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Journal FortKnox's Journal: Monday Morning Routine... 19

Journal by FortKnox
I've just realized how I've developed a Monday Morning Routine.
It starts out with the usual get out of bed, take shower, brush teeth/hair, take out the dog, make sure Joey's ok, tell the wife I love her, and head for work.
I eat my poptart in the car on the way to work. I am an offensive driver in rush hour (left lane is for FAST traffic, damnit!). Park, get to client building, put lunch away, get big cup of coffee, sit down.
Due to life outside work, over the weekends I usually only touch my computer to play a game or two. So when I first sit at my computer (which is slower than dirt, but the tradeoff is they gave me a flatscreen monitor), I check my work email, then my yahoo email, then I check whats going on in the NFL, check Sluggy Freelance and Player vs. Player (which is great, cause its 3 comics each), then Penny Arcade and 8-bit Theater. Next comes slashdot, which requires me to check my messages. Mondays I usually have at least 10 (updated journals on my 'friends' list), and a lot more if I made a decent arguement on friday night. After commenting on most of the messages, I M2, and read over what I missed over the weekend.
Then I get to work (anyone worked on EJB2.0, yet? Compaired to EJB1.1, its CAKE. Great technology. Only complex thing is the EJB-QL).

Anyone else have an interesting monday routine (OK, mine isn't "interesting", but maybe one of yours is)?
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Monday Morning Routine... More

Monday Morning Routine...

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  • I generally come in about 15 minutes late. I use the side door, so Lumburgh doesn't see me. I check my messages and the just zone out for a while. "I'm sorry, zone out?" Yeah, I just stare at my desk... but it looks like I'm working. Then we go to Chotcki's for coffee. I'd say in any given week I only do about 15 minutes of actualy work.

    I love that movie. Office Space for those of you that don't know. I'm convinced they came here to research it. I'm also convinced Scott Adams has a spy here to get Dilbert material. Oh, well... it pays the bills I guess.


  • Well, I am going to disagree with your statement "left lane is for the fast traffic", which I read "left lane is for people who want to speed."

    I have argued this point with some older friends as well, but I still feel I am right. I do not speed. Period. The little white signs say what the maximum speed is. Therefore, if you want to go the speed limit (which is the fastest traffic allowed), you do belong in the left lane. The right lane is more people who want to go slower than the speed limit. I will say it again, now in a different way. The left lane is for the fastest traffic. Since the fastest speed is the speed limit, those following the speed limit belong in the left most lane.

    My friend says I have no right to force other people to obey my standard of right and wrong (by going "slow" in the fast lane). This is not true. The law allows me to make myself an agent of the state anytime I wish. For example, suppose I am in a store and see a person shoplift. The law gives me the absolute right to restrain that person (called a citizen arrest). I don't HAVE to stop that person. The official police line would be to alert authorities, not act myself (liability fears and all), but if I want to act, I CAN, and it's legal.

    You do NOT have the right to go faster than the white sign says. The people elected people to make that rule. As one of the people, I have the right to enforce that law. So I am going to follow the speed limit, and do it in the left most lane. I have violated no law. You have no right to complain. Feel free to report me to the police. Example conversation:

    You: "But officer, he was following the maximum posted limit on that road! He should have gone faster! Or at least been in the right hand lane! I wanted to drive in the left hand lane!"

    Officer: "Let me make sure I understand. You want the person going the speed LIMIT to be in the right hand lane, meaning you want to be in the left hand lane, meaning you want to drive faster than the speed LIMIT?"

    You: "Er...never mind."

    See? Doesn't the world make much more sense when you apply a little logic?

    Now, if you think the speed limit should be faster, hey, more power to you. Circulate a petition, run for office, start a campaign for a faster limit. You can do it. If you win, I will respect the new law. But as long as the white sign remains the same, I will go the speed limit in the left most lane, and your bitching at me is not only meaningless to me, but also illogical as you are advocating an illegal position.
    • Okay. I do not want to get into a flamewar here. I am not going to touch the speed limit argument. (Have you heard of the concept of the 85th percentile speed? Research shows that this is the SAFEST speed on the road, regardless of what is posted.)

      You are breaking the law by going the speed limit in the left lane if others wish to go faster. The laws vary by state, but most states follow the Unifom Vehicle Code which requires drivers to keep right if they are going slower than the normal speed of traffic regardless of the speed limit. In California this is Vehicle Code 21654(a) ("Notwithstanding the prima facie speed limits...") So I don't care what your tenuous logic may dictate, you are:

      1. Breaking the law.
      2. Pissing off a lot of people for no good reason.
      3. Creating a hazard.

      Please stop.

      For your reference, this web site [mit.edu] summarizes the Keep Right laws in every state with links to the actual law text where available, in case you still have any doubt that you are breaking the code.

      • So I don't care what your tenuous logic may dictate, you are:

        Stop right there. Are you actually arguing logic is irrelevant? If you abandon logic, argument is impossible.

