Men are stupid. We are. We really are.
Back in the days when I was involved in rally racing I lived in Pacifica, CA. We had a race near Olympia, WA (actually a long ways west of Oly).
Got up, got dressed, and drove down to Palo Alto to meet my driver and pick up the race car.
And by pick up the race car, I mean get into a decommissioned ambulance that had been repurposed into a utility van, towing a trailer with the race car on it. The driver thought it was clever to call this his "shaggin' waggin'." This was in 2002. But I wanted to race, so I was willing to put up with it.
Oh, but you've only just begun to understand the awesomeness of this tow vehicle. It was built in the late 70s and surprisingly was extremely underpowered. But that's okay, it was more than made up for by the power "steering." Note that "steering" in that thing was really more of a "suggestion." You had to just kind of encourage the van in a general direction and hope you didn't hit anything.
Anyway, the driver brought a woman along. *sigh* There was no way this was going to end well. No 45 year old man should be that desperately horny.
Anyway. I got up at 2:00 AM and drove to Palo Alto. We tooled around in Palo Alto looking for the house where this woman was staying. Eventually found it and started driving north.
Things were slow, terrifying, and generally uneventful for the first half of the drive north. We got into the mountains in Oregon and hit some construction. Literally. Mr. Horny was driving the van and spending more time staring at his lady friend than the road. I noticed orange cones ahead. Orange cones slowly closing off our lane. I got curious as to how long it take before Mr. Horny noticed the cones. It took three cones before he clued in.
We got to the race HQ at about 9PM. Took the car for tech inspection, got our route book, and ate. We got to bed at 1:00 AM. At 6:00 AM we got up, went to breakfast, got the car prepped, and headed to the courses.
At about 7 that night we ate dinner, etc etc etc. Got to bed at midnight. Got up at 6:00 AM the next morning (Sunday) and started racing again. That night we went to the awards dinner, then immediately packed up and started driving back south (9:00 PM).
We took turns driving all through the night. Somewhere in the mountains in Oregon the trailer blew a tired and I dragged it for 50 miles before noticing (yes, the van was that crappy to drive - losing half of the tires on a trailer towing a car had no noticeable effect on the handling of the van).
Somewhere around 2:00 PM I got home and went to sleep.
5/31/2007
Summertime
It's summer. You can tell by the number of cars broken down.
On Tuesday I saw 3 in a two mile stretch of road. And 2 more on the way home.
I used to stop and help people when I lived in a rural area and had a truck full of tools. These days not so much - not because I don't want to, but because of the liability I would assume by doing so. I don't like to have to make that kind of decision.
On Tuesday I saw 3 in a two mile stretch of road. And 2 more on the way home.
I used to stop and help people when I lived in a rural area and had a truck full of tools. These days not so much - not because I don't want to, but because of the liability I would assume by doing so. I don't like to have to make that kind of decision.
Keep Going
Sometimes the best decision in a potentially bad situation is to just keep pushing.
Turning right from the Boulevard unto the on-ramp for 215E. Three lanes, but the on-ramp is the left most lane. Just as I start to go I see that traffic from the southbound left turn lane on the Blvd is starting to go. I have the option of stopping and half blocking a lane or continue moving and slow everyone up.
I take the third option - massive acceleration.
The rear end breaks free, and the truck starts to spin. The obvious choice here would be to freak out and slam on the brakes.
So I just keep pushing. Slam the wheel hard to the left to counter the spin and keep the back wheels moving so the truck doesn't jerk back the other way. Push in the clutch, the back wheels slow and start to grab, shift to 2nd, dump the clutch and slam the gas again. Enough engine present to break the back wheels free again. Just keep pushing until the truck is going straight in the left most lane and then let off the gas again. Once the rear tires have traction again, slam the gas to get up to highway speeds in 2nd gear.
I'll be surprised if I get 20,000 miles out of this set of tires.
