Fireworks...or citations? You choose.

So, tonight is New Year's Eve. Where I grew up, in Michigan, I'd never even dreamed that New Year's was a time to go and buy fireworks.

And even if I had fireworks, I'd never dream of going outside and popping them when the clock struck midnight. It's cold up there.

So, when I moved down to Texas and saw that warmer climates had two fireworks seasons instead of one, I was a little intrigued at the novelty.

Now it just seems like old hat.

But the more I worked for the Port Arthur News, the more a certain phrase kept getting thrown at me when doing the usual fireworks safety story. And that phrase is:

"It is illegal to pop fireworks in the city limits."

Um. Well, then where should we go?

Fireworks stands are set up on the outskirts of town because it's illegal to sell them in town. It is also against the law to pop fireworks near a fireworks stand.

And our area of Southeast Texas doesn't bode for much out-of-city-limit area. There's four cities connected by highway with the road dividing each city from one business and neighborhood to the next.

So, you're telling me that we can't pop them in town, and instead we all have to drive out to the country to do it...legally.

I asked this question to police officers, and fireworks vendors, and neither one could give me a straight answer. I got the same blank look like, I don't know what to tell you.

And how many cops do we see going around each year enforcing this? None. The same little jerks that live near me are going to keep me up for a few hours past midnight setting off the same sets of jumping jacks or blackcats that they do every year.

Why have a law that doesn't get enforced? Why sell them knowing people are going to break the law, however nonsensical it is?

Will this "law" stop you from celebrating with fireworks?

Grind that, and let me know.

Mike Tobias, Port Arthur News
mtobias@panews.com

When good deeds go bad

Last week, the California Supreme Court paved the way for just about every potential "do-gooder" to just walk right on by about their business when they someone in danger.

Poor Lisa Torti. Had only she not been paying attention when her friend's car slammed into a lightpost going 45 mph, perhaps she wouldn't now be worrying whether she'll have a dime to call her very own by this time next year.

Her friend. Seriously. You're friend sees you involved in a pretty nasty wreck and pulls you from the car. Sure, maybe now you don't have the use of a few limbs...but, who's to say that wasn't the wreck's fault?

Torti says she feared the car would explode and rushed to her friends aid. Had I been conscious, and I saw my good friend coming to my aid, I would be yelling at the top of my lungs to get my happy butt out of the car. Because I've seen too many accidents in my line of work to know that the exploding car thing CAN actually happen.

Texas has a Good Samaritan Law. Yup, Texas State Law 6701d protects, "a person who in good faith administers emergency care at the scene of an emergency or in a hospital is not liable in civil damages for an act performed during the emergency unless the act is wilfully or wantonly negligent."

See, right there. You're protected. But, the same law applies in California, and yet poor Lisa Torti is about to be sued for saving her friend.

So, despite knowing this, if you happen upon a an accident, or have the unfortunate fortune of witnessing a horrible tragedy, will you still do everything in your power to come to their aid? Friend or no friend?

Or, will you hesitate? Will you even stop and think before acting? Will you walk on by?

Grind that, and let me know.

Mike Tobias, Port Arthur News
mtobias@panews.com.

How long is too long for Christmas lights?

I really can't say I procrastinated putting up the festive illuminations this year. I did it the weekend after Thanksgiving, after some prodding from my wife.

And we made an afternoon of it; She helped me with lighting the shrubs and wreathes while I hung the lights around house. It took a few hours but it was worth it.

And you shoulda seen our house in the only snow Southeast Texas will have this year!

But when is the right time to take down the Christmas lights? A majority of the people I talk to say they will wait until after New Year's, which is probably what I will do.

You have to be aware, however, of taking them down too early. Going up the ladder and extracting the lights once the presents have been opened on Christmas morning could label you a "Grinch."

Leave them up days or weeks past New Year's and you're lazy.

Especially down here in Southeast Texas, where our culture intersperses with the Cajuns, some people leave their trees up until after Ash Wednesday to serve as Mardi Gras trees.

Not in my house.

So what time is the right time to take down the Christmas lights? After New Year's...after the presents are opened?

Or do you just leave them up all year long so you can be the first one to turn them on after Thanksgiving?

Grind that, and let me know.

Mike Tobias, Port Arthur News
mtobias@panews.com

Can you ever excuse poor customer service?

Have you ever gone to a fast food restaurant where employees got your order wrong?

I'm sure it's happened before, at least once if your life time. But what happens when you get your messed-up order? You're sitting there, ready to eat the food you paid for...the food you ordered, and you take off the thin, paper wrapper only to discover tomatoes on your burger when you've asked for no tomatoes.

Or lettuce on your tacos when you've asked for no lettuce.

Or, have you ever actually made it all the way home from a fast food drive-thru only to discover only half of the food you ordered actually made it into the to-go bag?

The last example actually happened to me last night. My wife had an early-pregnancy craving for some good, old-fashioned McNuggets. Which worked out well for me, because once she asked me to go get her some, I was in the mood for some golden, crispy chicken as well.

Two ten piece meals. With the only difference being the drinks. There were NO cars in the parking lot, NO cars in the drive-thru. It was just me. Seems simple enough.

NOPE.

They give me my two drinks. Then hand me a large to-go sack. I get all the way home, and I only have one of my meals.

