I hate cell phones so much that I can only bring myself to have a stupid phone from 2004.

 

Here you go GCrites80s, this the cell phone for you then. I saw them being hawked on the back of the Parade insert in the Sunday paper the other week.

 

http://www.jitterbug.com/

I hate cell phones so much that I can only bring myself to have a stupid phone from 2004.

 

Here you go GCrites80s, this the cell phone for you then. I saw them being hawked on the back of the Parade insert in the Sunday paper the other week.

 

http://www.jitterbug.com/

 

LMAO..  Now I'm not big on texting and all the apps, but come on man!  LOL

I am usually a gen or two behind on phones, but I think that I had a motorola with texting, a vga camera and a color screen in 2004. My dad is hounding my brother on details  because he is looking to upgrade his old Blackjack (which he had for a year or two before he activated e-mail, he's in sales and on the road 50% of the time mind you) to a Droid phone. I get by with a cheapie Qwerty messaging phone and my ipod touch/free wifi at work.

I've actually considered getting a Jitterbug on several occasions.

I've actually considered getting a Jitterbug on several occasions.

 

Me, too. I only begrudgingly bought a cell phone for two reasons; two be available to respond to family emergencies when I'm traveling, and so I could turn off the ringer on my land line that my psychopath brother who lives outside the state was using to harass me in the middle of the night.

 

Nine out of ten phone calls that I get are demands on my time, talent, or money, offering nothing in return. I don't know why I should make it any easier than absolutely necessary for people to track me down and hound and annoy me.  :x

People who constantly leave like 3 seconds on the microwave.  Seriously, how can you be that hungry that you need to get the food out 3 seconds earlier.  It just leaves the rest of us to reset the microwave.

People who constantly leave like 3 seconds on the microwave. Seriously, how can you be that hungry that you need to get the food out 3 seconds earlier. It just leaves the rest of us to reset the microwave.

 

My wife does that. It's annoying...

I've figured out that the office microwave can be opened with 0 seconds left before it beeps. It confuses the snot out of some of the old people around the office and is a significant part of my own entertainment here. I'm easily amused.

Today's traffic test:

 

What do you do at a four way stoplight intersection when all the lights are out?

 

(Correct answer: treat the road as a four way stop)

(Incorrect answer: blow through the intersection like the cross street no longer exists)

 

What do you do when the power comes back on and the traffic signal on your road is flashing yellow while the cross street is flashing red?

 

(Correct answer: proceed with caution, just like late at night, the other direction with the red flashing light is supposed to stop)

(Incorrect answer: slam on your breaks because flashing yellow means stop!)

 

These two questions really need to be on the driver's test.

Today's traffic test:

 

What do you do at a four way stoplight intersection when all the lights are out?

 

(Correct answer: treat the road as a four way stop)

(Incorrect answer: blow through the intersection like the cross street no longer exists)

 

What do you do when the power comes back on and the traffic signal on your road is flashing yellow while the cross street is flashing red?

 

(Correct answer: proceed with caution, just like late at night, the other direction with the red flashing light is supposed to stop)

(Incorrect answer: slam on your breaks because flashing yellow means stop!)

 

These two questions really need to be on the driver's test.

 

Not just on the test!  They should be asked every time you renew your license!

Amen sister! While I'm on driving....

 

People who have no concept of what lane they eventually need. I love seeing people launch across three lanes of traffic because they had no idea that the onramp to the innerbelt bridge is going to be in the same spot that it's in every day in front of the wolstein center.

 

Now don't get me wrong, when I see an out of state plate I hold back the rage a bit, but people driving along with no clue of how they are going to get to their destination, it mystifies me.

Today's traffic test:

 

What do you do at a four way stoplight intersection when all the lights are out?

 

(Correct answer: treat the road as a four way stop)

(Incorrect answer: blow through the intersection like the cross street no longer exists)

 

What do you do when the power comes back on and the traffic signal on your road is flashing yellow while the cross street is flashing red?

 

(Correct answer: proceed with caution, just like late at night, the other direction with the red flashing light is supposed to stop)

(Incorrect answer: slam on your breaks because flashing yellow means stop!)

 

These two questions really need to be on the driver's test.

 

Not just on the test!  They should be asked every time you renew your license!

 

I thought these questions were on the test.  Granted it's been a few years since........nevermind.

Today's traffic test:

 

What do you do at a four way stoplight intersection when all the lights are out?

 

(Correct answer: treat the road as a four way stop)

(Incorrect answer: blow through the intersection like the cross street no longer exists)

 

What do you do when the power comes back on and the traffic signal on your road is flashing yellow while the cross street is flashing red?

 

(Correct answer: proceed with caution, just like late at night, the other direction with the red flashing light is supposed to stop)

(Incorrect answer: slam on your breaks because flashing yellow means stop!)

