Random Thoughts from My Trip Home

This blog is beginning to become more of a random thoughts blog than I first had intended. But that's all I seem to have lately. So, here's some more for anyone who reads this to enjoy.

- While I was at home, I actually watched the news because the productions from Green Bay are so much better than the productions coming out of Johnstown. Anyway, one of the stories on there was about someone getting stranded on the ice in the Bay of Green Bay. Every year some idiot makes the news because they weren't smart enough to realize one of the two following things: (1) the ice isn't thick enough because it's too early in winter for it to have frozen deep enough, (2) the ice has thinned because of a rather mild spell. In this year's case it was the latter that was true. I would have thought that people might learn after seeing these stories year after year, but I guess that's not the case.

- I've come to the conclusion that semis should just have their own highway system. Either that or the drivers should be courteous to other drivers on the road. Many time in the trip home and back I've had to slow down because a semi decides to move into my lane at the last possible moment. Usually they are trying to pass another semi that is probably only going around 1 mph slower than they are. In one case on the trip back here, a semi decided to pass a whole caravan of other trucks in Indiana, so I was stuck in a line of cars that were going significantly slower than the speed limit. A lot of choice words were coming out of my mouth during that part of my drive in Indiana.

- I heard the new Madonna song a lot during both the trip home and back. No matter how many times I hear it, I don't think I'm ever going to like it. I'm sort of a music purist. That is, I like music that is not remixed or has a lot of effects that make it sound like a song that could be played in a dance club. Madonna has just been doing more and more songs with effects like that, and that just doesn't impress me. Another thing that I dislike about remixes is that the song being remixed is generally not a dance song. I could go on and on about this, but I won't bore any readers to death about that.

- I love that the speed limit in Indiana is 70 mph now. Granted that doesn't cut out much time from the 12+ hour drive for my trip home, but there's something nice about cutting any time from my trip that I can.

- Chicago is getting much easier for me to drive through. The first time, I was petrified of driving through such a big city because I was always riding whenever I'd go to Chicago with someone, and it always seemed like traffic was rather hellish. Now, it's getting easier. I just have to drive defensively. Chicago is always going to be the hairiest part of my drive, though. I actually made good time through Chicago round trip this time. (I only say Chicago, because, let's face it, the whole northeast quadrant of Illinois is Chicago.) On the way back here yesterday, I actually hit a lot of traffic in the downtown part of Chicago, but I still made good time, mainly because I was really speeding in the northern suburb part of Chicago. I couldn't help it, though. One can't do the speed limit anywhere in the Chicago area without causing a huge backup of traffic. I was going about 70 mph in a 55 mph zone and there were still some people passing me like I was standing still. I'm just glad I didn't see any cops along that stretch of road.

- Speaking of cops, I love how people always slow down as soon as they see a cop with a radar gun. It's not really going to make a difference. The cop usually catches people before they see him/her. I'll admit, though, that I sometimes do that as well.

- I was thinking while driving (because I really don't have to pay that much attention to the road for most of my drive) about how the money collected from toll roads is used. I can honestly say that I don't really know. Is it used for just the repair and improvement of the toll road/turnpike itself, or is the money used for projects on other interstates or state highways? If the money is only used for the toll roads, I have to say that some states are doing a crappy job of keeping the roads nice. Illinois is a prime example. There are so many pot holes on the Tri-State tollway and the stretch that is before the Tri-State that I'm always worried about blowing out a tire. Indiana doesn't do much better in that respect. At least not for the stretch before I need to take a ticket for the toll. Ohio's turnpike is great, though. It's very smooth and three lanes most of the time which is a nice thing when avoiding semis. If the money collected on toll roads is used for other highways, Pennsylvania is seriously neglecting I-80. Well, not all of it. Just the part of I-80 that is five miles or so before the exit for Bellefonte/Penn State. That part of the road is horrible. That's another stretch of road that I worry about blowing out a tire.

- Christmas was interesting. None of us really felt like celebrating, especially Mom. That doesn't surprise me, though, because she works in retail. She has to deal with this stuff for many weeks. But we did spend quality holiday time together, so that was good. I even got to see my aunt and uncle and cousin during the holiday when Bree and I rode down to Kenosha with the grandparents. All in all, it was a nice holiday.

- While I was at home, we watched Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (the one with Johnny Depp). I was surprised at how good it was. I really enjoyed it, much more than Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.

- I impressed myself with the amount of studying for the candidacy exam I did while I was at home. To be honest, I wasn't expecting to study at all while I was at home. However, I did actually study some because both Mom and Bree were working a lot while I was home. I didn't get as much studying done as I planned on, but I was expecting a bit much for me being home. So, I'm rather pleased with myself.

- I stopped at a hotel last night to avoid the PA mountains overnight because I didn't know how slippery it would be. I must say that the person who checked me in was one of the nicest hotel staff that I've ever met. It kind of gave me a warm, fuzzy feeling, which was nice because I was a bit sad to come back here early and miss Bree's birthday. I think I may have to stop at that Best Western again. The only down side was that whoever was in the adjacent room was a very loud snorer that I could hear over the TV that night. I turned on the heater in the room to have some white noise to cover up the snoring. But, that's a the only downside. Overall, I was very impressed.

I think that's about it for now. I'm back in State College, and getting ready to start cramming for the candidacy exam, which I will be done with a week from right now. I'm not sure if much studying will get done tonight, or if I'm just going to rest and recover from my drive. We'll see.