Right Turn Grinches

What do I mean by right turn grinches? I'm sure you've been there before.

Picture this: you are driving along and you are approaching a red light. Well that's ok you think, I can turn right on red and there's no one coming. Ah but wait my friend, the right turn grinch in front of you who is going straight and has their own lane has decided that they are going to block you from taking the right. There's is no way on earth they are going to let you get in front of them, even though you are aren't even going in the same direction.

So now instead of turning right and going on your merry way. you have to sit. and wait. and wait. because some jerk can't stay in their lane and insists on hogging two lanes - the right turn and the straight one. WHY WHY WHY do people do this? This happens to me almost daily.

Now I can see in traffic - the lanes fill up and cars going straight end up blocking the right turn lane. That makes sense, but it's the other time when there are only 1 or 2 cars in front of you and someone insists on doing this.

Perhaps they are clueless and don't realize it? But honestly if you are this out of it and have no idea what lane you are in or if you are turning or not you shouldn't be behind the wheel of a CAR!

What a waste of time

Wicked glad I wasted 2 hours of my night in rush hour traffic (and hungry!) driving to Butcherie in Brookline - only to get there and it's closed!!!

Their website says they are open till 8pm tonight.. Guess it's the 2nd day of Rosh Hashanah, so I assume that's why they are closed, but didn't see anything on the website.. maybe they should let people know that kind of thing before they waste 2 hours driving behind moronic drivers who can't even go the speed limit to get there!!!

On the Leverett Connector we get behind some guy going 25mph - who NO ONE in front of him!! So even though there wasn't any traffic on the Leverett for a change we waited anyway stop/go (me and about 5 other cars) because of an idiot in the front that can't drive!!!!!

Now I am home. Sans hummus and kugel. Hungry. Bitchy. and tired. ARGH!!!

And while I'm at it, who are the jackasses that saunter across the street at a green light like they have ALL THE TIME IN THE WORLD - don't worry - I've only waited 20 minutes for the green, but go ahead, you should cross right now so I miss the green AGAIN!!! NO REALLY I HAVE NOTHING ELSE TO FUCKING DO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

They're Back

Yes it's that time of the year again. Cambridge, Somerville, and Boston all over has been infested with students. Yesterday must have been move in day at Harvard and Tufts because it took me forever to get home. And there seriously has to be a lot of freshman or something because no one knew what the hell they were doing, or where they were going.

Driving home people were stopping in the middle of the freaking road. for no good reason. They weren't turning. I don't know what the fuck they were doing besides getting in my way! Who stops in the middle of the road? No blinker. No pulling aside. Just stopping! ARGH Pull to the side!

Yesterday it took me a full hour to drive from Newton to Somerville via back roads that normally take me 20 minutes! I have not seen such poor driving in a looooooong time.

Rotaries

Why is it that people just cannot navigate a rotary??

Today I got to witness a genius go through the rotary in the wrong direction to apparently make a turn into a parking lot quicker?

What jackass does this and stops up the rotary for minutes while everyone tries to figure out what this idiot is trying to do?

Crazy Weather!

OMG I left work right at 5 today to try to beat the rain I could hear was coming.

It was very dark and thundering and I could see some lightening, but otherwise it was ok - no rain yet.

I made it to Somerville - basically to Powder House Blvd - and then the sky just opened up. And wow did it open up!! Rain and hail were coming down so hard and so fast my wipers couldn't go fast enough! I couldn't see anything - if someone rain out in front of my car I wouldn't have seen them. It was really scary. I was so close to home though I just wanted to get there -and I didn't know how long the rain would last.

The streets became instantly flooded. like REALLY flooded - giant waves flying up as I drove through the puddles. I was afraid I might get stuck in the water. I hope no one was walking by! Well actually they would have been soaked anyway and getting pegged with hail - guess it wouldn't have mattered that much.

I think those final 3 streets or so to my house took me 15-20 minutes to navigate. Scary!

Once I got home I heard lots of police go by with sirens on and the fire truck across the street went out for 2 calls.

Who does this?

Well apparently this guy does.





I mean WTF. He's in the wrong lane entirely (middle lane instead of the left lane to turn left)... AND he's trying to go when the light is red. Not turning red - completely fucking red! I don't know which offense is worse....

What an idiot.

Ewwwww

While driving home from work today I was in front of a Ferrari. Or what looked like a Ferrari, it had that horse logo all Ferraris have, except that it was pale baby blue. I thought all Ferrari's were red? I thought all the sports cars were made in their country colors? Italy = Red, France = Blue, and England = Green. But maybe I'm wrong? Or maybe they used to, but now they aren't. I don't know. but I'm 99% sure it was a Ferarri.

Anyhow, that's not even the point of the story....

