Lately, people and things have irked me to no end. A lot of it is definitely self-inflicted, but most of it is pure mind-numbing, smackdown-worthy crap. With no further adieu, my list of things that irk me right now:

#6: The Chris Brown / Rihanna Fiasco

I only place this as #10 because I don’t want to be annoyed by what’s going on with them, but they’ve become such a hot topic that it’s worth noting. In particular, people’s responses to the situation have been at both extremes and none in the middle: either they think Chris Brown deserves some serious jail time or some form of castigation or Rihanna is “ugly” and deserved that beating. I’m of the opinion that CB definitely deserves his punishment. Hitting another woman is out of the question. Yet, I’m also feeling what Amber is saying.

#5: Syracuse Orange basketball

I love Syracuse U. and people know that, but every so often, they give me shades of the Knicks: everytime there’s a chance to just close it out and shut the door completely, something crazy always happens. Fortunately they escaped Georgetown’s grasp, but this trend needs to stop. Please, Cuse, PLEASE!

#4: Popular Rappers Tweeting

I once had this theory about rappers and how they might actually be quality Twitter users. So I started following my favorites (if you’ve been following me long enough, you know who I’m talking about). However, once I waited a week or so, I started to see that they weren’t contributing anything about their thoughts. I’d read their tweets the way I watch the news at night: put me to sleep just fine.

#3: The Obama-MLK-Lincoln Comparisons

OK, the first time the comparisons came up, it was cool. I saw it in a couple of editorial cartoons and I respected it. However, at this point, I’m literally sick of it. Is Barack not his own man? To that end, can Obama please stop using Lincoln and MLK as additives to ligitimize his presidency in the eyes of some of these naysayers? I’m done with the comparisons, and while it’s cool for blog hits, it’s bad on the eyes.

#2: Stalkers

Yesterday morning, I got this strange e-mail from a man who identified only as Patrick. He e-mailed a bunch of us, inquiring about a certain blogger friend of mine, and wanted to get more information about her. Here’s how it read (truncated for blog purposes):

… She asked me for a loan when she had some pressing bills and her ex was not paying his share.  I agreed to help her out with a loan and it was made clear this was a loan, not a gift.  I even have emails to that effect.  The time for repayment that we agreed on is long over due. My calls to the telephone numbers I had for her indicate the number is no longer operable and the emails noted above have been unanswered.  I am appealing to the people on this list to provide me with *** last name, or address and or place of employment.  Please help do the right thing.  I have had a string of bad misfortune lately and really need to recover this money.  As I said, she asked me for help in a time of need and I, maybe foolishly obliged, but now I need help in trying to recover this loan.

Dude, you know how I can tell you’re a stalker? Your story has more holes than I can put my fingers through. How do you loan money to someone whose last name you don’t know? How did you get the e-mails of people who don’t even know her personally? This is a strong indication that the person who wrote this is a stalker who’s trying to find out way more than he needs to. People need to get over themselves.

#1: Internet “FreeAdGans”

NYC Educator highlighted this recently, but it’s worth noting: I’m not just going to put something up on my blog to advertise for you just because your objectives are somewhat in line with mine. You think because we’re teachers, for example, that we’ll put up your “materials” for free? Nope.

If you want me to post “materials” (i.e. banners, PDF files, etc.) then I’m classifying those “materials” as ads because that’s what they are. And if they’re ads, then yes, I expect some sort of compensation. I hate to be so heartless (actually I don’t), but I find that a lot of the press managers and PR people from these corporations really take us for fools.

I don’t know what you take me as
Or understand the intelligence that Jose has
From rags to riches, kinda
I’m not dumb
I got 99 problems, but this isn’t one …

Hit me!

Jose, who’s got some books and CDs he’s sharing with everyone on his sidebar. Check them out at your leisure.