Marginal Utility

by Tom Bozzo

Without further ado, here is the second Whining Carnival. If you have a late contribution, leave a link in the comments, and I'll add it to the Carnival when I have a chance.

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The Joys of Home (Ownership)

Scrivener's weekend is interrupted by the discovery that his house is sheltering some of the neighborhood wildlife. Warning is hereby given to anyone sensitive to the treatment of rodent squatters. The good news is that the squirrels were evicted without excessive violence. The bad news is this, yikes!

Broken glass always ends up in finer shards than you can imagine, according to Purple Kangaroo. Getting it up — before the baby vacuum cleaner — will help get seldom seen corners of the house clean, though.

Yuck! Square Plate encounters disgusting evidence of the extremely drunk transiting her parking lot.


Our Four-Wheeled "Friends"

Car troubles and the financing of the repairs lead Rev. Dr. Mom to explore the classic whine/anti-whine form.

Janelle Renée takes her snappy red sports car into the shop and leaves with a... Buick "Rendez-yuck." (Ed. supplied anti-whine: At least it wasn't an Aztek.) Then it goes back in, and Janelle gets the purple heart courtesy of the wonky doors of another frickin' SUV. Anti-whine #2: Third time is the charm, a Porsche Cayenne loaner.


The Academy's Inhumanity to Academics

Xtin takes a break from a crash dissertation-writing effort to deconstruct language in boilerplate communications to academic job-seekers.

Square Plate finds that wine tastings and undergraduate papers in need of grading don't mix, and finds a root of procrastination in a job that no longer fits so well.

A dead laptop, an unloved conference paper, and the struggle to recover teaching mojo leave Lee Scoresby in need of a good pseudonymous blog whine.

Dr. Brazen Hussy enumerates five ways adjunct professors face a hostile work environment.

Space, Please

A student enters Square Plate's radius of comfort without leave, leading to the question of why don't the close-talkers/workers/kick-boxers get it?

Purple Kangaroo encounters the tactlessness of strangers, in particular showing amazing restraint after being called "Little Miss Suzy Homemaker" by a Wal-Mart checker.


We Do Love Our Kids

Purple Kangaroo is really worn out on the occasion of her Baby E's six month birthday. Really, really worn out. But Dear Husband provides a little respite at exactly the right time.

Spring break is great. When it's your break, that is. Scrivener reminds us that caring for children, however fun and adorable are the kids and rewarding it is for the caregivers, is work.

Camera Obscura wonders whether there will be net labor savings from teaching the kids the basics of housework. The logical conclusion: "Skilled slave labor is better than unskilled."


Beyond Classification

Allergy suffer Scott of Semiquark reports that the War on Meth makes it illegal, in the state of Illinois, to purchase more than one adult's supply of pseudoephedrine decongestant per month.

Last, Phantom Scribbler, the sovereign of the Carnival, ranges over an array of whine-inducing topics, including toddler weight gain, playgroup angst, cranky Web browser software, and much much more.