Change...the good, the bad, and the ugly

Change.  I think I hate it.

I've been buying Pine Sol since we first got married in 1968.  I loved the clean smell.  While living in Sicily my maid called it Peen-A-Sol (that's Italian phonetically spelled) and used it all the time.  To this day I call it Peen-A-Sol. 

I mainly used it when I soaked and scrubbed kitty litter boxes.  You'll notice I'm using the past tense when referring to Pine Sol now.  All of a sudden my Pine Sol had this strange smell.  I thought it was horrible and I hated the way the kitty litter boxes were smelling.  The smell was actually better before I added the Pine Sol!  At least I thought so.

I decided to E-mail the company.  Sure enough, they had changed the formula.  They were honest.  I was told that the product was actually better now as a disinfectant, but no longer contained pine oil due to a pine oil shortage.  My guess is that the pine oil became too expensive.  However, I would have been willing to pay more for the product I liked.  Now I no longer buy Pine Sol.  In fact, I threw out the bottle I had and switched to Mr. Clean Disinfectant.  The smell is OK.

I hate change.

My computer crashed.  I bought a new one and now have Windows 8.  I was perfectly happy with Windows XP.  I had what I needed to know figured out.  My photo software worked with Windows XP, but no longer works with Windows 8.  Why can't Microsoft leave well enough alone?  Why not have one basic operating system and give us the option of adding bells and whistles?  Don't keep completely changing it every couple of years.  I want every program I've ever bought to continue to work.  That's why you won't be seeing pictures with this blog post.  I've stopped taking them.  I need to sit and spend hours figuring something else out and I haven't had the time or the energy to try.

I hate change.

Things have changed so quickly in the last ten to fifteen years.

I'd like a television that comes on right away.  Remember how they used to be?  Now you have to wait and read a "please wait" message before you finally get a picture.  They make these fancy television sets but they can't make them come right on?  I guess I'm an instant gratification kind of person.

I hate change.

OK, I like my cell phone.  Although I have it primarily for phone calls it is nice to text, get on the Internet, etc.  It's just that when I go some place everyone is looking at their phones.  I see people driving and texting all the time.  In Target or the mall you have to constantly be watching because people are walking and texting or talking and not paying attention.  No one looks up much any more.

I kind of hate this change, but I like it too.  I have mixed emotions with this one.

Packaging.  I hate the way some products are packaged in that hard plastic.  You end up having to cut through the plastic and struggle for 10 minutes to get the item out. I bought one of those "advertised on TV" cutting instruments at Target.  It helps, but it's still a pain trying to get something out.  Remember when things were packaged in little boxes that you just opened?  None of this plastic stuff.

Ever since the Tylenol scare in the 1980's a lot of packaging changed.  It was necessary because there are some evil people out there.  I think of the Tylenol scare every time I try and open a bottle of  Tylenol or Excedrin.  You see it in the grocery store too.  Food is packaged differently now.  Sadly, it's necessary but I don't have to like it.  It just seems to be more and more difficult for me to get things open.  I believe it's because my hands have gotten weaker in my old age.

I've contacted more than one company about the child proof caps on toilet bowl cleaner.  I have trouble opening most of them.  I don't have little children in my house.  Why can't I buy cleaner with regular caps?  Can't there be a choice?  They tell me it's Federal Law.  So, I have to bang the bottle on the side of the sink until the cap breaks, or get someone to open it for me and then I leave it open.  I hardly think that's safe, but I have no choice.

I hate change.  Some change anyway.

I know there's good change too.  There are plenty of good changes.  It's just that today frustration has led me to focus on the ones I don't like.

Any changes you don't like?