 

These two questions really need to be on the driver's test.

 

Not just on the test! They should be asked every time you renew your license!

I've always wondered, why do you need to take the test to get your license the first time, but don't need to take a test to renew? Do drivers magically get smarter because they've been driving for a while? Practice certainly helps, but practice can also reinforce bad habits.

I think drivers know the rules, but I think like you said, they just have bad habits.  There isn't a single test that's going to change that.  Plus, we would probably have to pay $150 to renew a license if they made us take a test. 

^exactly, don't make it the full test, just a few really important questions. If they don't pass with flying colors, then make them go through the whole written and driving test again.

Driving School should teach people about rotaries. I've seen a lot of people not know what the hell to do once they approach one. This isn't D.C. or Europe but there are quite a few of them in Ohio.

^I don't know about your driving school but in mine we spent a lot of time at Tallmadge circle, admittedly that was mostly because it was summer and there were a lot of young ladies jogging and biking there that my instructor wanted to whistle at, but that's beside the point.

 

I don't think we need to do a full test everytime or pay much extra in fees, but if they put a dozen questions on a written test and made you get most of them correct it shouldn't take more than a few minutes extra. Make a few of the questions be about unusual driving situations that confuse tend to confuse people because they haven't had to think about them in a while and it might help. If you fail the short test, you should have to take the whole written test over before getting your license renewed.

I get behind the wheel of a vehicle about once every 6 months.  :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil:

 

Yet, I'm better than 90% of Chicago drivers

^I don't know about your driving school but in mine we spent a lot of time at Tallmadge circle, admittedly that was mostly because it was summer and there were a lot of young ladies jogging and biking there that my instructor wanted to whistle at, but that's beside the point.

 

I don't think we need to do a full test everytime or pay much extra in fees, but if they put a dozen questions on a written test and made you get most of them correct it shouldn't take more than a few minutes extra. Make a few of the questions be about unusual driving situations that confuse tend to confuse people because they haven't had to think about them in a while and it might help. If you fail the short test, you should have to take the whole written test over before getting your license renewed.

 

Dude my mom made me go to the Harvard of Driving Schools because she knew how reckless I was. It was like 600 bucks. They never mentioned traffic circles/rotaries/round-abouts once! I got to test drive through (*yay*) Sharonville! We did go Downtown for a little bit though.

^ I guess that means I went to the community college of driving schools. They taught me how to go through drive thru when the instructor hadn't had breakfast yet, how to navigate the parking lots of all the electronics stores around Akron when his modem broke, how to parallel park in front of the U of A when he needed to drop off a form for his grad school advisor.

I went to a driving school where I learned to parallel park in front of the cigar store while Darrell got his lottery tickets, and ended the night at the beverage drive-thru to pick up a pint of Thunderbird and a pack of Gold-n-Milds.  Good times...

I remember learning how to sit in the car and guard the stereo in the worst part of Lorain while my driving instructor did something at his "friend's" apartment.

I remember learning how to sit in the car and guard the stereo in the worst part of Lorain while my driving instructor did something at his "friend's" apartment.

 

WTF?!

I remember learning how to sit in the car and guard the stereo in the worst part of Lorain while my driving instructor did something at his "friend's" apartment.

 

LOL!!! You should have drove off and left him there. If he threatened you, you'd have something on him, clearly.

 

 

 

I remember learning how to sit in the car and guard the stereo in the worst part of Lorain while my driving instructor did something at his "friend's" apartment.

 

Are you another proud alum of the "Professional" Driving School in Lorain Co.?  We smoked and watched movies for classroom "instruction." I was way more scared of trying to merge onto I-90 at 57's short cloverleaf on-ramps than the ghetto drive-thru's and cigar shops of South Lorain.  The one lane bridge at the bottom of the hairpin turns on Ford Rd in Elyria's Bur Oak metropark, and driving on the metal grates on the bascule bridge in Lorain were enough to make for some sweaty palms too. https://www.drivingclass.com/locations.html

Yup, that's them.  Avon Lake location.

Christmas music already?

Christmas music already?

 

Already?  Hell Xmas music and product has been on shelves since the day before Halloween!

106.5 is playing xmas music nonstop now. I'm presuming they're doing that through the season? They just lost their coveted place on my pre-set.

106.5?

'on your radio dial'. Mix 106.5? It's a Cleveland station. You might not get it in Akron. Not sure.

 

Or are you mocking me for having it on my pre-set's to begin with?

Or are you mocking me for having it on my pre-set's to begin with?

 

That would be my guess. :)

Hey, I like some adult contemporary once in a while. I am pushing 40 you know. I have to get lame eventually.

