Rant


As our population becomes more and more obese, there is a push towards healthier lifestyles. Restaurants are offering healtheir alternatives, and even fast food chains are taking steps to remove trans fats from their offerings and make http://www.happiface.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/picture-10.pngother changes that promote healthy alternatives. One would think, then, that it would be no problem for a patron to order water at a fast food chain. Water is a healthy alternative to carbonated beverages. Not only that, it’s an inexpensive product from a restaurant’s perspective as well.

Why, then, is it practically IMPOSSIBLE to order ice water at a drive through window?

It seems that, if you want water, you have two alternatives. One, you can buy http://www.oakhurstdairy.com/img/Products_Juices_Water_Nutrition_081009.jpgbottled water, or two, you can have a tiny cup of ice water. As a lover of ice water, I don’t like either option.

Bottled water, while marketed as healthier than tap water, is, in fact, not. Some water bottling companies actually just put tap water in the bottles, others remove “impurities” and remove the good minerals as well. And, even if it IS healthy, it tastes bad. I don’t enjoy drinking tepid plastic flavored water, and I know a lot of other water lovers who feel the same way.

Then there’s the tiny cup option. What? Are water drinkers somehow less important than carbonated beverage drinkers? Are we less thirsty? Don’t we deserve an option to purchase a large cup of water and ice? That’s all I want, really; a large cup of water with lots of ice, just like the person in the car before me wants a large Dr. Pepper with a lot of ice. I’m willing to pay for it, and I’m NOT the only one! 

Here’s how it usually goes…

Me: I’d like the number 8 combo meal but make that combo drink an ice water.

Them: You want bottled water?

Me: No, I’d like ice water in the combo sized cup

Them: Uhhh…okay.

Then I get up to the window, get my food and a tiny cup of water, and usually that water is pink because it comes from the same spicket as the pink lemonade, and the person running the drive-through is too lazy to just let it run for two seconds to get the pink lemonade cleared from the spicket.

Me: Did I not pay for the combo?

Them: No. You were charged for the hamburer and fries but the water is free, so we didn’t charge you for a combo.

Me: But I asked for the combo because I wanted the combo sized drink. I just happen to prefer water over soda.

Them: But water is free.

Me: It’s free in a tiny baby cup. I want a large cup of water.

Them: So you want bottled water?

Me: NO! I don’t LIKE bottled water. I want water with ice!

Them: But we don’t offer that.

Me: Charge me for a Coke but give me water in the cup. Is that so hard?

Them: Blank stare.

Me: Forget it. Just give me the damned baby cup of water.

The sad fact is that this happens almost universally no matter what fast food drive through I go to. It’s like the workers are programmed, and ice water just doesn’t compute.

Why is it so hard to get a large cup of water? I seriously don’t mind paying for it. Just make it an option. Your restaurant will make tons of profit by charging me the same thing they charge for a carbonated beverage of the same size. WHY PUT US THROUGH THE SAME CRAP EVERY TIME WE TRY TO ORDER WATER?  What IS the big deal?

If I sound ticked off, I am. It happened to me again tonight, and went something like this:

Me: I would like the number 8 combo meal, and as that combo drink, which I want to pay for, I would like a large ice water. Not bottled water, not a baby cup of water, but a large water.

Them: But water is free. You have to order another drink with the combo.

Me: NO. Just pretend I’m getting a Coke and give me water instead.

Them: Uhhhhhh…okay.

So I get to the window and what do I get? A large Coke and a baby water. (Because water is free!)

Me: Take this Coke, and pour it down the drain. Rinse the cup out, fill it with ice, and then fill it with tap water. That’s what I ordered, and that’s what I want.

Them: But water is free.

Me: I DON’T WANT A BABY CUP OF WATER! I WANT A L A R G E CUP OF WATER!

Them: You want bottled water?

Me: NOOOOOO! I WANT A LARGE C*U*P OF ICE WATER!

Them: But we can’t give you that. We’ll have to charge you for the cup.

Me: THAT’S WHAT I WANT!  I ASKED TO BE CHARGED FOR THE COMBO SO I COULD HAVE THE LARGE CUP OF ICE WATER!

Them: Why don’t you take the Coke then?

Me: I DON’T LIKE COKE! I LIKE WATER!

Them: Okay, lady. I don’t know why you’re so upset!

Me: JUST GIVE ME THE DAMNED WATER!

