Well, after longer than I care to admit, I'm making my first entry in my blog. Initially, this was set up to be a sort of photography blog (because, Heaven knows, there just aren't enough of those), but I feel as though I need a sort of "jumping off" point; something to lay a baseline of where I'm coming from.

I was excited when I first got this whole thing set up. "Man", I thought, "Now I can impart all of my wisdom upon the world".

The problem was, I didn't know what the Hell to say.

Well, after much consideration, I've decided on the topic for this first entry. They're something we all encounter every single day of our lives. They're something that, if given a magic wand and a New York minute, we would rightfully rid ourselves, and all of humanity, of.

Of course, I'm talking about stupid people.

I'm not talking about your garden-variety stupid people. I'm talking about people who are so profoundly stupid that it's a wonder that they're allowed to mingle with the general populace, on a daily basis, without a generous degree of clinical oversight.

So, who are these stupid people?

Well, look around, kind friend. You'll see them.

The people who "get me" the most are, as you might imagine, those idiots who have no business being on the highways in a free society, yet, there they are. These are the people who, for instance, view the speed limit with the same reverence that they do those laws surrounding murder. Now, I'm not saying we all need to be out there doing our best Mario Andretti impression but, please, use a little common sense, and glance in your mirror every now and then.

On a recent drive from Los Angeles to San Diego, I was behind one of these "people". There was a good deal of traffic, but not so much that it wasn't moving along at a good clip. That is, of course, unless you happened to find yourself behind the rather grand-fatherly hammerhead driving the '89 Grand Marquis in the left lane.

Doing 60.

Now, you have to understand something about southern California freeways: Driving at the speed limit will get you killed. Seriously. The speed limit signs are really put there as roadside decorations. They're something to break up the mundane view of the pristine southern California coastline. They should be viewed as no more than a guideline for when there's a torrential downpour and you're on bald tires. Anything beyond that really does warrant standing on the gas a bit more.

If the sign says 65 MPH, add (at a minimum) 10, and you'll be safe.

Other stupid people?

How about the guy at the grocery checkout who waits until the check-out girl gives him his total before writing his check? And, oh, who the Hell uses checks any more, anyway? I've got checks just so I have something to fill up the physical space in that brown wallet looking thing I have that I used to take out when it was time to pay bills.

Checks?? For the love of all that's holy, no.

But it gets better.

I was behind a guy at Office Depot the other day. I had to buy a "travel mouse" for my laptop. As I absolutely detest laptops, I figure anything I can do to make it more like the desktops I detest, the better.

So, I walk up towards the counter, and the guy in front of me is buying some cheap software, a couple of reams of computer paper, and a desk lamp; probably about $60.00 worth of stuff. Now, I don't know about anyone else, but it takes me about 30 seconds to check out at Office Depot, regardless of what I'm buying. Then again, I'm one of those maverick customers who, generally speaking, is already aware of how I'm going to pay for something before I even enter the store.

But back to our take of bemusement:

So I walk up behind this guy at the counter. To my utter horror, he has just dumped an absolute mountain of change, out of a canvas bag, onto the counter.

Say what??

The employee-check-out-dude looks at the guy as if he has three heads. He asks him if he truly intends to pay for his purchase in change. "We take Visa, you know" was the only other thing he could get out.

"Heh?" was the response.

The guy with the cheap software and the reams of computer paper and the desk lamp didn't speak English.

At all.

This was going to be a marathon check-out.

So, employee-check-out-dude starts counting the money which has been so generously strewn about his counter. He seemed to react with a discernible level of glee every time he came across a quarter. Mostly, he was looking at a pile of dimes and nickels, with the occasional splash of a copper-colored penny thrown in.

Employee-check-out-dude had just counted the twentieth dollar (primarily in dimes and nickels) when, lo and behold, the guy pulls out a Visa card.

"Eh?"

Schmuck.

So, these are the kinds of people I'm talking about. Idiot drivers and shoppers who should be subjected only to others of their kind, freeing up the rest of us to trod through our day without the benefit of their influence.

Now, with that off my chest, I'll endeavor to focus this blog onto that which takes up the majority of my free time these days: Photography.

Enjoy.

Or don't...

Steve