Category Archives: car stuff

On driving in Houston

Posted on by

First, let me say that the title of worst traffic in the USA (a designation given by AAA) is rightly deserved. I had to spend a few hours near the Galeria in Houston yesterday, and that traffic was brutal. To say that Houston drivers are aggressive is to really not understand the situation at all. Though it may be a cliche to say that Houston drivers approach driving as if it were a gladiator sport, I don’t think it’s too far from the truth. Too many cars in too little space with too little time to get anywhere equals gridlock almost twenty-four seven. The problem is too much individualism and not enough civic cooperation. Everybody wants to have their car and nobody wants to share, so traffic jams are full of angry and aggressive drivers who are all going nowhere all at the same time. Why they call it rush hour is a mystery to me because nobody is rushing anywhere. I understand the problem, but I can’t figure out how the people deal with this on a daily basis without going out of their minds. Or maybe they don’t? All roads are jammed, streets, feeders, and highways. You often have to wait two, three, or four cycles of the stoplight to get where you are going. Merging traffic brings flowing traffic to a complete standstill, and random construction zones throw a weird curveball into the entire chaotic mess. Sorry, Houston, I know you have lots to offer in terms of culture, food, sports, work, and shopping, but I’m not entirely sure it’s worth braving the traffic to get to any of it.

On going too fast

Posted on by

We lead lives of quiet desperation as we chase from one thing to the next, blind to our own panic and our senseless running to and fro in order to make everything work. We speed, break all the traffic laws, destroy our nerves, put ourselves in danger, put others in harm’s way. There is no sense of meditation or self-reflection or self-awareness in our wild chasing between appointments and deadlines. We are totally unaware of the danger into which haste and hurry put us. The modern connectivity of our digital gadgets is driving us all to distraction. We are all over-committed, over-booked, and over-worked because we can’t say no, and we let the tail wag the dog. I actually yearn for the simpler days when phones were on kitchen walls, we were unreachable when out of the house, we could walk to work and school, and we had limited reasonable commitments. We no longer have time for even the most casual moment to relax and smell the roses, have a cup of coffee, talk with a friend, drive reasonably to the next thing–or maybe even not have a next thing? I have written about time poverty in the past and its relationship to digital media and constant on-line connectivity, but I think that American society has hit a moment of critical mass of appointments, meetings, lessons, sporting events, reunions, and events. All of which makes for a very full and interesting life, but it also leads to forgetfulness, missed appointments, frustration, speeding tickets, red lights, and disappointment. One of my resolutions for this year is to just slow down.

On going too fast

Posted on by

We lead lives of quiet desperation as we chase from one thing to the next, blind to our own panic and our senseless running to and fro in order to make everything work. We speed, break all the traffic laws, destroy our nerves, put ourselves in danger, put others in harm’s way. There is no sense of meditation or self-reflection or self-awareness in our wild chasing between appointments and deadlines. We are totally unaware of the danger into which haste and hurry put us. The modern connectivity of our digital gadgets is driving us all to distraction. We are all over-committed, over-booked, and over-worked because we can’t say no, and we let the tail wag the dog. I actually yearn for the simpler days when phones were on kitchen walls, we were unreachable when out of the house, we could walk to work and school, and we had limited reasonable commitments. We no longer have time for even the most casual moment to relax and smell the roses, have a cup of coffee, talk with a friend, drive reasonably to the next thing–or maybe even not have a next thing? I have written about time poverty in the past and its relationship to digital media and constant on-line connectivity, but I think that American society has hit a moment of critical mass of appointments, meetings, lessons, sporting events, reunions, and events. All of which makes for a very full and interesting life, but it also leads to forgetfulness, missed appointments, frustration, speeding tickets, red lights, and disappointment. One of my resolutions for this year is to just slow down.

On washing the car

Posted on by

A most worthless past-time has never been invented. I’ve seen the guys who spend every weekend washing their vehicles, waxing them, polishing up the chrome, making their cars shine. I get it–these vehicles are an extension of their egos. I’m not even going to talk about those people who pay to have their cars washed by others–disgusting. Nevertheless, cars go out into the world, cars get dirty, cars drive through every bit of crap and dirt and pollution that contaminates our environment; these things never vary. I haven’t washed my car in several months; it’s not a habit of mine, and every time it rains, the car just gets a little more dirty. Finally, the back end of my red car had turned gray, so it was time to go to the car wash. Washing a car is bit like painting the Golden Gate Bridge, no matter how often you do it, the car will still be dirty. Other than pride, wanting to show off, why would we possibly wash our cars? Yes, you do want to get the bird excrement off of the paint so the paint doesn’t start to flake off, but just regular dirt doesn’t have that much of an influence on the paint job. In fact, doesn’t the dirt protect the paint from further harm? Now my car is a nice, bright, candy-apple red, again. But I still can’t figure out what drove me to wash my car; it’s only going to get dirty again.

On washing the car

Posted on by

A most worthless past-time has never been invented. I’ve seen the guys who spend every weekend washing their vehicles, waxing them, polishing up the chrome, making their cars shine. I get it–these vehicles are an extension of their egos. I’m not even going to talk about those people who pay to have their cars washed by others–disgusting. Nevertheless, cars go out into the world, cars get dirty, cars drive through every bit of crap and dirt and pollution that contaminates our environment; these things never vary. I haven’t washed my car in several months; it’s not a habit of mine, and every time it rains, the car just gets a little more dirty. Finally, the back end of my red car had turned gray, so it was time to go to the car wash. Washing a car is bit like painting the Golden Gate Bridge, no matter how often you do it, the car will still be dirty. Other than pride, wanting to show off, why would we possibly wash our cars? Yes, you do want to get the bird excrement off of the paint so the paint doesn’t start to flake off, but just regular dirt doesn’t have that much of an influence on the paint job. In fact, doesn’t the dirt protect the paint from further harm? Now my car is a nice, bright, candy-apple red, again. But I still can’t figure out what drove me to wash my car; it’s only going to get dirty again.

