Category Archives: Driving

mindless hate

May 10, 2015 6:28 AM , Leave a Comment ,

Sigh.

It takes a lot to get me angry these days.  Maybe it’s a function of age and passions have cooled, or maybe I don’t have as much to get angry at these days.  Sure there are things that frustrate me, all around me and I get frustrated on a daily basis.  But anger doesn’t manifest itself in my life anymore.  At least I didn’t think it did.

I was driving around getting various chores done early on a Saturday morning.  I pulled up at a turn signal at a large intersection and as happens more often than not there was a panhandler there.

He looked thoroughly beat up by life.  Dark tanned skin, ratty and dirty clothes, and nothing than skin and bones.  Most public officials frown on people helping out panhandlers but I will pass out a few dollars every once in a while and I suppose I will continue to do it in the future.

But just before I hand my money over he stops me and pulls out a printed sign.  He asks me if I was a christian and just then I read the sign that’s filled with a litany of hateful anti-homosexual messages.  The sign looks like it was printed on a computer and the paper was laminated so it could survive out on the streets.  I think to myself “You’ve got to be kidding me”.

He starts up on some rehearsed speech denouncing same-sex marriage.  I stop him in mid-stride and tell him “I am not going to listen to this.  We are not going there.”  He walks off down the median and mumbles something that sounded like “Have a nice life, homosexual lover”.  Of course he didn’t say homosexual.

I think about getting out and saying or doing something regretful but the light turns green and I drive off instead.  I have to control my foot to not floor the pedal.

I am incensed.

It’s a naked, mindless bigotry that I have not witnessed in a long time.  It’s not the veiled or hidden prejudice that you see in popular media or hinted at by people you may casually know.  It was this stupid, in your face, and even prideful hatred that I thought no longer existed except in some of the most backward of places in the middle of nowhere.

I am flabbergasted for the longest time.  Just mulling it over and over in my head.  It’s like I can’t believe I just had this encounter.

What makes it worse is that this is a guy that most likely has had to live with the sting of prejudice against homeless people.  People have probably made negative judgments about his character without knowing anything about him and here he is doing the same thing.  I want to find this guy and ask him what made him turn into this hateful person?  Was it his family, a teacher, some friends that warped his perspective and made him the way he was now?

I am left angry by the encounter.  Angry that this still exists, angry that people can still fall prey to such notions.  Angry that I can’t really do that much to change the situation.

I wish I could end this post on a happy note but there is really nothing happy about the episode.  This is just sad.

Posted in: culture, driving, Houston, life in general, prejudice, religion

decisions

April 2, 2015 6:20 AM , Leave a Comment ,

Cars aren’t a total necessity in Houston.

I run past several bus stops every morning and I see fair-sized crowds waiting for the bus that will take them to their jobs.  Houston has recently begun to slowly embrace bike lanes and cycling culture and from time to time they close off some streets near downtown and hold walking days on main streets.

So no, not a total necessity, except that they are.  Anyone outside the Loop (loop-610) knows the yawning distances that have to be covered to get anything done.  We’re not one of those compact European or even east coast cities that have to make do with whatever flat space they can get.

We’re spoiled with flat spaces and we’ve put them to good use.  So cars are for the most part necessary.

So I’ve taken care of mine for the past 9 years and I’ve loved my Charger.  We’ve shared many a long road trip, many hours commuting to the office, and just the every day grind of life.

But the fact remains that it has been 9 years already.  9 years and over 125000 miles.  I just realized this the other day when talking to one of my friends that I first met just before getting my car.  We were reminiscing and she brought up the fact that we’d known each other nearly a decade.  I thought to myself “that can’t be right”.  Then I remembered about my car and suddenly I realized how old my car was.

So now my mind begins to ask some questions.

What’s the mechanical state of my car?  Fairly good for a 9-year-old car.  The suspension isn’t happy about all the potholes in Houston’s streets and the upholstery has taken a beating, but otherwise in good state

What’s the resale value?  Not that great.  Somewhere in the 5 grand range and probably not going up.

Can I actually afford a new car?  yes and no.  I could buy one outright but I would rather not right now.

What if I keep the car another year or two?  Probably likely to have a breakdown or two.  I know I said the mechanical state is good but these things happen and when they do, most likely it will cost a bit to get fixed.

