Last weekend, I was running some errands and decided to grab a bite to eat. I considered Wendy’s since I like their food and it was on the way – but this Wendy’s has a terribly difficult exit – enough to make me skip it and find something else if the traffic was bad.
So, instead of pulling in, I drove on past and got stopped by traffic – inadvertently (and only partially) blocking the exit. This is the reason I don’t like to eat there – too easy to get stuck trying to leave. There was no one waiting to exit and I figured that the traffic would clear shortly.
Before it did, however, a jeep pulled through the drive through and tried to exit. I pulled up as far as I could, but even though it was enough for the driver to get past – it still wasn’t enough.
As he pulled out into traffic behind me – crossing three lanes as he did so – he sounded his horn and flipped me off.
I just shook my head. I didn’t deserve that, but if it made him feel better – so be it.
A few days later, I was headed into work and saw an ambulance coming up behind me. I dutifully pulled over – and so did everyone else on the road – to give way. It was important and we were patient. With the guy in the jeep it clearly wasn’t important (even if he was having a burger emergency he already had that by the time I encountered him), and he was completely impatient.
I don’t know what’s to be learned by those experiences – except that I try not to get stuck in that lane anymore.
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I’ve got a couple of “idle games” on my phone. This genre is about clicking or tapping a bit to earn the equivalent of money in the games – then using that to “buy” some kind of process to click/tap on your behalf. There are then multipliers and ever increasing “costs” to gain more automation and more multiplies. In short order, the game is playing itself with only minimal intervention from me. I like to imagine the furious amounts of math the device is churning through to reward me with a few hundred trillion of whatever.
I wonder if computers enjoy doing math? If there is some satisfaction from really getting a good compression out of a PDF or a delicious bit of encryption? If high speed internet tastes better than dial-up?
I hope so. I’d hate to be on the “wrong side” when the Robot Uprising begins…
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I had a physical therapy appointment today and found that I have learned something. If a physical therapist says, “Let’s try something,” it’s going to hurt in some new and interesting way.
Today was the use of hard plastic wedges to scrape at my bicep. The process helps restore proper blood flow to an area and will loosen up the muscle. You can tell it’s working when the skin turns a blotchy red and tiny capillaries begin to break under the skin. Bruising is not unusual.
It feels just about how you would expect it to – not a pleasant experience. I think the PT was showing off a bit for the intern that was on hand, but I guess it helped. I’ll use the “rack” later on and see how it goes.
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I noticed some water in my bathroom on the floor the other day. I had been leaving the window open and I figured I got some rain in there. I also noticed some water on the counter in my kitchen and thought initially it was the cold pack I’d left out. But then I mentally mapped out my house and realize the bathroom and the kitchen were lined up vertically. I got a definitive answer when I flushed the toilet and saw a little water pool under the bowl – then went downstairs to see the water dripping from the ceiling. After physical therapy this morning, I went to Home Depot and got a new wax ring. I’ve had this problem before and figured I needed to upgrade. This one proclaimed itself – “Better than Wax”.
From start to finish – including clean-up – was just under an hour to replace the existing ring. Not to shabby for a non-plumber. I didn’t have any leaks so we’ll see how it goes over time.