        As to the link, it appears I stand corrected that yes, I have to stay in the right hand lane. See? I can be wrong. But that doesn't mean my logic was wrong. It just means ( I think) that the laws of the several states are not based on logic.

        After all, you pointed out I am creating a hazard. I guess that is what the several states are worried about. That people will not respond to my actions rationally. Well, the law is the law, so I will submit even in the face of illogic. You should read my journal. I have an excellent rant about the drinking laws in the several states. Also very illogical. Yet I submit nonetheless.

        I guess I can only hope that law enforcement will continue to be vigilant in the enforcement of speeding laws. Perhaps if we increase enforcement of speeding laws, speeding will cease to exist, and then we will both be right.

        Until then, I compliment you on your correcting me. I was wrong. I do believe your abandonment of logic however to be incorrect, and I think you should reconsider that point.
        • Don't get me wrong, I am very much a believer in logic. Perhaps I used the wrong terms. What I meant by "tenuous logic" was that if your goal is to increase the overall level of road safety (is this not your goal?) then it does not make sense to create, essentially, a rolling road block for people to avoid. In my opinion, if you wish to contribute to the safest possible roads, then you should always: allow proper following distance, use directional signals, keep right unless passing, and go more or less with the flow of traffic -- hopefully near the 85th percentile speed [sense.bc.ca], which has been shown in numerous studies to be the safest speed. [state.ks.us] This is supposed to be the primary factor when determining the speed limit for roads, but it is very common [ibiblio.org] (*cough* revenue *cough*) for roads to be posted at the 60th, 50th, even 40th percentile speed. Motorists who follow the set speed limit in such cases place themselves at a HIGHER position on the risk curve.


          • Hmmm... I did like this quote from the ibiblio link:

            Raising speed limits in the region of the 85th percentile speed has an extremely beneficial effect on drivers complying with the posted speed limits.

            Well duh. 85% of people are now following the law!

            Anyway, my goal in my comments was not geared to safety. My goal was legalism, which is important to me. If the several states post a speed limit at the 40th percentile (which I know of a road near where I live where I strongly suspect this to be the case), I don't really have a choice but to drive at the 40th percentile, do I?

            I do not doubt your evidence that the 85th percentile is safest (because to me it is not relevant to the main issue of legalism). I do question what I can do about it. If I violate the law, there are very expensive penalties (including insurance). I do not know what motivates the several states. It would seem that if the majority of people want to drive faster (which logically they must if we assert the speed limit is at the 40th percentile; obviously 60% of people want to go faster), then the several states speed limits would increase to the wishes of the people. Sadly, this does not occur.

            I am left with no logical choice but to obey the state, because the state has the power to coerce me through force. My argument was solely that it is illegal to speed, and by taking the action I suggested, I was helping to ensure people could not speed (i.e. not break the law). As you pointed out, I do not have this power in this circumstance. My argument was not based on if it is right to go faster or not (in which case I would likely argue the speed limit should be raised), but solely that it is illegal to go faster.

            If you can propose a remedy to this problem, I am all ears. However, it must be the case that the most vocal people (not the majority) are the ones getting the speeding laws set the way they are. Somehow, I do not believe my cries to raise the speed limit would go very far, and so I am force to obey the state, or risk the penalties of disobedience.
            • Ahhh, I see. Yes, that makes more sense. It really is too bad that lawmakers ignore the traffic and safety studies and underpost roads. It does not seem to matter to them that what is posted is not the safest, and that people generally ignore the posted limit anyway. It really is just another tax, and we as citizens pay it in our fines and insurance.
            • If you can propose a remedy to this problem, I am all ears.

              New Jersey's actually a pretty good example of a situation where this worked.

              Route 80 & Route 78 (I use those as exmaples merely because I drive them the most) were posted at 55 MPH throughout the state. There was a DANGEROUS differential in vehicle speed...the average speed was around 70 (I think it was 72, but there's no way I'll find a link to the paper, since this was so long ago) People driving at 55 were, albeit obeying the law, putting motorists at risk, because most cars were in fact moving about 15 mph faster.

              So, they raised the speed limit on those two roads to 65 mph and enforced it something FIERCE. Fines are doubled in 65 mph zones, and the cops love 'em.

              Consequences: most traffic on those roads moves at about 68. Those who are stringent about speed limits are now 3 miles under the average flow of traffic. That's negligible.

              Granted, you will always have the assholes driving at 110 down the highway. But they'll do that no matter what. What it DID do was slow the 75 mph drivers down just a little bit (so they wouldn't get ticketed) and moved the 55 mph drivers up to the actual speed of traffic. IT did what it was supposed to do -- get all traffic moving at the same speed.

              It's been that way for several years now...


              • I am certainly in favor of a "reasonable" speed limit. Again, my argument wasn't based on saftey, but legalism. If everyone is driving 72, you are correct it is unsafe to drive 55. But seriously, what can I do? I can't drive faster than 55. If I do, and get pulled over, I can't use the flow of traffic as a defense. The speed limit is posted.

