Time-Lapse from Portland, Oregon

Watch cars go up the hill ... and then slide back down it!

Interestingly enough, I also chose the same Benny Hill music for two of my time-lapse videos!

H/T to M.D.

Trip Photos: On I-35 from San Antonio to Dallas

50 miles northeast of San Antonio we came upon the Prime Outlets Mall near San Marcos. I couldn't care less and would have passed by it at high speed but it proved to pretty much be mecca to someone else in the car! The mall's claim to fame is to be rated as "The 3rd Best Place to Shop in the World". I will admit that it was pretty darn big!


I spent much of my time enjoying a coffee in the shade at the Starbucks there. Note the Texas star above the sign.
A bit further on we stopped for gas.
I captured this photo to give an indication of the rolling countryside of southern Texas.
And I finally found the "tough looking truck" with a Texas license plate that I had been searching for since our trip began!
There were dozens of these large bugs all over the outside wall of the gas station.

Letter to the Seattle Times

I just submitted the following to the Seattle Times:

I'm just finishing up a week long visit to your wonderful city. The food, the sights, the people - everything was superb! Well, except for one little thing. The direction signs to your highways are amongst the worst I've seen in any North America city. For example, imagine you're on Denny Way by the Space Needle. Head west and strictly using the signs, try to find your way onto Hwy 99 South. You'll find it impossible. Is there a thriving trade in Hwy 99 signs I'm not aware of? Similarly, finding one's way out of downtown onto I-5 is pretty much hit and miss. If you're a pedestrian and keep seeing a car with out-of-state plates circling and circling, know that it's yet another lost tourist!
Robert Werner
Vancouver, BC

Urban Driving

Earlier today Danny and I, and another BCDD volunteer, Bruce, drove out to Langley to meet up with our fellow volunteers. The trip is only about 40km but with construction, bridge traffic, and other obstacles, it seemed to take forever! My heart goes out to everyone around the world who has a commute longer than 30 minutes. I only had to do it once and it annoyed me to no end. To do this every day would destroy my soul.

On the way back Danny told us how an uncle & aunt of his in Mexico City have to load their 3 daughters into their van every morning at 5am, in order to get them to their school by 7am. Day in, day out, day in, day out . . . . Yikes!

Finally, A Place To Rant About All Those Bad Drivers!

If you live in B.C. and would like to vent about the countless bad drivers in our communities then visit www.PlateRage.com or call them directly at 1.877.331.RAGE(7243).

Madonna ... At Her Worst

A comedic BMW ad:

My Life Soon

Vancouver Drivers: A Brief Glimpse

I just got back from a little walk. It was about 8pm and I came across 3 cars in a row stopped for a pedestrian light:

1. The first had a 30-something woman talking excitedly on a cel phone, waving her arms wildly in all directions. Her mind clearly wasn't focused on her immediate surroundings.
2. The second was also a woman, in a station wagon, with her 3 or 4 year old daughter in the back seat. She wasn't on a cel phone, but was puffing away on a cigarette.
3. The third was, coincidentally, a woman as well, in her early twenties and driving an SUV. Like the first, she was also on a cel phone, though less animated.

Given the numerous bad examples of driving I see with people on their cel phones, #1 & #3 are clearly tweedle-dum and tweedle-dee respectively. As for #2, what term might one affix to her?

Driving Quiz

You are driving along a narrow two lane road with a NO PASSING sign posted and come upon a bicycle rider. Do you:

1. Follow this slow-moving bicycle rider for the next 2 miles, or
   
2. Break the law and pass?

Most yuppies in their fancy cars and soccer moms in mini-vans, who always seem to drive like their lives are more important than everyone else's, would naturally break the law and pass.

But the law-abiding, non-yuppie men of this world would, of course, make the correct choice, slow down and carefully follow the bicycle rider. We would do this because we are selfless, responsible, and extremely law-abiding citizens. Simply put, it's just naturally the right thing to do.

Worst Drivers: Vancouver vs. Miami

A friend of mine back home, seeing my recent observations about the incompetent drivers here in Miami, decided to refresh my memory about what's occurring in Vancouver. Here are some photos taken at The Arbutus Club, a ritzy private sports club on the west side of Vancouver. It's a vivid reminder to all of us that just because someone's wealthy doesn't mean that they're remotely intelligent!

Update: Here's some information I've learned about this incident:

• The black BMW sportscar was a gift that was only one day old.
  
• The Mercedes on the other side belonged to the father of a young man who passed away and had his son's memorial service at the club, either that same day or the day before.
  

Just Another Typical Driving Day in Miami

It wasn't even 9am and I heard a large bang outside. Sure enough, someone was driving too fast or too carelessly or likely both. In most cities, one needs to look both ways before crossing a street. In Miami, you need to look left, right, backward, forward, and then RUN across the street!

You may be curious to know how I obtained this photo. It was about 2 blocks away, much too far for my little camera's zoom lense. So I put the camera into Macro mode and placed the lens up against one of the eyepieces of a pair of binoculars. It took a little fidgeting but I finally captured the photo you see here.

Snowy Drive to Bellingham

I had a rental car for the weekend, mostly to make deliveries for BCDD, but on Sunday my mom & I decided to continue with our shopping trip down to Bellingham. Here are some photos from our journey:

Fir Street, looking south toward 16th Avenue

Approaching the Blaine truck crossing

The parking lot at Bellis Fair

Returning via the Peace Arch crossing

All in all, the experience was incident free for us. But there were lots of people who had driven off the road. It seems that many people don't understand that you simply have to drive slower in such conditions, even if you're driving an SUV. Even more have little to no experience driving in the snow. So when something startles them - like hitting a patch of ice - they slam on the brakes, which tends to spin them around and often into the ditch.

Returning the Avis rental car was quite hilarious. I took it back to the West Broadway location where I had picked it up. I knew they'd be closed but was just going to drop the keys through the mailbox like I had done in times past. Well this time round the mailbox was welded shut! So I found a payphone and call their 800 number. They explained that I could wait until the next morning or take it to their downtown location. I opted for the latter.

Taking the Cambie Bridge downtown, the traffic was very light. I pulled into the parking lot underneath of the Hotel Vancouver and down to level B7, as instructed by the signs. I then took the elevator back up to ground level to return the keys. There was no one there! Nor was there a drop-off box! So I went into the hotel and called them again. They assured me there was a box somewhere, but they weren't sure where. Another elevator ride back down to B7 and I found the box, though it was nowhere near I had left the car.


The walk home was peaceful and pleasant. I had brought my portable radio along and listened to the coverage on CKNW. People were calling in from all over the Lower Mainland reporting the storm from their perspective. Many people had lost power. I felt very fortunate that I had not been inconvenienced at all by the storm.