Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

There are times when telling just part of the truth is effectively a lie.

SCOTUS: It’s not “bribery” unless it comes from the Bribery region of France. Otherwise, it’s merely “sparkling malfeasance”.

We can’t confuse what’s necessary to win elections with the policies that we want to implement when we do.

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

Celebrate the fucking wins.

I’m more christian than these people and i’m an atheist.

The next time the wall street journal editorial board speaks the truth will be the first.

This fight is for everything.

Optimism opens the door to great things.

The press swings at every pitch, we don’t have to.

The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.

They punch you in the face and then start crying because their fist hurts.

The words do not have to be perfect.

Insiders who complain to politico: please report to the white house office of shut the fuck up.

Also, are you sure you want people to rate your comments?

Of course you can have champagne before noon. That’s why orange juice was invented.

Hell hath no fury like a farmer bankrupted.

The media handbook says “controversial” is the most negative description that can be used for a Republican.

The republican speaker is a slippery little devil.

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

The real work of an opposition party is to hold the people in power accountable.

In after Baud. Damn.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Tech Question

Tech Question

by | 172 Comments

This post is in: ,

AT&T runs my cell service. Is there any way to log in online and use a computer to text friends?

Texting on a cell phone is near impossible for me. I have two thumbs like sausage links, and I’ve broken every finger 2-4 times playing soccer, lacrosse, various Army incidents, and the occasional Cole stupidity (broke three in a car door on my left hand somehow, fell down the stairs a decade ago and broke two bracing myself, etc.). My fingers are gnarled stumps that throb all day, when they aren’t numb.

So is there anyway I can use a computer keyboard to send texts that way?

Also, in relation to AL’s post below, if you are commenting and find yourself in the spam filter, please email me. I need to know.

Reader Interactions

172Comments

  1. 1.

    cleek

    when i had AT&T, years ago, i could send texts by sending an email to [email protected]

    don’t remember the exact way it all goes together, but essentially, every phone # has an email address that gets forwarded to text.

    or, it did 10 years ago.

  2. 2.

    Corner Stone

    Good God. Tell us the truth. You’re really a performance artist playing a huge joke on everyone, right?

  3. 3.

    Keith

    Go to att.com and hit up MyATT. There’s an option in there for sending text msgs to other ATT users. AFAIK, it doesn’t work sending to Verizon, Cricket, etc

  4. 4.

    Jane2

    My experience is that every provider has a web page for texting. Alternatively, you can use Skype but it’ll cost you.

  7. 7.

    JGabriel

    John Cole:

    … I’ve broken every finger 2-4 times …

    No wonder you’re bitter. You haven’t been able to love yourself since you lost all sensation in your fingers.

    .

  12. 12.

    soonergrunt

    @JGabriel: That would be better, if you think about it. You know, no sensation in your hand and so the only sensation…Thank you soooo much for loading me up with the mental image of Cole doing…things…
    Bastard.

  13. 13.

    Mark B.

    As someone said above, you can send texts from the AT&T website if you log on to the account for your mobile phone. I assume the texts will appear to be coming from your number but I’m not sure.

  14. 14.

    Common Sense

    I believe every carrier has their own domain, and texts can be emailed to people using their phone number @ whatever the domain is.

  17. 17.

    michilines

    You have these services? I live in the 4th largest city in the US and I don’t have these choices.

    Damn Obama must be doing something right.

    Oh, and AL is deleting posts that mention that she is a PUMA.

    We will deal with this on Sunday nights for 13 months, right?

  19. 19.

    Gin & Tonic

    Here’s a list of pretty much every carrier and how to send an e-mail into their SMS system, if there’s a gateway. Set these up once as e-mail aliases and you’re good to go.

  21. 21.

    Corner Stone

    @John Cole: Cole, I’ve known people who had their bones broken by someone else. On purpose. And somehow I’ve never met any singular person with the medical record you and Dalton apparently carry around.
    It’s just crazy. My ex-FIL lost a finger due to electrocution when he was 18 and a finger tip while working as a mechanic on airplanes. I’ve known people who are machinists for big rigs, diesel techs on submarines, police officers and all kinds of individuals who went through armed services. I played baseball all through high school and had friends who played all four sports. My best friend’s brother broke two ribs taking a swing at a baseball in BP.
    Put all of those people together and the ones still alive don’t have your injury report.

