Re Mitt: No one cares

You left blogospherians who got your marching orders from the DNC to Gore Mitt are wasting your time.  You could be blogging more productively about what Obama has or has not planned for his second term, presuming he gets one.

The more the Democrats get their knickers in a twist over Mitt’s latest ridiculous spewing of nonsense, the angrier I get.  The whole country is falling apart, people are not making money, they’re losing their jobs-still, the economy is growing at a paltry 1.7% and all the Democrats can think of is Mitt’s stupid Olympic comments?  Really?  This is the best the Democrats can do?  Relentless attacks on your opponent only work for the first term.  They are not substitutes for planning or policy.  Does the DNC think we aren’t paying attention?

This is not a game of who can out ridicule.  It’s not a game period. I don’t think that crap is going to work this year.  When I go to the polls my vote is going to the person who pisses me off the least.  Right now, the Democrats and Obama are making my blood boil.

Repeat after me: All the voters want to hear about is how Obama is going to get us back to work and when he is going to arrest the bankers.

I will vote for the candidate who has a plan to move my 401K to a defined benefit pension plan and promises to not touch Social Security.

Short of that, the Mitt Shit is BORING.  Nothing is going to make me vote for him anyway but the longer this nonsense goes on, the more attractive Jill Stein is looking to me and I never thought I’d say that.

Keep it up and I’m going Green.

Olympics Complaint Line

Ok, all you Americans, today is the day we start our quadrennial airing of grievances over the pathetic coverage we get of the Olympic games.  It doesn’t matter if it’s ABC or NBC, what we are subjected to is a 2 week commentator gabfest with up-close-and-personal special interest stories about some AMERICAN athlete overcoming adversity to get to the games.  That athlete might not even make it to the top ten in his sport but we must follow him or her.

If there is an event covered, it will be chopped into bite sized pieces, we’ll cut away during some other country’s athlete’s turn and the events we might actually want to see will be overridden by the network’s decision to feature Apollo Ohno winning his zillionth gold medal.  I like the kayaking events and the jumping equestrian events and even the weightlifting stuff.  I can’t remember the last time the commies in charge of NBC or ABC let us see those things.

And we can’t see the games anywhere else.  If we want to catch another country’s coverage, we have to go there.  I envy the Americans who are close enough to the Canadian border to be able to catch the CBC coverage.  The internet is hermetically sealed for our protection.  No other coverage can get through without NBC’s approval.  It makes me feel like I’m living in the old Soviet Union under Breshnev.

Complaining to the network doesn’t help.  Back in 2004, I was able to get an Olympics premium package from my satellite provider.  At least I had a choice of several channels.  In 2008, no package.  It was NBC’s coverage on one channel or nothing.  I’m going to guess it was a marketing plan put together to return shareholder value.  Those sucker Americans, where else are they going to go?  It’s NBC or nothing.  Let’s just phone it in.

This year, I don’t have satellite.  I have a cable modem for my wifi.  That means I’m probably going to have to install silverlight on my mac and watch whatever it is NBC provides in even more truncated form.  Is it any wonder why I haven’t been a regular Olympics watcher since 2004?

{{sigh}}

Your turn.

BTW, this site tells you how to watch the Olympics coverage from the BBC on your iPad or other devices.  I doubt it will work in the US but maybe the other freer people of the world can see it.  Let those of us behind the NBC iron curtain know if anything good happens.

Late Nite: Ikea

I have conquered the mighty Stuva bench drawer combination.  It’s perfect for my kitchen and makes for beautiful banquette seating in the corner.

Stuva bench with Bestad drawer

I can finish my margarita now.  Ahhhhhh…

Speaking of Ikea, this has to be one of the funniest commercials I’ve ever seen.

You will never catch this on American TV because in the minds of the prime time censors, we are still sleeping in separate beds.  American Ikea commercials never feature S-E-X.

I like to visit Ikea every other month or so.  The nearest location is about an hour from my house and it involves the NJ Turnpike so I have to be motivated.  But I’ve heard that Ikea can trigger massive arguments in some couples.  I don’t understand that.  Is it the meandering?  The overwhelming marketing overload?  Ikea is the only big box store that doesn’t send me running to the nearest bathroom so maybe I’m their target audience.  Anyway, I can’t figure out what is causing the problem.  If anyone has any insight, let me know.

If I had to pick my favorite purchase from Ikea, it would have to be my Hovas sofa.  It’s as comfortable and well constructed as the Pottery Barn sofa that it replaced but cost half as much.  Not only that but the slip covers are $49 a set.  Also, very nice quality fabric.  At $49/set, I can afford to get a couple more sets in white and just dip them in Rit dye when it gets too hard to make them perfectly spotless.  So, one sofa, many colors, endlessly changeable.  Turquoise, I think I’d like turquoise today…

Not everything I have is Ikea.  Some of it is second hand, some refurbished, some Ethan Allen or Pier One or that funny unfinished furniture place in Lawrenceville.  But when I need something that will serve a particular function, some basic piece of furniture, I know I can usually find it at Ikea.  I just need to think outside the box.  And maybe that’s the attraction for me.  I like the challenge of repurposing.

Do you have any Ikea stories? Share them in the comments.