Ridiculous? Maybe..

The airing of grievances

Yesterday I was having a conversation with a friend and it turned into a discussion about our pet peeves. See, he brought up how he had recently been on a date and his lady friend (whom he had just met) proceeded to spend the entire night complaining about general life issues. I told him I could relate, "people with a negative outlook are really annoying." Then somehow the next 15 minutes turned into us taking turns complaining about things that drive us nuts, ironic? Maybe.

1. If we are in bumper to bumper traffic and I let you in, please offer a "thank you" wave.

2. If I ask you how you are doing and it happens to be a Monday, please don't refer to the fact that it is indeed Monday so you are "doing as good as you can for a Monday."

3. Please don't walk up and make conversation with me at the urinal. You are a complete stranger, make friends somewhere else.

4. Please don't use the word "irregardless".

5. If you need to talk to me, please don't send me an email asking me to call you. Pick up the damn phone.

6. If the group wants to go eat pizza, please don't be the guy that says "Can't do it, just had it 2 days ago."

7. If we are at a stop light please don't pull up in the lane that has to immediately merge. Get in line like the rest of us.

8. And last (for now) but certainly not least, please for the love of god don't be the guy in the restaurant, or in public in general, that has to scream at the top of your lungs while on your cellphone so we all think you are important.

Peanuts anyone?

Recently I was on a flight to Seattle and there were some strong winds which caused the plane to rock violently back and forth, in fact as we were coming in to land it felt like the tip of our wings were going to hit the trees below. Across the aisle next to me sat a gentlemen who was afraid to fly and was actually on a plane for the first time. He was an absolute mess but thankfully next to him was a calm elderly gentlemen who said he had been in aviation his entire life as a pilot and an engineer. Once we landed everyone broke out in applause and nervous laughter as relief sat in, the elderly gentlemen leaned over and said "That was a serious situation, the pilot earned his wings with that landing."

This is footage of an Airbus 320 trying to make a landing in Germany this past weekend. There were some obvious fierce crosswinds that made for a close call but thank God the pilot was able to save the day. Can you imagine being on that plane??

Why did they wait so long?

Just the other day I was telling Tiff how I missed the simplicities of small town life. One of my favorite memories was spending countless days at the local swimming pool with all of my friends during the summer. Mark and I would walk the 6 or so blocks with the $1.25 entry fee clinched tightly in hand. Once there we would quickly find a place to lay our towels, take off our shirts and jump in. We would swim and swim until the loudspeaker came on and it was time for a 15 minute rest period. We were never quite sure why they forced these mandatory breaks, but all we knew was this was concession stand time. The concession stand had all of the great american summer snacks; big hunks, laffy taffy, lemon heads, zots, and my personal favorite.. The Atomic Fireball. Oh how I loved the pain that damn fireball would inflict but just as it was unbearable, ahh the sweet candy center. We would gather around, each with a fireball in hand, count down and simultaneously pop them in our mouths to see who could stand the heat the longest before spitting it out and going for the fountain.

Fast forward 18 years and I find myself in a coworkers office last week discussing a little business. He casually offers me a small lemon head sized red candy, I accept and as I bite down I realize this is not just any candy, this is something I love, something I remember! I ask and his reply is "Yep, it sure is. They have them at Walgreens." Of course I make haste to the nearest Walgreens and just as he had promised, boxes upon boxes of the chewy treats.

My friends, it is so.. The