Choosing Civility, one more time

I've been itching to post some more thoughts and feelings on "Choose Civility", but then I think of all the linking and leg work that I'll have to do for the post.  After this I just get lazy and don't post anything, as obvious as my lack of posting for days.  Anyway, with no links and no real substance I just have to post what I've seen lately about "Choose Civility".

Apparently the "Choose Civility" initiative is moving into Phase 2 operations.  I'm not sure what Phase 2 means, but hopefully they figure out that associating civility with driving is just not going to cut it.  Ken Ulman (I think I have the spelling right, hell I don't even know who he is, other than some HoCo exec.), recently commented on the fact that the "Choose Civility" campaign has cause some to created the spin-offs "Choose Senility" and "Choose Hostility" and he proclaimed that these spin-offs should be viewed as compliments to the campaign.

Wow, I beg to differ, especially the "Choose Hostility" spin-off.  These spin-offs are in no way a form of flattery.  In fact, I would view them as a means of highlighting how much of a mockery the "Choose Civility" campaign really is.  I mean come on, everyone and I mean everyone sees the "Choose Civility" bumper magnets and immediately associates it with the act of driving.  Then they view the individual with the bumper magnet driving like a jackass and proclaim that this person in no way is civil.  The campaign, as far as I can tell, in no way is meant to be associated with civil driving.  It would be a great by-product, but "we got a long way to go, baby" when it comes to being a more civil HoCo.

Civility conjures up a sense of being responsible for ones actions.  This is America, are you kidding me, we gave up responsibility a long time ago.  I applaud the individuals that do take the campaign seriously and I applaud the individuals that are responsible for their own actions, but a more civil, a more responsible America isn't going to happen overnight or by me placing a bumper magnet on my car proclaiming my Civility.

I've become one of them

So much for keeping up with daily blogging.  I have no excuse for slacking, sorry gang.  I must admit that I'm failing miserably with my New Year's Resolutions as well.  The only one that I'm truly keeping up is the daily photo of my Steelers Gnome.  However, I'm behind on posting photos on Flickr.  Oh well, at least I'm taking one photo a day.

I really fed up with the cold weather this winter.  For some reason my brain remembers my first year down here (we had a really mild winter) and every year I seem to think that we are having an unseasonably cold winter.  Maybe next winter will be better.

Choose Responsibility

I'm all for President Obama's initiative for a more responsible America, but like Choose Civility I feel that the message may become mixed.  I also feel that it is going to be quite difficult to instill this goal into the American people.

When I first heard President Obama speaking about a more responsible America, my first thought was responsibility on a grandiose scale, as I'm sure many other Americans had this same thought.  I'm also sure that many Americans were thinking that this concept does not apply to them and that being more responsible will have no affect on President Obama's call to action. This feeling really has me thinking that a call for a more responsible America will fall on deaf ears or that the desired affect will miss the mark.

Responsibility however, does not have to be grand.  It can be a simple act or a simple gesture. Paying attention to your child at the playground instead of paying more attention to your cell phone is a simple way to responsible.  Stopping at a red light instead of racing to get through the yellow light at the last second is a simple act of responsibility.  Now I don't have to lecture you about ways to be more responsible, but how then does one suggest responsibility to someone they don't even know.  Can you imagine approaching a complete stranger to inform them that they need to be more responsible?  I guess it's worth a shot to try it if you think the situation calls for it.

A more responsible America is going to be a tough nut to crack, but maybe it has a chance.  After 9/11 I felt that we were heading down this path.  We were more vigilant, more neighborly, and we were watching out for one another.  These were the seeds of a more responsible America, but then the message was lost, the initiative stalled.  Many Americans went back to doing the things that they were used to doing, back to their normal defined lifestyles and forgot that we had a common enemy to face.  To show this enemy that they can't divide us, but instead unite us and make us stronger.  Sure we did this for a while, but we quickly realized it was easier to go back to our old irresponsible ways.

Will President Obama's message hit the mark, will the everyday American understand that they have a responsibility to their freedom?  I don't know the answers to these questions, but I'm hoping that we see the light and start acting in a more responsible way.