So do I wait or do I start looking for something new?

Posted in: Automobiles, decisions, driving

The zen of doing

March 17, 2015 6:43 AM , Leave a Comment ,

I find driving fills me with a self-confidence or smoothness that I have no where else in my life.  The act of guiding a ton and a half of metal down an asphalt path at high-speed seems to fit me like no other activity does.  I seem to have an almost symbiotic relationship with vehicles of any type.  Admittedly when I first get to know a new car or vehicle I’m horrible.  But soon that changes and given enough time I become a virtuoso. I can feel how much or how little pressure it takes to change direction or to alter the weight of my foot on the accelerator to get just enough acceleration to pass someone else without going all out.  In return I can “feel” when the engine makes an odd noise or when the pavement changes or if that driver to the left and behind me is getting too close to my bumper.

Perhaps it’s the affinity of someone who spends a lot of time around vehicles.  Perhaps it’s the stillborn soul of the jet pilot that I never grew up to be screaming for release. The awkward and unsure clod melts away and in his place is a confident and suave operator manipulating the control with a minimum of effort and creating ballet like results on the road.

In Japanese there is the concept of mushin no shin, or loosely translated into English, no mind.  This is a state of mind where someone has so thoroughly mastered a skill or a movement that he can do it without thinking.  The individual does not think at all about the action but the body follows the action perfectly without any need to think.

This state of mind (state of being?) mainly applies to physical actions such as various martial arts or sports where an individual will practice and practice until the actions become innate.

This state however can also be found in other activities that are not physical.  For example, some chessmasters that I have seen play can readily dispatch opponents of lesser skill with the minimum of concentration and very few moves.  Some painters I know seem to go through their painting process seemingly not even drawing a breath but deliberately and systematically painting a scene as if they’d done it a million times.

This is the state of mind that I want to achieve not just in one aspect of my life but in more if not all aspects.  Being so self-confident and so sure of my actions that I can proceed ahead without thought or without hesitation.

If I can focus my intent to this degree then what could I not achieve?

 

Posted in: activities, driving, life in general, skills

Drive with attitude

January 14, 2015 6:43 AM , Leave a Comment ,

[Author’s note:  A little disclaimer first.  Nothing below is intended to be driving advice or advice on how to conduct yourself on the roads.  Driving is both a responsibility and a privilege that you should exercise maturely and as carefully as possible.  Everything presented below is purely for entertainment purposes.]

When you get a car that has something better than a 4 cylinder engine you naturally have the urge to see how fast and how far you can push the envelope. Specially when it comes to young men and cars.  Something stirs within them when you hear about 2 or 300 horsepower.  “How fast would that go?  Will the engine rumble?”

so innocent looking

so innocent looking

I mean let’s be honest.  There’s no real practical purpose in a sports car or any car with more than 150 horsepower.  They drink gas like crazy, they don’t carry much in the way of luggage or groceries, and their chairs really aren’t that comfortable.  They’re made for one reason and one reason alone.

So, let’s say that it’s 2006 and let’s say someone was driving highway 71 between Bastrop and La Grange.  Headed back to Houston from a conference in Austin in a brand spanking new Dodge Charger.  That’s innocuous enough, right?  Happens every day I suppose.

Let’s say then that while driving along, under the speed limit naturally, that a similar state patrol Dodge Charger pulls even next to this blue Charger.  Inside is a young state trooper taking out his interceptor for the first time.  Looking over as the patrol car surges ahead slightly as if making a dare or some sort of challenge.  A reasonable fellow might be enticed into reciprocating, right?

Then with the challenge seemingly accepted the police Charger goes flat-out soon followed by the civilian Charger. With all restraints removed, how hard might the average person stamp on the accelerator?  Just miles of open road and farmlands surrounding and 2 cars at the top of their form.

Over 90 miles an hour the power steering doesn’t help as much and you have to tussle with the steering wheel to keep control. Speeds going over 120 miles an hour and still accelerating.  Not another car in sight to get in the way and nothing but the curving roads to keep you company.  The police officer doing his level best to keep ahead.  In such situations you would have to admit that the thought comes to mind that if the police officer loses that he will retaliate with a hefty traffic ticket.  Just the chance you have to take, right?

