I need my parlay fix!

First of all (since this blog is all about complaining allow me to get this off my chest) darn you Oregon lottery! A year or two ago the Oregon lottery did away with sports gambling, ever since, the football season has not been the same for me. I feel a little better now that I got that out, thanks.
Ok back to business. I want to open an online gambling account to place bets. I’m especially itching because of the great bowl games in the next week but I just can’t pull the trigger. I’m too afraid of the validity of the sites. Any help? I know someone who uses a site and has even been paid after winning so I know they’re legit. I guess I’m just afraid those who give their credit card information to a gambling site are just asking for identity theft. It’s not that I’m afraid to purchase goods online just something about an online gambling site freaks me out a bit. Guess I picture a guy doing Nigerian mail scams on one monitor and running an online gambling site on another. Maybe I just need to grow a pair and do it already because my untrusting nature is ruining sports for me. I can’t even sit thru a football game anymore without constantly flipping the channel. Is there a support group for people like me? Or better yet, a trusty site out there others might recommend?

My Intro Rant/welcome letter

This should have been the first posting to my new blog site but given that it’s my second posting that may be some indication as to how I feel the need to complain about things off the top of my head. I’ve often been described as cranky and some believe I was born without patients. Well honestly, I don’t believe I should feel bad if I voice my feelings aloud when I’m being inconvenienced. Case in point, the grocery store… This is one of my most dreaded of places, if I was to describe a grocery store to a person who’s never seen one it might go something like this; Imagine hell with an electronic door where people wonder aimlessly and don’t follow basic rules of traffic when pushing a cart (like placing their cart right in the middle of the isle so everyone has to either move it or move around it). Where people’s brain waves seem to slow to a screeching halt, mouths have a tendency to hang open and people appear to hold a conversation with canned goods. It’s as if our instinct of hunting and gathering is at total odds with this overabundance of readily available sustenance. Guess I better not be the welcoming committee to someone just out of a cave… But seriously, stand back the next time you’re in the g-store and just observe for a minute or two. I highly recommend the produce and check out areas for your observations. Here’s some things to watch out for, excessive staring, standing frozen as if their computer is not responding, strange peaceful facial expressions as if drugged, and worst of all, talking to the checkout person after their transaction is complete when other people are waiting to get checked out. Just thinking about it makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up. Question, am I rude for asking the person to discontinue their conversation that’s costing me time or are they rude for uselessly inconveniencing me and others behind me? Think about it, why does social etiquette say that I’m in the wrong? Maybe we need to rethink that one.
Am I alone in this struggle? Do others get annoyed at little things and feel the need to voce them in order to get over them? Or am I just a perfect candidate for deserted Island inhabitation? By the way, if anyone has a deserted Island they’d loan me with a golf course, warm weather and a nice beach…
So here it is, Jared’s Rants. My place to voice my annoyance with the day to day things that just seem to get my panties in a bunch, I plan to talk about things like behavior at four way stops, golf course etiquette, and much much more! Hope you get a laugh from my silly ramblings. Just remember, it’s all in good fun just the dry humor and lack of patients of a cranky old man (well actually I’m not that old).

Excessive “Arctic Blast” coverage

If you live in the Pacific Northwest you know what I’m referring to when I use the term “Arctic Blast”. If you don’t live in the Pacific Northwest I have a sneaking suspicion you can relate with other news stories from your area. The term “Arctic Blast” is the dramatic title a local station has given our current weather situation.
In the last week or so we’ve had snow here in Portland, to most people that are not familiar with the area trust me when I tell you this is rare. I’m a native Oregonian and darn proud of it and this being my first blog me bragging about being a native of this great state will likely be a common theme throughout my rants. Anywho as I was saying snow in any Oregon metro area is rare, the news here has been over the top to say the least. This last Saturday for example the I-84 was closed to Hood River, not naming names one channel decided this was so important for us to know their coverage of this highway closure lasted all day, I mean all day. Not sure why they believed seeing some poor b-rated reporter standing in front of a truck stop was something the residents of the Portland metro area needed to see all day long. Saturday in particular upset me. A golf tournament was supposed to be aired at that time, needless to say I didn’t get to see one minute of that. Not just because I’m a fan of the game do I have an issue with this, allow me to explain. Here we are stuck at home, bored of everything else available so what do we want? If you answered an escape then you’re with me! Not sure who would want continuous reminders of the ominous status of our nearby highway over an enjoyable afternoon of sunny golf coverage allowing us to dust off the old imagination for a couple hours and play along with a few of golf’s greats in our heads.
So thanks local news coverage! Please, continue as long as you want. I can’t get enough ODOT camera coverage and ridiculously overdramatic scenes of snow on city streets. Here’s a news flash, we know it’s snowing! We have windows!