Why.

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.

Since I have the luxury of working from home, I am able to keep track of how many phone calls our home phone number receives on a typical day. Today, the daily number has reached a double digit for the first time.

I am not amused.

I just checked the National Do Not Call Registry and confirmed that our number has been registered for quite some time. Since we are well beyond the 31 day “grace period”, theoretically I should not be receiving any telemarketing calls, never mind upwards near a dozen a day.

If the United States Government can’t manage a database that theoretically contains one table with three columns (serialid, phone number, effective date), it is beyond my comprehension to think that any sort of data can be effectively managed by them. This makes me very nervous, because if they’re aggregating all sorts of data on its citizens and tell us not to worry because we won’t be tagged in error, how on earth am I suppose to believe this when they can’t even reliably list my phone number in a list of forbidden-to-telemarketers phone numbers?

In all reality, the Do Not Call Registry appears to be a complete waste of time and quite frankly, I feel the need to double up the foil on my tin foil hat.

Before I dive into this blog entry, I must confess that it is not populated with all of the photos I had originally planned on including with this narrative. Just as I was taking photos, a very large woman with a very large baby carriage parallel parked in front of the beverage station that I am about to talk about and I didn’t have room to wedge my iPhone 5 in for a proper photo. Please bear with me.

Earl and I are at the local Panera for a little wind down soft drink and treat. This location was renovated a few months ago and part of the sprucing up of the place involved relocating the self-serve drink station to the rear of the restaurant.

It wasn’t the most efficient of moves.

To keep matters interesting, the drink dispensers are located to the right of the utensils and condiment station as shown above in the second photo. So, one gets an empty cup at the front register, follows handwritten signs to the back of the store, fills their drink amongst others that are trying to figure out how to fill their drink and then to get a cover for their cup of free water (or purchased pop, iced tea, etc.), they must move to the aforementioned condiment/utensils station to the left of the beverage dispensers.

However! The dispensers and the condiment/utensils station are separated by …

… a hallway! And it’s not just any hallway, but it’s a hallway to the seating that was recently added to the location AND the rest rooms. So people whipping their baby buggy around Panera can slam into the patron who is trying to move from the filling station to the covering station.

As seen in the first photo, there is plenty of room to the right of the beverage station to house the utensils, or at the very least, the covers for the beverage cups.

This is not efficient. This isn’t even smart. The hallway is often slippery due to spilled drinks. I would think that a chain as large as Panera would have already figured this scenario out to peak efficiency.

Apparently I was wrong.

So Earl and I went out on a little date night to the Armory Square area of Syracuse. We had a few cocktails, we enjoyed a nice meal together at the Empire Brewing Company and we had some great conversation. After our little adventure at the brewery, we decided to go for a walk before returning to the Jeep.

That’s when I discovered that I needed to find a restroom. Beer has that effect on me.

I quickly navigated us to a nearby Starbucks, where I hastily ordered an unsweetened green iced tea and asked for the code to gain access to the men’s room. Armed with the code and with Earl installed to pick up my tea, I made my way to the restroom and did what I had to do.

A sigh of relief.

As I started to get myself back together and presentable to the public, I was disheartened to discovered that the one-seat restroom was completely out of toilet paper.

Oh noes!

I looked around and found no place anywhere in the small room where extra toilet paper could be hiding. There was no cabinet under the sink. The public restroom certainly has no need for a medicine cabinet. I guessed I would have to settle for paper towels.

Except I was in Starbucks.

Where every thing is “green” and “environmentally friendly.” (Plastic cups notwithstanding).

No paper towels.

No extra toilet paper.

No tissues.

There wasn’t even a well-read copy of Reader’s Digest.

The only thing available was a hand dryer and I had no idea what I was going to do with that in this situation.

I improvised. How I improvised shall be left to the gentle reader’s imagination, but I will say this, from this day forward I shall always grab a napkin or two before entering a Starbucks restroom. Just in case.

I like to think of myself as a caring individual of this planet. I am trying to leave as little destruction of the environment as possible during my stay here and for the most part I think I’m doing an ok job. Of course, I drive a Jeep Wrangler, which is not exactly the most eco-friendly vehicle one can choose, but like I said, I do an “ok” job.

