Simple Randomness

Have Bands Forgotten How to Sing?

I have to say, I’m a little annoyed with a lot of the new music groups that are coming out these days. It seems like the art of actually being able to sing is no longer something to consider when forming a music group. Whether its rock, alternative, or whatever, have you noticed that the quality of the voice has gone down?

Now, I also recognize that this isn’t a new thing. It seems like every couple of years there is a new trend on how a singer should sound. Maybe it all comes from the grunge movement, who knows.

It just seems that a bunch of these new bands sound really really whiny. Is anyone else noticing this? What happened to the good singers? I was a big fan of Queensryche growing up, and their lead singer Geoff Tate could really sing! Heck, even Billy Corbin of Smashing Pumpkins is a better singer than a lot of these ultra whiny emo groups these days.

Ok, there are also some bands that still have good voices. I’ve been somewhat impressed with One Republic and the way they sound, cause the guy actually has a good voice. So if you’re looking to start a band, please do us all a favor and take a few singing lessons. These days it can only help you stand out!

The Weather is Officially Annoying Me

I was all excited to go for a nice walk this weekend with our new jogging stroller, but now I’m wondering if that will even be possible. Why you may ask? Because we got another inch of snow last night!

So now it’s about noon and the snow has all melted away.  Maybe I should just move to San Diego where I hear the temperature is much more stable year round…but then again I’d have to pay for the higher gas prices and everything else for living in California…nevermind!

I guess in the end I just wish the seasons would behave.  I really wasn’t expecting to see an inch of snow in mid April.  And I thought that we were all suffering from Global Warming!  If that was the case, why would I see snow in April?  Who knows, who knows.

I just hope the weather stays nice so my wife and I can start jogging again.  I’m really looking forward to that!

When Getting on the Freeway SPEED UP!!!

Ok, it’s time for another driving griping.  I don’t know what it is, but it seems like lately a lot of times when I’m getting on the freeway I get stuck behind someone that feels that they should only go 30 or 50 mph on the on ramp.  Are you kidding me?!

This is one of my big pet peeves with driving.  Let’s think about it logically: when you’re getting on the freeway, how fast is the freeway going?  Well, at least abou 65 or so we would hope.  So if I go 40 and try to merge in, is that going to work very well?  NO NO NO!!!

In fact, just yesterday this happened and I could see a semi that was coming up the right lane have to slam on his brakes so that he didn’t cream the guy in front of me (and probably me as well).

Please please please, when you are merging onto the freeway use the on ramp as an opportunity to get up to freeway speed!  In other words, you should be going about 65 by the time you get to where you should merge.

I know that a lot of us get this, and I also know that this blog post is not going to change anything, but hey; at least I got to gripe about it a little bit .

The Calendar was WRONG!!!

So I mentioned about a week or so ago that according to the calendar it was the first day of Spring.  Well man was it off!  I really wasn’t expecting to wake up to snow yesterday, but nevertheless when I looked out the window there was 1-2 inches outside.  Not cool…

Now if that wasn’t bad enough….this morning was more like a blizzard!  Really cold wind, icy roads, and there was even a small pickup turned upside down in a ditch.

Whatever happened to global warming?!  LOL, not that I believe in that whole thing anyway (at least not that it’s all man-made), but I sometimes have to wonder when its still this freezing cold and it’s almost April!  But maybe this means tha we won’t have a 110 degree summer.  Shoot, at this rate we’ll probably have snow in July!  I swear, its like the hemispheres are reversing.  It was weird enough when I lived in South America to have Christmas in the middle of the summer.  I think I’m having relapses….

Bluetooth Headsets are Officially the New “Status Symbol”

Just yesterday I was walking out of a building and I saw 2 guys about my age walking out of another door.  But one of them had a rather large bluetooth headset on his ear.  They were talking back and forth and it just got me thinking, “Why does he still have his headset on?  He’s talking to his friend, why doesn’t he take it out?”

Has anyone else noticed that this is becoming more and more common?  People are just walking around with their headsets on their ears whether they’re using them or not.  It seriously has become the new status symbol!

Look at me, I have a Bluetooth and you don’t!

I just don’t get it.  Now, I can see using a bluetooth when you’re driving your car or doing something where you need to talk on the phone but need both hands free.  For those situations I get it.  But do you really get that many phone calls that you need to have this thing attached to your ear 24/7?  Next thing you know we’ve going to hear about ‘bluetooth surgery’ were people are having these things implanted into their heads.  Maybe that will be the next status symbol….

For those of you that have bluetooths, please be polite to your friends and take it off when you’re talking to them!  Also, it drives me NUTS when people are walking around talking loudly on them in the store…

What’s Up With the Easter Bunny Anyway?

