Ok...I've been threatening to do this for some time, and today someone threw the proverbial "straw" on my back.  I live in the OC.  You know...Orange County, California.  Californiaaaaaaaaaa.  Most people standing outside this fishbowl looking in see an other-worldly paradise, where the weather is always great, everyone looks like a model, surfs and drives a BMW or a Benz.  And while there is some minimal discount applied to this lifestyle for the world famous traffic, for the most part people believe it is a paradise of sorts.

As a transplant (like many poor, despondent souls wandering the crowded streets here), I have a different view.  I am one of the "lucky" ones.  I have a 15 min. commute to work.  It's five miles and a straight line.  In theory simple and uneventful.  However on this miniscule slice of my hectic day I experience some of the "best" California has to offer...rude drivers!

It is amazing to me how people here can be so devoid of manners when they click into their seatbelt, throw the car in drive and fire up their cell phones.  On a daily basis I witness no less than three (and at times as many as seven) cars attempting to enter the freeway on ramp from three lanes away.  Now I realize that one can lose track of time, space and manners when recounting last night's escapades to a friend (Dude!) or applying mascara, eyeliner or reading the paper, but are honking, NASCAResque drafting and positioning, or the one finger salute necessary?  Perhaps it's the Red Bull talking.

Nonetheless this is a daily occurence in Paradise.  Nevermind the 40 foot rise in the eight lane road that denotes the freeway overpass or the repetitive droning of TomTom, SueSue or whatever navigation devise is loaded into their luxury car.  The simple fact is that these "Ron Burgundys" are oblivious to everyone around them, blissfully tossing burritos (aka changing lanes, breaking traffic laws and ignoring common courtesy).  Perhaps tomorrow I'll follow them to work and kick them in the Baxter......

This has been a public service announcement of the Coalition to Expose California.