Christams comes earlier every year.

This one is going to be quick...

Know what makes me angry? The fact that Christmas stuff goes up before Halloween is over. I hate the fact that retailers try to get a jump on the holiday shopping season every year. And every year not only does the crap fill the shelves but the horrible horrible Christmas music fills my ears earlier and earlier every year.

But, I can't be mad at retailers. The economy sucks, people are buying less things in stores because there are better deals online so they try to get people to buy as much as they can as early as they can. No, my anger rests squarely on the people who start shopping for Christmas stuff all the way in October. If these people could realize that the deals are going to stay the same the whole season they wouldn't start shopping until mid November like all the normal people. And, the retailers would realize they could hold off till a normal time to put up the decorations and the items that will only be bought during the holiday season and wait to put on the bad music so there is a much shorter time we have to deal with the synthetic merryment.

Wow, 2 weeks without rage. It's a miracle

Well, to be honest I have gotten plenty angry a few times in the past couple of weeks but my lazyness won out against my anger but I figure if I'm going to change the world I should write a few things so, here it goes...

Know what makes me angry?

People with pets at the park.

Now, firstly I would like to say it is not all people with pets there are plenty of people who go to the parks with their dogs and jog and walk with them and the animals cause no problem whatsoever. I like to count myself in this group I have a dog that I constantly take to the park. I keep her on a short leash, not because she is a dangerous dog or anything, but because she is curious about the world. She likes to wander around sniff everything possible and mark every 2 seconds, and, if I don't keep her close to me she is going to infringe on other peoples right to enjoy the park.

However, there are people who take their dogs to the park and basically let them roam free. They have them on the extended leash, you know the one I am talking about, it reals in and out to allow your dog some freedom. Well, they all keep their leash extended at the maximum length and the dogs wander all over the path getting in the way of bicyclists, joggers and anther park patrons.

The worst part about these people is they have no consideration for the other people at the park, other dog owners especially. As I said my dog is curious about the world and she especially want to meet other dogs. So, if another dog and their owner seems friendly enough I will let her go meet the other dog. Well, I don't know if you have ever noticed this but the smaller the dog the more obnoxious the dog (not always but its a good general rule). The little ones that like to bark at my dog as if calling for a confrontation always seem to owned by people who don't do anything about this. I guess they figure "oh, my dog is small what harm could she do". Well your dog might not be a great fighter but their are other dogs out their that are. My dog is the sweetest dog you will ever meet, but she is 50 pounds and suprisingly strong. So when your little annoying dog comes yapping at her she is only going to get angry, and, that makes it harder for me to restrain her. And guess what, if she breaks free of my hold, your dog is going to pay the price.

I have a great example from my walk yesterday. There is this large boardwalk/bridge at the park near my house. Well me and my dog were crossing and this woman was with her friend watching the ducks and geese fly in and out of the lake. Well, she had her little dog (I'm going to say it was a corgi but I don't know for sure) on a retracting leash. This leash, while not at full extension, was allowing this dog to wander all over this little bridge. The little dog was barking at me and my dog and the owner was doing absolutely nothing about it. There was no way for me walk around out of reach with my dog because we were on this little bridge. So, I choked up on the leash and pulled her past the little barking rat. I heard the woman say once "Charlie no" but she did so as she was looking out at the water, that's right folks she wasn't even paying attention to what her dog was doing. And that was the part that annoyed me the most because even though it was little, it has sharp teeth and kids love dogs.

See, I am planning having kids sometime in the near future. And, part of the plan of raising them to not be morbidly obese is to go on family walks with them at the park. And, while your dog may mean absolutely no harm to people, I am going to base my child's safety on your dogs attitude. So if your dog is at full leash extension barking at my kid, guess what? Your dog is getting a face full of hiking boot.

So, everyone who takes their dog to the park, do yourself and everyone else a favor and get a standard length leash. They are cheap, and they help prevent conflicts between dog and dog, as well as dog and people. But mostly, you need to control your dog, it makes everyone feel safer thus making the park fun for everyone.

Nothing in a dollar store should be over a dollar!!!

Know what makes me angry? Sales Tax

Do you ever get excited in a store because you have exact change for an item you want to buy and you get to the register and it costs seven cents more then you have. You curse because you forgot about sales tax.

Now, I have no problem with the system of taxing everyday purchases. It is needed to keep our local governments running (although one could argue all local governments are ineficient) but the fact that retailers wait till you purchase something to charge it is absurd.

Back in the day when manual cash registers were used there was an excuse to charge the tax after but now that everything is priced in a huge mainframe at corporate headquarters it would be so easy to adjust the price for sales tax and have it included so the price on the shelf tag is what you will pay.

I'm not a business tycoon or an economist but this seems like it would make so many peoples lives easier on a day to day basis. Your budget for food clothes etc. etc. could be locked down more securely and if you are a circular shopper (one of the people who basis where they will buy things via the junk section of the paper) you could know exactly what you will be paying before leaving the house. Anyway I doubt anything will ever come of this idea, I'm just saying is all.

LR3 Evil yet good?

Know what makes me angry? The Land Rover LR3.

Well, you might be saying what is the big deal about hating a car that you can't afford and kills the planet with its fuel inefficiency. And I answer, that's the problem.

I took my Freelander in for its 72000 mile service and found out it is so expensive and so time consuming that they would give me a loaner (it's the first time i have ever been offered a loaner car, I felt like such an adult). After my initial shock at the expense of the service I got excited that I would be getting to drive a luxury car for the first time ever (my Freelander is about as far from luxury as any Land Rover can be). As I pulled into the dealership to drop off my car I saw a mini that I would love to drive for a day or two, well that's a sales vehicle, I was told, we have to give you something from the loaner pool (I bet if I were richer they would have given me the Mini).

Anyway, the service adviser walked me out to the loaner cars and proceeded to unlock a big ol' white LR3. I looked at this ginormous beast and decided right then and there I was going to hate the next few days of driving.

Upon entry I disliked the way the seating was laid out where all the buttons were and the over complicatedness of the ignition system (stick the dongle in the slot then push the button. Is it too hard to turn a key these days?) The visibility was crappy and the nav-system didn't have the state of NC as a selectable option (bear in mind this is at a dealership in NC seems like something they should fix).

Anyway I took off in my lumbering dinosaur of a an SUV only to realize it wasn't lumbering, in fact it had quite a bit of pep. The breaks were a little grabby but better then being too spongy. The handling was quite good for a vehicle of its size and the interior finishes were very nice. So, I decided it wouldn't be all bad.

As I drove back to Raleigh from Cary and was delayed by multiple acts of stupidity (a three car accident at an intersection, construction on one of the most important ramps in the area (Tryon merging with 64) in the middle of rushour time I had time to start fiddling. I paired my bluetooth enabled cell phone and called my wife. I loaded a bunch of CDs in the changer, I opened up (then promptly shut because of the cold) the Huge moonroof. The mirror auto dimmed for me the lights came on by themselves. It was all very exciting. Then this morning (before the car had warmed to the point of being able to use the heater I used seat heaters for the first time.

So here is why the LR3 makes me angry, I want to hate it! It is the definition of excess what with it's size and features (it's why the terrorists hate the U.S.) but, at the same time I can't help but love it. My next car, someday, will have, hopefully, every bell whistle doodad and doohickey of the LR3 But, until that day comes, if you ask me if I need any of those features in a car I will promptly tell you "nobody needs that s*, good day sir!"

Pennies from heaven?

Know what makes me angry? Pennies

I don't understand the penny, I really don't. Nobody in this country gives any value to the penny if someone drops it they don't bother to pick it up. If someone sees one on the ground (anyone other then me) they just say “eh” and walk on by. They get lost under seats, shelves and furniture tossed on dressers never to be touched again and yet they still get made.

One could argue that since things cost irregular amounts (7 cents etc.) that the penny is vital to our economy but the fact is if stores just adjusted the price properly it would be completely irrelevant and therefore not needed.

