In typical central Illinois fashion, the wind was howling during the storm, which meant the snow wasn't distributed in a neat, uniform layer on the ground. It was piled up pretty deep against the house and was at least 24" deep in the road in front of our house. I didn't leave for work until the snowplows came through and cleared the road around 11:00 Monday morning. She was lucky that the university cancelled classes for the day, so she got to stay home. I went outside long enough to snap a couple photos before she chased me back into the house. I will admit that it was nice to not have to shovel this storm, but I did have to hear her talk about being sore for the next 2 days...
a bad angle, but that snow is above my knee
She cleared a narrow path to the door
And here is proof that she was actually using the shovel
Two Saturdays ago, when the CFO came home, I spent some time parked in a front parking space at the Peoria airport waiting for the her to arrive. Her flight from Chicago to Bloomington was cancelled and the options were: a) for me to drive 2.5 hours to Chicago or b) 1 hour to Peoria. We went with the latter, only to have her flight delayed in the air, so I ended up sitting for over an hour waiting for her.
Anyway, while sitting in a front row space for over an hour, I was able to see multiple example of what is wrong with this country... and was aggravated enough about it to start writing about it in an email draft. Here is what I saw:
1) People without handicap tags or hanging ID's parking in handicap spaces. Seriously? How lazy can you be and why aren't the police enforcing this? This includes one car that was parked illegally in the stripped out area adjacent to a handicap space. What happens if someone in a wheel chair can't get into their vehicle because your car is parked where their ramp would usually extend into?
2) People littering, specifically smokers. I saw at least 5 different smokers drop their butts on the ground and walk into the terminal.
a) It is disgusting, no one wants to have to pick up the slimy filter that your nicotine stained lips have been wrapped around.
b) Yes, a cigarette butt is litter. How is it that this one thing doesn't seem to fall under the litter category? Have you ever looked at the curb when you are stopped at a red light? There are typically a bunch of butts just lying there and the collection only grows during droughts when there isn't a rain to wash them away... into streams and lakes for fish to eat and get their nicotine fix... Why aren't these considered trash?
3) Husbands/boyfriends/men in general not getting their lazy a$$es out of the driver's seat to help the people they were dropping off (wife/girl friend/kids/whoever) get their bags out of the car. Seriously, is this what this world is coming to? People around here often look at me funny when I actually hold a door open for them... but now I guess I see why. People are getting more rude and less considerate of others by the day. Not a good sign for those of you who are reproducing...
The bad thing is that #'s 1 and 2 could generate some much needed cash for the city if they would take the time to enforce the laws. While I'm typically anti-ticket, I am all for punishing lazy people and those who don't respect the needs of people with real handicaps. I'd much rather see the cops ticketing these people (and the litterers) than someone who is driving a little bit above the speed limit.
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