Road Rage? Or Knowing How to Drive?

Have you ever been frustrated with another driver on the road? I have. It seems like every day, there is another driver on the road, that makes me wonder how they even passed their driving test and got their drivers licence. Do I have road rage? No! I know how to drive! Let me give you a few examples of road rage causing incidents.

#1 - You're driving down the road, doing the speed limit of let's say...45 mph. Some creep pulls out in front of you and then proceeds to mosey down the road at 35 mph. Come on right!?!

#2 - You're driving down the road, doing the speed limit. You catch up to someone who is again driving under the speed limit. You keep a safe distance behind them, because they keep stepping on the brake, even though there is no one in front of them. The road ahead is clear, yet they keep braking for imaginary animals that they must see running across the road! Just drive! No one is in front of you!

#3 - You're driving down the road, following behind someone who all of a sudden jams the brakes......and turns WITHOUT USING A TURN SIGNAL!!!!

#4 - You're driving behind someone who has their turn signal on for 5 miles....without turning.

#5 - You're stopped at a red light behind a few cars. The light changes green. The first car just sits there, then begins to slowly go through the intersection. GREEN MEANS GO!!!!

#6 - You're again following behind someone who is for some reason going 10 mph under the speed limit. All of a sudden they awake from their stupor and gun it, stepping on the gas and go flying ahead, like "a bat outta hell" as my grandfather would say.

People need to pay attention on the road. Pay attention to the speed limits. If it's 45 mph, don't do 35. Use your turn signals. When the light turns red stop and when its green go. When renewing our drivers licence, we should have to retake our driving test. That way people won't forget the rules of the road. I'd bet half of the people out there wouldn't pass. Am I being too harsh? Do I sound crazy? Do I have road rage? Maybe the people who have road rage are the ones who know how to drive.

JP

Deflate Gate? It's all fixed!

So the New England Patriots under-inflated their footballs for last weekend's AFC Championship game against the Indianapolis Colts. Big deal, the game was fixed anyway. This stuff has been going on since the beginning of time. The NFL is a business. There are billions and billions of dollars on the line with these games. Advertising, betting, food, travel. Everything can be controlled and set up for business. You don't think so? How about that bogus call that went against the Dallas Cowboys, where Dez Bryant clearly caught the ball and tried to stretch it over the goal line? It was ruled a catch on the field. That referee knew the rules. He saw the play. He saw the catch.....but wait! Dallas was about to win. Lets review the play! Call it back! The receiver didn't make a football move. What? What do you mean? He caught the ball and tried to stretch it over the goal line. Now you have to make a football move? They can add on rules as they go. They are coming up with new ones all the time, whenever they need to control the situation. I didn't even want Dallas to win, until I saw that happen. It was one of the most blatant calls I have ever seen.

Lets see what becomes of this "Deflate Gate" situation. The Patriots were already caught video taping their opponents, which is against the rules and now this, right before the NFL's glamour money game, the Super Bowl. Will they be fined? Penalized? It will probably get swept under the rug. If they did something against the rules, they ought to be penalized somehow for the Super Bowl. Ban Bill Belichik from the sidelines. Make him sit in the press box or something. They won't. They'll probably fine them. $50,000 for them is like $50 for us regular people. They don't care. As I said before, there is too much money involved. They may have been cheating all year long for all we know. Could it be a setup? Maybe this whole thing is just a ploy to get more attention on the Super Bowl. People love controversy. It is the major story on every news station in the country. Now, even people who don't care about the Super Bowl will be tuning in to watch deflated balls. It may all be a media diversion. People in the world are dying, starving, freezing and what are we enamored with? Deflated balls.

How can we prove any of this? We can't. We can only sit back and watch the show. While you're watching the Super Bowl next weekend, pay attention to some of the calls being made by the referees, if the game is close. Pay attention to the betting line. See if there are some coincidences, because maybe, just maybe, it may all be fixed.

JP

Don't Miss the Moment with Your Cell Phone

We have become inseparable with our cell phones. We have to know where our cell phones are at all times. How did we ever live without them? How did we survive? We have to constantly be talking, texting, tweeting, skyping. We have to be taking pictures of everything we see. We have to let everyone know where we are and what we are doing and more importantly, we have to keep track of where everyone else is and what they are doing. Hey, look at that rabid raccoon! Let me take a picture and post it on Facebook. Guess what? Who cares! People today are so interested in getting the picture, or video of what is happening that they are missing out on actually living out the moment of what is going on. How many moments NEED to be captured? I've heard celebrities on TV say that fans today worry more about getting a picture, or selfie with them than actually meeting and talking with them. Everything we do in public can now be broadcast to the entire world.

Take the case of Cleveland Browns quarterback Johnny Manziel. His NFL debut bombed. He played horrible. Was he out partying too much? Maybe, but then again maybe not. But, whenever he is in public, people are taking pictures and videos of him. He may go out and have one beer and someone will take a picture and say it was his 15th. The next thing you know, it is all over the news and on every website. The kid is 22 years old. I'm sure he's not the only NFL player who is out partying. Are people not allowed to live their lives on their own time? Is this not a free country? The world has become a scary place, now that we have to be looking over our shoulders to see who is taking pictures, or videos of us and then posting them to who knows what.

Its a good thing they didn't have camera phones when I was 22. Me and my buddies were flying to Las Vegas and living it up. I have enough goofy stories to write a book, but I'll stick to this blog. My point is, pictures of me could have been posted all over too back then and someone could have made up all kinds of nonsense. That's why we have to take a stand. We have to change our culture before it is our downfall. The next time you're eating that delicious whatever, take your time and enjoy it, instead of worrying about taking a picture of it, so someone can see it real time. Your friends and family care about you, not about what your food looks like. The next time you see something funny, amazing, or beautiful, take a step out from behind your cell phone, look at it with your own eyes and enjoy it. Don't miss the moment with your cell phone.


JP