumes is that making complaining fun and productive is going to work for me. Tommy’s site does not tell anywhere how complaining is going to be productive. Also, Tommy assumes that I want to complain. Tommy also assumes that I want to feel better by complaining. Tommy also assumes that I want to gain exposure for my site.

I do not want exposure for my site through the peeve week; that is why I have not posted any of my Peeve Week 2 articles on my site. The reason I am participating on Peeve Week is because I want to share an annoying trend in the society and the online world that is probably not noticed. Sharing such a thing makes me feel better because people realize such a thing; sharing such a thing does not make me feel better because I am complaining. If I want to complain and feel better, I probably have an offline life where I can easily do that any second of the day.

Misunderstanding Tommy’s and My Biggest Complaint’s approach?

Another thing about the internet is misunderstanding people’s approaches. Maybe Tommy is actually considering the welfare of others and not only MyBiggestComplaint.com. Maybe Tommy did approach everything thinking that everyone including Ronald can benefit from the invitation; however, Ronald never got any invitation from Tommy, but other Peeve Week 2 writers did, so I am guessing Ronald was left out of the loop on purpose.

I am going to check out and test MyBiggestComplaint.com . Sometimes people may actually be contacting people individually, actually caring about their involvement. Other times, people may be caring only for themselves and may be sending template-filled e-mails to anyone they can.

Bes Zain spends his time cruising the streets of Berkeley for squirrels and reason. He currently writes for The Reasoner and the Reader Appreciation Project.

The discussion has been moved to the author’s website.

The Joys of Working Retail

This article was written as part of Peeve Week 2: Work.

Work is one of those things everyone has to endure some time in their life. For some, it’s doing the thing you love, such as dancing, acting, or playing sports. For others it might be the same repetitive cleaning job, desk job or paper filing job. For me, it’s a casual employee job at a retail store while I am in high school.

Personally, I love to work. Even though I’m working at a slightly dodgy home-business retail store, I love the thought that I am helping someone, and interacting with so many people. It’s all the repercussions, niggling details or frustrating not-my-fault incidents that make me rethink how much I really do like to work.

Here are a few of the things that really tick me off:

A Forgetful Boss

Isn’t a forgetful boss the worst thing? You expect your boss to be professional, and call the shots. However, whether it is that s/he’s incredibly stressed because of that new-born baby at home, have so much work to juggle around, or they simply are a very slack boss, it’s not nice to deal with. My boss happens to be a combination of all three.

Here are a few examples of the things he forgets and you tell me whether or not it’s appropriate. He constantly messes up the employees’ pay checks, and it takes up to a month for him to fix it. Another example is I asked for a week off as I had surgery. He forgot and asked me what possible reason I could have for not attending work. He also messes up the roster and constantly has to call people in to work at very late notice (within an hour’s notice). The thing is, our store is very small with only seven employees, and only needs two people to work a day. One would think seven people should not be very hard to manage.

Giving Credit to Someone Else for Your Work

This could be all sorts of things, such as someone else taking the credit for a sale you made. It could be being at the wrong place at the right time, and taking the credit for something you didn’t do. Like I mentioned, I love to work. In particular, I love pricing stock; I work crazy fast. I’ll finish all the pricing halfway through the day, and start on tomorrow’s pricing. I’m proud that I do so much work, but I am never given the credit.

Another employee, whom I shall call “S”, also works at register (pricing is done at the register). There can only be one person on the register at a time, and this particular chain of events constantly happens time and time again. I work at the register nearly most of the day, then at the end of the day S comes to total up the cash, where the boss walks in and sees him there. The boss has always assumed S does all the work, when in reality S is one of the laziest employees we have.

Frustrating Customers

No one is afraid of making a ruckus anymore. Everyone speaks up their mind, and loudly too. I’m sure you’ve all seen “those customers”. You know, the ones who ask about the price of each item, point out the tiniest scratch and ask for a huge discount, and return items while making a big deal about it. I’ve seen each of these customers, and some are even more nit-picky, but you can’t avoid them. I can’t refuse to serve them, or I’ll be out of a job.

I once had a customer, an aging man, who came to return a pack of suction cups. I said sure, and went to return the item for him. Out of nowhere, he became extremely angry, yelling at me, the service of the store, and the quality of the items. My boss came around and took over, trying to talk to the man. My boss explained that as the item was a 20 pack of suction cups, for $2 you could expect that it would not be the best quality. We explained we had other brands of suction cups, but the man would not listen and made a huge scene. There will always be the somewhat unreasonable customers who try their hardest to make you feel unworthy and make a scene.

