funny about Lizzie. Whenever I'm with my wife and she sees someone kissing, she immediatly starts kissing me, just like she was in a junior high, who's cooler contest. I don't mind.

My biggest peeve is walking behind someone who's smoking. I can't stand the smell. And I smoke sometimes! But you see, my cigarettes smell wunnerful, it's everyone else's that're the problem.

Thanks, Alex. Again, it's like I was there.

I do miss taking the subway regularly. The reading, the people-watching, the snatches of conversation...

I do not miss people blocking the doors, refusing to step into the car, making me force my way by them, as they look put out, only to find cavernous space in the actual car, away from the door.

I also hate that people can't wait their turn to board, but instead zoom past one another as if their life depended on getting in first, even when it's clear there aren't any fucking seats anyway, so just chill out!

Man, it's such undignified behavior.

Oh, and you know what else I hate?

That stupid new robot voice they have, "Stand clear of the closing doors, please!" Spoken like some rube off the turnip truck.

I also hate the V train.

What the fuck is up with that?

The V train?

And the W train?

I mean, how preposterous is that?

I found it so rude, the train is packed and he's not only taking up a seat but also sets up a f-ing picnic area.

I am fascinated by human behavior and how people interact with the world around them, how some people have no problem with being rude and don't realize they are only 1 of 8 billion people in the world.

I think my biggest pet peeve is when I'm driving on two-way street and someone on the other side of the street wants to make a left turn, then the person in the car in front of me decides to come to screeching halt to let that person make their turn and totally disrupting the flow of traffic. Drives me bonkers.

I can't stand New Yorkers that go visit places outside of New York and tell the locals, "you live HERE?", or they start comparing the town/place they are visiting to New York and how inferior that town/place might be. Drives me nuts, gives New Yorkers a bad name.

I don't really mind the block the door thing because a lot of times, passengers who get on early don't want to get stuck in the middle as the train gets crowded. I almost look at it as the first people on the train get their pick of where to stand/sit. Of course, that doesn't mean they should block others from entering the train.

Maybe it's the Z for zoooooooom! train!

(Take the train to the plane, take the train to the plane...)

"Good morning, everyone. Let's all point at the person who is making you all late for work this morning. Let's thank them for holding us all up."

The doors close.

"And off we go. Next stop..."

I have a list of pet peeves as long as a phone book. All of yours are on there. I'm a people person, but they really annoy me. Often.

You have just described far too many drivers in Massachusetts. I've sworn up and down to my wife that, when our kids are old enough to learn to drive, I am taking them to updstate NY for two weeks to teach them drive properly.

The "T" is nowhere near the size of the MTA, but I do not miss taking it at all, for lots of the reasons you guys mentioned above about the NYC subway. The worst thing was the crowds - Sox fans and other teams' fans too - on the Green Line on days the Sox had home games. Too many of those people acted like the T was their own personal limo, filled only with people going to the game. No regard at all for folks commuting home from work, or trying to go somewhere else.

I love the relationship between pedestrians and motorists in NY. Pedestrians, when they cross against the light, make an effort to jog, to not disrupt the flow of traffic. Elsewhere, you'll see people taking their sweet time, regardless of right of way.

Likewise, drivers in NY don't get spooked just because they see a pedestrian crossing against the light or in the middle of the block. Each party plots its trajectory, accounts for speed, and recognizes that, close as things might get, no collision is imminent.

Elsewhere, drivers get spooked that some pedestrian is literally going to walk right into their car if they don't slam on the brakes.

I remember one New Year's Eve some friends and I were on the uptown Four, and when we got to Grand Central, the conductor announced, "42nd St. Grand Central Station, transfer here for the 5 the 6 across the platform, the 7 and the shuttle to you-know-where."

It cracked us up.

The new robot guy has no sense of humor.

I once had a guy tell me the seat was taken. I asked by who, he says my wife she's on her way. The train was about to leave in a few minutes and I did not want to fight with the guy, plus he could have been telling the truth (that happens sometimes). So I kept walking trying to find a place to park it for the next 60 minutes. I intentionally went back to see the guy and asked him where is your wife? He looked at me dumbfounded. I just said FU, like a good new yorker and went back to my seat. You paid for one seat, not the whole row... Oh well.

