Random thing you loathe right now.

Ah yes, the old A+ Tech 101 of "Unplug stuff and hit the power button until the bad stuff stops happening."

Vrikk wrote:

Ah yes, the old A+ Tech 101 of "Unplug stuff and hit the power button until the bad stuff stops happening."

There was also a problem with some RAM that was keeping it from actually getting past the BIOS and actually attempting to boot up.

Ordinarily I'd call this one an unquestionable love, but right now it's making me less than happy, so it goes here.

Parenting. The less fun parts, for those of you who've got kids that are getting older know. The parts where they're super insecure about everything. Things like being cool and attractive and not horridly overweight. Currently, we're going through this with my oldest, who's not quite 11. I suppose my biggest thing with this is that I can't fathom why, when we literally cannot find pants off the rack 90% of the time that fit her for the waist because they're too long, could possibly imagine that she's remotely close to being overweight. And that's probably because I know exactly why it is.

I know as folks get older we go on about kids these days, but if you ask me, in the ways that I hate the most, kids these days aren't any different than they were 20 years ago, and that's something truly worth loathing.

I'd like to add that if you have a young man, don't discount that this can happen with him as well.

I'm a legitimately overweight adult, but I was a very, very fit kid and teen. Even so, I had a terrible body image and it affected just about everything, because I was so ashamed to talk to girls. Looking back, at 34, I graduated high school able to run 8 miles without stopping and bench 245 lbs when I got back. But at the time, I felt like I was overweight and not attractive.

Kids of both genders get bombarded with messages about how they should look, when really we should be educating them on how to just be fit and healthy. Part of that is keeping a safe weight, obviously. But I spent quite a bit of time pinching almost non-existent fat and hating myself when I should have been out flirting with girls.

Audi's inexplicable inability to put a manual transmission in powerful and/or drop-top vehicles (that aren't an R8). The vehicles I'd be interested in either don't offer manual transmission at all (TT) or offer it only in the coupe version (S5, A5). Come on, Audi! Manual transmissions get better gas mileage and are a hell of a lot more fun to drive. If I wanted an automatic transmission (and yes, those stupid flappy paddles are automatic as far as I'm concerned), I'd just complete the process and buy a damned minivan.

Why do you hate people who want driving to be fun?

Coldstream wrote:

Audi's inexplicable inability to put a manual transmission in powerful and/or drop-top vehicles (that aren't an R8). The vehicles I'd be interested in either don't offer manual transmission at all (TT) or offer it only in the coupe version (S5, A5). Come on, Audi! Manual transmissions get better gas mileage and are a hell of a lot more fun to drive. If I wanted an automatic transmission (and yes, those stupid flappy paddles are automatic as far as I'm concerned), I'd just complete the process and buy a damned minivan.

Why do you hate people who want driving to be fun?

We just bought a minivan. After reading this, I hate myself even more.

I'm just going to sit in the corner here and sulk and play Deus Ex. Bastard!

InspectorFowler wrote:

I'd like to add that if you have a young man, don't discount that this can happen with him as well.

I'm a legitimately overweight adult, but I was a very, very fit kid and teen. Even so, I had a terrible body image and it affected just about everything, because I was so ashamed to talk to girls. Looking back, at 34, I graduated high school able to run 8 miles without stopping and bench 245 lbs when I got back. But at the time, I felt like I was overweight and not attractive.

Kids of both genders get bombarded with messages about how they should look, when really we should be educating them on how to just be fit and healthy. Part of that is keeping a safe weight, obviously. But I spent quite a bit of time pinching almost non-existent fat and hating myself when I should have been out flirting with girls.

She's the oldest of 5; I'm dreading going through this with two sons and two more daughters.

Coldstream wrote:

Audi's inexplicable inability to put a manual transmission in powerful and/or drop-top vehicles (that aren't an R8). The vehicles I'd be interested in either don't offer manual transmission at all (TT) or offer it only in the coupe version (S5, A5). Come on, Audi! Manual transmissions get better gas mileage and are a hell of a lot more fun to drive. If I wanted an automatic transmission (and yes, those stupid flappy paddles are automatic as far as I'm concerned), I'd just complete the process and buy a damned minivan.

