Bathroom failure #1:  While the obesity rate in America is growing, the bathroom stalls are getting smaller.  Ever been in a bathroom stall where the door opens so close to the toilet that you have to straddle the toilet in order to close or open the door?  You step forward to pull down your pants, sit down to do your business, and the toilet paper holder is touching your leg.  Talk about making a person feel claustrophobic.  Then you get to go through the dance routine again in order to pull up your pants and open the door.

Bathroom failure #2:  Vertically challenged toilets.  I understand when designing a public bathroom, the designer has to keep in mind those people who are vertically challenged and children . . . but some designers take it to the extreme.  At 5’4”, I am considered somewhat vertically challenged but I have been in bathrooms that make me feel like a giant!  The seat on the toilet is barely a foot off of the floor and your knees are at chest level when you sit down.  Yes, these stalls may have been designed for children but when you are in a public bathroom and the child is too small to sit on a regular height toilet, then the child should be with an adult.  (It is just common sense that you do not let a small child out of your site when in a public place.)  These miniature toilets were designed for elementary schools, not your typical business bathrooms.

I have also had the joy of trying to use a public bathroom where my toes barely touched the ground when I sat down.  I could understand having a taller toilet in a handicap stall so that it is easier for the person to get back up but if the person is trying to get out of a wheel chair, it would make it more difficult to get up on a taller toilet.

Bathroom failure #3:  The miss-aligned stall where the toilet is off-center from the stall door.  This is one of my biggest pet peeves when it comes to privacy issues in a public bathroom.  The stall is actually big enough to turn around in but when you sit down on the toilet, you can see the people on the outside of the stall trough the inch wide crack between the door and the stall wall.  If you can see them, they can see you.  The miss-aligned toilet happens when the bathroom is redesigned but they do not move the toilets.  This also leads to the stalls that are so narrow that you can’t turn around.  I know it cost the company more to re-plumb a bathroom than it does to simply move the stall walls around but why spend the money to remodel a bathroom and not do a complete job.

Bathroom failure #4:  Improperly flushing toilets.  The invention of motion detectors for the toilet to self-flush is awesome . . . except when it doesn’t flush correctly.  Each motion detector has to be set for short-range detection or the toilet will flush every time someone walks by the stall.  If the range in too short, it can flush before the person is completely off of the toilet.  Ever leaned forward to wipe and had the toilet flush on you?  Not fun since you will usually get splashed with the nasty water.  Part of the problem of flushing too soon can be blamed on the delay timer not being set properly.  The motion detector has a delay timer that has to be set so that the toilet will flush after the person has gotten off the toilet but before they leave the stall.  If the motion detector and the delayed timer are not properly set, the toilet may not automatically flush.  Most people are so use to the automatic flush that they do not stop to make sure the toilet flushes.

Another problem with the toilets in public bathrooms does not depend on the automatic flush features.  Even the public bathrooms that still have the old fashioned manual flush can have the following issues.  There is a fine balance between not enough force to flush and too much force.  A toilet with not-enough force will leave stuff in the toilet after it has flushed – often leaving bits of toilet paper floating.  A toilet with too much force will cause the water to spray outside of the toilet – leaving a wet seat and possibly a wet floor.

Bathroom failure #5:  Only having one method to dry your hands after washing.  Many public bathrooms have switched to using blow dryers as a more environmentally friendly way to dry hands as opposed to paper towels.  The problem here once again relates back to improperly programmed features.  If the heat and air speed of the blow dryer is set too, then it will not dry hands.  If the heat and air speed is set too high, the person may get burned.  There is also the time issue since it takes longer to stand there and blow dry your hands than it does to grab a paper towel or two.  If the company uses soap with moisturizer, it can cause the blow dryer to take even longer to dry the person’s hands.  The time issue can also be a problem with high traffic bathrooms because the company usually only have one or two blow dryers, which means people will have to wait in line to dry their hands.

Offering only paper towels in a public bathroom can cause issues as well.  The bathrooms need checked several times a day to ensure there is always paper towels available and that the trash cans are not overflowing.  Customers can get pretty irate when there are no paper towels available in the bathroom.  The ideal public bathroom would offer a minimum of two blow dryers and two paper towel dispensers.  This would allow the eco-friendly customers to use the blow dryers and the people in a hurry can grab the paper towels.

