Road rage, Swiss style

So, I'm driving Olivia to speech therapy at UT tonight and as I'm getting ready to pull out of my neighborhood, I notice a silver VW across the road, preparing to turn out of another neighborhood.

I have the right-of-way and with turn indicator blinking, I turn right. Said person in silver VW whips out behind me and proceeds to ride my ass all the way up McCord road. As we get to the intersection at McCord and Sylvania, he whips around me and then cuts me off, slamming on his brakes at the red light.

And this is where it gets a bit crazy.

Lunatic driver gets OUT OF HIS CAR and walks/runs to my car and proceeds to POUND ON the driver's side window while trying to open my car door. And did I mention that he's yelling at me too? Yeah, things like "you don't know how to drive!", "are you driving or making a phone call?", etc. [For the record, I was on my cell phone...with my sister who was a cellular witness to this entire insane spectacle].

Crazed guy finally walks back to his car and I'm literally shaking and crying. I mean really...who does that? I was waiting for him to either break my window with his fist or pull a gun or something.

So, I did what any mother would do. I call 911. I told the dispatcher what happened, gave her the guy's license plate (he was still driving in front of me). I heard the sirens from the cop car behind me and then....the cop drove PAST the lunatic. And then the lunatic switched lanes and drove on.

I ended up going to the Sylvania Twp. police to file a police report. And was told that I had to talk to the City of Sylvania cops. So an officer from the city showed up and said "well, it's really disorderly conduct" and "there's always several sides to a story" (to which I replied: "Do you really think he's going to be able to spin this in his favor?")

Cop says he'll go talk to the crazy guy and "chew his ass out" and then will call me and let me know what happened.

Here's what he told me:
- crazy guy is from Switzerland and he feels really bad because he's not a fighter, but that's how they do things in Switzerland. [Funny, I thought the Swiss were the neutral, peaceful people].
- crazy guy says that I was 'driving and braking erratically' and that I flipped him 'the bird' [OK, really...I was driving the speed limit with a lunatic on my bumper and my child in the car, and so yeah, I probably did flip him off. He deserved it. Get over it asshole].
- and my favorite: crazy guy would like to apologize to me because he's really remorseful. I told the cop NO, I would not accept the crazy Swiss man's apology.

I mean really....who in their right mind goes totally ape shit at a red light and bangs on someone's car window while trying to open the driver's side door? Apparently, rage-filled little Swiss men, that's who.

777.68

Dear members of the House of Representatives who have their heads shoved so far up their ass that they can't seem to fathom just how fucked up the economy is,

The Dow Jones just closed down 777.68 points. In case you don't realize it, that is the biggest one day drop in Market history.

The. Biggest. One. Day. Drop. EVER.

You stupid, selfish, self-centered, morons.

What the hell were you thinking?

This is not about just the bailout. This is about the fact that the credit market is frozen. FROZEN. That means companies aren't getting credit which in turn means that they might not be able to pay salaries, which means people are going to lose their jobs and in turn can quite possibly (or most definitely) lose everything.

And you? You're worried about whether or not you're going to get re-elected. Guess what? If your constituents are homeless, jobless and penniless...they aren't going to give two shits about your re-election.

This whole partisan finger pointing is absolute bullshit. All you had to do was vote yes. That's it. A simple three letter word. YES.

The economy is not going to tank in one day. It's going to take some time. But it will go straight to hell in a handbasket if you do not get your shit together and fix this mess.

Fix it. Fix it now.

Thanks,
A very worried mom in Ohio

A bad way to start my day

I was on my way to the salon this morning at 7:45 a.m. when I realized I forgot my camera at home (today was Emma's 1st haircut). So I turned around to run home and Kevin and the girls headed on to the salon in his car. (We were taking 2 cars).

Anyway, I turned down one of the streets in my neighborhood, came to a stop sign and stopped. Or so I thought.

And then I saw the flashing lights in my rearview mirror. Apparently one of Sylvania's finest had been waiting to ambush anyone who just happened to not stop properly at said stop sign.

That person was me. Allegedly. I say I stopped. The cop said I "tapped my breaks and rolled through." Whatev.

Cop: Why didn't you stop at the stop sign?
Me: As far as I know, I did stop.

Then he proceeds to tell me that he's given out 15 tickets in Lincoln Woods (my 'hood) this week. And I say something like "that doesn't surprise me, I see people run the sign by my house all the time." To which he says: "Yeah and you just did the same thing."

Asshole.

So, he takes my license and proceeds to sit in his car for a good 5 minutes. Why? Trying to scare me into thinking he's writing a ticket? Jerk.

He comes back to my car.

Cop: Where are your glasses? (I have a corrective lens restriction on my license).
Me: (Pointing to eyes). Contacts.
Cop: I was hoping you'd say that.
[What I wanted to say at this point was: "Yeah, I can't see the end of my nose without my contacts or glasses so I sure as HELL wouldn't be driving without them."] But I said nothing.

Cop: I'm giving you a warning. You don't have to go to court, but it goes into the computer so I'd recommend not doing this again.
Me: OK.
Cop: You might want to tell your friends about this because I'm old and lazy and I don't like to get out of my car.

Oh, and then he proceeds to tell me this: "You should pay attention when you're driving. When you are in a hurry that's when accidents happen and I'm sure a plastic surgeon wouldn't be able to make you look as good as you do now."

WTF? Ass.Hole.

So, that's how my Saturday started.

Damn. Damn. Damn.