Sledding is fun!

Special thanks to GM for the picture

Valentines Diddies

I was scouring the net earlier today, and happened upon something which WS thinks might be a product of secretive KR action.

Check it out...I think it's EC.

But wait, I also found this one. Sounds like the same voice. Hmmmm...

Olympic Fever

OK, I just have one thing to say about the Winter Olympics.

Curling rules!*

* And I'm being serious.

Edit: And why are the women curlers like 20 years younger than the men curlers? Not that I'm complaining.

Driving in different locales

While I'm on the subject of driving, I thought I'd share some thoughts about driving in the places I know best.

Bay Area:
Driving in the bay area offers many pros. The wide open highways. The many laned local roads. High speed limits (well, higher than the other places I'm going to list). In fact, driving is pretty much assumed in the Bay Area. Need to travel 45 minutes? No problemo. Just jump in the car and head on out. For those of you raised around NYC, just think about that scenario for a second. 12 years ago, if you asked me if I would make a 45 minute trek to see a friend (even if I was the passenger), I'd say "Hell no! That's too damn far." At best, you would convince me to meet somewhere in the middle. But Californians do it without a blink of the eye.

However, the Bay Area does have its drawbacks. Abnormally "compact" parking spaces. Not just in length, but in width. If you've ever visited a NJ shopping mall, you could fit a H2 in any of those parking spots, and still be able to open the doors. Not in CA. Good luck opening one of your doors, let alone two of them, if you or your neighbor are even slightly askew.
Also, beware of the rain. That first rain of the season...you better plan an extra 30 minutes to get into and out of work, because you _know_ there will be an accident. Speaking of CA drivers and bad weather conditions, only in CA have I heard of chains for snow. Growing up in the east coast, where there are also plenty of mountains (hills, perhaps), I'd never heard of chains. But, I guess given the general quality of CA drivers, chains is a very good idea. =)

Moving over to NJ, there's not much to say here. Drivers are generally pretty competent. The downside to driving in NJ is the ridiculously short on-ramps (or should I say driveways) that get you back onto the local highways. If you don't have a V6 in NJ or a very light car, fuhgeddaboutit. I guess that's why they have really horribly low speed limits. Like 45 on local highways, and 55 on the major ones (though i think they finally created a few 65 stretches). It's as if they want to make NJ seem bigger than it really is by making you take longer to get through the whole state.

NYC...I actually really like driving in NYC. From the outside, you might think that NY is filled with crazy drivers and super tight highway lanes. I'll give you the super tight highway lanes, where you feel like you could reach over and tap the passenger's shoulder in the neighboring car, but those aren't crazy drivers. Well, ok, maybe they are, but they're _good_ crazy drivers. What makes them good crazy drivers is that they know what they are doing. In other words, they are predictable. To get around the streets of NYC, you have to be willing to swerve in and out of your lane, and even in and out of your lanes of direction. While you may think this crazy, that's what's expected. So as you swerve out of your lane, the car just behind you but a lane over, is expecting you to do just that and will swerve in accordance. What gums up the works in NYC is the indecisive driver. Those are the ones you'll find stuck behind an unloading truck, because they couldn't pull the trigger to swerve to the other lane when there was a tiny opening. In NYC, if you want to merge in the HWYs, just turn on your blinker and start making that move. The car on the next lane over will see you and create space. As opposed to in CA, where the car next to you will likely be busy talking on their cellphone and never notice you until it's too late.
Anyway, if you are an aggressive driver, or at least not an indecisive one, I think you'll enjoy driving the streets of NYC. You'll always be on your toes, but at the same time, every action is predictable.
Of course, NYC does lead to bad habits...like driving as far down the exit lane as possible before merging back into the thru traffic. I'm sure we all love that maneuver. heh.

Other driving notes, I hate Washington. Stupid cops and their speed traps. Booo!!!!
I've heard worse in Connecticut. You go a couple miles over the limit and BAM! You're toast.
In Texas, I've seen cops use the dirt path that connects opposing highway traffic as a way to U-Turn and snag a speeder going the other way. That's just unfair.
Vermont's cop cars are green. It's a wonder I never got pulled over as green is definitely not a color I associate with cop cars.

Auto-pilot/cruise control

Are you known to go into auto-pilot when you drive?