The guy is yapping on his cell phone the whole time he's behind me. He's driving fairly slow (I think from being distracted from holding the phone) and only catches up to me at every red light. But I have to ask... If you can afford a Ferrari, can't you afford a bluetooth headset so you can have both hands on the wheel of your very expensive car instead of one on the phone? Just sayin'....

He also went through a light that was yellow when I went through it and I'm pretty sure was red before he even started through the intersection. And he didn't even bother to rush through it. He took his time and let the folks that had the green light wait for him. nice.

And now for the ewwww part. At one point while at a red light I looked up in my rear view mirror to take a look at the car and there is the guy on the cell phone yapping away - going to town picking his nose! Disgusting! Oh and he's in a convertible - top down so it's not like you could miss this one. Seriously - who does this?

Apparently money can buy nice cars, but not nice manners....

Random Thoughts

a whole bunch of random thoughts in one post...

First - today while doing errands I was stuck at a red light in Somerville. I know shocking. But what really annoyed me - is that a pedestrian came up to the light. It's red in the direction she wants to cross so she can go, and even if it wasn't - if no one is coming why not cross? Anyway she pushes the walk button. and then just walks across the street. UM why the fuck did you push the walk if you were just going to walk anyway? Why do people always do this??? Then I continued to be stuck at the red light while no one crossed because she had crossed like 5 minutes earlier at this point. I see people do this all the time. Push the button then walk immediately never actually waiting for the WALK sign. So all the cars get stuck waiting longer. I mean sure if it's a busy road and there's never a break in the cars - clearly you have to press the walk to cross, but I'm talking about the people that press it when no one is coming, or the ones that press it and walk right after never waiting for it. It makes no sense to me.

And on a completely different note... Years ago when the Tir Na Nog was open (*sigh*) in Somerville I used to love to see Ronin Quinn play there and got his cd. He's got the best cover of Rainy Night in Soho - it's so good I can listen to it 10 times in a row and annoy everyone around me - HA. Anyway, I had ripped a whole bunch of cds onto a hard drive and that was one of them. The hard drive died and I lost all the music on it. I was so upset, because some of the cds I had ripped I just couldn't find. I don't know what happened to them, but they were gone. Then the Nog closed and I thought my Ronin Quinn cd was lost forever... Tonight while going through old cds to throw them away I found a copy of the cd - I had burned some mp3 backups to a disc and forgot about it!!!! YEY!! I'm enjoying the cd again. :)

Why?

Why was I driving 15-20 mph in a 40 mph last night on my way home from work??

Oh right, because the guy in front of me was READING THE FUCKING PAPER instead of DRIVING! Who does this? Pay attention to the ROAD - then maybe you could go the speed limit asshole!!

I was so bullshit I took out my iPhone at a red light (turned green - but he didn't notice yet 'cuz he was reading the paper) to take a photo of this and was so excited to post it to my blog. But then today I went to email myself the photo and I screwed it up!!! I had my hand in front of the lens or something. Annoying. It was a good shot of this guy reading the paper.

I'm just amazed people do this kind of shit. I don't want to be stuck in traffic either, but I don't: read the paper, do crossword puzzles, or put on makeup when I'm driving! And if you need to talk while driving - use a bluetooth headset so you have both hands free!!!

Power Shifting

I've heard of people doing this when they drive, but I never much cared about it - seemed like something guys that really like racing or whatever do. I have always driven a standard (I prefer it), but I have never tried the whole power shift thing. Which is to say you get the car in the exact right acceleration or deceleration to shift gears without the use of the clutch.

Yesterday I accidentally did it! And I have to say it was pretty cool. I was decelerating to go over a bump, and was holding the shifter, but hadn't yet put in the clutch to change gears (and wasn't really planning on down shifting either). I hit the bump which made my hand bump the shifter and down shift correctly into the lower gear sans clutch. It was pretty cool. It effortlessly went into gear (you know no screeching noise you would normally hearing when trying to shift without the clutch) and I kept right on driving. Now I may need to attempt this again. It could get ugly.

Random Thought of the Day

Yeaaaah. If you are going to put a slogan across the front of your vehicle - you should probably make sure it's readable to the cars in front of you.

Like when I am in front of your vehicle and I look in my rear view mirror. I shouldn't have to translate it because it's backwards. It should appear like normal - like the Ambulance text appears in my rear view mirror. I'm guessing you put that on there so folks could read it when you're sitting behind them in traffic, right?

Today the truck behind me had a slogan on it that read:



Not that it's all that hard to figure out what it says, but still - wouldn't you want the sign to appear to the person in front of you as: Turn it On! ?? (FYI: it was for an appliance company).

what happen on route 16?

This morning while driving to work I got to route 16 (where it's either Somerville, Arlington, or Medford I'm not sure which) and the road was totally packed (perhaps closed) up almost to the Powderhouse rotary where it meets 16. No one was moving it seems like for a loooong time.

