NYC trafficking

wow, it's been a while. i've loads of excuses. work has been long hours, more than likely you've heard about TheMom passing, i'm lazy, etc. any of those fit, but now i've slid into a slower paced assignment, and i should have a bit more time to update you diligent readers who keep visiting.

so we'll start with a rant. i'm currently located in the seemingly atrophied town of schenectady. i arrived late coming in from a conference in atlanta, so i lucked out into getting a pretty pimp lincoln navigator because it was the only one left with the GPS i requested. i don't think i've ever ridden in a more tech car. trying to remember it all, it has:

• automatic water sensing wipers
• moon/sun roof
• automatic open/close rear hatch
• sirius satellite radio
• automatic raising and lowering stepboards
• memorized seat and steering wheel location
• front and rear proximity sensors
• rear-view camera integrated into the rear-view mirror
• automatic layflat rear seats
• full middle row climate controls
• heated/ACd front seats
• microsoft sync (bluetooth mobile phone connection through the audio system)
• multi-colored footlevel and cupholder lighting (yeah, what?!)
• and of course, the GPS i requested

damn gina. anyways, NY drivers just piss me off, i don't get it. why? i figured, OK, NYC, you always have traffic and you're on your last nerve anyways at all times, but i'm in a sleepy little town. there's no need to be like that. por ejemplo, well, just look at the picture first.



i was being mr. polite ohio driver, waiting patiently in the suicide lane for the 2nd light to go green so i could move forward and carry on my way turning left. as i'm sitting there, i see a car in my massive rear-view mirror come up on my right, and immediately, i knew they were going to be a cock. it didn't take them 3 seconds to confirm that suspicion as he buzzed across the front of me, thus blocking traffic. why? WHY?! i don't get this mindset. you aren't going to get to where you were going any faster now that you are 10 feet ahead of me, AND you are now blocking traffic. i wish non-maiming-but-very-expensive car crashes on these people to teach them a lesson. being a polite driver in NY just doesn't pay.

ANOTHER thing i dislike about this place, maybe not necessarily NY, is the EZ-Pass system. It's a brilliant idea in theory, but the highways aren't built for it. the EZP system was an afterthought on an antiquated tollroad system. the problem is, now if you have EZP, you don't have to stop for get a ticket or to pay your toll... you slow down to anywhere between 10-20 mph, the sensor picks up ur debit, and you take off, but the runways to the various highway offshoots immediately behind the tollgate aren't long enough for several lanes of traffic to merge and cross when 1 or 2 lanes didn't have to slow down in the first place. i'd call it organized chaos, but that would be too kind. it's vehicular warfare with a side of NASCAR pit road strategy. i recall a smart man once saying, "there are no atheists just downstream of a NY tollgate", and i can see why.

another downside to the EZP system is the lemming mentality of it. there are lanes that are specifically for EZP, but EZP can still be used at any cash lane, no matter. i've seen several occasions where apparently the EZP lane has mesmerized the owners into thinking they should stay in a 1/2 mile long line while the cash toll payers (and a few like me who know i can use EZP in the cash lanes) breeze on by, leaving those EZP zombies in my dust. it's a nearly complete reversal of the whole point of the EZP system.

and, abruptly,that is my return to NT. more to come, still lots of pictures from vacations i took last year. thanks for sticking around, and i'll be back soon. i'll SEE if i can get a PTVR up, but i don't want to pull a blogging muscle. friday will be a surprise.