Also, I would argue that elimination of the penny would improve our economy, here's how. Every dollar that is printed is (theoretically) backed by gold somewhere in a U.S. Depository since pennies are currency they are backed by gold but since they have such low value in the grand scheme they are viewed as trash. People loose and even throw them away without a second thought. So lets put the gold that backs them to useful money and less will be wasted.

Also the material used to make a penny is rapidly becoming more valuable then the pennies themselves. They already reduced the amount of copper in a penny to almost nothing but even that copper is probably worth more then a cent. Think about it people, it's just another way your tax dollars are being wasted.

Last Licks @ the post office... for now

'Still makes me angry... The post office

Lets go ahead and round this topic out so I can go on to greater and more diverse topics next week.

The employees of the U.S. postal service are some of the most miserable people in existence. Ask yourself, have you ever dealt with a pleasant postal worker? No you haven't. And why is that? No, seriously, I'm asking, Why is that?

If you have a job at the post office you have absolutely no right to be angry about anything. Yes, you are going to deal with annoying people but you have probably one of the cushiest jobs in the U.S. You are a federal employee which means...

You get paid WAY too much for what you do.

You have some of the best health benefits in the country.

You have more paid sick and vacation time then most people at your stage in life.

You have probably the most secure career possible, you won't get fired. You might get relocated but the odds against you being fired are astronomical.

When any of us citizens steps into the post office we get treated with attitude, when we call the post office on the phone we get attitude and when we see our local mail carrier we get attitude. They act like they are doing you a favor but they work for us! Their services would not exist without us, so we as a populace need to fight back and let them know that we won't take it anymore.

Or better yet I propose this. Let's rip down the post office and start from scratch. Fire everyone involved in it's running and hire a successful business man to start from scratch and make it a for-profit business. Who knows, it might get run correctly.

You're going there anyway...

Know what STILL makes me angry? The post office

The other day I started on a rant against the post office and got into the subject of the increasing price of stamps when I had to go do something else, so I am going to pick up where I left off...

There are several problems I have with the post office constantly raising the price of stamps.

1. The price raises are too frequent... Rather then just make a price that will last for a while, they raise it a cent at a time making all of your old stamps insufficient. They do sell one and two cents stamps that people can put on in addition, but most people will just get new stamps. And, the post office knows that the likelyhood of people just deciding to trash the stamps they had before is high. Which means what? That's right pure profit for them.

2. You know all that junk mail you get? (heck most of my mailbox is filled with junk mail on a daily basis) Well, they get to pay less to send that because it's metered mail. That's right, each of those six credit card offers you got this week got to pay less (I think it's three cents less) then you did when you sent that card to grandma on her birthday. If they want to make things better they should charge MORE for commercial mail. That way there will be less for them to process (the credit card companies will balk at a higher and send out less "pre-approved" offers) and they will make more in volume (because most of the mail is commercial anyway).

3. They charge way to much for packages. If you compare what UPS/FEDex/DHL charges and what the Post Office charges you will be surprised. The post office charges what they would consider to be a competitive rate. It's slightly lower then then box movers but not by a lot. Well, it should be a LOT lower because their going there anyway. The recipient of your package will already be getting bills or something that day. That means a postal worker is going to have to stop in front of that house today no matter what. Why they need to charge a bunch more just because something is in a box rather then an envelope is beyond me.
oh, and a side-note... You may not know this but they expect you to pay for any cards/letters you put in a package. That's right... if you send your aunt Millie and afghan for her birthday and put a card in the box you need to put a stamp on the box to pay for the card inside! Well I say screw that, and everyone else should too!!!


4. They are federally funded!!! Both my and your tax dollars are already paying for the post office to be in business. But anytime we want to use any of their services we need to pay an additional fee. What kind of crap is that? It's like paying a cable bill once for having it and then again if we want to tune in and watch TV. Nobody else on this planet could get away with this kind of S* but we let them? No wonder people are switching to online bill-pay and e-mail in record numbers.

5. Their customer service stinks! And I will continue with this thought in another rant...

A to B! That's your friggin job man...

Know what makes me angry? The post office.

Now, your probably saying to yourself "Wow, someone who doesn't like the post office? I've never heard of such a thing". Well, screw you, I need to rant against it.

A little while back (this past June) I tried to be a good son and sent a card to my father. Later I was distressed when I got an e-mail from my mother declaring I had hurt my fathers feelings by not sending anything. I called and assured him that I had indeed sent something and we decided either the post office lost it, or they delivered it to the wrong house and the person who got it by accident decided to just chuck it.

Now, the fact that we decided that it could be easily be either of these options does not bode well for the post office in general. It shows that everyone in my family (and probably the U.S. as a whole) thinks that the USPS is incapable of doing its job. Because, really, what is it they do? They get a piece of mail from point A to point B! And, there really should be no excuse for screwing that up when it's all they do.

Let's break this down with a little more scrutiny shall we? We decided he thing that could have gone wrong was...

A: A piece of mail that I (or anyone else for that matter) had paid them to take care of, and entrusted to get to its destination was dropped on the floor of some warehouse, hangar-bay or vehicle and just got ignored and kicked under a crate or something...

or B: A piece of mail that I (or anyone else for that matter) had paid them to take care of, and entrusted to get to its destination, and, had clearly been marked with where it needed to go, was bundled in with someone else's load of mail from trusting sources and was completely ignored.

The fact that it could be either of these options without anyone giving it a second thought tells me that the post-office should not be in business.

Why am I bringing this up now you ask? over 4 months later? Well, I recently got an envelope in the mail with a big stamp on it saying "return to sender insufficient postage" and I got pissed for several reasons, not just one.

1. Tt took months for the card to make it back to my house! As if it had gotten all the way to Maryland, and, just as it was about to be delivered, the guy said "oh, not the right stamp" and sent it back. I live about three miles from the mail processing center for not only the city but the central portion of the state, it should have been back in my mailbox the very next day so I could tell my dad ahead of time, that his card was going to be late.

2. The stamp I put on my card said "First Class" there is no way I could have known it was an old stamp. Can't they assume that I didn't try to short-change them on purpose? I mean, if I had known the stamp was worth the 1 cent less then it needed to be, I would have done something about it. So, if something says "First Class" on it they should honor it no matter how old it is. Which, leads us to point three.

3. The price of mailing things keeps going up. If they didn't keep changing the price of mailing things they could actually print the value of a stamp on the stamp. But, since they make it more expensive every six months to mail a letter, they have just decided to print "first class" on all stamps. I mean... Know what? There are so many things I don't like about them making mail more and more expensive! I think I am going to make this rant a two-parter!

Your announcing, not preaching

Know what makes me angry? Partial Sportscasters.

Well, for past over a week I have been watching the Boston Red Sox take on the Tampa Bay Devil (I know they dropped the Devil from their name but since they were that for so long that's what they will always be to me) Rays in the ALCS on TBS. Actually, It's more like my wife has been watching and I've been in the room.

First off I would like to say I am glad it's on a cable channel so I'm not missing any of the shows I like because of it (Fox is screwing me over but that's another story). But, the personalities on TBS giving play-by-play are crappy. Now all commentators are boring and go off on trivial information that has nothing to do with the game at hand, or say things that really go without saying. But the guys these past few nights LOVE Tampa Bay and they ain't afraid to talk about it. It goes beyond things like "this team is impressive" to the point of singling out certain players and extolling their virtues so much it sounds like they want to please them in an unholy manor. And, they were also coming dangerously close to outright bashing the Sox.

Now, when they were in Tampa I could get past it because they were on the Ray's home turf, and that's part of home field advantage, you get love from the broadcasters. But, when they went to Fenway the love should have switched sides, but it didn't. It just got more and more passionate for the fish.

