After getting off the freeway on my way home today, the intersection which I make a left thorugh had red flashing lights. This, as all drivers should know, indicates an all way stop.

All way stops are relatively simple in concept, as all drivers should know. That is, first come first go...

It amazez me, however, how people try to shortcut any thinking when they get to one by looking at one other car that gets to go 'before' them, then uses that single car as their own personal indicator. The problem with this, however, is if that one car goes out of turn, then a chain reaction of going out of turn begins to occur...

That's exactly what happened here.

When I pulled up in a left turn lane, I did a quick sweep from left to right. I saw one car approcing from the left, two going straight in the oppisate direction, the opposing left turn lane clear, and 3 cars then just beginning to move in the 3 right lanes (two left hand turn lanes, one right/straight lane) . This situation was simple, since the 3 cars on the left had not yet cleared thier move into & though the crosswalk, I was only supposed to wait for the two on comming cars to clear and the left car to clear, or a total of 3 cars being able to go before me. Welp, that didn't quite work the way it should have.

You see, upon the 3 cars completely clearning from the right, the two on comming cars went though the intersetion, followed by a turn from the car on my left. That was my turn to move, however the next 3 cars on the right seemed to think they somehow superseeded me (even though I was long stopped prior to them even being physically capable of reaching the first car point in their lanes). Then a 4th car, for some reason, followed on the right even though he wasn't even close at that point. I proceeded to turn after him only to see the oncomming car stopping after trying to enter the interseciton, then the driver pointing in front of him and shaking his head, seeming to indicate it was his turn. Only problem was, I was MORE than stopped when the car in front of him, as well as the car in front of the car next to him were stopped, so obvously it coudn't possibly have been his turn before mine. My guess? He looked over at the cars on my right (his left) when the car in front of him cleared the intersection & he stopped. Had the cars on his left gone properly in turn, it would have been his turn. but, as I mentioned above, they went out of turn, which lead him to appear certain it was his turn when it clearly couldn't have been...

But in the end it just leaves me really pissed. There was ZERO qustion that I was supposed to go before this guy. Again, I was stopped at the intersection BEFORE the car in front of him had even started moving. But because nobody can seem to keep up with whats going on around them, because they figure looking at a single car is a foolproof method of keeping track of their turn, people are led to making a misteak if the person they're relying on has made one.

So next time you come to an all way stop, either keep track of all the cars in the intersection properly, or be willing to give up any ability of accusing others of making a misteak. Because if you take the shortcut and then are led to believe someone else made a misteak, the only person you can really only point your finger at is yourself...

One of the most ridiculous things going on in California (if not other states) is the place we've reached when it comes to buying cold medicine. That is, I now officially feel like a criminal every time I try to purchase some...

The first ridiculously annoying experience I had was in the middle of a 12 hour drive when my nose got stuffy & I wanted to pick up a box of Alive Cold & Sinus. I went into a Longs Drug off the freeway (in an obviously unfamiliar area), and proceeded to ask if I could get some cold medicine. The answer, surprising to me at the time, was no. You see, the pharmacy was closed... So I essentially could not buy an OTC cold medicine because the pharmacy wasn't open... So much for OTC...

I ended up having to drive around to find a grocery store, and ended up going into a Vons. I found the cold medicine aisle, but instead of boxes of cold medicine they had little paper cut outs. Maybe the paper was meant to dissolve in water & then I drink it? At any rate, I took the cold medicine paper cutout to the checkout line. I then proceeded to block several people from checking out for around 10 minutes. They couldn't complete my transaction until I got the box, you see, as they needed the physical box to ring it up (and they had already rung up a few other things that I picked up). So finally they got me my cold medicine, and I officially felt like a criminal for trying to buy it, as I managed to piss several people off who were in line behind me...

Fast forward to today, when I needed to pick up another box, as both me & my wife have stuffy noses. I ended up going into a CVS Pharmacy & went to the pharmacy counter. That walk was a waste of time because they actually keep the medicine at the front counter. The irony here is that if you want to pick up a prescription & some cold medicine, you have to check out twice... So much for convenience... So at any rate, I went to the front counter & said I wanted a box of cold medicine, I realized at this point how lucky I was that I knew which one I wanted, because it's not really possible to read the boxes & compare when the boxes themselves are kept behind the counter, right next to the cigarettes... Only problem is, buying cold medicine is now worse than buying cigarettes. You see, once she grabbed the box she handed me a large note book. In that note book I was required to right down my name, address & contact information, along with MY SIGNATURE! So now I'm on file for life because I bought a box of cold medicine!!! Talk about big brother...

Of course now I'm stressing out wondering what in the world is going to become of my signature in that book. Am I going to end up in a federal database somewhere? Are they now going to put me on a watch list? If I apply for a job, will I be rejected based off of a purchase of cold medicine on the morning of March 14th, 2007???

What are we coming to? Is this criminal like treatment really doing a whole lot to curb the crime it's supposedly there to help enforce?

Whats next? Soon you will have to submit to a background check and a 10 day waiting period in order to buy a can of air freshener, as they will have to ensure you don't plan on using it for huffing...