I hate that.

Also, who is Alex Newton?

Big noises don't bother me that much - the racket of the subway is fine - but little, pestering noises sometimes do. I hate sitting near someone who's listening to music, loud, on cheap earphones - that insistent, tinny little drumbeat that isn't music and that won't stop.

Anyway, my biggest pet peeve is when folks crowd the doorways on crowded trains when the middle of the car has plenty of standing room. Conversely, I can't stand when I'm in the middle of the car waiting in a line of people trying to get off and the guy behind me tries to push past me. We're all getting off, buddy, wait your damn turn.

I always get a kick out of conductors who throw up a promo for the big game, be it at the 161st Street stop on Opening Day, or when one of the local teams is in the playoffs, etc.

Finally, Alex I'm with you on the stinky food. Most of the stuff folks bring on trains smells like rotting garbage or cat vomit and turns my stomach, though not as much as cigarette smoke on the street. I have a much more acute physical reaction to second-hand smoke now that I'm not exposed to it as much as I once was (though I've never smoked, I was around smokers constantly as a teenager). In fact, my biggest pet peeve from the New Jersey Transit commuter trains was when a guy who had just been puffing away on the platform got on the train and sat either next to or in front of me as all that stale residual smoke stuck in his clothes and hair would turn my stomach.

Last house we owned, my big pet peeve was the neighbors who liked to park one of their cars directly in front of our house, I mean, right outside our livingroom window. Not a crime, I understand, but the neighbors had their own driveway, and plenty of space to park both their cars. Seemed to me there was not another reason to park outside my window than to tweak my nose, and they succeeded.
My wife initially thought I was being a neurotic ass, but eventually it started to bug her too, as friends and family who who visited us couldn't park in front of our house.
We tried talking to our neighbors about it, you know, passive aggressively, like good neighbors do, and they blew us off. We even tried a more direct approach, politely suggesting they park in their own driveway. What'd they do? Kept parking under the dogwood tree outside our window, the effers.
About 3 years ago we moved. Not at all for that reason, mind you, but I'm glad I don't have to see them or their effing cars anymore.

Nobody parks in front of our current home, so your crazy old pal, Sliced is sleeping better these days. But here's the new pet peeve: neighbors who think it's okay to throw branches on yer property. Just the other day, neighbor to my right: really nice guy actually, plows our driveway free-of-charge, wives and kids get along great -- so what the eff can I find to complain about this guy? The other day, he's cleaning up his yard, and I see him toss a couple of busted up branches onto my property. The branches probably came off of my trees. That part of my yard is fairly wooded, so he was just adding sticks to the rest of the leaves and debris on my property - still, sorta tweaked me. I would never say anything to him about it, just a couple of twigs. I'll just pick them up and discard them with the rest of my debris, but still I'm a little tweaked that he would throw stuff onto my property.

Now, neighbor behind me is a Red Sox fan, so we don't have any use for each other off the bat. He has this giant pine in his yard near the propery line between us. Over the winter, during an ice and wind storm, a bunch of large branches fell into my yard. Pretty substantial mess, actually. The general unwritten rule on this in the 'burbs is: if it falls into your yard, even if it's from their tree, it's your mess to clean up. Still, I always clean up debris from my trees that fallen into other neighbors yards, because I think it's the neighborly thing to do, but I'm OK with cleaning up Red Sock neighbor's pine. No problem. But here's the rub. Last week, he has a professional tree guy working in his yard. Tree guy cuts down, and removes two pines that stood just feet the one that dropped this mess into my yard. Red Sock neighbor didn't have his tree guy remove a single twig from my property. Sure, I'll cleanup his pine mess when I get around to it, but I can't promise a few branches won't end up back in his effin' yard. Two can play "Bad Neighbor." Heh. Stupid, right?

The screech there is something primordial and wrong. Truly infernal.

Man, it's the same A train you've been getting on for twenty five years. Everyone's shocked about Dr. Zizmor's Beautiful Clear Skin, I understand, but unless zombie Mayor LaGuardia is reading the Poetry In Motion aloud, quit casually assessing the milieu of the downtown A train during rush hour in the most densely populated city in the Western Hemisphere and get in the car already.