  24. 24.

    Shinobi

    If you have a smartphone with a touch screen, you should get SWYPE for your keyboard. It allows you to draw on your keyboard and then guesses what word you wanted to use. Very handy for the texting impaired. (of which I am most certainly one) No thumbs needed.

  25. 25.

    Mark B.

    @Mark B.: Yeah … Texts from the AT&T website will appear to be coming from your phone if you’re logged into their website on your account. I’m not sure if this is restricted to texts TO AT&T numbers. Pretty much everyone I ever send texts to is on AT&T.

  27. 27.

    RossinDetroit

    Hey John, there’s a comment murderer on the loose. Why don’t you look into that? We thought about it and it couldn’t possibly be the fault of a defective piece of software that’s predictable only for its random dysfunctions.

  34. 34.

    Litlebritdifrnt2

    Why would you want to text in the first place? I mean I am a typist by profession (among other things) why would you want to type every damn character into the damn phone at least three times to text someone when it would take approximately three seconds to call someone and say “hi, whatcha doin?” Seriously texting has got to be the most useless thing on the planet. I just don’t get it, I really don’t.

    I called one of my lawyer buddies the other day to have him hold open a case in court. It was well before court opened and therefore his cellphone would be on. His paralegal said “let me just text him” and then proceeded to tell me on the phone how she was doing just that (including misspellings). Have we completely got over calling each other now to discuss what we are buying in the grocery store, we now have to text each other as to what kind of canned peas to buy? WTF?

  35. 35.

    Mark B.

    Btw, I am the world’s clumsiest person, and my hands are relatively pristine, even though I do stuff like rebuild engines in my spare time. My only broken bones are in my feet, which seem to happen every time I play basketball. I’m under doctor’s orders to never play again.

  37. 37.

    Corner Stone

    @handy: Give me a couple steps and I’d knock your comments out the box like Duntae Robinson just did to Maclin on the Iggles.

  46. 46.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Litlebritdifrnt2:

    Seriously texting has got to be the most useless thing on the planet.

    Shows you’re old. One reason the kids do it is they can text each other without the teacher knowing — many can text without taking the phone out of their pocket. Making a voice call in class would be pretty inappropriate.

  47. 47.

    RossinDetroit

    @Litlebritdifrnt2:

    Some people just really don’t like to talk on the phone. I’m one of them. I’ll spare the details. Sometimes it’s just more convenient to type “@ store. need milk?” and hit enter than for two people to stop what they’re doing at the same time and discuss dairy products. Phone calls have their place but often the same thing can be accomplished with far less effort and distraction through TXT.

  48. 48.

    michilines

    @Omnes Omnibus:
    You whined about much less and got much more.

    I won’t whine. I just predict this will be a PUMA blog soon. despite John’s best efforts.

    It’s what you want, right? He changed once he will change again, especially with a FP that only posts comics and pictures of flowers.

  50. 50.

    Corner Stone

    @Omnes Omnibus: You’re just lucky I can’t take my petty grievances out on you by shutting your ass down. Because if I could? Oh yeah. Oooooohhh yeeaaahhh. I’d totally shut you down like 18 hours after your last comment on a thread and shit. I’d be all like, I didn’t think much of it but then some shit and some other shit and then I would whammo your pasty ass.

  52. 52.

    Roger Moore

    @Litlebritdifrnt2:
    Texting is useful sometimes because it’s asynchronous. If you want to send a message that just needs to get there sometime but doesn’t necessarily require prompt attention, a text is a great way of doing it. You can also send picture or video mail, which is pretty cool. But I agree that people who send a whole series of texts rather than just calling and having a proper conversation are weird.

  55. 55.

    Wendy

    I use my Yahoo mail account to text my husband all the time. Only thing I use it for any more except that and bacn.

  56. 56.