And so, here I am. I got my water. It’s pink and tastes vaguely of lemonade, but at least I got water. Unfortunately, the food was cold by the time I got home. And, oh…the order was wrong.

Next, we’ll discuss trying to get water at a sit-down restaurant WITHOUT lemon. (Also next to impossible)

Maybe someday we water drinkers won’t be so discriminated against. I’m not holding my breath.

 

When Barak Obama was elected President of the United States, I had very mixed feelings. I hadn’t voted for the man and didn’t agree with his politics, but I had to admit to liking him on a more personal level. Charismatic is the only word to describe him. His smile is disarming. He has a great sense of humor. He’s a good family man. He’s obviously brilliant. He’s a black guy who can’t dance, and who can’t like a guy like that?

Politically, he’s a nightmare to those of us who believe in a Republic Democracy. His ideals are good ones, but we don’t live in a http://johnnyholland.org/wp-content/uploads/utopia11.jpgutopian world where we can afford to try to live by utopian ideals. We have to face reality. For example, I, too, would like to befriend Islamic countries who hate Westerners and hate the U.S. even more. But I’m not so idealistic and niave to believe that they will listen to my friendly words or even pay a bit of attention to my friendly actions. It is not in them to believe that those words or actions are honest and forthright. They have been brianwashed to hate us and distrust us, and hate us and distrust us they will, no matter what we do. So, with that in mind, I think Obama weakens our country by reaching out to them with an open hand and depreciating our country through his rhetoric.

I do not agreehttp://www.getliberty.org/content_images/Cartoon%20-%20Obama%20Wrecking%20Ball%20(600).jpg with his socialization of our economy nor do I agree with his desire to have a public option health care system. I distrust his administration, because they have pushed both these efforts (the economic bail out and health care) through (health care should be decided within weeks) without giving the American people or our representatives ample time to educate ourselves, so we can provide an honest response.

I don’t like the lies. Let’s face it, the Obama administration has been http://www.freespeechstickers.com/images/you_lie.pngcaught in several lies. For example, Obama says prior to his election that he is avidly for the public option, and then two months ago says he never said he was for the public option. I’ve heard the contradicting recordings myself. It’s almost as if this administration tries to revise history, simply by stating a lie that whatever subject they want to suppress is the opposite of what really happened. It’s ludicrous!

Now, the Obama administration is attacking Fox News, threatening to remove http://www.americasheadlines.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/foxnews.jpgWhite House credentials for everyone affiliated with them. What happened to free speech? Why is it okay for CNN and NBC (including all its iterations) to be so incredibly partisan but not the Fox News channel? At least Fox News itself (the news not the commentary) is non-partisan. You can’t say the same for the CNN news team. This kind of thing is frightening to me, and if the other news organizations don’t start standing up and saying they won’t put up with this type of behavior, it’s even more frightening, because it means the end of truth in the news. All that will be left is partisanship and opinion will reign.

The result of all of this is that our country has been cleaved in two. http://blogs.phillyburbs.com/news/bct/wp-content/blogs.dir/3/files/2008/08/wk_of_0817/0820_democrat_republican.gifPeople are taking hard sides against one another politically, and some of the rhetoric I’m now hearing on the various radio political talk shows is really scary. The attacks against the other side are becoming more viscious, people are even talking about ceeding from the union and conversation is seeded with hatered. This civil war of words is anything but civil, and it makes me fear for the future of our country.

T.S. Eliot wrote, “This is the way the world ends…this is the way the world ends…this is the way the world ends. Not with a bang, but with a whimper.” And I’m beginning to fear the truth behind that. I always thought the opposite was true — that our biggest danger was from outside our borders — but now I feel we are being eaten alive from the inside. That instead of succumbing some day to a huge bomb, our country will simply eat at itself until there is nothing left, and we are so weak that we become easy pickin’s for whatever world power wants to take us over.

Heck, as much of our commodities as we have sold to China, it might already http://trendsupdates.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/china-us1.jpgbe happening. We have stupidly allowed our economy to become so tied into theirs, that they could destroy us economically.

