I Am the King of Apathy Mountain

Rants
Why is it rude if I'm on the phone with someone, and say my roommate walks in and I interrupt my conversation with whoever I'm on the phone with (we'll call her Janice) to say "Hey dude, did you pick up some more cereal? Because we've been out for like two months and I am craving me some Lucky Charms." But it's perfectly ok for someone (we'll still call her Janice) to be talking to me and every few minutes she will interrupt the conversation to talk all cutsey to her cat or dog?
A better question is, why is it more rude for me to interrupt our conversation talk to an actual sentient coherant person who can undestand what the hell I am saying and may, possibly offer some beneficial feedback, compared to Janice who might as well be interrupting me to talk to a pillow or toaster.

I bought my parents one of those digital photo frames for Christmas. I even had the foresight to load a bunch of pictures of the family on it, because I was worried that they would just look at it think it's too hard to work, and put it out in the garage. It's actually really easy to use, and I think it's a pretty amazing little invention. All it does is display pictures, and it does it beautifully.
The other day I went over to visit my parents, and I noticed that the frame was still on the bookshelf, and my dad had gone to all the trouble of running the power cable behind the furniture, but the frame itself was off. I was on my way out and nobody was home, so I just went over and pushed the button to turn it back on.
A couple days later I came back to the house and again, the stupid picture frame was off again. This time my mom was watching TV out in the living room and so I asked her "Do you turn this off?"
"Yes" she looked at me quizzically
"You know it's not a TV, you can just leave it on all the time"
"But...it uses power"
"Well, yes mom, but it uses very little, and it's like a picture, it's just there to show off pictures."
"Well, your father doesn't like it on all the time."
"Ugh"
This is just like when I had to explain to them that half the reason to have a cell phone is to have it on. For the longest time my mom would carry her cell phone (Dad refused to get one) in her purse turned off. Which is a little nutty I know, but the worst part is that she would occasionally call me from it, asking some question on my voicemail, and if I missed the call, there was no calling her back. It seemed as soon as she finished her conversation she would hang up and immediately power down the phone and put it back in her purse. In frustration I would usually end up leaving a voicemail on the house phone, which she would call me back from, completely bewildered as to why I sounded so frustrated on the answering machine.
"Mom, just leave the cell phone on"
"It runs down"
"Since you never call anyone, it should take days to run down"
"But then I have to charge it"
"Yes, that is why you have the plug in at the house"
"But....that uses power"
"Ugh"

Personal Update
School started again. It's been tough to get excited about it, but I am doing ok. I hit the gym for the first time in weeks again yesterday, so I know I'm going to be sore tomorrow. I am writing this on my lunch at school, so I am going to go before I misuse any more commas.