 

Speed limits ought to be respected under most circumstances but these were ideal driving conditions.  The thing is though that at those speeds that the distances between small towns evaporates and all too soon you’re back to regular traffic conditions.

Just as La Grange comes into view the police officer signals wildly to slow down.  All too soon the adrenaline rush is over and normality re-establishes itself.  With a wave the police officer heads down another road and this other fellow continues on to Houston as if nothing had ever happened.

I’m not saying or legally admitting that something like that once happened.  But it might have, right?

 

Posted in: Automobiles, driving

Sunday driver

May 17, 2014 7:08 AM , Leave a Comment ,

[Author’s note.  This is an edited reprint from an April 2007 post]

I went to Best buy looking for a DVD.  Nothing looked particularly appealing so I walked out into the parking lot and looked around.  The day was still young, it was early afternoon and I had no plans.  As I found myself on Highway-6 and Westheimer, for no particular reason I went West.

It was 2 PM, it was a Sunday, the sun was shining, Westheimer was practically empty of traffic and I was in a Dodge Charger.  Out past Highway-6 Westheimer is all fields and new subdivisions.

It’s the outskirts of Houston, but the housing developers are working hard to change that.  It has changed so much since I got to Houston back in ’76.

It was once all cattle and oil wells, the stereotypical view that non-natives hold of Texas.  Now its $300,000 houses, SAAB dealerships, TGI Fridays, and Best Buys.

If you follow Westheimer long enough it curves past the grand parkway.  The future third beltway around Houston.  Out here 25 miles from downtown Houston, a gleaming 6 lane highway that will push the boundaries of the suburbs out even farther.

I keep going farther not really knowing where I was going, just going.

45 MPH reads the speed limit sign.  Well Westheimer IS technically an FM (a farm to market road).  I take the speed limit sign as a general suggestion, not a requirement and press down on the accelerator.

Fulshear, a sleepy little town that refused to grow up.  Two old men sitting under the front porch of the Fulshear market talking about whatever it is old men talk about on Sunday afternoons.

Even out here there’s development.  Early development that is.  Tractors and back hoes out leveling the rolling hills.  Making everything flat as possible for the builders to lay out yet another cookie cutter subdivision.  The drainage ditches full of muddy water as another field full of topsoil washes away.

A pest.  Some yuppy in a GMC Suburban, one of those turbo Suburbans that GM built for those that really want to waste gasoline.  I’m doing 60, he wants to do 65 so he’s right on my tail.  I look in the passenger seat and I see why.  His wife (or girlfriend, but I rather think a wife since you don’t impress a girlfriend with a turbo Suburban), blonde about 30ish, him about mid to late 40s.

I could be nice and get on the shoulder and let him pass…

Screw it.  He’s obviously got money and he’s got a wife younger than I am.  No need to be nice here.  I lightly press the pedal and the Charger lives up to its name and bolts ahead leaving that plodding hippo in the dust.

Brookshire, the real outskirts of Houston.  I’m on I-10 and the sign says 37 miles to Houston.

The developers are just getting here, eyeballing it seeing if its worth developing yet.  The open pastures are still mainly untouched.

Next to the road is a field that rises at least 6 feet over the road.  Someone has cut into the side of the bank of earth and exposed it.  Deep dark soils, Mainly Clays with just enough sand to allow adequate drainage.  You gotta remember that I’m an Aggie, and all Aggies regardless of what they majored in or what they do in life still have a little bit of farmer in them.  I wince thinking about all this lost farm land.

I start back into town.  Everyone must have had driving on their mind today.  There’s a Pontiac Solstice, a Mazda Miata, a Corvette, and of course the nemesis of the Charger, the Mustang.

The speed limit is long forgotten.  Some guy towing a trailer full of lawn mowers is doing 75 for Pete’s sake!  Anyone with a decent vehicle is doing at least 85.

The Charger is happy.  I can tell.  Driving in stop and go traffic every day is death to it, and going all out with nothing but highway is a dream.  It needed this even more as I did

The journey back is too short and soon we’re back in town.  Back where I started.  The car’s hungry for more but its time to get home.  Maybe next weekend.

Posted in: Automobiles, driving, Houston