Rough week

This is totally what Monkey and I look like at this point after a very hard week. Pity us! We deserve it.

RG's gets his blog on

Commenter and smart ass RG has finally started his very own blog. Drop by, say hello and leave some comments and give the boy some linky love.

Yet another rant.

It's time for a rant. Aren't you excited? I know I am, because I get to rant about 2 of my favorite pet peeves. Bicyclists and cell phones. What does one have to do with the other? I'm glad you asked.

Recently, I have noticed a growing phenomena here in Beantown. Jerks riding their bikes and talking on their cell phones. And I mean, not with a handsfree set, but with the phone clamped to their ear, or wedged between shoulder and ear. Is it just me, or should it be obvious exactly what a bad idea this is?

I first witnessed this particular asshatted behavior a couple of years ago. I was sitting in a coffee shop one early spring morning with a friend. It was snowing out and it was one of those wet early spring snows. Big, fat, wet flakes, turning the sidewalks into a slushy obstacle course, that you had to carefully slide down, rather than walk on. As we were sitting, drinking our coffee, enjoying the fact that we were all snug and warm as the slush fell from the heavens, I saw some college kid sliding and weaving down the sidewalk on a bicycle. This was an indicator that he was a hopeful in the Darwin Awards. Then I noticed that the little jerk had his cell phone clamped to his ear! I pointed this out to my buddy and it led to a lively discussion of just how stupid this kid must be and made us wonder if he brought the toaster into the tub with him in case he felt like a snack while he was bathing?

After that particular moron sighting, I can't say I gave it much more thought. I mean, anyone with any common sense at all would know better, or at least use a hands free set. Right?

Not so much as it turns out. Since that fateful day, I have been seeing more and more of the intellectually challenged out on their bikes, yacking away without a care in the world as they weave around the sidewalk (illegal) or into oncoming traffic (downright stupid).

So who does this? In the interest of fair reportage, I have to say that I have seen mostly men doing this, but that may just be that I see more men on bikes around town than I do women. I have long ago stopped trying to cheat the distaff side out of their right to behave as stupidly as their male counterparts. Many the woman have I witnessed racing down residential streets at 40 mph, cellphone in hand, screaming at pedestrians for trying to cross the street at an intersection, just because the pedestrian has the nerve to try and cross the street in a legal manner, when the cellphone using harridan is in a hurry and traffic laws don't apply to her. But I digress, since this is a rant about cellphone using bicyclists.

As I was saying, I have seen mostly men doing this. I have managed to contain the urge to start screaming abuse at them when they nearly run into me as they weave their crazy way down the sidewalk and then give me the "can't you see I'm on my bike, talking on my cellphone you stupid pedestrian?" look. That and watching as they swerve into oncoming traffic out on the street, just knowing that they would try and lay the blame on the motorists if they get their stupid ass run down, because they, superior beings that bicyclists are, should be able to do any half-assed thing they want simply by virtue of the fact that they are riding their fucking bike.

In case you haven't got the idea, these clowns are really starting to get under my skin. There is no interest for the most part in law enforcement to crack down on bicyclists, but in fairness, no one seems to be interested in curbing the reckless behavior of motorists, or the stupidcidal tendencies of the average pedestrian either.

So, yet one more hazard added to everyday life here in the big city. I can think of any number of malicious solutions to this problem up to and including a bounty on cellphone talking cyclists. The problem with that is that in the interest of parity, we would have to put a bounty on the stupidcidal in the pedestrian population and the homicidal as well as stupidcidal among motorists. This would make Boston more of an open warfare zone than it already is and trust me, there are enough hazards out there as it is without adding any more to the mix.

Any one with a better solution than carpet bombing and starting over, let me know.

Harassment

CB has asked me to start harassing RG to start blogging. I actually have suggested to the little smartass that he start blogging, however, I think he needs some added incentives. For starters, I think CB should promise to come to Boston and fuck RG cross-eyed if he,(shut up CB, we're all going to have to make some sacrifices here) you know, say... starts a blog and posts regularly for.... ooooh.... 3 months. I think that's fair! I mean come on, a couple of lousy entries, he gets his way with CB and then... sorry, the whole blog thing didn't work for me. I don't think so. I want to see some commitment here!

Besides, I am sure everyone who has been reading his comments would be more than happy to give the boy some linky love. Sort of give him a leg up. No, wait. CB has that job. But you know what I mean. How long did the rest of us feel like we were blogging into the void? This way, he'll get at least 2, maybe even 3 readers, right off the bat!

At any rate, it is my job to harass RG, until he finally caves and starts blogging. Now I don't want you to think that I am going after RG just because it's fun. This is a happy by product! As much as I hate to admit it, RG is very funny, and I swear, I think I actually witnessed a synaps fire off once. It would be selfish of me to keep RG all to myself, when I could be inflicting... by which I mean, sharing him with the rest of the world. Whaddya say people? We want RG, we want RG! Oh, and CB, he likes the whole drum and bugle corp thing. It's true.

So come on, let's hear it! We want RG, We Want RG!!! I mean, God knows we're going to hear what you think, whether we want to or not anyway, so give it to us straight from the horses... uh, mouth.

Weekend in review

I started off my morning chatting online with Glenn. I was running a little late, so I figured the leisurely approach would suit me fine. Finally, I decided that I should get my shit together and go water the garden and yank out a few weeds. I planned on spending an hour and then heading over to Starbuck's to meet Wahz. (I know, I know, but he likes the place and goes there every morning) However, weeding is like eating potato chips. Just one more. Also the garden was in desperate need of a good soaking. We haven't been having terribly hot weather, but it's been dry for a few days now and it's been hot enough. Though, today really seemed to be trying to make up for the fairly moderate weather we've been enjoying. It wasn't ALL that hot, mid 80's, but the humidity more than compensated. You know you're in trouble when you can see the air. And it's kind of grey. Oh, yeah.

With one thing and another, 4 hours of my life slipped by, without me noticing. Then it was off to the Ganome lair for a hot shower and a yummy lunch of protein shake. Mmmm mmm! God I have to find a better way to keep my weight down! Then I hied off to Trader Joe's. Sticker shock was to be my lot. I didn't buy anything extravagant, however, if you want to eat fresh vegetables and food that doesn't consist of high fructose corn syrup, and 100% artificial flavors and ingredients the meter can really start cranking over.

The pay off is that I have what I hope will be a very yummy seafood salad with calamari, shrimp, scallops, sock eye salmon, oil cured olives, red bell pepper, scallions, asparagus and yellow bell pepper with a vinagrette dressing. This ought to represent 3 or 4 meals. This may sound like I was just asking for it at the cash register, but I would not have done any better at the local Shaw's which in most cases is actually more expensive and besides which, the store just plain sucks.

All in all, as usual, the weekend went all too fast. Actually, this summer is going all too fast. Tomorrow, it's back to the grind. For the moment however, I am going to relax and savor my last few hours of freedom. I've got a couple of books begging to be read. There is plenty of music waiting to be listened to. So a little relaxation seems to be in order. Tomorrow will be here soon enough.