What aggravates you? Politics excluded.

I could fill up four pages on this but here's just one: MOPEDS! Back in my childhood, when dinosaurs roamed the earth, if you were fortunate enough to own a minibike (you know, small wheels, small frame, small engine) you were **** of the walk, admired and envied by your peers. But God help you if you were caught riding it along the edge of a road or in an alley, then off your happy ass went to Juvenile Court (really!). Now anyone who can plop down the money for a stinkin' moped may, at least in my state, hit the roads and tie up traffic everywhere except the damn interstate! ARRRGH!

 

****? REALLY?

 

Look at the bright side, there is an ebike boom coming, it's already happening in Europe. If he can't stand scooters, ebikes will give him the heebie jeebies.

Btw, I have an ebike and love it. Rode it to get a haircut today, and then down to Trader Joes.

It's fab.

 

Drunks. I cannot stand to be around a drunk. I don't care if they are a happy drunk, a crying drunk, a fighting drunk, a quiet drunk, an "I Love You" drunk or any other type of drunk. I just don't want to be around them.

 

That's fine, but I imagine you weren't in the MIDDLE of the lane in a 55mph zone doing 281/2. THATS what I'm talking about. VA doesn't have a minimum speed limit on highways.

 

Then bug your legislator and have them change the law. That's nuts, we don't allow anything on the highway that can't keep up. There's a min speed of 40 in a 55mph zone.

 

Its' been tried without success, you'd think it'd be a bipartisan no-brainer in the name of public safety but there's never been any real interest from either party in the legislature. So come to VA and you can ride a three-legged mule down the road and people just have to work their way around you.

 

UGG Boots. They flip a switch in my brain.

Also, pretty much all of the newly popular 80s clothes that all the hipsters are wearing. I hated those clothes when I was a kid in the 80s and I didn't even know any better. They are even worse this 2nd time around.

When I go my kid's football games and see all the mouth breathing idiotic high school kids walking around dressed like Marty McFly after a lobotomy I just want to drown myself in the nearest puddle.

 

People on my towns FB group page who when folks solicit a service, give something away, sell something, jump in after it's been spoken for. Case in point, a guy asked if someone could weld a tube for him and a guy asked him what needed welding, so he told him and then a guy tagged me so I posted looks like "Jim" spoke up first but I'm here if needed. Well, "jim" never posted back and the guy post back some hours later and said, "looks like no one wants to help me.

Some other guy jumps in and says "I can do it tonight, I messaged you" so I post I will do it for 20$ (knowing I probably underbid him, as was my goal). It was a 15 minute job, I did it today.

Another time a lady posted "12 free goldfish" I spoke first and said I could take a few, then some lady post right after me and says "I'll take all of them" so I suggested their being two of us, we could split them. Rude and greedy people

 

People texting while driving at 70 MPH.

 

People.

 

I never got the attraction to E-Bikes. One benefit of cycling is the health benefit. t age 67, I cycle some 6-7k a year, and am in best condition of my life and certainly better than many half my age.

 

Seems like the most popular place to be aggravated is behind the steering wheel (or handle bars). I'm not surprised, 'cause this is where I feel most like my true self. The most annoying driving style of others, for me, is NOT STAYING IN THEIR LANE. This bugs me anytime but esp. when the person is in the opposite (left) lane, heading toward me. It's unsafe, presumptuous, & inconsiderate. The only way it can be worse is if that person beeps at me for going too fast (though I stay w/in my lane always, except when passing). As far as I'm concerned, no matter how slow you're going, if you can't manage to stay completely in your own lane, you're not demonstrating the skill to justify your speed, & you need to slow down to the point where you can adequately handle your vehicle; those lines are not just, "suggested."

 

I think I should actually take back my 1st answer (about drivers who can't stay in their own lane). The question Joesnagg asked was, "what AGGRAVATES you?" and I don't think that describes the way I feel about anything I experience on the road, except for traffic jams. Other drivers may do things that irritate or annoy me (on the rare occasion possibly even piss me off), but these are all very short-lived emotions. To me, aggravation suggests a slow, grinding type of irritation. Which means, for me, all my top answers will likely revolve around the internet & smartphone/computer technology: they're just NOT all they're cracked up to be.

Even though I have the most basic & outdated of phones (& no internet connection), the functioning of cyber-space has NEVER lived up to its hype at any given moment. I remember a high school classmate, in the early 80s, telling me that computers or (if it existed, yet) the internet had already, or very soon would, make libraries obsolete. But the web STILL doesn't take the place of a good library, is inferior in most ways except convenience. The problem is, good libraries are fewer & farther between because an increasing amount of their space & funding are being devoted to internet access. Therein lies the rub, so to speak. I'd have no complaints w/ online avenues if the pre-internet routes were still functional. But, when they are even an option, anymore, they're understaffed & far less convenient or effective. So what really annoys me is when a tech-partisan says of those who complain, "if you don't like it, then don't use it!" Oh, aren't you clever, you little f***face? I'd LOVE to not HAVE to use the internet for most things. But if you need to file for unemployment, good luck getting through on the phone, if they're even answering it at all (which, for a time at the beginning of the shutdown, my state WASN'T). If you see a, "help wanted," sign & walk in, I can't remember the last time I wasn't told, "Go to our website." So, apparently, there IS no going back &, like it or not, we're all saddled w/ it, so when things don't work as they're supposed to online, I damn well WILL vent my frustration over the situation.

