You Could Be Ugly in the 80's

So I was super sick last week and had some time to kill. I watched a bunch of 80's videos on VH1 Classic. After about an hour, I realized that for all the bad fashion and silly music, the 80's pop scene had one redeeming value that we have lost today. You could be UGLY and still have a hit!

Take Animotion for example. Behind all the big hair and makeup, this band is UGLY. But no one cared. Give them some hairspray and eyeliner and all is forgiven. Sometimes, you didn't even need big hair. Look at Phil Collins. Great 80's music from a balding guy that has always looked about 10 years older than he is. I think we should bring that idea back.

UGLY POP STARS UNITE!

What, No Fast Lane?

So I was just driving on the freeway here in Arizona. Arizona drivers DO NOT adhere to the concept of the "fast lane". I realized this soon after moving here, but thought that it would get better for some reason. How can we have 3 lanes of traffic in the same direction and not have a fast lane? Trucks drive in whatever lane they please and you can find many people in the traditional fast lane driving the same speed or slower than those in the slow lane.
In fact, I read some native's comment in the local paper that shows that people in Arizona know of the fast lane concept, but choose not to use it. This person said something to this effect, "all you out of state drivers should stop speeding and trying to get ahead. You can't get ahead on a 3-lane road." What's that about? The 3-lane is the perfect fast lane freeway: slow lane, speed-limit lane and fast lane. A whole state of FOOLS!

I Was Right

I love it when I'm right. Mythbusters backed me up in an ongoing argument that I've had with Michael for years! The myth is that if you leave a light on for a few minutes, it's more energy efficient than turning it off and then on again. Michael used this myth all the time to defend himself when I would get on him about not turning off the lights. Well, in episode 69 of Mythbusters they proved me right. HA! It barely takes any energy at all to turn on a light and therefore, you save energy by turning lights off and on as you need them. I think some guy made up that myth in the first place to shut his wife up because it really doesn't make sense anyway.

Damn Pull Tabs

So why did Progresso have to change their regular can to a pull tab? They say to make it more convenient. BULLSHIT! Everytime I use one (like just now), soup goes splattering all over the counter.

I HATE pulltabs!!!!!!

Banning Celebrities

So I'm doing laundry and watching Good Morning America. They have a new series called, "Cool to Be Green" or something like that. The segment is about ways to remodel your home to be more energy efficient and better for the environment. It had some good ideas, ones that I have already heard. But clearly the majority of us aren't doing these things; otherwise we wouldn't have to be told repeatedly about what we can do to use less energy.

So what does this have to do with celebrities? My point is exactly that. After the segment is over the host goes on to ask, "what are the celebrities doing?" Celebrities will be featured in future segments showing how they go green. Who cares? Why can't we just get the information without it having to be sanctioned by celebrities?!

I understand the use of celebrities in selling burgers, soda or skin care products, but do we have to have their stamps of approval on everything in order to make it valid? Are we so dumb that we won't pay attention to a cause without celebrity endorsement? I am as much at fault as anyone. I try really hard not to pay attention, but I get caught up in their stories. I try to justify it to myself that I'm laughing at them, not with them; but I'm still keeping up with their lives.

Well, starting today, I'm going to try for the 1000th time to not pay attention to the "personal" lives of celebrities. It's just so hard, because they do such stupid things.

What's with San Francisco?

So I'm reading this article in the NY Times, titled, "San Franciscans Hurl Their Rage at Parking Patrol." As a coincidence, the subject of how the people of San Francisco aren't particularly nice had come up in conversation recently with Michael. The article talks about citizens attacking parking control officers because the parking situation in San Francisco is so terrible. Apparently, these officers say they try not to stray too far from their vehicles or wear their uniforms to lunch because at the very least they will be verbally attacked even when not actually ticketing someone. The more appalling part of the article however, is how the people of San Francisco have defended their position of poorly planned parking.

First:

“Any city that is worth visiting is going to have a terrible parking problem,” ... “If you don’t want it to be Disneyland or Houston, you’re going to be experiencing a parking shortage.”
What's wrong with Houston? Am I missing something? I mean, I'm not a huge Texas fan, but is there something terrible about planning out a city so people don't kill each other over parking spots?

Then comparing themselves to New York:

“It’s too dense for people to drive easily and not dense enough for really great public transit,” ... “So the result is frustration.”

I'm from California. We love our cars and hate public transportation. So I'm sure, with enough research and planning the great city of San Francisco could have the most wonderful public transportation system and people would still want to drive their cars everywhere.

And finally they take their dig at a bunch of other cities:

"chronic lack of parking here was a result of a decision to encourage a bustling downtown free of atmosphere-killing parking lots, a phenomenon echoed in other parking-challenged — and popular — cities like Boston, Chicago and New York."
"Whenever someone from San Francisco calls to whine about the fact there’s no parking,” he said, “I always say, ‘Well, you have to choose, do you want to be more like San Francisco or more like L.A.?’ And that usually ends the conversation.”

OK, so LA is quite the urban sprawl and not always pretty, but what's with all the bashing of other major cities in the U.S.? Also, the quote was from some professor at UCLA, but clearly he is under the San Francisco spell.

So here, in this article about parking issues lies the reasons that the people of San Francisco get bashed. They, along with other Bay Area residents, think they're better than every other U.S. citizen. Everyone has their home pride, but they feel the need to ram that pride down everyone else's throats. Here they are all wonderful, peaceful and liberal and they're beating each other up over parking spaces.

Hmmmm....

I even had some guy tell me how terrible my home town of Huntington Beach was in comparison to his home of Sacramento. I had just met him. He asked me why I would ever move back. Hello, the Pacific Ocean at my feet! Idiot!

Christmas Keeps Coming!

So Michael and I drove back from California with a carload o' presents. But, much to my surprise, two packages arrived on our doorstep this morning!! One was a Smithfield Ham and the other was a case of one of Oregon's finest brews! Can life really get any better? I think not!

WhoooHooooo! 2007

Yay, it's 2007!!! My passport expires this year. Man, I remember when I got it back in 1997 and I thought, "2007, that's never going to come, I'm going to be so old." Those were the silly thoughts of a 23-year old. Thinking back to 1997 makes me excited for 2007. It was a year of big change and I was ready to conquer the world, or at least Seattle. I'm such a fool for 7's; it's one of my favorite numbers. The year has barely started and now I'm getting all sappy.

Whatever, on with the FOOLS!