Why do you hate people who want driving to be fun?

There are a lot of car manufacturers doing this. Reward the ones who are still selling cars with proper gearboxes by buying them. Like MINI.

Coldstream wrote:

Audi's inexplicable inability to put a manual transmission in powerful and/or drop-top vehicles (that aren't an R8). The vehicles I'd be interested in either don't offer manual transmission at all (TT) or offer it only in the coupe version (S5, A5). Come on, Audi! Manual transmissions get better gas mileage and are a hell of a lot more fun to drive. If I wanted an automatic transmission (and yes, those stupid flappy paddles are automatic as far as I'm concerned), I'd just complete the process and buy a damned minivan.

Why do you hate people who want driving to be fun?

Bolded part becomes less and less true all the time. The rest of it, yeah, I think the option should be there.

Rallick wrote:

We just bought a minivan. After reading this, I hate myself even more. :(

Aw, now I feel bad. If you have kids, getting a minivan is a legit choice. Family comes first, and while I'd still try to steer you towards an SUV, I can totally respect getting a vehicle for the kids, rather than for the self. Cheer up, you did the manly thing! (Unless you don't have kids, at which point I will continue to mock you).

AnimeJ wrote:

There are a lot of car manufacturers doing this. Reward the ones who are still selling cars with proper gearboxes by buying them. Like MINI.

You, sir, are a genius. I had forgotten about the Mini, having (I confess) always seen them as a bit of a girly car. I know that almost everyone who has driven them says they're ridiculous fun, but still. That said, I knew an intimidatingly hardcore Army sniper who drove a Cooper S, and dared anyone to give him grief over having a fun car.

However, I checked the Mini website just for fun, and it appears that the Roadster S is hitting the market right about now. It has a much more, well, roadster look than the standard Mini Cooper, is fully convertible, and evidently enjoys a turbo-charged 4-cylinder with front-wheel drive that is still crazy fun according to reviews.

Now my decision is between Roadster S and the Impreza STI limited. They're both roughly the same price, with the Roadster massively winning the aesthetic competition, and the STI winning the pure performance category. Hmmm. Anyway, thanks for the thought!

I own a 2003 MINI hardtop.

Dollar for dollar, it's the most fun car I've ever owned. More fun than 2 WRXs.

It is the least practical vehicle that is not a motorcycle, though. Even with both rear "seats" down, there is barely enough space for a "oh crap it's been 3 weeks we're totally out of groceries" run. I am actually going to get/make a rear seat delete for the car at some point here, so I can at least get a flat rear cargo area with some anchors for bungee cords.

The supercharger on my S is fun, but even with turbo lag I think I'd like the turbo on the post 2006 models more. Excepting the most recent ones (which have been hard to hack on the tuning side, I guess), getting more power out of a turbo charged engine is ridiculously easy and cheap.

IMAGE(http://i320.photobucket.com/albums/nn351/InspectorFowler/The%20MINI/IMAG0052.jpg)

Outstanding. Let's take this to the auto-lover's thread, before someone loathes us pumping up the post-count in the Loathe thread.

Coldstream wrote:

Family comes first, and while I'd still try to steer you towards an SUV, I can totally respect getting a vehicle for the kids, rather than for the self.

I'd be interested in your hearing your rationale. This is on topic because I loathe SUVs!

Losing a disk in my backup array, causing me to reformat a disk in my LVM array that holds my music and movies cause the labels shifted.

Now I'm trying to move everything off my reformatted disk before I lose anything. The stupid - it burnssssss!

I agree on the fun-to-utility ratio aspect of the minivan. Our purchase was based on having 3 little girls who all require various forms of child seat, as well as having my wife's parents visiting on a regular (and all too long) basis. It has already proved its value - oceans of space to change / feed the baby in. We looked at some SUVs out of desperation because we really didn't want a minivan, but in the end practicality won out. Honestly, I'm glad it did, but it really doesn't make it any more fun.

