Although it didn't seem like it at times, I can't believe how fast this semester went. Sure, the bad winter really made me question why I wanted to go out every night for classes, but I'm glad I did now. The blowing and drifting snow and black ice on Hwy 28 all seem like a distant memory now. So, what did I learn? Well, in my math class I got a really good refresher of algebra and now move on to 105 and hope that I can cope with that. In my English class I learned several techniques I hope will make the rest of college and my writing life beyond competent and coherent.
I have many more semesters to go through before I'm done, and going part time doesn't help either, but I hope the rest of them go as quickly as this one did. I'm guessing that it's because I enjoyed the classes as the reason why it seemed to go so fast. Yes, I know time is constant and doesn't speed up or slow down depending on our current enjoyment status.
As a non-traditional student, and also having gone to college right out of high school, I can compare the two situations and realize how different I am now than I was back then. However, it seemed to me that when I was in classes way back when, it didn't seem to go as fast. Maybe it's because I had several situations I was dealing with that made college not a priority in my life then. Much to my regret now, but I'm working on correcting that.
So, this is my last blog for school, and I'm not sure if I will continue to blog. Well, maybe not every week. I do like the format and a few years ago my husband had suggested to me that I should start one. I'm not sure if he was just tired of my babbling on at him or if he really thought I'd enjoy it. Maybe both? Anyway, it was fun to pick topics and see what discussions came out of them. I enjoyed reading my classmates blogs too.
So, thanks everyone for reading and leaving comments. I wish you all luck with your future classes and will probably see you around campus.
blog for the week of May 12th
Friday, May 16, 2008
Friday, May 9, 2008
Driving pet peeves
I drive approximately 80 to 100 miles a day through the week, depending on if I have school that evening or not. Luckily, my husband and I can carpool three of these days, so we aren't running two cars every day. Most of these miles are on the highway and interstate and I just have to get a few pet peeves out of my system. I am by no means a perfect driver, and probably do things that make other people angry, but this is my blog and they can get their own. So, here goes...
First and foremost: Folks who don't know how to merge or exit on or off of a freeway. The rule is that when merging onto a freeway, you should be up to the posted minimum speed limit BEFORE you merge. Now, I realize that there are a few interchanges that will not allow this (Brown Deer and Interstate 43 for example), and the people who designed those interchanges should be made to drive them in circles 8 hours a day for punishment. But, for the most part, if you have a long, straight and especially downhill shot onto the freeway there's no reason why you can't be going at least 45mph to 55mph when you merge. According to the Wisconsin Motorist Handbook, the person merging onto the freeway must yield to the traffic on the freeway. They should judge their speed and distance so as to merge when they can without slowing down. I cannot tell you how many times I have experienced the my-head-is-locked-in-the-forward-position-and-I'm-only-going-to-go-30mph-and-just-move-over-when-I-get-damn-good-and-ready maneuver. This then causes the entire right lane of traffic to have to slow down, slam on their brakes and wait for the ignorant/apathetic yahoo to grace us with acceleration when he/she finally decides it is time to put their foot down.
This also happens in reverse where Mr. or Ms. Oblivious actually slows down or coasts along in the right lane BEFORE they get to the exit ramp. Exit ramps are long enough that you don't have to slow down on the freeway. This too causes the whole right lane to brake and crawl up on each other because they can't see anyone exiting and they then wing over into the left lane, sometimes without checking a blind spot and nearly colliding with the person who is still going freeway speed or beyond in that left lane.
Second: Making right turns from the center lane. I understand why a semi has to do this. But Mr. Big Ego in his giant SUV doesn't need to do this. Just because you think your vehicle is as big as a semi does not actually mean that it is. Stop compensating and drive like you are supposed to. You do not need the "WIDE RIGHT TURN" sign on your back-end. If you cannot make right turns with your SUV from the right turn lane, you should be required to get a CDL license.
Third: How about some turn signals? I can't read your mind anymore than you can read mine. Just because you waver back and forth in your lane doesn't mean I can correctly interpret that as you want to get into my lane. Along with that, how about checking your blind spot before you flip over into my lane?
Fourth: STOP THE SCAMMING!!! Want to know why everyone is so angry when they drive? It's because of the scammers. You know who you are. The ones who drive in a lane that's going to close until the barrels cut them off and then hurl their car into the open lane at the last second. They know full well that the normal and courteous person will have to slam on their brakes to let them in because they don't want their car smashed into. These devil-may-care-losers do this in the construction zones every day. This also ties in with the scammers who will not merge out of lanes that end normally and keep driving until they are in the distress lanes and then just shove in and make everyone else stop for them. Their time is WAY more important than yours, and you just better be grateful they even let you drive on the same freeway when they are on the road. I'm specifically referring to the stretch of freeway at I43 and Silver Spring. It goes from three lanes to two lanes and everyone knows it for miles. Why some folks feel the need to keep driving in the lane that ends and then just wing over is beyond me. And they wonder why other drivers honk their horn and flash greeting symbols with their hands at them. "Gee, what did I do???"
