Tuesday, 10/12

 What is it with men these days?

You've probably uttered that on occasion recently. I know I sure have, and (last time I checked) I'm a man myself. But there's been an explosion of something I've noticed in the past year or so, all of which can be blamed on men. What is that, you ask? Well, I answer--

Just what is it with men and (incredibly) loud cars & trucks?

I'm being serious about this. I walk everywhere, and I live on a very busy city street. In the past year (maybe two) there's been an exponential increase of vehicles on the road either without mufflers or with some kind of noise enhancement doo-hickey on it. I always thought that was against the law—although that law could have changed—but it seems like every time I'm out or even every time I sit down to work on something in our living room I hear an insanely loud vehicle a few feet away from me.

And trust me—those vehicles are a joy to be around.

I'm not quite sure WHY someone would do that to a vehicle, unless they have a desire to be a pest to the general population and/or prove to everyone that they have a small...piston rod. But vehicles like that are everywhere you look (or walk) these days. And like I said—every single one of them I've come across the past year or so—and that's been a LOT—has been piloted by a guy. Sometimes there's a woman in the passenger seat. More often than not, the dude's alone in the vehicle. But whenever there's a loud vehicle there's a guy present.

As I said before, what is it with men these days? I mean, this is just me speaking, and I may be missing the whole point of car-casting your presence to the entire world. But what makes you think the rest of the world wants to hear how loud your car or truck is? Do you think the 99.9 percent of us woke up this morning and thought to ourselves “You know, I wonder how loud (fill in the blank) can get their car today?”

Let me give you a hint—I really don't think we DO wanna how loud your vehicle can get. So if it's at all possible, do you think you could either a). show a little common courtesy, or 2) use the money you'd spend on a noise enhancement doo-hickey and maybe, I dunno, buy the rest of us earplugs?

We, the general public, would appreciate it.

Thank you.

(jim@wmqt.com)