    Odie Hugh Manatee

    @opal:

    That’s pretty funny, AL suppressing speech…lol! I have stayed away from her posts since her public meltdown, preferring to ignore her. She went off half-cocked in what looked like a jealous fit of rage that she has been unapologetic for since.

    I’m not surprised though. She seems a bit tightly wound at times.

  57. 57.

    burnspbesq

    I’ve broken every finger 2-4 times playing soccer, lacrosse

    Man, you are one unlucky bastard. I was a goalkeeper in soccer from eighth grade through law school intramurals, and played five years of lax, and all of my fingers are totally intact. I tore a medial meniscus in soccer, but that’s my only soccer or lax-related injury.

    Of course, I did tear a ligament in my wrist playing tennis (kept me from being able to change diapers for three months, and I’m still paying for that 17 years later).

  59. 59.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @michilines: I am sorry? Are you suggesting that I am a PUMA? Seriously? Me, a PUMA?

    @opal: There is a post about this as, Cole noted at the top. I think Anne Laurie has handled some issues very poorly lately, but I seriously doubt that any FPer would delete posts.

  60. 60.

    Southern Beale

    John, get yourself a stylus. We bought a huge box of them for like $5 online. It’s got a little clip on it like a regular pen, the husband keeps his in his shirt pocket all the time.

    I can’t text on a cell phone either. Fat finger syndrome.

    In other news, I’m one month into driving an all-electric car. Here’s my update on living the Leaf life.

  61. 61.

    Mark B.

    I do a lot of texting during meetings I’m required to attend but don’t have much for me to do or say. I can do it discreetly enough so that it doesn’t bother anyone, but it cuts down on the boredom. Often the recipient of the text is someone else at the same meeting. It’s the modern equivalent of note passing.

  62. 62.

    Eric U.

    I predict that soon we will all be using voice recognition software to write our texts. It will be just like having a conversation, except you have to wait at least a minute to hear the other person’s response.

  63. 63.

    Mark B.

    I do a lot of texting during meetings I’m required to attend but don’t have much for me to do or say. I can do it discreetly enough so that it doesn’t bother anyone, but it cuts down on the boredom. Often the recipient of the text is someone else at the same meeting. It’s the modern equivalent of note passing.

  71. 71.

    RossinDetroit

    TXT is great if you’re not sure if the recipient would be inconvenienced by a call. If I’m on a ladder or up to my elbows in a machine and greasy I sure don’t want to stop what I’m doing because someone feels chatty. I can answer the TXT buzz when it’s safe/convenient. And for busy people it’s far more time efficient. Actual information conveyed in a 5 minute (or longer) call can usually be condensed to a 160 character exchange.

  72. 72.

    burnspbesq

    Would love to hang, but I have a 6:45 flight tomorrow and still haven’t watched the Man U – Chelski match. I may have gotten out of BigLaw, but the Almighty Billable Hour still rules my world.

    Enjoy what’s left of the weekend and have a good Monday, y’all.

  73. 73.

    eemom

    omg, y’all. Everybody better calm down before they say something they regret.

    A simple FYWP hiccup turned into a witch hunt?? Surely we are better than THAT.

    ‘Course, when a FPer takes it upon themselves to diss another FPer and numerous commenters on the, like, FRONT PAGE, you can hardly blame folks for thereafter assuming there is nothing said FPer wouldn’t stoop resort to.

    And isn’t it kind of a cliche that the stealer of the gold is the first to exclaim, “OMG! The gold’s been stolen!!”

    Jussayinzall.

  75. 75.

    scav

    @Omnes Omnibus: Well, for somebody who’s every post is suppressed, we have been seeing a lot of text tonight. And if these suppressed posts I keep not seeing are examples of non-whining . . . . whew

  76. 76.

    Yutsano

    @Roger Moore: Apparently Cole is much more the free spirit on the Twitters. Me I’m just direct most of the time. Especially when I’m in a mocking sort of mindset.

    @Southern Beale: I object dear lady. I’ve seen your fingers and they are anything but fat. Now getting them to work on a texting pad is another story altogether.

