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Wednesday, November 7, 2012

PARKING PET PEEVE


PARKING PET PEEVE
 

Here is an example of what makes me cranky. 
One of my pet peeves is people that park their car directly behind my driveway.  I hate backing out of the driveway anyway, but it is particularly annoying when I have to be careful to not ram your STUPID FRICKING CAR that you just had to park directly behind my driveway!

I am not an unreasonable man, I understand on a busy road sometimes there is nowhere else to park.  But when you have a choice??

Years ago, my across the street neighbor in a fairly exclusive NJ suburban McMansion neighborhood, insisted on parking her car on the street directly behind my driveway.  All of these houses had two to three car garages, and double wide driveways, so there was no reason to ever park on the street.

This neighbor was an extremely stupid woman with a three car family who insisted it was a convenience to park one car on the street.  She did not want to park it directly in front of her house as that would distract from the magnificence of her home, so she parked it just behind her lot and directly where I had to take great care not to ram her every time I backed out of my driveway.

Just in case you may take umbrage with my characterization of this woman as being stupid, let me cite a few examples:

A local organization held a 50/50 drawing to raise money.  Ordinarily these raffles charge a dollar a ticket or three for five dollars.  This organization decided to just offer one choice.  Each raffle ticket cost five dollars.  Mrs. Stupidhead from across the street complained rather loudly, “Five dollars a ticket!  For five dollars we should get at least three tickets!” 

Yeah, jerkweed, that’ll change the odds.

Not convinced this lady was a complete numnutz?

This neighbors surname was Dickson.  Her teenage girls whined that some kids in school teased them because of their name…DICKson.  In order to appease her precious daughters she had the surname legally changed…to…wait for it… DECKson.

Anyone who knows anything at all about teenagers would know that if you ended one school year named Dickson and returned in the fall named Deckson it would not eliminate the name teasing, but would in fact exacerbate the taunting.

My son’s middle name is Dixon from my grandmother’s maiden name.  She would roll in her grave if anyone tried to dishonor the name by changing it to Dexon.  Anyway, I used to joke that I was surprised that since her kids were being teased over their name that she didn’t have it legally changed to DICKhead!  She was that stupid.

So the stupid neighbor continued to park where it was difficult to back out of my driveway without hitting her car.  One day a young lady who was visiting my son, backed out of our driveway without expecting that someone would park their car directly behind our driveway when there were so many other non-stupid places to park.  She rammed directly into Mrs. Dickheads car. 

The young lady came into our house very upset and explained what just occurred.

“Was there any damage to your car?”

“No.”

“Was there any damage to the parked car?”

“Yes!  There is a huge dent to the driver side door.”

“Did anyone see you?”

“No.”

“You have a nice day then.”

If you are reading this Mrs. Dickhead, and I am not sure you can read, “Good!”

Hmmm…make that “FUCKING GOOD!!.....Dickhead.       

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

CRANKY’s THOUGHTS ON THE ELECTION


CRANKY’s THOUGHTS ON THE ELECTION
Posted from the parking lot of Lowes in East Brunswick, N.J.

As I write this the election has just started.  I am in my home without power fighting to get the temperature above 60 degrees.  I will try and vote later today, though I am not positive I am registered since I moved recently from one town to another.  I have several thoughts on this election before the final results are in.

If the election is very close, will I hear that old argument that our President should be chosen by popular vote?  If one candidate wins on the Electoral College and another has the popular vote there will be much crying.  I am personally in favor of choosing a candidate based on the popular vote, but until that happens the popular vote is meaningless.  Why?

My State is going to vote for President Obama.  That has been known for over a year.  Many people, possibly myself will not vote because they feel their vote is meaningless as the electoral vote in New Jersey is already a sure thing for President Obama.  Campaigning is based on the Electoral College system.  States that are assured to go to one candidate will have less get-out-the-vote resources spent in a losing cause.  There are probably only about six states where both parties actively campaign for the Presidential race.  Claiming victory based on popular vote is like a football team claiming victory because their team had more offensive yards than the other team.  The score is dictated by the rules.  We play for Electoral College votes, not popular vote.

My other thought is how many votes were cast because of candidate’s positions on abortion, women’s rights, civil rights, Gay rights and other social issues.  These are important of course; I just do not think the eventual Presidential winner will have as great an influence on these issues as many people think.  These issues are just incredibly complicated.  For instance, are you in favor of abortion?

