Belted

Well, we're currently underway with the "Click It or Ticket" campaign, because, morons that we are, everything we do has to rhyme-y whyme-y these days, and I'm just waiting for the Sesame Street Public Service Announcements.

I'm not always sure about this whole seatbelt thing, 'cause it makes it harder to get out of the car faster when we get carjacked, but on the other hand, when the maniacs drive themselves off a cliff at 200 mph, at least we can salvage the bodies more quickly.

Of course, truth be told, you can tell when the "Officials" get involved in something. We usually get these mindless campaigns as a result. You know, full well, that the guys in uniform had nothing to do with this, as if there's nothing they'd rather do with their time than sit roadside waiting for Ma and Pa Kettle to blow by unbelted.

The last week or so, I've seen at least ten instances of really aggressive, out-of-control driving, and I think the efforts would be better spent going after the lunatics who think just because their cars are mechanically capable of traveling at 150 mph, then it's just fine and dandy to go ahead and try.

But, the powers that be would rather put our fine officers to work protecting people from themselves rather than each other.

Of course, we'll have to overlook the crowd that absolutely cannot operate a motor vehicle without a cellphone stuck to their heads. Hey, you stick a pacifier in the baby's mouth when you drive, right?

But, we can't waste a perfectly good slogan, now, can we?

"Click It Or Ticket"!

Yay.

This is Stupid 1

When I think back to the amount of time, money and effort that has gone into the creation of the technology that has brought us such things as the Internet, I'm often struck with a thought.

If you were able to get every single person who has had anything to do with the technology that is at our fingertips today, how would they feel, knowing that this is what their efforts have brought about:

Customize Your Blog's Header

So if you'd like to customize your Blog a little more, you can use a picture now, instead of the text header. This v-cast explains it very nicely: Click Here

Memorial Day, 2007

There are many jobs that fall under the category of "thankless" these days. We have parents, teachers, civil servants, all out there, every day, doing ordinary things that make life extraordinary. But we seldom acknowledge the value that's brought to our lives as a result of their efforts. We don't, however, seem to miss a single opportunity to come at them with a wave of criticism should they, as human beings are quite often likely to do, make some mistake or bad decision. But, they toil on, day after day, doing what needs to be done.

It's Memorial Day Weekend and it calls something to mind. The most obvious "thankless job" to me these days, has to be that of an American Soldier. The War has become an intensely political issue, an opportunity for people to spend a lot of time using the conflict to further their own agendas and ambitions. The very makeup of our next political wave could be decided almost singlehandedly on this issue.

We spend countless hours engaged in idol worship to those whose sole claim to fame has been their right to enjoy artistic freedom. We plaster our magazine covers with photos and stories of people who thrive in an environment provided by the efforts of those who fight with their lives to protect that very freedom.

We have probably an unprecedented access to media which seems to provide endless coverage of our celebrities, and our politicians, yet the proportion of coverage given to those who are defending our rights to carry on seems way out of balance. News coverage of the events in Iraq extends just long enough to provide casualty counts, and we seldom spend time seeing exactly what these people are facing on a day-to-day basis.

Think a minute about that kid who served you at the counter today. There's every chance that the kid standing there could, in a short time, be sitting in a foxhole somewhere, engaged in the fight of his or her life.

And what do they see as far as expressions of gratitude? I'm sure that many of them see the internal strife this war is causing here. A prominent television personality recently raised the question as to whether or not we Americans are the true terrorists in this conflict. Imagine how some 20 year old kid, fresh off the field of battle, would feel about that question.

The talking points are in place, without a doubt. And political debate is part of what made this country great. But we have to start thinking about leveling the playing field. We have to do better with our expressions of opinion. These soldiers don't get the opportunity to question their marching orders. They are simply given a job to do, and are expected to perform that job to the best of their ability. If it
were ever possible to give 110%, these soldiers are likely to be the ones to do it.

When we're exercising our freedom of speech, we might do well to start remembering that in this world, there's a good chance that our words can be heard around the world. And part of that world includes those on whose backs that freedom has been carried. And we might be wise to remember to extend our hands in gratitude to these soldiers.

Gentle Reminders

A situation I'm dealing with has been requiring me to use my home phone number. I get a million calls coming through while I'm calling, mostly "out of area" types. I have the caller ID that works with call waiting, and when I look to see who is beeping through, they're all "out of area", a.k.a. Telemarketers.

Well, today a call from a telemarketer actually showed the number, so I went to the The Do Not Call Registry to file a complaint. Lo and behold, the registration for my home number had expired.

Now if you're like me, you got your number on there as soon as the Registry started. So if you did, you might wanna go take a peek and see when your registration expires.

