STORM2K

I'm all for the entrepreneur who loves to invent new things, thinks he can make a buck off of someone else, and turns an
idea into a way of making a living. I once met the guy who invented those goofy little reflectors they now put in line with the stripes on the highway...you know, the ones that sometimes make you think your tires are going to blow!!!

He was a millionaire!!

I have to admit there are some inventions, some simple little things, that make me wonder why those who invented them are allowed out on the streets.

For example, this weekend we were trying to fill Emma's inflatable swimming pool with air. Now come on, people, this is 2004. Can't we do better than those little rubber plugs that are too hard to get in, too hard to pull out, and actually allow much of the air to escape before you can even get them back in place! Is that the BEST we can do for less than a nickel?

...and don't get me started on strings of Christmas lights. I not only threw out my lights last year, but my tree as well!

There's gotta be a better way.

What other inventions test your patience?

Ditto on the xmas lights - always a pain! I wind them up carefully and label each strand to what shrub they go on. Up to 3 connected together. With hand drawn blueprint. Kids howl at me but when I do it right, outdoor lights go up within 30 mintues.

I was trying to think. I know when I shut the computer off lots of so called easy to operate inventions will come to mind. But I did remember back to my girls' Barbie house/camper/car phase. I swear you'd spend hours and I do mean hours putting one of these plastic contraptions together. Getting the correct label where it's supposed to go. Snap the furniture and accessories together that go with it. Finally turn it over to the child, who's practically napping and about to ask - are you done yet? And one by one pieces begin coming off. A door on the car just pops off. Your kid brings it to you - whaaaaa, Santa brought me this but look it doesn't work right! Well, Santa's helper is hired again. We went thru this phase for about 2 years and even the kids began to see the light - no more Barbie accessories! The doll and clothes are fine, forget anything plastic related. We still have bins of old toys in the basement to weed thru and all I have to do is pull out a plastic door to a Barbie fridge or a car door, or the funniest one of all - the car's steering wheel which stayed on for mere minutes it seemed like - to get my girls laughing their heads off. Our niece comes over a lot now and she'll find one piece to something Barbie related. What's that she asks? Where's the rest of it? Who knows!!! We all sigh. Julie that ship sailed long, long ago. LOL

So be warned Steve - if Emma gets into Barbie's, walk quickly past those Barbie houses and campers. Be a nice Poppysky and get her something else. Now it's possible they've come a long way in 10 years but I highly doubt it!

Mary

PS - self edit....thought of another - garden hoses!!! They rarely coil the way you want them to. They have a mind of their own! I even bought one of the newer, tighter coil types, that is compact. Instead of 4 or 5 coils all going which way, you have 20, LOL! Jim did laugh when I bought the compact one, thinking it wouldn't work well. He was right.

The invention that has tested my patience the most over the years is the telephone.

Steve

Window Blinds (venetian blinds). Always a pain.

Plastic zippers. They never last, especially on items for kids. I don't know how many perfectly good backpacks I've had to throw in the trash because the plastic zipper got messed up.

Hey Ed, I'm showing my age here but when I was a teen it was quite popular to sew your own clothes. This was back in the mid-70s. I took Home Ec for two years also. We all hated, just hated, putting a zipper in. It was torture. Whenever I could I avoided them. Our teacher, a strict nun, would roll her eyes. Fast forward to today. My kids want me to replace worn out zippers in their pants sometimes! I say what? Are you crazy? I hate it too when a backpack in great condition, is useless when the zipper breaks.

Mary

Aslkahuna wrote:The invention that has tested my patience the most over the years is the telephone.

Steve

AMEN, AMEN "AND" AMEN! Actually, mine? The DA** "CELL PHONES!"

Dennis

Aslkahuna and Dennis - meant to amen that myself. I hate to talk on the phone! I manned 9 lines for 10 years at a very hectic, fast paced doctor's office years ago. When I came home I wanted nothing to do with a phone. I still feel that way! If I was half asleep I would answer the home phone saynig - Doctor's Office! My mother on the other hand talks on the phone all day long! If we just visit for an hour or two, it rings every 15 minutes or so. She would love for the two of us to touch base everyday for an hour or more, b/c her friends do that with their daughters, why can't we? That would drive me insane, she's tried it but I keep putting her off. Could it be I also resent her nosy questions? Another topic for another day.

Now to cell phones....don't get me started on that one!

Finally, email and IM are two great inventions. When I was a teen, I lived on the phone, 5 years before my doctor's office job. My friends and I would talk for hours, just hours about NOTHING. I would drag our kitchen wall phone coiled cord across an arched opening to the pantry, so I could have privacy. My dad would be coming around that corner and get caught at the throat with the cord all the time. I would hear - MARY, GET OFF THE PHONE! Needless to say that nice new coil didn't last long, the cord was one stretched out mess. My teens rarely if ever use the phone. If they do it's to make instant plans, and they're on for just 5 minutes. Their Grandparent's ask - are they on the phone all the time? Oh no, this generation is on the computer all the time!

Mary

Since I serve my friends as their designated driver on weekends AND since I don't always like to stay up late...waiting...and waiting...and waiting for the opportunity to get home and get to bed -- the beer tap tests my patience.

Well your right about the phone, that's my invention that I have to hate most of the time. Given that I am a teen and love the internet and IM one thing that bothers me is the phone. Since we don't have a second phone line anytime somebody in the house wants to make a phone call they have to make me get off!! So Agreeeeeeedd!!