I sat and waited for a while then decided to turn around and go back up 16 and take Broadway in Arlington to 3A instead. Before turning around - I watched an SUV turn around but then never bothered looked behind themselves to back up and slammed into another car that had also turned around and was beeping to the SUV to stop. Ooooops. Who backs up and assumes no one is behind them so no need to look???

When I turned around I could see that there were some cop lights up ahead so something was going on. Anyone know?

Then I ended up behind a woman driving with a banana clip in her hair. REALLY? A banana clip? FYI: those haven't been in style since '85 and really should have NEVER been in style in the first place. Having a big plastic thing in your hair that covers the front of your hair to the back is not very attractive.

This Morning

I was driving to work and saw one of the most interesting things I've seen in my morning commute.

There was a guy riding a bike with one hand (barely succeeding) and carrying in the other hand a coffee holder thing containing 4 Dunkin' Donuts coffees (also barely succeeding). He almost fell off the bike twice when I saw him, and it looked like the coffees could go at any minute - they were swaying quite a bit.

It appeared to me perhaps walking would have been a wiser choice when carrying 4 coffees in a tray. I mean honestly I can barely carry a tray with two coffees while walking, nevermind 4. Hope he made it to his destination with all 4 coffees. It did make for a good chuckle on my way to work.

Town Fair Tire... um WTF?

So thanks to the wonderful roads of Massachusetts I got a flat tire a few weeks ago from hitting a pothole - trying to avoid 10 others. whatever. it sucked. I blogged about it a few weeks ago.

Sooo I went over to town fair tire where I bought the four tires that are currently on my car (or were before one went flat). I walk in and a guy starts to help me. We go out to look at my car and he says I need to rotate the tires, get an alignment, and obviously a new tire (and dispose of the flat). Fine. He pulls out a rock (pebble) kind of stuck in the tread and says "I just saved you another flat". Yea thanks... I said can you please put my spare back in it's proper place in the trunk? Yes he says yes of course - that is part of what we do. Great.

I pay for this - almost $200 - and he says it will take 30-60 minutes and you will be all set. Fine. I take a seat. and wait. and wait. and wait. 30 minutes. 60 minutes. 90 minutes. WTF... I get up and ask what the hold up is? They told me 30-60 minutes and now we are at 90 and they haven't even taken my car in the back what is going on? The guy says yea we are a little backed up. clearly. 120 minutes later they FINALLY take my car around back to start working on it.

Oh and as if wasting 2+ hours of my workday didn't suck enough, the chairs at this place were soo awful I had a backache and needed to take advil by the time I was done waiting.

My car finally comes back around and I get my keys and can go home. I open the trunk to check if they actually put the tire back under the floor where it screws into the bottom. Nope. Just tossed on top of the stuff in my trunk. I am so beyond bullshit I can't even go back in to make them do this. I just want to not be in their store one more minute. BUT WTF I asked for it, probably paid for it, and don't these people take ANY pride in their work to do it right? Who tosses the spare on top of my stuff in the trunk? When I SPECIFICALLY asked them to put it back and the guy that took my order assured me that is their policy. Whatever.

I start driving and it seems to be they never even fixed the damned alignment either! The car is still pulling to the left. And the steering wheel shakes when I get to about 55 mph. ARGH WTF did I pay these people to do?

So now here's the dilemma... take it back there and demand they fix the alignment which I paid for less than 2 weeks ago that has clearly never been fixed? Or just bring it to my dealer and pay more to have them do it right? Lexington Toyota has always done a fantastic job on any repair I have brought to them.

The joys of idiot drivers

I knew I was back in Massachusetts when I drove to work this morning. Very quickly I was back in reality - and behind idiot drivers.

So I am driving down Broadway near Soundbites this morning and I am approaching the light at Willow. As I am approaching there is a minivan that is slowing down at the green light and comes to a complete stop. And sits there. At a green light. I am far enough back still that it makes no sense to beep. As I continue to approach they continue to sit there. Then the light turns yellow. Still sitting. And then red. Still sitting there. WTF!? Who stops and waits at a green light?

By this time I'm behind them at the red light. Then when the light turns green they went. So there appeared to be absolutely no reason why this person just stopped and sat there for no apparent reason. No one got out of the car, or in. It's just baffling.

I love it when...

I'm driving along in a 40 mph zone going maybe 45/50 mph (ok so I'm slightly speeding I realize this - I never said I was a perfect driver) and some car starts tailgating me and then blows past me like a psycho going at LEAST 60 mph.

I mean this car is flying. They are passing other cars, and then blew a red light. Their driving is going to cause an accident soon.