Bathroom failure #6:  My finally failure for public bathrooms is not really about the stall.  It is more like a failure on the part of the companies.  Using cheap toilet paper in the public bathrooms!!  Yes, the one-ply paper may be cheaper to put in the bathrooms, but the customers are going to use more in the long run.  Customers – especially females – know that if they use too little toilet paper, their fingers will end up going through the paper mid-wipe.  Nasty!  Most people will use more than enough paper to wipe if the paper is cheap one-ply.  This leads to having to replace the toilet paper more often and clogged toilets.

Another problem with cheap toilet paper is that it can feel like you are wiping with sandpaper!

So I guess this ends my rant on public bathrooms . . . for the moment anyway.

I know that in a public place, such as a store or restaurant, it is called the restroom.  In a private setting, such as your house, it is called the bathroom.

At first I thought the difference must be due to if the room has a place to bathe, such as a bath tub or shower stall.  Then I had to question that because a half-bath in a house only has a toilet and a sink but it still considered a bathroom.

I did some research on the Internet but kept finding the same answers -
#1. bathroom has a bath tub, restroom does not.
#2. restroom is public, bathroom is private.
#3. It depends on where person who is asking is from. Different regions have different speaking habits.

The other answers I came across is that
#1. it has to do with being politically correct
#2. being less offensive to people.

I have to question those answers too since I really don’t care about being politically correct and everyone has to use the potty so how is it offensive?

I guess this is a topic that I will have to continue questioning since there doesn’t seem to be a correct answer.

I tend to be a very private person and I have very few people who I consider close friends.  Don’t get me wrong, I am a friendly person and I have a large number of people who I am friends with . . . but there are only a few that I feel close enough to that I would tell my darkest secrets.  Out of the friends that I have, very few are guys.  I began to question myself as to why I have very few guy friends.  After looking deep inside I have come to the realization that it all comes down to trust.  (My best friend is probably the only person who will know exactly which guys I am talking about, so if you can’t think of whom I am talking about, don’t worry about it.)

As a child I was accused of being “boy crazy”.  If I had bad grades in school, it was always because I was too busy paying attention to the boys, and it never had anything to do with not understanding what the teacher was trying to teach me.  As I grew older, I learned to keep the guys from school at a distance . . . never letting one get close to me.  This continued through high school.  The few guys I was friends with were not from school so I didn’t have to worry that any names would get back to my family.  I was very careful to keep my personal life separated from my school life.

The in my senior year of high school, I found myself attracted to a guy who was a year younger than myself.  I can’t really recall what attracted me to him, now that a few years have passed.  I do remember the gorgeous sky blue eyes and a big grin.  I know there had to be something about me that he liked otherwise he would not have become friends with me.  To this day, I still don’t know if he was actually attracted to me or if he was simply friends with me because I helped him pass a couple classes.  I tried to remain friends with him after I graduated and went so far as to buy him several gifts for Christmas.  Yes, I did have the chance to have sex with him, but I said no.  Do I regret saying no?  Not really but there are times where I wonder if things would have turned out differently if I had of said yes.

Moving forward a couple years.  I met a guy off of the Internet – that should have been my first clue that it wouldn’t work out.  When we first started chatting online, he told me that he was in his early 30s, single with no children.  As we continued to chat, his story started changing to being in his mid 30s, to late 30s, to early 40s, and from single to widowed, divorced, and separated.  When I finally met him, I guessed his age to be more in the late 40s or early 50s.  But I was desperate for love and affection and he provided it in a way.  Our on-and-off relationship lasted around 3 years, until I decided that I was tired of being used and not getting anything out of it.  He still came around a couple times after I ended it but I refused to see him and he finally moved on.

Fast forward 5 ½ years – yep, that is a long time to be alone.  Honestly, I think I was back to the point of being desperate for love and affection.  I met a guy through doing a newspaper route and it quickly went from friendship to being engaged and living together.  I have written about the hell I went through in that relationship – see My Broken Wings.  Let’s just say that I have a lot of emotional baggage left over from it.

