kaffeekletch

All right. I admit it. I’m bad blogger. A very bad blogger. But I want to be better. So, I really will try to post more often. No promises, though. Hey, I’m a busy guy. We have a two year old kiddo, which can be like living with a menopausal rhino — watch out for those mood swings! There are days when the blog is (and obviously has been) a very low priority.

But for tonight, I’m back at it. And I’m thinking about two words that I’ve heard a lot over the past month: perception and appearances. Now, don’t get me wrong. I do believe that the way one presents him or herself to the casual or first-time observer can greatly shape perception. However, I also believe that appearances can be deceiving, and I prefer to scratch below the surface before doling out a “yea” or “nay” decision on whether I choose to associate with someone. Situationally speaking, I tend to give people a great deal of leeway. There’s a lot of grey area between worthless and exceptional, and I don’t want to make a hasty judgment regarding someone’s behavior that I have only observed in a relatively small window of time. And in my nearly 36 years, this philosophy has served me quite well. Have I been burned because of it? Yes. Often? No. If I had to assign a percentage to the number of times I’ve been burned, it would be less than 1. Consequently, I have the rather high expectation of others that they will base their opinions of me in a similar fashion. For those who rush to judge me I say, “that’s too bad for you.” Alright, it’s typically a more colorful phrase, but I’m saving up the vulgarity for later.

I bring this up now partly because it’s the season of ugly. Elections are synonymous with mud-slinging these days, and it’s difficult to remain above the fray all the time. So yes, I’ll likely go on the offensive in this space over the next month. There’s your warning on that issue. More importantly, though, there’s every other issue that might affect me in a multitude of ways at any given time. And I may choose to spout off about those issues here. And what I write may seem negative, but it could just as easily be positive. One thing that is likely to remain constant will be an attempt to inject humor into my topics whenever I can because that’s just the way I am. But if you read something here one day that seems harsh or even mean (or vulgar — yes, I promise it’s coming), just remember that it’s a glimpse of just a small portion of who I am. Come back to read another day and find that there’s far more to me than a snarky comment here and there. If you don’t, well then that’s too bad for you.

OK. That’s out of the way, then. I promised some vulgarity, and I’d hate for you to think that I don’t live up to my promises, so here goes…

Have you seen Subway’s latest advertising campaign? I’m unusually annoyed by it. I want to know what the hell everyone involved with these ads was thinking. Submarine sandwiches (sorry, I just can’t call them hoagies) are phallic enough, but to produce a commercial full of people making hand gestures that, in the American vernacular, appear to be referencing five large dicks is JUST PLAIN WRONG. Will someone please make it stop? I can’t decide if the Subway folks are naive or if they thought it would be funny. Either way, the commercials are idiotic, and have forever tainted my enjoyment of a nice veggie max sandwich from Subway.

Isn’t it amazing how the smallest things can chip away at you until it’s almost unbearable? And no, the first part of the post was not written in reference to the second. I have much larger things on my mind. It just so happened that one of those damned commercials played while I was writing.