Return of the U-Turn

For the first four years we lived in Wisconsin, I would drop Michelle off at work, and make a u-turn at the next intersection to make my journey home to begin my day of work. Because there was no No U-turn sign at the intersection, I never thought twice about it until about two years ago when I was pulled over for making the u-turn. The officer asked if I knew why he pulled me over, and frankly I had no idea. I looked back at the intersection, but didn't see a No U-turn sign.

When he told me I made an illegal u-turn, I was confused. I commented that there was no sign stating it wasn't permitted. That was when I learned that Wisconsin had a law forbidding u-turns in any controlled intersection, regardless of whether or not there is a sign there. When I asked how would I know about this law, he asked "How do you know to stop at a red light." My first thought was that stopping at red lights is the same in every state, but I kept that thought to myself. He reasoned that by having a Wisconsin license, I should be aware of Wisconsin driving laws. Not much to argue about there, so I paid my fine.

As of the beginning of the year, though, there is no longer a law against u-turns in controlled intersections unless otherwise marked. This morning, it shaved a couple minutes of my morning commute. I need to get used to it again, but it is a good thing.

Dangerous Drivers

I'm tired of getting frustrated at drivers who do crazy things on the road that endanger themselves and everyone around them. Road rage sets in, and I feel inclined to do stupid things back, like speeding up to prevent someone from passing on the right. These people seem to feel they are more entitled to the road than everyone else. Rather than engage in such practices, I've decided to instead make a list.

When I see a dangerous driver, I will add them to the list. It will be an exercise in patience and memory. Perhaps it will show some recurring offenders. Maybe it will help others avoid these dangerous drivers.

There can be a fine line between aggressive driving and dangerous. The examples below are those I subjectively feel have been excessive. Unfortunately, it seems to happen a lot.

19 January 2010 - 8 am

Red Hyundai Elantra - Wisconsin

Heading north on 60th St. in Milwaukee, passing the line of cars going straight from the right turn lane

20 January 2010 - 7:34 am

Green Plymouth Voyager - Wisconsin

Heading south on 60th in Milwaukee, didn't slow down for traffic lights and passed all traffic going straight through the light at the intersections with North Ave. and Lloyd St. This van barely slowed down when the light was red and accelerated hard to get ahead of cars moving in the same direction at the intersections.

21 January 2010 - 7:40 am

White Ford Ranger - Wisconsin

Heading east on Wisconsin Ave. in Milwaukee. Passed all traffic from the right turn lane at the intersection with 27th St. and quickly cut off everyone by moving to the far left lane. This move got the driver nowhere, as we passed him later on down the road when he had to stop at a light that turned red, and we arrived at it just as it turned green.

Do you come across dangerous drivers? Don't get mad and do something rash. Remember what they did and let people know to watch out for these losers.

Me, Myself, and I

Myself thinks it is strange that people want to add syllables when they talk or write. If yourself doesn't believe myself, take a listen the next time yourself and your colleagues are in a meeting.

Reads ridiculously, no? Over the past several years, there has been a 'self pandemic.' It used to be that every once in a while you would hear someone misuse a reflexive pronoun, but it seems to have become more and more common. In fact, this issue is creeping into use more and more frequently, and I find it distracting.

I've seen it in some comic books I've read recently, but also in movies. Robin Williams as Teddy Roosevelt in Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian did it once. I hear it in conference calls for work quite frequently: "Myself and Joe will..." or "we will rely on yourself and Mary to follow through..."

Last night, Michelle and I watched Inglorious Basterds, and while the movie itself was entertaining, I was disheartened to see no fewer than five cases of reflexive pronoun misuse in the subtitle translations.

I hat to be a stickler, but the reflexive only makes sense when the subject of the sentence matches. I can do something for myself, you can do something for yourself, but I cannot do something for yourself. I'd rather see people confuse I and me. When you've got a group of people, take out the others to figure out which pronoun to use. There are plenty of resources out there. Even wikipedia has a decent simple write up, so I'm not going to give a tutorial.

I just hope that people will slow down and stop adding extra syllables. :)

Pain is good, right?

I thought I was in reasonably good shape. I mean, I run half-marathons in reasonable time (sub-two hours), so how out of shape could I be?

Well, last week I started the P90X system to try to get my weight down a bit and to work my muscles more than what I get from just running. I'm off to a decent start, but I've certainly learned that I no longer have any upper body or core strength (It has been a long 16 years since I did gymnastics in college). After a week of the classic p90x routine, I am sore. Today's workout was Chest and Back with "Ab Ripper X" (which should have been called "Ass Kicker X"). Some of the push ups and pull ups really did me in, but where I really struggled today was with some of the core exercises, particularly where I needed to raise my upper body off the ground.

I've been a bit sore over the past week, but it is a good pain. Overall, I feel energized and good. I've been sitting more upright and am looking forward to seeing progress over the next few weeks.