Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Things That Make Me Medicate

Driving to work this morning I was reminded of several things in life that are obvious contributors to my anxiety. I thought it might be good to list some of those things here although I won't be able to go into the details of some of the more severe instigators.

During the last 10 years or so of my fathers life, I saw evidence of my fathers irritability getting more severe and the triggers sometimes seemed to be small stuff. I never understood his behavior as it manifested itself as anger, rage at times and even hatefulness which is not at all what my father was about. As I am getting older I am starting to experience some of those characteristics and with understanding and logic I am able to cope with it along with some meds. Most importantly I can feel it coming on and address it up front.

Today I'm going to talk about some of the obvious triggers for me:

  • Inconsiderate driving - Things such as failure to comply with the "Slower Traffic Keep Right" rule. I've ranted a couple times in this blog about this so I won't delve into it in any detail here today. In addition when one slowly pulls into 3 lanes of traffic into the lane with the fastest moving traffic. If someone has to slam on the brakes because of you doing this you're a jerk, particularly as you are talking on your cell phone without a care in the world for what you just did. There are people that will just as soon slap you for that as look at you. Now everyone makes a mistake driving from time to time including Moi but when I do I tend to at least acknowledge an apology with a hand up as I mouth the word "sorry". There IS a difference between inconsiderate and mistaken.
  • Unbridled Stupidity  - Once again people do stupid things including myself. However, I think most people tend to learn from their mistakes. George Santayana is credited with one of the most simple but true statements:  "Those Who Forget History Are Doomed to Repeat It". I can't go into any detail here because this applies VERY often to people I care about. I can't stand to see people do the same stupid stuff over and over again. What cooks my goose even more is when these people are so clueless that the actions are handed down to their children that make the same mistakes as though it is acceptable. Obviously, the kids are my big concern here and this one more than anything just tears me apart. I'm sitting here gritting my teeth as I write this. When my wife and I have discussions about these folks I have to ask her to stop talking and change the subject because it drives me ape........well you know where I'm going with that. This also applies to people in the workplace. I'm no rocket scientist but I get by on simplicity and common sense. On a DISC Profile I am an extreme high "D".  I think knowing I am a high "D" also helps me understand that I have a low tolerance for stupidity.
  • Stress Mirrors -  sometimes the stress of others is mirrored onto myself. This is particularly true of my wife. She's an awesome gal and when she gets stressed it sends me into a tailspin. Not much can be done here for stress is a part of life and we have to cope with it. Still, understanding how this effects me helps me deal with it.
  • Politics - This one goes hand in hand with the second bullet but warrants it's own mention because it is so specific. I despise politicians. These are not the kind of people we can trust to run our country or particularly turn our nation back over on it's feet as we are currently in a pickle. Historically I have been a Republican but the reality of today is that I despise what they have become almost as much as Democratic leadership. Republicans care about the empowerment of the Republican party, Democrats care about the empowerment of the Democratic party and NO ONE cares about the betterment of The USA. We as a nation tend to pick one side or the other and divide our nation. We are MORONS! We need a PATRIOT party that's ONLY concern is to restore our country and it's core values. Core values to me INCLUDE bringing God and Country back together. Here is how you fix our country AND our economy: First you instate the flat sales tax. This means a larger sales tax but no income tax. This way illegal aliens, drug dealers, unethical big business owners and everyone else is paying taxes and doing their part. We can't get this passed through now because those that vote on it aren't paying their fair share( or their constituents are not) and don't want to. This alone would give us cash flow to run our government and work on that deficit a bit. Second, I would start a Federal Lottery where ALL proceeds would go toward the deficit and to reinforce social security( baby boomers are about to milk that bad boy DRY!!). Third, get gasoline to $1.80 and leave it there using OUR oil while getting focus on alternative fuel resources such as hydrogen. At the same time create the future infrastructure of our oil business to use remaining oil to produce polymers we need to make plastics, etc and save as many jobs in the oil industry as possible. STOP LETTING OIL COMPANIES RUN OUR COUNTRY! ECONOMY FIXED!! Fourth, we should stop being world police and only address real threats to our nations security. Love the world and aid in disaster but quit with the free security services. Now what kind of politician speaks like this?? NONE!! A Patriot does though. A President cannot dig us out of this hole folks, it takes a nation and that means YOU! I want to vote for something other than Republican or Democratic. Can somebody show me my mark?
That is all. I'm going to take a pill now.

This weekend UGA plays Boise in the opener and we have a lot to prove. I say we do it big time. GATA!! Go DAWGS!!!


Thursday, August 18, 2011

College Football is ALMOST HERE!!

I'm pretty exited about the coming football season as my expectations for UGA are perhaps overly optimistic. Nevertheless, I have a special feeling about our upcoming season. As I have said before, our players have turned into men in just a few short months.

This season I'll be doing something a little unorthodox. Living close to our great states northern border, the UT Vol rivalry is a pretty big thing. Vol fans are faithful and clueless but when things go their way, there's not a more difficult bunch to live with.

Recently I ran across an old Vol fan who is a pretty good representation of what they are all about. I'll be sharing with you his weekly SEC Absurd Gameday Predictions for your entertainment. Here is a small sampling of what is to come. GO DAWGS!! GATA!!

 

And a reminder to any Vol fans that might happen upon this BLOG!