    @Omnes Omnibus: I’ve slept about half the day away and have been a total hermit. Something I ate didn’t agree with me. But bed is always good.

  77. 77.

    Moe

    Depends on your phone, Cole.

    If you have a Android smartphone, try DeskSMS. You can text through email on any computer, recieve them too.

    If you don’t have a smartphone, join the 21st century.

    Good luck.

  78. 78.

    Gin & Tonic

    @RossinDetroit:

    If I’m on a ladder or up to my elbows in a machine and greasy I sure don’t want to stop what I’m doing because someone feels chatty.

    One way to not stop what you’re doing is to not stop what you’re doing. I don’t know where people have gotten this ridiculous notion that just because the phone rings you have to answer it.

  79. 79.

    Southern Beale

    @Yutsano:

    Aww… { hugs } … clumsy fingers, then. Texting is something new to me. I don’t get these kids who use their thumbs and fingertips to write whole novels. I find texting super annoying but my stylus works …

  82. 82.

    Yutsano

    @Southern Beale: Funny thing is we cannot talk on the phone while we’re at our desks (we have to go out in the hallway, which is why I never do phone calls at work) but we can text all we want to. Which means they can’t object to me having my phone out. Which is how I keep up with BJ all day. :)

  84. 84.

    RandyH

    Both of my sisters have Blackberries and insist on sending texts to me all of the time. I rarely even use my cell phone for anything and I hate sending texts on that thing, but I am at a computer all day. SO I told them to either use Google Talk on their Blackberries or do everything by email (which they did not like) and they happily started using Google Talk. It’s just like using Blackberry Messenger for them and it works great for us.

  85. 85.

    RossinDetroit

    @Gin & Tonic:

    That’s the problem. My company is still very phone-centric and people carry on multiple simultaneous conversations all day. Drives me nuts, but that’s my problem. I’m the guy trying to fork-lift 600 lbs of batteries out of a crate when somebody just HAS to call RIGHT NOW to see if I’ve seen his keys laying around. Then they leave a long voice mail about it when I don’t answer.

    ETA: When I am King allowing a phone to ring in My Presence will be grounds for banishment from My Realm.

  86. 86.

    Roger Moore

    @eemom:

    ‘Course, when a FPer takes it upon themselves to diss another FPer and numerous commenters on the, like, FRONT PAGE, you can hardly blame folks for thereafter assuming there is nothing said FPer wouldn’t stoop resort to.

    Or you might assume that somebody who’s willing to stand up and say something- even something stupid and counterproductive- on the front page would call people out publicly rather than doing something behind the scenes. If you think badly enough of somebody, you’ll naturally interpret anything associated with them negatively without any real justification.

  87. 87.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @opal: You are telling people I am a PUMA? Why?

    Seriously, this is a weird thread. OTOH the Pack won, Nick Collins seems to be okay, and I got to see Eva Green in a movie over the weekend.

  88. 88.

    Cain

    @Mark B.:

    cuts down on the boredom. Often the recipient of the text is someone else at the same meeting. It’s the modern equivalent of note passing.

    We have a chat line, so a lot of us in a meeting would have live snark commentary going on the entire time during the meeting (and through the entire day)

    It’s a great way to spend the work hours while totally being quiet. :-)

  90. 90.

    Southern Beale

    @Yutsano:

    Yeah my niece’s workplace is like that too. And her work blocked access to stuff like gmail so she can’t check personal e-mail either. But texting is apparently fine.

    Weird rules. Glad I’m self-employed.

  91. 91.

    Southern Beale

    This is a weird thread. The last thread from AL was a FYWP post about regular commenters being inexplicably “sin binned” and now people are complaining that she’s deleting comments? Umm … okie dokie. Whatever.

    I don’t have time for blog drama. Get a life. And with that I’m turning in to bed. G’night kids.

  92. 92.

    Sherean

    1. I’m with the Google Voice folks
    2. And I second the person who suggested SWYPE (if you ever want to try texting on your phone again). I have an old hand injury that makes pecking on a tiny keyboard painful but I can SWYPE all day long. SWYPE will have you texting like a teenager in no time.
    p.s I SWYPED this comment.