I noticed shortly after purchasing my Jeep that there was an indicator on the dashboard that showed when I was driving in an ecologically friendly fashion. A little “Eco On” light would blink on and off when my driving habits were where they should be and it didn’t take long for me to figure out where the “sweet spot” was to get that light to be on as much as possible, for example, the light never came on over 72 MPH and it would not come back on until you slowed down to 65 MPH. When commuting back and forth to the office, I would drive at 70 MPH on the Thruway and watch others whizz by me, knowing that I was doing my part to make a smaller impact on the environment. I didn’t feel smug.

The past weekend we had to get down to the Philly area pretty quick, so I kind of shunned the Eco indicator on the dashboard and, thankfully, was able to turn the indicator off so I wasn’t constantly reminded of my temporary driving habits. I felt some guilt but I did my best with it.

Imagine my surprise when the fuel-use indicator showed that I gained a greater MPG rating than when I was trying to drive with the Eco On indicator illuminated. Instead of averaging around 18.5 MPG, I was able to hit a little over 20 MPG and that was be driving faster than usual.

Thinking that there must have been some helpful hills and the like, I decided to experiment again yesterday during my normal commute to the office and sure enough, when ignoring the Eco indicator on the dashboard, I was able to achieve a higher MPG rating.

What’s up with that?

I don’t think I’m missing anything here in determining that a higher MPG means a touch less of an impact to the environment, so why the discrepancy? No clue. Earl says that the Eco light is a gimmick. I’m starting to wonder that myself.

There’s too many gimmicks in the world.

“April showers bring May flowers.” It’s a popular saying in these parts, what with the ample rain we get every year during the month of April. As I look outside over our patio, I see the rain coming down in droves and indications that the temperature is hovering just about 40F.

Sigh.

I will say that I’m thankful that it’s not colder and that we are not getting snow at the moment. Worried isn’t the right word, but there is a thought lingering around in my head that tomorrow morning we’ll wake up to snow on the ground.

Sigh.

I keep looking at the weather app on my iPhone and seeing that by this time next week it should be in the 60s. I am really, really looking forward to that.

I love kids. I think their presence is important for the continuity of the human race. I have to admit that without kids, the world would certainly be a different place. Especially in a hundred years or so.

I believe that kids should be given the opportunity to vocalize and be creative and find their path, no matter what it may be, with as much encouragement as possible from the adults around them. A kid that is free to express him or herself appropriately will hopefully grow up to be a well-adjusted, contributing member of society. And that’s what we all want, right?

Please note that in the previous paragraph I said, “express him or herself appropriately.

I try not to judge people based on stereotypes. I do it, but I really tried hard not to do it. But when I saw a scrubby looking family of four, complete with two young tots, headed to the row behind me on this flight, whilst carrying take-out pizzas, I knew it was not going to be a quiet flight. I knew there would be little in the way of napping. And I could really use a nap today.

I’m not going into the intricacies of wondering why an airport vendor would serve full-sized take-out pizzas in an airport terminal, nor am I going to question as to why they brought them onto the plane, especially when we will be landing in relatively close proximity to the lunch hour. I’ve smelled worse food on plane in the adventure with the yak sandwich Earl and I encountered on a flight years ago.

Apparently the child bouncing on the tray table on Friday’s flight was just an appetizer for my airlines experience this weekend. For this scrubby family of four with their airport Chuck E Cheese in tow have kids that are screaming at the top of their lungs, kicking the seat at an almost amusing velocity and, from what I can tell from the sound, trying to exit the airplane by banging on the window as hard as possible while making a shrieking noise not to be equaled by the whine of the aircraft engines.

It’s not that I’m a snob. Ok, perhaps I am a bit of a snob, but I believe that we should train our children to behave appropriately in public and that starts by behaving appropriately at home.

The father of the group has put on headphones and sunglasses and has tuned out what is apparently SNAFU. The mom is gazing at the scabs on her new arm tattoo. The tattoo is that of a wolf head. I don’t think her biceps quite do the tattoo justice. She’s busy, so the two children are doing the aforementioned jumping and screaming and banging on the window.

On lookers from outside might see large letters forming the words “HELP ME” on an iPad in the window of the aisle in front of them.

Frequent flyers are probably chuckling knowingly because this is apparently the way flying works today. I’ve lamented on the loss of dressing nicely and behaving civilly while on board an aircraft. Those days are long gone, apparently, and have been replaced by the McGrubby to go set.

I know, I know, I sound old and cranky and I’m really trying not to be. Earl says I sweat the small stuff. But when you can’t take a needed nap and the flight you’re on doesn’t even offer any sort of entertainment, sweating the small stuff is basically the only thing you can do.

33 minutes and counting.