In a Fog

This past Monday was an extremely unpleasant day to be driving in the county. This was due to periods of heavy rain, and a fog thicker than leftover Thanksgiving gravy. Even with the obviously dangerous and challenging driving conditions, some of our fair citizens managed to overlook one of the most simple safety multipliers: drive with your headlights on.

I saw a countless number of apparently weak-minded individuals who could not get this simple task completed; I even observed some of them as late as 5:00PM. What gives? Could any “no light” driver clue me in on your thoughts? Are you trying to lay low on police stakeout?
This is not just a personal rant; it’s actually part of Pennsylvania House Bill 2133- Session of 2005. A section of it reads: “Any time when the vehicle's windshield wipers are in ontinuous (sic.) or intermittent use due to precipitation or atmospheric moisture, including rain, snow, sleet or mist (PennDot)”. Please take the time to make yourself more visible to other drivers!

Reference

PennDot, (2006, December 1). Headlight laws enacted in pennsylvania. Retrieved November 28, 2007, from Ridge Fire Company #1 Web site: http://ridgefirecompany.com/headlight_law.html

Top Five Reasons to be Thankful

In the spirit of the season, I thought I’d share my Top Five Reasons to be Thankful.




5. If you’re reading this, you’re STILL alive, or just really bored.

4. Gas prices haven’t reached $4.00 yet!

3. Your son is not named Don Imus, Isiah Thomas, or O.J Simpson.

2. Your daughter is not named Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton, or Britney Spears.

And the number one reason to be thankful is…….

1. You didn’t have to suffer through hassles and giddiness that were the result of one of our major sports teams winning it all in 2007!


Happy Holidays to all!

Barriers to Safety?

This year I lost a coworker to an automobile accident on Route 202. That combined with this past weekend’s highway fatalities reminded me of a point that I, and others, have made before: concrete barriers need to be installed in the medians of high-speed highways. You know the ones, the four foot high (approximate) concrete barriers that you sometimes see on divided highways. These need to run the entire length of our high-volume/speed highways, with provisions for turnarounds for emergency vehicles.

If anyone knows of any studies to back-up, or refute my idea, please point me in their direction. I am solely basing my opinion on my personal observations, many of which were formed when I was a firefighter and EMT.

The grass medians always seemed to be the worst to me, as I feel they act like springboards into the opposing traffic lane. That is, when a vehicle leaves the pavement and hits the grass, it slingshots the car into opposing traffic; very much like hitting a patch of ice.

Even though drivers and passengers still run a great risk by hitting a concrete barrier, at least it may help to keep other vehicles from being involved.

Could rows of water-filled barrels, like the ones used to help slow down runaway trucks, be an answer?

Stalls and Flaws

Does anyone else feel stalled? I hate to keep leaning on cars for metaphors, but automobiles have been at the forefront of my thoughts lately. Let me clarify: by stalled I mean in a state where you feel like you’re not moving forward in an aspect (or aspects) of your life. I feel like my career, or what semblance there is of one, is like the Route 30 by-pass, or 202 at about 8:00AM on a Monday morning. It’s one slow monotonous grind. The car issues are creeping along at about the same pace (see the Albatross stories).

Anyone who knows me knows that patience is not one of my virtues. I’m very decisive, and even manage to embrace a lot of change. Not to mention, that my mind is usually racing several steps ahead. In other words, I can get bored pretty fast and don’t respond well to intrusive, or overbearing authority. These are interesting traits to have. They can either be terrible flaws, or unbelievable assets. Oh, the dichotomy of life.

Well, enough of my personal grumbling. I’ll try to be a bit more optimistic in my next post! Even so, I am interested in hearing about the reader’s stalls and flaws…let’s call it group therapy!

"Signs, signs......"

I know I said that I tend to avoid discussing politics, but I’ve managed to get sucked into the vortex of electoral idiotocracy again. Well, actually it’s not THAT dire. I just have to voice my frustrations about political signage.

How much more beautiful could Chester County be in autumn, if the political campaign signs went down as fast as they went up? We are forced to endure the eyesore of boldly printed slogans and half-hearted platitudes amongst a backdrop of sensuous seasonal earth tones provided by Mother Nature. Despicable.

The biggest irony of all is when you spot the signs from the candidates that ran on platforms of open space and environmental awareness still hanging around. They go from an obvious waste of resources (trees/paper) to just plain littering. Maybe they’ll catch on that electronic media is a far more effective way to reach people anyway.