(If you're from out of town, you get a pass. Anyone that's coming in, throwing money around for a week, then taking their kids and their old people back home is great. I make a point to help the tourists.)

While we're airing out our peeves, let me also share mine.

I live way out in the boonies (Gloucester, MA). I drive 45-75 min to work each way. Sometimes more. I load an audiobook onto the ipod, chill out and try to remain calm for the ride. My biggest pet peeve is the idiots who insist on reading the newspaper, talking on the phone, (and for the women) applying their mascara, all while they're trying to drive 80mph on the highway. What they don't realize is that their lack of concentration actually has them driving erratically at more like 50mph while the rest of us are trying to get somewhere. They stay in the fast lane and I get boxed in behind them (slower people driving to my right so I can't move over, can't pass, can't do anything). When they finally move out of the fast lane (after I ride their ass for a few miles) they look at me like I'm the jerk. If you want to read, talk, apply makeup, then move over or park it.

I come from one direction, I park on that side of the street. I come from the other direction, I park on that side of the street. I'll be more than willing to park in someone's driveway, but I've done enough car shuffling in college (I lived in a boarding house), that I don't want to do it any more than I have to. And since it seems that no one knows how to put a VW in reverse, I'd rather move my car myself.

Matter of fact, someone rear ended my car once, a hit and run, and when I went from door to door asking if anyone saw anything, I was treated to a lecture about renters taking up parking spaces on the street... Laid into a guy when I had enough.

Sliced, while this part isn't directed at you, I suggest that if people don't want other people parking in front of their houses, I'd suggest that they stay away from urban/metropolitan areas...

As you can see, this is a pet peeve of mine :)

I also hate people who wander or meander down busy city streets. Move your ass, people are trying to get somewhere. You want to meander, go on vacation, find a field somewhere, but when you're in the city, get out of my way!

Those are really my pet peeves, well those and pitchers who won't throw strikes.

26 Sliced is talking about the suburbs, not the city. I've seen similar things. People who have driveways but, for reasons unknown, fail to use them. Instead, they park on the street. Happily, they didn't park in front of my house, but it always struck me as odd.

My plan is to stay a couple of nights and catch a few of the sites around the city. It looks like it would be cheaper for me to get a hotel in Jersey City. Is this a good plan? Can I take the PATH train over to Manhattan and then take the MTA to the Stadium (or other places of interest in the city)?

Am I on the right track (pun intended) or should I just pay the extra money to stay in the city?

Sorry to keep asking for all the advice, but you guys are the best source I know.

I spend a decent amount of time behind the wheel, commuting or distance driving, my tolerance/patience for the stupid things people do is in inverse proportion to the length of time I've driven.

But overall, I have little patence for lane blocker, cellphone chatters, or people who are otherwise oblivious to their surroundings. I have found that a lot of people do not give driving the respect it deserves.

/sarcasm off

I swear, every lesson I was taught about being a "good" driver is consistently disregarded in this place.

17 23 My commute is 25 minutes by car. I've taken the subway, I've taken the commuter train, and nothing beats the car. Maybe this isn't so bad in NYC, but being subject to the nonsensical commuter rail schedule or (worse) the randomness of the T is a horrible thing. I swear I lost more time waiting for a train than I ever gained sitting on my butt reading something.

Bama 29 , that's a long trip. I think I'd pay the extra money, myself, but it's not an obvious call.

I also hate drivers who stay in the left lane on the highways. Drive on the right, pass on the left. As you can tell, I drive a lot and don't have a subway to take. And for anyone upset with eating on a subway, move to DC, if you even think about unwrapping even a candy bar, or bringing a cup of coffee into the station, you'll get a ticket.

Finally, I actually want to say something nice about the R, the R, those in Boston for cheering Buckner yesterday. Is classy.

Driving- people who don't use blinkers, people who cut you off and then turn on their blinker, people who think using their blinker gives them the right to cut you off, people who dawdle off red lights, people who drive too slow in the fast lane, etc etc etc.