Hey, consider this my Public Service for the day! That's me, always ready to serve!

The View Gets Better!

I didn't see the show, but I caught some of the online video from today's episode of "The View"

Let me just say that Elisabeth Hasselbeck is slowly climbing up on my Heroes List. I thoroughly enjoyed the exchange between she and Rosie O'Donnell today, because I loved how Mrs. Hasselbeck refused to be bullied by Rosie's familiar tactics. Elisabeth stood her ground, refused to be shouted down, and flat-out gave it to O'Donnell but good.

I admit that controversy sells, and the loudest mouths typically draw the most attention, but sometimes intelligence and fortitude have to earn a round of applause. Elisabeth, you got mine this evening.

Rosie, you need to thank your lucky stars that you're afforded the freedom of speech you enjoy by this country you seem to hate so much, and you might add a modicum of gratitude to the troops you seem to think of as terrorists. (this from the quote "who are the real terrorists in Iraq?" after she pointed out that 650,000 Iraqis have died since the war began)

Elisabeth, intelligence wins out over belligerance. Just because someone yells more loudly doesn't mean they're right. And you're right, you do base your arguments on facts. Good job.

I Wonder, Wonder, Who...?

The campaign news so far, has got me pondering one thing: What do you do if Election Day comes, and you don't deem a single candidate worthy of your vote? Not too unlikely, you know. I used to contemplate whether that was the reason behind low voter turnout in some elections.

Tag, I'm It...

The lovely Ms Kristen tagged me, so I'm going to give it a shot...

I am 6'4" tall, brown hair, green eyes

I am slowly coming back to my religion. It feels good.

I am the webmaster for the Nicole Miller Memorial Website. Nicole Miller was one of the heroes of United 93. It is an honor I am very proud of being given.

I am in my 29th year of my career at one firm. Very unusual these days.

I am a stockbroker.

I am a big fan of people who aren't ashamed to be intelligent and who are eager to use their minds.

I am a moderate conservative. There are some things I'm flexible about.

I am not ashamed to back less-popular causes.

I am a blog addict. I love my reads.

I am a Hilary Swank fan, but Rachel McAdams is moving up the list.

I am a proud American, willing to accept that our nation, while not perfect, is still the best place on earth to live.

I am a random gifter. It's one of the few joys of my life, catching someone off guard and making them smile. I really like when friends share wishlists that I can actually buy from!

I am a big fan of movies. I like watching some over and over. I go with what I like.

I am an eclectic music lover, in that I have a very diverse music collection. I'm always open to new sounds.

I am a big believer in "live and let live". What ever happened to people being allowed to have their own opinions?

I am a physical wreck at the moment. I'm working on it, though. I intend to be a poster boy for physical therapy.

I am compassionate to a fault. Some have called me a sucker.

I am a sworn enemy of yellow-jackets, wasps and hornets. Too many stings! I do like bees, however.

I am appreciative of a woman who cares about her appearance. If she makes the effort to look nice, I think it's awesome.

I am a former NY City driver who hasn't lost one bit of his patience with inept drivers. Been 14 years.

I am going to see Utah someday. I only recently discovered how great so many of its citizens are.

I am going to tag Emily and Cassie.

Imagine If This Could Really Work?

Dear People,

If you are stupid, please don't drive.

Thanks,

Me.

Encouraging...

The NY Daily News reported today that only 27% of 8th grade students passed the NY State Social Studies exam, and only 40% passed the Science exam.

Well, I guess there's always Reality shows, right?

To see the delightful results, check out www.nysed.gov

Are We?

I remember a time when there was no need for laws governing common sense.

Now we have to pass laws to stop people from doing stupid things.

It started with the seatbelt laws. That one I'm not too sure about since the only one you really hurt by not belting up is you.

And now people cry out against these laws that keep sprouting up, and in protesting, sometimes they prove just how stupid they are.

A NJ town passed an ordinance that forbids smokers from lighting up if there are people under age 18 in the car. Some think it's an invasion of privacy, but how do you really defend that position?

"It's my car, and if I want to poison my kids, I'll do so!"

Sounds kind of silly, right?

Another township wants to pass a ban on texting while driving. A guy being interviewed on the news about the issue protested, "There's no reason I shouldn't be allowed to send text messages while I'm driving. What if I have to tell someone I'm gonna be late?"

Yeah, and imagine how you'd tell them that you're dead 'cause you splattered yourself against a wall while sending that text message.

