Things That Piss Me Off

Today's Blog post is about things that piss me off,  Some of them have happened recently, some are just things that constantly piss me off.  If you make the list, be warned; one day I might snap.

People who say:

"Turkey bacon is just as good as regular bacon" - Really?  are you kidding me?  Turkey bacon is like the Mets in New York, they will never be as good as the Yankee's and if you say they are better you are kidding yourself and you are stupid.

                           










 Also not as good as regular bacon







"Everything happens for a reason" - I hate this saying, this is some generic "sorry something shitty happened to you" attempt at comforting another person.  Does it ever help?  No.  Do I feel better when you say it to me? No.  Do I want to punch you in the mouth when you say it to me?  Yes.

                                              I guess some things DO happen for a reason

 People who:

Use the fast lane to drive the speed limit- I have less than ZERO tolerance for you people, and If I could run you off the road without ramifications I wouldn't hesitate.

Jump in front of a line of people at (insert anywhere) because they are in a rush/late -  Not only do I not care that you are late for your meeting, but I also do not care that your fly is down and you have toilet paper stuck to your shoe.  I hate you for everything you do.  *Side note - I LOVE the guy who openly calls her a "dumb bitch" and points to the end of the line.  Also, out of the 7 people she jumped in front of to get a coffee not one of us mentioned her open fly or the tp on her shoe.  sometimes everyone is on the same page and it is awesome.


 Get offended by use of religious terms - This one is specific to this time of year because every single year people get progressively worse, and it affects more and more people.  For example Rhode Island has a "Holiday Tree" instead of a Christmas Tree.  This enrages me, It's not a Holiday Tree because Jewish people don't use decorated tree's to symbolize their Holiday, they use a Menorah.  Are we calling those "Holiday Candles" now?  It's a God Damn Christmas Tree and EVERYONE knows it.  So why call it something else?  Either you are of another religion and this upsets you (not the case).  Or you are Christian, and doing this out of guilt/fear and you suck as a human being. 

      "Menorah" 

    "Kwanzaa Set"

   "Festivus Pole"

. 




 "Holiday Tree"







For now this is the end of my rant, please share with me what upsets you!

The World of Tomorrow

To anyone (unfortunate enough) who will read this, I apologize in advance for the way it’s written. Will I jump from point to point? Yes. Will I ramble on? I absolutely will. Will I make grammatical errors? Yes.,; (see). The reason it will probably be less than perfect is that I am not actually a writer, I am just a guy who is fed up with our society sometimes and decided to put his thoughts on paper. Anyway, I need to get to the point... To the topic! (points finger to the sky), See, I am a terrible writer. 
 

We live in a world that is ever changing. If we don't keep up with the change, what do we become? One of the biggest issues our nation (and the entire world) face today is religion. Who is right and who is wrong? Is anyone right... is anyone wrong? Let me explain who I am and why I am writing this today; I'm 29 years old and recently married. We are very happy and in fact we are going to be parents. This now means that my eyes are set on the future. No more late nights with the boys, no more thinking of "right now". I have to be mindful of the future for my son. "You're having a boy! That’s wonderful". Well, not necessarily, I have no idea whether it's a boy or girl, but if we have a girl I might freak out. Either way I will be happy. I started thinking of what the world will look like in 10 or 15 years, when my child is most impressionable. What will the world of tomorrow offer my son or daughter? Will the world still be in conflict? Will Nations still battle over resources and land? Sadly I am sure they will. But what about some of the other cultural staples of today's world, will these be resolved? Will Justin Bieber still be awful?
 

How will religion look in the future? That is my question, that's why I am writing this. When did religion become about hate and intolerance for those who are different? I grew up in a Catholic house, the values my siblings and I were taught came directly from going to church, and attending CCD each week. My parents instilled the Christian values of kindness, respect and tolerance. This makes me wonder how religion came to be in the first place, what was the intent then? The truth is, religion as an idea or a concept may date back as far as humans do. This of course means that the point was basic, it was not as much about faith in "God" as it was about rituals that tribes may have had surrounding their most well known means to survive: hunting. But what about religion as a "thing” what about when man gave religion names and rules to live by. Let’s look at three of the largest Religions worldwide. Christianity, Islam and Hinduism are the three largest ranking religions based on population or "adherents". So let’s break these down a bit and see how and why they came to be.

Christianity - Many say that ideas and beliefs that go along with "Christianity" date back hundreds of years before Christ was born. Some will argue that Christianity was born with the coming of Jesus. The true date of Christianity's birth is actually hundreds of years AFTER his death. 311 AD is known to be the year that the Christian religion formed, although it was certainly around before that date, just not recognized as a "real" thing. In fact Jesus; who we claim today to be the man who brought Christianity to the world was never actually trying to form a new religion, he wanted to change his own, he wanted people to start preaching tolerance and kindness to everybody, he told of a wonderful place "after death". Most of the Jews didn't care for what Jesus was saying and actually shunned him for it, thus his followers would end up preaching to "others” these foundations would set up a whole new religion years later. Think for a second about the foundations of this religion, a world of tolerance and kindness, a world that offered an afterlife if you lived by that "golden rule". Christianity was founded on KINDNESS.

Islam - Islam is a Religion that came to be not long after Christianity. Islam was founded by a Prophet Mohammed C.610. The story goes that while Mohammed was in a cave the Angel Gabriel came to him as the voice of god, telling him that he was a messenger of god. Mohammed's war was a war against greed, immorality and idolatry. So once again you have a man who creates a religion purely to gather a people and teach them about tolerance.

Hinduism - It's hard to define when exactly this religion came into existence because there may have been forms of Hinduism that had changed or disappeared as others emerged.  Many say it dates back long before the birth of Christianity.  Hinduism is known for the terms Dharma and Karma. Dharma being ones duty and Karma being the action and reaction of ones choices, so yet another Religion with righteous beginnings.

Let’s move forward in time to 2012 AD. Christian groups openly protest and in some cases physically protest gay marriage or gay rights, Islamic terrorists murder millions. And Hindu's, well, Hindu's stay quiet and do their own thing. Good on you Hindus. Where in our world’s timeline did religion become a forum for hate? Where in our own nation’s history did Christianity foster Intolerance for people. Yes if we look at the entire history of Christianity then we might find some blood... we try not to think about the dark ages, we try not to talk about the Salem witch trials. But I suppose that's all part of Christianity's history. In the future will our children's children say "we try not to talk about the intolerance of the early 2000's"? I pray for my children, that will not be the case.

We have to talk about the Bible... I know, it won’t be easy, but it must be done. Many people use the writings in the bible as a weapon against their opponents, whether it’s a gay man who wants to marry his boyfriend or a nation that sends its troops into another country for whatever reason (Oil?). This makes me very sad, and I truly believe that it would make the founders of this great religion sad as well. Some argue about politics and religion as an integrated facet of society. That's a very difficult area and I understand why politicians tend to avoid actual answers to those questions. If I were running for office and I knew for a fact that giving a definite answer to one of those hot button topics would lose me a substantial amount of votes... I might think about giving the "gray" answers too. My thoughts on religion and politics together are that it doesn't seem to work in everyone's favor. And at this point you are either all in or you are all out. Currently we have large debates about separation of church and state, the word "God' is pulled out of schools nationwide and they no longer recite the pledge in some schools because of that word. And yet on the topic of gay marriage, we say "well in the constitution it says... yada yada yada. It doesn’t make sense to me. I feel that the fat cats are sitting on their thrones and just making their own opinions and beliefs mandatory for the rest of the country. Maybe I am wrong, but hey, I am entitled to an opinion too right? Laws cannot be passed to only suit “certain” situations.

I don't propose that religion disappears entirely, because I think that it serves a purpose for many Americans. I think that many people in this country need something to believe in, they need their faith to get them through the day. Not to mention that the teachings in most religions help instill those values that I mentioned earlier. But when does it become a problem? Certainly when a radical church protests a funeral for a fallen soldier, Religion gets knocked down a peg. But is it that specific Religion's fault, or just some people? Today the word "Islam" is followed by a scoff or a very racially charged debate. But, those radical few only comprise a small fraction of that religion. We as a nation shouldn't write off the entire religion as terrorists, but many do. I think that what Americans need to do, is remember why our religions were formed in the first place; to bring hope to a people, to help people get through difficult times and to teach tolerance and kindness. These are the values that religion was founded on and that many religious people now are forgetting.

So what happens in fifteen years? Where will society be then? This is a major issue right now that seems to have very passionate people on both sides. History shows that intolerance generally loses, but it’s a bloody battle and victory comes at a price. So, yes I believe that one day the religions of the world will give in, but when will that happen? And how many lives will be lost in the process? The world is changing, do you want to be left behind? Or do you want to adapt and move on with the rest of us?