  95. 95.

    Roger Moore

    @Southern Beale:
    Some of the workplace rules are really strange. My work appears to block POP and IMAP, so you can’t check your personal mail with a mail program, but they don’t block webmail. They block Picasa but not flickr. They block iTunes but not the Adroid Appstore or Netflix. And they don’t block real time wasters like Youtube or Facebook. It’s like they’ve picked a bunch of stuff that might be objectionable but haven’t made any attempt to be systematic about it.

  102. 102.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @stickler: Bond flick, but she is going to be in Dark Shadows.

    ETA: Eva Green is Eva Green; even her cameo in the Golden Compass is worth watching.

  103. 103.

    Odie Hugh Manatee

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    From what I read, Opal had a comment they meant to direct towards CS but it went to you. That was picked up by the other poster and BAM!, yer a PUMA!

  104. 104.

    Corner Stone

    @Omnes Omnibus: Oh, and now I find out you’re a damned dirty PUMA? Oh hell yeah I would be totally like deleting your posts and shit.
    All hiding up in the innocent midwestern Wiscy sensibilities like you weren’t the root of all evil. Shut down. Like totes style.

  105. 105.

    Thymezone

    Quick drive by.

    By now I assume many have posted the addresses you can use to send text from your email box.

    Yes, posts disappear in WP, I have seen it for years. One test of it is simple: Post a duplicate of what you think is the missing post. You will get a WP message saying that you are trying to post a duplicate. But the original is nowhere to be seen. I have seen this happen … I would say … three or four dozen times over the years, and that is just the times I know of. I am sure my posts have disappeared much more often than that. Not into moderation, just gone. I attribute it to WP being a piece of junk, which we all know, it is.

    Just today, I had two or three separate occasions where I made 2-3 posts to a thread, and only one of them ever appeared on the board. Meh. You know, if the admins are doing this, all I can say is, it’s your blog, do as you like, but it’s damned confusing when it happens, and I can’t see any justification for it. If it’s WP, which I would guess it is, then … whatever. It’s always going to be junk. We are stuck with it.

    And then there is the infamous mod filter and its insane behavior. A blog that does politics but prevents you from typing “sociaIist”? Really? Come on, that’s just silly. That’s not a mod filter, that’s a joke. It wouldn’t be so infuriating if the piece of crap would TELL the poster what the problem is. Instead you are left to figure it out yourself.

  107. 107.

    RossinDetroit

    I’m gonna call it. Early morning. Draw straws to man the baffling non sequitur desk until I get back.

    Cheers

  111. 111.

    Yutsano

    @Omnes Omnibus: We can take this to a judge mister. Don’t think I won’t. I got a lesbyterian lawyer on my side. And she was a vet. Also.

    @Odie Hugh Manatee: What makes this all the more amusing to me is the person s/he meant to address is indeed a PUMA.

  118. 118.

    RareSanity

    Get a Google Voice number!

    Now! What are you waiting for? Go! No invite necessary.

    Also too, FALCONS WIN!

    All the fake Falcon, Vick fans, can kiss my shiny metal ass! He plays for the Eagles now, get over it!

  120. 120.

    Tim in SF

    Get a Google Voice account. That number becomes your new phone number. Google voice will forward calls to your cell and if you don’t pick up, it will record the caller’s voice mail, then transcribe the message and text it to you. And it also emails you a recording of the voicemail!

    You can also set up different voicemail boxes for different incoming numbers.
    You can also replace Skype with Google Voice if you like making phone calls through your computer.

    It’s free and it’s awesome! I’ve had mine for years and I LOVE it!

    If you are in any way hesitant, watch the videos here:
    http://www.google.com/googlevoice/about.html

  121. 121.

    Thymezone

    @opal:

    Not sure what your point is, but in my case, it happened to me several times today. But I can track it back at least 5 years. I am pretty sure it’s just another WP unintended feature. The admins ignore it because … they can’t do anything about it, in all probability.

  123. 123.

    Mark B.