Turning right from the Boulevard unto the on-ramp for 215E. Three lanes, but the on-ramp is the left most lane. Just as I start to go I see that traffic from the southbound left turn lane on the Blvd is starting to go. I have the option of stopping and half blocking a lane or continue moving and slow everyone up.
I take the third option - massive acceleration.
The rear end breaks free, and the truck starts to spin. The obvious choice here would be to freak out and slam on the brakes.
So I just keep pushing. Slam the wheel hard to the left to counter the spin and keep the back wheels moving so the truck doesn't jerk back the other way. Push in the clutch, the back wheels slow and start to grab, shift to 2nd, dump the clutch and slam the gas again. Enough engine present to break the back wheels free again. Just keep pushing until the truck is going straight in the left most lane and then let off the gas again. Once the rear tires have traction again, slam the gas to get up to highway speeds in 2nd gear.
I'll be surprised if I get 20,000 miles out of this set of tires.
5/23/2007
Walkin' The Snake
No, really. I saw a lady with a large snake wrapped around her walking down the sidewalk yesterday. I guess sometimes you just gotta walk yer snake.
5/22/2007
Semis
For those of you who think that semi drivers have a tough job and we should be nice to them, drive around Vegas for a while. I try to be nice to semis - good following distance, not changing lanes directly in front of them, letting them in to traffic, etc.
However, when I see construction trucks running red lights, cutting people off, and dropping gravel all over it tends to diminish the amount of good will I feel towards people in the trucking industry.
Good thing this behavior is only really present in the short-haul construction guys. I'm still as nice as I can be to long haulers and non-construction trucks. I just don't feel like cutting slack for someone running a red light in a semi - that seems a little too dangerous.
However, when I see construction trucks running red lights, cutting people off, and dropping gravel all over it tends to diminish the amount of good will I feel towards people in the trucking industry.
Good thing this behavior is only really present in the short-haul construction guys. I'm still as nice as I can be to long haulers and non-construction trucks. I just don't feel like cutting slack for someone running a red light in a semi - that seems a little too dangerous.
I Always Say
"Damnit, why did I let him in?"
Because I'm generally a nice, calm, reasonable driver. I let people in when they're being reasonable. Then they do something stupid directly in front of me. This leads to a general hatred of other drivers.
Because I'm generally a nice, calm, reasonable driver. I let people in when they're being reasonable. Then they do something stupid directly in front of me. This leads to a general hatred of other drivers.
Erched Ya
Yes, traffic is slowing down about 1/8 of a mile from the stoplight. However, if you get into the turn lane 1/4 mile before the stoplight I will probably assume that you're turning into the post office or the gas station. This means that when I pass those entrances and decide to get into the turn lane for the stoplight I will do so. If you're driving along in my blind spot you may have to test your ABS.
You, Yeah You
Don't understand why you got honked at this morning? It's probably because you turned left into the median and then proceeded to drive for 1/2 a mile at almost the speed limit. I honked because I needed to be in the turn lane at the light. Since you were driving next to me you were blocking me.
I honked not because you were in my way (although you were) but because you gave no indication of what I should expect from you. Were you turning into the post office, the shopping center, or were you going to drive like and idiot in the median for half a mile? Oh, yeah, the latter.
I honked not because you were in my way (although you were) but because you gave no indication of what I should expect from you. Were you turning into the post office, the shopping center, or were you going to drive like and idiot in the median for half a mile? Oh, yeah, the latter.
5/16/2007
More MT Fun
A lot of people like to drive on autopilot. Which is fine until someone does the unexpected.
For example... I'm sitting at a light. Nice bright brakelights. Everything is good.
Guy in a small car pulls up behind me. He's not paying much attention, but that's fine, we're not going anywhere for a bit.
I release the brakes (on a level surface, if I'm not going anywhere it helps avoid warping the rotors - not an insignificant concern in 120 degree weather). The guy behind me, on autopilot, lets go of his brakes. He's driving an automatic. And he jerks to a halt behind me. Just barely behind me.
