December 21, 2012
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Gripes
My life is extremely good, and my gripes are small:
Tampa traffic. Closed lanes on both of the major routes through downtown mean either half an hour of crawling or getting up an hour earlier to avoid rush hour.
Tampa traffic lights. They don't seem to do the traffic studies that they did back in Texas to avoid those stupid situations where it takes three light changes to get through an intersection.
Trains. On my way home the other day, a train crawled through an intersection and stopped, blocking US-60, the main artery of Brandon and Valrico, at 4:30 p.m.
Handsfree faucets. Most airports and my new office john have them, and they suck. I soap my hands and wave them fruitlessly until I get a brief trickle of water. Sometimes it takes changing sinks to be able to wash.
Handsfree towel dispensers. There's an oval marked "Wave" on the front of each. I feel like a mime as I make magical gestures in front of the dispensers. Eventually one of them (usually the one on the right) will spit out a towel.
Soggy soap. I haven't gotten one of those hanging racks for my shower yet, so the soap sits down by the tub and gets soaked.
Low-wall cubicles. If I fall asleep I'm in plain view. (Of course, my snoring would probably give me away in any case.)
Doors that open out. In our new house, the doors to the garage and back porch both open out. I'm finally getting used to them.
Poorly placed light switch. The garage light switch is 18 inches from the door frame, but the garage door opener is right next to the trim. Should be the other way around.
Other than these things, my life is very, very, very fine these days.
Comments (24)
I've been through Brandon, they had a great Goodwill Store there.
Except for Trains and Traffic you live in paradise! Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you and yours!
Oh! Don't use bar soap in the tub or shower! The MOLD just LOVES soap residue! Since we started using liquid soap in the tub we get very little mold growth - and what we do get cleans right up!
I like the idea of focusing on the small gripes, instead of the big ones. Those hands free things can be pretty frustrating. You feel like a mime; I feel like a fool. It helps to look around and find other people having the same problem. Our garage light switch is like yours. I still open the garage door when I mean to turn on the light sometimes.
i'm glad your life is very, very, very fine.
I have gripes too. But I can't think of any right now....
This reminded me of post someone did a while back called the First World Problems. But believe me, I have hated when the water stops running just when you got your soapy hands!
I don't like those faucets or towel dispensers either. Even worse are the toilets that flush automatically. They have them in the newer bathroom at church, and it seems like they flush whenever they feel like it. I can't imagine that they save any water. There's one at church (3rd from the right) that flushes as soon as you sit on it, and it splashes up. I avoid that stall. I don't have many gripes either. At least our facilities at home all operate the old-fashioned way, and we can dry our hands on real towels.
I HATE TAMPA TRAFFIC. what part did you move to? I live 5 minutes from the USF campus in Temple Terrace, but have lived in the New Tampa and Carrolwood areas, and have spent plenty of time up the Brandon area. the mall is great but the traffic is an absolute nightmare pretty much anywhere you go. I have the same complaints about the left turn signals, absolutely ridiculous and it makes no sense what so ever. I waste SO much unneeded time waiting to turn left.
There's a hand dryer at the pub that I absolutely HATE. It's loud. Like, jet engine loud. I just wipe my hands on my jeans instead. I'm already half deaf, I have no desire to make it any worse.
waaaaaaaaa ((laughing)) See: if you had moved to Vermont, instead, you wouldn't have these problems. ((laughing))
My regards to your bride.
This makes me smile. My life is good too and we are stating 2013 better than we did 2012.
Merry Christmas and blessings to you and yours.
I am sure some of these things in your home you will be able to change, knowing how you are a wiz at doing masterful work.
In Tampa traffic, going to work everyday from the Carrollwood area toward the airport down Dale Mabry, I became a "professional" accident witness. Good luck with that!
Find Karen Golden of The Golden Touch Massage Center and get some therapeutic massage. Life is Good! You have Alicia!!!!
I am sorry about the traffic snarls especially--they take away precious time to do other things. You could do like me & keep a hand towel at work to carry into the bathroom & use instead of paper towels. I also keep an old cloth napkin in the office--both for environmental reasons. Of course I take them home to wash periodically.
Last night Alicia sounded as if she was finding life very, very, very good too! So happy for you two.
@mlbncsga - I visited the Goodwill next to the Valrico Walmart just last night. Is that the one you're talking about? It's really big, but 98% clothes, and the new things they have cost regular prices.
@cook0129 - We're in Valrico. Left turn signals do take forever here. I forgot to mention them. Yesterday I was going to pick up an order at the Brandon mall, but it took 20 minutes to get past I-75 because everyone in Tampa was trying to get into the mall. So I went on by. I'll pick it up after Christmas.
@Donkey_Guy_10 - I let the roaches do the soap cleanup. No, not really.
I dread having to drive in Tampa these days. Not that Clearwater traffic is any better now that the snowbirds are here. I've seen 2 very interesting accidents in the last 3 days. It was obvious in both cases that the person just didn't have the vision or reflexes to be on a busy road.
@ata_grandma - i dont like the toliets that automatically flush when i stand up to wipe it doset give me time to put the papper in the tolite before it flushes
sometime im not even done and it flushes.
"Poorly placed light switch" I have that too, in the living room. Why, I wonder.
Awww. I'm glad these are the kinds of gripes these days and not more.
Blessings to you two
I know what you mean. Good things in my life outshine the bad ones
Welcome to Tampa Bay! It's making a left across US 19 every workday that gets me... I only ever venture to Tampa as far as Citrus Park to my daughter's, and that's not a bad ride. When you're sitting in traffic, just remember...
"There's a beach closeby..."
Good to know that you are in a fine, fine place!
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