All my life I’ve been amused with Virginia’s road signs “speed limit enforced by aircraft”. It’s one of those signs which makes me wish I were a cartoonist or animator. Instead I’ll have to stick to written word. I think the signs should be appended to read “speed limit enforced by aircraft…because if our plane can catch you then you were really flying !”
Author: Doug McCaughan
Father of 5.
Juggler.
Ticked off at blogger.com.
First Megabus ride
Megabus adventure thus far. Bus was already pretty full when arrived in Knoxville presumably from Atlanta. We were very fortunate to actual find 3 seats near one another. Bus is relatively comfortable if you don’t mind “warm” and “friendly.” The older lady with the neck brace has reclined her seat into my lap which is nice in that “this provides a sense of security like the safety bar on a roller coaster. The low rumble of road noise and blowing of something they toy with referring to as air conditioning has me wishing I had purchased the Parrot Zik noise canceling headphones. For some reason I can’t get the pressure equalized so my jaw is tiring from trying to pop my ears. Evan is thrilled and so am I. Cathy looks happy. The crowd is very subdued. The bus appears maintained with the exception of a blatant problem with the windscreen. (See picture) Not sure if that growing smell of sweaty person is odeur o’ Doug’s failing deodorant or my traveling companion. In an attempt to keep the bus a constant “warm” I am certain the driver is recirculating the air. I don’t know Washington D.C.’s pollution index (insert mandatory congress joke here) but I am quite looking forward to inhaling it deeply.
Would I ride the Megabus again? I can guarantee I will make one more trip.
Megabuddies
Megabuddies
Notes to megabus passengers
Notes for megabus passengers: morning arrivals require sunscreen and Tilley hats, both left at house.
The Ghost Bike
My sister-in-law’s brother was killed last week while riding his bicycle. I now have the unfortunate knowledge of the existence of “ghost bikes.” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost_bike)
This picture shows the shoulder where Mark was killed. This is not a death caused by poorly designed roads like those in Knoxville, TN which do not accommodate bicyclists and automobiles. This was caused by utter negligence by the automobile driver. Note the width of the shoulder. Note the rumble strip intended to alert the driver that the car is leaving the road.
Drivers, please, pay attention to the road. Give your complete attention to your driving. Watch for the unexpected. Expect a dog, a deer, a child to jump out in front of you. Share the road with the cyclists. Commuting is not a competition. It is a shared experience. Help each other get to their respective destinations unharmed by taking your commute seriously. Don’t text and drive. Don’t drink and drive. Put your make-up on at home. Read your newspaper somewhere other than the driver’s seat.
When I champion the end of private transportation as a mainstream mechanism to move people from one place to another, I do so because senseless deaths like Mark’s will cease. An autonomous, robotic, vehicle would not have done this.
If you wish to read Mark’s obituary, it can be found online at http://www.ymlfuneralhome.com/obituary/5238for
Wash that mouth out with soap
I really have to god damned quit with this fucking cursing.
I volunteered for what?!
Oh, the hazards of saying, "yes." (This is actually going to be fun but the scope is far greater than I’d imagined)
I’m not shopping there
While I would have to become a recluse living in a cave in the woods and buying nothing from any company to ride my moral high horse, I still don’t have to shop at Hobby Lobby who ships junk from China and resells it at a high markup. (just read this…search for one child per famliy and hypocrisy). Hobby Town sells model rocket engines cheaper than Hobby Lobby and Michaels, A.C. Moore, and Jo Anne’s have all the other stuff…cheaper. So, Hobby Lobby just go stand over there with Exxon and Chick-fil-a.
SCOTUS really screwed the pooch on this one. Sure hope they were wearing a condom. Wonder who paid for the condom?
Failing to sleep
The worse part of insomnia is the constant nattering between your inner voices…one continuously going over the list of things you could be doing…the other telling you that in five more minutes you’ll fall asleep. Insomnia would be so much better in silence!
7 Cups of Tea, by Lu Tong (795 – 835 CE)
The first cup kisses away my thirst,
and my loneliness is quelled by the second.
The third gives insight worthy of ancient scrolls,
and the fourth exiles my troubles.
My body becomes lighter with the fifth,
and the sixth sends word from immortals.
But the seventh—oh the seventh cup—
if I drink you, a wind will hurry my wings
toward the sacred island.
Translated by Christopher Nelson
Of Grasshoppers
Student: I’m fighting depression.
Master: You’d be happier putting your fight elsewhere.
Quite possibly done
I don’t know if I have any fight in me left.
Soul for sale
Soul for sale: six figures, quality insurance, and a relocation package…the higher the number the greater amount of soul you can have. Want 12-14 hour work days, 7 days a week? Just name the correct figure. Vacation package? Nice but not necessary.
The antialarm
It is impossible to get out of bed when two cats are sleeping on you.
