Making It Up As I Go Along #325

MONDAY...
— Wake up almost like I was drugged. Very groggy morning.
— Watch some of the US Open golf playoff before work. Tiger Woods’ knee seems fine today. Leave it to the media to make him out to be heroic, playing on what was basically a broken leg to being fine after simply popping a few Tylenol. Silliness.
— Work a little late tonight since I went to watch our softball team play during supper. We win too. Good stuff.

TUESDAY...
— Half day at work for me. I work until 6:30 and then meet up with the gang for a night at the ball park. St. Patrick’s Day in June is the promo. It gets just under 2000 fans out to watch the Rapidz lose 10-3 to Quebec City... with half the game being played in the rain. We leave cold and wet... but it’s fun.

WEDNESDAY...
— Physio before work. Hamstring is looking pretty good. I have some strengthening exercises to add to the stretching now and then should be good to go.
— Work starts a bit late for me due to the physio but it also ends early due to a fire alarm in the building. We’re sent home 45 minutes earlier than normal.

THURSDAY...
— Well the presidential wives are becoming more of the story on US news stations. That’s one thing about Canadian politics I like above American. The spouses are not part of the campaign. I’m sure a single American would have no chance of becoming president. The spouse is a vital part of the campaign and it’s all rather schmoozy.
— Really tired today. I struggle to stay alert at work. That’s strange for me on evening shift. Chinese food was had for supper. That’s pretty good.

FRIDAY...
— Sore lower back today. It’s all to do with over doing it when working out the hamstring. Not a big deal I’m sure but a bit of a pain for today.
— Work is alright. Dan is in there with me for half my shift and alone for the second half.

SATURDAY...
— Quiet day. The back finally comes back into good standing and the hamstring feels quite good now. Do some laundry, watch some TV, a ball game and some movies.


Vehicular Billboards
You can learn a lot just by looking at the back end of a person’s car. Are we so about outward perception that we feel we must express ourselves on personal billboards?

There are several areas to check out on the car. Bumper stickers come to mind first. Although really, there are very few actual bumper stickers anymore. It’s mostly magnets now and they are placed further up on the trunk rather than down on the bumper. Still, the traditional bumper sticker does still exist. It seems to primarily tell us where you’ve been. Disney World, Toronto’s Wonderland, that sort of thing.

The magnetic trunk stickers are more cause and politically motivated. Many of these magnets are in the form of a ribbon. That is to say, they’re designed to look like one of those ribbons people would put on their lapels. It’s rather silly actually, to think you need to make a magnet for your car to try to look like a ribbon.

But these ‘ribbons’ show support for all kinds of things. Breast cancer research and supporting the troops being the two I’ve seen most.

Breast cancer car magnets don’t bother me. They seem noble. Troop supporting magnets seem to cheapen the importance of military conflict to me. Yes it’s a fine line. You don’t want to ignore the troops. You don’t want to go about your life blissfully unaware of the dangers some of our fellow citizens are in. And if they are doing these dangers actions for a noble cause, they should be supported and respected for it.

But proclaiming a simplistic message with a magnet for your car. I don’t really see that as heartfelt and real support. I know if I was one of the troops, I wouldn’t be all warm and fuzzy seeing one of these cars with the magnet on the back. I’m afraid that “support the troops” magnets make military conflict too much a part of our normal, everyday culture. It’s become a slogan that people base, at least a part of, their morals on. And I’m left to wonder... if military conflict in Afghanistan or Iraq comes to an end, will the citizens back home expect new conflict to occur elsewhere... just so they can keep up the idea of “supporting the troops?” I hope not, but I’m no longer sure. Where does the money for the “support the troops” magnets go anyway? If it goes to charities or causes that actually support troops, well that would be at least something positive about them. But if it goes to a company who just continues to manufacture such magnets... that’s making money off of warfare, and that’s something I’d have no interest in supporting at all.

Back to the back of cars.

License plates can tell us more about the people inside the vehicle. In Ontario, you can have all sorts of personalized plates. You can have ones where the letters and numbers are simple personalizations. Things like “Bill2" tell you that Bill is driving the car and he was the second guy to think about getting such a statement on his plate. I assume Bill#1 is his mortal enemy now, that he’ll drive around the province looking for that plate, simply so he can scrape the key along the poor guy’s door.

Also in Ontario, you can personalize with pictures that correspond to some numbers that may mean something to you. For the old military people, there are Remembrance poppies or Legion emblems. Sport fans can have hockey or baseball logos, coupled with numbers. It can be easy to tell more about the driver by these numbers. For instance, an Ottawa Senator logo coupled with the numbers 11 and 1 on either side of the term “sen” can tell you that the driver is not only a Senator fan but also one who admires number 11 (Daniel Alfredsson) and number 1 (Ray Emery). It also means it’s a Senator fan who wishes he picked a different number, as Ray Emery is now the most hated Senator since Alexei Yashin. Or you get some hardline family people who will have the numbers 87 and 93 on either side of the “sen” term... obviously the birth dates of their children.

And what a wonderful thing, when you’ve been pulled over for drunken driving, to have an officer typing in your children’s birthdays when checking you out.

Continuing on the family front, there’s another magnet that I had previously forgotten to mention. This for the somewhat pathetic people out there. Often, when you see a woman driving kids in a minivan, you’d joke that she’s a soccer mom, taking the kids to practice. Well now you can actually get a soccer ball magnet and stick it to the back of your van... leaving no doubt. The thing is, not that being called a soccer mom is necessarily demeaning. But it’s hardly something to proudly proclaim either. By all means, a parent should be happy to take their kids to their activities... and take joy in watching them perform. But pull the bloody magnet off the back of the van. Those are the types of magnets that others should be putting on their when you aren’t looking. They’re the car magnet equivalent of a “kick me” sign stuck to your back without you knowing it.

The back windows of cars also tell much. A box of tissues says you are slightly sickly and not too concerned about keeping your car spotless clean. Beanbag puppy dog toys means you’re either very much a girly girl, or you’re a guy who’s excessively whipped by the missus. And the most common, and annoying... the Baby on Board sign.

Baby on Board means you are so caught up in being in your little bubble with your newborn, that you think the rest of the world will actually change the way they live to accommodate your new bundle of joy. Let it be known, I’m no more or no less likely to run in to the back of your car with the front of mine if that “baby on board” sign is back there. I’m not going to drive any more carefully in my car simply because you may have an infant in the back of yours. Get your head out of your you-know-where and be a part of normal society.

And this is all ignoring the fact of what type of car it is you’re looking at the back of. A “support the troops” magnet on the back of a hummer in America can give a totally different impressing of the person driving the car than the same magnet on the back of a Yaris in Canada. Especially when you consider the world of oil and some of the differences in the war going on in Afghanistan versus that of Iraq.

So, as you see, the back of a car can tell a great deal about the people in it. It can give political views, hint at family situations, and tell us all where you’ve been in this world.