Hey, I got my permit… TO DRINK AND DRIVE

Posted on by Red (aka:DDJ)

drinking and driving

Some ideas are brilliant—really, they are!  And some are, well, less than brilliant.  Drinking and driving.  Less than brilliant, in my opinion.  However, in a rural area of southwest Ireland, the County Kerry Council has passed a motion that would allow drivers to drive legally under the influence of alcohol. In his proposal outline, PUB OWNER–Danny Healy-Rae wrote: ‘To ask the Minister for Justice to introduce legislation to allow Gardaí to issue permits to people living in rural isolated areas to allow them to drive home from their nearest pub after having two or three drinks on little used roads driving at very low speeds – to be issued at the discretion of the local Garda.”

The vote was 5-3.  One must keep in mind that there were 12 absent and 7 abstaining.  Of course, I already see a problem in their passing anything with so few participating. And it is probably wrong to wonder if the absentees were in a pub drinking when the vote took place, but I digress.  The bill is backed up by an interesting argument.  Mr. Healy-Rae states that no one has ever been killed on a rural road while driving intoxicated and it would “prevent loneliness, and reduce the risk of suicide”.  I, of course, have NEVER seen a lonely person drinking in a bar… that’s just crazy talk.

I suppose I take umbrage to this bill because it would issue special permits to those living in rural areas to drive home after consuming 2 to 3 drinks.  Am I to believe that the person to trust with this authority is the person in the pub, throwing back a few? There are just too many variables. Suppose someone has 5 drinks and WALKS home in the lovely rural area, only to be hit by the permit holding driver?

The truth is Ireland is actually quite tough when it comes to drinking and driving laws, and overall deaths accredited to drunk driving has gone down 56% in the last 5 years.  With this change, however small this rural area is–we are talking slippery slope here, people.

To me, it seems complete hypocrisy to push and promote drinking responsibly with handing out permits to a few who we have to trust will follow the bill to the letter of law. People don’t always follow the letter of the law. Bending the law is not unheard of and laws can seem pretty flexible when your blood alcohol level is high enough to be measured.  One person’s short drive might wind up to be 20 minutes away.  Perhaps one lost count after that second drink, and three more third drinks were consumed.  One persons’ driving slowly is not another’s.  Personally, I know the speed limit is 55, but have I ever driven it?  (Rhetorical question.)

I have to say… REALLY? Do you really think this is a good idea?

REALLY?

DDJ

At the tone, please leave your stupid message

Posted on by Red (aka:DDJ)

photo-6-hitting-head-with-phone

The device is not new. As long ago as 1898 a man named Valdemar Poulsen invented the Telegraphone. Skip ahead some time and in the 1970’s cassette tape answering devices—though pricey—arrived on the market in the US. By 1982 there were over 800,000 answering machines in the United States.

So I ask you, don’t you think by now people would have a clue as to how to leave a clear, concise, SHORT message with all the pertinent information on a voicemail message?

The answer is NO. Voicemail etiquette needs to be addressed. We are a country of people incapable of leaving a coherent message on voicemail! You know it’s true. In one day I can receive messages, without names, without a return number, with no information at all except heavy breathing, or with so much information they are cut off.

Let us start with the obvious—or less obvious than I thought—YOUR NAME. Handy piece of information if you would actually like a return call. Then, though you all think your number is miraculously left as some sort of hologram in front of me, you might want to leave your number. Going on from there, a brief description of why you are calling. And finally, if you so choose, a friendly send off of your choice. “Toodles”.

I receive calls from people who seem to think they are talking to me. It is the oddest thing. Remarks like, “hold on while I got get the prescription bottle”, was a favorite from work yesterday. Of course my voicemail cut her off when there was silence for too long. Or, the message that has “so, is that ok?” People… it’s a voicemail. I CAN NOT ANSWER YOU.

I suppose my biggest gripe is the unprepared caller. Too often people dial a phone and have NO idea what they are going to say, whether I am there or not. Do me a favor and KNOW before you dial. Because if I am not there you will get my voice mail and have to leave a short, concise, informative message. And if I am there, and you fall into that hesitation from hell, I WILL PUT YOU ON HOLD INDEFINITELY.

