Hey Freak!

You know who's got it easy? Sockmakers. Yeah, I said it.

This is what I mean... OK, so you're looking to buy some socks, and you check the sizing, and it'll typically tell you "Fits shoe sizes 8-12" or something like that. Think about that. Fits shoe sizes 8-12...

Isn't there quite a big difference between shoe sizes 8-12? Imagine if, say, shirts were sold like that. "Fits sizes S-XL." Well gee, thanks.

Now some would say that sock sizes don't matter as much... and that's kinda true. People can wear socks that are too big or too small, no biggie. But who in the hell wants to put up with all the blisters? Especially dealing with these new technologically advanced athletic socks, that like, wick away moisture and all that... I'll tell you what, they still kinda suck in the blister department, because the fit isn't right. Seriously... shouldn't there be a better size selection in socks? Shouldn't sock sizes match shoe sizes better?

I think that we've gone so long putting up with crappy sock sizing that we don't even realize that "Hey, they could be doing better!"

I mean, come on, sock makers... you've given us socks that are padded, that wick away moisture, that keep our feet from stinking, etc. Can you now please just give us some socks that fit?

OK, so yesterday morning, I was driving around in a residential area... I came to a four-way stop and stopped as people are supposed to do. Some lady in this beat up ol' car kinda blew through the intersection (i.e. she DID stop, but totally went out of turn - against BOTH cars crossing in front of her, almost hitting both) and just kept on driving.

OK, fine, lots of people run four-way stops or stop incorrectly. I get that. But this woman had intent on going when it wasn't her turn. No biggie, I guess.

Well, I had next turn at the stop, so I went... I had to turn right, which meant that I was right behind Ms. Too-Important-To-Stop. So I got a front row view to watching her trying to build up speed and pass someone on the right. In the parking lane. In a residential area. With a school nearby, and kids everywhere. Trying to pass where you're not supposed to pass.

So, I watched her attempt to pass the car in front of her about four different times, each time almost hitting that car. At this point, I made sure to read the licence plate, because if this kept up, I was going to call the cops on her. I'm not one to usually call the cops, but damn, this woman was driving so recklessly that I couldn't ignore it.

Well, traffic came to a stop, and she zoomed in the parking "lane" (it wasn't really a driving lane - just somewhere for people to parallel park) and went about four cars forward, until a parked car stopped her. I thought she was going to cut back in when traffic resumed moving, but no, she was dropping her kid off. The woman was driving like a fool with her 10 or 12 year old kid with her. Sheesh.

But then... after she dropped the kid off, she immediately stuck her nose back in traffic (which had now started moving again), but didn't get back in the lane. Oh, no, she wanted to make a U-turn right there, on a small, two lane street in the middle of traffic. Nice. So, uncharacteristically for me (but not too surprising, considering the week I've had), I yelled at her as she drove by: "Learn to fucking drive, bitch!"

The bitch actually stopped, backed her car up, and got out to yell at me (traffic stopped again because we all missed the light because somebody blocked traffic whilst trying to make a U-turn). "Were you talking to me?"

"Yeah, I was talking to you! Learn to fucking drive!" (again, uncharacteristic of me... I'm usually non-confrontational, but I figured showing weakness probably wouldn't be good here. plus, I was fucking pissed!) It was then that I noticed that she had another kid in the back seat. I didn't see a car seat, but then again, I'm no expert on spotting child car seats, so maybe she had some stealthy on or something.

"I ain't yo bitch! I ain't nobody's bitch! I AIN'T YO BITCH!"

"I didn't say you were MY bitch... I said you were A bitch!"

"I ain't yo bitch! I should slap you! Talk to me like that in front of my kid! I've got a kid here!"

"Well maybe you shouldn't be driving like a fucking maniac then, bitch!" (yeah, I probably shouldn't have added that last "bitch" there either, but oh well)

Luckily, by this time, traffic started moving again, so we exchanged a few pleasant "Fuck You!"s and I drove off. She probably thought I was running from her, but frankly, I was just over it, and didn't want to waste any more time on her.

Man, what is with people? She drives recklessly in a residential area, endangering all the kids around... and then she hides behind her own kids? I'm sorry, just because you're a mom doesn't give you the right to be like that. Just because you're a mom doesn't mean we should ignore your faults.

You know what? I'm pretty much sick of people who say "Well, I'm a mom..."

Let me explain. I'm not anti-mom. I'm not anti-women. If we're talking about baby food, or child car seats, or household cleaners that are non-toxic, or just anything that a mom might talk about, OK, yeah... go ahead and chime in. "Well, I'm a mom..." Yeah. I'll listen to you.

But if you drive like a fucking nutjob and almost cause a car wreck, then your "Well, I'm a mom..." doesn't mean a thing to me. You can't use "Well, I'm a mom... " to excuse your own shitty behavior.