Blogging Woes

Not only have I been struggling with what to blog about and ill motivation to blog, now I'm stuck with not being able to access the Internet.

Over the last couple of days I've had no television, no Internet, and no telephone.  All three are tied into Comcast, as part of their triple play package.  Late Thursday night I called to see if there was a known outage in my area.  I spoke with someone who suggested that I power cycle my cable box and she was having a hard time understanding the fact that it must be a Comcast issue since all three of my services were out.  She asked me if I wanted to speak to the Internet group for a solution to possible fix that service, but I knew this would be a fruitless effort and I gave up.

On Friday my wife called to complain and the individual that she spoke with was also having a hard time understanding that this was an obvious Comcast issue.  He suggested that we have someone come out to the house to look at our equipment.  After much complaining about having to wait around all day at the house to be here during the "window" that a Comcast service rep. would show up, my wife finally agreed to this suggestion.  We could not get pass the fact that we did not need someone to checkout the equipment in the house and we could also not talk to a supervisor because they had gone home for the day.

So, come Saturday and we still don't have Comcast service.  About mid-day service came back and was mostly working.  No Comcast service rep. had should up yet.  About two hours into partially working service the Comcast rep. rang the doorbell.  He checked the box outside and of course that is were the problem resided.  He said a truck would be out to fix the issue within a day or two.

I really wish that the Comcast telephone agents would get a clue sometimes and figure out that the customer is always right.  They said that no one else in our neighborhood had complained about service so therefore it must be isolated to our house.  What they fail to realize is that people typically don't want to deal with them because of the crappy customer service.  No one wants to hear that they will have to wait for the service rep. to show up at their house sometime during an eight hour window.  So, they just go with the flow and hope that someone else will call or that the service will just fix itself.

Maybe it's time to switch to FIOS.

Coming out of the woodwork!

Being a Steelers fan in hostile territory (Baltimore that is) can be somewhat of a strange experience.  When the Ravens are doing good everyone and their brother supports the team, when they are doing bad, well that is a different story.  I'm sure all sports teams have fans that are like this, but to me it just seems like the Steelers' fans travel better and support the team better during good times and bad.

On Monday I walked into the office and I was accosted by an individual that rarely talks football, "this oughta be a good game coming up this weekend, we are going to kill the Steelers".  I remained silent during this obvious trash talking chance, the individual then asked me why I wasn't saying anything.  Well, I informed them that I could to all the talking that I want to before the game or after the game, but my talking isn't going to have any affect on the outcome of the game.  I think my choice of silence dejected this obvious fair weather Ravens fan.

Then at lunch, I was approached again.  I questioned the individual's loyalty to the team during the regular season.  They said, "oh I've been following them all season".  So I promptly asked them what the Ravens record was, their response was, "13 and 0".

What kills me is that the fair weather fans seem to be the ones doing the most trash talking.  The true die-hard Ravens fans that I know aren't talking much at all.  We (true Ravens and Steelers fans) both realize that this is going to be a hard fought game.  I have my concerns about the Ravens and I'm sure they have their concerns about the Steelers.

Has anyone else noticed this fair weather fan trend or more than normal the amount of purple colors flying?  It's like these new found fans are coming out of the woodwork now that the Ravens have a successful season.  Oh well, good luck this weekend Steelers and Ravens.

Middle Ground

I guess I need to get back to posting, I'm still trying to get back into the swing of things.

So, I was thinking today that Columbia and HoCo in general, definitely has it wrong when it comes to housing.  I realize that Columbia/Ellicott City are prime places to live in the United States, but seriously (even in our recession) housing prices are still ridiculous.

What I've found however is that there really isn't any middle ground for housing in HoCo.  You basically have three options for housing.  You can pay huge bucks to live in a relatively new house, you can overpay for a decent house that is a few more years older, or you can overpay for a fixer upper shack that is really old.  In any case you are screwed when it comes to finding anything that is affordable.

I guess the best thing one could do is live in an apartment and save up for a future down payment on a house.  Unfortunately, we all know how people are at saving, so it looks like we've created a viscous cycle here in HoCo.  It kills me to see people that are house poor, but it's even worse to see people living in an apartment and driving a BMW or a Benz (obviously not saving money for the right things).