Biking to work (which I do in large part to avoid NoVA traffic)- people who gun it to pass me in traffic then make a right turn right in front of me, oncoming traffic who turn left in front of me (hey, I'm only a bike), people on the bike path in their own little world who don't hear you yell "passing" because they're yakking on a cell or buried in their ipods who then jump-startled when you almost hit them, people who walk their dogs on too-long leashes…

General- people who talk too loud in public, people who think it's OK to cut in line in a store because they're only asking a question, not on line to buy something, people who do half their food shopping walking around the store and the other half while the checkout girl rings up their cart, when a building has double doors that swing out, people who walk right out the (their left, your right) door when you open it.

I could go on and on. Cripes, I'm only 30, as well. I am going to be one persnickety old dude some day.

"[T]his is a clear "tweener" injury. He should be ready to play, even if at less than 100%, before the 15-day minimum."

I have to say I learned that hard lesson on the DC Metro a couple years back. I walked onto a train car with a hot cup of joe. I got the nastiest looks on the train, thinking people where just staring me down for no good reason. A nice lady came up to me and mentioned that if I liked to get a $50 ticket I should dump the coffee at the next station and pointed to a sign. I felt like an ass. Imagine MTA had that law, then they would never have to raise our fares from all the violations.

You know what? I'm one of those dudes that reads while I walk. GUILTY! LOL. But actually, I'm pretty alert when I do it, not completely with my head in my arse.

Cell phones in public places, cheap shit earphones that bleed sound everywhere are also on my list.

heh. kidding, of course. Good news.

http://tinyurl.com/55s2qu

(or Joe Theismann).

Moidering me.

I'm glad the Mrs. finally came round to seeing things your way, but just between you, me and the lampost, that doesn't mean necessarily that you're not a neurotic ass!

:)

34 Something I've observed about CT is that there's an interesting combination of "grannies and leadfoots." Plan it right, and you'll have a slalom from Bridgeport to Stamford. Maybe the NY state line on a good (bad?) day.

I don't mind taking a hit on hotel amenities as I don't plan on doing much other than sleeping there (which is why I usually stay at hostels when traveling).

But the way I figure it is that if costs are comparable, you're better off staying in the boros, as after a long day of sightseeing, you really don't want to be inconvenienced by the distance from your hotel.

I'm coming into the city for a day game (likely a Thursday, 1:05PM game), going home that night. I'm driving from Boston. What's my best bet? Drive all the way in and deal with the parking nightmare? Or am I better off parking somewhere in CT and taking the Metro North in, and then the 4 train to the Stadium?

I've been known to tend towards uptight neurotic assdom myself, to be sure.

Here's something I hate, when people file out of a store or a choo-choo train (as in Grand Central, e.g.) only to stop dead in their tracks on the other side of the passageway and begin contemplating the meaning of life.

I mean, for Christ's sake, can't you walk over to the curb, out of the way of traffic before you decide to plot your next move?

Like they have absolutely no awareness that there's a flood of people coming behind them.

I'm all for congregating on the busy streets, just cleave to the curb or to the walls of buildings if you do.

Is that really so hard to do?

Who the hell wants to drive to the Bronx if they can possibly avoid it?

(I shudder just thinking about it.)

Having gone the other way (to Boston to watch a game), I've taken the Fung-Wah/Lucky Star chinatown buses. They haven't been nearly as bad as I thought they would be.

You can jump on the deegan expressway further down, jump on the Hutchinson/Merritt Parkway and head on up to New England.

On the New Haven Line, I'm not familiar with the stops in CT (as I usually pass them), but it seems that Mount Vernon its the best with regards to the amount of available street parking that is Metro North accessible.

46 my advice is take the train, unless you don't mind mindnumbing traffic entering, and exiting the Stadium neighborhood.

http://tinyurl.com/6kcsl9

How did we do it all those years? In photo albums of almost everyone my age or older, you'll see pictures with ashtrays on every table.

From what I can tell, the difference between the hotels in Jersey City (Marriott or Doubletree) and one in the city (Marriott Times Square) is almost $200 a night.

Would it be a convenient trip from the Jersey City hotels to sites like the Statue of Liberty and the WTC site?

I can't read for 30 minutes anyway. When I read books, I have the unfortunate tendency to read until it's done. Work, sleep and eating wait until I've finished. So reading on the way to work is a bad idea :)

The ferry idea sounds perfect (we are going to a day game - June 9th vs. KC).

Yeah. Like Kansas City.

When I left Jersey, I went to California and I had to train myself to walk out into traffic, because it's the law there, they have to stop. Man does that go against natural tendencies!

