There are some things to combat this threat, of course, besides the arm systems. Lock your doors. Get a dog. Things of that nature. Especially lock your doors when you’re in the back yard (that doesn’t prevent the home invasion but can prevent the sneakier types from coming in and stealing your purse, for instance). But, really, if the gangbangers are trying to be initiated into their gang, I don’t think a dead bolt’s necessarily going to stop them. If they can kick in the door, do their damage and prevent you from calling 9-1-1, then what’s the point? An alarm system will do the calling for you. And a nice bright sign in the yard will warn away any potential invaders (hopefully).

My fears aren’t helped with the commercials on television either. I’d like to see them address the growing threat of home invasion without scaring the kids to death when the commercials come on. I’ve already had a talk with Mags and am slightly worried that I’m going to give my child a complex warning her about all of these dangers. I moved to a small town so we wouldn’t have to worry about this stuff, but it still worries me.

I would personally love to see more talk of domestic terrorism when discussing these gangs. Aren’t they terrorizing us when we’re afraid to leave our doors unlocked while we’re home in broad daylight? I think so. I consider that terrorism. I consider not being able to sit on your porch at night because of the gangs to be terrorism. I’m more worried about that activity than some foreign terrorist doing damage. There are gang task forces, of course, but what good are they doing? I was watching “Gangland” on The History Channel and there is a gang in Nashville (!!) that specializes in home invasions. Doesn’t that make them terrorists?

Yes. Yes, it does. I don’t care what anyone says. These gangs target innocent people in an effort to prove their “cred” and that’s terrorism. I shouldn’t have to activate an alarm system while I’m watching the 2pm showing of “Wife Swap” because there might be someone coming to break down my door. But it seems I’m going to have to consider doing just that. No, the home invasions aren’t pervasive in my town yet. But it’s only a matter of time. And what about the people that live in the town where these things are increasing in frequency? Aren’t those people living amongst terrorism?

I try not to watch the news too often because it’s depressing and scares the ever-lovin’ crap out of me. But this is an issue that really concerns me as crime rates go up due to, well, whatever reason the professionals use to justify it. It’s no wonder so many people are shut-ins. They don’t want to deal with the cold reality that they’re not safe in their own homes. I don’t blame them.

I’ve run into a couple of different videos today that should have made the producers feel ashamed of themselves. One of them was of Maia Campbell supposedly going beserk because of her drug dependency. Another was someone “interviewing” supposed strangers to prove a point about health care reform. Both videos were a little less than stellar and neither of them made the producers look good, though the second video was at least in good faith.

I’d like to see more funny and/or informative people taking control of YouTube—with the less-than-stellar ones shoved to the bottom of the heap. I hate to see someone with a little bit of Twitter influence take making some nonsense that just happened to go viral. Like the lady I spoke of before with her imaginary FMS, these guys should stick to written commentary and let the real videographers have all the fun.

/end rant

Well, those days are no more. Now you’re lucky if your doctor is in his office two days a week. I called mine on Monday and was told he was out of the office. Tuesday I was busy and forgot I wanted to call him. Wednesday I didn’t bother. So I tried today. He had his golf game and he should be in, right?

Wrong. Once again my darling doctor wasn’t in. Neither was his nurse practioner. And the office will be closed all weekend (for the holiday). What, is there some kind of party going on in the Hamptons? Honestly.

So, I’ve strengthened my resolve to find another doctor. I think I’ve pretty much had it up to my eyeballs with the one I have. He doesn’t take me seriously and I can’t get a hold of him when I have some serious questions. The only thing I really like about him is that I don’t have to go in every time I need my prescription refilled and he did re-prescribe my other pain killer without me having to go in. But other than that I’m not happy. Of course, I wasn’t happy with the two doctors I had before him, either, but that’s not the point.

I guess the point could be made that’s it incredibly difficult to find a doctor that actually cares about his patients more than his vacation house. Hopefully the next one on my list will at least be available on a Monday or Thursday.