Conclusion

I have laid out my top three peeves in my particular job. Of course, there are a lot more maddening little things that make work not-so-fun. For example, the lack of adequate lunch room or hygiene facilities. Or what about that perfect “boss’s pet”, earning the minimal wage, or the absolute repetitiveness of the job itself? Everyone has to put up with some degree of frustrations during work — unless you’re lucky enough to do something you love (in which, there may still be people who irritate you) or don’t work at all. Are you one of the lucky ones?

Jess is a 16 year old down to earth, deep-thinking teen. She loves to talk about all the real life issues, and get actively involved within the community. She currently resides in Australia.

Thank You For Your Opinion, But No Thanks

This post was written as part of Peeve Week 2: Work.

“Thank you for your opinion.”

I hear that a lot of times, both from people telling it directly to me, and from people telling me about them hearing it from others. Some companies love saying that since they love hearing suggestions and acting upon them. Other companies loving saying such a sentence because that is their only response to a suggestion, whether or not the suggestion is a good one.

Thank you for your time. Thank you for your opinion. You can say these things to a person who you want to ignore. You can also tell that to a person whose opinion you really hate. It is a workplace necessity to say that sentence now: “Thank you for your opinion.”

You Have a Suggestion? Thank You For Your Time/Opinion!

Bes has a suggestion on how to improve customer service? “Thank you for your opinion”, and 3 years later, customer service has gone down even more.

You have a suggestion on how to improve trust among co-workers? “Thank you for your opinion”, and a year later, co-workers still do not share their work with each other more often and completely, causing the project to take almost a year just to reach 50% completion, when it was supposed to be finished within 6 months.

“Thank you for your time”; you hear that when you make an appointment to meet the human resources manager in order to notify the company about some unethical practices you may have noticed at the company. You hear the same exact thing when you let businesses like many restaurants and shopping stores know on how to improve their services. Many companies are depending on that sentence concept alone to communicate with people; “Thank you for your time” or “Thank you for your opinion” is the only communication you will receive from many companies.

Companies Rarely Implement Your Ideas and Suggestions

Why? Because many companies simply do not care. When was the last time your suggestion at a department store was put into action? When was the last time your suggestions to the post office was put into action? No, each time you just received a “Thank you for your opinion” greeting and response, since according to company executives, not every opinion and suggestion can be put into practice.

It is completely normal to put every suggestion by an executive into practice. I don’t want a coffee maker to show me time. I want it to make coffee and coffee alone, even though I don’t drink coffee. I don’t want a company to buy off other irrelevant companies for billions of dollars simply because they have a lot of cash, only to end up raising the price for the actual product that I use from them while not increasing the value of the product at all.

I don’t want my cell phone to have a 3 megapixel camera; I prefer it having a longer battery life and not losing reception in normal, full-coverage areas. I don’t want my instant messenger to add fancy smilies; I prefer the company to work on making the thing more stable and have more people sign up, so I can find more friends and contacts on it.

Wow, You Want Changes, Changes, and More Changes. You Probably Want Changes in Changes About Changes Within Changes, Don’t You?

Yes, I want a lot of changes in things and I have to change myself to get anything, including changes, that is why I try to suggest things to companies which I think are actually capable of listening. Sometimes I am wrong, and sometimes I have to wait. Of course, I am assuming that anything like my coffee machine, my car, my Internet account, my camera, and my products, are mine at all. I hope my assumptions aren’t wrong, which I know they are.

The “Tell us what you think” is Simply an Illusion to Keep You Satisfied

For many companies, your suggestions will be implemented if they bring in more money for the company, or if those suggestions go along with what the company executives want. I smile at people who feel appreciated because of being given the “Tell us what you think” cards. It’s so easy to manipulate and make you happy, isn’t it?

Bes Zain spends his time cruising the streets of Berkeley for squirrels and reason. He currently writes for The Reasoner and the Reader Appreciation Project.

Work Place Annoyances (Speakerphones, Nail Clippings, etc…)

This post was written as part of Peeve Week 2: Work.

I work in a cube farm. Cube farms are nice for privacy, but there are some very big disadvantages of cubical life.