No one really knows what the future holds for the housing market in HoCo, but one can only hope that prices will level out.  I'm not saying we need huge cuts to home values, but a more realistic approach to home values would certainly help.

Ideally, to achieve a middle ground, home developers need to avoid building McMansions and houses with wasted space (i.e. two story foyers).  Next, home buyers need to understand that bigger doesn't always mean better.  No one needs a formal dining room, no one needs huge closets in ever room, and no one needs that jacuzzi tub in the master bathroom.  Homes should be energy efficient, built for connivance and not for excess, and finally homes should be realistic.  Maybe this is too much to ask.

Choose Civility, but can you drive

Yesterday, Ryan Ballengee, over at EHHC commented on a opinion by Heather Vaughn in the Columbia Flier on her take on the Choose Civility bumper magnets.

I agree with both Ryan and Heather that the magnets don't give drivers any special pass when it comes to poor driving.  Ryan then questions the point of purpose for the Choose Civility magnets.

People in the county are associating Choose Civility with driving smarter.

I must admit that I'm in the majority that thinks this way.  Maybe HoCo Public Library's intent was to not connect the two or maybe it was.  Unfortunately, by having a car magnet associated with the Choose Civility initiative, it is only a natural step to connect the two for many people. 

I've always thought that the magnets should be changed to "Choose Civility, but continue driving like an asshole".  Too bad this slogan is too long winded or my car would have one.

It's also unfortunate that many make the above association because civility shouldn't start on the roadways, civility should start with your neighbors.  How many of you socialize with your neighbors or even know your neighbors?  I know that my family doesn't talk to many of our neighbors and that many of our neighbors go out of their way to avoid socializing.  It's too bad that our society is this way, but in the end, if you can't be civil with your neighbors, then you definitely won't be civil on the roadways.

I don't understand the logic

Every winter we get weather reports predicting freezing rain/sleet and every winter I see dozens of vehicles in parking lots with their windshield wipers up in the air, pulled away from the windshield.   I don't have any idea why people do this or what benefit it provides to them.

I grew up in western Pennsylvania near Lake Erie (aka "the lake effect snow capital of the world).  A typical winter in this part of the country consists of snow from early November to mid April, with average snow accumulations of 120 inches during the season.  We would also get our share of freezing rain and sleet.  I remember one winter where two feet of snow was on the ground and a layer of three inch thick ice was on top of that.  Now, during my 20 some years growing up in Pennsylvania not once did I see anyone do this with their windshield wipers.

Maybe Pennsylvanians are just stupid or maybe the windshield wiper lifter-uppers (WWLUs) know something about ice and windshield wipers that we didn't know about.  My guess is that WWLUs are just trying to speed up the amount of time it takes to remove ice from their windshields or they think they are "cheating" the system in some way.

What I think that most WWLUs miss, is the fact that the windshield wipers are the closest thing besides the windshield to the defrosting unit.  So, if you turn on your car, then go out to remove the snow and ice, by the time you are done your windshield wipers will be free of ice and free from sticking to the windshield.  Maybe I'm wrong and maybe these WWLUs have an edge on the rest of us, but my true feeling is that this is a silly practice that doesn't really save time.

Tell me what you think.

Shame on us

I live in the Hopewell section of Owen Brown and over the course of the last year I've noticed an increase in the amount of graffiti on public property.  Even the "Owen Brown Observer" had a blurb about it in the latest issue.  I only scanned the blurb and didn't save my copy of this publication.  I do know that it stated that if we see graffiti we should report it and it would be taken care of,  unfortunately I didn't write down the number to call.

Visiting the Owen Brown community association website proved to be fruitless as this site is a few months behind.  So, now I'm stuck with no number to call to report the graffiti, which can now be seen on utility boxes, community fences, and even the Lake Elkhorn pavilion.

