Why.

Going to the movies is a consistent source of frustration for me. Because I can be somewhat judgmental at times, I believe that adults should conduct themselves in a certain socially acceptable manner whilst taking part in a cinematic experience. As expected, no less than four people continued to use their phones throughout the entire showing of “Into The Woods” this evening, including a pair of women that I dubbed “Aqua Net and The Frizz” who were sitting directly in front of me. The Frizz had her text size cranked up to the largest setting possible on an iPhone 5s. The words “Hello there” took up two lines in iMessage. The woman to her right, a young woman with a strapping young man accompanying her, exchanged messages with a man named Justin. They were having a conversation regarding the New Year’s Eve party they apparently both attended. The young woman doesn’t remember much.

Our local cinema, which shall remain nameless because I don’t want to give them advertising, but they are chain with just one location in New York State, has been around for about 15 years. They no longer use the preview screen in the lobby area because the workers find it too loud. Tonight the popcorn machine was broken, which resulted in reduced popcorn output.

One will note that it takes three people having a good time to make one batch of popcorn per 30 minute cycle.

The only reason I still bear the cinematic experience in general is because I enjoy a nice bag of movie theatre popcorn, but we weren’t about to wait 30 minutes for a bag of popcorn so I settled for M&Ms. It wasn’t the same.

The movie was enjoyable. That was the bright spot of the evening.

Earl asked me to pick him up a quick supper as I was heading home from a pilot’s club meeting tonight. I stopped in at the drive thru. There were a couple of cars ahead of me, one at the pick up window and another at the speaker where you order. I put my window down because I figured the person in front of me knew how an ordering window worked and I would be up to place my order momentarily.

This is where it gets a little odd.

Even in the darkness of night I could see that there were three people on the car ahead of me. The driver was yelling into the speaker with what I assumed to be her natural voice, which was really shrieky, kind of like a mix of Fran Drescher and Rosie Perez over the racket made by your standard vacuum cleaner while it was running and someone was scraping the handheld vacuum wand across a chalkboard while alley cats yowled in heat at a nearby corner.

She was asking for separate checks for each person in the drive thru. Basically, she was placing three separate orders and the attendant was getting them all confused.

The hassle continued for 126 seconds. Then the shrieky woman went in another direction with the dialog, asking for assurances that she would have fresh fries, pickles on two of the three burgers, etc.

I jumped out of line, parked the a Jeep and went inside. I placed my order at the counter, paid and got everything to go in your standard amount of fast food time. I was headed back to the Jeep when I noticed that the same car had progressed from the speaker to the window but no farther. There was shrieking in progress. A line of vehicles has stacked up behind the car. I waved to no one in particular.

Who in their right mind creates such havoc at a drive thru window? It has never even crossed my mind to place separate orders under those circumstances, let alone place special orders.

Some people need to get out and walk.

So, here in New York State we are back on Standard Time. At 2:00 a.m. this morning, Daylight Saving Time came to an end for the season and for approximately the next four months, the clocks will match what the sun is doing in that noon will be approximately when the sun is at the highest point in the sky for the day.

That’s the way it’s suppose to be.

I have wretched about Daylight Saving Time every year since the birth of this blog back in 2001. With the Energy Something Act of 2007, Daylight Saving Time was extended by three weeks, all in the name of “saving daylight” and “saving energy”. I really don’t know anyone that enjoys whipping the clocks around but in the circles I hang in I tend to be the most vocal about it.

No one really knows why we change the clocks twice a year but we still do it, much like the stoning of that pleasant woman in the short story, “The Lottery”. Something about the corn is high when the stones are thrown or something like that.

I’m just happy that things are back the way they should be for the next four months. I feel awake, I feel alive and I feel quite happy.

On the drive to work this morning I heard a mention on the radio of the fact that the “holiday season” is getting ready to be in full swing next week. Retailers are very excited because there’s 4% more disposable income this year versus last year. Consumers are ready to spend, spend, spend all in the name of myrrh.

Since when does the holiday season start October 1? If I start hearing “Jingle Bells” or, even more horrifying, “My Favorite Things”, on tinny little PA speakers next week, I am going to be very, very hostile in any given retail environment.

I’m actually a little surprised that folks are thinking about the holiday season already, what with Halloween a little over a month away. Three abandoned stores within a five mile radius of our house have been converted to Halloween warehouses. These establishments have names like “Spirit of Halloween”, “Halloween City” and “Boo, You and A Buck”.

One of the stores have moved into an abandoned Circuit City, which is slated to become a Buffalo Wild Wings, but we have to wait until the Halloween store pilfers way too much money from the sheep before we can get Buffalo Wild Wings. Like an early Christmas, this makes me hostile.

