Cage McQuade

OK… As most of you folks know, my mother-in-law does the Susan G Komen 3 Day for the Cure Brest Cancer. She just finished doing her second year of participating in the walk in October.
This one was the hardest to do since her daughter passed away a few weeks ago BUT she’s going to continue on for next year’s participation.
She is now starting the donation requests for next year.
Now I know everybody has their own charities and places they donate to so don’t feel pressured at all to donate. I’m just throwing this out there to everybody.

Now this year she got creative in raising money. She started a Superbowl block pool, which is a 10 X 10 grid and you pick a block with your initials.
Her Superbowl blocks are $10 a block.
The payout is $50 per quarter.

I know there’s, what, 4 people who visit my site but if you could just pass a word out, we would appreciate it! Thanks!!

Of course, having people from far away donating to this pool does cause the problem of actually PICKING a block BUT since the numbers are filled in at totally random once the blocks are all filled in, I’ll just randomly pick a block for all who participates. Hard to cheat anybody.

Again, thanks for any help that you can provide.

Her donation site is available for viewing the story and the latest news. Just click here.
You can easily put a donation through that instead of the Superbowl pool if you wish or just visit it for the latest donations total.

The wife alerted me to this story. She knows me. She knows I get burned up with this kind of crap.

http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=news/local&id=7128490&status=ok

This couple go to a restaurant / pub kinda place, along with some friends, to have dinner. Apparently the service was quite bad to the point that the group had to get their own drinks, napkins and such along with the amount of time to wait for the food.
So when the bill comes, of course the tip is added onto the bill. We’ve all seen that for large groups. I’ve always been opposed to such acts of assumption.

Anyways, this story is ultra-mega BS! Tips are for the service NOT for the food and drinks.
As we all know, the wait staff get paid less than the minimum wage so they have to work for the tips. The tips are the flexibility of the customer.
The idea of the tip is too simple: Do a good job then you get tipped well. Do a bad job then you’re your tip is quite less or none. Otherwords, DO YOUR JOB! This is why I’ve always hated when the tip is added onto the bill. WHERE is the incentive to do a good job when you know your tip will be added regardless of your service? Yea I know, most wait staff are still good when that automatic tip add-on is done but WHY should it be placed on? What if I DO encounter a bad service? Yea, the knee-jerk answer to that would be “Well, you should then talk to the manager”. NO! Again, repeat my statement above…. The tips are the flexibility of the CUSTOMER!! It’s not flexibility of the MANAGEMENT! The option of punishing the bad service with a low tip (or none) is up to the CUSTOMER. Place the low tip and leave. Simple. I shouldn’t have to waste MY time further by also waiting for the management!! If the customer wishes to complain to the management then that’s their right. FORCING the customer to pay for a bad service AND having to talk to the management is BS!!
Now, just like most people, I too have a favorite restaurant. This place I know the owner by having a great conversation one time at our table. I complimented the great service and management. His answer? Quite simple! He pays good for the good managers and dumps the bad ones, therefore continuing the great service. He will not tolerate any complaints. This would be the place that I would take time to make sure the management heard my complaint because I know the management would do something about it.
Now should I HAVE to complain to the management? NO! It’s my right to just pay for the meal and leave and maybe never come back.
The name of the establishment isn’t shown yet BUT I would love to know so to promote the fact that this place doesn’t care that when customers get a bad service, they punish the CUSTOMERS for not tipping.
They should make it illegal to automatically add the tip to the bill or at least mark on the bill as a SUGGESTION not MANDATORY!!
I understand the reasoning behind the adding of the tip in the bill for a large group. The wait staff work hard for a large group and they should be tipped accordingly, just like any number of customers from 1 to 1000, but the automatic add-on of the tip in a large group just takes away the need to make sure the wait staff do their JOB.
The people that should be arrested are the low lifes that do not tip for a good service. THOSE are the ones that made the restaurants add that little rule of adding the tip onto a large group bill.
The fact that this management punished the customers instead of the wait staff is beyond ludicrous. The name of this establishment will leak out eventually and once that does then the establishment should then be punished with less amount of customers. How can anyone really go to an establishment knowing that they could get bad service …. AND HAVE TO PAY FOR IT!!???!?
This shouldn’t even have to go to court.
“So let me get this straight. You folks visited a restaurant and had bad service?”
“Yes, you’re honor.”
“This place FORCED you to pay for this bad service?”
“Yes your honor”
“What?? Oh boy.. Case dismissed. NEXT?”
This restaurant should be EMBARASSED that they did this to their customers. They have their thinking backwards. They think that THEY are doing the CUSTOMER a favor by existing for them while it should be the CUSTOMER doing THEM a favor by choosing THEIR place to eat. What? They think they’re the ONLY place to have a meal?? Come on!!

