A Grammar Tangent

So I had this really great blog all planned out. It was going to be epic. Massive. Shakespearean in its scope. Then I realized that I can't remember if you use an apostrophe when you use "it's" or if it depends on in what sense you use it. So while I had this conundrum I completely forgot my no doubt super eloquent and insightful rumination into whatever the fuck it was I was going to talk about.

How many years after graduation are you allowed to wear your letterman jacket before it just gets sad? I've seen some guys, and I gotta tell you, I think they're pushing it.

I can use the apostrophe there, because "they're" is a contraction of "they are." If I was referring to their coats, I would use "their," and that wouldn't make a lick of sense in the context of that sentence. However "e" is coming before "i" and there's no "c" anywhere in that word, so why the hell did they even bother with that rule? Or is that the exception? 

Then you have receive and reprieve and all those other words, it's like they only follow the "i" before "e" rule when they damn well feel like it. It just drives me mad I tell you. Mad!

Grammar. This wasn't the epic blog I had in mind. I just kind of went off on a tangent.

I lost my train of thought. Be excellent.