So to sum up my voicemail etiquette for today, please get your $h!t together before you DIAL a number. Thank you so much for your time, have a nice day.    🙂

Fool du Jour – Athletes Nazi Salute

Posted on by Red (aka:DDJ)

Giorgos Katidis

He’s 20–from Athens.  He’s a soccer or football player, depending on your locale.  There are plenty of pictures of his Nazi salute-right arm extended, arm straightened-after he scored the go ahead goal. There are pictures of his teammates looking on in astonishment.  The 20-year-old claims “ignorance”, that he detests fascism.  And, the German coach claims he “doesn’t have any idea about politics.”  Listen up fool…. it’s not politics, it’s HISTORY, and 20 years old is NO excuse.  Sorry, Giorgos Katidis of Athens, but you are my fool du jour,

To the Right, To the Right

Posted on by Red (aka:DDJ)

escalator

When does common courtesy overlap with common practice? DOES IT? I have questions. There is a simple yet legal precedent to driving, whereas if you are moving more slowly you stay to the right and the left is for passing. We all know this, whether we practice it or not is another story. I have lived my life interpolating this rule of thumb to all other MOVING actions. On the sidewalk I stay to the right, on a walkalator in an airport, in a hallway, on a moving escalator. To me, it seems appropriate everywhere someone is either, in a hurry, just moving faster than other people by nature, or on fire… It just seems polite to let someone pass!

And this is where my rant begins. Nearly every day in Penn Station there is a “scene”. Yesterdays involved a non-descript man, saying “excuse me” in a non-descript tone to a woman standing on the escalator on the left. The onslaught that ensued was ridiculous. Her shouts of “if you wanted to walk you should have taken the stairs”, seemed a little excessive. I will admit I have been that person on more than one—or one thousand—occasions. That virtual conga line on the left of the escalator, with everyone trying to save a minute or a few seconds to catch a train is not a new phenomenon. But I just can’t get used to the angry “escalatee” who finds stepping to the right some sort of infringement on their civil liberties.

Where is courtesy, kindness, common sense? I think if an 18 wheeler was barreling up behind her while she was driving her car on the highway, she would get out of the way. Though in this case, there is an extreme possibility she would have had something to say about that as well.

I hear the arguments all the time. Those who say it is common practice, EVERYWHERE to simply step to the right and let people pass, and those who just complain that escalators are for standing still while it moves, and if you want to walk to use the stairs. As for the latter, that is all well and good with me…just stand your inconsidedrate butt on the RIGHT. Problem solved. 🙂

Contact: Red@dealingwithfools.com

Peanut Brains

Posted on by Red (aka:DDJ)
peanut butter

 

I have fond memories of childhood. Remember those peanut butter and jelly sandwiches—for me 1/2 a peanut butter sandwich and 1/2 a jelly sandwich—in the cafeteria? Remember the days when you didn’t need a note from the surgeon general to BRING something with peanuts into a school. Perhaps I am just getting old, but I have to say, in a graduating class of over 600, I honestly don’t recall anyone having the nut, dairy, egg allergies of today’s kids. One does NOT have to delve too deeply into the differences in lifestyle between yesterday’s devil-may-care, fly by the seat of your pants child rearing, and today’s everything we touch is potentially going to kill your kid standard.

Not having children, I can only speak as one who actually was a child (maybe still is). Fine, I get it. You only have your child’s best interests at heart, but a new study reported in the NY Times has me scratching my head in utter disbelief. The Times went so far as to call this study’s conclusion—that we should introduce “killer” nuts and dairy in the early months of your childs life— “a radical new treatment!” Radical? New?

Building immunities—exposing ones’ self to germs on a small scale is hardly a new concept in medicine. In fact, there was a study done in 2011 that showed children in day care, indeed, did get sick more often. However—and this is a biggie—by the time these same children got to grade school they were less likely to be sick. This research, done in Australia, says “Although children may become ill when first starting care, or when infections are spread in the care setting, there is no evidence that this leads to poorer health later on. Rather, it may be that exposure in infancy to a wider range of infectious diseases provides some protection against infections at school age.”

