Mon, 9 Jun 2008
It is good to allow space between you and the one in front of you. Absolutely. Definitely.
I always hate being behind the person on the rush-hour interstate that allows enough space in front of them so everyone who wants out of their lane can merge easily. Two cars at a time. Yeah, that’s a little much.
Thu, 5 Jun 2008
Acquiring a stupid-looking, ten-year-old Neon to motor down the highway with… $6k.
Paving a webbed-toe-like space with white lines across it to mark the area between the right lane of the interstate and the entrance ramp… $60k.
Creating a public education system capable of putting out college graduates (hey, he was wearing a tie ~ associate degree, perhaps?) who don’t know you’re not supposed to merge across white lines just to get on the entrance ramp and pass people in the right lane (particularly while you’re going as slow as the folks in said right lane)… $60 billion and counting.
Watching the look of utterly dumbfounded amazement on your face as you aimlessly meander along those webbed white lines while I honk and drive around you so I can merge into traffic… priceless.
There are some things money can’t buy. Brains for driving is one of them.
Tue, 3 Jun 2008
For all you dingbats out there: sometimes, when the earth is parched and haze is pervasive, there is a substance created by Divine Providence to help remedy this depressing situation. It falls from the clouds, and alleviates the above problems, while also freshening the air.
It’s called rain. You’ve seen it before. You’ll see it again.
AND YOU CAN STILL DRIVE LIKE NORMAL ALREADY!!
Thu, 29 May 2008
Today we had a lunch meeting downtown, so as is usual, I ran the carpool. This is the first out-of-office meeting since the Odyssey, so I took six co-workers down with me, and brought five back. (Yeah, it was a rough meeting.)
One of the things that attracted me to the Honda minivan was the Consumer Reports review that said that of all people movers, it was the closest thing to a sport sedan. They were right.
And it’s hard not to show off. Some days, spreadsheet driving doesn’t win out.
Tue, 27 May 2008
Sometimes, I think people wish they could drive in all three lanes, just so they could be sure they’re in the fastest one when they find out which one it is. In and out, in and out. Or just hover over the line for awhile to see if you can find out before you commit to one or the other. There’s people who drive with no premeditation whatsoever, but I think the ones with only premeditation are worse…
Sat, 17 May 2008
One of our morning errands today was to stop at the car wash. After we had finished, we were driving away, and my oldest (4-years-old next month) says, “Papa, motorcycles can’t go through the car wash.”
“Why not?” I rejoined.
“Because they don’t have windows and would get soap on the person.”
“That’s very true.”
“And bicycles and tricycles can’t either.”
<pause>
“And airplanes can’t go through the car wash either, because it would break them into pieces!”
Fri, 2 May 2008
Would it be wrong to steal a copy of Grand Theft Auto IV?
And think about it, what is worse (or what is better?): to steal Grand Theft Auto or to steal a Bible?
Fri, 25 Apr 2008
Did you ever have a little brother or somebody in school that was really just not quite faster than you, but almost… and then you’d race and you could never get ahead because just as you were ready to pull even he’d move over and cut you off… and you knew it was entirely unintentional, but it was still really annoying… and then it happened again?
It’s the same feeling you get when the 10-15 miles-per-hour-under-limit red Mustang is ahead of you and keeps making the same turns you have to make so you follow it all the way home from the library. And stop at all the red lights. And have many vehicles pull out in front of her and impede you even more.
<Sigh> That feels better.
Wed, 23 Apr 2008
Everyone has by now heard the endless woes of the American consumer in today’s economy, with the housing crunch and record gas prices and a slowing economy. I am here to agree that things are tough, but also to ask everyone to please tone it down with the nonsense.
Yes, gas is getting more expensive. Way more expensive. And by the day, it seems. Every time I drive, whether to work, the grocery store, church, wherever—I think about the cost of driving, and think how I can combine trips to make things cheaper.
But is this all bad? We’ve heard for the last decade, at least, how cars are bad for the environment and how The West is too addicted to oil, et cetera. Now that the cost is doing something about it, we hear nothing but how terrible it is that we can’t continue to do these things that just a year or two ago we kept hearing were so bad. (And top it off with a recent report I read bemoaning the fact that alternative fuels were causing food shortages.)
The bottom line is, there is no perfect solution that will get us all to a wonderful utopia. None. We just need to do our best with what life (Divine Providence?) throws our way, and trust that Providence to guide us along the way and teach us lessons from what we encounter. That is how we get to a better place here on earth.
Tue, 22 Apr 2008
There is nothing (or at least, not many things – at least, not on the road) worse than driving up the interstate in the middle lane and it starts to slow down and so you merge into the empty left lane, and umpteen cars in front of you merge right after you do, and then the long line of traffic that was behind you in the middle lane cruises past you at speed while you sit completely still in the left lane for no apparent reason.
I’m still recovering.