I don’t think anyone thinks abortion is a good choice as a form of birth control.  I also don’t think anyone wants to see unsafe back alley abortions that were so common before the 1970’s make a comeback.  Abortion laws are not going to change significantly.  Arguments to the contrary are simply scare tactics. 

Should Gay people be allowed to marry?

Whoever is elected President may or may not effect change in this matter, but the movement towards Gay marriage and Gay rights in general is clear and probably unstoppable regardless of who is the President.

What about Women’s rights?

Laws are in place, women’s rights are here.  Society may still have to adjust, but the laws are in place.  Do women get paid less than men for the same work?  Possibly in some cases, it probably depends on who is doing the survey.  There are also probably some cases where women get paid more than men for the same job.  This is not something that laws can easily rectify.  How do you determine which jobs are equal?  This issue will only be solved by supply and demand in the labor force.

Whoever wins this election I believe social issues will work out in favor of what is fair and right.  If President Obama wins he will not be as liberal as many conservatives fear.  If Mr. Romney wins he will not take us back to the stone-age as many liberals fear.

Regardless of who wins this election, our economy will survive and eventually thrive.  One philosophy might achieve this faster, but adjustments will be made and we will succeed. 

The success of this country does not hang on the decision made today, but on the decisions made in 1781, decisions that assure our country will not fall to dictatorship, that ultimately the people dictate the actions of our government, and ultimately the people will be correct.

God bless the USA, and please…whoever wins this election…give him the respect the office deserves.  Regardless of who wins:

HE IS YOUR PRESIDENT!!   

The Generator, The New Status Symbol


The Generator, The New Status Symbol

A common status symbol in the northeast used to be the snow blower.  After a big snow, the dudes with the snow blowers would be out at dawn with that smug grin on their face clearing their driveway. 

“Oh that snow don’t bother me none, I got a snow blower.”

Most of the snow blowers these guys bought were good for about 8” of snow.  Anything more and I could shovel easier and faster than they could blow.  If we went a winter without snow most of these snow blowers wouldn’t start when need for the next storm. 

Keep your $500 snow blower which may or may not start, might be insufficient for a big storm and takes up space in your garage. I’ll call a plow service for $125 every two or three years.  You can have your blower and your smug smile.

With the big storm, Sandy, a new status symbol is born.  The GENERATOR!

I have lived in New Jersey for over 50 years.  This is the first storm where I could have used a generator.  Oh sure there have been storms where I have been without power for 6-8 hours and I guess a generator would come in handy.  Maybe. BUT…$800 for temporary power; for what? 

It will keep your refrigerator running, maybe a few lights and if needed your sump pump.  The sump pump might save you a bundle if you have a nice basement.  I think a backup battery would work just as well for about $125. 

I think I will go for the backup battery, but for now, after Sandy, a bucket and some manpower every 2 hours has worked just fine to empty that sump.

It is now four days since the storm and most people in Jersey still have no power.  Many do have generators.  They run them 24/7 (4) and have the same smug grin as the snow blower people.

Meanwhile six people in the state have died of carbon monoxide poisoning because they can’t read the generator operation directions.  It also turns out that if you set up the generator incorrectly they can cause a dangerous back-draw (something like that) which can kill you or the linesman trying to get your power back.  Do these people die with a smug smile on their face?

We are currently having problems getting gas.  Gas lines are sometimes over a mile long and people are waiting 2-4 hours for gas.  Many people in these lines are waiting to fill up their gas cans to keep their generators running.

Mrs. Cranky and I are without power for 4 days now.  We are warm thanks to a natural gas fireplace keeping the house a comfortable 70 degrees.  We can cook on our gas stove top or our Weber grill.  We are lucky to have water and the water heater also runs on gas.

I can do without the status symbol generator; the status symbol that many people have lost to theft as they are in such demand; the status symbol that requires a four hour wait for gas to keep operating; the garage space eating monster stored next to the giant snow blower which will probably not start the next time it is needed. 

When the power comes back we will throw away $125 worth of food which we could not keep refrigerated.  My neighbors with the generators will watch me discard this spoiled food with a smug smile on their faces as they store that bulky $800 machine which will not start four years from now when they need it next.

I will watch them wheel that monster away and I will try and hide my smug smile.