I could go on but I don't want to make this post any longer, esp. if all I'm accomplishing is making myself appear, "out of touch." But, be assured or be warned, as you will, that I anticipate another post from me here on the subject. Thanks to anyone who's, "listening (besides the NSA)," and thanks, Joesnagg, for giving me this place to vent.

 

Need a tee shirt that reads, "people, not a fan".

 

People posting in internet forums.

 

Litterbugs. I hate seeing litter everywhere especially in parks. Why can't people put their garbage in garbage cans or take it with them? And who are these people that toss out fast food bags and drink containers in parking lots? Do they just eat and throw their garbage out the car?

 

You're welcome. And wouldn't it be enlightening to see just what the NSA has on everyone. particularly politicians. It'd probably make J. Edgar Hoover's fabled "private files" pale in comparison.

 

I am 69.

I has cancer several years ago, and had to stop riding. This gets me out there, it is good exercise, and my health is markedly better.

So...for several years nothing. Last year I rode 300 miles. This year I am almost up to 600 miles.

If you don't need one, don't buy one. But if you do, they're great.

Some that don't need them use them to get to work without turning into a sweatball, or using the bike for real world needs like transporting kids and getting groceries.

One last thing, these things get better every year. As they get better, and mass production kicks in, they will become more popular here. But there are places in Europe where they are already half (or close to half) of all bike sales.

That's impressive mileage you've got there, I'm jealous. Back in the day my mileage was half that. What do you have for a bike. I used to ride my Gunnar Sport.

 

My aggravation meter is directly tied to my mood. One day, slow walkers blocking my way will drive me to madness. On another day, no big deal. But people who rest their cell phone on a dining table while out for a meal will piss me off every time.

 

My vanity won't let me get an E-bike primarily because I used to race bicycles and used to ride over 200 miles a day during training.

On rainy days, I had a heavy bicycle with bricks on the luggage rack that I would ride about 60 miles with ankle weights.

Because of a life lived fully if not always wisely, I currently have multiple health conditions that now prevent me from riding at all but I agree that cycling is a great way to stay in shape until some clod in a Buick crashes into you.

Congratulations & be careful...

 

Hmmm....there was a time, stemming from my time in Belfast during the Troubles when I figured I would meet my end in violence. Then, after coming to the US, I figured I would be the author of my death because of the risky nature of my interests, flying planes, hangliding, Sky diving, helicopter skiing, cliff diving, and other similar risky activities I was willing to engage in, perhaps because of the combination of having lost my fear of death living in Belfast in those years, confidence in my abilities to manage myself in dangerous life threatening situations, and perhaps because I appeared to have grown addicted to the dopamine rush of risky behavior, and a tendency not to appreciate the risk of pain due to a condition called congenital imperviousness to pain a potentially life threatening condition. Over the last few years I have mellowed, not as aggressively pursuing the rush of risk. So, these days I joke that I know longer figure my end happening in violence, or some kind of thrill seeking resulting crash, but, because of the miles I cycle, it will happen on two wheels with a good chance it the result of being hit by a car (I have had a lot of close calls). I keep cycling because of the health benefits; better, I figure, a fast death than wasting away from inactivity (my motto... keep moving or start dying). Then too, the meditative effects of cycling, I joke results in dissipating the stress in my life, and, as I sometimes joke...probably saves lives.

 

I was lucky to have a close younger friend that was a cycling fanatic. Once I hit my fifties, surprised to realize I was still living despite the risky life I had led, I had started one by one to address certain health issues. Then inspired by my friend, I bought a carbon fiber frame road bike, did a custom fitting (highly recommended) eventually continually upgrading it. I think I got into riding at the right time... my health hadn’t degraded to the point of making habitual riding frustrating, resulting in eventually abandoning it. It wasn’t easy in the beginning... hills, lot hills here, were heart attack challenging at first, but it got easier. Then too at some point, both the physical conditioning improvements augmented by the neural addictive effects of regular long rides, combined to make cycling an addictive thing (I get withdraw feelings if I don’t ride).
I have a stable of bikes now. A couple road bikes, a couple different MTN bikes, and a Triathalon bike. Which I ride depends on my mood. With my Mtm bikes, I do a bit of what I call Bush-Whacking, going where few venture even on foot.
I actually cycle more miles than I drive. As for work, I work from a home office, so commuting is getting out of bed.

 

A not so new aggravation. Yesterday I had to replace the furnace thermostat, the THIRD in less than six years. Today my wireless mouse, less than five MONTHS old. No matter WHAT you buy, be it a "Great American Brand" or otherwise (oh hell, EVERYTHING is made in China) for years it's all been apparently equipped with a chip that goes tick...tick...tick...DING, TIME TO FAIL! ARRRGH!!!

 

I cant stand plastics laying around in nature.
Dirty surroundings also, but I'm not feeling depressed like feeling stained nature.

Once in a while, I get on cleaning accessible public forests just to get past it. I don't tell this to any. I may have some sort of disorder