Now a Long Island town is looking to ban the sale of cough medicines containing dextromethophan. Because teens have been abusing the substance. Because apparently we're too busy texting and smoking to supervise our kids. They showed a kid on a news show recently, who was under the influence of only a relatively small amount of the stuff. You'd pretty much have to be under the influence yourself not to notice that your kid is stewed on this crap.

One mother was interviewed and said, "Well, what am I supposed to do, keep him locked up in the house?"

Nah. Let the government keep him locked up somewhere better. If he survives, that is.

The government wants to protect us, figuring we're too stupid not to kill ourselves. Maybe, for once, they're actually onto something.

Different Isn't Always Better...

I think people who "march to a different drum" are typically fun people, likeable and interesting. I like watching people who do their own thing, who don't always follow the pack. They're usually off in their own world, enjoying themselves, and not bothering anyone.

Then there are people who like to be different, but for what I consider dubious reasons. They are those people who can always be counted on to be the voice of dissent, the contrarian so to speak. They're always the 1 missing from the "4 out of 5 dentists."

They don't do it to be different. They do it to be difficult, to be catered to, to just be a flat-out pain in the ass. They don't like burgers, hot dogs, chicken, so you wind up barbecuing them a rock. The don't like Coke OR Pepsi; they're the ones who watch those channels that you didn't even know existed. You can't go out to dinner with them, because it exhausts you just to watch them dissect the menu; nothing "works for them." Gimme a break.

Now one of those characteristics is fine, it's what makes the world go round. But the ones who make a career out of always being the one to say, "oh not me...", well frankly, they're just pains in the ass, out there doing anything they can to demand extra attention, to cry out for special treatment. They'll find any way possible to disagree with you, and I think it's just annoying.

Why is this touchy to me tonight?

We had an incident recently, where a Mom and kid showed up at a kiddie party we were attending. After only a very short time, the Mom scooped up the kid and headed for the door. See, the party had a "Winnie the Pooh" theme, and "Mom" stated that she "had issues with Disney", and couldn't be a part of this.

This wasn't a KKK meeting folks, it was a child's birthday party.

That's making a statement, "Mom", but probably not the one you'd hoped for. Nope, the message was loud and clear that you, Lady, are an idiot. You made the kid cry, the hostess uncomfortable, and me angry. And Disney has no clue that you even exist. I respect the right to have opinions, blah blah blah, but this was by far the dumbest thing I've been party to in probably my whole life. Lady, get over yourself.(Editor's Note: I don't usually get too prickly about things here in my blog, but fair warning: do not defend this woman to me here in the comment section. It'll really make me mad, and I'll just delete the comment. She's a moron. Real simple.)

It's really succinct. They don't behave that way to have their own parade, they do it to rain on everyone elses. And I'm sick of them.

Ok onward and upward.

Clear the Dust (poof)

It sure felt like a lot longer than 6 days, but I was going through withdrawals, so time to continue!

So let's see...since I've been gone...

• Britney Spears has managed to stay out of trouble.


• Kevin Federline still hasn't gone away


• Nothing stupid outta Rosie's mouth


• The Trumps continue


• "Lost" sucked


• I still haven't gotten a date with Hilary Swank


• Some Genuises out in Tennessee thought it would be useful to run a frightening attack drill on some kids, just without telling the kids it was a drill. And they call me stupid

Had a wonderful birthday, courtesy of my kids. My youngest (8) apparently saved up so she could buy Daddy breakfast at our favorite diner. So she, and my other two children went and enjoyed. The funny thing was, she saved up 42 dollars for the event. With tax and tip, the bill was: 42 dollars. Too cute. I was thinking though, that for next year's birthday, we could get every blogger to use the power of the Internet to maybe get me one date with Hilary Swank? (I always type her full name, cause I don't want a date with the presidential hopeful) I don't want to try and marry her, I'd just really like to sit across from her, look at her eyes, see if I could make her laugh, and then go back to the real world with an awesome memory. (I've seen a couple of her movies recently, indulge me, ok?)




I still miss my friend.

Time To Shut Up, But...

One of the hardest things for me has always been to just shut up and respect someone's wishes, when my own selfishness would otherwise lead me to try and talk someone out of a decision.

But I fully understand that if you truly respect and admire someone, you honor their decision. Someone I respect immensely made a decision that has, and will, made me very sad tonight. It just kinda stinks because I will miss her, her work, her words, her intelligent writing, and her truly inspiration that life really can be good.

Meta, I'll miss your blog. I'm sorry the bad guys got to you, and I won't question your personal decision. Just know that it's leaving a hole in my days that won't be filled. Good luck, and I wish you so much happiness. If anyone deserves it, it's you. You are a class act, truly a Lady, and someone who's very high on my "to be admired" list.

