I’ve had enough of the “me first” and the “you don’t count because you are ________” crowd. Last night was the final straw.

I am normally a pretty patient person while behind the wheel of a motor vehicle (with a couple of exceptions), and I usually give the other guy the benefit of the doubt. Not any more. I drive an SUV, and I used to do it with a small-car attitude – as in, you are in a hurry, go right ahead and speed past me and cut me off, I’ll back off and make allowances for you.

Last night, on the way home from Pastor’s house after watching a movie and enjoying pizza and fellowship, we stopped at the QT at Bethany Home and Grand. For those of you unfamiliar with Grand Avenue in Phoenix, it runs along side the ATSF Burlington tracks, at an angle, from 7th Ave and Van Buren out to northwest of town where it becomes US 60. After filling up TMBWitW‘s car, I pulled onto Grand to make the left onto Bethany and continue home. I got the green arrow, started the turn, and got honked at.

By the obliviot running the red light on Grand.

I had seen them starting across the intersection, after I made the turn, so I had made allowances to avoid a collision. I flashed my high beams at them (it was around 2100 hours and full dark) and received a few single digit salutes in return from the juvenile interior of the other car.

This really makes me wonder, just how entitled are people getting to feel? Do they really think they can disregard traffic control devices with impunity? Are they so brazen to think that they would get off scot-free if they were involved in (read: caused) a collision? What if it hadn’t been me, but some short tempered guy with a concealed weapon (legal in Arizona without a permit, BTW!) and a very low tolerance for jerks? True, this contradicts what I wrote about an armed society being a polite society – but then, it is a learning process. Maybe the kids in the car hadn’t learned about that yet. Maybe they haven’t been taught that running a red light is against the law. Maybe they haven’t learned that driving at night takes a different kind of concentration and awareness.

Maybe they are just dumb.

I can make allowances for a lot of things, but unless they have their “DUMB DRIVER ON BOARD” sticker displayed prominently, it’s tough to make an allowance for that.

My friend Greybeard just bought a motorcycle for commuting. Sure hope he doesn’t have the same kinds of drivers around him.

Ya’ll have a good day, I’m off to court to show support for my Pastor. The city of Phoenix is trying to tell him that he can’t have bible studies on his own property, and that the size of family gatherings is somehow limited. Prayers, please.

Chat ya later…

Thank you for stopping by, In GOD We Trust, God bless you all, don’t buy or breed cats or dogs while homeless pets die (spay, neuter & adopt a pet, one by one, until there are none), Wear Red on Fridays, and support Warriors for Innocence!

So – cabbed it today. Had to come home and change shirts, though. Seems that when a certain passenger went to the doctor, they didn’t fully cure him of his full-throated productive cough. Leaning forward to check both ways before pulling out of the doctor’s parking lot, the passenger had a particulary productive fit of coughing.

I didn’t lean back the entire way to his destination, and then to my house.

I threw the shirt away.

Chat ya later…

Thank you for stopping by, In GOD We Trust, God bless you all, don’t buy or breed cats or dogs while homeless pets die (spay, neuter & adopt a pet, one by one, until there are none), Wear Red on Fridays, and support Warriors for Innocence!

A pre-post? A post before the post? Post aster the preparation?

Don’t worry, it’s a curse of the occasional stream-of-consciousness that I use in writing my posts. Sometimes.

And, of course, it means that I wrote it Thursday evening, even before I wrote my Thursday entry. Wanted to get the stream-of-consciousness thing out of the way, you know?

Any way, as you read this, I am cabbin’ it enjoying a rare day off with TMBWitW and MEG while wearing my Lighting Sharp polo. Hope you all have a great weekend.

Chat ya later…

Thank you for stopping by, In GOD We Trust, God bless you all, don’t buy or breed cats or dogs while homeless pets die (spay, neuter & adopt a pet, one by one, until there are none), Wear Red on Fridays, and support Warriors for Innocence!

Deli on Monday, Cab on Tuesday and Wednesday. Today, I helped my adopted mom get my adopted dad home from the hospital after his coughing-up-blood incident Tuesday morning. Big mess, their son did the big clean up job, and Serv-Pro came in and did a bang up job of taking care of everything else.

Rob over at American and Proud has compiled a big ol’ list of TEA groups across the US. You might want to make some notes, in case something, you know, happens. Big ol’ tip of the Stetson to Texas Fred for pointing this out to me in the first place.

No, I’m not paranoid. They really are after us. Have you NOT been paying attention?

So – it seems the crazies have figured out that I’m not driving night shift anymore. Since my shift now ends about the time they are managing to drag themselves out of bed for another night of fun and games in Phoenix After Dark (remember Jenny?) I have been, for the most part, avoiding them. Until lately, that is. Seems that not all guys named “Michael” with deeper voices than James Earl Jones and built like a linebacker are all that masculine – “Michael” and his friend, “Roger” were dolled up and ready to go to a certain mid-town gaybar – as that night’s dragged out queens of entertainment. Eww. Yesterday, it was two very shrill – uhm – ladies that hired me at the end of my shift to pick them up from the “Gay” Denny’s (those of you who live in Phoenix will know exactly where I’m talking about) and take them, first, to a cell phone store so the smaller of the two (sorry, that just kind of slipped out. the not-smaller-of-the-two makes most football players look like they don’t know how to bulk up for the season) could pay her phone bill. She was very vocal about the fact that her bill was well over sixty dollars for the month. Vocal meaning sailors on the street were listening in for tips the next time they needed to be “vocal.” Second stop was at a Dairy Queen, for their dinner. Last stop was the apartment. Little Girl asked Not So Little Girl to pony up her share of the cab fare. Seems LG paid for dinner, and NSLG promised to help with the cab. Amazingly, NSLG couldn’t seem to find her money in her cavernous bag. This time, Marine Corps Drill Instructors were seen taking notes. All that, and she only paid the meter – no tip. It’s OK though. There are plenty of others that more than make up for the lack of decency of the few.

Earlier in the day, I had picked up a nice lady. I usually have KLOVE on the radio, and when there is no one in the car I sing along, since most of the songs they play we sing in home group or during our praise gatherings. This time, while the nice lady was int he car, the song “How Great Is Our God” by Chris Tomlin came on. When the chorus started, I started singing along:

How great is our God, sing with me,
How great is our God and all will see
How great, how great, is our God

Nice lady did, in fact, start singing with me. People like that really make my day.

Chat ya later…

Thank you for stopping by, In GOD We Trust, God bless you all, don’t buy or breed cats or dogs while homeless pets die (spay, neuter & adopt a pet, one by one, until there are none), Wear Red on Fridays, and support Warriors for Innocence!

Cabbed it today. Since I mentioned the cat ladies the other day, naturally I get two of them (separately) today. Plus a couple that smelled like the water in their trailer home had been shut off. For a week. This is why I carry a can of Febreeze in my satchel. Otherwise, I couldn’t have stayed in the cab!

Today being Good Friday (Good in this case being an old English adjective meaning Holy) the home group is having a Passover Supper at the Pastor’s home. I’m looking forward to it. TMBWitW, not so much – since lamb is a featured item on the menu.

Blessings on you and your family. May the peace of Christ find you this weekend.

Chat ya later…

Thank you for stopping by, In GOD We Trust, God bless you all, don’t buy or breed cats or dogs while homeless pets die (spay, neuter & adopt a pet, one by one, until there are none), Wear Red on Fridays, and support Warriors for Innocence!