Okay, Thanksgiving is over, and we are now smack-dab in the middle of silly season.
It starts with stores opening at midnight on Thanksgiving night, hoping to lure in Christmas shoppers who believe the best way to get a bargain is to miss sleep to be at the store 'way early in the morning. This year, some poor yutz at a Wal-Mart in New Yahk got trampled by shoppers in the stampede for bargains, and died. Pity the stores don't offer combat pay this time of year. People become rude and obnoxious as they search for that perfect gift to celebrate the (alleged) birth of the Prince of Peace. The first day, in addition to the trampling in New Yahk, two shoppers shot it out at another store. A gunfight between shoppers - great googly-moogly.
If you're driving at all the next couple of months, be careful. Be very careful. Gas prices are back down, speeds are back up, and tempers are short. Common sense, civility and courtesy are in short supply. The idjits are out there, in force. The last couple of days, I've noticed, have been very bad here. I'm back to driving 200+ miles a day (delivering medical supplies again - yea!), and between the people trying to get somewhere for the holiday or trying to get home, and the onslaught of shoppers on the roads, it's pretty nasty out there. Please, please, please be careful.
As my old drill sergeant used to say, "Stay alert, stay alive." He also said, "Don't bunch up or one grenade will get you all," but that's not as appropriate, except I tend to avoid driving in packs - I prefer the open space between groups of cars. If some yahoo starts bouncing off everything around him, I just prefer not to be among his group of potential targets.