I am not trying to change minds, I am trying to open them
- Christopher F. Darling


Referenceshttp://en.wikipedia.org
http://www.metmuseum.org

Rock You Like a Hurricane

Hurricanes suck.  I kind of want to just leave it at that, end the post right there.  I suppose it's too late for that now.  Hurricanes are powerful and destructive, they live to mess peoples "stuff" up.  I am using nice words so that anyone can read this blog post!  Anyone that can read that is...  Anyway.  On top of the fact that a hurricane will completely uproot anyone's plans for the day(s), my wife's school canceled, so she is sitting on her "but" watching TV all day.  Meanwhile I am here at work dealing with down servers and irritable co-workers.  And an internet connection that goes out every 5 god forsaken minutes.

Work is 48 miles away and none of those miles are fun to drive.  SILVER LINING - apparently Deval says "all nonessential workers stay home"  which means that about 87% of the cars on the road are parked safely in their driveways, which made the commute into work relatively easy.  I had to keep a slower pace thanks to rain and wind, but overall I got to work WAY faster than a typical day.  The silver lining sucks though considering the worst of the hurricane will hit on my way home.  Why the hell can't I be nonessential, what's so important about hospitals anyway? 

Here are some pictures of Hurricanes that made me happy...

Enjoy the Apocalypse folks. 

Politics... Ugh

OK, so it's voting season here in the states.  everyone is up in arms, hating one candidate and loving another.  Clogging all our news feeds with political propaganda in the process.  Is this a bad thing?  Not necessarily, but sometimes...  ok yeah, it's pretty bad.

It seems that most people love AND hate politics, you feel passionate about either a candidate or his party, and likely you hate the other candidate.  That's how this process works, is the other guy a bad person?  No, but his opponent will make damn sure you think he is.  Obama is a terrorist loving apologetic no religion America hater (did I get enough in there?)  and Romney....  He hates poor people, gays, women and everyone that isn't a Romney.  Are the allegations true?  Not really, I mean some may have a tiny ounce of truth, but mainly they are simply over embellished and used to flood the social media to discredit their opponents.

So here is why I love politics, just like the Moderator of the last debate said at the end "go out and vote, it makes you feel big and strong", He said something like that anyway.  It's true though, having a say in the decisions that our government makes is what separates us from dictatorships.  and In an election year, there's a massive sense of comradery between you and your party.  The republicans will rally together and make new friends, the Democrats will do the same.  When someone puts a post on Facebook, five people will come out of the woodwork that you haven't spoken to in years and "like" the status.  Others will comment on how "wrong" it is and then BOOM.  Debate.  On a side note, friendships will be broken and relatives will be crucified.  I'll cover that in more detail below.  But politics may not be "fun" some may find them boring, or hard to follow.  "I am one man, what power do I have?"  I know people that feel this way and let me tell you, the power I have from voting is more power than you have for not voting.  A funny comic strip that was posted on facebook made the joke that my vote would cancel out someone that I hate's vote.  and maybe that's true.  But more to the point, your vote means you pay attention to your country, you have a side, you stand by that side and you stand up for your beliefs.

So why do I also HATE politics?
Easy.  Hatred exists in the world, ignorance exists in the world, and so many of those people LOVE spreading their filth.  Politics can become a giant argument over issues that have nothing to do with the actual election, or a candidates qualifications.  Further more, sometimes people become so enraged that they stop thinking about their own candidate and just hate on the opponent.  If you want me to vote republican, tell me why Romney is qualified and why he will be a good President.  Don't just tell me that Obama falsified his birth certificate and he hates America.  Both of those things are stupid and don't help your cause.  The same thing goes for Democrats (yes I am biased because I am a Democrat, but don't think for one second it doesn't go both ways).  Do you remember the Bush Administration?  yeah, we Democrats HATED the guy, we called him stupid and ignorant every single day.  And I admit that I didn't really like John Kerry all that much, but I sure as hell didn't want another term of Bush...  That's the way the political process morphs, instead of rallying around your guy, you just smear the other guy.

So this political season, go out and vote.  Educate yourself about the two parties, and if you hate them both, vote for someone else...  I am told that with enough votes I could be president.  Imagine that, we'd have 3 day weekends and cake for lunch every day.  I'd focus every dollar we had on transporter technology because I hate traffic (see other post).  And I would bomb Canada, they just seem to easy.

Voting is easy.  Voting smart, that's another story.

A Slow Week

It's been a slow week, not much going on here...

So Instead of ranting on about something that I love/Hate, I will share with you a picture that came my way and made me laugh.

Ok, lets do this; list your top 3 movie franchises (must have a minimum of 3 movies).  These should be you favorite or at least worthy of the list.  let us know why...