But what is REALLY awesome about this is when that same person who is driving like a total asshole has a car COVERED in bumper stickers that say things like (I'm not kidding about this at all):

- Go Vegan!
- Go Green!
- 1/20/09
- some anti war stickers
- hate is not a family value

While I agree with some of their bumper stickers (I have no bumper stickers because I feel no need to let everyone know my opinion on my car), who are they kidding? How cay you possibly have stickers like that on your car, and then drive the way this person did?

So go green, give peace a chance, and drive like an asshole?

So I'm a Masshole

I'm probably a Masshole driver. I'm ok with that. I pay attention, I try to drive well and I'm a step 9 driver. But when people are driving - they are trying to get somewhere! It's not a parade!

Today I'm behind a person at a green light who isn't going at all. I beep just a little as a friendly reminder. nothing. beep again. nothing. finally I lay on the horn and after about a minute the person suddenly realizes perhaps they are the one being beeped at and oh yes there's been a green light for 4 minutes and moves. Granted I realize there are times we get distracted while driving, but I try to keep that to a minimum. How can someone sit at a green light for several minutes and have no clue it's green or that cars behind them are beeping (I wasn't the only one)??? Luckily it was a really long green.

F*^@king Arlington Roads

On my way home from work, driving through a sea of potholes on the wonderfully maintained Massachusetts roads in Arlington, I was trying to avoid one pothole and an oncoming vehicle I hit yet another pothole. I immediately knew it wasn't good. I heard a strange sound, and then I drove for about 10 more feet before my car was completely hunched over to my front right side. GREAT. Just fucking great.

Where are all our tax dollars going to? WHY can't our roads get repaired then? I drive on this road every single day and these potholes have been on this roads for at least 2 months. There are so many you can't avoid all of them, and unfortunately for me - I didn't avoid the right one today. But WTF how long does it take to repair these roads? Why should the road be like a mine field? How long is a reasonable time to wait for the roads to get fixed? 3 Months, 4? Never??? ARGH

I was planning on going to the gym and run about 3 miles and was planning on beating my time from my last right, and then I was going to make some chicken to put on top of a salad and watch some tv. Well all of that, or most of it, was out the window after the pothole.

Luckily I have AAA because I have no idea how to change a flat tire. I have had AAA for years, but never have had to use it until today. I called up - I was slightly annoyed that I had to press a few buttons to connect to a person, but it was probably because I was freaking out about the flat. Anyway, I got connected pretty quickly to a representative - who was really great. She took all the information and said a truck would be out within an hour to change the tire. After what seemed like an eternity - but realistically was probably 15 minutes the guy showed up. He had been nearby on another call so I lucked out in a way. He changed it quickly and I was back on the road.

MA roads SUCK - big surprise, but AAA rocks!

Green means Go!

It doesn't mean come to a stop and think about it! That would be red blinking...

Everyday I am amazed by the stupidity of some drivers. I'm sure I'm not the perfect driver, but I follow the traffic laws in rotaries and when approaching lights. I never drive slower than the speed limit, unless there is a vehicle in front of me preventing me from doing so. I pay attention and try to avoid doing stupid things.

All that said, yesterday I am behind a vehicle in Somerville. This person is driving about 5-10 miles under the speed limit and keeps inexplicably braking. Just in case a red light pops out of nowhere? Driving below the speed limit is already annoying me, but the braking is just making me crazy. What's with all the excessive braking??

Then we start to approach a GREEN light and she starts braking more and more and finally comes to a complete freaking stop! I lay on the horn of course because WTF - some of us have to get to work, and would like to do so while the light is still green. She then raises her fist in the air and starts shaking it - because of course *I* am the jerk for pointing out to her that she is stopped at a green light for no good reason blocking traffic. She then puts her right blinker on and starts to take a right turn. This also baffles me. Had she been planning on taking a right all along? Who comes to a full stop at a green light for a right with no cars coming the other way? And what is the point of putting your blinker on as you start to take the turn - it's too late for that. By this time the light has turned yellow, but I am not about to miss this light so I kept going. I made it through to the other side just as it turned red. I felt sorry for the cars stuck behind us.

This isn't the first time this kind of thing has happened to me. I'm frequently behind people that break a lot or stop approaching green lights. It's still green, why are are you stopping in anticipation of the red?

Things that are Bullshit

People that can't see themselves for who they really are. Or are so delusional that they are unable to.

People that blame everyone else but themselves for their problems and shortcomings.

People that are fake.

Lights that are on timers, rather than sensors - so people spend more time waiting at red lights. There is a light on my way home that is almost always red when I get there, but there is NEVER anyone coming the other way. Every day I make note of this and count how many times there has actually been a car at the light. 3 times out of about 50 there was actually a car at the green light. Three times!!! Put a sensor on the light to keep traffic flowing!