This is one of mine… a timely one since we just got home from taking C and MaDear to Baltimore airport, then we grabbed a couple of crabcake sandwiches and came home with a brief stop at the National Cryptologic Museum next to the NSA, which R has been wanting to do. It was low-budget and old school but surprisingly interesting. Did you know that slaves would embed messages and instructions about the Underground Railroad via quilt designs?
[Update: They have arrived in Punchline State.]
Anyway… on to the five:
Big gentle hugs, soft pillows and heating pads to Will Smama, our resident matriarch and preacher/blogger/procrastinator who was involved in a bit of a fender-bender this week. We’re very grateful she’s OK, just a little shaken up…
In lieu of flowers, I send this Friday Five out to her. Let’s all be careful on those roadways.
1. Driving: an enjoyable way to clear the mind? a means to an end? a chance to be quiet with one’s thoughts? a necessary evil? the downfall of our planet and its fossil fuels? Discuss.
I don’t enjoy driving. I would just as soon never drive. I like being on the open road occasionally, but with someone else behind the wheel. And truthfully, I’d usually rather just get there. Sign me up for teleportation.
We bought the minivan before we really got hyper-aware of the environmental impact. Now what do we do? Sell it? And buy what? There is also an environmental impact to buying a new car.
2. Do you drive the speed limit? A little faster? Slower? Have you ever gotten a ticket?
I drive the speed limit meticulously, give or take five miles. I’ve never gotten a ticket, although I was pulled over once for driving while eating a McGriddle, and I’ve rear-ended people twice. Unlike Will Smama’s culprit, I never sped away, and I never did damage to the person, and only minimally to the car.
3. Do you take public transportation? When? What’s your opinion of the experience?
I LOVE public transportation and will take it any chance I get. The Writing Revs meet downtown occasionally and I love taking Metro. I will take it to presbytery as well when it meets at Fluffy Church. Of course, it’s best when you can get a seat. Easier to read, laptop, whatever.
4. Complete this sentence: _____________ has the worst drivers I’ve ever experienced.
Ah, every place has its own pathology. R sums it up well:
Houston drivers are fine, but fast. 70, 80 mph is typical, and neither rain, nor sleet, nor snow, nor gloom of night slow these drivers on their appointed rounds.
It is unclear whether Atlanta drivers are incompetent or insane. They will do some dangerously aggressive things when you least expect it.
Drivers in DC are generally OK, but you have a small percentage of Type-A maniacs whose poop doesn’t stink. These folks deem it everyone else’s lot in life to yield to their aggressively important timetable, or get out of their way.
Boston has an even higher percentage of these folks, so the aggressive driving is universalized, paradoxically creating a well-oiled machine of pushing your way into lanes and the like.
5. According to the Census Bureau, my fair city has the 6th longest average commute in the United States at 29 minutes each way. How does your personal commute rate?
My commute is 15 minutes or so. I also work from home as often as I can. R is all over the place at client sites, but he too can work from home and does whenever it’s feasible.
Bonus for the brutally honest: It has been said, and the MythBusters have confirmed, that cell phones can impede driving ability almost as much as drinking. Do you talk on a cell phone while driving?
I used to never talk on the phone with a kid in the car, and I still don’t prefer it. Seems like one distraction too many. But, yes. I do [sheepish] although I try to use the speaker phone option.
4 Responses to “friday five: life in the fast lane”
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Asides
» I have been remiss in posting SBJ’s latest stats: 23 pounds and 27 inches at six months. Yes, I’ve got the big mama biceps.
» Aaaaaand little she-who-is lost another tooth this week!
» SBJ is four months old, 19 pounds 5 ounces, and 26 inches tall. GIGANTOR!
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Maybe its just me, but:
As a general rule - big city drivers seem much freindlier than small city drivers. Its like people in big cities understand traffic “car”ma and know that one day they, too, will want to merge into another lane. Small city drivers are more “merge? Hell no - go around!”
I hate city driving - in europe we don’t use automatic cars so it’s a lot of hard work to crawl in a jam - I’m not keen on motorways (freeways) either - but empty country lanes.
I don’t commute right now -studying from home and work in school on Mondays. Then I drive cos of the books I mark. It’s 8-10mins more if I have an 8am start (which I do) so I usually leave before 7:30 and have some ‘down time’ at school with my collagues before I enter the classroom!
Since you sounds as if you live in the same area of metropolitan D.C. as my family, I’ll be very careful about criticizing drivers from any area (although I have a firm opinion about it). I do like to drive to clear my head — being some introverted, solitude appeals to me as a way to recharge myself. And I think drives in the country (in the foothills of my beloved Blue Ridge Mountains especially) are a great way to relieve stress and enjoy the world).
Speed limit? Usually 7 miles over — but in D.C., who can ever get up TO the speed limit?!?
1. I used to like driving as a way to clear the mind, until I started thinking about how much money I’m spending on gas in order to “clear my mind,” which would thusly make me have an unclear state of mind. I do tend to see driving through my environmental tinted glasses now.
2. I am very conscious of the speed limit and try to follow it at all times. I have had two tickets. The first one for the first time I ever got behind the wheel of Anya’s Mustang. I accelerated a little too quickly, and found myself going 50 in a 35. I was in the process of slowing down to 35 when the cop pulled me over. I got the second one when Anya and I were driving back to Dallas from Houston. For some god awful reason, the speed limit just south of Dallas suddenly, and without any real reason, dropped from 70 mph to 55 mph.
3. I do take public transportation. But usually, I prefer to just walk to my destination.
4. I have to say that Houston does have the worst drivers. It may have been different when you and R lived there, but now EVERYONE has one of those monster tank SUV’s, and they’ve combined the speed of Dale Earnhardt jr, with the driving agility of an Abrams tank driver. I think I sounded a lot like Yosemite Sam the last time I drove on the H-town freeways.
Austin too has bad drivers, but this is mostly around campus. Austin lets all of the UT students park on the street. Most of the streets around campus have cars parked on both sides of the road, leaving a narrow piece of the road for you to navigate down. That in and of itself wouldn’t be so bad, but when you add the hundreds of bikers biking to and fro, and the large SUV tanks trying to make their way on the road, only in the opposite direction you’re going, it can make for a pretty hairy experience.
5. My commute is a one-mile, 20 minute walk. I rarely use my car. The only time I really use my car is when I’m driving to Houston or Dallas.
6. I don’t like to talk on my cell-phone while driving. I occasionally do, but I don’t like to make a habit of it.