It wasn't until I was was watching last night that I figured out what what was going on, they were backing the winners. How do I know this? Well before the 7th while Boston was getting slaughtered the Rays were awesome and Boston was just crappy, but as soon as the 7th rolled around and the boys from Beantown began to make a comeback "Boston still had some magic left". That's when I got mad at the broadcasters. They should be impartial no matter what the situation. And, I realized they were just pandering to the winning team (not sure how it benefited them but there you go)

Now in any competition any person will pick a favorite, no matter how little they care, they will pick a favorite. For example, the subway series a few years back. I don't like new York and I couldn't have cared less about watching the games, but I wanted the Metts to win. They were the underdog and the Yankees and their fans are arrogant. So despite my not caring at all I chose a side (I didn't watch even one highlight real but I knew who I was rooting for) much like any other person would.

So lets make a rule (I like new these new rules I'm coming up with, they could help control our society and prevent it from spinning to complete chaos and stupidity). Announcers, you go ahead and choose your favorite, but you need to keep it to yourself. You are being payed for play by play not to convert me into a Ray's (or any other team) fan, let that go to the boring half hour (sometimes hour (but it seems so much longer no matter what the length)) wrap up show.

P.S. There, I have done it! Parenthesis within parenthesis, a new personal best for me! I think I will go celebrate by watching all the high-def TV I've DVRd while my wife has taken over the good set in the living room.

Self loathing, it's popular these days.

Know what makes me angry? My lazyness.

Today's is going to be short and it's only going to benefit myself (at least I assume it will only be me). I have been tired this week and therefore lazy, I haven't worked out like I should and every day I say I'm going to be productive and clean/organize some part of the house but when I get home I do nothing constructive. Yesterday, I watched August Rush (which I actually enjoyed despite it's overly cheesy nature) instead of doing laundry like I swore I would. I am sitting on the couch watching bad TV and meanwhile my living room is a disaster and the lawn needs to be mowed. I have passed lazy and am to the point of sloth (much like many people in this country) and it needs to stop.

So, I am making a challenge to myself and anyone else who is feeling even a little like me these day. Get off your butt and make your life better.

Random holidays mess me up!!!

Know what makes me angry? The random holidays that have filled our calender.

I know all of last week I was complaining that Americans don't get enough time out but I don't like the holiday's that have been declared throughout the years. The federal government had Monday off therefore I had Monday off and I had these great plans to do things but it just turned into another weekend day where I just kept saying I would do things later but never really got around to my to-do list. I needed my wife to keep me on task but she had to go to work.

I have always hated these types of days even when I was a kid and the main reason is (this is how much my life revolves around TV) all the networks would regularly air a bunch of TV shows (syndicated and game-shows) that I would enjoy watching on the off day that I was sick (getting my parents to let me stay home sick was an ordeal in itself) but if I was sick enough to stay home then odds were I would be in and out of conciseness throughout the day and couldn't watch the shows I wanted to. So when I got to stay home on a holiday I was always excited about the TV I would get to watch. But inevitably every network would be running "special programming" which usually meant a marathon of shows that I had no interest in watching. This continues to this day on the cable channels I like.

However, the real problem I have with these holidays is they don't apply to everyone. So some corporate places end up being open and all stores have a sale so nobody really benefits from these days.

Since they are always on a Monday or a Friday so they become wasted days, if your lazy during the weekend you will be just as lazy on one of these days and it will just go to waste. So, here is my proposal, let's make these days off on Wednesdays, it will have two benefits.

1. your still in working mode from being at work the past two days and you will have to go to work tomorrow so you can't start spooling down so you will want to be productive and will get all of your home projects done. and

2. it will offer you a much needed mid week break from the idiots that are at your office.

You know, the old country...

Know what makes me angry? How Europe does everything better then we do.

Yeah that's right, I am a fan of Europe and am not ashamed to say it. They do so many things better then we do. I know they are an older country and have had years to develop themselves but we are a country who's roots are primarily based from Europe I mean, we should know at least some of the things they do.

Roads are a great example: Germany built a highway (The autobahn) a beautiful gently curving miracle of modern engineering (at the time) that moved with the land and curved to keep drivers focused and speeds to a safe zone. The U.S. got so jealous that we had to build one too. Unfortunately rather then doing it the way they did we cut through mountains and desert in a straight line basically making a huge drag strip from sea to shinning sea. Meant to be driven on fast but that was unsafe so we put arbitrary speed limits on. They are inconsistent and do not reflect the road.

Cars are another one: Europeans tune their cars to be luxurious and sporty at the same time. and since they tax Gas and not diesel the highest over their (another good decision since diesel engines are not only more reliable they are more efficient and creating energy) European cars tend to be better for the planet. Not to mention the fact that they aren't (for the most part) excessively huge (what family with one kid needs a huge SUV I mean really)

Art: Yes there have been some creative types in the history of U.S. art but for the most part of all of the great creative strides and movements have originated across the pond in places like Italy and France. I think it's because most talented artists are squashed because their art isn't commercially successfull (great message to an aspiring artist huh? yeah your creative but I can't sell a can of soda with this)

Other things include health/obesity rates, consumer electronics & appliances and scientific breakthroughs.

But most importantly I was remembering my talking about "siesta" in Spain on Tuesday and it reminded me about Michael Moore's movie "Sicko". Not the health care part, while it's important, I don't know enough to rant against it. No, I remembered a scene in the movie where he interviewed several people who had moved from the U.S. who were extolling the virtues of the vacation and time off laws of France. They have government mandated like 5 weeks a year (I think, I don't remember for sure) for vacation and unlimited sick time by law (you have to bring in a doctors note after a certain time but still) And whats more when you have a baby (or adopt a baby) you have the option of taking a year off at FULL PAY.

All I have to say is, Why are they so much better then us? I mean I know that all of these policies would create a drain on businesses, having to pay people even though they aren't there, but if they can do it why can't we? The poverty level in those parts of the world don't seem that high (in fact it seems lower then some areas of the U.S.). Then it dawned on me it's because of our version of success. We have a society based on the principal that everyone below you class-wise is essentally a step stool to your having more wealth. And, since the wealthy make the laws in this country, it will stay this way.

So, as I get more and more tired of going to work and my wife (who has to put in hours to earn both sick and vacation time) regrets her decision to educate the youth of our country, it will become easier and easier for me to convince her to move to Merry old England. Besides, I've always wanted to live in a house that was 200 years old.

There is decent TV I could be watching people!!!

Know what makes me angry? Televised politics during Prime Time TV.

Last night I sat down with my wife to watch a couple of our favorite shows (House and Fringe) but low and behold when we looked at the guide a Presidential debate was coming on at nine, and that just made the night extra extra special annoying. Luckily, we had stuff on the DVR to watch or else Fox would have gotten an angry letter from me (yeah I would do that, I have the time).

So, the debate would have made up for a couple of hours of television but fox threw in the towel at the beginning of the night by airing an old (and I mean old like beginning of last season old) episode of house and it wasn't that good the first time around. So what that tells me is that the executives over at Fox figured out that nobody was going to be watching their channel that night. So I ask you (and them if somehow they end up reading this) why did they even bother airing the debate in the first place? There is no law that they have to. It's an option for any network to air anything other then their regularly scheduled programming. The sponsors of things like debates and even presidential addresses need to ask for air time. But, for some reason, they figure since the other networks are doing it they should too. If I were making money off people watching my programming, I would choose to air something that people will actually watch. Hell, they could have been the only network airing new programming at the 9 o'clock slot.

Which brings me to my next point. Why are the networks airing these things at all? They aren't even what they claim to be. A debate is supposed to be a discussion between two or more people, in which points and counter points are made. But, every time I tune into see even part of one of these things it's always the same formula. The moderator (or in last nights case a member of the audience) asks a question and then the candidate says... that's an excellent question, let me answer it by telling a story or fact that has nothing to do with the question you asked me (they don't actually say that but they might as well). And then the candidate recites from a talking point one of his lackeys drilled into his (or her) head and we all listen. Part of us says "oh he/she makes an excellent point" and we ignore the little voice in the back of our head going "they didn't answer the question".