Personally I think Halloween has become completely out of control. People spend hundreds of dollars decorating their house for the holiday. Ridiculously sized gatherings are assembled where people can run around in store-bought costumes and create chaos. Retailers are clamping down on the sale of shaving cream, requiring a license and a credit card dragged across your cheek to prove that you need the stuff. Pumpkins are being hurled from Thruway overpasses and honestly, people are now using Halloween as an excuse to lose their mind before going completely nuts for the holiday season in general.

It’s not that I don’t enjoy Halloween; quite the contrary, I relish the pass I get that for one day I get to go out in some outrageous getup, act all weird and claim that it’s all in the name of Halloween. I mean, when else could a 46 year old man go walking around the mall in a superhero costume? But the mass commercialism and intensity in which people wildly spend money for this holiday is getting a bit out of control. Gone are the days when someone tossed a Tootsie Roll and maybe a pack of Sweet Tarts in your decorated shopping bag. Children have $100 costumes, designer bags and a plan. Throw less than $10 worth of candy into that bag and you’re in big trouble. You’ve let down the Halloween gods.

Earl and I are quite lucky; we have had only one trick-or-treater come to our house in the 18 years that we have been married, and that was the kid of one of Earl’s employees who was afraid he’d be fired if he didn’t cozy up to the boss. Earl and I celebrate the most reasonable way we know how; we turn off the porch lights, lock down the house, throw on some ridiculous clothes and go out for dinner. We then circle around the house and see if there’s any hint of activity in our neighborhood. When we determine it’s all clear, we sneak in the back door and make ourselves at home. We then promptly eat the candy we knew we’d never give out.

That’s the way Halloween should be celebrated. It’s a shame that we can’t go to Buffalo Wild Wings for dinner that night, what with “Boo You and a Buck” taking up the store front and all.

I am just back from Staples, where I picked up some shipping supplies. It was your standard trip to Staples, the store that touts itself with the slogan “That Was Easy”.

It is 2014. Technology is bounding ahead in enormous leaps. Everything is connected to everything else and everyone wants to know your business. Like every other retailer in the U.S., Staples wants you to be part of their rewards program so they track your spending habits and give you a carrot once in a while for buying three tons of paper clips.

When it was my turn at the checkout I was asked the question, “Are you a rewards club member?”. I can never remember if I am or not, because after all, Staples wants you to carry a card and quite frankly I’m not that invested in the program. But then some sort of ding happened in my head and I decided to rejoin the rewards program. Maybe I can use a carrot after all.

“I’m not a member, but I’ll sign up.”

The cashier pulled out a pamphlet the resembled something you fill out to sign up for a credit card, pulled off a flimsy piece of paper that was glued to the pamphlet and scanned the number.

“If you could please take a moment to fill this form out, I’ll enter it into the system and you’ll be all set.”

This is where I took pause. There was a considerable line of people behind me. After all, it’s 2014 and retailers are cutting back wherever possible. Theoretically they could probably save a chunk of change by not buying expensive point of sale computer systems that they are never going to use, but I digress. One checkout, long line.

The cashier started fumbling around for a pen. Or a pencil. Or a crayon. He couldn’t find a pen but if I’d wait for a few moments he could probably grab one off the display, because after all, I am at Staples. That Was Easy.

“Can I just register online later?”, I ask.

“No, we have to enter the information into the system”, was his response.

It’s 2014. This should be simple. There shouldn’t even be a card. Sign up online, get an app for your iPhone or Android device and they scan it. It works for Starbucks, Dunkin’ Donuts and lots and lots of other retailers. But Staples, where they say “That Was Easy”, can’t get with the program. They’re still thinking along old-school lines, where customers like paper-based engagement and carrying lots of cards that feel like coupons.

“That Was Easy” couldn’t be further from the truth.

I finally convinced the cashier that I would take the paper home, complete the exam at my leisure and bring it back when I ship the items that I was buying the shipping supplies for. He approved my taking the exam out of the store.

It’s sitting here on the dining room table. It’ll probably be burned for warmth.

With the arrival of the New Year I decided to ramp back my listening habits when it came to politics radio. This has not been an easy task, what with my selected satellite music stations playing the same handful of 70s and 80s songs over and over again. Sometimes I’m not in the mood for music and I feel like I need some intelligent discussion so I find myself back on POTUS channel 124.

I was trying to get away from politics radio because honestly, I find it disheartening to hear politicians in D.C. congratulate themselves for some of the worst representatives of the population in the history of the nation. Plummeting job approval records are for a reason, and that reason isn’t to find an excuse for a raise. Citizens are so polarized these days. It’s either very black or very white with no room for the grayness of compromise along the way.