The Morning Chatter

When I arrive at work early in the morning, the office is quiet. I mean, quiet. I could drop a pen and hear it. I could throw a pen across the office and hear where it lands (while hopefully hitting someone in the head in the process). But soon people start getting their coffee and the conversations start.

I have my coffee as well, but I just go straight to my cube and perform my duties. People soon start visiting cubes and the voices drown out any thoughts I have of actually getting some work done.

As a relief to the morning chatter, I usually put my headphones on and crank up my iPod.

The Speakerphone Mayhem

Some people think they are so important that everyone else has to hear their phone conversation. I know putting a phone to your ear is a big deal, but not everyone wants to hear the other side of the conversation.

I am a big fan of headsets. If you are that extremely important that you require a speakerphone, at least invest in a headset. It’ll save you in the long run from the harsh stares and the weird noises that seem to “come out of nowhere” by “disrespectful” co-workers within speakerphone-hearing distance.

Nail Clipping

I don’t care how quiet you are at work when clipping your nails. Someone will hear it. And some don’t even try to muffle the sound of the excruciating metal clink when nail matter explodes into what I hope is the trashcan.

I can tolerate at least one nail clipping a day, but there have been days I’ve heard three or four people clipping their nails. I just hope it was finger nails and not toe nails (*shudder*).

Office Politics

In every office, there is some form of politics. One form of politics is that you do a task to get something in return. You also don’t want to piss someone off since that person may need to help you in the future.

However, there is a point when office politics crosses into a form of office corruption. For example, a person is obviously a slacker, but you find out that the person is the boss’s daughter’s best friend. Do you see a conflict of interest here?

Stupid Rules

You know that iPod I cranked up to cure me of the morning chatter? Now in many places, these devices are banned since they present a security risk. I believe it’s because they are classified as “portable storage devices.” On top of that, CDs aren’t allowed since they are also classified as portable storage.

Ok, so I can’t listen to music at work? How about a bring a portable radio in and listen to the radio? Ah, I can’t, because the signal doesn’t get picked up well enough.

I swear that some of these people making up the rules are out taking three hour lunches and golfing and then suddenly a moment of enlightenment is reached and they say, “Hmmm… Let’s take this away from our employees to see how much their morale is crushed.”

Rude Co-Workers

Ever walk into the elevator and say hello to someone only to have them not respond? What nerve?!

Next time someone doesn’t respond to me when I go for a smile, nod, or “hello”, I think I’ll just hold out my foot and watch them trip just to get a response out of them.

Pet Peeves Around the Office

This post was written as part of Peeve Week 2: Work.

We all have pet peeves at our workplace.

Over time, I have noticed that some of my pet peeves are things I should simply “get over.” Workplace life became less stressful for me, when I learned this essential fact:

I am not your mother or father and I am not going to change you, cure you or fix you.

and Fact 2:

“Getting Over It” is harder than it looks.

Here are some pet peeves I have faced down just this last year.

1. Making coffee. We had a small cheapo coffee maker that served about 30 people. For some reason, each time, I went to get coffee it was empty. The last person didn’t make a new batch. Grrrrr. Then one day, I was in a hurry to get to a meeting, and I drained the last cup…so there, I thought. Over a process that takes, what, 2 minutes??!!?? My solution? I brought our gigundo coffee maker from home, the one we have just in case we ever have 50 people over for breakfast. Peeve solved.

2. Cleaning the microwave. I don’t use the microwave, but it seems to be in constant use around lunch time. Pot pies or whatever are boiling over, popcorn is being burned and no one seemingly has time to clean up after themselves. It grossed me out the one time I opened the door. My solution? I don’t open the microwave anymore.

3. Fast message leavers. Has this ever happened to you? Someone calls and leaves their number so fast that you can’t quite get all the numbers? Grrrr. My solution? I should slow up when I leave my number, and geeze, say it twice, puh-lease. And, here’s the deal I made—if I can’t hear your number, I simply will not call you back…doh.

4. Loud gum chewers. Grrrr. My solution? I get a tissue and reach up to the person’s mouth and say HERE SPIT THAT OUT. Oops. That is how I feel, not what I actually do…I simply chant to myself, I’m-not-their-dad-I’m-not-their-dad.

G.L. Hoffman is CEO and Chairman of LinkUp, an employment media company. He is a serial entrepreneur and a new venture investor/operator/incubator. He has been featured in FORBES as well as local business publications and newspapers. This article was originally published on his website: Pet Peeves Around the Office.