Inching Towards UGM
Today at work we had a couple of meeting to prepare for our annual User's Group Meeting, which is next week. Hundreds of our customers will descend upon Madison to learn pearls of wisdom about our systems and undergo mini-training courses. It's quite a bit of work every year, and I'm not even one of the most-involved people.
The afternoon meeting was a "dress rehearsal" for our team's focus group presentation, during which us presenters got critiqued (and occasionally shredded) by some boss-types who watched the presentation. I got off pretty easy; it was actually a lot lower-pressure than I'd expected. But boy, it was long. I don't much like public speaking, but I can do it pretty well. It's one of those skills that I almost wish I didn't possess, because having it means they make me use it once in a while!
The morning meeting was less eventful, more of an overview for our team generally, and specifically regarding UGM. One bombshell is that my boss' wife is pregnant. I reminded him afterwards of a time about two years ago when we were clowning around while on break visiting a customer, and I commented that if he wanted more help around the house then he needed to have kids. He replied, "I must have heard you wrong. I thought you said, 'need kids.'"
Ah, well, so we lost another one! Grin!
Okay, I can cut some slack for situations that aren't clear. For instance, although there are rules for resolving confusion at all-way-stop intersections, it seems like few people actually know what they are, so extra caution seems reasonable. But most of the time, the situation is clear, and yielding the right of way actually makes things more confusing.
But today I was biking home and signalling to make a left turn. A car going the other way was signalling to make a right turn (i.e., to make the same turn I was making). He has the right of way, right? Just as if he were going straight, because I'm going to cross his side of the street. But he instead comes to a full and complete stop to allow me to turn. Since I don't have the right of way, I also come to a complete stop and signal him to go. This was really annoying, since if he had just turned like he was supposed to, I could have turned right after him and maintained my momentum (on a bike, momentum is everything). Instead, I lose all my momentum and have to get up to speed again. AAARGH!
Okay, I can understand giving a little extra leeway to bikes since the rules governing bikes are (contrary to popular belief) not exactly the same as those governing cars, but this was just silly. And this honks me off when I'm driving, too. Although not as much as people coming to full-and-complete-stops at green lights on major roads. (I nearly hit someone who did this once.)
It's not that I object to doing something "courteous", it's that when a vehicle does something unexpected it makes it a little more dangerous for everyone on the road.
Oh, and yesterday I received some more DC Archives hardcovers: Action Comics volume 1, All-Star Comics volume 3, and Justice League of America volumes 3 and 4 (with the first two JLA/JSA team-ups). Fun stuff. Pretty lightweight, I admit, but some of it brings back fond memories of my childhood, when I was a huge JLA fan. Again, I bought 'em all cheaply through eBay.
Making these little changes in my life seems to be paying off, so far.
|
|
|
|