I like to think that things are going to change for the better with the New Year, but then we hear stories like this: Christie on Bridge Scandal: ‘I Knew Nothing About This’.

If you’re unfamiliar with the story, back in September, Bridget Anne Kelly, one of NJ governor Chris Christie’s Deputy Chief of Staff, worked with an inside at the NY-NJ Port Authority and purposely orchestrated a traffic jam inbound on the George Washington Bridge at Ft. Lee, N.J. For several days. Because Fort Lee mayor Mark Sokolich did not support Christie for the governor’s race.

Mayor Sokolich won his race by a landslide.

Motorists were held up for hours. Kids couldn’t get to school. Emergency Medical Services were delayed, including the ambulance that carried a 91-year old woman in cardiac arrest to the hopsital. The woman later died.

This delay was orchestrated out of spite. It sounds like a page from a script of “The Sopranos”. There’s more detail here.

This is exhibit A as to why I’m ramping back from politics radio. Stupid people are electing stupid people to power and then the stupid people in power are doing really stupid things. Stupid is winning. I seriously believe that we are in the opening moments of the movie “Idiocracy”.

Then we have the fine folks in Utah who are basically playing whiplash with the emotions of some of its citizens. You couldn’t get married if you were gay, then you could, now you can’t and if you did, you’re not married anymore, the state won’t recognize it.

Sorry, but that’s bullshit. That’s the Utah state government going out of its way to make things as awful as possible for same-sex couples.

Do we see the theme? Governmental officials making things awful, all based on personal agendas. Where’s the good? What happened to our elected officials representing the people that elected them?

Blargh.

Photo from The Wall Street Journal.

I am working at the office today for the first time in two weeks. It’s a little weird for me because of all the changes that have been taking place over the past couple of months but I’m adjusting to it. Working from the office is not a habit I wish to build upon though, I like my workspace at home. No offense to my co-workers.

Since it’s the lunch hour I made the trek to the local Dunkin’ Donuts for an unsweetened iced tea. When I placed my order the cashier looked at me as if I had just said “J09mnadf u;wjj asdfk7nna”. I then figured out that she didn’t know what I was asking for because I had not said, “Maybe I have an unsweetened iced tea, please, fa la la la la la la”. I then looked around the restaurant and realized that the entire place is decked out for the Christmas Holiday Season.

This angers me. I glanced at my watch to confirm that it is indeed the 6th of November and then I realized that it not only angers me to see Christmas decorations up so early but in fact, it really angers me. A lot. I don’t know why it doesn’t seem to bother the general public. I know others feel the way I do, but all in all folks just keep getting on with these early Christmas season celebrations and in a decade or so we’ll be celebrating Christmas 2026 in June 2025.

What the heck is up with this? I actually know the answer to this: GREED.

I read this morning that the fine folks at Toys R Us are opening earlier than before on Thanksgiving evening and have moved their opening time from 8:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day. Macy’s, Kohls, Kmart and a host of other stores are opening on Thanksgiving as well, claiming that customers want the stores open on Thanksgiving Day so that they can get a jump on their holiday shopping because, after all, the season is shorter this year by six days due to the way Thanksgiving falls on the calendar.

Friggin’ Pilgrims messing up the whole gifting season with their silly dinner. Who wants to give thanks, anyway? We. Must. Buy. More. Stuff. Isn’t that the credo? Buy more because it means more?

Now, I’m an indulgent person. I do things because I can. Lord knows I have traveled all over the country over the past couple of months simply because I could. Well, just for the record, on Thanksgiving Day when I am seated around our dining room table with family and holding hands in prayer, I am going to say thanks for having the health, the opportunity and the privilege of living this life and for those that are part of my life. I’m going to say thanks for the guidance I have received from near and afar. I’m going to give thanks for everything I have because I am truly thankful and I believe that Thanksgiving is a time when we should slow down, contemplate and spend time with our families and friends.

I’d like to think that I am surrounded by people that feel the same way. Honestly, my heart would be crushed if someone bolted from a Thanksgiving dinner so they could get to the mall and buy the latest gadget or some other trinket at 65% off but only if they’re the first one in line and have successfully knocked two men, a cashier and a blue-haired woman out cold on their way to their intended target.

I am fully celebrating Thanksgiving this year and I will not step foot into any establishment that opts to not respect Thanksgiving (in the United States). If that means I’ll be shopping online, so be it.

But no matter what, I’ll be doing my shopping after I give thanks on Thanksgiving and not a moment before. I hope others will do the same.

I saw this link fly by on my Facebook feed. It’s rare that I’ll follow a link off of Facebook but this one caught my attention so I read it.

I don’t know what has happened to the United States of America. I hardly recognize what we have become.

Why I Never, Ever Will Go Back To The United States.