I challenge all future candidates to take ownership of this problem. Hell, you could make it part of your platform: “Win or lose, I promise to clean up my signs, and the signs of my competition!”

Remembrance

I would like to take the opportunity to express my appreciation to all of our service people, past and present, on Veteran’s Day. Especially those that had such a deep impact on my life: my grandfather, uncles, Lt. Col. Jaquish (Retired), and MSgt. Dougherty (Retired). I admire your willingness to serve and sacrifice for your convictions.

These thoughts really hit me when I went to get my hair cut today. I know that sounds unusual, but there is a legitimate reason behind it. While waiting my turn, I was able to make the acquaintance of a gentleman who was the back-up bombardier/navigator for the Enola Gay. Regardless of your feelings about the use of nuclear weapons on Japan, you should find it amazing that a vital piece of living history is still in our midst. Hopefully, someone at DLN will take notice, if they already haven’t…what a feature opportunity!

Also, I would like to give a shout out to the craftswoman (and perfectionist) that is responsible for keeping my hair where it needs to be: Nancy at Men of the Millenium located at 609 Lancaster Avenue, Frazer, PA. The shop is convenient to Great Valley, Exton, Malvern, Frazer, Imaculatta, and offers great service for all of your men’s hair care needs! Keep your chin up and keep working hard!

The Man That Never Sleeps Goes to the City That Doesn’t Either

I’ve been on a bit of a hiatus. My darling wife took me on a three night trip to New York City. This was my first trip to “The Big Apple,” and we went to enjoy a Broadway show (“Spring Awakening”) and the Flyers vs. Rangers hockey game at Madison Square Garden. The Flyers were a bit disappointing, but the show was outstanding! I’m writing this under a bit of a time crunch, so it will be brief for now. I’ll be sure to include more scintillating details at a later date.

I could fill volumes with the negative aspects of NYC. This would be rather easy, and not very sporting. I will fill you in on two very positive experiences I had there.

First, the food I ate was not only outstanding, it was the fastest service (on average) I have ever received. To illustrate my point, my service at a famous fast food restaurant was slowest I had during my time there. Even more impressive was the diversity of choices. I saw an Indian, Vietnamese, Brazilian, Continental, Greek, and Mexican restaurant all operating right next to one another. Talk about multi-cultural!

Secondly, before going on the trip, I had heard tons of stories about how impersonal and selfish the citizens of NYC can be (even though we witnessed otherwise on 9/11). On my way to Penn Station today, I saw something that blew these thoughts out of the water. I witnessed interaction between two men of extremely different backgrounds, spoken languages, races, cultures, and physical abilities interact in an unexpected way. I watched one man hustle out of his way to make sure the other gentleman, who was wheelchair bound, was able to make it across the street and over the curb before the merciless NYC traffic could resume. There were no extrinsic motivators involved, or even a call for help. It was just a random act of thoughtfulness and citizenship by one stranger to another.

Regardless of the challenges we face in this country, it is acts like these that should make you damn proud to be an American.

Pain of Shopping

If you hadn’t noticed, the temperature is dropping and Christmas will soon be upon us. I’m already late with my Christmas shopping duties. This is usually something I like to get done in September, but had to take a rain check due to time and financial constraints (don’t we all). I guess that does sound a bit neurotic, especially for a heterosexual man. The fact of the matter is that I tend to do things I dislike early, and shopping is one of them. Granted, my classmates in college already know about this.

I do enjoy shopping for “guy stuff” (i.e. muscle cars), but I even have to do that on my own terms. I suppose I suffer a touch of social anxiety, as I hate dealing with the throngs at stores and shifty salespeople. I think I dislike the later so much because I know it will become either a verbal sparing match, or me having to suffer the ignorance of someone who does not know as much about what they are selling as I do. Viva le informed consumer!

Regardless of anything else, it’s just a chore to me, and shopping at Christmas is the zenith of futility. Trying to buy gifts because you feel forced is just no fun. It tends to take the surprise and creativity out of things, and the worst part of that is you end up relying on the best and worst of all gifts: the gift card.

I like getting the cards (cash is still king, baby), as long as it’s for some place I would like, but I hate giving them, due to my twisted sense of ethics. For instance, my employer gave us gift certificates to Amazon.com. Now there’s one I’ll gratefully use. A card for one of those uppity KoP mall shops will just get re-gifted. Hope you’re not on my list! Ho, ho, ho!