I think I’ve eaten here.
It’s quite tough to find a decent buffet joint, especially a Chinese place. I guess with the very concept of buffet is the reason it’s hard to even FIND a decent spot. So much food to be responsible for which gives little time to actually CARE how it’s cooked (finished vs slightly raw, fresh vs “just how long has this been here?”, fresh vs old mixed back in with the new)

Well… I had a rare visual treat the other day….. a motorcycle “crotch rocket” that was actually pulled over by a cop. No, I’m not kidding here! I had to rub my eyes a few times and even pinched myself but, yep, it was still there.
MUST have been a rookie….. BOTH cop and motorcyclist. Everybody knows those damn “crotch rockets” go, what, 400 MPH through the highways and cops, apparently, know to not even bother chasing them. Seriously, have you EVER seen a cop chase down a “crotch rocket”? Well, not me in my ENTIRE life.
Now going back to my “to each his own” philosophy, I partly don’t have a problem with someone wanting to try and make themselves a grease spot on a highway BUT I do have a problem with those boneheads not concerned that they might take an innocent life with them while making said hall of shame grease spot on a highway. This is where having a desert nearby handy. These dumb shits can go there and have at it. Go make a hall of shame grease spot out there!
Occasionally you get to see one of these smashed ALL over the highway or even see pictures on the net with the pieces of motorcycle and human. That’s when I just say….. “Welp, one down, several million to go….”

I’ve always been one to say “to each their own”. You do what you wish with whatever makes you happy, as long as it doesn’t harm my, or others, physical or mental well being. You want to walk around with your pants down to your knees? Have at it.
You want to snort glue? Have fun.

You want to drink water until you puke or die? Hey, it’s your life. Who the hell am I to stop you?

The thing that burns me is the total lack of personal responsibility. There are a ton of people who insist on blaming others for their own mistakes. These usually turn into stupid lawsuits. I have a phrase for that “Only in America can you take your common sense and flush it down the toilet and then turn around and sue the toilet manufacturer for taking your common sense!”
The fact that bars are responsible for making sure that everybody does not go out driving drunk is one of the top hot spots for me over this subject.
I mean, a dumb shit can go into a bar, get plastered, go drive and kill himself, and the family can go sue the bar owner! That is utterly ridicules! The bar owner didn’t shove the alcohol down his/her throat!! So why the hell is the bar owner responsible for the accident?? Again, because there are a lot of deadbeats out there that won’t take responsibility for themselves. They want the freakin world to pay their way. A personal screwup was done and they want someone else to pay for it instead of admitting that he/she fucked up. NOPE!! Not in America. I can go sue somebody when I do something on my own and screwed up.
Now, I agree there are times when a lawsuit is warranted like over malfunctioning equipment but to go willingly into a bar and then have yourself killed afterwards?? NO! You’re the dumbshit that KNEW if you drank all that alcohol that you would be impaired to drive. Just like the dumshits that smoked cigarettes and sued for having LUNG CANCER!! Yes, that’s another hot spot subject too.

Anyways, I need to get back on the reason for this post.
Seems there was a radio contest a few years ago involving a water drinking contest. They would have some people willing to drink as much water as they could without going to the bathroom. The winner would get a Nintendo Wii with the contest called “Hold your wee for a Wii”
Welp, a 28 year old woman died from this contest of acute water intoxication.
Her family sued and won……. WHAT!!!?!??
Yes, won over $16 million.
Again, how the fuck is the radio station at fault here??? They didn’t shove that water down her damn throat!! Too much of ANYTHING is bad for you. Common knowledge.
I didn’t see any of the other contestants dying from this contest! Probably because they were SMARTER!! You want to exert yourself beyond your capacity, then go at it BUT if your body fails because of it then DON’T blame someone else PERIOD!
So again, here we have a tragic death but it was all from her wanting to go beyond what the body should handle, but to have the family SUE because of her own actions, and then WINNING that lawsuit?? BULLSHIT!!

