Happy Independence Day!!

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Well, it's that time of year again. Time for everyone to get together with friends and family, having picnics, barbecues, maybe a day on the local river or lake, or at a nearby beach. All in celebration of our country's independence day.

However, I often wonder if most people even TRULY realize exactly what this day means. Everyone enjoys the freedom that our country offers, but it's important to remember those who died for us to enjoy this freedom. Our national anthem ends with the phrase, "Land of the free...and the home of the brave". However, I believe the words should be changed to something that has been stated many times before...."The land of the free, BECAUSE of the brave".

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

I sincerely hope that Americans all across our great country, take a moment to reflect upon those that have given their all so that we have the opportunity to celebrate our independence today.

I think the words at the Korean War Memorial say it best..."All gave some, some gave all".

Happy Independence Day everyone and if you happen to know or see anyone in the military, make sure to take a moment and thank them for preserving your right to celebrate this day.

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~~Justacoasterfan~~

Six Flags filed for bankruptcy?!?!?!

Being a die-hard roller coaster fanatic and a long-time attendee of one of the best amusement parks in the country (IMHO), Six Flags Magic Mountain, the thought that this amusement park giant is filing for bankruptcy is just another sad sign of these trying times.

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• Six Flags Files for Bankruptcy (pastemagazine.com)

While I have never actually been keeping count, I know I have been to this one park more than 100 times, and that doesn't include all of the other Six Flags parks I've had the pleasure of enjoying. I remember my last visit to SFMM was rather disappointing because you could actually see how the park was "dying". Rides such as Batman and The Riddler's Revenge no longer have some of their thematics operating. Just another cost-saving measure. Rides such as Deja-Vu not running because of some mechanical problem, but even after a couple weeks it STILL wasn't operating (can't afford to repair it?). Then there is the reduction in the numbers and types of shows running during any given day. It's just sad to see a great family vacation destination like this, decay and be in the apparent death-throes of our ever weakening economy.

Regardless how things pan out with the banks and creditors, I can only hope that this park will still stand for many years to come.

~~Justacoasterfan~~

So what's a little rain?

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• Golf | Rain suspends first round of U.S. Open (seattletimes.nwsource.com)

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The U.S. Open golf championship is currently underway at the Bethpage Black course near New York City, but since the start on Thursday, rain has been interrupting regularly scheduled play.
As an avid golfer myself, or perhaps duffer is the more appropriate term, but anyway I digress, I can't help but wonder how they determine to suspend play in a championship. I've played on days where "blustery" was an understatement. Then again, for some odd reason, I seem to actually play BETTER on the days that the weather isn't very cooperative.
Being professional players, with the exception of the few amateurs peppering the field, I find it hard to believe they allow some rain, with minimal winds, to keep them from playing. I can understand that when there is a major title on the line, not to mention a handsome sum for the purse, they would want every possible advantage for their game. Yet I can't help but feel they are letting Mother Nature hold them at bay, when most players would "weather" it.
~~Justacoasterfan~~

Long time, no blog

Okay, so I haven't been the fervent blogger that everyone else seems to be, but being overseas on a ship with limited internet accessibility gives me somewhat of an excuse I think. In any case, now that I have the time and ability to update more frequently, I have made a vow to myself to do just that. Even though I'm still terrible about calling home to see how my Mother is doing (I know, how awful of a son am I anyway?), I intend to use this venue for it's intended purpose. To vent, maybe rant, and basically just get some things off my chest that come to mind. With that in mind, who knows, I may actually initiate some sort of readership and gain some interest. If nothing else, I have somewhere I can openly speak my mind and not worry about what anyone's opinion might be. I leave it to you, the reader(s), to determine the worthiness of my ramblings. Perhaps, if I strike a chord, it may even elicit a response.
Anyway, thanks for reading.
~~Justacoasterfan~~

Are we being tested?

In an article in Yahoo! news, see link here, there is a rental truck left sitting at the curb with fireworks in it and, oh by the way, a fire in one of the parking garages occurs in the same day. Now, am I the only one who thinks this is just TOO much of a coincidence? I mean, come on people. Is it that much of a stretch of the imagination that there may be a terrorist group that is wanting to test reaction times and how these types of potential threats are dealt with at an airport? Do we REALLY have to have another 9/11 before we start "digging in the weeds" on these types of things?

I don't know about anyone else, but I'd want to know anything and everything I could about the person who was renting the U-haul, as well as anything and everything about known contacts. Is this an invasion of privacy? Hmmmm...maybe, but then it seems that the ones who usually do the most screaming about "invasion of privacy" are the ones who have the most to hide.