Now I understand, shame on me for not writing the number down.  How about though, shame on everyone else in the community that has failed to call about the graffiti eyesore, shame on the Columbia Association trucks that drive around all the time for not doing anything about the problem, and finally shame on Owen Brown for not keeping their website up-to-date (by the looks of it they are at least 3 months behind).

It will be interesting to see how long it takes to remove the graffiti.  I know I'm not being a part of the solution.

I'm calling BS!!

Now I don't normally do this and I'm not a financial wizard, but I've had enough of hearing about the state of the economy.

I'm tired of hearing about how bad the economy is, about what company needs a bailout, about the housing bubble, and about how horrible this Christmas season was because of the economy. 

Like I said I'm not a financial genius, but shouldn't everyone's (i.e. individual's and company's) purchasing power be the same.  I can understand if you don't have money saved up, if you are up to your eyeballs in credit card debt, if you spent too much money on a major investment (like a house), or if you lost your job.  Only then can I understand that you probably don't have money to spend, but everyone else should still has the same amount of money to pump into the economy.

During the holiday break, I cannot tell you the number of times the "Today Show" talked about saving money and all other things financial.  If television newsrooms continue talking about the state of the economy, why can't the newspaper companies use this opportunity to report about other things.  Instead of begging for a bailout, how about changing things up.  Report something different, turn to the community for newsworthy ideas (it's tough to get community news from television and the Internet), or find new clients.  Forget about that bailout for your dying form of media and do something about it.

One final thing.  When did Americans forget about the idea of lower ones' expectations?  It would appear that we Americans feel that we deserve everything and that we've been living during a long prosperous time period.  Just because you grew up with all the new/cool toys/things doesn't mean that your kids should have the same luxury in life.  Now, I know you want to give them a good life, but a good life doesn't mean having everything and not teaching your kids about responsibility.  We Americans need to learn how to grow up and maybe, just maybe, lower our expectations for the future and this economic crisis that we are going through might not be so bad.

Peace out, bailout!!!!

Photo of the week

Soaring
Originally uploaded by babyruthinmd

The photo of the week for this week is a little late, the holidays really buggered things up.

This week's photo of the week is called "Soaring" and comes from flickr user babyruthinmd.  "Soaring" was taken at Lake Elkhorn in Columbia.  The beautiful colors of the kite stand out perfectly against the harsh sun.

Keep up the great work babyruthinmd.

Are the holidays over with yet?

Just as I was thinking that the holidays had come to an end, I was reminded by all the horrible drivers that this was just not true.

Now I know that driving during the holiday time can be stressful and that more people are driving on the local roads, but this is part of the reason why I stay off of the roads during this time of year.  I've learned to stay away from all shopping centers and the mall in the weeks leading up to Christmas.  Unfortunately, I didn't realize that the horrible driving would continue well past Christmas.

My three beefs:

1.  I understand the joy and triumph felt when changing lanes at a stop light to get into the shortest lane, but I don't understand the idea behind doing this with only one car at the stop light.  Today, I saw someone pull up to a light that had only one car at it and they obviously didn't like being behind the lone car so they changed over to an empty lane.  What is gained from this and how much further ahead does one get when they do this?

2.  Yesterday driving from Snowden River Parkway to Rte 29 on Brokenland Parkway, I saw a women change lanes at least five times.  This distance can't be more than a couple of miles and she was changing lanes like it was going out of style.  She wasn't speeding and she wasn't really getting ahead of any cars, she was just changing lanes for the hell of it.  I don't understand people sometimes.

3.  Finally, my biggest beef of them all.  It is apparent that people can't read while they drive.  This is evident when you are pulling into the Columbia Mall.  Most people when pulling into the mall don't even see the sign that says "Incoming Traffic Has The Right Of Way" and they stop like there is a stop sign.  Now, I guess I can understand it if you are new the area or you haven't been to the Columbia Mall before, but what I don't understand is that most malls are setup like this.  Wouldn't you think that people would eventually get this concept and not stop as they are entering the mall.

There, I'm done, no more holiday traffic venting (well, until next year maybe).  Hope everyone had a good holiday season.  I'm back to posting full-time now so I better get busy and prepare some ideas for the upcoming year.

Peace out holiday traffic!!!