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| Well, according to the United States Federal Highway Administration, Los Angeles has 4 of the 10 worst physical bottlenecks in the country.
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Rank
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City
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Location
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Annual Hours
of Delay (000)
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1
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Los Angeles
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U.S. 101 (Ventura Freeway) at I-405
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27,144
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2
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Houston
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I-610 at I-10 Interchange (West)
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25,181
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3
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Chicago
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I-90/94 at I-290 Interchange
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25,068
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4
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Phoenix
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I-10 at SR 51/SR 202 Interchange
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22,805
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5
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Los Angeles
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I-405 (San Diego Freeway) at I-10
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22,792
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6
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Atlanta
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I-75 south of the I-85 Interchange
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21,045
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7
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Washington
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I-495 at I-270 Interchange
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19,429
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8
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Los Angeles
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I-10 (Santa Monica Freeway) at I-5
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18,606
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9
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Los Angeles
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I-405 (San Diego Freeway) at I-605
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18,606
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10
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Atlanta
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I-285 at I-85 Interchange
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17,072
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I'm nowhere near number 9, so that's good... but number 1 and number 8 (technically not exactly at this intersection, I switch to a different interstate about two miles before) are right on the two routes I drive going to and from work. NOT TO MENTION... I pretty much live right freaking under number 4.. I can see the intersection from my driveway!!!
WTFWTFWTF... what am I doing in this crazy city? Someone get me outta here!
Too much road rage.. I'm turning into a rageaholic
 <----jeffybean on rageahol | | |
| A secure job, a stable income, a steady girlfriend, a roof over my head... these were all the things my family wished for me when I graduated. Since it was so important to them, I figured they were things that I should also desire. Now that I have them (with the exception of the girlfriend part), I don't really care for any of it. These things are all nice, I suppose, but all in all pretty meaningless to me at this point in my life. I didn't really wish anything for myself when I graduated... I pretty much left UT as clueless as when I went in (if not more so). But now that I'm out, there are a few things that I do wish for. I long to be out on my own and have great adventures. I long for things that will ignite my passion and give me a sense of purpose.
I know, I know.. it's pathetic. My triumphant return to xanga begins with me picking up the same old dead horse and beating the crap out of it again. But what's a boy to do?
I COULD just cast myself to the wind and leave it all behind, but I would be penniless, jobless, and homeless. Also, I'm told that chicks are pretty into this whole "security" thing when they're looking for a man to settle down with. Ranks right up there behind good looks, brains, and a sense of humor...and since it's a complete strikeout for me on the big three, I was kinda banking on that last one. God only knows why security's so important to them. I think it goes back to caveman times, something about bringing home strips of pork fat for them to throw over the fire.
Again, another inconclusive, rambling entry.. It's good to be back.
I guess I'll just leave you with a fortune I received the other day from a fortune cookie.
Your independence shall
lead you to bold adventures.
12 32 36 41 45, 2 | | |
| Somehow in the middle of my daily 8-5 grind, I found myself violently uprooted and shipped off to Calgary, Alberta (that's in Canada, in case ya didn't know) for two weeks. I was assigned to help train our service desk call center which was is outsourced to HP here in Calgary. With only two days notice I don't think I adequately prepared myself for the shock of working in Canada...and by that I mean how freaking cold it would be there. When I left Los Angeles the temperature was a balmy 25 degrees...the night I arrived in Calgary the temperature was -28 degrees!! It was so cold those first few days that whenever I would step outside it felt like my eyeballs would start to freeze and my nosehairs would stand on end.. it was terrible! The other thing is that a lot of the cars here have a power cord hanging out their front grills so they can warm up the motor oil on below freezing days. Heck..if it's cold enough for motor oil to start freezing.. I'm moving somewhere else. I found it odd though, that those first few days I didn't see any snow at all. I asked some of the locals what the heck was up with that and they told me that it was "too cold to snow." Don't know what the hell that's supposed to mean, but sure enough... once the weather "warmed up" to about -3 degrees the snow started falling, and boy did it fall. Almost got hit 3 times by skidding cars and traffic becomes almost "la traffic" like. All in all it's been an interesting trip. Much less stressful than my daily 8-5 and there's a certain novelty about the cold weather. I think I'm gonna miss it a little bit.
A few random things...
-Canadians are weird... they're exceedingly nice, but there's something a little off about them. Maybe it's all the aboots and eh's that are getting to their head. Waking up in the mornings to Olympic curling on tv in French is NOT normal. They had people at breakfast cheering for the Canadian women's curling team on tv!!
-The +15 in downtown Calgary is freaking awesome. It's a series of indoor bridges that connects all the buildings in downtown. You can pretty much walk all of downtown without having to step outside.
-The Canadian rockies are absolutely beautiful. Driving through it is like being in the middle of a Coors commercial (does it mean I'm an alcoholic when the only analogy I can think of is a beer commercial?)
-I saw the hotel that inspired Steven King's "The Shining." Don't know if it's the same hotel as the movie, I have to go back and watch it again.. very awesome hotel that sits right on the bank of Lake Louise (which happened to be frozen at the time)
-Canadian cops have no sense of humor. Got caught by a speed trap going 70kph in a 50kph zone. It was around the bend at the bottom of a freaking hill.. I hate speed traps, they're like campers when you're playing Counter-strike, it's almost like they're not playing fair. I tried to convince the cop that I was from the states and I didn't' know the speedometer was in kilometers, I told him that I thought I was going 70mph (fyi, 70kph=45mph)!! Just kidding.. I wanted to say that, but he didn't look like he was in the mood. So much for friendly Canadians.
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| Here is something I hope will help some people who are waiting to hear
about the status of their homes in the New Orleans area. I know it
cannot replace going home and assessing the damage for yourself and it
may not provide the most accurate information, but it may give you a
good idea of how your home is. Please try and contribute if you have
any information as well.
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