In Kansas City, I don't know if it's the law here but yes a lot of drivers freak out even if you are walking alongside the parked cars. If you even look out into the street they'll stop for you. It's polite but really freaky!

What I used to love, and I'm sure this doesn't happen so much because of cell phones nowadays. I first saw this in Santa Fe. Sure it's a laid back town, but people there, driving in opposite directions, will hold up traffic if they see their buddy and need to talk. Just have a conversation in the middle of the road and hold up traffic both directions. Amazing.

re: smoking. I wonder what unhealthy habit we'll be looking back on years from now in astonishment. "We did that to ourselves?" Cellphones maybe?

oh, just thought of another pet peeve: nosepickers, especially the ones you see driving their cars, with their index fingers up their nostrils. Yeesh. I'm sure it looks soooo less disgusting when I do it! I take care of my business quick, and never make a snack out of it. That doesn't seem to be too much to ask of our fellow man.

I'm 34, and each of my grandparents smoked at one point or another. And to think of the thousands of hours I spent watching TV at their house in a big second-hand cloud...

Yikes.

Right now I'm voting for diet soda.

Slalom is a major pet peeve of mine, in two ways. First, if you're not passing, get the hell out of the passing lane. Pay attention. If I have to flash my lights at you to get your attention, don't get all pissy with me. I hate being forced to decide between passing on the right or puttering along behind the granny/cell phone user in the left lane.

Second, if someone is passing in the passing lane, but simply not moving fast enough for your tastes, don't be an ass about it. Give them a reasonable opportunity to pass and move out of your way before engaging in slalom (or climbing into their trunk). Three lane cuts at 100mph may be fun, but they're best left to Need For Speed on playstation.

I say this as someone who consumes three cans of diet Pepsi per day.

I have no travel plans in the near future, so hopefully I can keep it up, but man, it's hard not to smoke in a place like Rome, where it practically seems a requirement.

And Sliced? *Nose*pickers?

You've got to be kidding me.

"I'm sure it looks soooo less disgusting when I do it! I take care of my business quick, and never make a snack out of it. That doesn't seem to be too much to ask of our fellow man. "

Ha ha hah aha a ! And gross, all at the same time.

Man, you're on fire today.

49 -53 Thank you for all the advice! I'm going to try to figure out parking availability along the CT Metro North line (maybe Stamford?). Otherwise I'll drive, and take my chances.

Hear, hear.

Sometimes I feel like my head will explode. I'll sit right behind someone, clearly indicating my desire to pass and they're just oblivious. Or feign oblivion.

Turns me into a misanthrope, which makes me even madder at them.

Kidding, Rob!

And that's 22 years after my last cigarette.

Out here in the burbs of Connecticut pretty much everyone has a driveway, and yet some still park on the grass. Stupid, I know, but it still gets to me.

77 Hey now! ;) I'm not the problem. I'm the guy paying attention, leaving lots of following distance, and driving a well-maintained car.

Besides, I mostly drive a Honda Civic. Considering everyone else apparently just has to have a friggin' Land Yacht, it'll be me who gets smushed.

I'm not coming out of nowhere; if they haven't noticed see me approaching through their rearview, then they aren't paying attention, if they see me and aren't yielding to faster traffic, they're being douches. Either way, I don't want to be around them. And I'd rather put them behind me, and watch them get smaller and smaller in my rearview mirror.

79 Seems to be a big to-do about it over @ WasWatching. Should be fun to see AG flash the leather, though with Jeter & Posada out, you may not see AG stick around too long in a starting role (do we REALLY want to see Melky, Molina & AG in the lineup at the same time?)

I read Will Carroll's writeup on Posada's injury over at BP, and I'm officially really worried. Posada is irreplaceable.

As for the AG... I still think he's overrated defensively (he's stunk every single time I've seen him play), and we know he can't hit. Meh.

What I object to is overly loud talking in public places where loud talking is not appropriate. Whether or not a cell phone is involved is immaterial.

Another one I have is when 2 strangers directly in front of or behind me on an airplane decide to get to know each other and engage in loud, inane small talk. Especially during the time sitting on the runway waiting for takeoff when electronic devices are forbidden and airplane engine white noise has yet to start.