It's been nearly a year since the start of this little exercise, and it's been a mixed result, to say the least. I thought I would be a bit more motivated to write what was on my mind, but circumstances tended to intervene on occasion and prevented me from mustering up the energy to even look at this page, much less add anything to it. Upon reflection, I would probably have gone about a couple of these little essays differently, but for the most part, I can't be too disappointed by the end result, except for it's relative sparseness.
As we sit here, it was exactly 95 years ago today that Orville and Wilbur Wright took their first ride on a flimsy contraption of their own making, built in the back of their bicycle shop in Dayton, Ohio (a 20 minute drive from where I sit writing this, by the way) and it proved to be a moment that has changed our world in ways which they could not possibly have imagined. We've gone to the moon and back in less than a century of powered flight, and who can say where the next 95 years will take us?
I've become fascinated with the concept that there is more traffic today on the streets and highways of this country than ever before. There used to be a day when you could plan on going somewhere and not have fight thousands of other cars to get where you wanted to go at a given time of day or night. Now we encounter mind-numbing traffic snarls at all hours, and it's not going to get any better, no matter how many more miles of highway we build. Sometimes I wish that all the people driving when and where I am would just GO HOME!! It makes diving a pain in the ass when you can't find a clear stretch of road to just lean back and let it all hang out.
What is it about jewelry stores? There are too many of them, and too much advertising for them for my taste. I am assulted every day by commercials for the "lowest price and best quality diamonds", like somewhere there is a store that sells poor quality jewelry for ridiculously high prices. Same with celluar phones. Not to mention the fact that I have to endure commercials for cable TV, on my own cable system. Hello?? I've already bought it, why do I need to be told how wonderful my life would be if I had cable?
Who came up with the idea of road construction during rush hour? Who developed the idea of banks having fewer tellers at lunch time than at other times of the day? What genius decided that "less is more" at gas station convienence stores? Where is the market research that says people want replacement windows? Questions without answers, til next time... Happy Holidays