Gravey wrote:
Coldstream wrote:

Family comes first, and while I'd still try to steer you towards an SUV, I can totally respect getting a vehicle for the kids, rather than for the self.

I'd be interested in your hearing your rationale. This is on topic because I loathe SUVs!

I think it's mostly my seething hatred of minivans that fuels that thought, as I'm not the greatest fan of most SUVs. However, there are some, such as an old-school Landcruisers and Jeeps that have genuine utility in off-road and foul-weather conditions, and are used as such by people who live in those areas. I was one of the loudest critics of SUVs during that dark era of the Ford Expedition/Excursion/Holy-God-That's-Insanely-Big's being driven by tiny soccer moms who could barely see over the dashboard, and loved to try to squash me on my motorcycle. (On-topic, I still loathe that!)

As far as minivans go, I don't like them because of the fun-to-drive vs. utility ratio, they strike me as falling about as far away from the fun end as you can get. Despite that, I can definitely see how folks with kids would appreciate all the extra space, comforts, little TV screens, 300 cup holders, and all that stuff. And I think there are few manlier things than putting your family's needs first, before your own wants. And thus, while a little part of me cringes inside, I have to salute the guy who turns away from the powerful two-seater sports car because his family will be better served by a people-mover.

In reality, I don't claim any factual basis for my dislike of minivans and the more egregiously large SUVs; it's purely emotional based on what they represent in my mind. And I play it up for laughs.

To me, the thing about vans and large SUVs isn't that they're fun, they're different fun. I love my MINI to death, but even if I had cruise control in it, I can't imagine taking it for a long haul drive. It's absolutely an in-town commuter or a track-day bomb. The van, however is fantastic for the long haul stuff, and honestly makes road trips *enjoyable*. Plus there's the whole camping *in* the van bit too, which is fun in its' own right.

Minivans are unarmored personnel carriers. I can see wanting a fun-to-drive car, kinda. (I loathe driving, generally speaking, so there's that...)

But, with long-haul roadtrips, carrying about family and friends, and moving stuff in the rain, minivan FTW.

Coldstream wrote:

In reality, I don't claim any factual basis for my dislike of minivans and the more egregiously large SUVs; it's purely emotional based on what they represent in my mind. And I play it up for laughs.

After I posted my question to you, I thought, "Oh god, what have I done?" But I see we're actually closer to being on the same page, so that worked out. I don't have an opinion on minivans, but when framed as a question about people-carriers, I'd probably still recommend a minivan over an SUV. In my neighbourhood I'm surrounded by BMW, Lexus, Mercedes and Acura SUVs, and nobody's using them to move large groups. They just want big expensive trucks cars, but Christ it isn't like there aren't tonnes of executive sedans they could be buying instead that don't take up the whole road with their terrible driving. But if they can pay 134c/L, I guess that's their own look-out.

Fortunately, with only our first kid on its way, a hatchback is going to be fine. Our only question is do we stick with the Fit or try an Impreza.

Gravey wrote:

Fortunately, with only our first kid on its way, a hatchback is going to be fine. Our only question is do we stick with the Fit or try an Impreza.

As a long-time Honda Jazz owner, I think you should stick with the Jazz.

Starting the old job hunt again. I'm not unemployed, but the current gig's an entry-level position with no apparent room for promotion, so it's time to update the resume.

Preventive maintenance that causes more work.

The Mac was running a tad slow, so I ran applejack, sure enough, a bundle of permissions were updated, etc.

Now i'm stuck in a continuous restart loop. I unplugged it and walked away, but a little google fu on the iPad seems to suggest that those repairs are the cause of the problem. Feck.

Now I have to dig out my boot disk, and see if I can save it from there as time machine was a little foggy towards the end there too. Double feck.

Nightmarish dreams that are so real, you have no idea you're sleeping.

Haven't had one of those in... forever?

Gravey wrote:

Fortunately, with only our first kid on its way

I hadn't seen this news yet. Congrats, Gravey!

m0nk3yboy wrote:

Preventive maintenance that causes more work.

