America's Got Talent

Okay, my first rave.

It's not for the show, which is mediocre. It's for the Millers, who appeared on the show. Two brothers. The older one (older teen, early 20s maybe) plays guitar and sings, the younger (young teen) plays harmonica. The younger brother is one of the best harmonica players I've ever seen. The mean British judge (because all these shows have a mean British judge), said pretty much the same thing then told him that he would someday have to get rid of his brother. The older brother took it in stride. (I'm sure he knows his kid brother is very talented.) The younger brother was so upset that this mean British guy was telling him that his brother sucks that he started to cry and said that he would never do it. It was awesome. It made tears well in my eyes. It was the sweetest, most brotherly thing I've seen on television in a long time. Good for him! I hope they make it to the end!

Weather

I'm not complaining about the weather, but I'm going to rant about a couple of people in my office who complain about the weather.

They are never happy. It doesn't matter what the weather is, they will complain about it. It could be beautiful out and they will find something wrong with it. I'm ready to yell, "If you hate the weather here so much, why don't you move!"

That's all; it annoys me.

Smoking Bans

All right, I have had a lot on my mind the past couple days.

Allegheny County (the county in PA in which Pittsburgh is located) is thinking about enacting a smoking ban in workplaces, including bars and restaurants.

Good. Maybe I'd enjoy going to some places better and would go more often if they were smoke-free.

Unfortunately, we have some whiners (bar owners mostly) who say they are going to lose business. That is such a false argument. Talk to business owners in New York City. Talk to those in Ireland. They haven't lost business. In fact, some have actually gained some business. Non-smokers are coming back! And you know there are more non-smokers out there than smokers.

I can't stand smokey establishments, it bothers my eyes and makes everything I wear and carry stink, not to mention my hair and skin. I'd love everything to be smoke-free just for those reasons alone, let alone the health reasons.

Big Ben

So Ben Roethlesberger finally has been giving interviews about his motorcycle accident. Fine.

This is what bugs me: He is saying he didn't think he should have been cited for anything because he didn't know he did anything wrong.

Um, Ben, ignorance doesn't make you right.

Your permit was expired - by just about three months. Even if you had had your license, you have to wear a helmet if you had it less than two years. I'm pretty sure that's in the PA motorcycle handbook. I guess you didn't read it.

And...before anyone gets on me about the lady who drove in front of him, she was cited, too, for failure to yield. Actually more people in the Pittsburgh area should be cited for that. No one around here seems to understand what a yield is.

She didn't mean to hit Roethlisberger. She was doing what she had been doing since she started driving, making a "Pittsburgh left." (Google it, I'm sure there's info out there about this annoying Pittsburgh habit.) It doesn't make her right, but she didn't mean it, and I'm sure she feels terrible about it.

So, all of you out there bothering that poor woman, STOP IT!

That's all about that. Oh, and don't forget to wear a helmet.

Shoofly Pie

I wanted to rant about this earlier, but here goes.

So, last week PA chose a saying for its bumper sticker. They chose "I brake for shoofly pie."

Terrible, especially since most the Western half of the state has no clue what shoofly pie even is!!!

For those of you who don't know what shoofly pie is, and that probably is most of you, its an Amish pie filled with a custard made with a lot of molasses. It must be an acquired taste because I ate it once in Lancaster, and that was enough for me.

Why couldn't PA choose something that represented the whole state instead of something that is only around PA Dutch Country. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that Harrisburg is around that area?

Go to www.visitpa.com to see the bumper sticker and some of the other choices.

And for my first rant....

I'm sitting here at work after 5 p.m. Not because I want to, but because of the stupid All-Star Game.

I work in Pittsburgh...the North Side of Pittsburgh to be more specific. The North Side is where all the sports stadiums are. Right now baseball's All-Star Week is going on in Pittsburgh. Right now most of the roads on the North Side and some roads in Downtown are closed. Right now, I'm stuck at work waiting for my husband to get here from Lawrenceville to pick me up. He's been stuck in traffic since a quarter till 5. It usually only takes him 10 minutes to get to the North Side to pick me up.

Anyone familiar with Pittsburgh knows how important of a road the 10th Street Bypass is. It's one of the streets that is closed. So everything is a mess.

I can't wait for it to get back to normal.