Fast forward a little over a year.  Yes, I have had a year to come to terms with my emotional baggage but there are a lot of lingering fears and doubts.  Once again, don’t get me wrong – I have flirted with a lot of guys but it never goes beyond flirting.  I always keep the guys at a distance and I will back off if the guy tries to get close to me.  (Yes, my size is one of the main reasons that I don’t let anyone get close to me.  People tend to be mean and/or cruel to fat people, often without realizing that they are doing it.)  I have found myself drawn to a couple guys and I feel that I need to get to know them better – but on a purely friendship basis, nothing more.  I know there has to be a reason I am in their lives but I am sure that they think I am just a pest.  (Sorry Travis!)  While I may find these few guys attractive and I may flirt with them, I cannot picture anything other than friendship with them.

Now we have reached the current issue.  I took a leap of faith and started chatting with a guy that I am friends with.  It started out as a need to know him as a friend but I am now questioning if I should take another leap of faith and see where it might lead.   I know myself well enough to know that I am giving off mixed signals to this guy . . . I start to get close and then I will back off.  Fears from my past and the fear of rejection are keeping me from taking that leap.

From chatting with this friend, I know some of the bad parts of his past and I am willing to look past them.  I know that by age 30, everybody has something in their past that they are not real proud of.  It is the ability to overcome the past that makes a person stronger.  I believe anyone who holds a person’s past against that person – well, the person who is judging has issues in their own past that they need to deal with and they will not find happiness with anyone until then.

I know that this guy has seen me in public and knows how big I am, and yet he still talks to me.    Plus, if he has read any of my articles, then he knows some of the emotional baggage that I am still dealing with.  We are both in less-than-ideal situations right now and I have a feeling that we could help each other out . . . but I have already rushed into a relationship that cost me dearly.  I just can’t take that risk again.

So here I sit, lost in a sea of my own thoughts and emotions.  I am sorry for the mixed signals . . . I blame it on my mixed emotions.  I don’t know where to go from here.  Should I leave it at just friendship or try for something more?  I guess I will just have to see what happens from this point.

So the next thought that popped into my head is . . . what is the point of a maxi pad looking pretty?  Once again, it gets used and then thrown away.  Not once have I heard a female say anything to the effect of “Don’t you like my skirt?  It matches my maxi pad.”  I also have never had one of my female friends pull out a maxi pad – clean, not used – and pass it around so that everyone can check out the cool designer image.

The next image that popped into my head is one of a little kid getting into momma’s package of maxi pads and thinking they are really cool paper planes.  I can vividly picture the kid plastering the living room wall with the designer maxi pads – mainly because I have heard of kids doing this with the regular maxi pads.  ”Momma, come look at all of the pretty planes!”  And this usually happens when the adults have company over or are expecting company any minute.  Although they may look pretty, it is still very obvious that they are maxi pads.  (ROTFLMBO!!!)

Dear Kotex, please tell me that you do not expect women to pay more for these designer maxi pads.

And once again, I have to ask . . . what is the point?!?!?!

http://webiweave.hubpages.com/hub/My-Broken-Wings-Still-Can-Fly

http://webiweave.hubpages.com/_blog2011/hub/My-Way-of-Recovering

http://webiweave.hubpages.com/_blog2011/hub/Shadow-Monkeys

http://webiweave.hubpages.com/_blog2011/hub/A-Sad-Dream

For more poetry, visit http://poetry.webiweave.com

Most people are addicted to Facebook.  Here is a little article about thing that you shouldn’t do, say, or post to Facebook!  http://hubpages.com/hub/Facebook-the-good-the-bad-and-the-OMGs

The Rules of the Road don’t seem to apply to drivers in Northwest Arkansas.    http://hubpages.com/hub/Driving-in-NW-Arkansas-The-Rules-Dont-Apply-Here

This article is packed with information about Depression.   http://hubpages.com/hub/Depression-Learning-to-Live-Again

A sweet story told from the viewpoint of a cat.  http://hubpages.com/hub/A-Cats-Life-Mischiefs-Story

This article has gotten some negative feedback from people who are guilty of following the popular trends.    http://hubpages.com/hub/Popular-Fashions-What-Not-To-Wear

This is the first article in my Mental Mindset series.  This one is about Packrats and Hoarders.  http://hubpages.com/hub/Mental-Mindsets-Packrats-and-Hoarders

This is the second article in my Mental Mindset series.  This is about Broke vs. Poor Mindsets.  http://hubpages.com/hub/Mental-Mindsets-Broke-vs-Poor

Watch for more articles to come!!!