pet peeves

When I was at The Community Medical Center Seaside Park Boardwalk Studio for my show last Friday afternoon, going into the 4th of July weekend, I noticed something as the afternoon turned into evening - after the people cleared out, the beach was a mess.

There are two stories to these photos that I find to be fascinating. First, is the obvious - a person parked in a Walmart parking lot between spots so nobody could park next to them. And somebody got revenge without even touching the vehicle. Take a look:

It's a situation that almost all of us who live here in Ocean County have encountered - you're out and about, running errands, maybe going to meet friends, maybe heading to get to work just under the wire. And then it happens - the arms come down, the light turns red, and the drawbridge starts to open. Slowly. Very slowly.

Ok, I openly admit that I have a bunch of little pet peeves. In my defense, I think that these things drive a lot of people nuts, I just have a blog where I get to complain about them publicly. Yesterday, I spotted one of the main things that irritates me, take a look:

When you drive the same way to and from work every day you start to learn the idiosyncrasies of the area. And, if you're like me, you get to know the general timing of the traffic lights, too. Until, of course, they change them.

As we roll into Memorial Day Weekend in Ocean County, and the Summer season kicks off, it also means that traffic season is kicking off in full force. So what are the worst kinds of drivers that you can run into during shore weekends? Here are my top 5 worst:

Driving through Parkway construction doesn't have to be a chore. But it seems like there are always some drivers who want to make it one.

Technology has sparked a whole new category of etiquette questions that we've never had to think of before. And now, with text and online messaging popular across generations, some of us may have different thoughts on what are the best rules to keep in mind when talking to a group electronically.

Friday evening was one of the worst drives I've had this winter. The heavy, wet snow made the Parkway a slushy mess, and the fact that only one lane was marginally clear made the drive home a white knuckle, low speed stressfest. And then I came home to what you see above.

I felt like I was lucky to get out of the store fully intact earlier today. The mob of midday shoppers turned on me, and it wasn't pretty.