I used to really dislike driving long distances. However, in the last few months I’ve done a few things to completely change my mind.
Use a GPS. I no longer have to worry about leaving directions at home, taking a wrong turn, finding food or fuel, or needing a detour. I just hop in the car, hit the road, head in the general direction of my destination, and plug in the address on the way.
Buy prescription sunglasses. Sunglasses have made a world of difference. Yesterday I drove out to Auburn in the morning and back to the East Bay in the afternoon, driving into the sun both ways. Having the sunglasses has completely eliminated squinting and strain on my eyes.
Take Music. Loading up the GPS with music has really helped pass the time. I even added a few hours of MCLE, just in case!
Drive slower. I’ve made a point of obeying the speed limit, even when I’m running late. Driving fast saves a negligible amount of time and can be very stressful.
These four things have transformed my long drives from stressful events into fairly enjoyable trips.
Obama: Way way too many “uh’s”. It makes you look unprepared.
McCain: Don’t wander around in the background. At best it is disrespectful, at worst it makes you look befuddled and lost.
By any of the polling numbers, Obama went into last night’s debate so far ahead in the polls that the only way for McCain to really come back would be for Obama to commit some terrible blunder. ((Photo courtesy of DaveHogg. Photo editing, all me!)) I imagine it would have taken something like this:
My impressions from the debate:
McCain said last night he wants to purchase all the bad loans in the United States and renegotiate them? He’s suggesting resetting these loans to the present value of these homes.
First of all, where the hell was this guy before we spent $700,000,000,000.00???
Second, this sounds like a really tragically flawed idea. If you buying loans high and then forgive hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt, you’re basically giving hundreds of thousands of dollars per bad loans to those banks who had poor judgment in the first place.
Third, if you’re going to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars per bad loan, why not just give them to the people who purchased the homes rather than the bank?
Fourth, if you’re going to buy the loans and then forgive a large chunk of them, why do you need to buy them? Just tell the bank to adjust those loans.
Obama thinks the government invented computers so our defense department could communicate over long distances. The defense project DARPA was invented that way, not computers. I’m wondering if Obama lost the nerd vote there.
McCain wants to put medical records on the internet. We can NOT put medical records online.
Government and business websites get hacked every day. The last thing we need are our records posted on Craigslist.
As it stands, medical records enjoy a special protection in our system. If that information is all online, it would be a simple task for our government to tap into that information. This may sound paranoid until you recall that the NSA under the Bush administrationhas already donesomething far more invasive.
Tom Brokaw is a terrible, terrible moderator. When someone is over their time, you cut them off. Better yet, shut off their mike. Don’t whine about it after they stop – that just invites apologies and “witty” comments.
McCain says he’ll double the tax exemption for each child. Yay! More babies!
