The Yeti Rants

It's a Monday morning to top all Monday mornings. Let's just say that I enter this new week with a new found respect for roofers.

Time for a rant.

Why does it seem that the root of alot of the problems in America today is the new trend to be Fat, Lazy and Stupid? When did we stop being a country of leaders, innovaters and explorers and become a country of idiots who sit around eating too much while watching reality TV and complaning that we're not being given enough? All a person has to do is take a look at the number of friviolus lawsuits filed in a year to know what I'm talking about.

Prime example, a lawsuit filed in nearby Greensburg. It was filed agains the Norflok Virginia Train Co. by a woman who was "injured" by one of the trains. What was she doing and why is she filing the suit? Well apparently this woman didn't know that if you walk on or near a train track, YOU MIGHT GET HIT BY A TRAIN!!! Her and her leeches.. er.. lawyers are maintaning that it should be posted that walking on or near railroad track is potentially dangerous!

This is the kind of crap I'm talking about. Lazy, no talent people who feel the need to make money off their own stupidity by suing those who bother to get up every Monday, drag themselves into their job, put in their eight, nine, ten, twelve hours, and then wake up the next morning to do it all over again! Doesn't anyone realize that you can only eat yourself for so long before you end up having nothing left?

This brings to mind the old compairson to a pie and everyone wanting a slice. The problem is, the pie needs to keep getting bigger, which means that in order to get your slice of pie, you need to do your part to add ingrediants to it. Otherwise, it's just a matter of shuffling around pieces of the same pie from one person to another until there is no pie left.

What the judge should do is tell this woman to go buy a clue, get out of his court house, and slap a contempt of court charge on her for wasting all of our time and money with so stupid a law suit. TRAINS TRAVEL ON RAILROAD TRACKS. If you don't want to get hit, STAY AWAY FROM THEM!

This type of lawsuit, coupled with the other crap that flows through the courts is but one example of how we're losing our edge in the game. People would rather make a quick buck so they could sit around instead of work for what they get. We breed this mentatlity.

Everyone should be able to do everything. If they can't do it, then obviously it's not fair. Well kids, I'm here to tell you that is DEAD wrong. I majored in Physics, and let me tell you Physics isn't for everyone. On the flip side of that, I can't draw a thing to save my life, yet I have several friends who are awesome artists. People are good at different things. There is NOTHING wrong with that. Still we breed this culture of "it's not your fault you coudln't do it, obviously it wasn't fair" starting with our kids in school and moving all the way up the ladder to adulthood. Little Johnny didn't fail History because he didn't read the assignments, he failed because the teacher wasn't fair. Jane didn't get the job, not because she wasn't qualified, but because she's a woman. Larry is stuck in the ghetto, not because he's a lazy shit who doesn't want to get a job, but becuase he's being held down by someone else. This goes ON and ON and ON.

Bottom line is, life is what you make of it. If you get your ass out there, work hard, put in the time, good things come of it. There are several living examples of this. This culture of "we deserve" and "give me" are just going to end up sinking us all in the end, because those of us who are doing the supporting are only going to be able to support so much before the whole damn thing colapses.

The things that drove Amerian in the past were the drive to do better, go further, take that one extra step that others didn't or couldn't. When did we lose this drive? Is it because we're on top now and there's nobody to compete against? With the loss of Russia as our "big bad" are we now complacent, happy to just ride along on what we have instead of staying at the head of the game? It sure seems that way. Most people are more concerned with getting their kids to soccer than they are with elections. More concerned with making their 8pm date with Survior than making sure that their kids aren't out doing crack on the corner. It's a sad state of affairs people, and it's only getting worse. I personally don't see how we're going to pull out of this death spiral, but I would sure be curious to take a look at the socio-political sitiuation in Rome around 800 to see if there were any similarites.

It's Monday

It's 1PM

I came in late, I just finished lunch at my desk. I just finished my "allotted" work for the day.

Time for a rant.

Thing is, I was sitting here trying to drum up all the angst, bitterness and cynicism that I could, and instead of one thing, several events from the weekend kept flashing back to me, all equally pissing me off. That either means I had a shitty weekend, or there are way too many things going on that piss me off. So in tribute to the variety shows of old, I offer you a smattering of bitterness on several topics.

Do unto others...
A concept I believe most of us are familiar with and some of us take as a good philosophy for life regardless of religious beliefs. It's a primary tenant in my own programming, mostly put there by my Father, along with such other antiquated concepts such as Honor, Honesty, and Chilvary. A relic from the past? Possibly. Regardless, it seems that as the years march on past, living by the tenet of Do Unto others gets harder and harder, because well, the second part of that, As you would have others do unto you.. never seems to come back in the same amounts does it? Nice Guys finish last seems a much more appropriate saying for the times? What the hell am I rambling about? Bottom line. My bitterness and cynicism were increased yet again this weekend as well as my faith in human kind in general diminished.

Sorry Everyone...
What is all this apologetic leftism about? "We're sorry world. We tried" So, now the elections in the United States are no longer about electing a president who will keep the interests of home in mind? Instead we have some retarded responsibility to mollify the rest of the world?! And what REST of the WORLD are we speaking to? France and Germany? I think if someone told my grandparents 50 years ago that France and Germany would be united in ANYTHING they would have laughed. Now, we're supposed to make them feel better? What about Great Britain? What about Australia? What about Japan? What about all the other countries who have our back and appreciate what is done and what they are doing for us? The people of the United States have spoken and elected their leader.. What gives those who lost the right to apologize for MY actions? What happened to Majority rules? What happened to losing gracefully? What happened to disagreeing like a gentleman(or gentlelady) and at the end of a fight shaking hands over a well fought contest and an agreement to disagree? What happened to embracing difference of opinion and using those differences to hammer out a better tomorrow? And why in God's name do I, at 30, sound like my GRANDFATHER did when he was 60?!?!

