J.P.

There was an event at the Apple Store in SoHo yesterday, a “meet the developers” event that apparently featured the Kardashians. Admittedly, this made me vomit a little in my mouth. Naturally, my take on this is that it’s the perpetuation of everything that is wrong with our society, what with having a game where you can be a Kardashian or something. I think the latest version of AbFab said it best when they likened the Kardashians to spreading the herpes and multiplying like head lice. I don’t know why I care to be angry about the existence of the Kardashians, except that their existence is constantly in my face. It’s bad enough that they infest my Twitter feed, are all over the television, are constantly referred to in casual conversation by people with little to talk about and are thrusting Caitlyn Jenner at us constantly, but now Apple events as well?

Another reason to seriously consider moving to Linux (again).

There is a woman with a busted up Android phone sampling all the music on her non iDevice. Without headphones. At full volume. In the Barnes and Noble cafe.  The staff has spoken to her several times about this but she doesn’t care.

Because she’s entitled. And she has no manners.

All smartphones and the like should default to vibrate mode. I don’t want to hear your ringtone, I don’t want to know what you’re watching on Facebook (because it’s never as hilarious as the headline claims it will be) and I certainly don’t want to hear your phone call with your divorce lawyer over your speakerphone.

What the heck happened to respecting those around you? Have people completely forgotten about common courtesy?

The answer seems to be “it would appear so.”

It’s like these folks that can’t be bothered to park between the lines in a parking lot. They just don’t give a damn anymore. They don’t care about the people around them and they don’t care about anaything outside of their little world.

Though I’m one for a smaller government, I believe that people should be licensed to use anything with more tech horsepower than a Speak ‘n Play. If you don’t have a license, you can’t get on the Internet..

Ignorance. It’s what’s happening in 2015.

There’s too much bad news on the Internet today. I wish I had the time to go for a flight during my lunch hour but that would irresponsible. Instead, I’m watching a boat go through Lock 20 on the Erie Canal. 

I enjoy our local park. 

Now before I start this rant, I will say that I realize that today’s American society is driven by fear and chaos. People get some sort of thrill by disorganization and living on the edge of some sort of Armageddon. Citizens are ready for that moment when zombies jump up out of a manhole. That would lead to chaos and chaos gives one an adrenaline jump, or something like that.

Why, in the name of all that is holy, is it now no longer socially acceptable to park between two lines in a parking lot? (If you’re following along from the EU, I’m talking about a Car Park, which sounds better than Parking Lot, especially when you say Parking Lot in the very flat, nasally midwestern accent prevalent in this area).

Back in my day (because I’m old), you might find some bonehead defying the directional arrows painted on the pavement in a parking lot once in a while but rarely did you find a car parked outside of the lines. Reagrdless of how they got there, cars would be lined up relatively neatly. It was orderly. It allowed the parking lot to be used to its fullest potential, as one car per space equaled the ability to park to maximum capacity.

Today, it’s become too common to see a vehicle haphazardly thrown into a space in parking lot. Forget following the painted directional arrows on the pavement, they’re completely ignored. But my god, in any given parking lot in this neck of the woods you’ll probably see 20 to 30 percent of the vehicles just left anywhere. The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few or the one is completely damned.

I just parked next to a vehicle that was not between the lines painted on the pavement. I chose to keep the Jeep in between the lines that delineated a space, this resulted in my Jeep being so close to the vehicle next to the passenger side that there was absolutely no possible way for the driver to get into her BMW. If she wanted to enter her car before I left, she’d have to crawl in through the passenger’s side and thread herself over the Corinthian Leather.

Am I dick? I don’t think I am. Well, I am, but it made my point because when I came out of Dunkin’ Donuts, she was assessing the situation.  She glared at me but didn’t say a word when I walked up to the Jeep.  

“I parked between the lines”, I said.

She started to say something but I just got into the Jeep, having the ability to easily swing my door open even though there was a car next to me, I started up and backed out.  I waved in her direction as a left.

She flipped me off.

She’s a dick too.

Here’s the thing. If you can’t park between the lines marking out a space in a parking lot, you’re a self entitled ass that probably has very little in the way of a positive contribution to give to the world. You’re most likely married to a jerk that is cheating on you and it’d be a safe wager that your kids are probably hellions that are going to grow up to be self-entitled, whiny babies that will do drugs at age 10 and join a terrorist organization because they have no coping kills nor any amount of common sense.

Don’t mess with me. I will share license plate numbers from now on.