bbzzzzzzz....thwack!!!

Yes, it's time once again for a "Things That Bug Me!" session. It's generally where I get to rant about things I've seen, and you get to read it.

♣ I know everyone's frozen here in Conyers, GA, with the polar winds that have pummeled the area for the past week (and believe me, 40 degrees is balmy right now), and there has been some ice on the ground the past couple of days. But it's gone now, and hasn't been there forever. So what I want to know is, why do people, when I'm on my way to work up the 2 lane backroads to save time, insist on going 30 mph down the roads!!! And today was even worse. It was a Mustang sports car! Going 30... Now, as much as I totally don't care about cars or things like that, I can appreciate the potential of a Mustang when there are no police cars around. It would be the same as some old guy taking a Ferrari down the interstate at 40, when the speed limit was 70, and the car could easily go 90 without thinking about it. You bought the car! You know what it can do!! Use it!!!

It's like the guy on Price is Right this week. Fit, muscular, Adonis type guy, tall, in his mid 20's, and he gets to the Showcase Showdown and does one of these finesse spins to try and get a dollar. Spin. The. Wheel. Let it go around 8 times... show it who's boss! Drove me nuts!

I've talked about this before... using your natural talent to its fullest extent (which applies to everyone except me, see my Singing post a few weeks ago.) If you can sing...then sing. David Phelps went from this booming tenor voice with the Gaither Vocal Band to his solo career where he sang these weaker ballads. Let's punch the notes. And while my stepdad would have said that he was resting his voice, because you can actually harm it if you strain it too much over a given time, there's a part of me that says, "So?" Produce the best work you can for as long as you can, and then you can be proud of the creations that came forth. Or athletes.... Barry Sanders did it right (although for the wrong team.) He let it fly for a few years, then retired. I would suspect that he would have stayed longer had his efforts been equalled by anyone else in the organization, but the Lions are like that, even today.

♣ And I'm sure I've said this before, in another blog sometime in the past, but I'm gonna say it again. I went to Blockbuster and was instantly greeted by the cashier as I came in....well, sort of. She said, "Hello," but never looked up from what she was doing, never acknowledged I had come in outside of the bell on the door that announced that someone had come in. Unacceptable behavior, in my opinion. If I am working near a door at Borders, I will move around a shelf and make sure they see me. Make eye contact. It's the best way of letting some know you're there, and you care about them. Of course, if Blockbuster let's this behavior go on like they do (and this isn't the only Blockbuster I've seen that does this,) it's no wonder they look like they're on their last leg. They must have better customer service that that if they hope to stay open. That mistake alone would make me want to order from Netflix, or download them online through, um, other means.

Just imagine what Blockbuster would be like if there were employees there that truly cared about the product they were selling, and were experts at that field, and good in giving customer service. Then, all the customers that call up Borders and ask, "I'm lookin' for that movie that has Johnny Depp in it...you know the one I mean?" could call Blockbuster and the employees there would actually know and could order it or have it in stock. That would be a service that even Wal-Mart could not duplicate, even with the low prices. And then, if Blockbuster had contracts with the major studios, they could easily have a downloadable center where empty DVD's could be made into movies, complete with the covers on the DVD's, and the packaging...etc... Talk about a considerable cut in costs, as well as the availability of thousands of movies without actually having to process them or wait for them in the mail. This would set Blockbuster back on the road to profitability, but I doubt it will ever happen. I described something like this for bookstores a year or two back.

♣ And speaking of bugs...I think scientists need to introduce a DNA strand that makes cockroaches taste like chicken. Undoubtedly, bad taste is something that the bugs use to keep animals from eating them. Because my cat, while she'll chase after moths and lizards and whatever else, totally ignores roaches, even though they run about by the dozens. But if scientists were to introduce a slight change into the pests genetic makeup, like making them smell like tuna or something, they would become a viable food source for bigger animals. Just a thought..... :)