I'm no more excited about people getting into my business than the next person, but let's look at this realistically for a second. What does EVERYONE do when they are zipping along the highway and they SEE a police car? They SLOW DOWN. Now, apply that same principal to being monitored or potentially having someone digging through your every what, where, when and who. You think you just MIGHT behave a little differently than you normally do? It's pretty much the same theory applied to using locks. After all, they are only meant to keep an honest person honest. If not for dishonesty or immorality amongst humans, there would never be a need for locks and alarms.

Let's face it, Big Brother is coming, best we can do is prepare for it and then get on with our lives. In the mean time, when we have incidents like these at an airport (especially when they are in conjunction with each other at the SAME airport) they need to be exhaustively investigated.

~~Justacoasterfan~~

Why "road rage"?

Image by Tony the Misfit via Flickr

Let me see, in any given week I probably spend about 12 to 15 hours behind the wheel, which I know in the big scheme of things isn't much. I mean, look at rush hour driving in LA and you can see how some folks spend that much time behind the wheel just in the first couple days of the week.

However, regardless of how much time I spend behind the wheel, I can't help but notice the same things happening practically all the time, and it's not getting any better.

I want to know what driver's class it is that teaches that having your signal on means that everyone HAS to give way for you to move over. I don't mean from the, "Hey, I need to merge into traffic from this highway on-ramp" sort of fashion, but rather from the, "Hey, I want to be in that lane cuz it's moving faster than this one, so let me in there" or the "Hey, I didn't want to wait behind everyone in that lane like you and all those other people did. I wanted to zip up in the next lane and then cut over at the last minute, so now you HAVE to let me in there." I'm thinking, no, to you I say, "Sorry Charlie. Snooze ya lose. You didn't want to get over when you had more than ample opportunity to do so earlier, so don't expect me to make room for you now."

Of course, my favorite person on the road is the cell-phone talker. Because this call is JUST so important, they just couldn't possibly NOT talk on the phone until after they park, or even pull off the road. Nope, they gotta talk RIGHT NOW. Oh, and I suppose this wouldn't be so bad, but then they want to give themselves a good "buffer zone" cuz they aren't really paying attention to the traffic. So they will routinely drive 10 miles an hour slower than everyone else to, I suppose, not pose a hazard to themselves or others? They make lane changes without signaling (how can they, with one hand on the wheel and one holding the phone?)

Another type of driver I like is the, "I can see that you are coming up on me rather quickly and that the other lane is open, but I'm not going to move cuz I have a right to be in this lane. Even if I'm driving at or even BELOW the limit, you can move around me, cuz I'm not moving." These are the type of people that CAUSE road-rage, IMHO. I'm sorry, but I'M of the opinion that if you see someone coming up rather quickly on your tail, it doesn't matter what your PREFERENCE is, how's about a little common courtesy and GET THE HELL OUTTA THE WAY?!?!?!

~~Justacoasterfan~~

Customer Service - it's not the complaint department

You know, over the past few years I've noticed that people, on the whole, have become blatantly self-centered and oblivious of anyone else's feelings. This is especially true when observing how people inter-act with those who are in a customer service type profession. I mean, have you ever SEEN the way some people act towards the unfortunate souls who work the cash registers at a JC Penny on a sale day? How about the people that work the returns counter at a Wal-Mart? Oh, and let's not forget the thankless job of being a gate agent at the airport. You would think that the way passengers yell, berate, belittle and basically degrade the airline employees, that these reps have control over every airline, in every airport around the world. No matter how courteous the person behind the counter is, they receive the brunt of someone's anger whenever a flight is delayed or canceled, there is a gate change, a change in aircraft, whatever. The debate has been going on for a while now about allowing pilots to be armed in the cockpit in an effort to reduce the possibility of hijackings and terrorist actions. All I can say is that if it were allowed for gate agents to be armed, I think we'd have a sudden rash of passenger shootings the likes of which would make the Waco, Texas massacre pale in comparison.

Is it really so hard for people to take a moment to realize that they aren't being singled out and that it is NOT the fault of the person behind the counter (whether at the airport or the department store) for whatever the problem is? Even if it IS due to human error in some fashion, they are much more likely to help if they aren't being chastised. Especially if the person doing the chastising is spewing like a sailor.

It would also do folks well to remember they aren't alone in most of these situations and that there are often times "younger ears" in the vicinity that shouldn't be hearing the tirade. Would it hurt everyone to learn a little tolerance and patience?

~~Justacoasterfan~~