Things That Must Go

1.  Chuck Todd.  The only t.v. stations we get are Fox and NBC.  I don't have a problem with the NBC Nightly News, Brian Williams is personable enough, but I cannot take Chief White House Correspondent, Chuck Todd seriously because of his stupid goatee.  Now you know I love a good beard, but there is something about a goatee that looks so sloppy and unfinished.  It screams college student.  I cannot listen to this guy talk about the politics of the nation cause I just imagine him going to his frat house afterwards.  He has taken the spot of least favorite news caster away from Katie Couric.  Shave it off Chuck!

2.  The Northwest E.R. Billboard.  Our local hospital has a billboard up on the freeway that has a digital readout of the current E.R. wait time.  I find this morbid and unnecessary.  First of all, we are not a large enough community where there are lots of E.R. options if you are in an emergency.  Northwest is it for Bentonville, so it doesn't really matter what the wait time is, you can drive to Mercy in Rogers, but the time it takes to keep driving will most likely eat a significant portion of the Northwest wait time.  And lets face it people make these decisions based on which system their insurance covers anyway.  Secondly, it makes me sad when I do see that the wait time is long cause then I just imagine all the people in trouble and it bums me out.  I just really don't see the point of this billboard.

3.  People who shush adults in church.  Now I am all for shushing kids in church, and I do not advocate adults being disruptive.  The problem lies in how we deal with them.  Shushing is ALWAYS done out of anger and frustration.  I defy anyone to deny this.  People only shush when they get really annoyed.  It is like how all the parenting articles say you shouldn't spank your kids cause it is only the parent's way of relieving their anger and frustration.  All that shushing an adult does is make the shusher feel like they have done something proactive.  But it hardly ever solves the problem and it only offends the talker.  "Well they offended me by talking/making noise...they shouldn't be offended in Church."  Yeah yeah yeah whatever, look do you want to hurt feelings or do you want to stop the noise?  If you want to do the latter then stop treating adults like children and politely ask them to stop talking or quiet down. 

4.  Tight diapers.  I don't understand the need for people to squish baby tummies by pulling those tabs as tight as humanly possible.  As long as I have had kids in diapers I have noticed that people love to get those tabs close together.  I can understand this if the child had diarrhea, but not for everyday.  I think I became aware of this with Max because his acid reflux was so painful that we specifically left his diapers a bit lose.  But daycare workers, babysitters, and almost anyone who has changed any of my kids diapers likes to squish their tummies.  That can't be comfortable for them.  Who likes wearing too tight under ware?  I suspect that for some it is an unconscious reflex like people who like to flatten pancakes while baking them.  It just seems right to get it as tight as possible, but I feel bad for the kids.  It reminds me of people who put headbands, or as my dad calls them "Brain Squashers", on baby girls.  Sure they look cute, but headbands give me a headache, of course those babies are crying.