I don't think I'm wrong in thinking this, am I?

Anyway... if you're ever around La Mesa, CA, and you see a beat up car (I think it was an old Honda Accord, late 80's) with the license plate 2XQA425, steer clear.

Mashable.com. A neat site. I don't read that blog, but luckily, that doesn't keep me from not knowing every time there's a new post, because I have... Twitter! I know they're not directly connected, but it seems like there are soooo many twats who just love to tweet links every time there's a new post at mashable (and even worse, people who re-tweet other people's tweets about mashable).

I mean, seriously. I know people tweet links all the time. That's fine. But damn, if I wanted a notification every freaking time there's a new post at mashable (or anywhere else, for that matter), then I'd just follow mashable on my RSS reader.

How about I tweet every time there's a new story at CNN? Think that'd get annoying?

Man, I hate talking about this stuff. One, because I try not to be so negative. But mostly because I feel like a douchebag for saying tweet so damned much.

Roger Ebert on Sarah Palin: "I want a vice president who is better, wiser, well-traveled, has met world leaders, who three months ago had an opinion on Iraq. Someone who doesn't repeat bald-faced lies about earmarks and the Bridge to Nowhere." [link]

Amen.

While we're talking about wants...

How about, I want an election where the issues are real issues, like the economy, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, women's rights, our crumbling infrastructure, whether or not torture is ethical, domestic spying, etc. Too bad what we have is an election that's all about lipstick on a pig.

I mean, wha, don't you think you can win this election on the issues, without having to resort to distraction tactics? I guess not.

Stay classy, McCain and Palin.

So, maybe that's not the best paraphrasing of the famous line from "Field of Dreams"...

But hey, it's nice to see that Bank of America is helping cement its image as the most unfriendly bank in the world (OK, maybe it doesn't have that image yet, but it should. Dirty fuckers). They will do anything and say anything to make your life more difficult, and charge you for anything and everything under the sun. They have so many damned policies in place that do nothing to help the consumer. Like, placing a 24 hour hold on cash deposits. I'm still fucking pissed about that. Did I tell you that story?

A few days ago, I talked about Louise Ogborn, who was suing McDonald's after being strip searched (and much worse) in a McDonald's back office at the behest of a caller who claimed he was the police. It's a long, complicated story, but if you don't know the particulars, you can read about them here.

Well, the verdict is in. She was awarded $6.1 million. Frankly, that's a bit low for my taste, because of everything she went through. But she seemed to be happy about it.

The odd thing? The Asst. Manager... the one who never tried to verify that the caller was indeed a police officer... the one who played along with every one of the caller's requests... I didn't know this at the time I wrote that last blog post, but it turns out that she was also suing McDonald's for $50 million! Something about compensation for her pain and suffering. Excuse me. She took the call. She started the strip search. She left that poor (vitually naked) girl alone with her sick perv boyfriend. And she never questioned a thing that she was told to do. Hell, she didn't even question when she walked into the room while her perv boyfriend was "examining" the naked girl (when she walked into the room, the perv hurredly threw an apron to the naked girl for her to cover up). And she gets awarded over $1 million for her "trouble." Frankly, I think she hold some blame in this crime... for being so agreeable to a strange voice on the phone, and for consenting to do things that police would never ask someone to do over the phone.

But, no. She gets $1 million.

Is that justice?

Seriously. If I was that girl, I'd sue the Asst. Manager for $1 million.

I think that would be justice. Or, at least closer to it.

I'm not big on boycotts. In general, I don't think they work, as a tool of protest. But, I would consider boycotting Warner Brothers Pictures if this is true:

Warner Bros president of production Jeff Robinov has made a new decree that "We are no longer doing movies with women in the lead". This Neanderthal thinking comes after both Jodie Foster's The Brave One (even though she's had big recent hits with Flightplan and Panic Room) and Nicole Kidman's The Invasion (as if three different directors didn't have something to do with the awfulness of the gross receipts) under-performed at the box office recently. [full story]

Really? Those failures are the fault of the lead actresses? Come on. Please. Tell me that everybody who hated those movies, or didn't go to them, did so because of the female lead. Tell me those movies would have fared much better with a male lead. I mean, really.

In a world that continues to give us movies like the Wayans' "White Chicks" and, well, just about anything with Will Ferrell, that movies are crappy only because of the female lead. Hey, how about writing a good, serious movie for a female lead? Why do you think that all the best actresses fight over the plum lead roles? Could it be because there are so, so few good roles for females (relative to men)? Hey, Warner Brothers, maybe you should work on that little disparity before you go casting blame on the actresses themselves...

Nah. It's just be easier to blame the bitches, right?