Luke ‘n’ Bill

So you may or may not have seen on Ross’s blog a while back, he got tricked by the good ol’ SFPD and more specifically  whatever company it is that they sold their soul to.

He was making a right hand turn on one of the few roads in Sioux Falls where a right on red is illegal, but instead of the usual position of the sign (on the vertical light pole above or below the signal you are watching), this sign directing you “No right on red” is placed on the horizontal beam towards the center of the street.  Not so convenient to see.  This is all done of course to improve the amount of tickets and there for revenue created by these lights for both the company that installed them and the SFPD.

Heck, even after knowing about the lights they were still able to trick me.

About a week after Ross had his run in with the traffic light, I was heading back to my hotel from a Blend gathering and for some unkown reason I decided to take a route which brought me past the afore mentioned light.  Bad choice.  I was also going to take a right and even took the time to track down the sign that Ross has complained about and noticed that it was awkwardly positioned.   However, I knew the trap was set on this light so I patiently waited as no one drove by (it was around 11:30 or so at night).  Right then I noticed a drunkerd stumbling down the sidewalk and eyeing the crosswalk signal he started across as the light turned green and the crosswalk signal read “Walk”.  So I waited for him to scurry across the sidewalk and then I proceeded to take a right turn once the crosswalk was clear.

Just as I started to roll forward I saw a bright white flash.  I knew there wasn’t any traffic coming, so I ruled out the possibility of being struck by a semi and getting a direct shot into heaven.  That and I was raised Catholic…so I have to make a pit stop in pergatory first.  So I assumed it was the traffic light and slammed on the breaks.

At this time I would like to take a short break to give kudos to all of the engineering, R&D, production line members, test team and salesmen at the company who makes the breaks for Nissan’s Altima.  You saved me a ticket.

Now back to the story.  So I hold on my breaks, look up at the right arrow and at that instant it flips to green.  I had forgot that the turn arrows stay red for another 5 seconds or so after the light turns green.  After it turns green, I continued on and recieved the next 2 flashes which of course “Busted” me going through a green light!

So for now, I haven’t recieved a ticket yet and this occured a little under a month ago.  So I’ll keep my fingers crossed that they aren’t sending anything out.

Oh and what reminded me of all of this was a picture in the daily WTF of a van being busted for speeding (while getting towed).

Rage is playing the Target Center during the third day of the Republican National Convention.  Need I say more?  Well, I will anyways…

Josh told me about this yesterday and I’m definitely thinking I need to go.  First of all, it’s Rage Against The Machine…I have never seen them live but love their music and think they would would make an ear bleeding set to say the least.  Josh is probably the biggest fan of RATM that I’ve met and so that combination will make it even better.  Add to that it’s going to be on the third day of the RNC and you’ve got a recipe for greatness!

Just as long as I don’t end up running into my brother in law who will be down there on riot control!

I usually do it every morning…but this morning is the first time in a long time that I’ve actually woken up early to work out.

I went for a fun little bike ride on the local trail here by my house. Got in about 15 or so miles and finally passed 100 total miles on my bikes odometer! I was originally planning on doing that a few weeks ago, but I’ve been more busy (or perhaps more lazy) than I would like to be.

I was thinking that I need to take some pictures out on the bike trails some time and post them online. The trail is extremely scenic, especially early in the morning when the sun is still low in the sky.

So lately I’ve been thinking, it has been entirely too long since I read a book just for enjoyment, not to learn a skill or because it was assigned.  Currently I am reading “C#: The complete reference” mainly because when I originally learned C# I was overly rushed because of the fact I was writing a program for school at the same time.  Secondly, I think I’m going to write an application in it this fall (for myself) and thought it would be a good time to brush up on it.  So that’s what I’m reading at the moment.

However, I really want a good book that I can read, just for entertainment purposes.  I figured I would make a request out to my few readers that I’ve started to acquire (along with directing a few other good friends to the site) and see what everyone out there has to offer.

As a reference, some of the books that I can remember reading just for entertainment value include the following (in no specific order):

Ender’s Game - Probably one of my favorite books ever.  I’ve thought about finding that book again and reading it just because it was such a good book.  From what I can remember it is about a boy who is sent off to a military themed boarding school where they learn to fight and lead in this futuristic space station.

(Unknown Title) - A book about the 82nd Airborne Division during WW2, written by a man who was in my Grandfather’s company, so it is basically a story of what my grandpa went through in the war through another person’s perspective.

The Raft - A true story about 3 guys who’s bomber had crashed off of the Japanese coastline during WW2, recounting their survival story while floating across the Pacific in their life raft.

(Unknown Title) - A book about travelers going through time and space following worm holes.  I forget what the entire theme of the book was, but I just remember it really made you sit back and think about everything.

The Hatchet - This may of been assigned when I was in 5th grade, but I remember it made a big impact on me, so I figured I would include it.  I’m fairly certain it is required reading of all kids that age but it’s a book about a young guy who goes down in a bush plane and ends up stranded in the wilderness with nothing but his hatchet.

So that is the quick list of the books I’ve read for entertainment purposes.  As you can probably tell, I prefer either true stories or books that really make you question things or at least think about things again.  Here is a list from Kevin Kelly that I ran across in my RSS feed a while ago.  If you have read any of those and have opinions on them, I’d love to hear it.

Thank you in advance.