Something Wrong With Your Feet?

Growing up there were some things I just got into the habit of doing and have done them ever since. While that's probably not a bad thing, the flipside is that I tend to be surprised when not everyone I encounter has the same habits as me. [Sidebar: I don't know why I'm surprised because my annoyance at these people makes up roughly 75% of this blog.] Today's example - when I go to pick people up at their house, I always intend to get out of my car and walk to the door to ring the bell or knock. (The best result is when the people see that I have arrived and head out the door before I even have a chance to turn my car off.) But because I always do this, I find the people who just pull up to the house and start honking to be very rude. This morning the guy across the street was apparently supposed to get a ride to work but for whatever reason wasn't ready right away. The person picking them up at first started out with a couple of quick beeps, eventually transitioning to the "shave and a haircut" ditty that we all enjoy, before finally giving up being cute and just leaning on the horn. I don't know what was my neighbor's problem because by that point even I was ready to go.

Now if leaning on the horn is how you want to play it, fine, but you should know it gets especially annoying to every else within earshot when the driver keeps honking after four or five minutes instead of getting out of their car and knocking on the door despite it being rather obvious that whoever is inside can't hear the horn. I think after a couple of quick beeps you have reached your limit. Anything beyond that is starting to push it. I get that when you are picking someone up you have already done them a favor, so for them to expect you to wait for them on top of already driving out of your way is even worse. However, that does not mean that I need to hear you leaning on your horn for five minutes because that is annoying to me and I didn't ask you for any favors. After a couple of minutes of waiting I think it's clear that the next move is getting out the car to knock on the door. While it is an additional duty on the driver at least they can be secure that the person they are picking up now owes them a little something extra for the inconvenience... and also that the person's neighbor isn't about to come out and cut the wires to their horn.

-I had gone back and forth on this story about Abby Sutherland, the 16 year-old girl who was attempting to be the youngest person to sail solo around the world but had to be rescued over the weekend when her ship was damaged after she got caught up in a severe storm. At first I was going to crap on her parents for allowing her to try this, because it seemed like a very high risk scenario for someone so young and you would expect parents to be the voice of reason in this situation. But then I read a very quote from an oceanographer who brought up a valid point - it was the storm that did her in, nothing else. She wasn't inexperienced and she didn't do anything wrong with her handling of the boat. The waves were going to be 40 feet whether she was 16 or 46. Also, the more I thought about it I realised that her brother set the record last year and so she probably grew up in a sailing family. I was coming around on this story. Then this morning I read a story that her family has a reality show lined up. Nope, back to thinking her parents are idiots. I now rope them in with the "Balloon Boy's" parents out in Colorado. Parents shouldn't be putting their kids in harm's way just so they can have 15 minutes of fame.