                I can't use the fact that everyone else is breaking the law to justify breaking the law. After all, with ANY given law, some people will break it. But I can't justify murder because other people also commit murder. Ok, that was an extreme example. How about smoking pot? Can't justify that either, even though more people do it. Or drinking under age. Yet even more people do it. Still can't legally justify it. Court's wouldn't buy it. They would say I was breaking the law and fine me. Such is life.

                In Tennessee, we have this road call Nonconnah where the speed limit is 40 in some places, where is really should be at least 65. People drive 65. I drive 40. Lately, the area has been swarmed with cops. I heard that 15 (!) police cars were on the road today, pulling over cars. Or take I-40. In place it too is 40 (on an Interstate!). Again, what can I do but follow the law?

                Well, hopefully my state and the several states will all re-examine the basis for speed laws to make sure that saftey really is the first priority.
                • I'm not arguing over your desire to drive the speed limit (it's quite respectable, actually) -- it was much more a point of driving in the left lane, where traffic would suddenly come to a screeching halt due to a forced change in speed.

                  Having driven I-40 across the country, I know whatcha mean...irrational speed limits actually make the scenario way worse. I-84 through Hartford,CT is another disasterous example. The highway winds through through the city (with a speed of 50) At the windy part, it really does need to be 50, you can't take it much faster. However, they slow you down to 50 about 15 miles out in both directions. Painful. (And there's sooooo many cops)

                  I just think more states ought to look at the compromise of raising it slightly. NJ didn't even raise it CLOSE to the 85th% of the flow of traffic. But by raising it a little, they got the traffic to slow down to about the same pace.

    • Here's something else to think about.

      Keep right except to pass.

      Ever see that sign? There's lots of 'em.

      No matter WHAT speed you are going, faster traffic, whether they are obeying the law or not, should be able to pass on the left. If you choose to stay left, faster traffic will merely pass you on the right. This is incredibly dangerous on a two lane highway, as entering traffic now must compete for position with the fastest traffic, as opposed to the slowest traffic.

      While you make a valid point, you are creating a serious traffic hazard. I've witnessed a couple accidents at relatively high speed due to this exact situation (happy to say none were too serious) -- and frankly, I blame the idiot who feels they can drive in the left lane without passing traffic.

    • It's good to see someone with the same view about speeding. I get tired of people thinking that I am insane for driving at the speed limit. I will say this though, when I drive at the speed limit, I drive in the right lane, because everybody else is going well at/above the limit. If someone wanted to drive slower than the limit in right lane, then I wouldn't push. I'd try to keep a comfortable distance.

      I hate it when people tail gate. This anonymous coward who replied is just using non-typical examples. How often do we have to quickly drive people to the hospital? That's silly. After all, if speed were important, then the pedal should be put to the floor and anybody who gets in the way should be considered at fault. Driving faster increases risk many times, yet it won't save you much time on average. We all get pain. Just live with it for another 2 minutes.
    • too good we prolly don't live in the same town/state/country, or else you would end up with 1.7ton rammed up you car's arse (no I'm not kidding - happened sometimes, good engine, bad brakes and a lot of mass...)

      Your attitute is kinda annoying, dude... in this country ppl can get killed right on the street for doing that (hell, here (.br) usually you end up going faster by the right lane ;-)

      Use some common sense, and not mess with others without a good reason. Good for yer health.

      Regards.

      • Nice troll...

        The law is the law. I am pretty sure it is still illegal to ram 1.7 tons or whatever into my car. If you do, I will be happy to press charges and sue you for damages.

        Common sense tells me I can drive the speed limit in the left hand lane. As has been fully veted here, the law does not allow me to do that. I will however go the speed limit in the right hand lane. That is legal.

        Common sense can only be used when the law is ambigous. Here there are defined laws. It is illegal to go faster than posted. It is illegal to go slower than the normal flow of traffic anywhere except the right hand lane (with other exceptions). It is illegal for you to ram me.
        I am not messing with anyone by going the speed limit in the right hand lane. So don't mess with me there, and everything wil be fine.
        • heh... third world here, dude... noone gives a rat's ass about laws, and the ones who do often do not get good results for doing it. sucks, but c'est la vie. The cops are the worst, all they want is bribes. As for lawsuits... good luck to the ones that try.

          Safe thing is to stay away from the crazy drivers. We have some awesome statistics of car crashes and deaths in such crashes. And dead guys don't sue. Their families often get nothing of lawsuits either.

          btw, not really a troll, just a not so good reality.

          peace.
  • I've got a similar one minus the kids. I find it very comforting to have a daily routine. It bothers me when my routine is messed up. For instance, today I forgot my change for the morning caffine kick (usually a cappacino or large coffee). I have been nodding off ever since. My co-workers wonder if I'm not here when they don't hear my incessant sipping accross the room (I'm sure they love it) :)
  • Where are you driving that the cars move on Monday morning? Seriously, I drive in the left lane until traffic starts to back up. For whatever reason, the right lane is quicker when traffic slows down. I think it's because everybody moves into the "fast" lane. Suckers. :)

    Or maybe the fact that I've given it this much thought means that I need to move closer to my job.

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