Friday, December 09, 2005
The long commute
Hello everyone, hopefully everyone traveled safely yesterday (those of you that got snow). My drive home was very interesting, so sit back, grab a cup of cocoa and listen to this!I leave work at 4pm and head out onto the road. I decide that I'm going to stay off the interstate and stay more towards the back roads...B I G M I S T A K E!!! 10mph on the interstate beats 0mph on a street. My commute starts extremely slow, but once I get onto Post Rd things are looking ok.
I take 56th St to Lee Rd and that is where the problems start. You know those bowling ball games at the carnival that you want to have the ball stop between the two hills?
Yeah, you all know the game. Well, last night all of the travelers taking Lee Rd to Fall Creek were the bowling balls, and we all won the game. We were stuck between two hills and couldn't make it up. Basically Going down the hill 4 or 5 guys would help to push people up. I was one of those pushers. I'm not the type of guy to sit in my car on my ass while people are stuck. I couldn't believe people sitting in their car. Irregardless of the assholes, people worked together. It sure as hell wasn't people in their BMW's and Lexus's going home in Geist, it was working stiff in the 20's and 30's. Thankfully when it was my turn to go up the hill there was a group of guys to help me.
So, now that you know the back ground sit down for the kicker....
My drive home normally takes 30 minutes +/- 5 minutes. Last night I pulled into the driveway at 9:15pm. Yes, 5 hours and 15 minutes. My drive home from Detroit a couple of weeks ago was faster! So, now for some highlights of the trip.
Note speed is 0
One guy in a riced out Neon got stuck going up hill. I thankfully have already put on my gore-tex combat boots that I had in my car so I get out to help him. The dude is Mexican and doesn't speak a lick of English. We are explaining to him what to do and he nods his head in agreement and doesn't have a clue what we are saying. Damn all the Spanish teachers that I had growing up. I have 2 years of high school and 10 credit hours of college Spanish and I don't speak even passively. The language requirement kicked my ass in school. Ok, back to the story. We check the guys tires and his front right tire is bald. It's bad enough the other 3 are summer high performance ones (you know, because he obviously races his Neon). So, then his car dies. The dude runs out of gas. We then push him down the hill and onto a side street.
Speaking of tires...I need to rotate mine and/or get new fronts. I've been bad at rotating my tires and my fronts are almost to the low indicator. Damn it...new tires are expensive! I think that I'll rotate the good rears to the front and go like that for a while. I've started a new tire fund, but it's not a good time of the year for tires. I figure that I should be able to put back $50-100 a week and get new fronts in a month or so.
Next story! I'm at the bottom of the hill and I look to the right. In the car next to me there is a guy playing a trumpet. I kid you not. It is the funniest thing that I've seen in a long time. He has sheet music out and everything. I video taped it off my phone, if anyone wants a copy drop me a line and I'll send it to you.
On the road were a lot of school buses stuck in the traffic mess. I felt sorry for them. Luckily there were no kids on these buses, but there were some on others on other parts of town. I talked to one lady driving a bus and she said that buses were having to stop at Krogers and McD's to let kids go to the bathroom. I feel for the bus driver in that weather, hell, I feel for them in nice weather! I let the bus lady that I talk to use my cell phone to call her husband. I guess that I met the one last person in the US that doesn't have a cell phone.
I saw some inconsiderate people when it came time for a light at an intersection. We have been stuck on the road for HOURS already, yet people are trying to make a green light. Holy crap people, you think that the one car that gets through the intersection before you is going to make a difference. It got so bad when it was my turn to get out that I was about ready to get out of my car and tell Mr(s) Tahoe, BMW, and Lexus that they were idiots and a rude bastard. I didn't get to because someone else got out of their car and chewed the people out. This was the main incident of stupidity/anger that I saw.
Do any of you realize how much food you have stashed in your car? I was able to eat a mini-meal of pumpkin seeds, shredded beef jerky, and some sweet tarts. I was so surprised! I even was able to freshen my breath with some chewing gum! I think that I might stick a couple of MRE's in my trunk for future incidents. I was famished by the time I got home but thankfully Amanda answered my requests and had taco's ready for me!
I met a lot of nice people in my stuck state. I talked to numerous drivers and everyone was banded together pretty nicely. I think that if we wipe out everyone with a luxury car that I met then we would have had a high concentration of good people on my stuck road.
