By now everyone should have received a couple rounds of the new weekly Academy advertisements in the red bags.  If you haven’t, it is because it is still laying in your lawn or in the gutter where it washed down the street and into a drainage ditch.   This is the seen each week in most Waco area neighborhoods that I have passed through.   Most of us probably don’t shop at Academy that often (I go every 2 or 3 months), and those of us that go more often probably already know what we are going to buy without looking at their ad.   So if the goal is to save money by avoiding postage, why not go a step further and save even more money by not throwing that worthless piece of paper in my yard, or anyone’s yard.   Who’s gonna miss it? I won’t even go into the environmental impact of printing that much paper and then purposely throwing it on the ground where some of us will leave it until it turns yellow and brittle,  some will throw it away, and few of us will actually read it.   While  the city of  Waco would like for us to take our  trash cans away from the curb and preferably store them out of site,  it is apparently OK for local businesses to throw litter all across town.  I think I will leave my trash can by the curb with the lid open and that’s where they can deliver their advertisements.

So May 18 through May 31 is the national “Click It or Ticket” Campaign. Thankfully, because of the law, I know it is safer to wear a seat belt. But I was just wondering, is it unsafe to carry a hair drier into the bathtub? The law only justifies wearing a seat belt, but is surprisingly quiet regarding the potentially lethal hair drier. Why is the law silent on this topic? It seems to me that the hair drier is more likely to cause injury each time I use it in the tub, were as the seat belt has never once resulted in injury to myself or others when I did not wear it. I think this is an example of how our government is failing to protect its people. They pick and choose what they think is safe for us and leave out the most obvious!! We have elected these officials and we pay their salaries to protect us and yet they have left us all completely vulnerable to hair driers, or taking winter naps in the oven, or playing in the freezer, bathing in washing machines, or warming up the car while the garage door is closed. It’s appalling that nothing has been done. Someone seriously needs to take away our right to do these things soon or else all hope is lost. Will someone join me in taking away more rights in the name of safety!!

Now, I never scored outstanding in English or grammar or writing, but lately I have been noticing something more and more from blogs to news articles that really bothers me. There seems to be a growing trend for people to use the word ‘then’ in place of the word ‘than,’ and it is getting on my last nerve!!! I just saw this on a Facebook post:

“They are very calm, and would prefer to fight a battle with words of wisdom then fighting.”

What?
It sounds like someone would like to talk it over followed by fighting. I’m pretty sure the author of this statement actually meant to convey that this creature prefers wise words instead of fighting. In which case the word ‘than‘ would be appropriate.

I see this so often that it looks more like people actually believe it is correct, rather than a simple mistake. So, then, here are some examples from 2nd or 3rd grade. Read the rest of this entry »

The roadways would flow much better if everyone would just drive drive the way I think they should. First of all everyone would do the simple things like using the blinker before changing lanes, or just use it period. No one would drive below the speed limit, over is ok as long as you don’t act like everyone should just get out of your way because you have poor planning and now you’re late for work. Everyone would also be capable of maintaining a constant speed. None of this driving 55 for a while, then 70 then 60 or whatever feels good at the time. Use the cruise control people. Another thing that should be simple, staying in your own lane. If your truck is too big it’s no excuse. Learn to drive that monster like you own it or get it off the road. Or give it to me. Cell phones seem to lead to erratic speeds so I would like everyone to at least have hands free accessories. No one should ever text while driving because that leads to erratic speeds, swerving, and no blinkers. Why spend 10 cents on a text when you can talk one minute for equal or less and say a lot more? Read the rest of this entry »

This time last year, I saw that one of my friends became a fan of something called Twilight. She joined a facebook fan page, which showed up in my newsfeed. After learning that it was a novel with a cult following, it appeared that this book was being made into something, which I mistakenly thought was going to be a series on the WB. Egads! A horrible cheesefest, no doubt. If I was 16, I’d be excited, but I’m too old for that… right? Right?! Wrong. Months later, I saw a commercial for the Twilight movie. Not only was it NOT going to be a lame low-budget tv show, but it looked like it was going to be a pretty awesome movie instead. As time went on, I saw more previews, and being the sci-fi/goth/action/adventure fan that I am, this whole business of “Twilight” demanded more serious attention from me. I discovered that there were 3 sequels. Sequels? I love sequels! That means the story will get more involved, deeply tangled, exceedingly dramatic. Oh, I’m definitely on board with that. Sign me up!
Read the rest of this entry »