Saturday, April 11, 2009

the annoyances of the day

Why does the stamp price keep changing? I have a drawer full of one-cent stamps, two-cent stamps, and more. It's a regular old math puzzle! I get ready to mail a bill. How much? How many ridiculous stamps fit on one envelope? And how does the stamp-reading machine know that I have affixed the correct amount? Annoying!

Who thought that a grocery cart combined with some stone flooring would be fun? No one wants that jackhammer sound, not to mention the breaking-of-the-eggs. Every entrance has that silly stone, and sometimes it's strategically placed inside the store. Why? And can we fix the self-check out voice? No one really likes a woman nagging them to "place the item in the bag"! And that reminds me, why do I have to place it in the bag anyway? A sheet cake that feeds 30 doesn't fit!

How about those email cutsie (meant to make me cry) forwards. Annoying. Stop sending them to me!!! REALLY!! And I'll throw ecards in there, too. Buy a stamp. Well, buying a stamp is frustrating, too. Nevermind.

How irritating is it to have an 18-19-20 year old asserting their "rights" while they eat my food, use my shower, and borrow my car? I have news for you. Adulthood is something that you aspire to, not something you are bestowed with on a particular calendar date. If you live off of me, you are not an adult. Quasi-adult, semi-adult, dependent-adult, welfare recipient.... NOT an adult. Pay your way. Drive over to visit me in my house in your own car without borrowing gas money... then we'll talk!

The changing definition of friends. Annoying! Just because you have 435 facebook friends does not mean you really have friends. Just because you tweet and twitter your way through your day doesn't mean you are important to other human beings. I can twitter P Diddy on his Blackberry about the situation with Que, but that doesn't mean P Diddy is coming to dinner. If you missed that last reference... watch MTV like the young folks. Real friends cry with you when your husband leaves. Real friends support you and love you, quirks and all. Real friends actually have a conversation now and then, wonder when they don't hear from you, and share events... not just "did you see that photo of Morty puking on MySpace?"

Thursday, April 9, 2009

the demise of the newspapers

Why is our government bailing out automotive companies, banks, insurance companies, and mortgage companies? As a capitalist (and libertarian), I am confused as to why government is in the business of rescuing companies, lenders, and borrowers from their situations. We have laws in place for individuals and companies to deal with losses-- bankrupcy.

If the current administration and the complicit congress are going to bail about something or someone, why not bail out newspapers? At least the newspapers are an integral and necessary foundational piece of democracy. For all of their editorializing and slanted reporting, the demise of newspapers, new rooms, and journalists, is a true national tragedy-- the beginning of the end of the free press. The younger generation will have difficulty determining a legitimate source. We have the most varied and available news in the free world. Do we really want to be relegated to internet blurbs and wiki-news? If that is the direction we are headed, someone needs to tell the education system to modify the curriculum to include logical reasoning and analysis, moreso than the current schools do. Give me a liberally-biased newspaper on my driveway instead of Twitter-type news from self-important undereducated blowhards any day!