Please Stop Being Passive Aggresive Drivers

After moving to the greater Northwestern  part of the United States I have noticed a very annoying pattern of drivers in this part of the world. They are namby pambies while driving. For example, they will drive up behind me, station themselves 12 to 15 inches from  my bumper and expect me to either drive faster or get out of their way. They won 't flash their lights, they won't toot their horns, they just sit on my tail expecting me to read their minds and decide the best way to let them motor through the balance their miserable day.
Well I have had enough of being an unpaid, unappreciated  motorized psychiatrist for the general driving public of the great Northwestern US. The least these passive aggressive drivers could do is act out their aggressions, as every red blooded North Eastern United States driver does. They should blow their horns, blast their high beams, and pass me on the left or the right, even if there are no passing lanes. That is the kind of driving I can live with, absolutely crazy but at least consistently crazy !!!

An Adventure into the World of the Crazeys.

We just spent the July 4th holiday in Santa Barbara CA. Santa Barbara, really is a very special place, it lives up to its hype as the French Rivera of California, very tranquil and relaxing. Anyhow, after having spent a wonderful holiday in SB, I was brought back to reality on the last day of our trip, in the parking lot of a local SB supermarket. What happened was we went to the Supermarket to get some things and on the way out of the parking lot I came to the end of the row I was parked in. As I looked to my right and left I noticed there was a Stop Sign on my left and a car approaching it.
Unfortunately for me I assumed in the real world drivers who drive up to Stop Signs must stop for them, it now appears that assumption is not true.
What happened was as I moved into the intersection and made a left turn, the car approaching the Stop Sign stopped. Up until this point you might think everything was normal, as I did, but then the world of the crazes  showed up in the form of the driver at the Stop Sign. This crazy began shouting at me " Stop Sign, Stop Sign " and giving me the finger, because, as a near as I can discern, my presence in his world forced him to stop at the Stop Sign !!! I guess he had not intention of stopping, and my mere presence ruined his plan. Anyhow, it took me a while to react to his yelling, primarily because I don't think the way crazes think, so I didn't yell back at him, but in retrospect, my inability to immediately become a crazy, may have saved my life.

Too Many Yellow Traffic Lights

After living in the state of Oregon for the better part of two years, I have come to the conclusion that there are too many Yellow traffic lights in this state. We have, Steady Round Yellow Traffic lights, We have steady Yellow Arrow traffic lights and we have blinking Yellow traffic light Arrows. These yellow lights are driving me crazy. You never know what the driver in front of you is going to do when they approach an intersection that has one of these yellow lights glowing. Will the driver stop? Will the driver make a left turn? Will the drive go through the intersection? Its like playing Russian roulette with a fully loaded gun !!!
In its never ending effort to protect all its citizens from any harm and simultaneously give all its citizens the complete freedom to do whatever they want, the state of Oregon has created a crazy quilt of Yellow Traffic lights. I don't know for sure but I am willing to bet that the only ones benefiting  from all these yellow lights are the police officers and townships that get to issue yellow light tickets and collect traffic fines.

A Visit to the Genius Bar at the Local Apple Store

As a result of some issues coming up in regard to the use of our IPad2, I found myself at the Genius Bar at the local Apple Store. The reason I found myself there was that I was trying to find out how to fix the issues online and could not do so, so a visit to a real person was in order.
Now for the real surprise about my visit, I had no complaints. The Genius bar took me right on time, fixed my isues and actually helped me with other issues I had, but didn't know I had them.
When I was going through life, it used to be that the " Disney Way" of customer service at their parks and other retail enterprises was the Gold Standard of customer service. Well, in my not so humble opinion "The Apple Way" ( My term as far as I know) is now the Platinum Standard of Customer Service. I only wish that My Federal, local State, County and  local City Governments could be added to the lists of either Gold or Platinum Customer Service. But, that seems to be a wish that can only be granted if Apple and / or Disney formed a Joint venture to run all levels of government in the United States.

People Who Govern Things Never Use Them

I just finished reading an article in the local paper that says the board of directors for the local public transit agency rarely, if ever ride the system they are supposed to govern. This reminded me of one of my favorite thoughts.  " The companies that build cars or computers have no people in them that know how to drive or ever use a computer."
In the case of the failure of the public transit system board, to even be able to relate to the systems users, the reason for their built-in lack of empathy is because the board is not elected, the board is not on a first come first to  serve, or even absolutely required to use the system they "oversee". The only thing a person must do to get on the over site board is to be appointed by the Governor, a Politician who never rides the public transit system, and probably couldn't find it if he tried to ride it !!!

The First Time I went to a Dentist

Lucky me, I was at the dentist again today. And while there the dentist said that if she was doing anything that was causing me pain, just signal her somehow. To which I responded I would grab her, and she said "where was I planning to grab her: The answer went unsaid by me.
But, the question made me think of a story my mother told me about the first time she took me to a dentist in our old neighborhood in Brooklyn. It seems that at around the age of five, she took me to a dentist for my first visit, well she waited outside while I went onto the dental chair with the dentist. My mother says about five minutes later the dentist came running out of the exam room dragging me along by the arm. The dentist than screamed at my mother" Your Son Bit Me" To which my mother  said she asked me "Why did you bite the Dentist?". To which my mother said I answered, " because he was hurting me." At which point my mother said to the dentist. You deserved to be bit and we left that dentist forever.

The USA's New Levels of Justice

When I was growing up we were taught the USA was a nation of laws and all citizens got the benefit of an impartial justice system. Then, we began to believe that there were two systems of justice, one for the rich and one for the poor; or as it was stated, " if you have enough money you can buy whatever justice you want." After hearing about the recent John Edwards and Roger Clements trials, I now realize we have a third classification of justice in this country, we have added Celebrity Justice. It seems that whether or not a celebrity is guilty is not the real issue on the minds of his or her jurors. The real issue is, should  the jurors give the celebrity on trial in front of them a break because they are celebrities. This is an offshoot of modern American celebrity worship that has replaced our historical need for heroes, such as Presidents or Medal of Honor winners. We now worship celebrities as they were heroes, and you can't put a hero in jail.