There are certain things in life that irk me more than others. Waiting in traffic, bad coffee and top-40 radio quickly come to mind. But this time of year, there are two things that drive me insane more than anything else. Things that make it so I can’t even turn on the TV or browse news websites for fear of going postal.

The first is the pending election on November 6th where we citizens go to the polls to elect a president. I’ve become convinced that my reason for loathing has nothing to do with the physical act of voting, but the fact that people put blinders on and take sides.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for choosing who you think it the best candidate. It’s what this country was founded upon. My problem lies with the negativity expressed on both sides of the aisle.

“MY guy is better than YOUR guy. YOUR guy is gonna raise taxes. YOUR guy wants to take away guns. YOUR guy wants to take Grandma’s wheelchair. YOUR guy wants tax breaks for millionaires. “— AH, SHUT UP!

When will people actually wake up and realize that we hear this exact same rhetoric every election cycle? Conspiracy theories, death panels, birth certificates, October surprises, financial transcripts not being produced in a timely manner… I’m SICK of it.

The other thing that drives me over the edge is actually worse than a presidential election cycle. Where as an election happens once every four years, this one happens every year and as of late, seems to be happening earlier and earlier. I’m talking about extreme weather conditions and the hysteria that follows.

Every winter, my neck of the woods gets hit by at least two or three significant snowstorms that causes news outlets to get on the air and warn people of the apocalypse. Last year, we had a snow event (somewhere in the 6-8 inch range) on October 31st. Now, I’ll be the first to admit that Halloween is very early for snow, but was there really need to remind everyone (who are already used to these types of weather events) to stock up on milk, bread and eggs? Hardly.

Some stations even devote 24/7 media coverage to these storms, saying the same things over and over again ad nauseam about the progress. People call in to local radio stations to give snow accumulation totals. It’s ridiculous.

Early next week, my little region is going to be hit by a whopper of a storm. High winds, heavy rain and flooding are expected. A few days ago, getting news of what “might” be coming was informative and most welcome. But, once it became known that all bets were off and we were definitely getting the storm, the crazy was let out of the cage.

Although we’ve weathered many such events and flooding in the past, the lunacy of the news media is at an all time high. Instead of just stating the obvious and moving on, they seem more concerned about changing the name of the hurricane/tropical storm (Sandy) to something that will better coincide with the Halloween season: “Frankenstorm!” – How convenient.

I am thankful that we have news and weather outlets to warn us of pending storms. It’s great to be informed of what’s coming and I want to prepare for the worst and hope for the best just like everyone else. But I swear, if I see one more story that says there’s going to be a full moon the night “Frankenstorm” hits, I’m going to go Wolfman on someone.