Uh Oh. It's a Thought-Filled Thursday

~ I don’t understand the “Hidden Driveway” signs you sometimes see along winding roads. It just doesn’t seem like this should be my problem. It would make more sense to me if they put a sign at the end of the hidden driveway that reads “Remember … You Have a Hidden Driveway - Use Extra Caution Exiting and Entering.”

~ Deer Crossing signs are also pretty useless. Whether you hit a deer while you’re driving 15 miles per hour or 35 miles per hour, either your car or the deer are getting hurt … and what are we supposed to do? Stop and wait to see if a deer runs out? Seems to me if you’re in the country (as opposed to the city), you should probably assume there’s wildlife around. Something may run out. You may hit it … it’s really a crap shoot.

~ I like when people change around their template and re-decorate their blog. It’s fun to see what they come up with and what sort of background and font they choose. The Outpost has been the same since its birth. I wonder what, if anything, that says about me.

~ I used to hate it when I was following someone’s directions, took a wrong road, and had to make a k-turn in someone’s driveway. The homeowner would glare out their window at me like I was a potential serial killer. I used to say to myself “You snob. Don’t worry, you don’t have company.”

Now I am one of those people who look out the window the second I hear a car go up the road or (gasp) stop in front of our house. If they have the audacity to use my driveway to turn in, I say to myself, “You ass. What – are you lost? Can’t you read directions?”

~ I understand that motor vehicle laws differ according to state, but for the love of zippers on jeans, can’t we all get it together on the whole “right turn on red” issue? NY: no turn on red unless there’s a sign that says you can. NJ: right turn on red ALWAYS unless there is a sign that says not to. CT: right turn on red ALWAYS unless there is a sign that says not to. Why must it be a guessing game? (same thing applies to who has the right of way in traffic circles)

~ I once had a friend who would always order new and different foods wherever we dined. Many times she would scrunch her nose after tasting her food. I would look at her across my standard steak and potato or baked ziti and just shrug my shoulders. I purposely wouldn’t give her any of my food. She thought I was being mean and selfish, I just thought she was being consistently stupid. The friendship didn’t last very long.

~ An odd thought occurred to me the other day. I have worked many, many jobs, usually complaining about them in one way or another immediately after leaving (which was why I worked many, many jobs) … Yet I’ve written more about former jobs than most other topics … and usually on a positive slant. Go figure.

~ Speaking of former jobs, my last position at the aquarium was reservation clerk, but we sometimes had to help out in other departments when needed. One of the “extra duties” that I found fascinating was standing guard at an 18 foot model of the Titanic, just to make sure no one got too close to the glass casing (it was a million dollar exhibit). I’ve always been VERY interested in all-things Titanic, and since I knew I’d be asked to perform this task on several occasions, I read up on many facts so that I could inform people as they stood and stared.

The single most interesting fact I learned was that, had the ship simply stayed on course and hit the iceberg head on, it might have endured some minor damage and would have jostled the passengers a bit, but the hull would have stayed intact and it surely would not have sunk. The strongest section of a ship such as that is the pointed edge of the bow.

Iceberg Shmiceberg. Attempting the turn is ultimately what did her in.

~ Child protection laws differ from state to state too. I understand this on some level, but I found out years ago that in the State of Connecticut, there is absolutely no regulation as to how old children must be in order to be legally left home alone. A woman in our neighborhood was going to a third-shift job, night after night, leaving her seven and five year-old children in the house alone.

When someone reported this to the police, they said it was an example of poor parenting but that she was not breaking any law unless the children were being abused in some way.

I still find this rather discomforting.

~ A second thought on having worked so many jobs … Somewhere along my trip into adulthood, I was given to believe that life is too short to spent a third of it doing something you hate for the sake of a buck. As I got older, I realized you have to put up with a certain amount of shit in the workplace and I became more patient.

My point here is this. I often grumble about Blogger’s inability to keep things flowing without constant interruption (i.e. picture uploading, commenting, and sometimes even posting). Now, I’m not even getting paid to blog yet I have no intention of leaving.

Does this mean by the time I’m 65 I’ll be willing to work at one of those places on “Dirty Jobs” just for the heck of it? And I'll like it? Jeeziz, I hope not.

~ I couldn’t get my baby bird post up and running yet. We mislaid the USB cord for our new digital camera. It’s found now, but since this post was just about complete, I figured I’d publish it for now.

By the way, in this house, we now have about eight USB cords for various attachments. Only two of the eight have the same size connector. (will someone tell me why USB stands for "Universal Serial Bus" when there's nothing universal about them?)

Many moments have been wasted (by all three of us) trying to connect something that just doesn’t fit the receiving end. You’d think by now we would be clever enough to label the USBs.

Like I said, “You’d think.”

"Be careful of your thoughts, they may become words at any moment" Ira Gassen