    Honestly, I think it’s only a matter of time until VY is the Philly starting QB. He’s as good as Vick, talent-wise, and a lot more durable. He’s a bit of a head case, but Reid is probably the one coach in the league who can push the right buttons to keep him focused. He’s kind of an expert in handling head cases.

  127. 127.

    opal

    @Thymezone:

    Not sure what your point is, but AL deleted a sequence involving an Uncle Clarence Thomas rape fantasy and several people objecting.

    That’s not how WP malfunctions generally work, and UCT should be banned for life.

  129. 129.

    Yutsano

    @Thymezone: I know what you’re talking about. I’ve had comments just disappear into the ether never to be recovered again. It does seem to be a FYWP issue more than anything, as it’s happened when none of the admin folks have been lurking about.

    @opal: I’m not a fan of bans. For the sockpuppet I’ll make an exception. In fact I think all sockpuppets should be banned. But it’s not my blog.

  130. 130.

    Thymezone

    @opal:

    Okay, into the non sequitur bucket with this.

    As for UCT, oh well. I have no problems with intentional deletion, although I would like to be notified if it’s me. It’s their blog, they can do as they like. And I can respond as I like. So it’s all good. However, my point was that unintentional deletion appears to be a “feature” of FYWP which has been seen for years. It’s a wormhole of some kind. Maybe it’s NSA. Who the hell knows? I’m sure it’s Obama’s fault.

  131. 131.

    The Golux

    The best app I have on my iPhone is Dragon Dictation, and I see you can also get it for Android and Blackberry. It’s amazing how well it works, and it’s free. I’m hoping it will eventually be incorporated into the keyboard (that is, there will be a “Dictate” button right on the keyboard), to eliminate switching between the Dragon app and whatever function you’re actually performing (text messaging, email, whatever). I almost never use abbreviations in my text messages.

    Someone should tell Sarah Palin about it, so that her tweets won’t sound even more insipid than her normal speech. Yeah, that’ll work.

  132. 132.

    opal

    However, my point was that unintentional deletion appears to be a “feature” of FYWP which has been seen for years

    Very rarely, if ever. Your experience is probably unique because you’re a dick.

    The fact remains that Anne Laurie lied.

  133. 133.

    Thymezone

    @opal:

    No, it’s no unique. It’s been reported by many over the years. This has nothing to do with me being a dick.

    So you are wrong on two counts so far. Whether AL lied or not, I have no idea on earth, don’t care to know. That’s between AL and John and the Baby Jesus, my yardman.

  134. 134.

    Roger Moore

    @The Golux:

    I’m hoping it will eventually be incorporated into the keyboard (that is, there will be a “Dictate” button right on the keyboard),

    There already is one on Android. There’s a button with a microphone icon that will take dictation if you press it. It’s surprisingly good without any training, though it doesn’t handle technical speech very well.

  139. 139.

    Thymezone

    @opal:

    Of course I am a dick, you moron. It’s a dick blog. Run by a self described dick, for dicks. Almost everyone who posts here is a dick. We’ve even had women posting here who were dicks. Dicks who were dicks among dicks, superdicks.

    Why else would anybody be here? For the reports on dog bowel movements? Steelermania? Sucking up to the blogowners to look cool? I mean, come on. Get with the program.

  140. 140.

    suzanne

    I am having a mini existential crisis. I grew up in a kind of crappy area, not crime-ridden ghetto bad, but definitely working-class at very best. I don’t live there anymore, but I’ve been back there a few times in the last few months, and I’ve run into a lot of former classmates. And they’re all, how do I say this without being an elitist POS? They’re all living highly mediocre lives. Working as assistant fast-food managers and supermarket cashiers. And I’m such a fucking snob that I can’t help but think that, if they could, they would have made different choices. And while most of them came from not-wealthy families, they weren’t going without. And I’m just wondering what factors in life lead to outcomes like that. I have some other friends from the same area who, despite solidly middle-class upbringings, have just done fuck-nothing.

    I’m not talking about libertarian pick-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps shit, but how can we really create a culture of success? On both the societal level, but also for our individual families?

