• No “Hi”, “Excuse me”, or “Thank you”. – Basic manners people!
• “Hey you”, “Boy” (yes, I’ve gotten that one), and “Yo”. – An extension of above.
• “You work here?” – No, I wear the apron as a fashion statement
• While I’m trying to help customer another comes up and says, “You going to help me?” – Of course your worshipness. I’ll dismiss this mere peon and be at your beck and call. If you stood there politely for a moment I’d have acknowledged you and tried to find someone to help but that is obviously something only the plebs would do.
• Hagglers – Look I know everyone is trying to save a buck, I get that. However I do not set the prices. They’re marked clearly and if you don’t like them you don’t have to buy the item. This is not a swap meet
• People that rip through the boxes – “But I want to see if they’re exactly the same” or “I want to see how it works”. First off, ask me and I can probably answer your questions and if I can’t I’ll open the box in a way that we might still be able to sell it to someone else when you inevitably decide you don’t want it.
• People that decide half way across the store that they don’t want a product so they just drop it where they are. – Like I have nothing better to do than hunt all over picking up after you. Either put it back or give it to someone that works here so we can put it away for you.
• Lying through your teeth – No, I did not promise you something at half price. If I had I would have given you my card and talked to a manager first. Nor did I fail to tell you that, lets say, there has to be a roof on the place before we can carpet it.
• Trying to get me fired for not falling for the above – This is just the grand-daddy of all asshole moves.
• People that let their kids act like this is a play ground. – Look, I love kids. I just don’t want them trashing everything nor do I want them to get hurt.
• People that just walk in front of the lift equipment. – These machines are big, brightly colored, have flashing lights, and are loud. Don’t pretend that you didn’t notice them. And if you’re looking for a pay out for getting hurt lots of luck. We’re not talking about a stubbed or even broken toe here. These things weigh more than most cars and can kill you. And frankly, I don’t want you becoming a grease-stain on my conscience.

That being said most people are pretty good and the genuinely nice ones can make the day fly by. I just wish they all were like that.

Lesson learned: Always, ALWAYS triple check that you have in fact brought your batteries. Just so this never can happen again I’m going to keep a set of plain old alkaline batteries (which hold a charge much longer than rechargeables) in my camera bag

That being said there are some things that are really starting to piss me off with Jaiku:

• Invite only: Ever since Jaiku was assimilated by the Borg  bought by Google they’ve switched from open to all to invite only. I know why they switched (It was starting to buckle under the load) but at the same time by not allowing everyone and anyone to sign up the other services are getting more popular while Jaiku is staying static.
• Mobile client: There’s an official client for Nokia S60 phones but everyone else is pretty much out of luck. While there is a client for the BlackBerry it is painfully bad and from what I understand it’s pretty much the same on other mobile platforms.
• API go boom: Most clients, desktop and mobile, connect to Jaiku through an API server. Unfortunately that server has been down far too much over the last few weeks so if I want to post something or check my friends posts and replies I’ve got to go to the web site.
• SMS posting: Jaiku has finally gotten a SMS short code (a phone number, such as 1234, that you can send text messages to) for the US. The problem is it doesn’t work with my carrier, T-Mobile. I don’t know who’s to blame for that. I just want the damned thing to work.
• Silence from on high: Back before Google bought them the Jaiku guys would pop in now and then and post about ideas and problems. Now a days they’re mostly silent.

Don’t get me wrong. I love Jaiku and am not about to jump ship but these problems are starting to get on my nerves.

I took over 200 shots. Out of those I have about 50 that don’t look like pure shit and even those are either blown out or grainy as hell. I simply don’t have the skill to shoot steadily in anything less than great light without either a tripod (no room with the crowds) or by dialing the ISO up to where the shots are more grain than subject. I’d like to blame the camera for having a noisy sensor at high ISO but I know most of the blame lays on my lack of skill.