I’ve been thinking about pet peeves since last night after an incident at the grocery store yesterday.

I had stopped at the grocery store on my way home to pick up a few items. It had been a long day, actually the worst day of my cold.  When I came out of the store I had to move a shopping cart that some ignoramus had left too close to my car.

Boy, it really irks me when people do that.  Why must they leave their shopping carts in the middle of the parking lot? Why can’t they respect our shared space? My gosh, it takes about a whole half a minute to put a cart where it belongs.

I have another shopping cart peeve, too, now that I think about it. This one occurs in the store. I hate when people abandon their grocery carts right in the middle of the aisle because they forgot something or just hog the aisle while they peruse the shelves.

Now I’m on a roll.

I also hate it when people say “irregardless.” Irregardless ain’t isn’t a word. Oh, wait. Yes, it is -just looked it up in Merriam Webster. Well, that just figures. Misuse a word long enough and it becomes acceptable. Drats!  Well, irregardless of it being a word now, regardless means the same thing and is the better choice as far as I’m concerned.

Oh, and here’s another one. I hate it when people use the restroom and don’t wash their hands. That’s just yucky. Period.

I hate it when I am behind a driver that leaves his turn signals on for miles.

I hate it when people use their cell phones in a way that interferes with whatever I’m doing, such as 1. while I’m behind someone in his car and he is distracted because he is on his phone  2. while I’m behind someone in the checkout line and he is ignoring the cashier because he is on his phone 3. while I’m behind someone at the drive-in window at the bank and he doesn’t move forward when he is done with his transaction because he is on his phone 4. while I’m trying to get in or out of any business establishment and the cell phone user is blocking the doorway because he is on his phone.

I hate it when people spit on the pavement. Eeww!

I hate it when people believe what they read in junk emails.

One of Brian’s pet peeves is when a car pulls out onto the road right in front of him and then drives about 15 miles per hour.

Tee hee.  This has been fun and kind of cathartic, too. 

What are some of your pet peeves? Share them here. This will be fun. 🙂

I went antiquing with Carrie in Savannah on Valentine’s Day. We had much fun, but we didn’t buy anything – well, except Carrie, who bought a pack of Teaberry gum. Oh yeah, and I bought a really cool funky green umbrella, since it looked like it would rain. It wasn’t an antique. And, it didn’t rain.

We did quite a bit of walking and had a lot of fun.  We saw “Valentine Seth” (yes, him on the left) on Broughton Street in the historic district standing in front of 24e, an eclectic home furnishings store.  I should have asked him what was in that bag.

Care and I saw a cool dining room table/desk on the second floor of that store that we both liked and it cost about a million dollars (just kidding)! I actually forget now how much it did cost, except that it was out of my price range.  Well, too, I’m not really looking for  a new dining room table/desk right now.   What I was looking for was some kind of tapestry to hang on my dining room wall to cover that ugly, silver metal electrical box eyesore, but had no luck. So, I guess I’m still looking.

The best news, though, is it’s supposed to rain on Wednesday. Maybe I can show off my new umbrella.

This article is prefaced by a thank you to my sister Bonnie and to Greg Garber at ESPN.com for his excellent article about the Terrible Towel. Please go to http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/playoffs2008/columns/story?columnist=garber_greg&page=hotread20/garber to read his article in its entirety and watch a video of Myron Cope.

The Terrible Towel

When you see the throngs of Steeler fans in the stadium on Super Bowl Sunday waving those gold towels, think about this:

The Terrible Towel was created in the 1970s, by a couple of guys that worked at local radio station, WTAE.  General manager Ted Atkins, sales manager Larry Garrett and broadcaster Myron Cope set out to create a unique identifier to set Steeler fans and their team apart from their competitors.  After a couple of ideas were nixed due to cost, one of the guys, Garrett, suggested a towel since “everyone has a towel.”

The idea might never have gotten out to the masses, except for Myron Cope.

According to an article written by Greg Garber at ESPN, Cope relentlessly hyped the Terrible Towel in the days leading up to the 1975 divisional championship game against the Baltimore Colts at Three Rivers Stadium. He raved about it on his radio shows and he tossed towels at the anchor and weatherman on the 11 o’clock news.

“The Terrible Towel is poised to strike,” Cope said, everywhere he went. “Bring a yellow, gold or black towel to the playoff game, and if you don’t have one, buy one, if you don’t want to buy one, dye one.”

Sure enough, on the day of the game, an estimated 30,000 of the 50,000 fans in attendance pulled out their towels, waving and cheering when the defense ran onto the field. And, the fans waved those towels during the game, too, like when linebacker Andy Russell recovered a fumble and ran 93 yards for a touchdown. (And, yes, the Steelers won that game.)

And so, because of Cope’s tireless efforts, the Terrible Towel was born and would become the mainstay emblem of Steeler fans everywhere.

But, the story doesn’t end here. It continues with Cope donating his portion of the proceeds of the sales of Terrible Towels to charity, and, eventually signing over his copyright to the Allegheny Valley School in Coraopolis, PA, a school dedicated to providing residential, therapeutic, educational, vocational and social programs for children and adults with intellectual or developmental needs. 

To date, the Allegheny Valley School has received more than $2.5 million from sales of the Terrible Towel and related merchandise.

Myron Cope died last year (February 27, 2008), but there’s no doubt that he will be at this Sunday’s game in spirit and with every wave of the towel.

 So, now that you know, try not to get choked up when you see the best fans of the best team support their Steeler Nation.