About
Contact us: webmaster@backingin.com
What's All This Then?
What is BackingIn.com? BackingIn.com is a creative alternative to expensive psychological therapy. This blog will consist of anything that is on my mind at a particular time. It is my hope that by getting my thoughts out of my head and down on paper, so to speak, that I will be rid of the daily minutia about which I obsess. At the very least, I will have a forum in which to express myself, where I can espouse my beliefs, my likes and dislikes, and grow as a writer.
Some posts may be as trivial as, “Why is Florida ‘The Sunshine State’ when it gets almost 50 inches of rain per year?”, to comments on politics, pop culture, technology, and very serious topics that are near and dear to my heart. Mostly, I think, BackingIn.com will consist of the things that eat at me, make my stomach churn, and just tick me off. It must be said, though, that this blog is a living, breathing, evolving site that will become whatever it wants to become.
Backing In
You may be asking yourself at this point, “Well, that’s great, but what does ‘backing in’ have to do with anything? That’s an excellent question, so I'll try to come up with an excellent answer. 'Backing in' refers to vehicle that has been backed into a parking space. I chose 'backing in' as the name for my blog because this practice bothers me much more that it should. It is these types of daily annoyances, and my (over)reaction to them, that I will write about. See below.
The act of backing in a vehicle into a parking space (backing in) drives me crazy. More precisely, seeing others who have backed into parking spaces drives me crazy. This topic is the perfect example of the kind of obsessional thoughts that inspired me to create this blog. When I’m in a parking lot, and I see cars that have been backed in, I cannot fathom why. It is so much easier to just pull into a spot. When pulling in, you can line up the wheels equidistant between the parking space lines. Then, when it is time to leave, you just have to keep the steering wheel straight and back right out. To back in, you have to pull past the spot, look over your shoulder, keep checking your mirrors, and maneuver your vehicle into the spot. You can’t see lines, and most of the time, drivers never park straight. I hear the argument that the driver wants to do the ‘difficult’ work up front, so when it is time to leave, they can make a quick and easy get away. WTF?! Did you just rob a bank? Just put the car in reverse, keep the wheel straight, and back out!
What’s it to me? Why the heck should I care if somebody backs in there damn car? Nobody is forcing me to back in. Yes, why do I care? I don’t know. It just bugs the bejesus out of me. Every day I go to work, and I see cars that have been backed in, and the same monologue is repeats in my head: “Why did you back in? What could you have possibly gained by backing in? Who taught you this odd behavior?” My stomach gets tied into a knot, and my blood starts to boil. If I was to analyze my angry reaction to such a benign act as backing in a vehicle, I would probably surmise that this misplaced anger is a diversion and distraction by my unconscious mind to keep me from dealing with troubling issues buried deep within my psyche. Nah! Just really think that backing in is tantamount to treason.
Now, don’t get me wrong. There are some legitimate reasons to back in.
- You need to unload cargo from your trunk/hatch into your garage.
- You are attending a sporting event, and if you don’t back in when you arrive, nobody is going to let you back out afterward, when the parking garage/lot is packed with drunk fans driving their F-150s back to the homestead.
- You just drove past a spot in a crowded parking lot, and it would be more of a hassle to back up past the spot to pull in, so you just back up right into the spot.
- Your girlfriend thinks guys that back in to parking spots are cool.
Other than the above, there are no reasons to back in. For all that is good and holy, please, please stop backing in. Oh, and by the way, make sure that you don’t park on the lines, park crooked, and for God’s sake, when you’re in the spot, turn the steering wheel so that your tires are straight. It is imperative that you follow these rules. Any deviation could cause the delicate balance of the universe to become undone.
Great Expectations
One of the goals of this blog is to facilitate and cultivate intelligent dialog. The state of political and social debate in the United States is an ‘us vs. them’ screaming match. Everybody is talking, but no one is hearing. The best (or worst) example of this inane communication can be found on countless blog forums throughout the web.
It is my great hope that BackinIn.com will foster intelligent and insightful commentary and conversation among its readers. To that end, I reserve the right to remove any post that contain the following:
- Hate speech
- Obscenity
- Vulgarity
- Name calling
- Slander
- Useless nonsense (e.g. ‘First!’, ‘Should have bought a Mac’, ‘M$ sucks’, ‘Obama is an expletive’, etc.)
- Use of the terms ‘netizen’, ‘blogosphere’, ‘interwebs’, etc. (just kidding, but seriously don’t use these words)
I believe in the Constitutional right to free speech, but there is a mistaken notion on the web that free speech grants all those who visit a blog the right to post anything they want. It doesn’t. Free speak entitles you to start your own blog and say anything you want. Below is what I hope I will read from commenters:
- Fact checking with citations
- Well thought out opinion
- Constructive criticism
- Grammar and spelling corrections. Some think this is a waste, but I welcome it. Just be kind, please! I bruise easily.
Greed Is Good?
A good friend of mine who runs his own successful blog, advised me to include ads on my blog as soon as possible, if I planned to do so at all. The theory is that your audience will accuse you of 'selling out' if you try to make money on your site after it is launched and has a following. Like I do often, I agreed with his assessment, but failed to execute on time. I will be adding paid ads on BackingIn.com soon.
I am a capitalist. Based on my bank account, I'm not a very good capitalist, but a capitalist just the same. I have no qualms about wanting to make a profit on BackingIn.com. I look forward to the challenge of balancing the integrity of the content without being influenced by advertisers and sponsors. I pledge to always be honest in my writing (at least until I can sell the site to Gawker and move to Reno to open my frogurt shop).
