An Ass

So as the light turned green, this.....gentleman decided to do a u-turn in front of me.

First of all, u-turns are illegal in the State of Michigan.  Second, even if they were legal, it would probably be like in California where it is only at certain intersections.  Third, even then, you can only do it when you have a the green arrow which means that your oncoming traffic would not have a green.  Fourth, what part of icy roads don't you understand?  Five.....blah.

I was hoping that we would have been stopped at the next light so that he could have a new license plate.  Instead, I got to catch him after he did the turn on red thing.  But of course, he cut someone else off in doing that.  But since he drives an SUV, I can only assume he cares about safety...his own.

Some People....

Anyone who has followed this blog for a long time will reason that I have some pet peeves.  Every so often I will get vocal (or visual) about them.  This happens to be one of those times.

One of my biggest pet peeves is watching the swirling cigarette butt coming out of a car window.  I am of the opinion that Michigan is not someone's personal ashtray.  I honestly wonder how those people would feel if someone where to step in their living room and deposit a pile of trash.  I realize it is one cigarette butt but these things are additive.  If you want to smoke, use an ashtray.

However, if you do use an ashtray, deposit the butts in a trash can and not in a parking lot.

The Jerk Store Called...

And these people wish they were in it.....

I was going to make this post a little more right away, but I decided to give some people a chance to response.  Since apparently folks are too busy to take time to pen a quick e-mail here goes.

Before World War II, my grandpa was in the Merchant Marine.  During the war, he was in the Navy.  As I was growing up, we used to go fishing and stuff until he died when I was ten.  I don't visit his grave all that often but it looks like I should.

My mom had mentioned that my aunt wanted me to take pictures of the spot where he and my grandma were buried.  She gave me a vague idea of why but when I actually saw why, I was livid.

 Not sure if you can tell from this particular picture, but if you look towards the right you can see tire ruts.  Notice how close those ruts approach the headstones?  Now were these ruts caused by hooligan kids?  Nope, instead it was caused by a careless cemetary worker who couldn't take the time to put something down so his tires woudn't sink into the ground.

 The above picture is my grandpa's service marker.  This was after I wiped it off a bit but apparently whatever vehicle did this kicked up enough mud and stuff to pretty much cover the marker.  If I didn't have a rough idea of where this marker was, I wouldn't have been able to take this picture.

A closeup shot of the tire tracks.  As you can see, they are pretty deep.  I'm almost wondering if they got stuck or something and kicked up that much more dirt.

So now why the blog post, you ask?  Well, when I spoke to the person at Calvary Cemetery [(989)684-0666...just saying] yesterday, I pretty much got a blow off answer.  She said that basically they sometimes have to dig graves on the interior and sometimes this happens.  I just kind of shrugged that off but the more I thought about, I've never seen anything like this at other cemeteries I wandered through.

So last night I wrote an e-mail to someone labeled as the Quality Assurance person for the Saginaw Dioceses under the Catholic Cemeteries listing.  It was a rather nicely worded e-mail with the pictures from above.  Did I get a response?  Nope.  You would think I would at least get the pat answer of, "Well, we are looking into or something".  So here we are.  Of course, with the ground frozen over again, they probably will not be able to fix this but we'll see.

Jerks at Arlington

When I got off the train and to my hotel room, I was a little tired so I didn't do much that evening.  However, I set out in earnest the next morning.  There was so much I wanted to see.  My first stop was Arlington National Cemetary because I'd never been there.  I've read about it and saw pictures of it but I'd never been there before.  Since I was staying in Arlington, I figured it would be a good opportunity.

 Another thing I've read about but have never seen was these guys.  I wasn't expecting to see them at the Nation's most solemn cemetary on the Nation's most solemn day but I guess jerks don't have limits.  Now, if I had a film camera, I wouldn't waste film on these guys but this is digital but I'm not even sure if they are worth the electrons but still.....

I don't normally use vulgarity on this blog but sometimes one form of expression deserves another.  And don't get me wrong, I agree with their right to free speech but sometimes I think that just because you can do something doesn't mean you should. 

I actually hate people like the ones above because they are counting on a sense of decorum that they don't afford others.  If we lived in a nation that lived down to their ideals, they'd be locked away somewhere or dead.  I wonder if that is lost on them.

I wonder if it is also lost on them that they are disrespecting the very same people that give them that right to disrespect.   I try to stay out of the political fray on this blog but sometimes it's hard.