That's not to say these things don't have merit, but they should be on a channel so people who specifically want to watch the "debate" can tune in and do so, while the rest of us can stick to our mind numbing regular reality escaping programming. There are like 6 cable news stations that I can think of off the top of my head, just air it on them and be done with it. That way you can build in your pundit commentary while the event is going on. Hell, you can even use a tellistrator to highlight the beads of sweat on the foreheads.

I know some people are going to say "But if you just air it on cable not everyone can see it" and I have two answers to that 1. Who in this country has TV and doesn't have cable or satellite or some other form of expanded tier programming? and 2. do we really want someone who gets all their political information from network news to be allowed to vote?

Middle of the day naps... I miss those.

You know what makes me angry? Preschoolers. Yeah that's, right another rant against our nations youth, but this one is actually going to go somewhere.

My wife is a teacher of preschool aged kids and she is constantly complaining about how the kids make noise and are restless at nap time. I think these kids should be drug out into the street and shot, because they don't appreciate a good thing when they have it.

I am coming up on 30 years old and I've gotta say, I've found the most rewarding thing I can do for myself during the day is take a nice afternoon nap. Now I don't claim to be a doctor but I know it's good for me because I feel better after a quick 30min shuteye session and I'm pretty sure that others feel the same way. Which makes me wonder why naptime isn't instituted in more corporate settings or even better made a federal law (I mean I know people in government work so slow they might as well be napping). I think that everyday people should get to put their head down at their desk and take a half hour snooze. I think productivity would skyrocket in the afternoon and everyone would be in a much better mood for both the ride home and possibly the ride to work.

Which reminds me of my trip to Spain when I was in highschool. Sometime around the middle of the day the entire country shuts down for "Siesta" now it's not just about napping, you go home and see your family and such during the middle of the day. Now when I first encountered this phenomenon it made me mad but that's because I was hungry and you aren't supposed to limit the access of food for a fat guy. But anyway, the more I thought about the more I realized that this was a great idea that the U.S. should adopt. However, I realized that there would always be that one guy who decided to try to get something accomplished during this time and he would screw it up for everyone.

So, let's make this an unbreakable law people, punishable by immediate imprisonment and the torture of NEVER being allowed to nap.

Working for the Weekend

Know what makes me angry? The work week, it is way too long.

This ones going to be quick because I am tired. I didn't get enough rest this weekend and am itching to go home and take a nap.

I don't understand what jerk decided it would be good to work for 5 days just to get a crappy 2 days off. And who decided on 8 hour workdays? I think everyone should be given the option of a 4-10. For those of you who don't know what a 4-10 is it's when you work 10 hours a day for four days of the week then you get three days off. I know I would gladly give up another two hours every day to get an extra weekend day and I'm pretty sure most other people in office buildings would too (can't speak for those who do manual labor but I bet if given the option they would suck it up and get on board). I think this is a policy that should become a law.

Someone get on this, nobody will listen to me because I am just an angry guy with a under appreciated web-log.

Its survival of the fittest people

So, there has been a lot of discussion about the 700 billion the government is (or isn't) going to give the failing banks but what hasn't been making the news (at least not nearly as much) is a 25 billion check that congress is issuing to the big 3 car companies in Detroit. There has been no contention of this in the media and people that I have mentioned it to haven't even known about it. Read about it here... http://www.autoblog.com/2008/10/01/big-three-pass-credit-check-government-loans-approved/

Now, when I stared this Web-Log I said I wasn't going to discuss the economy on the whole but I can't be quiet about this S*.

Why would the government even entertain the notion of helping a company that has failed. The big 3 auto-makers in Detroit Ford, GM, and Chrysler (none of which are truly an (American company I'll rant about that tomorrow) need to have the Darwin effect applied to them. They shifted the majority of their effort to building huge trucks & SUVs. Now, I realize that Americans have wanted to buy these gas guzzlers (despite all of the signs and warnings there have been in the past 20 years both of the detriment to the environment and the fact that gas is going to get expensive) but rather then making new trucks and SUVs along side of there smaller cars they allowed themselves to basically ignore the car market and now they are suffering for it. They are scrambling to build cars and losing money on all their trucks. But the thing is, they put themselves in this position by shifting all of their production lines. Not only that, but all of their trucks are getting bigger and bigger, remember the size of the original Ford Escape? compare it to one now you'll see what I mean.

I think businesses like these should be allowed to fail. In the short run a bunch of people will lose their jobs (which sucks) however, unemployment and welfare for these people would probably be cheaper for the government then any of the buyouts. But, in the long run one of two things will happen, another business will fill the void left and the founders of the new one will learn from the mistakes of the one that failed. Or two, the world will realize that the particular void left doesn't really need to be filled and we will move on.

The government is giving money because they argue that millions of jobs will be lost, but I have heard all sorts of politicians claiming that small businesses keep the American economy rolling. Yet, hundreds of small businesses, restaurants and stores go out of business every day and the government doesn't do a thing to help them. Is it lobbyists or what?

However, I am just yelling into the void, the government is going to do what it wants to do there is no real stopping it, they are going to represent us the American people by doing what's in THEIR best interests (great system we have huh?). However, if they are going to continue helping Airlines, Car Companies and Banks can I suggest one little addition to these bailout proposals. Specify that current management is all fired. I know it seems harsh at first but when you think about these people have been given enormous amounts of money (an executives yearly salary is probably more then I will make in my lifetime) to run a successful business that has been around for years, decades even, into the ground. Allowing them to keep their position not only rewards poor management it encourages more of the same.

Well, how do I start?

You know what makes me angry? Well, lots of things, that's the whole point of this web-log. However, there are some things that make me happy and I feel that being positive once in a while won't kill me. What's got me in this good mood you ask? Well, I just watched the 2008 live action adaptation of Speed Racer and I must say I think it is probably one of the most underrated movies of this past summer. Yes it was corny, the acting action and CGI were way over-the-top and I figured out the big twist to the movie right away, but I truly enjoyed it. There were even edge of your seat and that-a-boy Speed moments that I sincerely did not think I would have. And, I wish I had seen it in the theater rather then purposly waited for it to be out on DVD. Then I got to thinking about Some of the big movies this past summer. The Dark Night (Batman for those of you who have been living under a rock or something) Iron Man, Hulk and Speed Racer were all big screen adaptations of already existing products.

Now in the past it seems like the Studios over there in Cali were content with the built in audiences they would get by just taking something that already existed and trowing it up on the big screen. But lately Holywood has learned that just because it already exists doesn't guarantee a good movie, and I am SOOOOO glad they have. They have real writers and real directors taking something that was good in it's original form and working with it to build a quility product with good story lines and an appeal for the mass audience.

They may have to take some liberties and change the original things around (I'm looking squarely at you X-men franchise) which may upset some hardcore fans. But they have seemed to have found a good balance with adaping and staying very close to the orginal ideas which can prove to be great for the public at large. I have an example... remeber how bad the 3rd 4th and 5th in the original Batman franchise were? There is a simple reason. Most of the variables were in place Good Cast (well, except for Arnold anyone remeber how Mr. Freeze was supposed to be Patric Stewart originally that would have been much better). high budgets, great effects. The big problem was the fact that they took a mythlolgy that was well crafted and said "people are going to see it no mater what it's like lets just right what we feel like writing". And the end result was over-the-top crap fests that even Batman fans hated. So I would like to say to Hollywod kudos to you. Keep working hard and people will come and see movies even if the prices get ridiculous.

Now having said all that I do need to swing back to anger mode for a while after all I am me. I'm not sure but I think my blood is B negative (get it?) for every silver lining I see a grey cloud, yeah the dawn will be bright but it's dark now, I already drank half my drink soon it will be empty etc. etc. etc. Holywood has pretty much run out of original ideas and that is sad. I mean, these people get paid huge ammounts of money, more for a single movie then I make in a few years but yet they have lost all creativity. Every so often there is a gem or two but most of all everything is an adaptation of something that already existed i.e. book, movie, tv show, even (if the rumors are right) boardgames (they are makeing a monoploy movie people). So I say to Holywood, get off your ass, get some fresh blood in and form an original idea, I'm paying $8.50 a ticket here people plus outrageous gas prices to get to the theater.

