If there’s one thing that I never understood about New Year’s Eve, besides what the actual lyrics are to Auld Lang Syne, was the need to go to a bar for that evening.  Even in my prime drinking years right out of college, I never saw the allure of paying a ridiculous cover charge just to go to a bar that is overcrowded and overpriced simply for the sake of being out that night.  We always spent it either with friends at our place or with friends at their houses/apartments and it was always a blast.  Plus we had the added bonus of having elbow room and we generally didn’t have to wait to go to the bathroom unless someone was puking.

Sometimes stereotypes, positive or negative, really do have a basis in reality.  Irish people drink a lot, blacks run faster (yet, ironically, are the slowest walkers on earth), Asians are good at math while horrible at driving – all these generalizations aren’t backed up by a lot of facts but cases can be made for any of them.  This might appall some people but the reality is there are certain tendencies among races that can be categorized, even if its highly unscientific.

There are a few thankless jobs where the customer usually doesn’t realize the service they get unless they’re missing their shipment or product, and a newspaper delivery person has to up near the top of that list.  As one of the few print newspaper subscribers left in this country, I was reminded of my delivery person last week when my newspaper bag included a holiday card with their address on it.  It’s a blatant solicitation for tips, but I really don’t mind mailing a check to the person for a job well done.  The only reason I sometimes hesitate, since I know a job like this can have a high turnover ratio, is that chances are the person who delivered my paper for a majority of the year probably isn’t ...

There have always been trinkets of all sorts that advertise a company’s existence.  Some are funny, some are really lame, some are cheap while others cost more than what you’d expect.  Going along with this, my wife gets free schwag in the hospitals she works in all the time from pharmaceutical sales reps.  Something that I’ve been using at work is a coffee mug with the drug Lexapro’s label and logo on it.  Lexapro is used to treat anxiety and depression so it’s always a good conversation starter.  People here have some genuinely interesting trinkets on their desk, so this f ...

There used to be one refuge from the bad commutes in Atlanta but that has finally disappeared too.  It used to be the Friday morning commute, for whatever reasons, generally was hassle-free.  This is no longer.  The only days where there is a respite from bad traffic are holidays and if the exit you enter the highway is past where a major accident has occurred.

I have to write this entry as a cleanser to my conscience.  There will be no naming of names, as I don’t want to denigrate the dead.  A terrible thing happened to a guy I used to be a coworker with last week.  From what the police can gather, he set fire to his apartment and then blew his brains out.  He was in his late 40s and single.   There are several possible explanations as to why he did this to himself.

I’ve scanned the birthday invite below to see if I’m not the only one who is mildly disturbed by the name of the company.  In addition, the drawing is sort of creepy too.  Who in their right mind would take their child to a place called Bounce N Bob’s?  Maybe it is a legit place but I think it’s just a cover for “Fondlin’ Frank” who would love little kids to "bounce and bob" on him.

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I really had to use self restraint yesterday on my drive into work, but it’s not from what you might assume to be a case of road rage on my behalf.  Our office campus, which is a huge area with 6 buildings, is heavily wooded in some areas.  The landscaping crew is pretty busy this time of year trying to just stay even with leaf removal.  Now that we’re in the peak leaf-dropping season, they have resorted to putting HUGE piles of leaves in various parts of the drive through the work area, which they then pick up later in the day.  These are spaced about 500 feet from each other so it's tempation after temptation after temptation as I drive into work.