I’m telling ya, I’m on the verge of suing all of the desert companies because they made me diabetic. I’m suing all the pizza joints because they made me fat. Yup. If these morons can do it and win… then so should I…..

So… you fellas around the Philadelphia area had a chance to have a … “good time” with a “gorgeous tall buxom blonde” if you were willing to part with some World Series tickets. She was desperate for two World Series tickets and stated “Price negotiable — I’m the creative type! Maybe we can help each other!’’

I’ve heard of desperation fans, and I’m quite sure this happens all the time, but to have it out there for interpretation for the whole world to see? Wow.
Well, of course, an undercover cop responded to the ad and found she was allegedly promising sex.

To top it all off, she’s MARRIED! Yes, she wanted to do “whatever” to get a pair of tickets for her and the hubby! Now THERE’S loyalty for ya….. doing whatever it takes to get a pair of tickets to take your hubby out for a World Series game.
Now, there’s no word as to what he thinks of all this. Well, what CAN he say? “Well she was willing to bang another guy BUT she was trying to get us tickets to a World Series game!”
HA! Can you imagine if she managed to get these tickets and what the hubby would say?
“You did WHAT? To who?? How DARE you have sex with …… What?….. You got tickets to a World Series game?…… OH! Why didn’t you SAY so in the first place!! OK, let’s go! WOOO HOOO!!”
“Yea, buddy, we’re going to the game tonight. My wife worked hard for these!”

HA! I could go on and on……

Anyways, she’s getting tickets from a local radio station. They believe she’s just an overzealous fan. She also has a facebook account, if anybody is interested, and it seems she has a lot of supporters. Yea, from all angles I’m sure….

The legal issue is still going on.
Just slap her with a fine (or just slap her) and let her go. To lock her up for wanting to part for someone willing to part from their tickets is ridicules.

So there you have it. Another “5 minutes of fame” story. I’m sure we haven’t heard the last of her. She’ll be on some talk show…….

This is the song that never ends.
Yes, it goes on and on my friend.
Some people started singing it, not knowing what it was,
and they’ll continue singing it forever just because…
This is the song that never ends.
Yes, it goes on and on ………..

There! Now it’s stuck in YOUR head too!

Green Acres theme doesn’t help……

Yup, I’m back up North.

I was reminded of that this morning.

You see, I was just down South for vacation, Tennessee and then North Carolina.
Driving down there is such a pleasure, it really is. The entire time I was down there, I only encountered 2 asshole drivers. HA! That’s a normal DAY in the North!

This morning I had 4 asshole drivers!
2 that cut me off.
1 with high beams on behind me
1 that didn’t even BOTHER to stop at a three-way stop…..

Yup, I’m back up North.

I don’t know why they even bother putting up Yield signs. Most don’t even bother to do such.

Traffic lights?? Oh boy…. Whenever I think of that subject, I remember a story that my sis told me about a book she read about some guy from a parallel Earth that was amazed that there were no police at any of the traffic lights because on his world, if there were no police around then people just ignored the lights.
I swear, it would NOT surprise me when there is a time that will actually happen here on our Earth.
I love the idea of the traffic cameras. The North would most benefit from these, especially New York and New Jersey.
There was a report that was done about the worst states of bad drivers.
Worst state? New York
2nd worst state? New Jersey
So with that report I say…. NO F***IN S**T!!

http://hubpages.com/hub/Worst_Drivers_In_America

http://jalopnik.com/5278609/new-york-new-jersey-top-list-of-dumbest-driver-states?skyline=true&s=x

I put some of the blame on the police. They’re too busy with their “I-enforce-the-law-therefore-I-am” attitude. Well, I can’t say that all of them are but it just seems that when there is a bad area of drivers, no police to be found. Nope, too busy going 90 MPH on Interstate 95 themselves.
EVERYBODY has said “Where is the police when you need them?” Oh well, it would be nice if there was enough budget in each town to hire more police then maybe…..