Take care, ok? Thanks for the times you shared with a whole lot of us.

Some More Stupid For Ya

I think that people who further their own agendas by publicly airing their most intimate secrets and problems, and do so under the pretenses of "protecting their children", are a damned disgrace.

And then to claim that they have no idea how such things as voice recordings and videotapes made it into the public arena, insult the intelligence of the decent people in the world.

More and more, every day, I am becoming convinced that there is nothing that people won't do for attention and personal gain, that the laws of civility are becoming a thing of the past, and that people like this just flat-out ought to be ashamed of themselves.

God help these kids. Stupid parents have no idea how they hurt their children.

The Dark Side Survey

I don't do these very often, but this one got my mind going. I also don't usually tag others to do them, but I'm making an exception.

The Dark Side Survey

Imagine that, for some reason, you've now been forced to consider the following:

1. You're forced to choose between one of the following vices. You have to choose, and do, one of them: Smoking, drinking, illicit drugs. Which would be the most acceptable to you? Smoking. It's the only one of the 3 that won't make me loopy, and I can control my intake.

2. You're forced to give up one of these senses: sight or hearing. Which one do you give up? Hearing. If I lost my sight, I'd be forced to give up reading blogs. :) And you can see love even if you can't hear it.

3. Disregarding the previous question, you're only allowed to enjoy one thing from now on :music player (CD, iPod) or DVD player. Which would you keep? DVD player. I love my movies.

4. You have to give up one of these for 3 days: eating or drinking. Which would you choose to do? Eating. I've done it before, and I survived.

5. You have to choose one: perpetual daytime, or perpetual night time. Which one do you think you could live with? Daytime. Nighttime gets creepy.

6. You can only choose one type of treat for life: salty snacks (potato chips, Doritos, etc) or candy. Which one? Salty snacks. I live without candy a lot.

7. Your life partner has to be one of the following: heavy smoker or heavy drinker. Which one? Tough one. I'd have to say drinker. After they pass out you don't have to deal with it.

8. Your life partner also has to be one of the following: Democrat or Republican. Which one could you live with? Republican. I find I'm most compatible with their thought processes.

9. You can only watch one forever: CNN or FOX News Channel. Which one? Fox.

10. You can only have one: a computer or a TV. Which one do you keep? Computer. It's a lot more versatile.

11. You have to live in one of the following places: The Sahara Desert or Antarctica. Where do you do? Sahara. I hate cold.

12. You have to give up one: MySpace or your cellphone. Which one do you keep? Myspace. I'd be too big a hypocrite to do otherwise.

13. You have to do one of the following: create 1000 email surveys or answer 1000 email surveys. Which one? Answer 1000. I like the creativity of some that I've gotten.

Now, the "tag" part. I'm going to choose a few people, just to be a pain in the butt. If you "tag-ees" follow through, leave a note in the comments.

Kristen

Noelle

Cynthia

Ally

Nem

Chosha

You AOLers can catch it over there. I'll tag some of you, too!

Back To Basics...

For quite a while, I've gone off track from what I originally did with this blog. Seeing the "Stupid" and trying to figure it out.

I was placed firmly back on the rails this week. There was a meeting at the kids' school for us to attend. Seems there was a "major issue" that needed addressing.

Briefly, there's a "Spring Concert" every year at the school. The show is in two parts: the school band gives a recital, and then the kids who decide to try would get up and sing a song, karaoke style. They've always taken it somewhat seriously, rehearsing and tweaking, until they come up with an admittedly good show.

Well, this year, there seemed to be a big falloff in the second part of the show. Kids didn't seem to care, weren't showing up to rehearse, weren't putting in the time. So the show's director decided to eliminate the karaoke half of the program. Made sense to me. If the kids didn't care enough to put the work in, no use letting them get up and give a half-hearted effort. (My own daughter was one of the participants, by the way, and she wasn't working too hard either)

So the meeting came along. There was great wailing and gnashing of teeth over the cancellation. How dare the director do this to the poor kids.

Umm, yeah, hi.

They didn't care about it for the 6 weeks preceding, how did we all of a sudden get this infusion of enthusiasm, with a week to go? The show would have been a disaster, and for the ones who put in the effort, it wouldn't have been fair to ruin the show for them, right? (Remember, my own kid was in it, and I wasn't crying "injustice!". She didn't work hard, that's the penalty, right?)

Nopey. Not how it went down. These parents raised such a ruckus (now mind you, none could, or would, say that their kid had been working at this) that the principal overruled the show director, and reinstated the second half of the program.