Stupid babies think their so cute

This isn't a rant Per-Se it's just a little question that came to me as I was typing...

So, I visited my sister in law and her new baby (2.5 months old) and while she is very cute she makes me realize how useless children are for the first few years of their life. They are even unable to eat enough in one sitting to sustain themselves (and how can a baby poop when it's constantly on a liquid diet?). The can't sit up or even work there little feet and arms properly.

It points out how little the human race doesn't fit into the world as we know it. There are species on this planet that are able to walk right after being born.

So my question is, why isn't this something that geneticists working on? I mean while your trying to heal diseases in the womb lets try to have children advance faster before they are born. I'm not talking running around and stuff but at least able to hold there own body up.

More Road Rage

As promised today's second rant...

Know what makes me angry? People who don't understand stop signs.

Like the people who clearly pulled up to a stop sign before you (they are sitting there when you pull up) but then don't go even though they clearly have the right of way. Sometimes they give me a wave like "you can go first" Hey, idiot... the way a stop sign works is the person who gets there first has the right of way. Don't wave me through when clearly you should be going.

And, speaking of waves, what is with the people who wave you through when you have the right of way, yeah I know I have the right of way buddy, that's why I'm pulling forwards.

Now that I think about it there is a lot of unnecessary waving around stop signs these days. Because, there is also the guy who waves at you when it's his turn to go and you're yielding the right of way, I'm always like. "Don't bother thanking me just learn to drive better".

More and more though I am noting people set up camp at a stop sign. Their waiting for a car that is in another zipcode to pass before they go, or they wait for a turtle speed car to make it completely by them bofore they even edge forward. These people need to learn to judge oncoming traffic better.

One set of people I don't have a problem with are the people who turn a Stop Sign into a Yield sign. I like them because they show an understanding of the world around them. They know the speed of oncoming triaffic and they know the capabilities of both themselves and their vehicle which shows a huge sence of awareness, which I applaud.

Inconsistency, thy name is Steven

I had editing to do yesterday so I skipped my web-log so today there will be two of them.

Police are the worst drivers in the world! Yes, they are trained to preform high speed maneuvers and be able to outdrive criminals but I am talking on a daily driving basis.

As I drive around the Triangle Area going to and from work or running errands on the weekend I see the sloppiest driving possible. No turn signals, tailgaiting, speeding, the list goes on and on. And this sloppy driving comes from police cars of all things.

Now, I understand that you need to drive with a purpose when there is an emergency so if your lights are on and your siren is blaring, go nuts, but if your just driving from point A to point B lets go ahead and set an example for the citizens and go the limit, use your blinkers, and fing maintain safe space. Because, as we all know, nobody (nobody with a tiny bit of self preservation instinct that is) passes a cop on the highway.

oh, and P.S. You know that little U-Turn you make through the median to catch a speeder coming the other way? WAY more dangerous then that guy going 8 miles per hour over the limit.

Oh, your changing lanes? thanks for letting me know.

I am going to put as much effort into today's topic as it takes to use today's topic... Turn Signals

This country (especially around here) has gotten real lax about signaling intentions to other drivers. Now, I unfortunately have found myself in this category but am endeavoring to do better. I don't know how many of you saw the movie Shoot 'em up (if you like lots of violence and no real plot this is the movie for you) but Clive Owen's character Mr. Smith makes my point for me...

Mr. Smith: I move my finger one inch to use my turn signal. Why are these a*holes so lazy they can't move their finger one fing measly inch to drive more safely? You wanna know why?

Chick in car: Not particularly.

Mr. Smith: Because these rich bastards have to be callous and inconsiderate in the first place to make all that money, so when they get on the road, they can't help themselves. They've gotta be callous and inconsiderate drivers too. It's in their nature.

Then the guy throws some trash out of the window and Mr Smith gets so mad he runs him off the road into a telephone pole. Unfortunately this lack of signaling has filtered down from the elite to the masses. Now here is a simple rule that everyone can live by... If you're doing something with your car where the front wheels aren't straight, Use your turn signal.

Like I said I have been found guilty of this too and I blame three things besides the richees out there.

1. Cell phones: easy enough to see why, if your holding a phone your hand isn't free to flip the lever. Hang up and drive (Save that rant for another time, probably tomorrow)

2. Jerks who see a car with a signal on and go "oh no, your not getting in front of me". Look, unless the guy is a complete idiot and is trying to get across four lanes of traffic for an exit that he should have known was coming up (then it's OK to block him) and if it isn't risking lives, let him over. In the grand plan it's really not going to make you any later to where your going, and, you will have done a kindness for the day.

3. The Cops: A guy who changes lanes without signaling or gets on or off the freeway without a blinker is breaking the law. Now, I know you love to drive badly (more on that later) but do your job and pull this guy over. You don't have to give him a ticket if you think it's a silly offense, but, if a cop pulled me over specifically to tell me to use my signal when turning or changing lanes I would damn sure remember it, and I guarantee that I would spread the word that cops are out there looking for those who don't signal.

Sorry about last week

I am an angry person, but I am also a lazy person. Last week I actually had to do work at work (a shock to all who know me) and the first thing to suffer was this Web-Log. So I will pick up things on an important topic...

Headlights...

So it has been gloomy in the past week or few and more and more I have noticed cars (usually gray or black) driving through the gloom with no headlights on. So, here's a little tip for them, if everyone around you has headlights on, you should too. Now, I can understand why these people don't turn there lights on, they can see fine. But, they need to understand that it's for the people around them, because nothing blends into a gray rainy day then a gray car.

Some states have laws where if your wipers are being used then your lights should be on (NC is one of those states) but for some reason these laws don't get enforced, which I don't understand at all. It is way more dangerous for me to be driving through limited visibility with no lights on then it is for me to be going 50 in a 45 on a bright sunny day yet, speeding tickets are given out to everyone (even during rush hour traffic), when I haven't even heard of a citation for the headlight law. So, police, get off your butt and fix this problem! Is it because you don't want to get wet? Suck it up you bunch of pansies, your supposed to be protecting the public.

Some people will claim that if they turn on their lights when it's not dark out they will leave there lights on when they get out of their car. Two things wrong with that argument 1. Your car is friggin beeping (or dinging or chiming or whatever) at you! Do you walk away from something actively warning you about something without finding out what that something is? and 2. there is an easy way to make sure you don't leave them on, train yourself to turn the lights off as a reflex, and here's how. When you turn the engine off with your right hand, make the motion to turn the lights off with your left hand. Even if they aren't on, if you make the motion, you can train your muscles to do it as instinct. Trust me, I used to own a Del Sol which came with no headlight tone, I left my lights on once and learned from it.

Now to all you idiots who drive at night with no lights on, or even more irritatingly, with just your parking lights on... FIX IT!!! I find it impossible to believe that if your looking where your going you can't tell their not on (Boy it's dark tonight, I wonder why?). I know the main cause of this illness too... Just because you are in a lit parking lot doesn't alter the basic math, nighttime=headlights.

Ok nuff for today...

Sorry, took a day off.

Work was busy yesterday so I wasn't able to post, which was a shame because I was looking forward to it. Why? well, that's easy on Tuesday I made it clear how much I dislike the English language. Bot, since I like arguing so much I am going to disagree with myself and say that everyone in this country should learn English.

This is a topic that has been more out in front lately due to the influx of immigrants (lets be honest and just say Mexicans). Since Spanish is becoming more and more popular, businesses and even the government are mandating Spanish to be written along with English on signs, tests and legal documents. This is total B.S. The other day I was in some store (can't remember which one) and the Spanish was the large language while English was written smaller under it. That crossed the line, so here I am talking about it.

