I'D RATHER HAVE MR. ROGERS

I have well-meaning, well-intentioned, but slightly strange neighbors. At least, strange to me. To be clear, it's not all of them. Just some who really confuse me. There are some we really like.

An example: a couple of years ago people that have absolutely no experience in the grocery or hospitality industry tried to write up a business plan for a liquor store so that he could turn his site into a neighborhood grocery. I kid you not, they actually argued over which flavor and brand of ice cream they were going to tell him he had to stock. Meanwhile, I'm not sure why they thought (1) this plan was a feasible one on any level, or (2) that someone - err, the store owner, namely - would ever follow it. I spoke up a couple of times trying to get people to think about some of the things they were proposing, but if you're not 100% in line with these plans, you're kind of persona non grata around these parts.

For whatever reason I continue to keep my name on the neighborhood email distribution list. Sometimes it's proven useful. Most of the time though, not so much.

Apparently the big point of discussion now is approaching Children's Hospital to talk to them about the problematic noise coming in/out of the hospital from their emergency vehicles. You know, ambulances and life flight helicopters. Yes, the helicopters are loud. And yes they fly low. And yes it can be startling. But are you really going to complain about a potentially life-saving service because you can't hear your TV over the noise for 30 seconds at a time? Having a nephew that was life flighted to a Cleveland trauma center, I know first-hand how important those time-saving measures are in getting treatment to sick or injured patients. In this case, children. But you know, the noise. It's such a problem. Y'all, these are the people that live around me. They want to approach a hospital to ask them to find quieter ways to transport the sick and possibly dying. There are days where I really can't help but to shake my head at humanity and where we're at.