Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Seeing Red Through Diamond Eyes

This past weekend was a perfect storm of awesome. Chevelle and Deftones had shows on the same weekend and it was 2 weeks before my girlfriend's birthday which sounded like a perfect present for both of us!

It started Friday with a trip to Myrtle Beach to see Chevelle. I've seen the boys several times but it's always great in a smaller venue like the House of Blues. We got there a little late but just in time to see Pete, Sam, and Dean hit the stage. The boys fired off a medley of new tracks, old classics, and even some album cuts I've never heard them perform live like Forfeit. This was just the beginning of a long weekend so after the show we hit the hotel and crashed almost immediately.

Saturday morning we decided to venture into Myrtle Beach and check out one of the Ripley's exhibits. After getting good and lost and asking for directions we found our way and decided to try the Ripley's Haunted Museum which was effing TERRIFYING! I won't spoil the fun but remember the phrase "We're going to play a little game" if you ever give it a try yourself.

After that we decided to check out WonderWorks (or the Upside Down House as I have been calling it). That place is AWESOME! All kinds of cool exhibits, toys, games, puzzles, and interactive displays. There are a lot of kid themed as well as adult friendly things to do. We spent a little over an hour there but could have spent a whole day if we tried.

Then to wrap up the fun, it was back to the House of Blues to rock with the Deftones! The boys brought it with one of the best shows I've ever seen from them but the real show was beside the stage. We were over in the right corner near the sidebar and saw all kinds of craziness. I watched a drunk chick try to climb the railing instead of working back thru the crowd and fall about 8 feet flat on her face on the floor. I saw a guy being drug away by 6 bouncers kicking and screaming. I watched the cops cart off a girl who looked about 12 who was piss drunk and kept knocking over other people's drinks. Needless to say, it was quite a night.

A solid night's sleep at the hotel, an omelet to fill up the tummy, and we were homeward bound. 3 days later and I'm still recovering but I can proudly say... I give good birthday!

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

What Would You Do?

Even as a kid it bothered me how often I heard talk of frivolous lawsuits.

I'm not talking about legitimate things that need to be addressed like business disputes. No, I'm talking about things like when a man years ago tried to commit suicide by jumping out of a window and was tackled by a police officer before he could jump. The man was injured by the cop tackling him and sued... AND WON! This guy would be dead if the officer had not done what he did and now the douche turns around and SUES them.

Fast forward to a few weeks ago at an "independant living community" in California. An 87 year old woman collapsed in the dining room and a nurse called 911. The dispatcher told the nurse she needed to perform CPR on the woman or she would die. The nurse REFUSED to do it because it was against the nursing home's policy to perform CPR because, similar to the story above, people who have been SAVED by CPR have turned around and SUED the EMTs or whoever because while SAVING THEIR LIFE they cracked a rib or bruised something or whatever. The woman died and now the home is defending the nurse.

Here's the difficult part to think about: what was the right thing to do? By not performing CPR, the woman died and now the nurse has to carry that burden for the rest of her life. Had she performed CPR, there's no guarantee the woman would have lived BUT she would have definitely lost her job and could have faced a lawsuit from the home and/or the woman and her family.

I'm not saying letting others die is the right thing to do, but as a country I think a story like this should open a lot of eyes as to just how scared we are as a society of being SUED just for doing the right thing.