About stupid people...

And I don't use that word lightly. My spouse and I were watching "Who wants to be Millionaire" and there was a lady on who was so stupid it made me a little bit crazy, maybe a lot crazy. We did not see her first few questions but she was going for $1000 as we turned it on. The question was this:

Who shares their first name with a month on the French calendar?
A. Britney Spears
B. Ashlee Simpson
C. Avril Levigne
D. Beyonce Knowles

She used a lifeline - the ask an expert one, and got it right...but ultimately she should not have needed a lifeline (in my opinion). If you would have needed a lifeline, perhaps you shouldn't read the rest of this post.

So I was feeling annoyed because I already feel like they put people on Millionaire who are not only stupid but also appear to lack common sense, which this lady obviously did. Well this was her next question:

The New York Islanders have a silhouette of what island on their jerseys?
A. Long Island
B. Hilton Head
C. And, well I don't remember the other two Islands but they WERE NOT in New York

So she of course called her husband, even though Meredith emphasized "NEW YORK." Man, this woman was dumb. Her husband got it right and she moved on (sheesh) to this question:


(DON'T LOOK DOWN) On a QWERTY keyboard which of these letters is not directly above the space bar?
A. M
B. B
C. P
D. V

Ok, so you are looking at a keyboard, but truly my spouse and I both knew the answer without looking at a keyboard...I bet you would have known it too. So she decided to double dip, because apparently she has never used a computer. And get this...she got it wrong! She guessed M and then B.

So here's the thing about stupid people, they make me angry. How can you possibly think you should sign up for "Who wants to be a Millionaire" and not know these things which I believe to be common knowledge. That lady didn't deserve the $1000 she got. Sigh*

I am disappointed in humanity. I guess what my spouse says is true, "The thing about common sense is that it isn't all that common."

About drunk people...

They can be very amusing. This is from a series called Drunk History.

About Natalie Portman...

Until recently, this was the cute little Natalie Portman I'd grown to enjoy as an actress (an example from Sesame Street):



Now I've always liked Natalie Portman, and I still do, but today I came across this clip which gave me a whole different perspective on her. I always thought she was quiet, kind and a lovely person and now I know that while she may be these things she is also pretty funny as well (A clip from SNL):



So here's the thing about Natalie Portman, she's more than she appears to be.

About motorcycle jerks...

Now I need to say right from the start that I DO NOT think that all persons who drive motorcycles are jerks, in fact at one point I even had my motorcycle license. However, as with anything in life, there are jerks that ruin it for everyone.

So, I was on my way home last week crossing the great state of Ohio. I was driving along having a wonderful conversation with my spouse and noticed a leathered-up motorcycle dude and his lady weaving in and out of traffic ahead of us. Since I have experience with motorcycles and motorcyclist, I try to be very aware of them on the road and give them space and what-not. However, this dude was driving very dangerously and neither of them were wearing helmets.

I commented about this guy and my husband agreed that people are stupid and if natural selection was what it should be, this guy would have never reached his present age.

So we continue moving along at our own pace and I go to pass this guy. I was behind a Saturn and while I wasn't on his tail, there was definitely not enough room for another vehicle to get in-between; well you can guess what happened. This douche on the motorcycle cuts in front of me. Well I slammed on my breaks because it freaked me out and got very annoyed at him for his irresponsible and dangerous behavior. He got back over after he had passed the car and I began to move up again to pass him. As I sped up he cut me off again, this time more closely. Well at this point I was starting to get pissed. I do not do well with people driving like jerks, cutting in, or being dangerous, especially when they are on a tiny hunk of metal with no helmets on.

So he passed the slower car and got in the middle lane again and as I came back up again the chick leaned in as soon as she saw me in her peripheral and he cut me off again. So I laid on my horn as I was sufficiently pissed. This guy was not only driving like an idiot, he was purposely trying to piss me off. I'm not sure why, but this ass was getting his rocks off on driving like an idiot. Maybe it impressed his lady friend. But whatever it was, it was making me angry.

As he got back over I zoomed forward to pass him and get on with my life. At this point I was so angry that I was having trouble driving safely. No shock, right as I got up there he cut me off again (and there was no car to pass this time). I laid on my horn for a good five seconds and did not back off this time. In fact, I was close enough that I made my husband nervous. The stupid ass got back over and got off the exit, which made it abundantly clear that the only reason he had changed lanes the last time was to piss me off. I don't think I have ever been that angry while driving before. I was so angry I got off at the next exit because I was so angry and upset that I was shaking.

Sometimes motorcyclists are asses. People in cars could literally kill them, and that ought to be taken into consideration. I was so angry I wanted to tap the cycle, and that’s bad! Man, I hate it when people are idiots, and I hate it even more when those idiots are on the road.

So here's the thing about motorcycle jerks, do us all a favor and let natural selection take it's course.

About Birthdays...

As per request, here's the thing about birthdays: Birthdays are the one day a year that it actually does get to be about you. It's not selfish, it's not thoughtless, it's just allowed to be about you.