The Mac was running a tad slow, so I ran applejack, sure enough, a bundle of permissions were updated, etc.

Now i'm stuck in a continuous restart loop. I unplugged it and walked away, but a little google fu on the iPad seems to suggest that those repairs are the cause of the problem. Feck.

Now I have to dig out my boot disk, and see if I can save it from there as time machine was a little foggy towards the end there too. Double feck.

Repair permissions doesn't really do much of anything. A well known Mac developer and blogger (I can't remember which one) wrote a big article about repairing permissions and how it is nearly pointless. Permissions are only repaired on files that have an installer receipt which means only files that were installed using Apple's Installer.app, the Mac App Store, or Software Update have their permissions repaired. Anything installed via drag and drop from a .zip or a .dmg isn't touched. From what I understand you should really only repair permissions when you are getting specific permission related errors.

I find that what works best when my Mac starts to feel a bit sluggish is to clean the caches using Lion Cache Cleaner's Deep Cleaning mode. It will take a few minutes and then you will have to sit through one of the longest restarts of your life, but it seems to help. Used to have to run it every few months under 10.4 (which had some terrible font cache issues), but under Snow Leopard I think I only ran it once and I haven't ran it under Lion yet (I just upgraded a few weeks ago though).

Also if repair the permissions broke your install then there is a good chance that there was a major problem anyway.

ClockworkHouse wrote:
Gravey wrote:

Fortunately, with only our first kid on its way

I hadn't seen this news yet. Congrats, Gravey!

+1. That's not a loathe!

Minarchist wrote:
ClockworkHouse wrote:
Gravey wrote:

Fortunately, with only our first kid on its way

I hadn't seen this news yet. Congrats, Gravey!

+1. That's not a loathe! :)

Thanks! Hadn't really "announced" it yet, and yeah this isn't really the proper thread. There'll be something a little more appropriate down the line.

Haakon7 wrote:
Gravey wrote:

Fortunately, with only our first kid on its way, a hatchback is going to be fine. Our only question is do we stick with the Fit or try an Impreza.

As a long-time Honda Jazz owner, I think you should stick with the Jazz. :)

Believe me, for its role I think it's the perfect car. Small but huge, clever, cheap, fun, and the Sport's looks aren't bad. It amuses me to no end that our exact car is in Forza 3 & 4. But when Mrs. Gravey says she's interested in a Subaru, I can't pass up the opportunity to get a little closer to a WRX.

Gravey wrote:
Haakon7 wrote:
Gravey wrote:

Fortunately, with only our first kid on its way, a hatchback is going to be fine. Our only question is do we stick with the Fit or try an Impreza.

As a long-time Honda Jazz owner, I think you should stick with the Jazz. :)

Believe me, for its role I think it's the perfect car. Small but huge, clever, cheap, fun, and the Sport's looks aren't bad. It amuses me to no end that our exact car is in Forza 3 & 4. But when Mrs. Gravey says she's interested in a Subaru, I can't pass up the opportunity to get a little closer to a WRX.

As a Honda Jazz owner since July 2011, I third this suggestion. On Forza 4: I raced my neighbor in our Honda Jazz/Fit against his Seat Cantremember last week Unfortunately his car is a tad faster than the Jazz.

Also: Congrats, Gravey

I loathe having nothing to do at work right now. We're in a transition period and I finished my work early so for about a week I've been extremely bored. GWJ only has so much activity to keep me occupied.

SixteenBlue wrote:

I loathe having nothing to do at work right now. We're in a transition period and I finished my work early so for about a week I've been extremely bored. GWJ only has so much activity to keep me occupied.

I feel your pain; I'm just coming off a month+ long stint of that.

I loathe installing the base for a car seat. I can no longer push my seat back to the comfortable position I have been using since I bought my vehicle 5 years ago. My wife did not agree with my theory that I can no longer drive our car and that she needs to be the permenant driver. The baby is not even born yet and it has the edge, not that I am keeping score... Baby 6 - Bonnonon 0