    Sorry. This is a bummer. And I’m such a fucking snob. Who am I to say how people should live their lives? Why do I expect that everyone should want a successful career?

  143. 143.

    Odie Hugh Manatee

    @Thymezone:

    Yup, I’m afraid to admit that I too am a dick. Shocking, I know, but somehow I know that everyone will survive.

    ETA: Especially the other dicks.

  146. 146.

    Thymezone

    @suzanne:

    I think it’s a good question. My hunch is that the problem is that America got conned out of being a country that did things, built things, and inspired a sort of upward mobility in people … and into being a country that looks into its navel, worries about things like prayer in schools and wars on drugs and Ten Commandments in courthouses, and became cheap, and selfish, and inward looking. This is the end stage of Conservative America. Hopefully.

  149. 149.

    suzanne

    @Thymezone:

    and inspired a sort of upward mobility in people

    I think this is key. ‘Cause relatively few of these people that I knew really thought about “what I want to be when I grow up?” past fifth grade, and certainly didn’t think about it in high school. Not when there was a football game that weekend or who was going to prom with whom. How can you get people to have that sort of imagination? And how can you help them pick themselves up after a misstep along the way?

    Am I a snobby bitch for thinking this way? I just can’t imagine spending my day doing menial shit and not trying to do anything to make a drastic change.

  150. 150.

    Yutsano

    @suzanne: Or collapse into a singularity. The effect would have been the same.

    @suzanne: It’s the wisdom of Thurber. In order to get where you are today, you had to take risks they didn’t. You had to open yourself up for failure. I just took a HUGE chance, left my family and a low-paying job behind, to sit on edge for a year. But it was a risk, I could have failed. You took the risk, you went to college, you chose your sacrifices of comfort, and you are where you are. It’s not snobbish to know you’ve gone farther than your schoolmates. It IS snobbish to disregard them because of it. On that point, you are definitely NOT a snob.

    @dontBeStupid: I kan haz betr trollz plz?

  151. 151.

    Martin

    @Eric U.:

    I predict that soon we will all be using voice recognition software to write our texts.

    Yeah, my guess is around October 15 or so for some of us.

  153. 153.

    Anne Laurie

    @suzanne:

    This is a bummer. And I’m such a fucking snob. Who am I to say how people should live their lives? Why do I expect that everyone should want a successful career?

    Well, it’s the Dominant Narrative of our tribe and time: Everyone should do better than their parents did! Everyone should have a successful career — “successful” being defined as one that makes a lot of money (usually because you spent a lot of time attaining the right credentials, although having the combination of natural talents & chutzpah that gets people to give you money to perform will do). No matter how much we think we’ve expanded our understanding of how random such individual “success” can be, it’s hard not to internalize. If * I * can work hard, pull myself up, be successful, what’s wrong with all those sad souls who were given (as far as I can tell) exactly the same opportunities, only to settle for assistant-fast-food-manager positions? Especially since you know how hard you worked to escape that — you’re not Donald Trump or Megan McCain, bitching that you started with a mere multi-million-dollar legacy and your daddy’s fat rolodex.

    The toxic downside, of course, is that the “luzers” in this scenario — people who, for whatever good or bad reasons, don’t have your grit or miss the chances you saw or just hit one too many potholes, are not always capable (are not, under the Dominant Narrative, allowed) to be happy that they’re excellent plumbers, or the best parents they can be, or the person holding together the PTA / local animal shelter / community gardens. If you don’t have a “successful” career, if your value to the world can’t be measured in dollars, you need to be unusually sanguine or rigorously centered not to consider yourself as being worth less than Donald Trump.

    You have a successful career, and you worked hard to make it. You also have, IIRC, a couple great kids, a good marriage, the pets you’ve rescued. Your former classmates have… whatever they have. Their kharma is not your problem. And thank goddess for that!

  154. 154.

    Thymezone

    @suzanne:

    I don’t know. I am thinking of my little brother. By little, I mean, he was born when I was in high school. When he was a small tad, we became very close friends. I taught him to catch a ball and we spent years playing catch between us and with his school friends.

