Keep It To Yourself

So back to the things you see while traveling...

I was sitting in the gate area yesterday at Denver International Airport waiting for a flight to Baltimore having a discussion with a flight attendant and commenting a bit with her on the various annoyances that exist in airports when I heard an unmistakable noise to my right.  I glanced to my right to see a gentlemen, and I use the term extremely loosely, still in the familiar leaning to his right pose perched on one cheek having just let rip.  This was not in a quiet corner of the terminal, nor was it in any way an unavailable slip, but a deliberate act of an uncouth individual.

Of course later on the plane I also saw this same gentlemen board the plane by carrying his bag over his head while walking down the isle, something I have never seen someone do.  All of this was done with a general look of apathy that said it all.

This Time Will Be Different

I don't understand why it is that professional athletes don't ever learn from one another.  They are like the people that keep raising their voices when speaking to someone that does not speak their language.  It does not matter how loud speak, if the person does not speak your language they do not speak your language.

Professional athletes, most notably right now Roger Clemens and Jonathon Vilma, continue to believe that if they just keep screaming at people that they didn't do it people will eventually believe them!!??  All of the Saints Brass, and the Defensive Coordinator that not only orchestrated the bounty, but did so with multiple teams, has given  the league a complete description of the program, and now Jonathon Vilma wants the world to believe that the guy in the middle of that defense was not a part of any of it.

I am not saying that I think the commissioner of any sport should have both the first and last word on anything, and I am definitely not a fan of this commissioner's attempt to take the intensity out of football, but when you are wrong you are wrong, and Jonathon Vilma is wrong.

I have to believe that if Roger Clemens knew when he first denied using steroids, or second, or third, that he was going to end up going to trial and that he might go to jail, that he might have considered either telling the truth to congress, or at least not saying anything, but now the whole is just too deep.

Athletes need to learn from those that came before them, drugs, alcohol, women (other than their wives), and performance enhancing whatever.  I just don't know why these guys never seem to learn from others mistakes...then again I never did either.

A Real Turn-Off

I was in a meeting this morning with roughly 50 people.  The meeting was being conducted by the person that runs the entire facility where I am.  Being the "outsider" I sat in the back and in the row in front of me was a gentlemen that I have come to know a bit from a work perspective and thus what I am describing here now does not surprise me much, but it still really, really bugs me.

The meeting starts, and about ten minutes in a very loud, very obnoxious cell phone ringtone goes off and it is this gentlemen's phone.  The respectful thing to do would be silence it and put it back in your pocket, right?  OK.  How about let it ring and then turn the ringer off?  A third option you say, answer the phone and have a conversation!!  This actually happened three times.

Now, I am on my phone a great deal, have to be given my job and my hobby, and I even answer the phone sometimes when some people would think it rude I am sure, but I am certain that I always silence my phone when going into meetings, or leave it in my office.  I am also certain that I do the same when going to movies, shows and wherever else it would be rude, or inappropriate, to have the phone on.

Please just turn your phones off, or silence them, and realize that absolutely no one is that important!!

Smoke This

I understand that people smoke, I really do.  I have been fortunate enough to visit Europe and the whole place is basically on fire.  I was also very fortunate to see Roma play Firenza in a match in the Olympic Stadium in Rome and from the upper seats you truly had trouble seeing the field and the play through the smoke ring around the stadium from the 110,000 people smoking, but these are situations I chose to be in.

I would prefer to not smoke the cigarette of the person driving the car in front of me because that person wants to smoke, either because it is cool, or because they have an oral fixation, or because this is a substitute for food, but does not want the smoke in HIS or HER car.

If you are going to smoke while driving please close your windows and fill up your own car with smoke, not our streets and our country.  If you are going to smoke while driving please put the cigarette out in the palm of your hand and then put it in your pocket, do not just throw it out the window while still burning.

I cannot tell you the number of times, and I know I am not alone, where the light you are sitting at is long enough that by the time it turns green I feel as though I have just had a cigarette, without the sex, and then smell of smoke when I get where I am going.

Lead, Follow, or GET OUT OF THE WAY

At one point last week while headed back to the hotel after work while sitting at a stoplight I heard the somewhat distant sound of sirens and the horn of a firetruck.  Both sounds got closer very quickly soon followed by the flicker of distant, but approaching, flashing colored lights.  I was third in line in my lane and was one lane in from the right on a four lane one way straight in downtown Baltimore.  From the title of this post you can probably figure out what those around me did...

NOTHING!!

I realize this should be obvious to everyone on the planet, but I can tell you that this was far than obvious to dozens of Baltimore drivers, when an emergency vehicle comes up from behind you, sirens and horns blasting, lights flashing, GET OUT OF THE WAY!!

Again, I realize this should be obvious, but I have first hand knowledge that it is not.  To be really clear, if you are first at the light, and you are in the right hand lane, you should probably be first to move, forward and to your right would be good.  From there it is essentially follow the leader.  Obviously doing this with your eyes open is always good so you can avoid traffic in the intersection, but temporary paralysis does not help anyone.

I should also mention that this one way street parallels the harbor front and intersect another one way street at this intersection, so there is essentially no cross traffic at all to consider in this particular case.

Amazing!!

We Are Not Alone

Back to the air I went this weekend and on the return trip the following idiocy by a sloppy, ill-mannered flight attendant amazed me:

1. Sitting, slumping, in one of the wheelchairs by the entrance to the gate
2. Yelling at the gate agent and the flight attendant working the flight while boarding
3. Complaining loudly to a passenger about how poorly SHE had been treated by the same gate agent
4. Bragging about having 7 kids from numerous husbands starting at the age of 19

I truly do not expect people to be perfect, but it would be nice if once in a while they had some idea how to act in public, and towards others.

Love Like You've Never Loved Before

Was traveling on Friday and at the gate in Baltimore there was a couple sitting near me that were the embodiment of the bride and groom that sit atop most wedding cakes.  The bride was perfect from head to toe, gorgeous dress, perfect matching shoes, amazing smile, silky dark hair.  The groom, tall, dark, and equal to his mate, a rarity to see by the way in travels.

As I went to pick up my stuff to board the plane I noticed that the two nearly perfect humans. outwardly at least, young married couple, were both playing the same video game on their identical smart phones.  I said "are you playing against each other?"  The response, in perfect unison of course, "no."

I realize that I know nothing about how to a relationship work, and so I concede that ignoring each other playing video games on your phones while waiting to travel some where together might very well be  a the key to successful marriage, but I highly doubt it.

Put your phones, iPads, iPods and whatnot down and please, please at least speak to each other.