Cup of Coffee

February 24, 2016: Counting Down

43 Comments

It's been all Minnesota preparation here. I have just two more days left in my old store before what's shaping up to be a huge going-away bash and the very long drive home.

43 thoughts on “February 24, 2016: Counting Down”

  1. AMR, long time no encounter! For a brief moment, I thought you'd taken up smoking. I probably looked more delighted than I should have. (About seeing you, that is. Not about the smoking.)

    Given how long it's been since we've attempted a double-handoff, I thought that went fairly well.

    1. I've done that actually. My next-door neighbor moved to Tuscon, and I drove down there with their family once. I remember... that it took a long time. And the Ozarks. That's about it.

          1. We are well acquainted with similar cross-country drives. Living on the west coast with all of our family in Minnesota or on the east coast means a whole lot of travel for us. We usually end up making a (minimum) 4,000 mile round trip drive at least once a year, sometimes twice. It's a bit stressful sometimes, but we've gotten so used to it now that it doesn't seem all that bad.

            1. We've done similar, although family usually comes this way, as they will this spring. Last time we did it, we drove to Minnesota, which took about 36 hours driving time all told, and then after visiting for a week or two, we drove to Seattle area to visit my wife's family. My mother-in-law was recovering from a bad infection at the time, so I eventually drove home so I could work and my wife and the boys stayed for a couple more weeks to help out.

  4. Anyone know the Father (or Mother...) Knows Best schedule? I know I signed up for a slot, but I also know I have no idea when I signed up for.

    1. I know nothing about the schedule, but please tell me the title of yours is going to be "It's Not Rocket Science."

      1. Here's the most recent reference I can find to the schedule.

        alright, for now, let's say:

        (updating this comment as names come in)

        October - Nibbish
        November - Mike
        December - CH (we'll give ya some time to try it on)
        Later - DPWY

        Any others are more than welcome.

          1. I can probably do close to that, but may not make it until Friday.

            Also, I'm not sure I have the permissions to make a new post, or if I do, I evidently couldn't find the right place to do so. Anyone able to help out there?

  5. You folks may have heard about this, but if not, I'm sharing both for posterity (or notoriety) and because I know we have a few railroaders in the joint.

    Media & Social media commentators aren't being too kind with the truck driver, but let's not forget that he's human and humans make mistakes. And, not to whitewash the - ahem, poor decision-making - let's also not forget that this is someone's father...

    Heh SelectShow

    ...so play nice.
    httpv://youtu.be/q0obAEPT-3Y

    *she might not appreciate that I've shared it ... if you meet her, let us not dwell on my indiscretion...

    2. Now having watched it all, I'm curious where it was. The driver said he looked, and he did slow/stop near the tracks, but didn't see the train.

        1. ...a challenging intersection.

          Though it certainly doesn't absolve him, that's been the consensus of the Ranger-locals who've taken the time to comment.

          sean - Not 100% positive, but I believe the intersection in question is here.

      2. I have to watch what I say*, but he was not trying to beat the train, nor did he drive around lowered arms (which the crossing didn't have), etc. I'm sure he was flustered by the truck inspection he just had, but still -- flashing red lights.

        If you ever thought it would be glamorous to be a locomotive engineer, keep in mind that they are the first on the scene at an intersection accident. It's pretty standard practice to prescribe mental support/leave following accidents.

        *any comments here do not represent the opinions of my employer.

        1. Do you know how common it is for the lights to have a false positive malfunction? That is, they're flashing but no train is coming or recently crossed. I wonder, being a truck driver and having seen more long-tail rare driving events, if the flashing lights don't have the same verboten instinct to him as they would to me.

          2. Probably not common enough that one should be dulled to them. And one could argue a truck driver with commercial liability should be more responsive to such things than the average driver.
            I can agree with what Rhu said above about being flustered following the law-enforcement interaction and pulling away when the car ahead moved.

    1. I'll have to check out that link. I love that song (it lead off our Summer 2015 mix). Never put the two together though.

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