Category Archives: Life

A bear tried to eat our driveway cam this evening.  Who knew they were such privacy nuts.

Back in 2023, I wrote a little ditty about the prevalence of after-the-fact surveys and how we get harangued for feedback after nearly every transaction.  Unfortunately, it has only gotten worse since then.  So a month ago, I finally decided enough was enough and I cut the survey cord.  (Snip!)

Since my decision, I have summarily trashed or deleted every “how did we do” hounding  I’ve received, including the following:

✏️  My annual Blue Cross Medicare patient survey.  Blue Cross always starts the process by sending an email asking you to complete the survey online.  (It has multiple pages and dozens of questions.)  If you don’t respond in a timely way, they send you a second email.  If you still don’t comply, they send you a hard copy of the survey in the US Mail.  And if you don’t do that one, they mail you yet another copy.  We are now going to find out what happens after that — I bet I will get a robo phone call, which I intend to ignore.

✏️  An online survey request, followed by a reminder, from the hospital where my x-ray markers were implanted.  (It was fine.  But no one ever wants to be in a hospital, not even the staff.)

✏️  An online survey request, followed by a reminder, from the hospital (a different one) which delivered my hormone-rejection injection.  (That was fine too.  But see above.)

✏️  Two pester posts from Open Table, asking me to review restaurants we visited using the Open Table reservation system.  (What they really want is more data on me.)

✏️  A request from Lowe’s Home Improvement to take a five-minute survey about our refrigerator delivery experience.  (The guys were friendly and their huge truck broke only one tree limb — there, that took five seconds.)  This was followed by a reminder five days later.

✏️  An email, followed by a reminder four days later, from Sam’s Club, wanting feedback on my recent shopping experience.  (Answer:  Like always, it involved lots of walking.)

✏️  An email, followed by a reminder just one day later, from DirecTV, asking about my interaction with their telephone representative.  (Hey, let’s see if the problem gets fixed in two weeks when the technician shows up.)

You can spend your days filling out surveys or you can just save your energy for the times you have something to complain about.  I’ve opted for the latter and I’m not looking back.

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* Even better, let people know in real time what you liked and what you didn’t and move on.

Other than hair color, have you ever been able to tell the difference between the loves of Archie’s comic life, namely Betty and Veronica?  I always felt they were just placeholders,  same smile, same expressions, just different flavors of ice cream for Archie and his fans.

But perhaps I’ve been blind.  Maybe there are differences between the Archie characters that I failed to pick up on.  So readers, here’s a nine-part quiz for you — see how many of these you get right.  If you score seven or more, you get the Dilton Doiley Genius Award!

The answer to each panel is revealed each time you click forward.  You’re responsible for keeping your own score.  Note: I threw in a little surprise as a tie-breaker, so stay sharp!  And don’t go telling me you got all ten right.  Have fun!