Pages Tagged “driving”
Blog Posts
- On Gasoline Prices
Me, driving a smallish gas-fueled car in the 2000s: Wow, gas has gotten expensive these days, but at least I’m not spending too much per tank. Me, driving a hybrid car in the 2010s: Yeah, gas is still expensive, but I’m still not spending too much per tank, and I think I’m filling it less […]
- Fire Up the Grill!
Wait, you’re supposed to grill the burgers, not the cars!
- Ok, so which is it?
Stop or yield?
- Megacommuters
I did this for a few months. I had a 40-mile commute that typically took 90-100 minutes outbound and 2 hours back. It wasn’t so bad on the days when I could catch the train halfway there, but usually the lot was full by the time I arrived. It was horrible, and I moved. Megacommuters: […]
- Flaming Goat Cheese!
A truck carrying brunost caught fire in a tunnel, blocking a Norwegian highway for six days before firefighters could put it out. Now I have a new pseudo-curse.
- Four Travel Lessons Learned at Chicon
Hotel laundry, flying with a toddler, rental cars and parking in Chicago, and the cost of internet access.
- Question of the Day
Do tire stores ever hold blowout sales?
- The Phantom City
Years ago, I’d catch glimpses of what looked like a distant city while driving the 405 freeway at night, but it always vanished from view before I reached it.
- 50,000 Miles
This morning, I hit 50,000 miles on the Prius. We’ve had the car for four years now, and it still feels like a new car — or at least, it doesn’t feel old yet.
- Do You Really Need THIS Space?
There are 247 parking spaces on the next level. You don’t need to block all incoming traffic for 10 minutes waiting for this one.
- Recent Links
Those early Priuses are still going strong, ten years later. Never put critical private information online unless you are certain it’s protected. Your tax documents could show up in search results. Optimizing a Screen for Mobile Use (Jakob Nielsen’s Alertbox) Why bad science reporting matters: Churn The Other Cheek Homeopathy vs. Science: A Metaphor
- Driving Costs May Be Exaggerated
Metrolink’s fare calculator compares your train ticket cost to how much it would cost you to drive the same trip…or does it?
- Commuter Zombie Wants Traaaains…
The challenge of trying to get from central Orange County to the west side of Los Angeles during rush hour without slogging through traffic.
- Prophetic Plate
I felt awful for laughing at a car accident…but the license plate was DIMWIT1.
- I Left My Tire in San Francisco
I already hated driving in SF, but getting a flat tire in the rain on the way to the hotel while late? Not fun, and it kept us out of Wondercon on Friday.
- Runaway Thoughts of a Prius Driver
I’ve driven a 2007-model Toyota Prius for two and a half years, so you can bet I’ve been following the news over the recalls and reports of uncontrolled acceleration. Monday’s runaway Prius incident, which involved a car that looks exactly like mine, has made me think even more about the problem. Now, I’m not overly […]
- Hazard Lights
Does it really accomplish anything to turn on your hazard lights when you stop your car in a no-parking zone for loading and unloading? It seems like it would have all the legal force of crossing your fingers on the witness stand.
- Dodging Furniture on the Freeway
Gee, that was “fun.” It’s not every day you get to dodge living room furniture on the freeway at 65 MPH. To clarify: It was an easy chair, sitting in the middle of the road. The pickup in front of me slammed on its brakes to avoid it. I slowed down and tried to move […]
- Driving Green, Parking Green
What genius decided dark green on black was a good way to mark up parking spaces? To make matters worse, some of the spaces actually are 20-minute spaces…only they’re labeled on the ground, in the same color green paint. I was almost into the space before I noticed. Judging by the commercial, Ford’s hybrids are […]
- How *dare* I try not to run over people!
Got honked at because I actually stopped before turning right at a red light & paused half a second to see if the pedestrian at the corner would step in front of me.
- Standing on the Freeway at Midnight
The next driver over took full advantage of the complete stoppage of traffic.
- OMG WTF FWY BBQ!
A truck carrying 60,000 pounds of meat flipped over and burst into flames, shutting down the main highway to San Diego on the first day of Comic-Con.
- The Inadequacy of the Car Horn
This morning I found myself asking the question: How do you tell someone their gas cap is open at 65 MPH? I was on one of those giant, arcing ramps connecting one freeway to another, and noticed that the car in front of me (a PT Cruiser, I think) had something flopping around on its […]
- Quick Thoughts on Gas Mileage
Yesterday the Los Angeles Times ran an article about the fact that, in response to soaring gas prices, smaller cars are outselling light trucks (which include SUVs, pickups, and minivans) in the US for the first time since 1996. Last night I was going through old magazines that we’d just tossed in a bag before […]
- Ick! Sins!
According to Katie, this actually said “quick sins” the previous time we drove past it! This shot almost cost us our new car. The sign faces the freeway, and rather than stick Katie with shooting from a moving vehicle at night, I tried to find a good angle from the parking lot. We saw that […]
- Driving a Prius
I’ve been driving a 2007 Toyota Prius for a little over two months now. My old car was a 1997 Nissan Sentra that I’d had for years, so just driving another car is a change. Then factor in the switch from a plain gas engine to a hybrid… Thoughts on the Car Very smooth, very […]
- Silver lining
Sometimes you just get lucky. On Saturday, I took the car in for maintenance. There was a snafu involving a mislabeled box from a parts supplier that closed earlier than the shop, and I was left with a complimentary rental car for the weekend. On Sunday, an Ikea catalog arrived with the paper, and Katie […]
- The Turn Signal Is Your Friend
Given that most of us think we are above-average drivers, you’d think people wouldn’t expect other drivers to be telepathic. Turn signals prevent other drivers from hitting you! (Or at least reduce the chances of it.) I am amazed time and time again as I see people driving shiny new Mercedes, Lexuses (Lexi?), and BMWs […]