Early Morning Observations

I notice certain things every morning on my drive to work. My commute is about 5 miles, so my observations are limited, but some things puzzle me:

- Why are so many people on their cell phone early in the morning? Have you noticed this? I try to figure out who they might be talking to, but none of the obvious options make sense...
When I leave to go to work, I say good-bye to Nicole, Sam, and Bruce, and exchange "I love you"s with each, even Bruce (I say 'I love you', he responds by licking himself and staring at me). There is no need for me to call any of them two minutes later and stay on the phone for the entire drive. I don't call the office and I doubt the people I'm referring to do either. And what friend calls another friend at 8am? I don't get it.

- Panhandlers. I get coffee at McDonalds basically every morning. I crave it like crazy. There is usually someone standing by the order screen, needing gas money. There are also people at the intersections. I know they're full of crap, so do they wake up early to an alarm in their apartment or house or mansion, put on their work rags, kiss their wife, drink coffee as they watch the news, run through the script options for the day (Out Of Gas, Prescription Money, Just Enough For Some Breakfast, etc.), then head to the "office"? I actually 'busted' a guy this morning. His script called for him to say "Hey dude [shake head and smirk], I know this looks bad, but I'm driving through here on my way to Houston and just need a little gas money. I'm sorry, dude." I responded with, "How many times are you going to use that story, dude? You've tried the same thing on me three times. " His response: "Gas prices are just so high - you know?" Me: "I know - it sucks. See ya later."

- Hooligans and their shenanigans. Have you noticed how early young punks are out walking the streets? I have wondered about this for a long time. Why are they up so early, and why are they walking around? Don't young people like to sleep in and watch TV? And aren't these the same punks who cause trouble at night? Do they work the night shift of hooliganning, just wrapping up the day when I see them? Or is there a night squad of punks and a morning squad?

- I also don't get how people can listen to serious talk radio in the morning. I'm a happy morning person, but I'm not in the mood to listen to some monotone, opinionated, pompous dude explain "what's really going on" with politics, current events, last night's game, the war, or gas prices. I need music in the morning.