GET OUT AND LEARN SOMETHING

In Vietnamese proverb, there's a phrase that goes

Đi một ngày đàng, học một sàng khôn

It means "Travel one full day and learn a container of smart things", or something to that extent.  While it's true you can learn a lot from watching YouTube videos or from reading exciting blogs, just like this one :-) , all from the comfort of your home, you still need to be out there in the physical world interacting with people and things.  I just came back from a long car ride and indeed learned a few things that I want to share with you.

My long car drive took me from New York City south past Charlotte, NC, passing through D.C.  And back.  I am not a big fan of voice-assisted GPS devices and prefer to print out the direction and not follow it too closely.  For example, if I am to get off I-95 at the exit for Route 123 merely to connect to I-85, just down the road upon entering Route 123, I'd rather not have to know about Route 123.  Maybe saying "Take exit 29 to get to I-85" is enough for me.  I want to memorize the general route, I don't need to know the directions in all its glorious details.  But that's what Google Direction told me as I entered the D.C. area.  I traveled through D.C. before, either for Florida or back from Florida.  I recalled I-95 would take me right through, maybe with some traffic congestion, but it was still pretty straightforward.  Not the way Google Directions had it though.  It seemed GD automatically chose only the shortest distance using interstate roads, i.e. I-this or I-that.  Around Baltimore on the way down, I was to take I-495 to I-695 then I-395 and finally I-295 only to connect back to I-95 eventually.  Or something like that, there are too many switches I don't really know which x95 comes first or last.  Just my luck when I got to the area it was dark and I did get lost briefly.  I had a vague sense that something was amiss and it was getting late so I stopped for the night.  The next day, thanks to the still-complicated direction I crawled slowly with morning rush hour traffic on I-295S.  Maybe it was just as bad on I-95, maybe not.  On the way back, I decided to follow my gut and went with I-95 all the way.  Or just I-85 and I-95, to be exact.  It meant going east a little more, instead of traveling through the heart of D.C., but I like to keep things simple.

The other thing I discovered is that there are too many ways to record toll payment from moving vehicles.  More than I wish to know anyway.  In the NYC area, when you pay toll with EZ-PASS, you slow down significantly and wait for the gate arm to lift or some light tells you payment was made.  A little outside of the metro area you may have places that let you somewhat drive right through without stopping.  And then we also have red-light cameras that if you run a red light you get flashed and a photo of your plate is taken.  You receive the ticket in the mail some time later, always an unpleasant thing.  Seeing flash of light behind you as you drive = bad news.  So when I was in that tiny state called Delaware and approach some toll booth that keeps telling me I have x meters to go before the booth, I slowed down somewhat but still moving at a good pace.  The booth finally appeared, no specific speed posted, so I rolled through and saw a flash of light.  Argh!  What did I do wrong!  I wasn't speeding!!!  On the way back, I noticed the car in the distance in front of me was flashed, then my car was flashed even though I was already below speed limit by 5 or so miles.  So it's just the way Delaware works.  Given that Delaware is so close to NYC, I think there should be a sign that alerts drivers not to worry about the flash.  Is it a crime of some sort to give the camera the finger?  I'm tempted to do that.  I was worried for a few days that some day next week I'll receive in the mail a ticket, from Delaware.

In closing, I'd like to toast the inventor(s) of cruise control.  On a long trip, it made the trip so much more less painful!  Cheers!

Keep It Simple

It is time I give voluntary simplicity (VS) some serious air time, so to speak. Lest you think I put down the movement by writing the little limerick about my friend Lone Gunman in Tampa giving away all his worldly possession except the clothes on his back. As a self-proclaimed environmentalist, the idea behind VS jives perfectly with my view. Want less and possess less then you place less of a strain on the environment.

I encouraged Lone Gunman to take before and after photos of his possession before getting rid of them but he hasn't done so. I also asked him to chronicle the process through a blog but he is too busy for it. So, being the wordier of the two of us, I'll be doing the writing for him. Perhaps every week I will list the stuff that disappeared from Lone Gunman's life.

In the mean time, for a good reading on VS from the mainstream press, check out the articles from New York Times and Time below.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/17/us/17texas.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1812048,00.html

The Simple Life

My friend the Lone Gunman told me about some Simple Life movement. I have the link on my work Windoze machine, but I don't have the time to boot it up, or do a quick Google, so suffice to say that we as a consumer society is too busy gathering possessions which in turn possesses us. Let us step back and live a simpler life, excellent idea. Make do with what you have, give away what you don't need. Shoot, I suppose that 3G iPhone will never find its way into Lone Gunman's paws...

One of the fun stuff I did in Facebook was joining the many groups it offers. One such group is some limerick groups. Limericks are poems that consist of a total of five lines, with rhyming happens on the first, second, and fifth lines, also third and fourth. Another pattern involving the two set of lines is that the first, second, and fifth lines have three metrical feet; the third and fourth lines have only two. Whatever metrical feet are you will have to read about in the link of the blog entry. I think a metrical feet is a set of unaccented and accented syllables. Whatever...

Here's a limerick for the Lone Gunman and his Simple Life:

There is a man in Tampa
Possession drives him banana
Give away he must
Simplify or bust
Now he has just his pajama!