July 4: A colossal non-event
2 minute read
July 5, 2004, 7:02 AM
Yeah, I had to work on the Fourth of July. 2-11, too, which meant no fireworks. Oh, well. Just as well, though, I guess, because it rained anyway. I was on my lunch break at work, and I commented, “Please tell me that’s someone making a lot of noise on the roof and not thunder again,” since that would be our third or fourth consecutive night with thunder and lightning. And lightning was twinkling up above for quite a bit of the ride home, too.
Speaking of the ride home, though, that was an interesting experience. Let me tell you what’s going on. The road that I take most of my trip to work on, US 340 (Stuarts Draft Highway/Rosser Avenue), is a four-lane divided highway from the edge of Stuarts Draft until well into Waynesboro (beyond Wal-Mart). As a result, you have two lanes going northbound, and two lanes going southbound, separated by a wide median. So I’m going southbound to go home, in the left lane on my side. I see headlights ahead of me, and I’m looking at them, and I’m thinking, those headlights are at the wrong angle from me to be going north. Turns out that the headlights were going north, specifically, headed directly at me. So I moved over to the right lane, and we passed harmlessly. Considering the speed at which this person passed me, they were going full speed down the highway, on the wrong side of the road. If I hadn’t moved, we would have had a head-on collision at 55 miles per hour. Unpleasant? You bet.
Continue reading…Finally, an off-day!
2 minute read
June 29, 2004, 11:42 PM
Yes, after six straight days, where I worked all four different Service Desk shifts at least once, I finally have gotten another off-day. This Wednesday, I will be going nowhere near my own Wal-Mart. Other people’s Wal-Marts, on the other hand, are a completely different story, as most other Wal-Marts don’t look at all like Waynesboro’s. Most Wal-Marts are gray, red, and blue. Our store is beige and forest green. Our store has black signage and faux-wood floors. Most stores have some sort of blue signage and carpeting.
So I have yet to figure out what tomorrow looks like. Probably not going to go out, but rather I will probably take the opportunity to do some serious work on the Web site. I really need to work on it, since right now I’m behind on a few different projects, including spinning College Life off into its own subsidiary site, working on “The Lights of the Night” group of photo sets, and my “Memories” College Life set.
Otherwise, the phrase “Are your gas bills so high they make you want to cry?” is just perfect for me. To fill up the Previa costs almost $30 with these astronomical gas prices. And my car isn’t even one of those gas-guzzling SUVs.
Now sport-utility vehicles aren’t helping the price of gas, either. If people would all get small, fuel-efficient cars, maybe we could all get more for our money as far as gas goes. I know that when I eventually replace the Previa, I will be getting a small car, preferably a station wagon.
Categories: Driving, Family, Food and drink, Schumin Web meta, Toyota Previa, Walmart
I don’t know what happened, but it definitely looked unpleasant
4 minute read
June 12, 2004, 11:59 PM
On my way back from Charlottesville, where I spent the day today (somehow I got a Saturday off without asking for it – go figure), on US 340 right before the intersection of 340 and 608, I had to slow down considerably. It was the only smart thing to do considering that there were northbound cars traveling in the left southbound lane. I’m like, what in the heck and slowed down and got in the right lane. Once I got closer, it all made some sense. First thing I saw was lots of shattered glass strewn across four of the five lanes of US 340 right where Stuart Avenue meets 340. I looked left, and I see two cars in some poor innocent person’s front yard at a weird angle. Looks like they didn’t go there on purpose. Some other cars were parked nearby. Then there was a guy putting out flares. I don’t know any details other than what I saw, and don’t know how bad the damage was or whether anyone was hurt or not. But I can tell you this. It definitely doesn’t look pleasant.
Otherwise, I had fun in Charlottesville. First, though, I got the Previa’s front end aligned at Eavers Tire in Stuarts Draft. That was related to the blowout I had two weeks ago. While I was waiting, I worked on my phone some, downloading a new version of Mobile IM (remember that my AIM screen name on my phone is Schumin Wireless), plus downloaded Tetris and Ms. Pac Man onto my phone.
Categories: Blue Ridge Parkway, Charlottesville, Driving, Today's Special, Toyota Previa
So this officially puts me one day behind where I want to be…
3 minute read
February 11, 2004, 1:47 AM
After the successful room-stripping yesterday, where I took down all the wallhangings in the entire room, now we have to patch all the nail holes.
And why does this put me back a day? Well, the spackle I found in the garage turned out to not be nearly as fresh as I’d hoped. I figured it was still nice and squishy like it should be on the inside, but noooo… it was tough and rubbery, and not even a little water could fix that. All I made was a mess, which I had to then clean up. So that puts spackling back a day, as I now have to buy some fresh spackle after work. I have a nice putty knife set that I got at work tonight, but no spackle. Excellent planning on my part. NOT.
Also, just so you know, if you really want some great values on this stuff, the brand you want to look for is “Mainstays”. I’m currently swearing by it. And when it comes to light bulbs, you want “Great Value”.
Still, once I get some spackle, I’m slathering it all over the walls in here. And this place needs a lot of it.
Categories: Bedroom remodel, Roads
Freezing rain. Just what I love driving in coming home from work!
< 1 minute read
February 6, 2004, 11:16 AM
Yeah, lovely drive home on Thursday. Kind of icy, and I forgot to get that hoagie that I wanted after work. This is a big hoagie. The sandwich is like 14 inches long, and five inches across, at least. I wanted to eat it, but forgot to get it…
Categories: Driving, Food and drink, Winter weather
If you are a ped, you are supposed to X when I tell you to X, understand?