No,w don't take that to mean I don't think people should be allowed into this country, far from it in fact, nobody is actually from the U.S. and for us to close the boarders now would be insane. That being said there are two heads to this language coin.

1. It's the governments fault... For some reason the government has never declared an official language English or otherwise. You would think it would be English, what with all government business being held in English and the documents our country was founded on being in English as well but there is actually no official language of the U.S. So, all those people you hear on TV saying that "them foreigners should learn the language" (it's funny that the people who think everyone should learn English can barely speak it themselves). Countries around the world have declared a national language but for some reason the guys who founded our country couldn't wrap that concept around there powdered wigged heads. One could argue that it helps our "mixing bowl" of a country to be more diverse but that's wrong and it leads directly to point #2.

2. Back on the day people flocked to this country from across the ocean to try to get a better life. When my ancestors got of the boat they spoke whatever it was that Jews spoke back in the day, lets call it Egyptian, it is where Jews as a people come from after all (remember Moses and the 40 years in the desert thing?). Anyway, most of them could barely speak English (if at all) but they took it upon themselves to learn the language to better immerse themselves . Now there were a few standouts (most notably those who moved to Chinatowns across the nation) but the vast majority learned English and could get by without having the government translate every sign, document and form for them. But now there is a vocal segment of the population who, rather then learn what is already here, demand that everything be translated for them ahead of time.

So let's go ahead and fix this problem now. People in power, declare English the language make everyone learn it. Let's stop having to spend the money on a translator and making extra large signs that, with more and more information added to them get harder and harder to read.

Now, briefly about immigration. I believe the U.S. should welcome all people who wish to become citizens. If you want to come here for a better life and are willing to do what it takes to be on equal footing with ever other citizen of this country welcome aboard, but, if your coming here to live below the radar, living off government handouts, and generally sucking at the taxpayer teet well I say, Out, right now.

Tomorrow will be a more amusing topic, I promise

Me fail english? that's unpossible.

Today's rant is going to be quick, I'm tired from running around work and nothing can be done about today's topic. The English language sucks. I sent an e-mail to parents the other day and in my attachment is a link to my blog. They were of coursed amused by my typeings as anyone would be (but it was probably more of a parental amusement with a slight giggle). However, since both of them are college professors they felt compelled to proofread my rantings (not a big deal I have never been a good writer).

But this time I decided to, rather then take there markings with grace, lash out at the English language.

U.S. English (bear in mind that England has a different version) It's too confusing I don't know how anybody learns is. My big problem is like sounding words... There Their and They're specifically (I tend to mix them up as you've probably noticed). Who decided back in the day that were were going to have a bunch of words that sound the same but mean completely different things? The same goes with synonyms, I mean honestly, a bunch of different sounding words that mean the same thing for the love of Mike...

Letters aren't consistent in there sounds, and some vowels aren't even always vowels (I'm looking square at your Y). Plus, we lay out our sentences differently then every other language on the planet, what is that about?

So, I am proposing that we trim the fat. In our culture each word needs to have a distinct meaning that way we can get rid of like, half the dictionary. Lets have all letters sound the same way all the time. If we have to make up new letters, so be it. (Heck, the Jews have letters like the "cha" why don't we?) . Let's get to it people, a new language, one that people can learn quickly and efficiently.

Stupid charities, think their so great.

That's right people, I have a problem with everything, including companies that want to help others. Specifically, Goodwill Industries. Now around my area there are three different Goodwill stores and while I like the concept of getting rid of my old crap to help a charity, recently they have been annoying me more and more in several ways.

A. The whole receipt thing: They have become lazy about it. I'm not sure when it happened but somewhere along the way they switched from filing out the items and amount your donation was worth to just handing you signed and dated form for you to fill out when you feel like. You may think this is a great time-saver but I have two problems with it.
1. The first being the fact that I don't think the government should pay me money for something I'm going to be throwing away anyway. It's scams like charitable deductions that have helped make the tax code the giant mess it is right now (but more of that closer to tax time)
2. Talk about lazy! How much effort does it take for the guy to write down what you gave them and how much they will be selling it for, like a minute tops right?

B. They have a rule at the donation centers (and it's even posted on the goodwill website) that you can't leave items outside the donation center after hours. Well, screw that! I don't know about you but the days my wife and I get into a cleaning/ throwing out mode is always on a weekend. We set a goal of a couple of rooms and get to work. We work in short bursts on Saturday and Sunday and it's not until we are done that we have a complete pile of stuff ready to be taken to the center. Unfortunately, that's usually around Sunday evening and that is the day they close early (I blame god for that). So basically I have a pile of stuff that I have decided I want out of my house and have to wait for them to be willing to take it? F-NO. Now, I can understand they don't want people dropping stuff off one night and then coming back a day later going "uh, yeah I left a bunch of stuff outside last night can I get a receipt for that?" But for people like me who just want to get rid of the stuff and get on with my life I have one thing to say. Pick it up of the sidewalk in the morning and quit your bitching. And, if your worried about it getting stolen overnight it's not like you know what your missing out on.

C. Most importantly they are way too picky about stuff they receive. I'm sorry but if my whole livelyhood was based on the stuff I got from other people I would smile polightly and say thank you, no matter what was put in my hands (except for toxic waste then I might scowel a little bit) If I didn't want the item I would wait till that person turned the corner and threw the unwanted item away, which is exactly what they should do ( I know they have a dumpster). Otside the center they have a full sheet of things they won't take ranging from computers to window treatments. I could understand if they had a policy that everything they sold was perfect but they have a no return policy which says to me they know that some of the stuff they sell is broken. Even if they did have an "all electronics work" policy, they could start a quarter area, where stuff that they don't want to guarantee costs $.25 and they would still be making a profit. I say to them, If it's not 100% trash be happy you got it and charge whatever you think you can get for it, your not losing anything by doing so, in fact your gaining the extra revenue.

Although technically this isn't against the company (but I hope it might get back to them) I would also like to mention that the center in Brier Creek always has a jerk working in the donation area. I hope he is a volunteer because all I have ever seen him do is open the door (most of the time as your leaving after lugging in an armload of stuff) and hand out blank reciepts both are things capable of being done by inanimate objects.

Now, I'm not sure what there profits go to but I don know they are programs that they themselves operate which is a problem in my mind. Other then the fact that they are on file as a charitable foundation I have no way of knowing that they are doing what they claim they are doing. But, they've been around for quite a while so I won't rock the boat. However, If if ever get a warehouse given to me I plan to open up a store called "Betterwill". The motto of this store will be "thank you for giving whatever you are nice enough to give us". And, rather then trying to run my own charties, I would give out to measurable causes like Rulers 4 Kids (get it measurable... rulers, HEY, it's funny and you know it).

So, that is my rant on a company that seeks to make the world better, thus proving that I can complain about anything. In fact, I am so positive that I find the negative on any topic that I issue a challenge (similar to my rage hero Adam Carolla) that if you send me a topic I will find the bad in it. See ya tomorrow...

And PS Goodwill's Webpage takes FOREVER to load.

Quiznos: Mmmm, Crappy

As you may have guessed from the title I am going to rant about Quiznos Subs today. Wednesday night I was tired as was my wife so neither if us felt like cooking. There is a Quiznos near our house and since neither one of us has had it recently we decided to go there. After getting our food we remembered why we haven't gone there in a while.

Now before I get too far into this rant I want to catch you up on my dining preferences. I love sandwiches, they are the perfect food. I also used to love Quiznos. I went to college in Burlington North Carolina (pronounced by the locals as Brntn NoCalina) and there was the crappiest shopping at the time. Whenever we needed to go buy anything we needed to go to Greensboro to the four seasons mall area. Whenever I went there I would make it a point to go to Quiznos and would enjoy my sandwich very much.

Now my current complaint is partly based on the fact that they keep changing the menu and all of the things I like keep getting replaced by crappier and crappier subs. But, as I said before I love sandwiches, I haven't found one (when done correctly) that I don't like, so there will always be something for me to find on the menu. However, I would like to say... Your a sandwich place why are your trying to branch out into soups and salads, know your role and fill it well. And what's with the tiny "sammies" you have to get like three of them to be full.