You know, when you're planning on driving to some place you don't usually go, and then upon being distracted end up driving somewhere you habitually go?

I've got very strong auto-pilot tendencies, that's for sure.

The first story I heard of was when a friend of mine back in HS was attempting to drive somewhere or other while reading a book (heh, yes indeedy, you can blame this friend for my great multi-tasking driving habits), and ended up driving to his mom's office.

For me, it's real easy to trigger my auto-pilot. All you have to do is strike up a conversation, and often times, I'll end up driving along a fixed path. Take the following example:

I'm driving CI back from HGT. He works on the right side of the street, while I work on the left side. Numerous times, I've come down this street in the same scenario and had to get a last second nudge from CI to remind me to get over to the right side, lest I turn left into my parking lot.

So I'm driving with CI and upon entering the street, I have my wits about me and declare out loud..."OK, I'm staying in the right lane this time, so I don't forget." As we drive down the mile or so stretch, we strike up a conversation about something or other. There I am, talking and driving, and staying in the right lane. Impressive. As I approach the last light before the block where we both are, I've gradually lost my focus and there I am chatting and making a left turn signal to get to the left lane. Auto-pilot strikes again!

Fortunately, CI was an alert passenger, and quickly roused me out of my stupor. Whereupon, I did a quick swerve back into the right lane (never made it to the left lane) and have a new reason to laugh at myself. Heh heh.

Today, the tables were turned. And I know that I'm not the only one who has the auto-pilot "feature".

More bathroom thoughts - automated, my ass!

Heh, so I'm going to stay in the bathroom today. Don't worry, it should be a relatively clean one. =) Today's thought has to do with the infernal automated toilet flushers.

I hate those things. They never work properly. I sit down on one of those things, and the worst of them flushes like 10 times before I'm ready to get up.

Perhaps I'm too skinny. Perhaps I have some convoluted bathroom technique (ok, let's rule that out this second). Whatever it is, inevitably, the sensor thinks I'm not there and flushes. Just when I think it finally knows I'm there, *_flush_*.

It's not that I don't like a clean toilet. I mean who doesn't. But I've got some pride to uphold, and if _you_ were in the stall next to me and heard the toilet go off 10 times in 3 minutes, including like 3 consecutive flushes, you'd probably be thinking, "what's that wacko in the neighboring stall doing"? Well, let me just set the record straight now. Nothing! It's the stupid sensor! Grrrrrr.

But fear not, I now have a solution. And for any of you who suffer the same malady as I do, forever to be ignored by the automatic toilet flusher, here's how to set things right.

Just take a couple segments of toilet paper and drape it over the near-sighted sensor. Voila! The sensor can't be blind enough to miss that.

Please make sure you remove the drape before you leave. Heh.

Bathroom hygiene

If there's one thing that I can't stop doing (and no I don't mean Fantasy), it's pointing out inconsistencies. Even if they're trivial, I'll get caught up in a 10 minute argument.

Anyway, here's something that popped into my head one day while spotting someone exit the bathroom...

Perhaps it only seems odd to me, in which case, that's nothing new. But...for all those guys out there (I can only speak for guys, but perhaps it applies in some context to women, though I doubt it) that need to exit the bathroom with a paper towel protecting their hand from the door (lest you catch some disease), why is it that they take so much care on their way out, but not on the way in?

For those that don't know (and I'll try not to be graphic). When a guy goes to the bathroom, he:
1) Opens the door to the bathroom with his _hands_.
2) Walks over to the urinal.
3) Uses his _hands_ to assist in his business.

In those steps above, do you see any mention of hand washing?. Any paper towels for protection? Nope, not at all. Heck, not only is the door that's opened a source of "bad", but who knows where one's hands have been over the last 30 minutes. Perhaps all over the coffee maker? Perhaps typing on a communal keyboard. And yet, in they go to the urinal with uncleansed hands.

To be so meticulously clean leaving the bathroom, yet create such a big gaping hole in logic on the way in...just screams inconsistency.

While admittedly, this all is kinda gross, I can't help but chuckle now every time I see one of these guys using a paper towel to open the door on the way out of the bathroom. Heh.

Sorry to those of you who I've actually described. Perhaps you'll think about washing your hands before you go next time. =)