Hope everyone had a very Merry Xmas! If you have issue with the phrase "Merry Xmas", please refer to my last blog post :)
This year was the first year our family wasn't together for Xmas. My little brother got married earlier this year and he and his wife are in California and she is currently pregnant with my niece or nephew so they were unable to come home for the holidays. They were definitely missed but we still had a great time.
Me and my girlfriend headed down to my parents on Xmas Eve and spent the day relaxing, visiting a few family friends, and eating a delicious chili dinner. As with tradition, we opened our 1 present on Xmas Eve. Mine was a copy of Brian "Head" Welch's book from my parents which I was super excited to read. Girlfriend got a very cute hoodie and my parents got some badass new fishing rods & reels. Then it was off to bed so Santa could make his stop.
The next morning, as with every Xmas, I was wide awake before 8am and ready to go. We got up and once everyone's eyes were open we tore thru the wrapping paper like rabid badgers on a deer carcass. The highlights were the very awesome bear hood I got my girlfriend, my mom's new bracelet, dad's new creeper stool for the garage, and my deep fryer! I also ended up getting a copy of the same book my parents got me from my girlfriend which was fine by me, obviously I made it clear that I wanted that damn book!
We had planned for some friends of the family and my cousins to join us for dinner but everyone ended up sick so it turned into a very quiet day which was great. We Skyped with my brother and sister-in-law and I got to see her baby bump for the first time and a cool video tour of their new house. Then we packed it up and headed home to rest up for work the next day.
All in all it was a little strange not having my little bro around for Xmas but it turned out to be a great time as always!
Thursday, December 27, 2012
Friday, December 21, 2012
The War on Stupidity
Before I dive into my rant I'd like to first say that I hope everyone has a very Merry Xmas and hopefully Santa will bring you everything you wanted! Now, on to the rant...
What the hell is this "War on Christmas" crap I keep hearing? First off, if you want a war to pay attention to, why not getting informed about the chaos in the Middle East and Syria? There are plenty of actual conflicts worth devoting your time to out there which are much more pressing than something petty like whether people are saying "Merry Christmas" or "Happy Holidays". Sadly though, if it's not happening in their backyard most of us don't care so let's take a look at this "War on Christmas".
Basically it boils down to people searching so hard for anything they can be offended by that people have actually found a way to complain about other people wishing them good tidings. On one side, you have people who celebrate Christmas. Apparently the phrase "Happy Holidays" stopped including Christmas at some point because people are actually getting pissed off when someone says "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas".
Some Christmas celebrators also take offense to the abbreviated "Xmas" instead of the full "Christmas". I've even dealt with this over the years since we are a station with X in our name and abbreviate the holiday accordingly. After doing some research (aka taking 10 seconds to Google something instead of making assumptions) I found that X is an ancient abbreviation for Christ so to everyone who has claimed we "took the Christ out of Christmas"... YOU WERE WRONG!
On the other side of the coin, you have those who don't celebrate Christmas taking offense when someone wishes them a "Merry Christmas". I realize religion is a very touchy subject but even if you don't celebrate the holiday, December 25th is recognized as Christmas Day so instead of being upset that someone wished you a happy day for the wrong religion, just take it as a wish to have a good Dec. 25th and move on.
I celebrate Xmas but I wouldn't be offended if someone wished me a Happy Hanukkah or Happy Holidays or whatever. Stop being so damn sensitive and be glad someone is telling you to have a good day at all.
Tuesday, December 11, 2012
Stop the PC BS!
I've talked (and even blogged) about this in the past but this PC epidemic seems to be going worldwide!
PC, for those who don't know, means Politically Correct. Politically Correct is just a fancy way of saying "not offensive" which in theory is a good thing. You don't want to offend people or be offended. The problem is that people have become so hyper-sensitive that EVERYTHING is offensive to someone and the reactions are getting more and more unnecessary.
First on my griping block this week is the Dallas Cowboys. I've been a proud Cowboy fan since I was a kid and always will be but lately they've had me shaking my head worse then when Romo throws another interception. Nose tackle Josh Brent recently wrecked his car while driving drunk and caused the death of teammate Jerry Brown during the accident. I am very against drunk driving and believe that Josh deserves whatever sentence he gets handed (he was charged with intoxicated vehicular manslaughter and could face 20 years in prison).
My problem with this story is how the Cowboys office is reacting. Instead of using Josh as an example they are talking about treating the team like a bunch of toddlers instead. They are thinking about installing breathalyzers in player's vehicles to prevent future drunk driving incidents. WHAT? The rest of the team didn't drive drunk and kill somebody, why should they have to deal with the inconvenience?
My second story this week is about the radio DJs from Australia who prank called the hospital in England where Kate Middleton was staying during her pregnancy illness. These DJs, like many others, have been doing prank calls for years and managed to convince a nurse they were the Queen and Prince Harry and got the inside scoop on Kate's status. Nothing embarrassing or shocking by any means, just some basic info that she was doing better. Well the nurse ended up committing suicide and the assumption is that she was ashamed of being tricked. Instead of using this as a learning tool and training nurses how to better identify family members asking about a relative's status, the DJs were FIRED! WHAT? Someone overreacts to being part of a harmless prank and 2 people lose their jobs?
Please don't read this and think I'm some insensitive dick. I try daily not to offend people but in today's world, some people are just looking for something to be offended by. Some are just combative and want to find a reason to square off, some do it for the attention being offended gets you these days, and admittedly there are some people out there who get genuinely offended by things but they are usually the last ones you hear bitching about it.
PC, for those who don't know, means Politically Correct. Politically Correct is just a fancy way of saying "not offensive" which in theory is a good thing. You don't want to offend people or be offended. The problem is that people have become so hyper-sensitive that EVERYTHING is offensive to someone and the reactions are getting more and more unnecessary.
First on my griping block this week is the Dallas Cowboys. I've been a proud Cowboy fan since I was a kid and always will be but lately they've had me shaking my head worse then when Romo throws another interception. Nose tackle Josh Brent recently wrecked his car while driving drunk and caused the death of teammate Jerry Brown during the accident. I am very against drunk driving and believe that Josh deserves whatever sentence he gets handed (he was charged with intoxicated vehicular manslaughter and could face 20 years in prison).
My problem with this story is how the Cowboys office is reacting. Instead of using Josh as an example they are talking about treating the team like a bunch of toddlers instead. They are thinking about installing breathalyzers in player's vehicles to prevent future drunk driving incidents. WHAT? The rest of the team didn't drive drunk and kill somebody, why should they have to deal with the inconvenience?
My second story this week is about the radio DJs from Australia who prank called the hospital in England where Kate Middleton was staying during her pregnancy illness. These DJs, like many others, have been doing prank calls for years and managed to convince a nurse they were the Queen and Prince Harry and got the inside scoop on Kate's status. Nothing embarrassing or shocking by any means, just some basic info that she was doing better. Well the nurse ended up committing suicide and the assumption is that she was ashamed of being tricked. Instead of using this as a learning tool and training nurses how to better identify family members asking about a relative's status, the DJs were FIRED! WHAT? Someone overreacts to being part of a harmless prank and 2 people lose their jobs?
Please don't read this and think I'm some insensitive dick. I try daily not to offend people but in today's world, some people are just looking for something to be offended by. Some are just combative and want to find a reason to square off, some do it for the attention being offended gets you these days, and admittedly there are some people out there who get genuinely offended by things but they are usually the last ones you hear bitching about it.
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