Now, this does not necessarily mean this always happens on the actual date of your birth. For instance; one year my birthday fell on a Wednesday and I had 3 classes (2 with tests) and had to go to work after. Last year I was on call on my birthday. Obviously, when this happens it's hard to celebrate, however it does mean that you can pick an alternative day to celebrate. That year when my birthday was on a Wednesday I chose that next Saturday. This is acceptable within the "celebrating yourself" rules.

We spend most of our lives feeling like we are not that important. People don't always treat you the way you ought to be treated, they aren't always nice or thoughtful, and most of the time people don't care what you would prefer. Most of the time it's proper social etiquette to compromise or take turns making decisions like: movies, who’s super bowl party are we going to, where are we eating, etc. However, on your birthday you do get to decide instead of hearing other people's suggestions.

It must be noted also however that all of this does not mean that you get to be a jerk. Here are some rules for not being a jerk:
1) If you share your birthday with someone else, be sure to celebrate them also. If you don't want to share pick a different day to celebrate instead of ruining their day.
2) When picking a different day to celebrate because of work or whatever, don't pick someone else's birthday who is in your sphere (family, friends, co-workers).
3) Just because it gets to be about you doesn't mean you get to be an ass: You still have to tip your waitress, you still have to be kind to others, you must forgive people who don't know it's your birthday (like the guy behind the counter at the gas station), don't stick your nose up to people who want to celebrate with you, etc.

Birthdays are important because it's important to make people feel special. You want to feel special don't you? You want to feel loved and appreciated, right? And even if you can't get that the rest of the year, you should get it on your birthday...and you should honor other people the same way. "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."

If you want more info check out Wikipedia’s information about birthday's here. Note their discussion of the Golden Birthday (the day you turn the age of your birth-day, i.e. 12 on the 12th), which is very obviously cause for greater celebration.

Obviously because I feel this way I try to make sure other people feel special on their birthdays as well, I'm always willing to celebrate other people. So here's the thing about birthdays, go ahead and celebrate you. Go where you want to eat, see the movie you want to see and don't worry when people complain, they'll have their chance sometime in the next calendar year for themselves.

About Windshield Wipers

So my windshield wiper broke this week. You know in the winter when there's all sorts of snow and ice and you accidentally hit the windshield wiper button and it tries to go but can't because of ice? Well that evidently totally screws up the wiper arm (not just the blade). Without pointing fingers, the other person who drives my car did this at some point when I was not in the car last week.

So we were travelling this week and I hit the thing to turn the wipers on and the passenger wiper went but the driver's side blade only jumped a few inches but didn't go all the way up, leaving a terrible streak on my windshield and hindering my view, so I'm thinking, what the hell?

So my unnamed friend said, "oh when it was icy last week I accidentally hit the wiper blades, that's probably what happened, it'll be ok. " So we try to fix it and it worked ok once he got out and moved it up a little. So I guess it was just slipping. So I think that everything is probably ok and we drive north for a yearly trip. We get further and further up north and the snow starts spitting. You know the kind of snow that spits at your windshield and splatters from the other vehicles on the road? The kind for which you only occasionally turn on the blades? Well I finally have to turn them on and of course I'm nervous, and of course the same thing happens which only makes the view worse.

We have to stop for gas anyway so I run by an Auto Parts store and to ask what's going on and OF COURSE, the wiper blades start working as they are supposed to. Cars, I'm convinced, are instruments of the devil. So they are working fine for the time being but I'm convinced that when it starts snowing tommorow, as it is supposed to, I will be SOL again. Stupid windshield wipers.

So here's the thing about windshield wipers...I don't like them, that's all. I don't like how they only have three dumb settings: so slow you forget they're on, just barely too slow to be useful, and so fast that they squeak. I don't like how you have to knock them off every five minutes when it snows. And I don't like how they have so much influence on my automobile experience, I don't like windshield wipers.

About Blatant False Advertising...

This is just plain ridiculous. I don't even need to say anything else about it.

What makes me angry here is that Faith Hill is a beautiful lady and this magazine feels the need to make her skinnier with less lines on her face. She's way hotter than I'll ever hope to be but obviosuly it's still not good enough. Wow, doesn't that make me feel like crap.

Airborne: Vitamin C cleverly disguised as a protective medicine to keep you healthy (yeah vitamin C is good for you but don't make it what it's not).

Dr. Pepper: A pop that claims right on the can "Solves all your problems." Um...so can you pay my bills?

Some other examples:

* Gum that lasts "longer than it took to create the universe" (I don't think so)

* Ugly chicks in shirts that claim "Hottie" (If we can read, we can see you)

* Push-up bras (it's just going to make someone mad when they find out the truth)

* Cologne commercials that indicate that woman will jump on their boyfriends father (so the guy smells good, it won't really make chicks act that way)

I'm sure you've seen them too. Whatever the case may be blatant false advertising is unacceptable. So here's the thing media, don't treat me like an idiot, I know that you are lying to me and that makes me angry. I won't buy your products because you treat me like an imbecile.

The biggest problem is that they have begun to outright lie to us ("they" being the marketing corporations). Advertising has always been about making something seem better than it is and making people feel as though they need something they don’t; but really, I’d like to be taken seriously and not treated like an idiot.

And here's the thing, people are going to find out eventually and they're going to be pissed when they do! So why not just tell us what your product actually can do, that I want to know and it's good enough for me.