Love and Marriage

Problem: Kim Kardashian

Solution: Don't buy her clothes, stop watching her shows, and stop giving her any business or lip service.  Stop validating her fame-whore family that leeches off of everyone and everything.

Baggage fees

Problem:
So, we all know that airports charge baggage fees, which has resulted in people trying to cram as much as possible into carry-on bags.  Despite the lack of upper luggage space, this is not the problem that I want to address.

What bothers me is that I recently found out that an airline charges $25 per bag. There is nothing inherently wrong with this, but... something interesting recently happened to people I know who were flying.  Traveling together, they saw an on-line deal with the airline where you could check two bags for $35 total.  Apparently there were no restrictions.

When they got to the airport, they decided for one person to have zero checked bags, and for the second person to pay $35 for the two bags.  This sounds cost effective because instead of paying individually ($25 a pop for a total of $50), they would pay $35 and save $15.

When they arrived at the airport, the check-in screen did not allow them to check in two bags for one person. Furthermore, when they told the airline worker about the deal, the person did not simply say it was only available on-line...  instead they blatantly denied the deal.  


In my opinion, this is just horrid.  I understand that with increasing costs of fuel, airlines have to adjust prices, but come on.  To offer something as an option then to deny it is simply ridiculous.

Solution:  Instead of alienating your customers, how about putting back "service" into "customer service."   Instead of just fishing for things to charge for (I'm talking about you, Bank of America), why not follow in the footsteps of Southwest Airlines (http://www.southwest.com/html/cs/landing/bags_flyfree.html) and show some decency in how you treat customers.

Digital Cameras without viewfinders

Problem: Camera companies are phasing out viewfinders on their cheaper cameras.  Why have camera companies decided to get rid of viewfinders for the lower end models?  A screen is nice, but it is almost impossible to see a screen when it is a bright and sunny day.  But seriously, I guess no one wants to take pictures when it is beautiful outside.

A viewfinder on a digital camera is now rare, but such a feature allows you to actually see/frame the picture without battling the awful outside glare on LCD screens.

And some of these wonderful LCD-only cameras have some wonderful features, especially since they are not in the SLR category, but why not include the viewfinder so that you can USE the features when it's bright outside?

You camera companies baffle and disappoint me.  Obviously the solution here is simple: Bring back some of the R&D in past models, and incorporate the viewfinder for newer models.  People who are amateur photographers but want some control in their photos will probably pay a little bit more for such a feature.

Unnecessary slang

Problem: I recently was educated about the Philadelphia regional use of the word "jawn" which essentially means anything. (Thank you Urban Dictionary- http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=jawn). Having grown up in Philly/Philly suburbs, clearly I missed something growing up because I had never heard of this word until a week ago.

First of all, why make up a word that's a substitute for a "thing?" Doesn't "thing" already cover jawn? If it can be used in so many contexts, then what is its utility? 

Second, does jawn wield some sort of awesome factor?  If so, what are jawn's origins? I had spoken to some co-workers who were familiar with the word when they were kids- but that was 30-40 years ago!  Was jawn considered cool a long time ago, and then made a comeback, or was it Philly mainstream for the past 40 years?

Third, if you're going to come up with slang, why would you ever go with "jawn?" It's basically yawn, but a fancy J substitutes for the Y. Although spelling for jawn is not consistent because it is slang, regardless it still sounds pretty lame. 

Solution:  Saying jawn makes me yawn.  Although I am usually a big fan of fun slang, this diction is a bore.  Jawn seems to be an excuse to be lazy about speech that creepily borders on Newspeak from 1984. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newspeak) Obviously people can practice First Amendment rights, but jawn is a silly and unnecessary word that should be booted from Philly's vernacular.

What's up with library books?

Problem: You always have trouble finding your library card.  When you actually check out a library book, I personally almost always forget to either bring my card or return the book once the time period expires.

Some libraries have renewing systems on-line.  The problem with this is that sometimes you are not allowed to renew books on-line for mystery reasons.  I tried renewing a book on-line but was unable to. I didn't have a chance to return it to the library and now I have a silly overdue fee.

Solution:
Either have on-line renewal or not.  If there are certain exceptions, state them clearly with that specific book when someone takes it out.

Welcome!

Problem: Too many blogs are around that talk about nothing while pretending to talk about something.

Nowadays there are a million people with a million different things to say.  Luckily for you, my dear reader, we are only contributing to this problem!

BUT...

Solution: At least here, we're upfront about the purposes of our rants and writings.  Primarily this is a space to talk about unnecessary BS that we deal with in our lives- whether it is odd social norms, unnecessary paperwork, or just random inconsistencies that waste our time, hopefully this will be a therapeutic and amusing way to complain about everyday things.

We may propose solutions, we may not.  It depends on our mood.

Think of this as a Seinfeld-esque blog.

Enjoy!