Oh, What A Beautiful Morning

Today is starting out wonderfully. It was a little shaky right after I woke up, but got better immediately. I'd been having a dream that I was helping a co-worker (male) with a work related task. For no apparent reason I woke up suddenly. It was so abrupt that I didn't have time to realize that the man I was cuddled up to in bed was not my co-worker, but my husband. Sense came to me just in time, as I was about to yell and start kicking. So it actually turned out funny. Eric agrees.
Tangent: A similar thing happened the first year we were married, except in this case it had nothing to do with a dream. I woke up to see my long hair resting on my arm. I thought it was a cat. Eric tells me I got about two feet of air between me and the bed before I realized my mistake.
The next good thing was leaving the house on time to get Eric to school and me to work. Being on time allowed us to be at the intersection of 500 W and 1230 N (Bulldog Blvd) at the perfect time. One of my biggest pet peeves is people who run the red turn arrow at that intersection to get onto eastbound 1230 N. It happens every time I'm there. This time there was a police car that the red light runner couldn't see. Maybe it's not nice to be pleased that he was pulled over, but I was glad that someone finally got caught.
Finally, I got to work in time to get my parking spot. The past several mornings they've been taken by evil white truck, evil white truck's mini me, and big red truck. I didn't see the two big trucks, but mini me was there after I had parked. I hope the rest of the day keeps me in such high spirits.

Today in Traffic

Eric and I decided to leave early to get him to school and me to work today. The reasoning behind it was to beat the evil white truck for my parking space. I only ask for one, but now he has invited another truck crony. It is also a white truck, but small. At least now all three trucks are only taking up two spaces each. Evil white truck just got here and (horror!) had to park in just one space. I digress.

I dropped Eric off at school and there were two accidents at the roundabout to get into UVSC. No one was hurt and I'm sure that one of the accidents was caused by rubber necking from the other. Maybe now people will learn how the two lane roundabout works. Anyway, the first accident we saw was a minor fender bender on the inside lane. Once we got into the roundabout we saw the other, more comical accident. The car had left its lane entirely. To separate where cars exit and enter the roundabout, there is a grassy divider with a sign for directions to different locations on campus. The car was resting peacefully on the grass, except for the bit of front bumper caught on the cement base and bent out of shape.

After I dropped Eric off and negotiated my way back onto the main street there was another traffic snarl at the next light. A carpet van lost a roll of carpet and two pads when they stopped at the light. They had their own orange triangles, so it was cleaned up before long.

I wanted to take a picture of the car on the grass while I was in the parking lot, but Eric said it wasn't nice. So, to even the score, I will admit to one of my stupider driving moments. In high school I worked at the MTC Cafeteria. I had a crush on a fellow employee, who had just quit. We drove away at about the same time and, instead of watching where I was going, I watched where he was going. It resulted in my ramming the car into a divider hard enough to pop the tire and make the horn blare. At least I was still in the parking lot. And the missionaries enjoyed watching my dad change the tire.

You Can't Get There From Here

I knew it would happen someday soon. There are five entrances to the shopping plaza I work in: one on the north, one on the east, one on the south (well-hidden), and two on the west. The two on the west have been closed for the past few weeks while they repave the road. I think that's happening today. The one on the north is newly opened from the last bit of construction, so it only makes sense that they periodically close it off again, just to be nostalgic. They did that today. Part of that closure included blocking off the access to the plaza from the east. Grumble. I use the southern entrance so infrequently that I almost forgot about it entirely. Before I remembered it I started concocting a plan to get me to work.

1. Park behind the other store in the plaza for which I have a key and security code (I work there every now and again, so they let me keep my access).
2. Let myself in and relock the door.
3. Turn off the alarm, wait 30 seconds, reset the alarm.
4. Run like heck for the front door before the alarm thinks I'm an intruder.
5. Unlock the front door, let myself out, and lock it back up.
6. Walk across the parking lot to get to the building I wanted to park at.
7. Curse the fates.

Luckily, I remembered the southern entrance. At least now I have a plan B for when they actually do forget to leave a business access. And I got there before the evil white truck.

VICTORY!!!!

Ha, ha, ha, ha! I win! Recently I posted a rant about big trucks and why I hate them. My victory has to do with number 4. They finished the work on the north side of the building I work in and now they are repaving the street on the west side and, blocking it off. This, apparently, has deterred the big stupid trucks from parking in all my favorite spots. Yesterday the evil white truck reappeared, but not until after I had parked in such a way that he could only take up two spots rather than three or four. I was still only in one spot. All hail passive-aggressive tendencies!

Why Big Trucks Are The Devil

For a long time I have been convinced that really big trucks are of the devil. Over the past several months, my feelings have proven to be more true than they should be. I will defend my rant by giving you easy-to-read points, organized in a logical manner.

1. Big trucks block others' field of vision. How many times have you come to an intersection to turn right, only to have a big truck pull up next to you and make a safe turn impossible? I'd wager it happens a lot.

2. Big trucks speed and tailgate most of the time. They also weave through traffic and do other stupid driving things. I was going to say that the only person I know who doesn't drive stupid in a big truck is my cousin. Then I remembered that he put himself in the hospital a few years back while being stupid as he drove his big truck. They just drive stupid. Tell me it's not true. That's what I thought. (Did I use the word stupid enough?)

3. Big trucks take up a lot of space. Particularly when they park on both sides of your reasonably-sized car. Speaking of parking...

4. Big trucks don't care how many spaces they take up, so long they can park. Case in point: every morning at work I try to get there early enough to claim just one of the six spaces that are the easiest to get in and out of. If I don't make it in time all six spaces are taken by no more than three big trucks. This morning they were taken by only two. The white truck took up four all by itself. And these trucks are parked there not because the owners are customers, but because they are going to the restaurant that has way more parking than we do.

5. Big trucks are a status symbol. This is demonstrated in such practical ways as the enormous lifts owners put on them. Before long NASA will be able to launch satellites by simply having big truck drivers toss them out the window. And, much like the SUV, big trucks used to have a purpose. SUVs were for hauling large families, big trucks were for hauling big loads in the back. That purpose is completely lost on many people now. Take, for example, this conversation I overheard at church:

Scout Leader 1: So for the camp out this weekend I'll drive the boys and you can haul the camping gear.

Scout Leader 2: But...that would scratch up the finish on my truck bed.

SL1: You're joking right?

SL2: I just had it put in two weeks ago. Do you think we could borrow the bishop's truck?

That was about the time I rolled my eyes and walked away.