New Text Messaging Law: Legislative Projectile Vomit

As if the new red light cameras in town weren’t a big enough joke, our lawmakers have made themselves look even more pathetic than once believed possible.

It’s finally here — the subjective law to end all subjective laws.

Apparently screaming at your children in the backseat, masturbating, smoking, changing CD’s, picking your nose, applying lipstick, spilling a hot latte in your lap, flipping the bird, needlessly honking your horn, scarfing cheeseburgers and fries, reading a book, singing along to 93.3, operating on less than an hour of sleep, playing air guitar, scanning radio stations, fighting with your better half, writing your next blog entry, cleaning spit off the inside of your windshield, gazing into the rearview mirror at yourself, reaching for the loose change under your seat, cleaning out your glove box, banging your head to Hannah Montana’s latest tracks, talking on a cell phone with a wireless headset and thinking of new ways to be rad are some of the things that are perfectly legal to do while driving.

I am not a frequent text messager. I am a cell phone driver. I do not own any stock in any tech, automotive, donut or traffic ticket paper making companies. That being said, people should either be able to do anything they wish or nothing at all while driving, and the latter seems a bit Fahrenheit 451 for this writer. If you want to be guaranteed safety, stay off the roads entirely. While I certainly don’t feel that text messaging while driving is a good idea, I’ve been unsuccessful in trying to convince myself that this law makes sense. On the contrary, I have moved from casual support to stout opposition in 3 days flat.

Somebody please try to convince me otherwise. I’m in the mood for a good debate. In the meantime, I’ll be the guy avidly plucking my nosehairs in traffic…That is, if I’m not busy slamming on my brakes at poorly timed yellow lights that I used to run habitually.

Jake Locker hurt

Jake Locker took a vicious hit to the helmet in the 2nd quarter of tonight’s game at Oregon State in Corvallis. This was an absolutely devastating moment for any member of Husky Nation. He lay motionless on the field for a couple minutes before they rolled him over onto his back and removed the face mask from his helmet. They took him away in an ambulance and hopefully more information on his condition will be released soon. For now, all thoughts are with Jake and his family.

Pray for snow

Pray for snow!!!

Calling all skiers and snowboarders of Tacoma; there is a mandatory meeting Thursday November 8th at Harmon Brewery. The annual Tacoma Pray For Snow party is back, and with it come the usual pranks, prizes, super strong beer and overcrowding. I am focused on the prizes – this year the raffle is mine.

If our collective prayers are answered, I may realize my plans to be near the snow gods on Thanksgiving.

Wear your finest ski sweater. Can’t hurt.

Sludge Monsters

As I continue down this windy path we call life, bits of my innocence are recycled on a daily basis and converted to cynicism. If I don’t keep this process in check, I will turn into my grandfather in less than 5 years. Often times I realize the only true way to stop or reverse the cynical evolution of me is to ignore people and the way they behave. The more attention I pay to people around me, the more I lose faith in the human race. Never could there be a better example of this than in politics. I didn’t like elections or the people running for office in my 4th grade class, and the same goes for our local, state and federal levels. Popularity contest after popularity contest, it just gets more and more tired to me. We run around deciphering between the evils that are lying to us across the board.

What kind of person dedicates their life to appeasing people around them and winning elections? And why is the general population continually surprised when these folks consistently turn up shady goings on in their private lives? Open your eyes people!!! Politicians are slimy. I suppose there is a component of wanting to help make the world a better place (I can’t help but hear Jon Bender scolding Brian Johnson in the library) but this is less than half the story for these people as far as I am concerned.

The votes are currently being tallied. I better sit down before I pass out from excitement.

Halloween candy surplus

Halloween has come and gone. Everything has returned to normal around here except for the 6 half-full bags of candy on the counter. Since moving to the North End in 2001 we have had an absolutely erratic Halloween experience, year over year. One year we get 50 trick-or-treaters, the next 10. Is there a way to predict with any degree of accuracy the turnout one might expect to see any given year? For last night’s poor turnout, I blame the cold temperatures coupled with the Proctor Business District trick-or-treat extravaganza.

One year I had to run to the store around 8:30pm to re-up the chocolate stash, but last night I don’t think we had 20 kids at the door. Did anybody have a strong turnout last night? Anyone else harboring a massive supply of leftover candy this morning?

Kids these days…I just can’t figure ’em out. Especially the really tight pants..