#72 - Biased Announcers

So we all are biased when it comes to our favorite teams.  I am a Jets fan, a Mets fan and a UVA fan.  And of course, when a call goes against my team, I will immediately either a) make an excuse for them like, well, I heard the flu was running through the team this week, or b) make a remark about the ref's eyesight, or c) talk about the other team's nastiness and unfair playing tactics. I can do all those things as I am a fan, not a paid announcer on TV.  I expect announcers to be objective and fair and simply state the facts as they arise on each play.  Not react in an excited way whenever the team we happen to be playing does something OK, not fantastic, just OK.  I then would expect the same excitement for my team when they do something OK.  Not the monotone, oh, that's another touchdown for UVA voice and then an excuse about why the opposition couldn't stop them from scoring.  There should be something written into these announcer's lucrative contracts (the lucrative part is just an assumption on my part as I do not know what they really earn for their biased commentating) that they are not allowed to take sides just because they are an alum of the school or better yet, they cannot announce a game for a school they attended or team or played for!!!

                                                                    Go Hoos Go!

                                                                     

#71 - Getting Older & Turning Clocks Back

I have never been one of those people who worries about their age and how old they are turning.  I knew someone who just HAD to be married before her 30th birthday.  Why? Would she turn into a pumpkin if she wasn't???? Never found out, as she did get married at 29 and made her deadline (and was divorced five years later).  I also knew another person who cried the morning of her 40th birthday.  I am following my grandmother's philosophy: you are only as old as you allow yourself to feel.  But here is something I have noticed as I am aging: little things in life make me happy.  How is this a pet peeve, you might ask? Well, when one suddenly remembers at 7:05pm on Saturday night that we turn clocks back, and that person and her spouse almost do cart wheels across the backyard because they will get an EXTRA HOUR OF SLEEP, there's something not right with those people!!!!

                                                                                



#70 - Cop Wannabe - Take 2

How many cop wannabes are there in this world?  Well, apparently at least one more than the park cop in my first cop wannabe pet peeve.  And this one was at the airport.  Here's the scene: your son, daughter-in-law and two grandsons are coming home from their 10 days in Cancun.  They land at 9pm on a Thursday night.  You are waiting in the cell phone lot for their call that they have cleared customs and are ready to be picked up.  You drive to arrivals - door #7.  Well apparently everybody in Northern VA must have been arriving at that exact moment, as the cars are 3 deep along the arrivals curb near door #7.  Now if you were driving your own little egg car, you might be a bit reckless and squeeze in between the parked cars.  However, you are not driving your own baby car, you are driving your son's ginormous Tahoe, so instead of the wild and crazy guy routine, you simply pull up a bit farther in a coned area that is not marked with any signs.  Tired and harried parents approach with the 1 & 3 year old, and you begin to quickly load the Tahoe.  Enter scene: cop wannabe AKA airport security.  "Excuse me, are you DOD?" Tired son answers, "no." "Are you DIA?" Same answer, "no." "Are you military?" By now, tired son has had it and says, "exactly what is your point? Cut to the chase!" "Well now, this area is only for military or government people and anyone else who parks here can be fined $150.00."  "Well sir, as you can see, we are not parked, we are simply loading our car as fast as humanly possible, and btw, there are absolutely NO SIGNS ANYWHERE saying who or what this area is." Cop wannabe exits scene, mumbling something under his breath, probably wishing he had a gun with A BULLET like Barney Fife, that he could have waved around in a menacing fashion!  Next time maybe he should lend a hand to the perpetrators instead of standing there playing the 20 Question Game!

                                                                             