On parking badly

Posted on by

It’s an old story: you arrive at your parking garage, ready to get to work, and someone, driving some behemoth of a vehicle, has parked badly enough to take up two parking spaces. I wonder if the challenge of parking between the lines is too much for some people. Is crappy parking a sign of rebellion? Are they thumbing their nose at authority? They not only did not make it between the lines, they are also parked in some cockeyed diagonal fashion which makes parking next to them impossible. I tend to shun parking anywhere near them for fear of getting my own car involved in their reckless ways. You look for another spot, but what should you do? Leave a note explaining to this careless person what a moron they really are for parking so badly? First, parking is not that difficult, so I am amazed when people find it so hard to do. Believe or not, I like order in my world and the lines in a parking garage are there to encourage people to park in an orderly fashion. Yet, on a daily basis I must face people parking badly. People park wonky, on the line, off-kilter, and they invalidate a spot next to them. What kind of mind can turn a blind eye to the order of the lines in a parking lot? How can they leave their vehicle precariously parked for the whole world to look at and wonder about their careless ways? Are they completely without shame?

On parking badly

Posted on by

It’s an old story: you arrive at your parking garage, ready to get to work, and someone, driving some behemoth of a vehicle, has parked badly enough to take up two parking spaces. I wonder if the challenge of parking between the lines is too much for some people. Is crappy parking a sign of rebellion? Are they thumbing their nose at authority? They not only did not make it between the lines, they are also parked in some cockeyed diagonal fashion which makes parking next to them impossible. I tend to shun parking anywhere near them for fear of getting my own car involved in their reckless ways. You look for another spot, but what should you do? Leave a note explaining to this careless person what a moron they really are for parking so badly? First, parking is not that difficult, so I am amazed when people find it so hard to do. Believe or not, I like order in my world and the lines in a parking garage are there to encourage people to park in an orderly fashion. Yet, on a daily basis I must face people parking badly. People park wonky, on the line, off-kilter, and they invalidate a spot next to them. What kind of mind can turn a blind eye to the order of the lines in a parking lot? How can they leave their vehicle precariously parked for the whole world to look at and wonder about their careless ways? Are they completely without shame?

On changing a tire

Posted on by

A flat tire gives you all kinds of time to ponder the world. You have to clear out the trunk to get to the jack and other tire changing gear, so as you ponder all the crap you keep in the trunk, you might also ponder the meaning of life, wondering all the time why you do have so much useless stuff in your trunk. Jacks today are a little different than the bumper jacks of yesteryear that our fathers taught us to use. They are smaller and safer, but harder to use–most of are a scissor-type that goes under the frame just in front of the tire. Once you have that figured out, you have to attack the lug nuts with the lug wrench. Since most lug nuts are put on with power tools that torque the nuts to a certain torsion that will not loosen up on its own, getting them loose by hand is a real challenge. The act of loosening those lug nuts really gets you in touch with your feelings, your muscles, your weight. All of this takes time, and for someone who doesn’t do this every day, this is a chance to review the principles of physics that govern mass, work, gravity, torque, and the like. Since changing a tire is a solitary past-time, you get to talk to yourself, review procedures for the correct changing of the tire, debate the pro’s and con’s of carrying a larger lug wrench, and analyze the engineering of the jack and its correct application. Once you have the old, flat tire off and the spare tire on, you have to repeat the procedure of removing the tire, but in reverse. You screw on the lug nuts, lower the car, tighten the lug nuts, remove the jack, and had to the tire store to get the flat fixed. You pick up your tools, put the flat tire in the trunk, ponder the destiny of all the junk that was in the trunk, pour yourself a cool drink and wipe the sweat from your forehead.

On changing a tire

Posted on by

A flat tire gives you all kinds of time to ponder the world. You have to clear out the trunk to get to the jack and other tire changing gear, so as you ponder all the crap you keep in the trunk, you might also ponder the meaning of life, wondering all the time why you do have so much useless stuff in your trunk. Jacks today are a little different than the bumper jacks of yesteryear that our fathers taught us to use. They are smaller and safer, but harder to use–most of are a scissor-type that goes under the frame just in front of the tire. Once you have that figured out, you have to attack the lug nuts with the lug wrench. Since most lug nuts are put on with power tools that torque the nuts to a certain torsion that will not loosen up on its own, getting them loose by hand is a real challenge. The act of loosening those lug nuts really gets you in touch with your feelings, your muscles, your weight. All of this takes time, and for someone who doesn’t do this every day, this is a chance to review the principles of physics that govern mass, work, gravity, torque, and the like. Since changing a tire is a solitary past-time, you get to talk to yourself, review procedures for the correct changing of the tire, debate the pro’s and con’s of carrying a larger lug wrench, and analyze the engineering of the jack and its correct application. Once you have the old, flat tire off and the spare tire on, you have to repeat the procedure of removing the tire, but in reverse. You screw on the lug nuts, lower the car, tighten the lug nuts, remove the jack, and had to the tire store to get the flat fixed. You pick up your tools, put the flat tire in the trunk, ponder the destiny of all the junk that was in the trunk, pour yourself a cool drink and wipe the sweat from your forehead.