My point is, no matter how partisan we’ve become as a populace, we have to stick together. We cannot allow ourselves to be slowly eaten away; we cannot allow ourselves to let politics erode our union; we cannot allow our society to be weakened by the dumbing down of education or by extreme partisan rhetoric. We must remain strong and uphold the ideals upon which this grhttp://4.bp.blogspot.com/_rqH4fUbko2U/Sh1KGtC2pnI/AAAAAAAANjs/Dq52Ievg5m4/s320/We_The_People.jpgeat country was based. We must put this civil war of words aside and love our neighbor as we love ourselves. Only then can we sustain and grow as we have for over 200 years. If we fail to do this, I fear we will fall just as the Romans fell. Surely we’re smart enough to learn from their mistakes and stop repeating them.

You are under a misguided impression that, as a patriotic American citizen, I would like to help correct.

You were elected to your offices by a ballot of the people – American citizens one and all who have grown up loving this country and believing in a representative government of the people and by the people.  We elected you based on your reported platforms and, in doing so, gave you the heady responsibility of representing our wants and needs.

Somehow you have gotten the idea that your constituents are stupid people who don’t know enough to decide important issues for ourselves, so you have the idea that what we think we want doesn’t matter when it comes to the decisions you make, because…well…you’re smarter than us. The truth is, the greater majority of us are as smart and as savvy as you are. We pay attention to the news, the issues and the things that affect us and our families. We care about our communities, our rights and our country. Admittedly, there are some who are ignorant and uninformed, but don’t fool yourselves into believing they are in the majority. That couldn’t be farther from the truth.

As a result of your misguided thinking, you have decided to push through some legislation that you know doesn’t represent our wishes.

You’ve pushed through two stimulus bills that have destroyed our economy, when the better solution would have been to let the chips fall where they may. Stimulus packages never revitalize a sagging economy. The only thing that can do that is the confidence of the American people. Do you really think the American people can have confidence in an economy being propped up by huge infusions of government money? Be logical! Of course they can’t; if anything, that frightens us more!  The only thing that will return our economy to a steady state and make it healthy (and grow) again is when the country’s citizenry has trust and faith that things are improving.  Only then could we see real improvement, and your stimulus packages have made that impossible.

You’ve pushed through an energy/climate bill that was based on inaccurate calculations, telling us that it will only increase our home fuel bills by around $150 a year by 2020. And then, in a huge “oops moment,” you quietly informed us that you’d made a small math mistake, and the real cost to each American household will be more to the tune of $300 to $400 A MONTH. Do you really think that this is something the average American household can sustain?  If so, you’re living in the dream world of the privileged few.  Most of us will not be able to afford such an increase in our fuel bills. Such increases will bankrupt us and put us on the streets.  Do you care? It seems not, since all you seem to be about is making the changes you want while you have an overwhelming majority that can’t be overridden. So much for checks and balances.

Now, you are trying to put through a Health bill that virtually no one wants.  You are holding so many press conferences and town meetings that many of us are wondering who is actually governing our country.  You claim that the opposition you have met during these meetings is false opposition – that those who vehemently voice their concerns are paid to do so, and the American people actually want this bill. Well, I’m here to tell you that we do NOT want this bill. On top of that, we are sick to death of being lied to by our President and the senators and congressmen and women who we elected to represent us.  You are aware, aren’t you, that we can READ?  When you tell us that we can keep our own work-provided or private insurance, we can easily find the section of the bill that states we won’t be able to do that.  When you tell us that we can keep our family physicians – some of whom have been our doctors for decades – we can see in the bill that this is not the case. When you tell us this bill will improve our health care, even though it’s based on the socialized medicine we see in other countries like Canada, we know that it will actually degrade our healthcare.  We know that what health care we are allowed to receive will be based on our age, our weight, or our “worthiness” to be treated. 

In addition, you are trying to take away our freedom of speech with the “fairness doctrine,” which will kill conservative talk radio. The liberal lawyers you’ve put in the Justice Department have even stooped to threatening the state of Oklahoma for trying to present a bill that would make English the official language of the state!  And (as a side note) Nancy Polosi herself has lied to the American people, claiming she never knew of “water boarding” when it’s part of the public record that she did.

You have pretended to be so concerned about our economy, vilifying the executives of the big three car companies for flying in separate private jets to meet with you, and yet now, you have voted for two new luxury jets to fly YOU around, when you have a perfectly good fleet of planes already.  How about flying coach or driving? Heck, even flying first class would save millions of dollars over what you have chosen to do.

I could go on, but I believe I have gotten my message across to you. If not, let me make it even simpler.

You are NOT fooling us.