Why do so many cars have to make such a loud f'ing beeping noise when they're locked and unlocked?  Are people really locking them 200 yard away in a driving rain storm while wearing earmuffs?  Kind of related, but someone wrote an interesting article about car horns, proposing they just simply be banned.  They don't prevent accidents (human reactions are too slow).  99% of the time they're just a way for impatient people to vent.

106 plays non-stop xmas music starting day after halloween through end of the year every year now, they've done it about 4 years running.

Why do so many cars have to make such a loud f'ing beeping noise when they're locked and unlocked? Are people really locking them 200 yard away in a driving rain storm while wearing earmuffs? Kind of related, but someone wrote an interesting article about car horns, proposing they just simply be banned. They don't prevent accidents (human reactions are too slow). 99% of the time they're just a way for impatient people to vent.

 

I don't like car horns, but I do think they serve a purpose in warning people switching lanes on the freeway not to continue merging.  Many times I have seen it cause people to realize they shouldn't continue switching lanes, likely avoiding an accident.

106 plays non-stop xmas music starting day after halloween through end of the year every year now, they've done it about 4 years running.

 

Ordinarily I would question their judgement, but I'm so sick of Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, and Ke$ha that I don't mind it right now.

106 plays non-stop xmas music starting day after halloween through end of the year every year now, they've done it about 4 years running.

a couple of stations in NYC have also been doing that for years, but I don't think they ever started it before Thanksgiving. I believe it was WCBS-FM, the big oldies station here, that was blitzed with so many complaints a couple of years ago that now they don't start playing exclusively Christmas music until a couple of weeks before the holiday. I love Christmas music, but there are only so many times one can hear Burl Ives's "Holly Jolly Christmas" (which they seem to play at least once every hour and which I always hated anyway) and Brenda Lee's "Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree"--to say nothing of Alvin & the Chipmunks--before going insane--this of course, is in addition to hearing it in every store. As a matter of fact, last weekend in Macy's I already heard Bing Crosby singing...uh...I can't remember, but at least it was not "White Christmas!"

I don't like the oldies Christmas jams.  The ones you mentioned annoy me the most.  I like the jazzed up versions better that you can listen to on pandora.  They are more department store type of music.  And they make me want to walk downtown...or well I'm there so. .  . . .d o w n s t a i r s . .. . . to do some shopping.

 

I've noticed people have already begun to put lights up.  I guess it's a good day since it's 70 degrees out.  Despite that I live in a highrise, they allow live Christmas trees, so it's only a matter of time until the elevators are filled with needles.

... Kind of related, but someone wrote an interesting article about car horns, proposing they just simply be banned.  They don't prevent accidents (human reactions are too slow).  99% of the time they're just a way for impatient people to vent.

 

I don't like car horns, but I do think they serve a purpose in warning people switching lanes on the freeway not to continue merging.  Many times I have seen it cause people to realize they shouldn't continue switching lanes, likely avoiding an accident.

 

I think horns should be eliminated from all new civilian automobiles, and disabled on older ones. Driving defensively means keeping your vehicle under control at all times, anticipating that other drivers occasionally will screw up, and allowing room for that to happen. The greatest priority for any driver should be avoiding crashes, not defending turf. If someone starts a lane change too close in front of me, I'll ease up on the gas or maybe even touch the brakes. I'm already driving the posted limit, or a few mph under it if traffic is dense and aggressive; I can decelerate without risking being rear-ended, but often not without hearing a horn blast behind me and looking in the mirror to see a middle finger raised in front of an angry face. I'm not sure my horn still works; I can't remember the last time I used it.

 

I live alongside a one-way arterial headed out of town, and at evening rush hour it's packed with downtown office workers headed home to sprawville. They're driving 45-plus in a thirty-five zone, with whole packs of cars tailgating with less than a car length between them, jockying for position as they head into a curve. It's not uncommon to hear a horn just before a crash; if drivers didn't have a horn to rely on, perhaps they'd curb their aggression just a little bit.

... Kind of related, but someone wrote an interesting article about car horns, proposing they just simply be banned. They don't prevent accidents (human reactions are too slow). 99% of the time they're just a way for impatient people to vent.

 

I don't like car horns, but I do think they serve a purpose in warning people switching lanes on the freeway not to continue merging. Many times I have seen it cause people to realize they shouldn't continue switching lanes, likely avoiding an accident.

 

I think horns should be eliminated from all new civilian automobiles, and disabled on older ones. Driving defensively means keeping your vehicle under control at all times, anticipating that other drivers occasionally will screw up, and allowing room for that to happen. The greatest priority for any driver should be avoiding crashes, not defending turf. If someone starts a lane change too close in front of me, I'll ease up on the gas or maybe even touch the brakes. I'm already driving the posted limit, or a few mph under it if traffic is dense and aggressive; I can decelerate without risking being rear-ended, but often not without hearing a horn blast behind me and looking in the mirror to see a middle finger raised in front of an angry face. I'm not sure my horn still works; I can't remember the last time I used it.