I made tons of phone calls while I was in my car. That was nice...thank God for cell phones. I also surfed the net and played some games. The Sirius radio came in nice. Unfortunately I didn't get to go to the Pacers game. It's disappointing because I had good seats, but there is nothing I can do about it.
Amanda was awesome and shoveled the sidewalk and driveway! It made my job a lot easier when I got home. Thanks babe!
When I finally got home I sat down with my tacos and watched Survivor. I was asleep on the couch before we finished the show! I was beat.
The drive in to work wasn't too bad, and I actually made it on time. That's it, time to get back to work!
So, now that you know the back ground sit down for the kicker....
My drive home normally takes 30 minutes +/- 5 minutes. Last night I pulled into the driveway at 9:15pm. Yes, 5 hours and 15 minutes. My drive home from Detroit a couple of weeks ago was faster! So, now for some highlights of the trip.
Note speed is 0
One guy in a riced out Neon got stuck going up hill. I thankfully have already put on my gore-tex combat boots that I had in my car so I get out to help him. The dude is Mexican and doesn't speak a lick of English. We are explaining to him what to do and he nods his head in agreement and doesn't have a clue what we are saying. Damn all the Spanish teachers that I had growing up. I have 2 years of high school and 10 credit hours of college Spanish and I don't speak even passively. The language requirement kicked my ass in school. Ok, back to the story. We check the guys tires and his front right tire is bald. It's bad enough the other 3 are summer high performance ones (you know, because he obviously races his Neon). So, then his car dies. The dude runs out of gas. We then push him down the hill and onto a side street.
Speaking of tires...I need to rotate mine and/or get new fronts. I've been bad at rotating my tires and my fronts are almost to the low indicator. Damn it...new tires are expensive! I think that I'll rotate the good rears to the front and go like that for a while. I've started a new tire fund, but it's not a good time of the year for tires. I figure that I should be able to put back $50-100 a week and get new fronts in a month or so.
Next story! I'm at the bottom of the hill and I look to the right. In the car next to me there is a guy playing a trumpet. I kid you not. It is the funniest thing that I've seen in a long time. He has sheet music out and everything. I video taped it off my phone, if anyone wants a copy drop me a line and I'll send it to you.
On the road were a lot of school buses stuck in the traffic mess. I felt sorry for them. Luckily there were no kids on these buses, but there were some on others on other parts of town. I talked to one lady driving a bus and she said that buses were having to stop at Krogers and McD's to let kids go to the bathroom. I feel for the bus driver in that weather, hell, I feel for them in nice weather! I let the bus lady that I talk to use my cell phone to call her husband. I guess that I met the one last person in the US that doesn't have a cell phone.
One of the many stuck buses
I saw some inconsiderate people when it came time for a light at an intersection. We have been stuck on the road for HOURS already, yet people are trying to make a green light. Holy crap people, you think that the one car that gets through the intersection before you is going to make a difference. It got so bad when it was my turn to get out that I was about ready to get out of my car and tell Mr(s) Tahoe, BMW, and Lexus that they were idiots and a rude bastard. I didn't get to because someone else got out of their car and chewed the people out. This was the main incident of stupidity/anger that I saw.
Do any of you realize how much food you have stashed in your car? I was able to eat a mini-meal of pumpkin seeds, shredded beef jerky, and some sweet tarts. I was so surprised! I even was able to freshen my breath with some chewing gum! I think that I might stick a couple of MRE's in my trunk for future incidents. I was famished by the time I got home but thankfully Amanda answered my requests and had taco's ready for me!
I met a lot of nice people in my stuck state. I talked to numerous drivers and everyone was banded together pretty nicely. I think that if we wipe out everyone with a luxury car that I met then we would have had a high concentration of good people on my stuck road.
I made tons of phone calls while I was in my car. That was nice...thank God for cell phones. I also surfed the net and played some games. The Sirius radio came in nice. Unfortunately I didn't get to go to the Pacers game. It's disappointing because I had good seats, but there is nothing I can do about it.
Amanda was awesome and shoveled the sidewalk and driveway! It made my job a lot easier when I got home. Thanks babe!
When I finally got home I sat down with my tacos and watched Survivor. I was asleep on the couch before we finished the show! I was beat.
The drive in to work wasn't too bad, and I actually made it on time. That's it, time to get back to work!
