Flying Cross Country

So you get on a plane to fly across the country, which is about a 5 hour flight. You have one kid next to you, two of the siblings in front of you, and one behind you. Then to your left you have a puker. Gee, sounds like fun huh?

The Button

I know Adam and I have talked about this before, but it should be a reality. I think we all need the Button. The Button is a device that can be installed in your car so that if say you are driving down the freeway and some jackass cuts you off or is darting in and out of traffic, then you and two other concerned drivers can press the Button. If the offending car gets three independent zaps within 30 seconds, then the Button mechanism takes control of the car, pulls it over to the side of the road, and locks out the electrical system for 15 minutes. You as the offender gets 15 minutes to chill out and reflect on the danger you are imposing on those around you. I would also want to have installable options like the "Temper Tantrum", or the "Here Comes Smokey." The "Temper Tantrum" would be an option where if six drivers zapped you in less than 30 seconds, then you are locked out for 30 minutes. The "Here Comes Smokey" feature would be if you are hit by someone or if another driver sees someone hit you and run, then you can hit this feature and the offending car is locked out for 24 hours and the Police are automatically dispatched. I think this would be an awesome feature to have and I would make lots of bucks off it and move to somewhere tropical without hurricanes...like Costa Rica.

War is Hell

I work with injured Marines on almost a daily basis. Some of these guys are injured so badly that they will never have a reasonable quality of life and will either die from their injuries within the next few months or be in a persistent vegetative state. No matter how healthy you are, or how advanced medicine is today, when you have an I.E.D. explode underneath you and you have your brains reorganized by shrapnel, you will not have a reasonable life after that. The question that goes around in my head is what is best for the family? I often think to myself if it were my time to go, would it be best that I came home in a pine box and with a flag for my family, or come back in a horrific, barely alive state and string my family along through my long painful demise? Coming back in a box leads to a funeral, and them moving on to the healing process. Coming back in a unsalvageable traumatically injured state drags the family though a long painful ordeal that at its end still leads to a funeral before the healing process can begin. I don't know...I think I might choose the box if I had a choice.

Bumper Stickers

You know what bugs me? People who either have really crooked bumper stickers on their cars, and people who have old election bumper stickers. How difficult is it to put the sticker on straight? Also, how long do you have to have that Kerry/Edwards or Gore/Lieberman sticker on the bumper? I can understand the Bush/Cheney one only because they are still in office, but give me a break, give up and move on already.