Gotcha!

(click to enlarge)

That's Gmail's filters dumping a Google Alerts update into the spam folder. Honest. Does this mean:

1. Google ain't as smart as everyone makes them out to be?
2. Microsoft is secretly programming Gmail?
3. Google is telling Ballista that what Ballista thinks Ballista wants to know about is just crap?
   

Antiquated or Sage-like?

This screenshot is from a pull-down menu on the Avery web site. You know Avery as the labels and cards stationary company. Anyway, this is what you see when you try to download one of their templates...



So, the question is... have the staff at Avery been under a rock since 1993? Or, are they just clued into the undeniable trend that the leader of the Russian Federation has been effecting?


Another option: The Avery folks were just using a geography and social studies text book from a US public school.

Condition My Air, Please

Summer has arrived for Ballista. That means heat, humidity, and hefty electric bills due to that indispensable gift of human ingenuity and enterprise, the air conditioner. Ballista has a small window unit A/C. It used to work just fine, keeping the bedroom a comfortable environ, somewhere between 68 and 74 degrees Fahrenheit. However, lately the A/C has been acting oddly, if not downright malfunctioning. Quite on its own, it will raise the set temperature from that cool setting of 68-74 one degree at a time until the unit reaches its max setting of 88 degrees! And no matter what Ballista does, the cursed contraption will not return to Ballista's desired setting. Further, in a move Ballista is convinced is just to enrage me more, the unit switches to Celsius when Ballista presses the down temperature button!

Two points are worth noting here:

1. Why the HELL does an A/C go to 88!? To Ballista's mind, an A/C should not allow a temperature setting above 76. And that's just to be generous to the elderly and those with low blood pressure.
2. The Celsius switch-a-roo tells me that this is all some sort of European plot to make life in America miserable. Wasn't that the whole purpose of the metric system? Obviously, the Koreans are in on it too since they made the A/C in question.
   

From the Dept. of Useless

Why do people include an Agenda slide when they are giving a 5 minute presentation?

You don't have to tell me what you will be telling me 45 seconds from now. Save your breath and my precious time and attention span. Get to the point! Are you afraid Ballista will get up and leave if you don't tell me of your "all important" topics ahead of time? Let me tell you something, Ballista wants to leave whether you show me an agenda or not.

Agendas are useful for keeping verbose and/or disorganized people in line during meetings of extended duration, say 30 minutes plus. Maybe even 20 minutes. Maybe. But not 5 minutes. Other than that, get them out of your PowerPoint.