drivin' and cryin'

I'm not sure why Andrew Sullivan decided to have a quick debate on bike helmets but I can't help throwing my penny into the jar. I don't have stats at hand - if they even exist - but the helmet isn't necessarily on your headmeat in order to save your life when pummeled by a car that weighs 2,500 pounds. If it works in that situation then consider yourself lucky. The reason you wear a helmet, and it's efficacy, is for when you fall off your bike and hit the pavement; via a rut, a curb, another bike, a tree branch. What the helmet does it keep your head from whacking the pavement, or curb, and scrambling your brain. Think about it this way, if you have your wrist guards on while riding your Schwinn Sting-Ray to the skate park to pull some some googly-footed double ollies and you get run over by a car, those wrist guards aren't much good. On the other hand, if you're whipping a 1080 after you've smoked a sick sash of weed and you smack the edge of the half-pipe and tumble down on your wrists, those guards will do you some good. Car. Fall. Car. Fall. Lesson over.

Speaking of cars. I'm just about at the point where I'm going to quit driving. I don't think I'm a crazy old man, I think I'm a pretty good driver - not perfect, but I can't deal with the idiots that are out and about. Here are are my three golden rules of driving: stay in your lane when turning, use your indicator any time you change direction, slow down in parking lots and if you see reverse lights then slow down even further. I'm not a fan of the "he's backing out and he should be more careful" argument. That's just great when we are both sitting in a parking lot because there's been a collision - that's worth it, isn't it? In most parking lots I can't see around the SUVs and if I'm slowly pulling out of my space and you see my car - stop. (No, I haven't had an accident of late, it's just an ongoing rant.) As for the indicator, it comes from the Greek term "indicate" which means: hey, dumb ass, indicate your intention and I'll do my best to not only not hit you, but possibly accommodate your lane change. It's not so hard. The grand point is this: I'm getting so stressed out by trying to avoid tomfoolery that it's just killing me. I think I'll ride the bus, ride my bike, or have X drive everywhere.

If you didn't know, I no longer have any adolescent progeny - L.'s 13 today so it's nothing but teenagers and up for me.

love to all

t