July 23, 2015

Ladies and Gentlemen, "The Payton Rant" blog is back after a six-year hiatus! All of the 2009 material has been deleted for the simple fact that I want this blog to have a fresh look. I think it will look weird with blog posts six years apart so I am starting back from scratch. In this edition, I cover: *Riding the Greyhound bus *The Showtime series, "Dexter", after watching the first two seasons *Last week's military tragedy in Chattanooga. If you're ready, here comes "the rant"! The Greyhound Bus I have been doing some traveling during the hiatus of the blog. I have been going to Johnson City, Tennessee, on personal business. I have been riding Greyhound Bus Lines due to the simple fact I do not drive. When I first started, I thought it would be a good way for me to get up there. Now, I am thinking it is a total headache. Passengers are at their mercy and they use it to their advantage every chance they get. My first example is my trip to Johnson City in June 2014. I was going to Johnson City because it was my girlfriend's birthday. I left June 6 and was coming back June 9. The bus leaves Chattanooga at 4:35 pm and arrives in Knoxville, Tennessee, around 6:20. Knoxville is used as a layover point and I have to change buses to go to Johnson City. There is only one problem. There is no driver for the second bus. Because of that, a bus that typically leaves at 7:15 pm does not leave Knoxville until 9:00 and we do not get to Johnson City until midnight. To make matters worse, on the way home, the Knoxville to Chattanooga bus is late. A scheduled 6:05 pm bus doesn't leave until 8:00 pm and we get to Chattanooga until 10:30 pm. Needless to say, I was not at all thrilled when I got home. Upon arriving home, I contacted Greyhound to vent about my trip and was offered a one-way ticket voucher. I had people tell me it should have been a round-trip ticket. I did accept and use the voucher and made three more trips using Greyhound. However, the trip this last time has made me question whether I will use them in the future. Once again, I go up there last month for my girlfriend's birthday. The bus pulls out at about 4:45 pm and, instead of getting on Interstate 75 right by the bus station, I get this ditsy driver who decides to take Tennessee Highway 153 to US Highway 27 and takes that out to Athens, Tennessee, before we finally get on the interstate. We are an hour late getting to Knoxville and finally get into Johnson City. Never mind the fact that the bus driver had to stop at a gas station because he can't find the bus station on West Market Street. He finally found it and we got there around 10:30 pm. That was a piece of cake compared to the ride home. On the day of the ride home, the bus leaves at 3:10 pm so I am there to check-in an hour ahead of time. Passengers are told that the bus coming from Roanoke, Virginia, is late. That is just lovely. This bus, normally at 3:10, shows up at 5:45. The bus in Knoxville leaving for Chattanooga leaves at 6:05 pm and arrives here at 7:50 pm. Due to the fact the bus to Knoxville is late, the passengers going to Chattanooga are told they are being re-routed to Nashville. For those not familiar with Tennessee, instead of going southwest all the way from Johnson City to Chattanooga, you go southwest to Knoxville, due west to Nashville, and then southeast to Chattanooga. Given the circumstances, I made alternate transportation plans from Knoxville and got a partial refund from Greyhound because of their screw-up. Greyhound had a slogan about 30 years ago that said, "leave the driving to us." I don't think so! Dexter I have been watching the Showtime series, "Dexter", on Hulu and it is a great show. It is a forensics officer in the Miami Metro Police Department who decides to take justice into his own hands by killing criminals and dismembering them to the point of non-recognition. As great of a show as it is, I have some questions as I start watching season three. The first has to do with season one's story of the "Ice Truck Killer." As season one plays out, the killer leaves clues to Dexter as to who they are. They include cut-up body parts and severed parts without blood. The prime suspect is a doctor specializing in amputees. As season one goes along, Dexter's sister develops a romantic relationship with the doctor. The thing I can't understand is the amputee doctor is determined to be Dexter's biological brother. Another storyline that develops is that Dexter is adopted and that his adoptive father had an affair with his biological mother. I just wonder if that means the relationship between his adopted sister, Debra, and his biological brother, Brian, is an incestuous relationship because we never have found out who Debra's mother is and I wonder if Laura Moser is her mother, too. As season two starts, Dexter tells his girlfriend he has an addiction and she thinks it is drugs and wants him to enter a 12-step program. During the process, he meets a fellow addict named Lila. One line that has really stuck with me is when Lila asked Dexter how full of it he is. I really want to know how full of it she is because, as the season goes along, I wondered if she would be considered as a good candidate for Moccasin Bend, the local nut house here in Chattanooga. It is also possible that Lila could play a title role in "Single White Female." One other storyline I feel the writers really dropped the ball on is this dynamic between Dexter and Sergeant James Doakes. In the first two seasons, Doakes made it clear he did not like Dexter. All that was said that Doakes said he felt Dexter "was a little off". Here is an idea to the writers. It would have been nice if you taken time to explain why Doakes hates Dexter so much. They had four episodes when Dexter locks Doakes in a cage and they could used that to get at why Doakes hates Dexter so much. I also am confused as to why the writers teased a prior relationship between Doakes and Maria LaGuerta. All we found out was that they were former partners and best friends but why not delve into the dynamic? That confused me, too. A recap of season three is forthcoming. Chattanooga tragedy It has been a sad seven days here in Chattanooga after last Thursday's shooting at two Navy and Marine recruitment centers here in Chattanooga. People are still going to Lee Highway and leaving flowers at a makeshift memorial at the recruitment center there. I maintain that Mohammed Abdulazeez did not use a lot of sense when he chose these centers because of where they are located. This very easily could have escalated to a point that Abdulazeez could have opened fire at the Bi-Lo grocery store on Lee Highway and/or he could have hidden out at the Tennessee Riverpark or at the campus of Chattanooga State Community College and opened fire on innocent civilians, which would have worsened the tragedy. My deepest condolences go out to the families and the friends of the four Marines killed. My gratitude also goes out to the Chattanooga Police Department and the Hamilton County Sheriff's office for the steps they took to make sure this tragedy was not worse, although the loss of one life is one too many. That's all for this time. Thanks for reading and see you next time!