There are more irritations of course, but I can just feel my blood pressure rising while I type this. I in no way advocate road rage, road revenge or any of the petty one-up-manships that plague our roads. I have often backed off and let things just slide when I really wanted to make them pay somehow. I have yet to figure out why, when we get into cars, our personality changes and we lose common sense and rationality. The case of road rage in Waukesha this week had a guy slamming into an innocent woman because he thought it was his father driving is, unfortunately, not an isolated case. There are countless examples of road rage that happen everyday, although most don't escalate into something as severe as that.
I wish I had an answer. I also wish that there were less scammers in the world too. And finally, I wish I could win the lottery so that I could hire a chauffeur so I wouldn't have to deal with driving ever again.
Blog for the week of May 5th
First and foremost: Folks who don't know how to merge or exit on or off of a freeway. The rule is that when merging onto a freeway, you should be up to the posted minimum speed limit BEFORE you merge. Now, I realize that there are a few interchanges that will not allow this (Brown Deer and Interstate 43 for example), and the people who designed those interchanges should be made to drive them in circles 8 hours a day for punishment. But, for the most part, if you have a long, straight and especially downhill shot onto the freeway there's no reason why you can't be going at least 45mph to 55mph when you merge. According to the Wisconsin Motorist Handbook, the person merging onto the freeway must yield to the traffic on the freeway. They should judge their speed and distance so as to merge when they can without slowing down. I cannot tell you how many times I have experienced the my-head-is-locked-in-the-forward-position-and-I'm-only-going-to-go-30mph-and-just-move-over-when-I-get-damn-good-and-ready maneuver. This then causes the entire right lane of traffic to have to slow down, slam on their brakes and wait for the ignorant/apathetic yahoo to grace us with acceleration when he/she finally decides it is time to put their foot down.
This also happens in reverse where Mr. or Ms. Oblivious actually slows down or coasts along in the right lane BEFORE they get to the exit ramp. Exit ramps are long enough that you don't have to slow down on the freeway. This too causes the whole right lane to brake and crawl up on each other because they can't see anyone exiting and they then wing over into the left lane, sometimes without checking a blind spot and nearly colliding with the person who is still going freeway speed or beyond in that left lane.
Second: Making right turns from the center lane. I understand why a semi has to do this. But Mr. Big Ego in his giant SUV doesn't need to do this. Just because you think your vehicle is as big as a semi does not actually mean that it is. Stop compensating and drive like you are supposed to. You do not need the "WIDE RIGHT TURN" sign on your back-end. If you cannot make right turns with your SUV from the right turn lane, you should be required to get a CDL license.
Third: How about some turn signals? I can't read your mind anymore than you can read mine. Just because you waver back and forth in your lane doesn't mean I can correctly interpret that as you want to get into my lane. Along with that, how about checking your blind spot before you flip over into my lane?
Fourth: STOP THE SCAMMING!!! Want to know why everyone is so angry when they drive? It's because of the scammers. You know who you are. The ones who drive in a lane that's going to close until the barrels cut them off and then hurl their car into the open lane at the last second. They know full well that the normal and courteous person will have to slam on their brakes to let them in because they don't want their car smashed into. These devil-may-care-losers do this in the construction zones every day. This also ties in with the scammers who will not merge out of lanes that end normally and keep driving until they are in the distress lanes and then just shove in and make everyone else stop for them. Their time is WAY more important than yours, and you just better be grateful they even let you drive on the same freeway when they are on the road. I'm specifically referring to the stretch of freeway at I43 and Silver Spring. It goes from three lanes to two lanes and everyone knows it for miles. Why some folks feel the need to keep driving in the lane that ends and then just wing over is beyond me. And they wonder why other drivers honk their horn and flash greeting symbols with their hands at them. "Gee, what did I do???"
There are more irritations of course, but I can just feel my blood pressure rising while I type this. I in no way advocate road rage, road revenge or any of the petty one-up-manships that plague our roads. I have often backed off and let things just slide when I really wanted to make them pay somehow. I have yet to figure out why, when we get into cars, our personality changes and we lose common sense and rationality. The case of road rage in Waukesha this week had a guy slamming into an innocent woman because he thought it was his father driving is, unfortunately, not an isolated case. There are countless examples of road rage that happen everyday, although most don't escalate into something as severe as that.
I wish I had an answer. I also wish that there were less scammers in the world too. And finally, I wish I could win the lottery so that I could hire a chauffeur so I wouldn't have to deal with driving ever again.
