07/14/2004: "When I am Galactic Overlord..."

music: Mix CD of AWESOME music...boy I have great taste.
mood: Antsy to go outside....

California is Sunny and Happy today and I am for the most part too except that these are the types of days you wish you were working from home so you could enjoy the weather. A little Wireless network can go a long way with your mental health and your "tan" ( or TANN in some cases )

With various and sundry political concerns whirring about the news and so on it is hard at times to stay positive. The circle that reads this blog mostly all agrees that War is bad, voting is good, your gender and sexual orrientation should have nothing to do with the legality of your marriage and Courteny love should be put out of her misery. We should all recycle as often as possible. My blog admittedly does not spread too wide or far (that I know of) and the company I keep is mostly on the same page. I would however like to vent my personal frustration of the lack of driving skill and the decline in general of driving. There is poor driving and there is dangerous driving and when I rule the world it's going to be a lot harder to get a driver's liscense. Here are some of my pet peeves.

The Obvious one is the Cell phone. Now I don't mind so much if you are chatting while in traffic of if you have an ear piece and happen to be skilled enough to do two things at the same time, but do not I repeat DO NOT attempt to MERGE on to the freeway while holding a phone in your left hand, completely blocking your view, if you even were aware enough to be looking where you are going. When there is CONSTRUCTION on the merge, friggin put the phone down or call them back, this is not an opportune time to try to find and answer your phone either. You can call them back. Speed UP to merge don't hit the freeway (even if the road is retarded) at 40 miles per hour. Just don't. Driving is an honor not a right, let's start treating it that way.

I see people RUN red lights every day or just about every day. We aren't talking running a yellow, we are talking Red before you hit the intersection Red. Now there are certainly intersections where if you ARE running late to something important (though nothing in my life is really worth that risk) it may detain you a good 3 minutes, but seriousuly, is an accident going to make you more on time. Plan ahead folks, leave on time, leave a cushion in your deadline. It's a risk to be sure, and I'm just not sure the folks running lights are thinking of the risk. It's not a double dog dare or a test of manhood for them, it's an inconvience to break, and they put others at risk. Those that even acknowledge they are committing a crime are more concerned about whether they will get caught rather than if they will ram into someone. I want a direct dispatch line so I can nark on all the abusers, rarely a cop around or a camera around when you really need it.

When I rule the world it will be a crime to not use your turn signal. Is it really that hard. It's in a really easy place to use on most cars...I can't think of a reason NOT to use it to be perfectly honest. My car even has a beep if I happen to leave it on for more than 45 seconds. I would rather you accidently leave it on ( still annoying) than not use it. Other people on the road...need I reitterate...

Speed is an issue. While I personally see no reason espcially with freeway speed set at 65 to ever go faster than 75 on the road in most places around here ( I-5 excluded) I can't see how going 55 in the middle lane is useful either. If you need to speed don't be an ass about it, stay off my tail, be patient for a FEW seconds at least for me to move out of the fast lane and let you pass. And if you are in the fast lane going 55, move over....I know the trucks aren't mereging that fast so you will be able to get around them no worries...meanwhile you won't be getting everyone around you enraged...which segues nicely...if I do say so myself...to my final topic of disturbance....

Now with all the lame drivers on the road, certainly it is a potential pressure cooker of stress. Avoiding the dangers is certainly a test of your defensive driving skills but almost as bad as the above offenders are those that aggressively think they own the road. I see people weaving ( not signaling) and speeding to get out of the way of these more oblivious offenders. You know what. If you are tail gating me and I am going 72 in the fast lane and there are people going the same speed right in front of me, do not get angry, swerve in front of me (while cutting off the person next to me) and then flip me off and cut in front of me only to get stuck behind.. yes... the people I was driving behind.

this being said, I know we all have our space out moments, but when I see a car driving stupid and the front end is all smooshed in, I have to think...it's them right?

Drive safe little ones!!! Over and out, 10-4