I have to admit that ever since I found out that Santa, the Easter Bunny, and all the other characters we are led to believe in aren’t real, I was always most curious about the bunny. I mean c’mon…a bunny that lays eggs? Seems a little weird.

Or maybe what really happens is that the Easter Bunny steals the eggs from the Thanksgiving Turkey and hoards them until Easter. Maybe it’s some long standing vendetta they have against each other. Who knows.

Honestly though, who came up with the whole Easter Bunny idea? I mean, when you look at some of the other characters like Santa, they at least somewhat make sense. Even from a religious standpoint you can kinda see where Santa comes from, especially when you think of him as Saint Nicholas. But the Easter Bunny? What does a psycho egg laying bunny rabbit have to do with what Easter is really all about - the Resurrection of Jesus Christ?

It’s official…this one has me baffled. Any ideas?

I’d Rather Have a Target….

I’m not a fan of Wal-Mart. I understand that they have a place in the world, and I’m not one of these irrational people that hates Wal-Mart because they are big business or something like that. In fact, as a business model you have to somewhat admire them because they’ve done so well!

I don’t like Wal-Mart because I don’t like the way I feel when I shop there. I feel like a sheep. I feel like a zombie. I don’t feel like myself when I go to a Wal-Mart. I can’t really explain it, but for some reason every time I walk into a Wal-Mart I get depressed. Ok, not really, but at least a little bit.

Maybe it’s because the store is never entirely clean. Maybe because people honestly have no understanding of how to pay attention to what they’re doing when I’m in Wal-Mart (I always seem to almost get run over by someone either in the parking lot or in the store).

That’s why I’d rather go to Target. Similar concept when it comes to the store idea, but they seem to have a higher level of self respect. The store always seems to be cleaner, and for some reason the people seem to be nicer.

I’m writing about this because they’re putting a Wal-Mart near my house. As soon as I heard this I was a little annoyed. Mainly because I’d so much rather have a Target nearby. Good thing there is one about 10 minutes away .

Spring is HERE!!! Or at Least the Calendar Says So…

On a lighter note (compared to my last post), the calendar officially says that Spring is here!  Yes Winter has finally left the land and we can expect to hear all of the birds start to chirp and all of the flowers start to come out!

I wish it was that simple…

Seriously…who decided that you can just put a day on the calendar and say that it’s the first day of Spring?  Did someone expect that nature would just comply?  Well, obviously not.  Last I heard we’re supposed to get more snow in my area this week.  Not cool.

But then in other parts of the country I hear that the Spring floods have already started….oh goodie!

Yes, this is officially a Random Griping… I think that we should just judge the seasons by when they seem like the season is what it should be.  Maybe we can nominate an official ‘Season Declarer Man’ that will watch for the real signs of a season and make a national announcement.  Then again, scratch that idea.  The government is getting too big as it is ;-).

Getting Anxious For Spring to Arrive…

I have to admit that I’m officially to the point where I’m getting sick of winter and want Spring to come. I think I mentioned before that I tend to go through this cycle each year where for the first few weeks of a season I love it, then I’m ready for it to be over. Well I hit that point with Winter about 2 weeks ago.

I think the turning point for me this year was the insane blizzard that we had last week that knocked our power out for 8 hours. I know that only having the power out for that long is short compared to other outages that have happened around the country, but it was enough for me to think “OK, time for Spring!”

I can also say that I think I enjoyed winter a lot more when I used to go skiing a lot. Honestly I think it’s been 4 years since I went skiing. Too bad too cause I really love to go skiing. But since I now have 2 kids and a lot of other things going on I just don’t seem to find the time to go. I know I know…priorities right? Maybe next year I’ll make skiing a priority again!

Snow Snow…and More Snow!

It’s been 12 days since our last major snow storm. The last time I wrote about it I mentioned that tons of people were sliding off the road. I’m happy to report that this morning as I was coming in to work I didn’t see a single car that had slid off the road! Maybe people are finally remembering what they need to do to drive in the snow.

Except for this one guy who tailed me for about 3 miles!!! Grr… I know that a lot of people would say, “Well, just slam your brakes, let him rear end you, and collect the insurance money.” Sounds like a great plan, but here are a few reasons why I never even really think of doing that:

1. It’s cold!
2. I don’t want to chance actually getting injured
3. I don’t like dealing with insurance companies
4. Snow is cold
5. It was 6am in the morning…need I say more?
6. With the roads that slick, I’d probably get hit by another car when I got out to assess the damages
7. Have I mentioned that it was cold?!

So while I’m sure that if I did get rear ended I could collect some money for it, I think in this situation the cons definitely outweigh the pros. You may have a different view on the idea, but that’s mine. So please, don’t tail people when the roads are slick. You might not be behind someone like me. You might be behind someone that actually wants to collect insurance money .