pet peeves

I could go back to the well of "should we be able to pump our own gas?" over and over again, and we could get a brisk debate going about it every time. But this isn't about whether we should be able to or not, it's about one of the things that still happens when getting a fill-up that drives me crazy..

As of this writing we are mere hours away from Memorial Day weekend and the unofficial start to summer in Ocean County. With that in mind, I thought that this would be the perfect time to share some tips for those who will be visiting our area this season...

As we head into a new year, I figure it could also be a good time to talk about some of the ways that we can all strive to "adult" better.

It's almost the season for one of my biggest driving pet peeves, (people who don't clean snow off their cars) but today I was reminded of another one!

I've made no secret of the fact that a lot of my pet peeves revolve around inconsiderate drivers. But now that we're officially past the unofficial start to summer at the shore, there is an obvious change in driving habits through Ocean County.

I'll be the first to admit that driving, and New Jersey road issues are probably the topics that I complain about the most. And I was getting ready to start grumbling again today because of something that we all see way too often, when it took a surprising turn.

A disclaimer first - even though that car says "Student Driver", it wasn't a student driving it when I passed it on the Parkway. Or, rather, I should say when it passed me. Very, very quickly.

It's a dance that I see every day. I call it "The Red Light Creep".

There's a good reason that the topic of construction and driving through it comes up a lot in these pages - it's something that we live with every day in Ocean and surrounding counties. While none of us like having to drive through it, there is one thing in particular that makes it all that much worse when it doesn't have to be - merging.

We're past Memorial Day. We're past the 4th of July. We're officially in the heart of beach season here in Ocean County. While the great majority of our visitors are respectful and welcomed (at least the human kind), some just don't care. Like this guy that I saw last weekend: