Twitter Quip

    Commuting Woes: No good deed goes unpunished

    I’m completely upside down. If radio programming is any indication, most people prefer to listen to talk in the AM and music on the way home. Top-40 radio stations have whacky morning DJs, complete with schtick. Conversely, during the drive time talk formats are abandoned in lieu of a music-heavy format.

    I’m the complete opposite. When I drive to work in the morning, I wanna hear hard music–something to wake me up and invigorate the start of my day. But when heading home, I am completely exhausted and drained. The last thing I wanna hear is hard, loud music that rattles my brain. I like talk radio because it’s easy on the ears and doesn’t take too much out of me…which appears to be the exact opposite of what any Top-40 station would play.

    Either I’m a complete freak or everyone else is wrong–I’m leaning toward the latter.

    As I’ve stated before, I don’t believe in carpooling. Not because I’m a cold-hearted Grinch–it’s just too much of a hassle for me. If carpooling was easy and I wouldn’t hafta stray from my routine, my opinion would be different.

    I cite my life as a prime example why carpooling doesn’t work. . . . . .

     

    Uninformed muses on rising gas prices (it can’t be good)

    We’ve reached the point where even I’m complaining about the price of gas. The national average is supposedly a tad bit above $4 a gallon; the Orange County price is about $4.60. I needed half a tank and it still cost me a little under 30 bucks. This is ridiculous–and it’s not going to change anytime soon. Consumers would like gas come down at least 30 percent–but we’re not going to see it. We’re more likely to pay $5 a gallon gas by the end of the summer than we will be to see sub-$4 prices ever again.

    I’m not economist; just a guy who makes a lot of assumptions with very little research. But I know this much: gas prices that high can’t be good for the economy. If it cost more to ship everything everywhere, it’ll drive up the price of products. So in addition to having less cash because it cost more to fill up our cars, Americans will also hafta spend more money on pretty much everything they buy. Groceries are gonna cost more. Online shoppers will have to pay higher shipping costs. Even pizzerias are going to hafta start charging for delivery. Everything is going . . . . .

     

    Small people with big machines (fishing for fuel economy)

    I never understood the joy of fishing. You sit there and nothing happens. As far as I can tell, it’s all luck. You give two guys the same bare, pole, and lake, there’s nothing either one of ’em can do to catch more fish. They throw their lines and hope something is dumb enough to bite.

    Gas prices are skyrocketing and I have little sympathy for those who complain at the pump. America is a society where people really couldn’t care less about the price of gas. Sure, they’ll bitch and complain about how much it cost to fill-up. The evening news will cover numerous stories regarding the hardships people experience. You might even catch a person or two suggest they’ll drive less.

    But the truth is actions speak louder than words. If Americans really wanted to do something about the price of gas, they’d take action against it. Look at the roads today–the streets are jam-packed with SVUs and other non-economical vehicles. American’s are obsessed with big cars and powerful engines. There’s a reason there’s more Suburbans on the road than Focuses–Americans love their big cars.

    Rising fuel costs isn’t anything new. A decade ago, I remember when gas . . . . .

     

    Vehicular litterbugs & other car-related nuisances

    Nothing pisses me off more than walking out to my car after a long day of work only to find an advertisement tucked under my windshield wiper (‘cept maybe Kevin Costner movies and the Sprint corporation). I hate those flyer for about a million reasons. I think they should be illegal because they bring more harm than good. When I was a kid, my folks used to make me pass out flyers for their failing restaurant, but that has nothing to do with it.

    I’m not a tree-hugging hippie–I like to shower and don’t smoke pot. But I despise waste. And to me, windshield wiper flyers are nothing but waste. They’re unsolicited ads that can’t possibly be efficient. How many windshield wiper flyers have influence your shopping habits? Suppose one in a hundred actually get customers into a store, it’s still terribly ineffective–and I don’t even think that many actually work.

    Even more distressing, most folks who find an ad placed on their car don’t have trash cans with them. You can always tell when someone was placing ads on cars because the parking lot is littered with discarded flyers. Most folks simply take the unwanted ad off their car . . . . .