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Gary Gripes is not for whiners or complainers. Actually, whining and complaining are among my most annoying gripes. If you have a gripe, please just Stand Up, Speak Up, Shut Up and Sit Down.

Don’t whine and dilly dally. Just say what’s got your shorts in a twist and stop. Even better, say what you have to say and then be brief and clear about what you think should change and how. Whether I agree or not, I will get it, I understand your gripe.

Gary Gripes is my place to gripe and yours too, if you want to Stand Up, Speak Up, Shut Up and Sit down. Just send your gripe to Gary@GaryGripes.com. If I don’t think it is way too outrageous, I will copy and paste it into a post on GaryGripes.com.

Thanks for scanning the pitch. I hope you stick around for my version of the gripe game.

Samsung Soundbar Not As Advertised

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About three months ago, I got a new Samsung soundbar for my deck. My only goal was to have great music when relaxing outside. And great music I got. The sound was awesome. – Definitely nothing to gripe about.

But wait! The ad clearly said that my new soundbar would work with Alexa. I thought that meant that I could tell any of my Echo devices to play music on the deck and music I would get. And music I got for about two weeks, and then no more. Alexa would tell me that music was playing on the deck but it wasn’t true.

OK, this was probably just a small glitch that would be easily corrected. Still not much to gripe about. I called the Smart Things app support line and politely explained that my soundbar had played on wi-fi for two weeks but quit playing. The equally polite support person assured me that he would help me fix the problem.

Three or four support calls later, still another polite support person told me that she would be happy to help just as soon as Amazon support checked to make sure that the problem wasn’t on their end. — It’s starting to become gripe worthy.

Grand Opening

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This is the Grand Opening of Gary Gripes. That would likely make you think that this is the first episode, but you would be wrong. I was listening to a radio commercial for a new car dealer that opened for business nearly three months ago, but was loudly told that its Grand Opening was this Saturday. Evidently there are openings and then there are Grand Openings. — Go figure.

As best I can tell from the radio, the main thing about a Grand Opening and a regular opening involves balloons and ribbons, free hot dogs and drinks of an undefined variety, at least one clown, and a live country band. Oh yes, I nearly forgot: there are also once in a lifetime Grand Opening deals on cars and pickup trucks.

That last attraction makes me wonder if not picking up on one of those once in a lifetime deals this Saturday means that the car or pickup truck purchased just after the regular opening three months ago was way overpriced. Now there is something to gripe about: finding out three months later that your shiny new pickup was thousands of dollars too much. We know that because the radio ad assures us that we will save thousands of dollars if we buy a new car or pickup this Saturday. That can only be as compared to what we would have paid three months ago.

Reasons Are Not Excuses

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A little complaining and a small dose of whining is fine now and then, but both whining and complaining can quickly turn into excuses for not sucking it up and taking care of business. Probably because I can’t see, one example of whining and complaining that truly annoys me is “I’m blind so I can’t and no one should expect me to.” I suspect the root of this for me is not having much patience for anyone who keeps finding excuses for not taking care of business. (Feel free to substitute any condition or issue that someone uses as an excuse for not digging in and doing whatever he or she needs to do to succeed.)

This blind thing is a lot of things but not all that complicated. First, it’s a condition that ranges from mild to severe, just like most conditions. Wherever we are on that continuum, it’s likely to get worse, at least until our condition is severe. That be as it may, there is not much we can do about it other than to whine. – Never under estimate the real value in whining. Our condition won’t change but whining can help us cope.

Podcasting Rabbit Holes

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I find it pretty annoying when I see what someone has done but have no idea why they did it. Case in point: why is my podcast and blog now Gary Gripes and not Audio Tidbits? Probably you don’t care but someone somewhere might. For that one curious listener, I am repeating this post/episode. That’s pretty thoughtful even if I say so myself which of course I just did.

I don’t recall just how many years my podcast has been called Audio Tidbits. As a title, that is rather clever but means nearly nothing. What does “Audio Tidbits” bring to mind? Probably a few things in general but mostly nothing in particular.

It’s sort of like a podcasting junk drawer. I can just toss most anything in there and it stays just like it belongs. Some of the episodes tossed in are quite good and another few are amazing; but for the most part, the majority are mediocre at best.

Changing Horses Should Not Be So Tedious

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I suppose you’ve heard that old advice about not changing horses in the middle of the stream. I guess it’s probably true that changing horses or jumping ship or cutting and running or however else I describe packing up and leaving town, change is never simple.

I have had a website called GaryCrow.net for quite a few years and use it for a blog and podcast. The website, blog and podcast were called Audio Tidbits for several years. The whole thing gradually turned into a rather uninteresting junk drawer over time. The other day, I removed all of the content and am committed to starting over better or not at all.