Tuesday, 21 December 2010
Happy December Solstice! (“December” is more PC than “Winter.”)
Are snowplows exempt from following traffic regulations?
Today, on my way to work, while driving north on Ayd Mill Road, I happened to be behind a snowplow. It was a small snowplow – just a small pick-up truck with a plow attached to the front of it. I could have gone around the plow, but the driver was slightly straddling the other lane, and with so much snow piled up, I really would’ve had to squeeze to get through.
As we approached the stop sign, the snowplow driver just decided to ignore it – he didn’t slow down or give any indication that he care that there was a stop sign there. And he wasn’t in the process of plowing, either, he was just driving somewhere.
About two minutes later, I was driving north on Snelling Avenue. As I waited at a stoplight, a very large snowplow came barreling past me in the other lane. This time, it was a large Caterpillar digger, with the number ‘950F’ emblazoned on the side. It just went right through the stoplight. I’m not sure why he couldn’t wait, the light turned green about 5 seconds after he past. I caught up to that snowplow, and we both slowed down and came to a stop at the next stoplight. “Oh good,” I though, “this time he’s stopping for the light.” But he only stopped for a second – ‘cause then he just went right on through that light (even though opposing traffic was approaching) and then, crossing over the highway, switched lanes without signaling and drove straight through the next stoplight, too.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many traffic violations in such a short time. I think I’m gonna strap a plow to the front of my Cavalier so that, should I ever get pulled over, I can say, “Sorry officer, but you see I have a snowplow, so normal rules don’t really apply to me.”
Wednesday, 22 December 2010
Happy Christmas Eve Eve Eve!
Today is my last day of work for the year. I am not stepping foot in this building again until January third of next year. It’s funny how much of a ghost town my job becomes – only seven people from my department (a department of normally 15 people) are even here at work today, and one of them left at noon. The parking lot is relatively empty and many departments got to leave early today. I think I just saw some tumbleweed blow by.
On the Christmas front: my beer is done conditioning as of today. Good timing! Now I just have to apply the labels to the bottles and then I can go ahead and spread some Xmas cheer! Last year (not sure if I mentioned this before) I completely forgot to brew some beer for Xmas until it was too late, but this year I stayed very cognizant of it, having purchased the supplies the weekend after Thanksgiving.