Just another instance of the fine example parents seem to be setting for kids these days. None of the work, all of the glory. I think it's a crock, and I'm sick of seeing juveniles raising kids. I think this would have been a great opportunity to show these kids that there are consequences for giving less-than-optimal effort.

One of the idiots at the meeting said that the director's action showed a "complete lack of respect for the children." I'm still from that planet where respect is earned, and I saw no correlation here between the decision of the director, and "respect." As much as I think "amazing" is the single most overused word in the hipster's lexicon, "show me respect" is front-runner in the diluted-phrases department. You don't command respect simply by being born. No way. Not ever.

The whole thing was stupid, from the debate, to the conclusion.

And so, I'm back.

Sports Night

Tonight I have to do something I haven't done for as long as I remember: skip a boxing match.

I've always been into boxing. I did it as a teenager, and wasn't exactly great, but I never lost my passion for the sport. I've watched contemporary fights, I got hold of films of fights from as far back as the early 1900's, and it really became a great pasttime for me.

That is, until the last few years. Mike Tyson's reign started me on my slide away from the sport. Watching him take a bite out of Evander Holyfield's ear was probably one of the low-points in the history of the sport, for me, anyway.

The whole scene turned ridiculous. Watching boxers enter the ring while dancing to the latest in rap tunes, dressed in ridiculous outfits, well that slowly pushed me further away. Antics were nothing new; Muhammad Ali was one of the sport's greatest characters, but he had the talent and the skills to back up his nonsense and bravado. It was up to his public to consider his greatness. Nowadays, it seems that the title "great" is something these guys bestow on themselves.

Tonight is a "super fight". Oscar De La Hoya is set to duke it out with Floyd Mayweather. HBO went all out promoting this one. They ran a series, "De La Hoya-Mayweather 24/7", which chronicled the training leading up to this showdown. Watching how Mayweather presented himself was kind of sickening to me. He's a good fighter, with the skills to put him in contention for greatness, but he's not anywhere near as good as he thinks he is. I don't think there's ever been a fighter as great as Mayweather thinks he is.

Between his nonsense, and the fact that the fight is being broadcast on Pay Per View for $54.95 here, I can't stomach the idea of supporting this kind of garbage anymore.

It's a shame.

For the record, good luck, Oscar.

Not As Intended

Well I was sitting here tonight watching TV. A commercial came on.

Dibs. If you like ice cream, and you haven't had these little suckas, you're really missing out.

But tonight, the commercial featured two guys in an office, having a snack. One guy was eating Dibs, the other guy a Twinkie. When the Twinkies guy tried Dibs, he wondered what was now going to happen to all the spongecakes in the world, since Dibs was going to blow them away. They showed a stuntman landing in a pile of Twinkies.

So what happened? I had a craving for...






Wonder how the Dibs guys would feel about that?

Yay, edumacashun!

Yayyy edumacashun!

We had a little trouble with the literacy police this week, and the perpetrator was an unlikely candidate.

There was a problem in the school lunchroom involving a food fight. The school dean decided to address the issue through a letter sent home to the parents of all the students.

We need to get together and buy a spell-check program for the Dean. Some of the excerpts from the letter included:

A reference to the disruption in the "caferteria".

A warning that further "misbehaver" would result in offending students
facing penalties, including a ban from school "activates".

The school letter had numerous other grammar and punctuation errors. It is said that the letter wasn't passed by the desk of the school principal, and there was an inference that the letter was dictated to a subordinate who was, let's say, less than skilled.

Our message?

Hi Deen, u relly need to be more careful, or your going to definately find urself in a lotta more hot water. You're frends will laff at u and there humor won't be too appeshiated, ryte? R u listening? Dont let the haters bring u down their just jealis. spellchek works and u should try it.

Thank You

Thanks, my friends, so much.

Rapped

Al Sharpton led a protest in midtown Manhattan yesterday. He led marchers past the headquarters of some of the major record labels there, looking to have the words "ho" "n----r" and "b---h" removed from recordings.

Sharpton claims it's not censorship, and that the group is really just looking to remove those three words from the rap lexicon.

I applaud the effort, but I think that, realistically, the only way that rappers would be influenced to stop using racist and misogynistic lyrics would be for people to stop buying the music. I'm not sure I see that happening any time soon. People talk and money talks. We all know which one tends to be heard more

Heartache

The word heartache is extreme, most times, meaning severe pain. I know that the pharmaceutical companies have a whole lot of important things to create drugs for, but I wish they'd come up with something that would relieve the little aches we get in our hearts now and then. I'd really like something for that little "Daddy" part of my heart right now.

It's nothing major, it just hurts a little, but it sure would be nice if it could stop now so I could sleep. I miss my kids so much tonight. More later.