Anyway, my experience Wednesday night was more based on the employees, there doing (at least it seemed) everything wrong. The white bread wasn't prepared correctly, I wasn't the only one to point this out the people in front of me remarked that it was flat. But, the better part was there was a little chart next to the prep area that told the employees what to put on the sandwiches using lovely little colors and pictures so there was no reading necessary. Yet, they neglected to put the correct ingredients on my wife's sandwich (who didn't catch it because she was trying to find a bag of chips that didn't suck) and, I had to tell them what to put on my sandwich STEP BY STEP. The best part was there was only one guy in the building who seemed to know what he was doing, yet, he was just wandering around and the untrained people needed to yell across the place far help. I declare this concept Genius!!!

Now, I don't know if this inability to do the job correctly is only at the Leesville Road Quiznos but I don't think it is, because, both me and my wife, after thinking about it, decided that neither of us had been to a Quiznos in over a year. Since there are a bunch of them around to choose from in our weekend outings (I will talk about them some other time I am sure). The only reason we wouldn't go someplace in that span of time (both of us hate to cook) is because the service sucked the last time.

So, I have a message for the Raleigh area Quiznoses and the managers therein. Train your people!!! Just because you have the best toasting method of all the sandwich shops (Subway's convection oven they use dries out the bread so I refuse to have a toasted sandwich from them, and Firehouse is just wet from the steam they use) doesn't mean you can make bad sandwiches. Make sure you have at least one person on staff at all times who knows what they are doing or else you are going to loose more and more business. I mean if a guy who LOVES all sandwiches doesn't want to eat at your sandwich place you are pretty much nailing shut your own coffin. You have somewhere around a year (I figure I will forget how angry you made me by then) to fix the problems and I will be back to give you another shot.

Anyway, see you Monday folks

Fender Bender? Please clear taffic lanes.

OK. so yesterday I'm on my way to my home in North Raleigh from my job in the RTP (it's Durham but nobody wants t o say Durham so we all say RTP) and as anyone who lives in the area know that means a transition from driving on 40 to driving on 540. Now, usually the merge onto 540 is incident clear, it might slow down a bit because someone doesn't know how to merge, but in general it's smooth moving. But yesterday it was raining and, as all transplants to the area know, that's when the locals forget how to drive. It could be the lightest drizzle and everyone will slow down to 25 mph on the interstate! But, I digress, it seems on this occasion someone had managed to roll there car off into the shoulder and the pine trees beyond it. Not sure how they managed when there was hardly any rain coming down but they had. And, as a result, the ramp had slowed down (most likely to see what he did) and another accident happened on the opposite side of the road involving (as far as I could tell) five cars. It wasn't a major accident, as I drove by I saw no smoke, broken glass, or people on the side of the road weeping. It was simply a series of fender-benders. That being said, these slightly dented cars were stopped in the middle of a lane of traffic, and not just any lane the left lane so what happened is everyone had to get over to the right to avoid these idiots and then back over to the left to avoid the tow-truck picking up the royaly fubared car on the right shoulder, thus, causing the entire off-ramp from 40 to come to a DEAD STOP while people snaked around all the hubbubb.

So the oral of this story is a message to anyone involved in a accident anywhere in the U.S. (but especially here in Raleigh) after you are involved in an accident, if you are capable of moving, and your car is capable of moving, you need to move your car out of the flow of traffic. Now, I have said this rule to people before and the response I get is "but if they move how will the police know who's at fault?" and I have two responses to that...

A. There is nothing that the location of your car in the road relative to the location of the other car in the road can tell the cop that he won't be able to figure out from the dents on your car, or from yours and the other drivers statements. If you are rear-ended your trunk will have a dent and the front end of the guy who hit you will have a dent. The evidence is open and shut, the guy who hit you is at fault. If you sideswipe someone during a lane change or something the cop will listen to your stories and will determine (he might have to ask a question or two) if you went into his lane or he went into yours. They couldn't tell even if you did stop where you collided because by the time you stop the crime scene has been left behind and the evidence has shifted.

B. In the grand scheme of things it doesn't really matter. In terms of inconvenience, you both are going to go to the auto shop. In terms of money the insurance company is going to charge you either way, that's what they do, if they see accident next to your name they will up your rates doesn't matter if it's your fault or the other guy's. In terms of your driving record, if your a good driver, you will have a blemish on your record for a few years and then it goes away, if your a bad driver and one more accident will have your license revoked, well, good, one less bad driver on the road.

Now, to the cops in the area, and all around the country, the first thing you need to do when you arrive is make sure that these people move out of traffic faster. Yesterday, the Wake County Sheriff on the scene had them off the road almost right after he got out of the car, but for some reason Raleigh city cops are content to work in the middle of traffic. Other cities and states have laws and signs telling people to move there fender bender out of the road but not Raleigh, NC, no, no, no. Apparently they don't trust there cops to figure out what happened. Which is stupid because, anyone who has half a brain can tell who's at fault in an accident, and these people have been (I am presuming here) trained to figure it out.

Now maybe this mesage should extend to government bodies and not just the police but not only does it help with jam-ups like the one I described earlier but it's a sefety issue. Not only for the police and people working the accident, but the people involved in the accident tend to wander around back and forth to their cars.

OK, end rant, have a nice day.

Change of plans, I got MAD

So I was going to talk about candidate bumper stickers and t-shirts. The Idea that you can change my mind with a sticker on your back window is insane... And, when your candidate looses you need to remove the sticker because it just shows how stupid you were by backing the loser. And if your candidate wins your just gloating over the loosers, which is just mean.

I was going to say more then that but I got a call from the Obama campaign last night and it MADE ME MAD. There are two types of calls candidates will make to the commoner and both are useless.

1. The automated call: I have recorded a prepared statement (and by prepared six speach writers have written it and four audio guys have peiced the best takes together into a working statement to be broadcast to the masses) that does not answer any questions about the candidate and gives no real information about where they stand on any issues whatsoever. It's basically a vote for me sign said outloud.

2. The volunteers from the campaign call you. Some kid (probably in his 20s earning extra credit in his poly-sci class) is reading from a script. So, not only are you not getting the entire story about the candidate from the script-writers, your are relying on someone who is failing college to convey this information to you.

Both of these methods I view as a slap in the face from a candidate. He's basically telling you that since you are at home you obviously don't have anything better to do then listen to him telling you what he thinks you want to hear. There is no substance to anything that is said during one of these calls and if you show the least bit of interest about a candidate (I made that mistake the first year I could vote) all your rewarded with is the more of the same calls over and over again.

I received my call last night in the middle of making dinner and it threw off the timing and my F'ing halibut got overcooked. So I will not be voting for Obama (just kidding, the fact is I probably won't vote for either of them, but not because of any fish meal but because the sytem is broken)

All the people involved on the making and receiving ends of these calls need to learn one basic rule, There is only one way to get to truly know a candidate (which is pretty much impossible to accomplish). You have to get them slightly drunk and have a face to face conversation with them when none of there handlers are around. That's the only time you won't get a sack of S' from them and might find out where they personally stand on any one issue. This also extends to interviews on cable news channels. But, I will stop here, I promise to rant more on the subject of politics closer to the actual election but frankly, since there are two months till that event, it's a waste of my time and yours to talk any more about it.

I promise to make tomorrow's topic a little lighter and more relevant to our daily lives...

I have a sign, you should vote for me!

Today is part one of a two part rant. Today's topic Candidate Support Signs.

OK, so since it is an election year candidates are trying to get there name into the conciseness of the public. There are several ways to to do that. They could buy advertisements on Radio, TV, and in Newspapers. They could make speaches on a regular basis that will be picked up by the local media. they could even go so far as to set up shop in front of a store and basically shake the hands of passers-by. But for some reason lots of candidates have decided to go the easy cheap rout and put signs along the side of the road. I know you have seen these things there about 2 feet by three feet and usually made up of red white and blue. I hate these damn signs for the following reasons (in no particular order).