*sigh*
Look first, then act.
For example... I'm sitting at a light. Nice bright brakelights. Everything is good.
Guy in a small car pulls up behind me. He's not paying much attention, but that's fine, we're not going anywhere for a bit.
I release the brakes (on a level surface, if I'm not going anywhere it helps avoid warping the rotors - not an insignificant concern in 120 degree weather). The guy behind me, on autopilot, lets go of his brakes. He's driving an automatic.
*sigh*
Look first, then act.
Manual Transmission
The people who made my truck invented something cool. It's called a manual transmission. What's cool is that due to the weird behaviors of physics, I get something called "rollback" when I'm stopped facing up a hill.
Between that and the decent amount of torque the engine puts out, it gives me a change to have a little fun.
Some people think that they need to stop less than a foot behind the person in from of them. Normally this is fine. However, doing so behind someone with a manual transmission while facing up a hill is considered rude.
If your vehicle's bumper is slightly shorter than mine, changes are I'm not going to care overly much if my trailer hitch comes to rest on your hood.
If your vehicle's bumper is as high as mine, I will probably just roll back until I see your eyes get wide, then dump the clutch and watch you jump from the noise.
Yeah, it's mean, but I don't know that I'm sorry. See, if there was enough space for me to start normally without having to worry about hitting your car, I wouldn't care. If there's not enough space, then I probably still wouldn't care.
(As a side note, when I drove a vehicle with a paintjob I didn't care about, it was not uncommon for me to slide back and simply rest on the person behind me. If you're going to give me six inches in which to combat rollback in the mountains, you're probably going to end up helping me whether you want to or not.)
Between that and the decent amount of torque the engine puts out, it gives me a change to have a little fun.
Some people think that they need to stop less than a foot behind the person in from of them. Normally this is fine. However, doing so behind someone with a manual transmission while facing up a hill is considered rude.
If your vehicle's bumper is slightly shorter than mine, changes are I'm not going to care overly much if my trailer hitch comes to rest on your hood.
If your vehicle's bumper is as high as mine, I will probably just roll back until I see your eyes get wide, then dump the clutch and watch you jump from the noise.
Yeah, it's mean, but I don't know that I'm sorry. See, if there was enough space for me to start normally without having to worry about hitting your car, I wouldn't care. If there's not enough space, then I probably still wouldn't care.
(As a side note, when I drove a vehicle with a paintjob I didn't care about, it was not uncommon for me to slide back and simply rest on the person behind me. If you're going to give me six inches in which to combat rollback in the mountains, you're probably going to end up helping me whether you want to or not.)
Gilespie
You know those two intersections where Gilespie crosses 215? Down near the airport car rental facilities? The ones with the signs that say "cross traffic does not stop"?
Oh, you don't?
Because you're from out of town and just picked up a rental car?
That's probably why you just got t-boned by cross traffic. Twice. In one week.
Next week they put in stop signs, so now it's a 4 way stop.
Can you see where this might be going? No? That explains why you missed the sign and got hit in the first place, doesn't it?
People who are used to rocketing through that intersection at 55 mph might just fail to notice the new stop sign.
When you have a social contract that only half of the people involved know, things tend to go badly. Then when you change that contract without letting anyone know, things go badly. If you must change the rules that people have followed for years it's generally considered polite to give advance warning.
Oh, you don't?
Because you're from out of town and just picked up a rental car?
That's probably why you just got t-boned by cross traffic. Twice. In one week.
Next week they put in stop signs, so now it's a 4 way stop.
Can you see where this might be going? No? That explains why you missed the sign and got hit in the first place, doesn't it?
People who are used to rocketing through that intersection at 55 mph might just fail to notice the new stop sign.
When you have a social contract that only half of the people involved know, things tend to go badly. Then when you change that contract without letting anyone know, things go badly. If you must change the rules that people have followed for years it's generally considered polite to give advance warning.
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