 

I live alongside a one-way arterial headed out of town, and at evening rush hour it's packed with downtown office workers headed home to sprawville. They're driving 45-plus in a thirty-five zone, with whole packs of cars tailgating with less than a car length between them, jockying for position as they head into a curve. It's not uncommon to hear a horn just before a crash; if drivers didn't have a horn to rely on, perhaps they'd curb their aggression just a little bit.

 

But what about when people aren't paying attention to when a light turns green?

I don't like car horns, but I do think they serve a purpose in warning people switching lanes on the freeway not to continue merging. Many times I have seen it cause people to realize they shouldn't continue switching lanes, likely avoiding an accident.

 

I think horns should be eliminated from all new civilian automobiles, and disabled on older ones. Driving defensively means keeping your vehicle under control at all times, anticipating that other drivers occasionally will screw up, and allowing room for that to happen. The greatest priority for any driver should be avoiding crashes, not defending turf. If someone starts a lane change too close in front of me, I'll ease up on the gas or maybe even touch the brakes. I'm already driving the posted limit, or a few mph under it if traffic is dense and aggressive; I can decelerate without risking being rear-ended, but often not without hearing a horn blast behind me and looking in the mirror to see a middle finger raised in front of an angry face. I'm not sure my horn still works; I can't remember the last time I used it.

 

Just because many people misuse their horn doesn't mean it's useless.  I'd rather see people get ticketed for aggressive driving and using their horn when they shouldn't than to see horns removed from cars.

 

Yes, some people use their horns in an aggressive manner, but it can also be used in a defensive manner.  The specific cases I have in mind involve a truck started to move into your lane, not realizing you're there (and sometimes there's just nowhere for you to go) until you blow the horn.  There are some cases where it is helpful.  I hardly ever use mine, but it has been helpful a handful of times, both when I've used it or when someone else has alerted me.

If they remove the horn from my car, how am I supposed to let everyone else know that they're an *sshole?

^No doubt horns are useful ocassionally, but I guess the question is whether that small percentage of times is enough to justify them given the very real negative externalities.  A friend of mine once proposed rationing honking: every car gets 5 per month, that's it.

 

The horn honking that really pisses me off is trucks when not on highways.  Their horns shake buildings.  Late night the avenues in Manhattan have tons of big rigs and dump trucks barreling uptown, laying on the horn.  Makes me feel homicidal.

Five per month is kind of high, but I like the concept.  If you're using your horn more than once or twice a month, you're likely using it the wrong way.

Actually it's worth noting that for those of us who park in Downtown garages it's often necessary to use our horns whenever we exit our garage before we cross the sidewalk.  It's not so necessary on some of the large, newer garages, but I pull out something only slightly wider than a closet door, with no peripheral vision.  I have to honk my horn and go, hoping that pedestrians won't walk directly in front of me (it's amazing how many people do, though).  That said, I don't lay on my horn, just a quick double toot.

I don't think I've honked my car's horn 5 times in the last decade.  I don't have that lay on the horn impulse.

Ahhhh.... this brings me to a pet peeve.  When your 'co-pilot' honks your horn.... whether it be at another driver or to harrass some poor girl walking by.  NOBODY touches my horn but me!  (that didn't come out right...)

But what about when people aren't paying attention to when a light turns green?

 

Just pull up and give their bumper a solid tap - Naw, they'll move sooner or later. I might give my horn a light tap, but mostly it's not necessary. On the other hand, the second-in-line clowns that lay on the horn the instant the light turns green, well, if I'm first in line I'll take foorrrreeeevvver to get up to 20-30mph when that happens. To get by with that sort of passive aggression you have to make sure you never make eye contact in the mirror. If they just think I'm stupid, they'll still be madder'n hell but they're not likely to try to do anything about it.

 

...

 

Yes, some people use their horns in an aggressive manner, but it can also be used in a defensive manner.  The specific cases I have in mind involve a truck started to move into your lane, not realizing you're there (and sometimes there's just nowhere for you to go) until you blow the horn.  There are some cases where it is helpful.  I hardly ever use mine, but it has been helpful a handful of times, both when I've used it or when someone else has alerted me.

 

It helps to stay out of truckers' blind spots. Generally, if you can see his mirror, he can see you, and most truckers, regardless of what it sometimes seems, aren't homicidal maniacs. And if you encounter one who is, the horn isn't going to help. I just stay well away from trucks on the interstates whenever possible. If you've ever seen a truck throw a tire tread at 70mph, you'll understand why.

Ahhhh.... this brings me to a pet peeve.  When your 'co-pilot' honks your horn.... whether it be at another driver or to harrass some poor girl walking by.  NOBODY touches my horn but me!  (that didn't come out right...)

 

Sounds like you've got a Scrub for a "co pilot"!