#69 - I'm right, you're wrong

Remember my peeve about people pulling into parking spaces right next to you when there are five other spots in the general area of your vehicle? Well, this peeve now takes on an additional element: I know what I'm doing is right and you obviously are wrong.  Here's the scenario: you pull into a BJs parking lot. The guy in the spot next to you is a bit close to the line, so you adjust where you position your car in your spot accordingly.  He can get into his car and you can get out of your car.  That is, until a person pulls into the spot on the other side of you and decides he doesn't care how you are parked, he will park as close to the line bordering your car (actually about 6" from your car!), making it not only impossible for you to get into your car on the driver's side, but also for his wife to get out the passenger door in their car, so she needs to climb over the console and get out the driver's side.  I actually witnessed this as I came out with my filled shopping cart. I then witness the guy start to walk away from his car and head toward BJs.  I look at him and say, "how would you like me to get into my car?"  And he answers, " you should not have parked so close to the line." SO, in other words, you are incredibly stupid for how you parked, but I am not.  It is your problem, not mine. I am right, you are wrong.  Well, I was not moving on this (both figuratively and literally), and I explained how the car next to me was parked when I arrived. There must have been a look from me of "I will not let you pass me and go into the store until you move your car", as he hesitated and then goes back to his car, and begins to enter, all under the glare of his wife standing with a shopping cart.  I start putting my stuff in my trunk.  He gets back out of his car and says, are you going to move your car.  I look at the guy and now realize I must be dealing with someone mentally handicapped, or partially blind, and I say, when I finish loading my groceries and you move your car, so I can get into my car, yes I will.  Now mind you, there were two other spots, two cars over from him, that he could just have pulled out and back into.  But NOOOO, he wanted THAT SPOT for whatever reason. Now a younger me might have slowed my packing groceries to a crawl, just to annoy the guy.  The more mature me simply loaded the groceries and flicked him off in my mind!

                                                               

#68- Will you make up your mind??!!!

I realize that with each passing day, comes new advances in the world of science and technology. And with those advances comes new discoveries.  So, I do understand that there may be better ways of approaching things than in years past.  However, it seems like every time you turn around, contradictions arise.  For example, one day we hear that coffee and caffeine are really bad for us.  The next day that is reversed and 2 cups of coffee a day can ward off breast cancer. One day we shouldn't be drinking alcohol.  The next day, a glass or two of red wine is great for the heart.  One day, we start babies on solid foods at 4-6 weeks old, the next day,we shouldn't be giving babies any solid food until they are a year old.  One day, parents have the option of an alternative immunization schedule as there is a link between certain immunizations and autism.  The next day, that is totally false.  How are we really supposed to know what to do!?!!? My philosophy is if it works, don't fix it.  Eat & drink in moderation, do what you think is right for your child after looking at all the pros and cons, and just live your life! It's no wonder people seem to be running in 10 different directions daily!

                                                                       

#67- Coping Skills

Why is it that some people can cope with things in life so much better than others?  I have a difficult time listening to people with what seems to me (and what do I really know) minute, trivial problems or more accurately, self-inflicted problems, while there are other people who really have monumental difficulties in their life and they simply deal with them. And people who simply accept responsibility for their actions and deal with the consequences, as opposed to those who point a finger at everyone else for their plight in life and expect someone else to solve their problems and bail them out.  Woe is me syndrome is annoying and draining and I wish the wims would just go away and weave me awone!

                                                              

#66 - Scrooge: Not Just at Christmas

Halloween - that enchanted day of the year for kids of all ages everywhere - where you dress up as something other than yourself, ring a doorbell, smile and look cute (or not) and get a treat thrown into your bag.  Treats for nothing!  Your costume doesn't even have to look like anything and you still get a treat because the giver doesn't want to look ignorant and ask what you are supposed to be!  I like Halloween.  But then again I like kids, even older ones who just use the day as an excuse to get candy but are really too cool to have a costume, so they just carry a pillow case for all their loot. By now you have realized that my pet peeve does not lie in the holiday; it lies with the Halloween Scrooges.  Those adults who must have suffered great trauma on Halloween as a child.  Adults who did not get good treats when they went trick or treating.  Adults who have forgotten all the fun associated with the day.  Adults who may not like kids.  Adults who were never kids themselves.  So they sit in a darkened house, with no lights on, listening to the squeals and laughter of children on the street, as they go to the non-scrooge houses and add to their plunder.  Kids today are kinder than when I was a young trick or treater because if we came across a Halloween Scrooge apartment, we did not ignore their selfishness.  Oh no, we made sure they knew that we were not as selfish as they.  We left them gifts of eggs (smashed on their doors or front stoop), chalk (chalk in socks makes quite a dusty mess when banged against something), flour and eggs and water mixtures in plastic baggies (dropped from the top of apartment buildings in front of the scrooges as they walked down the block).  Oh yes, we were truly selfless even in the face of selfishness!