And while we’re at it, shame on us for wanting change so badly that we voted you in. We wrongly believed that you had integrity and honor and trusted that you would stand by your sworn pledge to represent us as provided for in the U.S. Constitution.  We did not expect that, given an overwhelming majority, you would turn into wolves whose only desire was to rip and shred at the very platform on which our great country was built. We did not understand that, without the proper checks and balances, you would push through partisan legislation that we, the people you are supposed to represent, do not want. We didn’t get that you would fundamentally change the face of our government, our economy and our lives.

But know this…

If we are still a representative democracy when your terms are up, you will be voted out of office. We will take back our country just as our forefathers did before us, and our newly elected representatives will return our rights and freedoms to us and restore our great nation to its former glory.

Count on it.   

Copyright August 6, 2009 by Margaret Floeter

It’s the day after the NCAA national football championship, and I’m still angry.

You know, it wasn’t so much that OU lost the game — they played hard, and the score was virtually tied until the middle of the fourth quarter — it was the obviously biased commentating that left me so ticked off that I still want to rip someone’s head off. Thom Brennaman and Charles Davis win the award for the worst commentating for a national football championship ever.

Don’t get me wrong; as someone who’s spent my life as a journalist and writer, I understand the need for a hook — that human interest appeal that gets the viewers to stay tuned in — but these guys went to ridiculous levels in their commentary, particularly Brennaman who raised Tim Tebow to the level of messaih. I swear if I didn’t know better, I’d think it was the second coming of Christ!

His most disgusting comment was this one:

If you’re fortunate enough to spend five minutes or 20 minutes around Tim Tebow, your life is better for it.

Oh, come on! I have no doubt the kid is a great guy and a great leader, but I’d put Sam Bradford up against him any day. He, too, is a great guy and a wonderful leader. He’s also this year’s Heisman Trophy winner, and he was virtually ignored by these two horrible commentators. Fox Sports should be embarrassed by their humiliating display of hyperbole and incorrect information.

Other low-lights of their performance:

  • Going crazy about whether OU should go for it on fourth down on a critical play when it was really third down
  • Stating that Trautwein had a false state twice when it was really three times
  • Claiming an OU defender “horsed” one of the Florida players and calling for a penalty when he had clearly not done that.
  • Actually referring to momentum as “Ole Moe
  • Stating that Tebow’s unsportsman like conduct penalty that cost his team 15 yards was “probably the first thing he’s ever done wrong.
  • Not mentioning Stoops’ very strong ties to the Florida team. He *was* their defensive coordinator after all.

There are so many more. Way too many to mention. If you want a real kick, google “bad 2009 NCAA football championship commentators” and read the comments by viewers. I think my favorite was from a guy named Rob who said, “Tebow cured the announcers of their erictile dysfunction.” No truer words were ever written.

I’m not the only one who feels this way about the officiating. Check out this great article by Chris Burke - BCS National Championship 2009: Thom Brennaman Forces Mute Buttons to Work.

Before I go, a few words about the Sooners. This team has been one of the hardest working, hardest playing teams in the country this year. They have proven the ney-sayers wrong again and again. Sam Bradford has 2008 OU Football Team wins Big 12 titlebeen a wonderful, strong, calming influence for the team and has set a wonderful example. The OU coaching team is one of the best in the nation — Brent Venables, in particular, has worked magic with the defensive line. Congratulations to all of them for a wonderful season, and we’ll get them next year!

Let’s just hope to GOD that we have a decent commentary team to do the game justice!

ARGHHHHHHHH!!!

I was going to write, “There; I feel better now,” but the sad fact is, I don’t! For the past two weeks, I’ve been plagued by the worst allergies I’ve ever had in my life!

I know I’m not alone out here. According to everything I’ve read, we’re having the worst allergy season we’ve had in years, with the most heinous culprit being ragweed. Everyone is sneezing, itching, wiping From: http://www.healthnews-stat.com/primages/Allergies_Nothing_To_SNEEZE_AT_!.gif their eyes, sniffing and coughing. If misery loves company, I should be thrilled about now. To be honest, though, I’d be more thrilled if it were just those other people suffering, so I could go on living in ignorance and comfort

When I was young, I wasn’t allergic to anything at all. I could roll around in poison ivy, and it wouldn’t phase me. (I actually did this once with my boyfriend. ::cough:: The next day, he was covered in calamine lotion, and the only sign I’d been there was the knowing smile on my face.) My poor brother, on the other hand, was highly allergic. I can still see the rash on his arms, which always looked angry and inflamed and was usually bleeding to some degree from his constant scratching. I felt for him, but I really had no idea what he was going through.

