Rant: If the express checkout says 25 items or less, unless you are a kindergartner doing the shopping for his negligent mother, than there's no excuse to have more than 25 items.

Rave: I saw a woman on a motor cart at walmart that the battery died in it before she could get to her car. And four guys that were in the parking lot at the time helped her. Two carried the cart and the other two helped her along, and then they loaded the groceries in her trunk.

I went to get a pizza at Papa Johns today at 4:30 and they don't like people going into their stores and ordering a pizza to go in person. They prefer 100% phone in and delivery business so I went to my favorite italian restaurant and got a pizza to take and went to see a friend of mine for dinner.

I was 20 minutes late -- but, I'm very disappointed in Papa Johns today -- they used to accept orders face to face business and not anymore.


BAD RANT

BIG TIME RANT


On my way home from the Supermarket (a normal 7 minutes drive) ... It's took me 16 minutes because these idiotic teenaged girls were texting and driving on the road and stopped at light that me and 10 or so drivers had to wait another 2 complete cycle of lights to get moving again. It's so darn frustrating to get home ...

Rant : A good 50% of the opinion pieces in my morning newspapers have consisted, for the past six months, of little more than self-righteous and self-serving virtuous clichés that are far more divisive and patronizing than the things they decry. From mandatory bicycle helmets to mandatory leashes for cats, from the sinful nature of a white person singing the blues to that of anyone eating meat, from the fact that all men are rapists to the idea that a niqab is a sign of liberation for a woman, this avalanche of tripe makes getting the news an ordeal that makes me grumpy for the rest of the day (as if grumpy old men needed more reasons to be grumpy).

Rave : This year I really appreciated our health care system. My mother underwent surgery a year and a half ago to remove a colon tumour. Her chemotherapy went poorly... it made her so sick that she preferred to let nature take its course (it’s not easy to endure chemo when you’re 80). She received extraordinary care, including regular house calls from a nurse and from her doctor. When she could no longer remain at home on her own, she moved to a home for terminally ill patients, a home that looked like a three star hotel and where she was treated like family. During her two weeks there, she was surrounded by loving and caring people who helped her end her voyage on this Earth. I can’t described how grateful I am to the volunteers there and to the medical staff; thanks to them, my mom died with dignity and as little discomfort as possible, surrounded by kindness and love.

As this was happening, I had that bicycle crash I mentioned last March. Rushed to an emergency ward with multiple sprains, head trauma and eight fractures in the right arm (which is a number inflated by the fragile nature of many wrist bones, I must admit) I was seen by an othopedist within an hour and was operated on the next morning. Two pins, one plate and five screws later, I was good to go. The pins were removed six weeks later, the plate and screws a few weeks ago. Throughout the process, I got brilliant care and the staff was always cheerful, caring and professional. I am extremely happy to know that receiving such good service is not due to my being rich or working for a company with good insurances, but because our quite decent tax rate allows every citizen to receive the same. I feel blessed to live in a society where this is possible. I’d much rather see our public money go there than cranking up our military expenses to satisfy some arbitrary percentage of GDP target.

RANT -- USA NETWORK is not having CLOSED CAPTIONING anymore and I'm frankly MAD about it.

Rant: Shark shows on tv... how many of these could anybody want??? Nat Geo and Discovery need to change their names to Shark channel and More Sharks channel. These specialty channels almost all go way downhill from where they start, you wouldn't recognize the early A&E, TLC or even Bravo with what they have become, I don't think I have watched A&E or TLC in a decade really. Then I hear some economist on the radio barking about "no government ever created anything great, it's all individuals with a personal profit motive"... and immediately I'm thinking of the moon landing fifty years ago as not by an individual and PBS which put together such an exceptional trio of American Experience about it! Balance! The omnivore philosophy in a nutshell... eat some of everything, whereas the shark may be omnivorous it is not the only omnivore on the planet... I'm old enough to be beyond tired of races to the bottom throwing out the good with the excess in some simplistic extreme... maybe these are the people who watch all the shark programs? The focus on sharks feels like tv racing to the bottom.