< 1 minute read
January 13, 2004, 6:02 AM
I just get such a kick out of what phrases I come up with sometimes. This time with a pedestrian that wouldn’t cross the parking lot at Bank of America after I signaled to him to go (I was in my car). He wouldn’t go. I immediately think a little play on the sign “PED XING” for Pedestrian Crossing, and want this bozo to go. Still, the phrase amused me that I thought of “PED XING” like the sign says…
Categories: Driving
It took me an hour to get home!
< 1 minute read
December 14, 2003, 2:16 AM
Yay for snow AND sleet. I didn’t run off the road this time (thank God), but still, it took me a full bloody hour to get home from work today. Normally, this is a quick 20-minute drive to get from my house in Stuarts Draft to Wal-Mart in Staunton, going at least 55 most of the way.
Change that to snowy weather, and my top speed was 25, and I’m taking a different route than I usually do. Normally, when I go to and from work, I take Route 608 to I-64 to I-81 to US 250 to Wal-Mart. This is basically the direct route to Staunton via Fishersville from Stuarts Draft.
Tonight, you could say I took a more scenic route home, going from Wal-Mart taking US 250 to Waynesboro, using Lew Dewitt Boulevard to cut across to US 340, and then taking 340 to Stuarts Draft, picking up 608 at its intersection with 340. Why the different route? This different route has practically no curves, and is primary roads almost the entire way. No interstates (which make me nervous in the snow due to truck traffic), and no back roads. Sure it’s much longer, but in the snow, curves are the enemy, and could cause me to slide off the road into God-knows-what. Quite unpleasant either way.
But, hey, I made it. And I get to do it again going back to work again tomorrow, though I may very well see if I can get out of driving it and get Dad to take me. After all, when I parked, I blocked in Dad’s VW Golf, leaving a clear path for the truck to get out, and the truck has four-wheel-drive, and I don’t believe that the Golf has that.
Categories: Driving, Winter weather
Yay for snow…
2 minute read
December 4, 2003, 1:37 PM
Yippity-hoo. It’s snowing. And as such, I slid right into a ditch on my way up to Harrisonburg today on I-64. I was not hurt, and neither was the car, but still, it’s an excellent example of why you need to drive carefully. And if that’s not enough, seeing a huge semi with a big chunk out of it jackknifed in the median of I-81 (thankfully not blocking traffic) should convince you to take it, as gangsters on The Flintstones would say, “Nice and slow.”
But yes, it is indeed snowing outside. Augusta County schools were closed today. So were Harrisonburg City schools, Rockingham County Schools, Blue Ridge Community College, and a host of others. JMU was in session.
Meanwhile, a brief discussion of the rules of the parking lot: there are none. See, some JMU students are some seriously spoiled brats. Now due to landing in the ditch on my way up, I was late for class. So I had to seriously hunt for parking. I first went to the gravel lot, which was full. So I went to J-Lot, my usual lot, which was also full. There was this one girl in her little yuppie SUV sitting smack in the middle of the end of one of the (wide) lanes in the lot. Turns out that sitting and impeding traffic was her way of hunting for parking. But we’ll get to that later.
Categories: Driving, JMU, Weather, Winter weather
“Never use a big word when a little filthy one will do.”
< 1 minute read
November 13, 2003, 12:22 PM
Johnny Carson once said, “Never use a big word when a little filthy one will do.”
Thus today on the way to JMU and then on the way to and from classes, in the wind. And goodness, what a bunch of wind we’re getting, too. Supposedly, it’s supposed to get up to almost 50 today. With this wind, it feels like winter coming to visit with a vengeance. And let’s not forget my car, which is a tall, large vehicle. (Recall that it’s a Toyota Previa) Blown around like a leaf on the freeway.
Now a driver seeing me get blown all over Interstate 81 could say, “I am lacking a conception of what the operator of the conveyance ahead of me is attempting to accomplish.” Big words. Compare, though…
This is what we say when we use the little filthy ones instead: “D—! What in the f— does this a—— f—ing think he’s doing?” That gets the point across just as well.
What part of “crosswalk” do you not understand?
2 minute read
October 9, 2003, 12:33 PM
The joys of driving through campus in the middle of the day… JMU students walking, JMU students running, JMU students mingling… all just fine by me. Then we have the problem:
JMU students crossing the street.
First of all, they’re totally obnoxious when they have the stop signs, and thus the right of way. You can find yourself sitting at these random stop signs throughout campus for minutes on end while everyone crosses the street. You really have to duck and dodge to get through, let me tell you, all the while trying not to run someone over.
Then there’s the painted crosswalks without stop signs or traffic lights. Crosswalk means we know to expect pedestrian traffic through that area. That still doesn’t mean that you can dart out in front of cars. And the pedestians think we have to stop for these things. I overheard one girl on the sidewalk say, “Thank you for stopping!” as I drove past without stopping. I’m sorry, but if there is no stop sign or traffic light, I don’t have to stop unless it would be unsafe to keep going (i.e. if some idiot is in the street already).
All a matter of interaction between the maniacs and the idiots…
< 1 minute read
July 24, 2003, 6:54 PM
On the way back from my internship today, I was taking US 250 back from Staunton, I was thinking about the quote, and it’s interesting how the road works. I hit a speed change (55 to 45), and slowed down. All of a sudden, I became an idiot to about six motorists, who quickly passed me. Meanwhile, they become maniacs to me as they blew past me. Anything to get home in one piece, though…
Also was at a conference today in a building with the exact same fire alarm signals as my middle school…
Categories: Driving