There was only one time that I actually saw a dumbass get busted on ignoring the traffic lights. It was at an intersection that had the opposing traffic go first with a green arrow while we sat and waited for our light to change green. Of course, once their green arrow goes away, we’ll get to go. Well, that one day I was the second car back from the intersection with a police car in front. Our light turned green and off we went except the police car had to slam on his brakes before hitting an idiot that decided to ignore the fact that his green arrow was long gone. The police car made a hard right and flipped on his lights and chased after him! HA! My son and I had SUCH a great laugh over that!

Complaining about traffic is nothing new. You would have to go back a LONG way to see no traffic complaints. It just seems that over all these years, a-hole drivers are common now.
I would just love to install a video camera on my dashboard and do a recording of a typical day. I would do it for two reasons. One would be to see just what I could catch and the second reason is that, as my luck would have it, once I start recording…. Not one a-hole driver will be found. That’s my luck, no lie. Sorta the ol saying that when I send my car to the mechanic, the car runs fine but when I get it home, it runs like crap. Sigh.
Anyways, I often wonder just low legal is it to record a-hole drivers and even turn such recording in to the police….. duh…

Yea, make me King, right?? Yea, right.

Then there are the roads themselves. You can just look at the mess that they call roads in New York and Philthydelphia. At times you can just look at it and go “Man, the only solution is to just nuke it and start over.” Those roads can make ANYBODY pissed. 18th century roads for 21st century traffic. Yea…..
Actually, wouldn’t it be nice if they can just redo cities like you can in SimCity??

Welp, it’s great to be home and be reminded of why I vacation down South.

My next car? A Tank….

Welp, I had my wrist stitches taken out. I didn’t get pale like I thought I would. I was even worried about the tape strips that went across the elbow scar. Those came off with no problem.

My hand is the same as it was before the surgery, numb pinky finger and part of ring finger and the hand is still a little weak. Doc told me to not get discouraged. It could take from now to next year before the numbness goes away if it ever will. He did want me to get an exercise ball to help with the hand strength. Not sure where to get one of those. Local drug store?

The elbow scar isn’t as ugly as I thought it would be. I guess once it settles down and smoothes over, I’ll like it even better.

We talked more about his statement that the nerve was more pinched in the elbow than they thought. He stated the nerve was red and inflamed (really pissed off) and really tucked away. That’s why he said he believed I should be better here soon since the surgery revealed that the nerve was in duress, which to me says my decision to do the surgery was the right one.

I’m still hoping that I’ll be in that 80% success rate for the strength in my hand to come back.

Anyways, it’s down to the “waiting game” for the numbness to go away and the strength to come back.

Oh boy…. Where can I start…..

Well let’s start with if you didn’t see the movie yet but will then stop reading. Spoilers ahead!

Now let’s start with that the movie was better than I thought it would be.
I was quite worried about Abrams “sexing” it up. The movie manages to mostly stay away from it with little scenes here and there but didn’t over-do it.

My favorite was Bones. Karl Urban really got the character down.

Now after watching this movie, I now understand why some would come out of it upset.
If you go to see this movie with the mindset that this is a Star Trek sequel, you will be disappointed.
If you go in with the mindset that this is a new Star Trek universe then all is well.
With this movie, Abrams indeed made a “reboot” of Star Trek, starting all over due history was changed, starting from Kirk’s father time, due to a black hole made from the future. Abrams now has his own Star Trek universe to play with instead of wondering who did what in history. So, you can basically say this is Star Trek Universe 2.0 (STU2).

Yes, all that you know from the original series up to the Voyager series is now gone. But is it? Well it all depends on where you stand. If you stand in this STU2 then yes, forget all you know about who did what. BUT, if you stand in the original universe (STU1) then all you know isn’t gone, only that STU1 lost Spock forever (well you never know) through that black hole that was created. He now lives in STU2, which also has the young Spock so, yes, STU2 has two Spocks, the young one and the future one (from STU1).
Yes I know, I’m getting technical but I’m just trying to help clarify the Star Trek universes before some Trekies jump off buildings with the thought of all that they knew of Star Trek is now ka-put, over, finished, done, nada, gone, fin, ……

The good thing about what Abrams has done is for people who never saw any of the Star Trek series or movies, this will be a good movie to jump in with.

Now here’s a question that WILL get a reaction from ya….
Will the two universes ever meet? A crossover of sorts like in the Original Series episode Mirror. Mirror? Hhhhmmmmmmmm
I’d say no but…….