This leads me back to my “REALLY?” moment. The Time’s is heralding this study— introducing allergenic foods like peanut butter and eggs to babies as young as 4 to 6 months old from the study in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology: In Practice—as if it’s new and unheard of. But the reality is THIS IS A TRIED AND TRUE CONCEPT, PEOPLE! I will not divulge my age, but suffice it to say, I grew up loving music from the late 70’s and early 80’s. That being said, I don’t ever recall my mother fearing I’d go into anaphylactic shock when I came home from school and had a snack.

What have we done to an entire generation or two out of unfounded fears? I say this from a place of frustration. I’ve worked around doctors for…. Well….let’s just say a really long time. I read a lot of medical studies. I find it saddening and maddening that research is now showing that the number of young children affected by peanut allergies doubled between 1997 and 2002. Doubled! But you don’t need statistics to prove the obvious. HONESTLY…I find more than a very small handful of friends my age that have either the peanut thing or the dairy thing. There are exceptions to the theory that allergies are the new big thing. My brother has always been allergic to the lawn, but to this day I still believe that was so he didn’t have to mow it.

So really, is this new radical life changing information or just a concept that we’ve long known works on illnesses (why do you think the flu shot works?) being applied to allergies.

I’m going to go have some peanut butter right now. If this blog page goes silent, then you will know I was wrong. But I believe my own not too radical thinking will prevail. Exposure to all sorts of things can actually make us stronger. Just something to think about.

DDJ

The Fool in the Mirror

Posted on by Red (aka:DDJ)

Hand-holding-mirror-193x300

(Dedicated to my  Momentum Family)

I will own up to my own foolishness.  I was cynical, but deep down knew that there is a better outlook for me to have.  Going through life, believing I was not enough–that I didn’t matter, that someone is always better, prettier, smarter, more successful than me–was exhausting.  There is a better me underneath all of what I have carried around as absolutes in my head.

I did something so inexplicably unlike me, that even sharing it will likely have friends and acquaintances alike, fainting as they read on.   I went to Momentum Education Workshop.  I admit I was a smidge skeptical, thinking I was way too broken to be fixed. I was sure I was way too set in my ways to make changes in my belief system.  But, I did go in knowing I would give it my all since I indeed wanted a change that just going to the gym or traveling to beautiful, amazing places–even with the people I love the most–wasn’t enough.

Was this fool able to transform, you ask yourself?  I will explain it as best as I can.  Surrounded by a group of strangers-turned-friends in a time frame that would seem impossible (a couple of nights and 2 days) I learned so many lessons.  I will never be so quick to judge, I will honor people for who and what they are, because they matter and I matter and because we are all more than the sum of our past or our present.  Learning that I am enough and that being vulnerable is not a flaw but a tool in allowing love in and subsequently letting it out, and being able to share that is a gift…. Not just any gift, but a gift that is contagious.  Going through life with a scowl on my face has produced a mirrored life right back at me.  As I walked through Manhattan this morning, head held high, smile on my face, saying hello to the guys in the deli, I felt what Sylvia High drove home.  Possibilities are endless, limitless, and achievable and ultimately I can be extraordinary.

I met some of the MOST amazing people in this workshop and I wish I could spend more time locked in a room with them.  🙂   They gave me courage, strength and the ability to let go, get in touch with the me I forgot, buried and left for dead.  Standing in a room full of complete strangers sharing my personal world was something I thought impossible before last Thursday, and yet its effect on me has turned out to be life altering. I wish amazing things for each and every one of the people I met.  Their lives and stories touched me in an infinitely profound way.

I feel foolish that I was ever skeptical.  My life is not stuck.  By changing my choices, by changing my beliefs, the facts of my life change.  This will likely make no sense to those who have not participated in the experiential workshop.  These types of things can not be explained on paper or in words.  It truly is an experience.  By experiencing it with people you have nothing in common with, but have EVERYTHING in common with is what I found truly extraordinary.

Momentum Education Workshop, Bayshore and my Emu…. DDJ is forever grateful

– I WAS HERE – Beyonce

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i41qWJ6QjPI

Today, 3/6/13   I am experiencing changes in the people around me.  It is still amazing.  I can’t wait for Advanced! 

Dealingwithfools.com – Debbie Jaffie