    Then he started going to high school. One day he said, when I grow up, I am going to be rich, the most important thing is to have lots of money. I said, are you serious, and he said he was. And he has been a total butthead ever since, and now he is a Republican who can’t open his mouth with spouting righty talking points. We don’t talk any more.

    So, I don’t know what to think. I have no idea what turned him into such a butthead. Nobody in the family could figure it out.

  162. 162.

    mai naem

    @suzanne: well, you don’t know whats going to happen in the future.You are relatively young. I have three friends from college who I lost touch with who didn’t do anything spectacular in college, but went back to school in their thirties and two became physicians and one became a pharmacist. I have two cousins who also went back to college in their thirties. One’s a lawyer and the other got a MPH and has some kind of professional admin job. It just takes longer for some people to figure out what they want to do.

  163. 163.

    burnspbesq

    @Martin:

    “Yeah, my guess is around October 15 or so for some of us.”

    No, thanks. Why should I have to listen to every idiot’s inanities in real time? And no one should have to listen to mine.

  166. 166.

    Michalel Nardozzi

    I use Google Talk, from within Gmail. As long as you have your contacts’ phone numbers in your Google Contacts it works fine. You can text from a full sized keyboard, they text back without issue.

  167. 167.

    Lysana

    @suzanne: Do keep in mind that the system will need supermarket cashiers and fast-food managers so long as either enterprise exists. Whether they could’ve had higher-paying jobs if they only did X is their business. Be glad someone’s doing it, or there’d be higher unemployment and a LOT of annoyed people.

  168. 168.

    suzanne

    You’re all absolutely right, and I feel really awful about this whole line of thinking. I can’t measure someone’s self-worth for them, and I couldn’t do it even if I wanted to.

    Like I said, I just can’t help but think that for a lot of people, life isn’t happening for them the way they wanted. I had a boss once who used to be the manager of a Walmart, and he said to me once that he saw so many bright, capable people who were just completely fucked over by one bad decision in their lives, be it a drug arrest when they were young, or getting pregnant too early, etc. I am smart and I am hardworking, but I certainly made some bad choices along the line, but I had a support system that helped me figure it out and to try again, and I don’t know how to extend that to everyone else.

    I have one friend who is honest-to-God brilliant, and she is just a complete screw-up. (She would tell you this, too.) We both got full academic scholarships, but she turned hers down to go to a private college, which she dropped out of after one semester. She married her high school boyfriend because she thought she’d never find anyone else, and got pregnant even though neither of them had any money. So he joined the Army and was almost killed in Iraq. His friend committed suicide, and he was forced to clean it up. She started having mental health issues, and is on meds. She disciplines her daughter by hitting her across the face. Her husband cheated on her and she wanted to leave, but stayed because she didn’t have any money. She finally finished her bachelor’s when I got my master’s, and she had wanted to teach high school English, but she’s unwilling to take out student loans, so she won’t go to graduate school, so she’s working in a call center for Paypal, and she hates it. Her husband has all his GI bill available to him, but doesn’t want to use it, so he’s working at Target. I know her life has meaning, I don’t doubt that. But I know she’s miserable, because she’s said so. And, unlike me, she came from a stable two-parent family who had the money to send her to college when she wanted.

    I know SO MANY PEOPLE like this. Ugh.

  169. 169.

    Fucen Pneumatic Fuck Wrench Tarmal

    @suzanne:

    just don’t expect your old friends to validate your choices, or throw a parade in your honor, because yours are different than theirs.

    if you intentionally made choices to create a distance between your self and the people , even if not the place you grew up, and the life that it leads, then you need to follow through and cut the chords instead of waiting for the right time to say i told you so, because there is no right time.

  170. 170.

    Fucen Pneumatic Fuck Wrench Tarmal

    @suzanne:

    just don’t expect your old friends to validate your choices, or throw a parade in your honor, because yours are different than theirs.

    if you intentionally made choices to create a distance between your self and the people , even if not the place you grew up, and the life that it leads, then you need to follow through and cut the chords instead of waiting for the right time to say i told you so, because there is no right time.

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