1. They are UGLY... like some guy took a template in a Microsoft Office product added some clip art in varying shades of red white and blue and viola! A Sign! now lets go put it on the side of a road.

2. They give me NO INFORMATION about the candidate, in fact I can barely remember the names that are on the signs. And, when they do have info it is written so small that there is NO way you can read it from the you car. A perfect example is a sign that is currently around North Raleigh is a sign (which the candidate I can not remember the name). This sign makes no sense whatsoever, it has a picture of a broom it took me months to pull up close enough to one that I could read the sentence saying he was going to sweep out congress or something like that. Which leads me to my next point...

3. The amount of time they are up. The sign I just talked about went up some time toward the end of July, the election isn't until November which means I have had to look at this UGLY UGLY sign for the past month and a half and will need to look at it for the next three months! Which makes the effectiveness of this sign even more useless because it is completely diluted. It's like people who get tired of Christmas by the end of November because decorations went up before Thanksgiving (which is a rant that will be coming during the holidays). and do you think the guy will take them all down the day after elections? Heck No! they will most likely be up until the end of the year.

4. These signs are put in horrible locations. At my old house I used to pull out from a neighborhood street onto a busy main street. Well, one day someone decided to put a candidate sign in a spot that completely blocked my view of oncoming traffic, now this wasn't on some guys yard. This spot was city maintained roadside property so I know it was some minion of the candidate that decided to put it here. I go so pissed at this sign's location I got out of my car, yanked it out of the ground and threw it down. The next day it was up again, I assumed that some resident thought the sign got blown down or something and was being nice and put it back up. So, the second time I destroyed the sign (yeah that's right ripped it in half, I chalked it up to free speech) and the next day one was back up in its place. I moved this one farther down the road and there it stayed until December 15th.

If I think about it more I am sure I could find more resons to hate these signs but I am happy with what I have written so far. So, I would like to pose a question to anyone involved in the creation or placement of these signs is... What good is it doing? I mean, people have them on the front lawn and declare themselves for a candidate (that's stupid but there is a reason for it). But, do the campaigns really think I will read the sign and say "Well, I was going to vote for John Davidson but now that I have seen a sign for him on the corner of Creedmoor and Strickland I think, I will vote for David Johnson." For the love of god there must be a better way to get a name out, one with some substance.

Tomorrow, Candidate Shwag...

Home Depot, you can do it, but good luck finding one of our employees...

Here is my first rant. It is a little long but it feels good to let this out. As you may notice I like tangents and will usually use parentheses to denote those tangents.

So, I just finished remodeling my bathroom. So, I had to take several (and when I say several I went to the Six Forks Home Depot so many times that one time when my wife an I were going to go to Miltons in the next shopping center over I pulled into the parking lot of the Home Depot and my wife asked "Why are we hear?" I starred at her for a second until I realize that gosh darn-it, we weren't going to the Depot).
But, on the times I did actually need to go to HD after the initial welcoming squad of employees hanging around the entry door it was next to impossible to find anyone to help me, I mean for F sake they have bright orange smocks on but they are still able to hide, how does that work? But as I searched the store and found people to help me I came up with the fact that really only three type of people work on the floor of home depot (there are of course cashiers but they know nothing outside the checkout line). The three people are...

The retired guy: "Jim" used to be a plumber or an electrician, or a carpenter, he spent 40 years working hard either for himself or other people and now he hurts. He has developed arthritis or suffered an injury and can't work any more, but, he hates sitting at home doing nothing so he got a job working in the department of his expertise at Home Depot helping others with advice based on 40 years of experience. Unfortunately there are less and less of these guys working at the Depot. They are staying on the job longer and making enough money to travel in there retirement years.

The Young Guy: "Dave" needed a job, he has rent and wants to eat and be able to drink with his buddies on the weekend and Home Depot was hiring. He can run a forklift, he can stock the shelves and he knows where stuff is. But he doesn't know what to do with anything in the store and he is the first to admit it. You ask him what you need to fix a particular problem he will say “I have no idea but Jim works this department I will go get him for you”. I have no problem with this guy and can spot them from across the store and if I am having trouble fining an item, or Jim, I will ask them for help.

The Manager Guy: This is the guy you need to avoid like the plague. "Mike" used to be Dave. He got a job at the Depot to pay the bills and worked hard and did hid job well. One day Mike's immediate supervisor quit and his job was left open. The store manager came up to Mike and asked if he would like to step up. He would get a raise and supervise a few people. At first Mike was hesitant but decided that he would love more money so he could by his friends more beer on the weekend. However, when Mike got into his new supervisor role he realized that he liked being in charge of people. Being the boss was fun and he decided to start trying to work his way up the ladder. Now, he walks around the store like he owns the place he asks customers if they need help. The problem is he doesn't actually know anything. All of the knowledge he has is based from one of two places 1. The book, Home Depot has a book (I have never seen this book and I am sure nobody will admit to it's existence but it must exist because all the managers give the same answers). This book has the most basic answers to the most routine questions and leaves no room for unseen problems. 2. Overhearing conversations between Jim and his customers, which is even more useless because it's second hand information. This guy needs to stay behind the customer service counter and not move from there. I once (years ago) bought items based on his recommendation and not one of them worked, I had to return everything and since they were opened I had to debate the return policy with the cashier thus a manager was called over. But, since Rick was the M.O.D. the fun part was the fact that I had to explain to Rick the fact that he told me to buy all the wrong stuff.

Now, I would like to say that I like Home Depot in general. Their selection and the products they sell are far superior (and usually slightly cheaper) to their direct competitor Lowes (which I am sure to rant about another time).

Welcome to my self indulging rants,

Well, First of all, how did you get here? Secondly are you sure you don't have anything better to do with your time?

I have decided to start this Web log (I will never call it a blog because I think that is the most annoying word in our collective vocabulary) with the specific purpose of venting at the end of a day of seeing things that piss me off (and let me tell you there are a lot of things). Up until now I have just complained to anyone around me who is willing to listen but I realized that eventually nobody around me will be willing to listen. I could write a journal and keep it under my mattress or something but then I will get no feedback (although there is no guarantee of feedback here more on that in a bit). Then I realized I sit in an an office for eight hours a day with a computer and an internet connection at my disposal So I decided to go the rout of so many self important citizens and blowhard celebrities before me and start a Web Log.

I know everyone is trying to change the world with there online ramblings but the odds of me making a global impact are zero to none. So, you won't read my opinions on the world's economy or major events across the globe (not to often anyway) however, I know nobody wants to read about the fact that my dog got into the trash (which she does constantly) so I am going to be tackling the middle ground. Mostly how TV, stores and restaurants annoy me but there will be rants on other topics as well.

I am glad you are here and have decided to read a little about what is going on in my brain. I hope I can amuse you at least a little and possibly make you think at least for a second. That being said I welcome your feedback but only if you have something to contribute to the conversation. I don't want to read "Hell yeah man" or "You suck" I want well thought out replies that either support my opinion or disagree. Especially, if you disagree, because I love to argue and I want the chance to show you how your wrong.

Now that I have welcomed you you will need to wait till Monday to read my first rant. I have a bunch of time to kill while at work during the week but will not waste a minute of my time on a weekend.

Thanks
Steven

* Note: Facts stated in these rants are not actual facts. They are pieced together based on what I gather from the news talk shows and other sources. Anything read on the internet must be taken with a grain of salt.

*Note: I do not claim to be a professional author. This Web log will be chocked full of misspellings improper punctuation and grammatical errors. And, no, I will not go through and edit before posting! It defeats the purpose of a rant for me to go back and edit myself!

*Note: I live my day to day life in a specific location and therefore there are several local places that both annoy me, and make me happy and I will most likely reference them in my writings. If you don't live in Raleigh, NC don't start complaining that something isn't relevant just don't read that day's post.