Blog for the week of May 5th
Saturday, May 3, 2008
What would it take to get you into this car today?
I have to apologize to my husband and admit that yes, indeed, you can buy a car over the Internet. Both of us have embraced the Internet as a buying and shopping tool for years. At first it was small things that wouldn't have made a huge difference to us if something happened and we didn't get the item. We had a dedicated credit card for Internet purchases and scrutinized the statements with a fine tooth comb. But, as the years went by and nothing happened, and as eBay took off in popularity, buying items online is as natural to us as going to the store. In fact, with gas prices and our time being very expensive and very short, it has been a real money and time saver for us. The Internet is always open and you can shop or research whenever you want to.
When we needed to buy a new car in 2006, he started doing all his research on the Internet, and I did mine by asking friends, coworkers and looking up cars in Consumer Reports. I drew up a list of cars I thought would work for us and then we went and looked at them. I told him "you can't buy a car over the Internet, you have to haggle in-person." Which we both HATE. But we didn't. After test driving all the different vehicles, we picked out what we wanted. Then, Scott emailed all the dealerships and waited for a response. This isn't a fast process, so if you need something NOW, it won't work. The salesmen are not too fast in responding and when they do, it's something along the lines of, "why don't you come in and we'll talk about it."
Scott was persistent and eventually one salesman started to negotiate price. Eventually, Scott and he agreed on a price and, more importantly, an actual car. If you don't negotiate on the actual car, they can switch the price on you when you go in to sign the papers because you haven't agreed on an actual, physical car. All of a sudden you are starring in "Fargo" paying for items you don't want.
When it came time to go to the dealership, we had written proof of the offer (emails) and there was no haggling, no switching of prices, and no confusion about the vehicle we wanted. It was fast, well as fast as it could be in a dealership, and we only had to go there twice. Once to sign the papers and next to pick the car up. I was skeptical when Scott did this, and the second time around I said the same thing, but not as loudly. It took four weeks, but eventually he found a dealership that would negotiate through email and we didn't waste time or gas running to several different dealerships. And, we knew which car we wanted, so we didn't have to go test drive anything this time around.
To go from buying something small and frivolous to a car through the Internet is quite the progression. And I don't think that we are atypical in this process. The Internet is a valuable tool for information, entertainment, and shopping. I just wonder how brick and mortar businesses that don't have commerce websites are going to cope with the future of shopping on the Internet. If any have doubts that Internet shopping is here to stay, they really need to update their business model or face going out of business. The consumer is savvy and will save money where they can, especially with gas close to $4 a gallon.
So, Scott, I'm sorry I doubted you that you could buy a car over the Internet. Now, if you could just get that house bought over the Internet, then I will really eat my words.
blog for the week of April 28th.
When we needed to buy a new car in 2006, he started doing all his research on the Internet, and I did mine by asking friends, coworkers and looking up cars in Consumer Reports. I drew up a list of cars I thought would work for us and then we went and looked at them. I told him "you can't buy a car over the Internet, you have to haggle in-person." Which we both HATE. But we didn't. After test driving all the different vehicles, we picked out what we wanted. Then, Scott emailed all the dealerships and waited for a response. This isn't a fast process, so if you need something NOW, it won't work. The salesmen are not too fast in responding and when they do, it's something along the lines of, "why don't you come in and we'll talk about it."
Scott was persistent and eventually one salesman started to negotiate price. Eventually, Scott and he agreed on a price and, more importantly, an actual car. If you don't negotiate on the actual car, they can switch the price on you when you go in to sign the papers because you haven't agreed on an actual, physical car. All of a sudden you are starring in "Fargo" paying for items you don't want.
When it came time to go to the dealership, we had written proof of the offer (emails) and there was no haggling, no switching of prices, and no confusion about the vehicle we wanted. It was fast, well as fast as it could be in a dealership, and we only had to go there twice. Once to sign the papers and next to pick the car up. I was skeptical when Scott did this, and the second time around I said the same thing, but not as loudly. It took four weeks, but eventually he found a dealership that would negotiate through email and we didn't waste time or gas running to several different dealerships. And, we knew which car we wanted, so we didn't have to go test drive anything this time around.
To go from buying something small and frivolous to a car through the Internet is quite the progression. And I don't think that we are atypical in this process. The Internet is a valuable tool for information, entertainment, and shopping. I just wonder how brick and mortar businesses that don't have commerce websites are going to cope with the future of shopping on the Internet. If any have doubts that Internet shopping is here to stay, they really need to update their business model or face going out of business. The consumer is savvy and will save money where they can, especially with gas close to $4 a gallon.
So, Scott, I'm sorry I doubted you that you could buy a car over the Internet. Now, if you could just get that house bought over the Internet, then I will really eat my words.
blog for the week of April 28th.
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