Now, I do!

Over the past twenty years or so, I’ve slowly developed allergies to this and that. I’ve hadFrom: http://photos.andrew.net.au/albums/wandering/image2006_03_20_11_56_58.sized.jpg three allergy tests (ooOOooo! Needles!), and each one has shown that I’m progressively becoming more allergic to more things. The last time I took one (last year), it showed that I am at least a little bit allergic to everything they tested me for except dogs and cats. Thank goodness, since I have four cats and two dogs!

This bout with allergies, though, has been like nothing I’ve ever experienced. It started with a little itching, then became an angry, bumpy rash on my lower legs and hot, red, itchy skin over the rest of my body, except for my head. At first, I took a back scratcher to bed with me. When it didn’t do the job, I tucked a hair brush into my hand before nodding off. (Oh, how I now love that hair brush/skin shreader!)

When the itching got so bad that I couldn’t sleep or sit still anymore, I rushed to the doctor, who put me on Prednisone and a really strong topical steroidal cream. At first, it helped, but as soon as I began lowering the dose to avoid becoming addicted to it, the itching came back with a vengence! Now, my head and face also itch. Joy.

I suppose I should be grateful. After all, I’ve never felt more alive. Unfortunately, I have also never felt more like I’m covered with other live things like mosquitos or stinging ants.

I itch; therefore, I am. It’s times like these, though, that I wish I could just not itch and sleep. That’s it…sleep, perchance to dream…of not itching!

So, we have this person at work we’re calling “the phantom pooper.”

We have no idea who the phantom pooper is, but we know that she was raised in a barn, because she obviously snacks on hay if the smell she leaves behind is any indication.

It all started about a month ago when the call center for our company moved onto our floor. Gone were the quiet days when we could consentrate on our work. Instead, the floor was filled with clutter, loud noises and a plethora of new smells. A trip to the restroom was often an escape in those early days, but that didn’t last very long, once the phantom pooper left her mark.

And I don’t mean “left her mark” rhetorically, by the way. She quite literally left her mark, in the form of the long, stinky, brown skid-mark she always leaves on the toilet seat.

No, I’m not kidding.

And that’s not all! In addition to the skunk stripe she leaves as a calling card, she also leaves toilets unflushed, pee on the seats and floor (How does a woman do this?), and diarrhea spashed along the back of the toilet bowl. (Again, HOW does this happen?)

The concept of a courtesy flush is alien to her. She is proud of the smell of her poop and wants to make sure the rest of us can smell it, too!

The phantom pooper has become a subject of much conversation around the water cooler. Just who is she? What the HELL does she eat that smells so bad when it’s digested? In what position must she sit on the toilet to leave the diarrhea spray against the back like that? We warn others of her visits. “For the love of all that is holy, don’t go in there right now!”

I actually brought packs of matches to all my friends, so we can light one upon entering the restroom. Our only hope is that the fumes don’t combust and singe our eyebrows off. So far, so good.

We have begun an unofficial forensic investigation, and we know these things about the pooper:

  • She’s a big girl - Only a big girl could leave a skunk stripe like that on the toilet seat.
  • She’s not clean - She doesn’t wipe her rear end, people!
  • She’s insensitive to the needs of others - Those of us who are clean would like a restroom free of crap stains, floaters and pee puddles.

We have a few suspects. The big girl who comes to work with her pants unzipped because they’re too small and wears a short shirt, so everyone can see her open fly is the prime suspect.

I was actually in there the other day when she came in, talking on her cell phone. (This is another clue that she’s the phantom pooper. Who uses the restroom and talks on the cell phone at the same time? How does she wipe? What does the person on the other end of the phone hear?) From my stall, I heard her say to the person on the other end of the line, “It smells like smoke in here!” I answered her, “That’s from the match I light so I don’t have to smell everyone’s crap, since someone isn’t clean!” She just chuckled and farted.

Oh, yeah. I think we’ve found our gal!

Letters from HR have been sent out and have done no good, so now it’s up to my forensic squad to solve the problem. Once we’re completely sure who the pooper is, we’re giving her some object lessons on bathroom etiquette and a care package…moist towlettes, body spray, air freshener, her own pack of matches!

Until then, I’ll be using a restroom on one of the other floors. None of them smell like roses, but at least there are no racing stripes!

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