Mine are as follows:
1) Star Wars IV, V, and VI.  (The Original Trilogy)
2) Lord of the Rings
3) Indiana Jones

Star Wars was a staple of my childhood, anyone who didn't like Star Wars was shunned.  Unless you were a girl, in which case you didn't talk to me anyway...There is no character better than Han Solo in the entire sci-fi universe.  The man is as much of a scumbag as he is a hero, He knows it, and doesn't apologize.  Harrison Ford was outstanding in this role and instantly became my favorite actor. (Also he is the only one to retain a career after this trilogy) 

Lord of the Rings came out when I was older, it changed the way I critiqued movies forever.  It was a movie with everything, and it was done just as well as it was hyped up to be.  I can easily spend an entire Saturday sitting on my but watching these movies.  When I heard they were making the Hobbit I was giddy like a school girl.  My wife has since been eating her words "I do", but it's too late now!

Indiana Jones was another childhood favorite.  Yet again Harrison Ford serves up a gem.  Everyone has a different favorite movie in this trilogy, which makes it all the better.  You can debate which of the three is the best all day (don't try to correct me on that, I will fight you to the death).  For me it's The Last Crusade, when you have a guy search for the cup that gives ever lasting life, throw in a hot blond AND Sean Connery, you have a masterpiece in my mind.  The relationship between Indy and his father is portrayed perfectly by these two juggernauts.  However, my brother will tell you it's Raiders of the Lost Arc.  And that's fine, he is not only entitled to that opinion but he has great evidence to back it up...  it was the first, it set the tone, and faces literally melted off!  Many trilogy's have a clear "winner"  for both Star Wars and Lord of the Rings the second movie is hailed as the best, (Empire Strikes Back and The Two Towers).  This is what makes Indiana Jones great, all 3 movies were awesome, all THREE movies had some iconic scenes.  just so that I dont leave Temple of Doom out, I will add some of my favorite parts from that one... Indy and Short Round about to be crushed to death while Willie has to reach into a hole filled with bugs to pull a lever.  Indy yells our "WE ARE GOING TO DIE"  great line.  Also, a dude reaches into people's chests and pulls out their hearts while chanting, then it freaking burst into flames.  Great movie.

What is your favorite?

Honorable mentions -

Back to the future
Harry Potter
James Bond
Terminator (Even though T3 hurt to watch)

The Drive

Lets talk about commutes.  Whether you drive 15 minutes to work or an hour to work the commute sucks.  Personally I drive on average 2 1/2 hours a day.  My morning commute can take me an hour and a half and my evening commute if I'm lucky is about an hour even.  Now here's the thing, If I drive to work at 10 pm, the drive takes me 40 minutes.  just thinking that makes me mad.  I hate traffic, as I am sure you do as well.  Not to mention that the only way my commute can become "steady" or predictable is if I drive over 10 miles out of my way and take back roads.  Sadly for me, and not everyone has to deal with this... I work right off rt 95 in a VERY busy area.  Anyone who has to take rt 95 in the Dedham area will understand this.  Not to mention that the most direct rout for me to take would take me through the rt 24 split and the 95 split.  Its pure frustration in the mornings.  Things that make me EVEN more upset in terms of highway congestion:

1) when you slow down to a crawl and proceed 3 miles at 15 miles per hour only to find that the reason you have just wasted 32 minutes is an accident ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE HIGHWAY.  It enrages me.

2) when an exit backs up, you wait patiently for the line of cars to make it off the highway, some Asshat blows to the front of the line and cuts his way in because, "hey why not".  Because I have been waiting for 10 minutes and have at least shred of decency. 

3) When you drive 90 minutes to work and realize that you forgot your laptop at home (that was me yesterday).  The anger you have will only be calmed down by seeing someone else pay for their own selfishness (guy blew by me on the highway doing roughly 90, 2 miles up the road, he is pulled over by a State Trooper).

What is your commute like?  Do you have a long drive?  Or are you lucky like my wife, and only have to drive 10 minutes?  I secretly hate her for that (guess its not a secret anymore).

A New Theme...

This "blog" was created when I traveled to the UAE several years ago.  As you already know, I made far fewer posts than I said I would.  My intentions were pure, but my follow through was lazy.  I am changing things within this blog, I am going to attempt to revive it and maintain it.  I might change the name...  For now I will simply say; this blog will be a forum for me to express my thoughts on topics of all kinds (sports, politics, religion, fatherhood).   That last one scares me a little.  Some of my posts may just be an update of current "happenings"  others will be deeper and meant for more.