mo chuisle

we had a good run, old girl. i'll miss ya.

eff you google...you just made the list

story.

news flash

the state of massachusetts is stupid. i'm talking bag of hammers, 2+2=5 ...stupid.

today on my way home from work, i approached one of our many many busy * intersections. this particular intersection (see figure 1) has a lot of special features. those features include, but are not limited to, the following:

-split 4-way traffic light
-railroad track
-a one-block-removed intersection that is constantly blocked by the line of cars trying to get through the main intersection



anyway, today, i am sitting on the crosswalk of the second intersection (figure 2; position A) so that i don't block the oncoming cars as they try and turn left toward the high school. this is normal and is strangely where i end up almost daily. the strange part is that i look ahead to my left and see that they are working on the
railroad track. apparently, 4:30 on a monday is the perfect time to block an entire lane of traffic in a major intersection. i mean, at that time of day, the trains only come every, what, 10-15 minutes? perfect time to work.



ok, so whatever. this should only affect the traffic moving across the intersection. not my direction.

our light turns green and i (as i do, again, almost daily) pull forward into the intersection anticipating the line in front of me to move through the green light. i was surprised to see no one in front of me moving at all. complete standstill despite a clear green light. what the hell? the light turns red and then i see the cop ** directing traffic. at least i assumed he was directing traffic. "ok," i think to myself. "that makes sense, i guess."

so, here i am, in the middle of the second intersection, blocking all traffic from turning left across my lane. i was apologetic, but really, what could i do? the light turned green. i pulled forward. deal with it.

our light turns green again...and AGAIN, no one moves. two solid green lights now and i have moved 10 feet. still blocking the intersection, starting to get pissed. this is where i am.

then, i notice the cop start to wave our line through. our light was red, but whatever...he is obviously an intelligent and well-organized professional. let's go.

the 8 or so cars ahead of me all turn left and cross the railroad tracks. i get close to the light (figure 3; position B) and notice that the cop seems to be walking my direction with a confused look on his face. he gives me the "hold on a second" sign and looks up at the light above him. he turns to me and yells "it's red. you can't go through it!"



i think to myself that i must have heard him wrong. so, i roll down my window and yell "aren't you directing traffic? we just sat through 2 green lights." he looked at me as if i had just beaten his only 9 year-old son with a garden hose.

"what did you say?" he yelled sternly.

"i said, we just sat through 2 green lights. are you directing traffic or not?"

"none of that is my problem." he responded.

i just stared at him. i really wanted to press it and see if i could get him to snap or to at least get the chance to point out that he had been standing right in the middle of the only passable lane of traffic on cabot street, but just then, my light turned green and i tore into the intersection half praying that there were cars coming crosswise and that i would hit them..right in front of officer friendly...who was, at this point, wandering over toward the workers on the track and no where near directing traffic.

i made it home and secretly thought how cool it would have been to really piss him off and get hauled off to the station. that may have made my week.

as it turned out. it's just another reason to not drive here in the commonwealth.



* - the term "busy" in regard to an intersection is just masshole speak for "poorly planned."

** - police officers don't do anything here. the only time you will see one actually of his/her car is when they are guarding a construction site.

favorite email title in the past 5 days

FROM: Facebook

SUBJ: "Becky A. said you two are engaged..."

thanks, facebook. i think this is how everyone should find out.

hallelujah

today, the kansas city royals beat the minnesota twins to "improve" their season record to 63-82. they are still a game and a half above the white sox and currently remain out of the cellar in the al central. the win also stopped a late season 7-game losing streak.

but, more importantly, a 63rd win means that (barring some new-fangled MLB rule that extends the season) for only the second time since 2002, they will NOT finish the season with 100 losses.

like i said, it's the small victories that we royals fans can relish. and this is a small one that i certainly will.




note - i have really been waiting to post this for over a week, because, you know, it's the royals. it took 'em 8 tries, but they FINALLY got it.