So heck yeah, I gave my nugget-craving, pregnant wife hers and I haul my truck back to Mickey-D's where I'm compensated for my time by getting an upgraded meal and two free hot apple pies.

But that's not the point.

The point is, why was the drive-thru girl on her new iPhone when I came through the first time? How can someone mess up a job designed for a 12-year-old?

The purely-cynical friends of mine seem to think I get what I deserve by choosing a fast food restaurant in the first place. You get what you pay for, they say. That's the risk you take for choosing a place where you can get a burger for a buck.

There's a reason, they say, that people in their twenties and thirties work for minimum wage flipping patties. It's because they failed at life, so why expect them to succeed at completing a fast food order.

That's a little harsh to me. So here's the question. Do you stand up to poor customer service? Do you make the bee-line back to the restaurant when you've been shorted on your dinner?

Or, do you sit there and take it, allowing $3.99 of hunger-pain injustice to get the best of you?

Grind it, and let me know.

Mike Tobias, Port Arthur News
mtobias@panews.com

To gift card...or not to gift card

That used to be the question of gift giving taboo, but is that still true?

Not too long ago, I've had conversation after conversation with friends...mainly friends, who would say to me, "Mike, gift cards are just TOO impersonal."

Why? I would ask.

Because it's a gift that doesn't take any thought. You go, you buy it. You don't even have to travel that far into the store. They're right there by the cash register.

Ok, I see their point --- a little, but, in my opinion gift cards are very, very practical. Myself, I love a gift card. Because I'm one of those guys, those typical, difficult guys, that just doesn't KNOW what I want for Christmas. Heck, I never know what I want. Mainly because I really would rather just go pick up something on my own.

Call me crazy, but I'm just not too fond of people buying stuff for me.

And the gift card, to me, is so great because I can use it as money towards something that I would really like.

Now, to me the impersonal-ness of the gift card gift would come into play if I was given a gift card to a place I would never really go. I mean, you don't really have to have been around me for years to know that I would love a gift card to places like Barnes & Noble, or Best Buy, or iTunes. Places where I can purchase stuff to stimulate the mind. A book. A movie. A CD.

The gift card would be a way for me to not to have answer that question. "What do you want for Christmas, Mike?"

I always say nothing. And I usually mean it. It's not that I don't know what I want. It's because I don't need anything, because I already have EVERYTHING I want. My wife, my mom, and my dad.

But, I'm not crazy. I'll take a gift card and appreciate every minute of having a little cash towards something that may strike my interest later on.

What about you? Is the gift card a satisfactory gift? Or too impersonal. Grind that, and let me know.

Mike Tobias, Port Arthur News
mtobias@panews.com

Parking lot vulture

OK, Mike spoke about his parking woes so here’s mine — the parking lot vulture.
You know, that person who sits in their vehicle with signal light blinking waiting for you to load your groceries and leave so they can take your parking space all the while holding up a long line of cars.
I hate ‘em.
Actually I hate ‘em so much I purposely take my good sweet time searching for my keys, opening the door to my van, tying up each plastic grocery bag then carefully, and very slowly, placing each item inside.
Oops, now I have to take my shopping cart to the cart corral — sorry you’ll have to wait a bit longer. By this time I’m either grinning like an idiot or acting completely lost so I can steal a quick glance at the ticked off driver.
If the driver suddenly swerves away in a mad dash for another spot I get giddy for my job is done.
So which one are you? Are you a vulture, do you take your time like I do and make the vulture wait or are you courteous and leave quickly so the vulture can park? Let me know.
Mary Meaux

Tis' the season...

...for Christmas tidings and food and family and presents and joy.

Until somebody decides to play spoiler.

Out of all the millions of people in the world celebrating this time of togetherness and family there's always one, always the one person out there who is just dead set on bringing everybody down. I like to call this person the "downer."

I had a run in with a "downer", earlier today. A member of my family, and for personal reasons I will not give the exact detals.

But in general, have you ever known a person so low enough, to have the gall to make decisions that inevitably hurt other family members on a day like Christmas?

On a bigger scale, today in Covina, California, a man dressed as Santa who had been having marital problems opened fire at a Christmas party, leaving more than three people dead in a home that then caught fire.

Seriously? I think this idiot was guilty of having a little more than marital problems. But, this man's troubles eventually spread and affected many more people and loved ones than himself.

Know a downer? Grind it, and let's see.

Mike Tobias, The Port Arthur News
mtobias@panews.com

The grind begins...

...and it begins with a bit of parking lot road rage.

Have you ever entered a store parking lot and been hit with the curse of the "spot seeker?"

You know the "spot seeker"...the person that drives three miles an hour while looking for the closest spot to the store they can find. All the while, holding you and a long line of creeping, crawling cars hostage while you travel up and down each aisle just to find ANY open space.

Well, I had my run in with a "spot seeker" today during a last-minute trip for French bread at H-E-B on Highway 365 in Port Arthur. It took me twenty minutes to park; I actually made three phone calls before I pulled into my space, which ended up being right next to the entrance to the highway anyway.

But after twenty minutes of parking, who minds a little walk? It's not like I was getting out of the store anytime soon anyway, with a few hundred customers making a few hundred last-minute trips for freaking bread.

Been a victim of the "spot seeker"? Or, are you yourself guilty of being a "spot seeker?" Let us know and grind it!

Mike Tobias, The Port Arthur News
mtobias@panews.com