The Daily Muddle

While I was talking to my sister’s boyfriend last night at dinner he mentioned that I should have more Top 5 lists.  He is right.  Who doesn’t love a good Top 5 list.  When I started TheDailyMuddle I wanted these to be a staple and for some reason they’ve been absent.  So let’s get it started again.

A Top 5 list that I’ve wanted to do for a long time is favorite Seinfeld episodes.  We’ve all seen them a million times and we all have our favorites.  After reviewing the full episode list I realized that the list needed some parameters because there are just so many.  I decided picking a favorite episode from each season was appropriate.  That equals 9 episodes – this is obviously not a Top 5, but same premise right?  It works.

Season 1: The Stock Tip – There are only 5 episodes in Season 1, but this The Stock Tip takes the cake for me.

Season 2: The Deal – Again, this was not a full season with only 11 episodes, but The Deal is a great episode.  The main plot is Jerry and Elaine trying to strike up a “friends with benefits” relationship.  They believe by setting some ground rules they can successfully accomplish this.  They don’t.

Season 3: The Red Dot – This is the first full season.  The Red Dot is an amazing episode that contains one of my favorite scenes with George being confronted by his boss about his sexual encounter with the office janitor on his desk.  His response is, “Was that wrong?  Should I not have done that?  I tell you, I gotta plead ignorance on this thing, because if anyone had said anything to me at all when I first started here that that sort of thing was frowned upon…you know, ’cause I’ve worked at a lot of offices, and I tell you, people do that all the time.”  Other favorites are The Cafe, The Tape, The Boyfriend (Keith Hernandez and the “second spitter” theory), and The Good Samaritan.

Season 4: The Contest – Season 4 is chalk full of great episodes including: The Virgin, The Pick, The Shoes, and The Junior Mint.  The Contest is a classic episode though and I couldn’t not (nice double negative there) pick it.

Season 5: The Marine Biologist – This was really tough for me because I love The Mango as well, along with several other episodes from this season (The Sniffing Accountant, The Hamptons, and The Opposite).  George’s recollection of saving a beached whale including, “The sea was angry that day my friends – like an old man trying to send back soup at a deli”, puts The Marine Biologist ahead of the rest though.

Season 6: The Gymnast – I love this episode and all of it’s intertwined stories.  Jerry “The Comedian” courting “The Gymnast”, George and Mr. Pitts fascination with 3D art, and Kramer’s passing of a kidney stone.  A great episode.

Season 7: The Pool Guy – This season is a little ridiculous.  It includes these classic episodes: The Soup Nazi, The Rye, The Caddy,  The Seven, The Wig Master, and The Calzone.  The Pool Guy probably isn’t the best overall episode in this season, but includes Kramer imitating Moviefone.  Those scenes are some of my favorite of any episode.  It also includes “relationship George” vs. “independent George” when Elaine befriends Susan.

Season 8: The Abstinence – This episode is where both George and Elaine abstain from sex.  George becomes a genius, while Elaine becomes an idiot.  It’s hilarious.  This season also has several other great episodes including: The Bizarro Jerry (almost beat out The Abstienence), The Comeback, The Yada, Yada, Yada, and The Millenium.

Season 9: The Voice – The final season of Seinfeld.  The Voice might be my favorite Seinfeld episode (not committing to anything though).  It has the plotlines of Kramerica Industries (with Kramer’s intern Darin, “Kramer says what’s up buddy.”), Jerry’s girlfriend’s talking stomach (hhheeellllooooo), Elaine unable to quit Putty, and George arguing with Play It Now once they find out he isn’t handicap.  It’s an amazing episode.  Other Season 9 greats are: The Serenity Now, The Blood, The Strike (Festivus!), The Strong Box, and The Frogger.

This rounds it out.  It isn’t a classic Top 5 list, but it’s definitely a list.  What are your favorites?  Any episodes I clearly missed?

Again – sorry for being so delinquent in posting. This should stop now as summer is finally upon us, which means no more schoolwork for me (sort of). Anyways, enough about that…let’s move onto the post.

I returned from Vegas a week ago (an amazing time) and was unfortunately reminded of one, if not my biggest, pet peeve. Upon landing and taxing to the terminal, 3 individuals pulled out there cell phones to call someone letting them know we had landed. I can’t stand this – I think it is downright rude. I don’t understand why some people feel the need to make a phone call while they are packed in like sardines on an airplane bothering everyone around them – especially when they can make this call 4 minutes later without being rude. Is that 4 minutes really a matter of life and death? Really? This occurs almost always when I fly and this time made me think of overall cell phone etiquette. There needs to be a class or something on all of these:

1. Driving.  It should be a national law that you shouldn’t be able to use your cellphone while driving.  The percentage of the time I glance at someone after they pulled a bonehead move  and they end up being on their cellphone is way too high.  It’s just so dangerous.  I admit – I’ve done it, but I try to keep it to a minimum as much as possible.  For instance, I drove back from Chicago to Maine this week (17 hour drive) and talked on the phone for a total of maybe 15 minutes.  That is 1.4% of my trip.
2. Busy City Walking.  People walk fast in cities.  It’s how it goes.  It seems that whenever there is someone holding everyone up – they are on their cellphone.  Walking and talking on a cellphone is kind of annoying anyways, but when it’s 5 PM and people are trying to get home, it is really annoying.
3. In Line.  At a food joint, the post office….whatever.  Get off your cellphone.  This has happened to you – you’re in line at Subway and some idiot is on their cellphone trying to order a complicated $5 footlong.  How obnoxious is this?  “Would you like cheese?” “What?” “Cheese…would you like some?” “Oh Oh Oh, yes please” “Would you like your sandwich toasted?” “Huh?  What?” “Toasted, would you like your sandwich toasted?” “Toasted?  I don’t….oh oh oh….toasted….yes please”  AAAAAHHHH.
4. Ring Tones.  They’re fine in your house or apartment.  But in public…put your phone on vibrate please.  If you’re a woman who carries her cell phone in her handbag….sound on is ok, but at least have the least obnoxious ring as possible.  Do you know how it reflects on you when some 50 Cent song is screaming from your handbag?

These are my Top 5.  I can’t think of anymore at the moment, but I’m sure there are dozens more.  I think cell phone etiqutte is the epitome of showing how disrepectful a large portion of the populice is.  The number of people who give no consideration to others astounds me every day.  Anyways – what other cell phone etiquette blunders do you have?