Traffic...
Is it a Pittsburgh thing to not be capable of driving? Is it a Pittsburgh oddity that idiots drive in the left hand lane, going 10 miles an hour under the speed limit when there is a perfectly acceptable spot for them in the right lane? Is it a Pittsburgh quirk that every accident, construction barrel, pot hole, broken down car, biker with an extra finger, man with tinsel around his neck and trucker taking a nap must be studied with the same care that a Doctor studies an Xray of a broken leg, thus causing a 20 mile back up so that everyone can toss in their two cents? Is it a Pittsburgh eccentricity that for some reason all cars must break before entering a tunnel and then again before exiting, thus causing another 20 mile backup so grandpa doesn't get eaten by the tunnel monster? Is there an above average competitive nature in Pittsburgh that causes people to cut you off in the "grand race about town" so that they can be that ONE car length in front of you and make sure that you are behind them? Or do I just need medication to help me calm down in Traffic?

Medication...
Why is it that everyone needs to be medicated? What happened to people being strong and dealing with things and coming out a better person? Now we have pills to make us less happy, less sad, less hyper, more even, less even, remember more, help us forget, calm us down, get us pumped up... Is there something wrong with me that I don't NEED pills to do this? Am I some rare breed of throwback that is able to handle life as it comes at him, one day at a time, deal with the shit that's piled onto me and then march on to meet another day head first with possibly a lesson learned? I just don't understand it. To look at the big picture and add it all up, it looks to me like some grand conspiracy. Keep the populace dumb, drugged and complacent and they are easier to control that way. Aliens? Ilumaniti? Communists? Big Brother? No, I'm not paranoid, I just recognize patterns. The pattern I'm seeing develop isn't one I like, conspiracy or not.

"It's supposed to be hard. If it weren't, everyone would do it."
So I'm watching A League of Their Own on Friday and this quote comes up near the end (I'm a sucker for baseball movies.. girls or guys being the players). Billy Dugan is saying it to Dotty Henson as she's running away from the game to be with her husband complaining that it's just too hard. When did we go from being a society that believed things like this to a society of people who now believe that if it's too hard that it's not fair? Not everyone can do everything no matter what your mom tells you when you are four. I'm never going to be a gymnast. At 6'5/270lbs that was NEVER going to happen for me no matter how hard I tried. Sure.. maybe I could have been a line backer or NHL defenseman, but that wasn't in my cards either. It's not for most people. "It's supposed to be hard." Not everyone can do it. Disappointment and failure are the things that keep us going through life and trying harder. Disappointment and failure are what force us to strive to get better. Disappointment and failure, while being shitty emotions to feel are GOOD emotions to experience. If everyone can do it, then it isn't special is it?

I suppose that's enough for today.

Keep rockin on kids.

Until the next rant.

Your friendly neighborhood Yeti

HOWDY!

For those of you that don't know me.. welcome to my rant site.

I've been toying with the idea of a rant site for some time now, and well, since I'm broke and lazy, this is the second best thing to a site of my own.

So what shall the Yeti christen his site with?

Why a Hockey rant! Bare with me, I'll get to hockey eventually.. really I will.

So, being a happy paycheck to paycheck Yeti, yesterday I decide to take out my last $20 to buy some Yeti snacks until payday on Monday. Yet what does my good buddy Mac say to me when I ask him for money? "DENIED. You owe ME money buddy!" Nothing worse than a negative balance with the weekend staring you down.

What the hell I say to myself. Going home, I check online to see what has gone horribly wrong and what do I find? Yes, the Lemieux group has decided to charge me for season tickets yet again this month!! Last time I checked the NHL isn't even TALKING to the NHLPA. As a matter of fact, most of those asshole players are off in Europe playing hockey and ignoring the fact that their fans, who scrimp and save to make season ticket payments to SUPPORT their asses, are languishing without hockey!

Okay, maybe languishing is a harsh term, but being a sports fan and NOT a football fan is hard enough in Pittsburgh, home of the famous and annoying Yinzer. Being a BASEBALL and HOCKEY fan in this town is downright painful when considering sports talk show is nothing more than a glorified Steelers and Pitt football show. Having insult added to injury is just unacceptable though.

How does the Penguins organization justify still charging it's fans for tickets they are never going to see is what I want to know?

I just read an article where the Red Wings are paying their season ticket holders back each month WITH INTEREST!

Small markets aside, I'm not asking for interest back or anything, I think it's time that the NHL sucked it up and realized that Prima Donna players just don't get it that their salaries are too high and this season of the NHL is a wash. Don't these morons realize that without the fans to watch them, they HAVE no million dollar paychecks? It's depressing to realize that in order for me to make what Jagr makes in one year, I'd have to live to the rip old age of 400!!!!

As a fan, I'm willing to deal with no hockey. It sucks, it's boring, and I don't have anything to listen to on the radio, but I'll deal so the league as a whole gets better. I'm willing to support the owners who are just trying to make the league a better place for the fans. As a customer of the Penguins organization I'm really disappointed that they don't have better customer service. They should have my interestes in mind and realize that charging me for tickets that I'm not getting, while in June and July was acceptable, is NOT acceptable in November when I'm being bombarded with tales of the Picksburg Stillers and their stooperbowl run instead of hearing about Lemiux getting 5 points in a game and Fleury pitching a shutout!

Ah.. But customer service is yet another rant for another day.

Greetings from Yon Yeti.

A rant will be up soon.

I promise you.