Stop means stop

This morning I witnessed someone completely blow through a four-way stop, probably going more than 20 mph over the limit :o( I don't know whether the driver didn't see me, didn't see the stop sign, or did see but just didn't care. If I had to hazard a guess, I'd say the latter because this was actually on the NIH campus in Bethesda. With the security and it being a weekend, it's a good chance she works there. That four-way has been there for at least four years.

It took me a few seconds to recover from my disbelief when I saw the driver zoom through the four-way. I'm not sure why this particular incident shocked me so much, though. It's not as if I haven't seen other dangerous drivers doing even more dangerous things. Maybe it's because I was already at a full stop and had time to ponder. Maybe because it happened on the NIH campus. Maybe it's because it was just so blatant. I looked left, right, and started to look left to turn and suddenly the car was there, blowing through the intersection. Ugh.

NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs on OLN

Today was game one of OLN's coverage of this year's Stanley Cup Playoffs. I think OLN has done for the most part a fairly good job since the playoffs began, but tonight one of the commentators (I think it was John Davidson) made what I thought was such an *inane* comment that I just had to share :o)

Davidson and a fellow commentator were at ice-level, after the pre-game analyses and before the anthems, and talking about the Edmonton Oilers and Carolina Hurricanes. To paraphrase, Davidson said something like, "Edmonton is the last Canadian team, so Carolina will be facing off not just against the Oilers, but all of Canada". Eh? Now, I realize that commentators need to fill in the time sometimes with senseless chatter--it's their job, afterall--but I thought this comment was particularly silly. It gave the impression that Carolina had the tougher opponent, having to go up against an entire country of hockey-crazed citizens. Davidson could just have easily said, "Carolina is the last U.S. team, so Edmonton will be facing off not just against the Hurricanes, but all of the U.S."

Perhaps it's just me, but I'd almost wish they continued with a commercial break rather than having to listen to this kind of stuff while waiting for the puck to drop. At least I know it's safe to ignore commercials, while with commentary I'm stuck paying attention to meaningless talk on the off-chance they say something interesting.

Still, with the commercials-commentary-commercials cycling over and over, I had the impression OLN was caught out with a delay in the start of the game and was forced to say something to fill in the time.

Dumbest U.S. drivers

According to the 2006 GMAC Insurance National Drivers Test one in eleven drivers would fail their state licensing exam (Northeast still has dumbest drivers). I was disappointed, but not surprised to learn that drivers in Washington D.C., and Maryland ranked among the worst five (State driver test rankings). I've noticed that most drivers here apparently believe everyone is telepathic--that's why they don't need to use their turn signals. It's just too much work to have to move that little lever up or down.

The Da Vinci Code

I watched The Da Vinci Code last night. I thought it was a good movie, and the roughly 140 minute run-time didn't feel like a long movie--I never looked at my watch. This is a plus because for long, lesser movies looking at my watch is a bad thing--it means I'm hoping it will end soon.

I haven't read and had no intention of reading Dan Brown's novel, The Da Vinci Code, mostly because I was afraid it was being over-hyped, and I'd read that though commercially successful it was badly written. This meant I had no plans on seeing the movie version until it was broadcast on a television network. But last night some of us wanted to see it, and I had no strong objections, especially as I'm a fan of Tom Hanks.

I enjoyed it. I don't think it's a great movie, i.e., I won't buy the DVD unless it's on an incredibly good sale, but The Da Vinci Code wasn't a waste of money. <minor spoilers may follow> I admit the premise regarding Mary Magdalen strongly appealed to me. I liked how the quest for the Holy Grail took center stage in the movie, and not the villains opposing the protagonists. One indication of this was that the quest continued for a significant amount of time even after the antagonists had been disposed of. Both Tom Hanks and Ian McKellen were good, with a definite nod to the latter.

I'm still not going to buy the book, but if I happen to see it in the library I just might flip through it and see if it interests me.

--3.5 out of 5 stars--

Site visitors in May 2006

The top five visitors to this site and my VW R32 website, listed by country, in May 2006 were:

1) United States
2) Canada
3) Australia
4) Mexico
5) Netherlands

For the full list you can click here.

Previous months' visitors: April 2006; March 2006.

Volkswagen Golf V R32 news

It looks like the U.S., and probably Canada, will be getting the new Volkswagen Golf V R32: 250hp 3.2L VR6, 3-doors, with DSG. Expect to see this in July 2007. You can check here for details--at least, what details are currently available. VWvortex news (from the staff, that is!) is pretty reliable, so unless VW changes its mind I'm taking this update as true.

This is good news for those who weren't able to pick up a Golf IV R32, but I don't think an increase in 10hp is that significant especially given that the stock Golf IV R32 probably has closer to 250hp instead of the official 240hp. I say this because of stuff I've read on vwvortex--North American stock Golf IV R32s being described as faster than stock European R32s, and the suggested desire of VW to underrate the R32 to help distinguish it from the pricier 250hp Audi TT.

Anyway, there will be other differences between the Golf IV and V R32s besides horsepower, so it's all good. One of these days I should really try to see if I can try out a car with DSG.

Say it ain't so!

I was reading an article on CNN regarding NHL teams that haven't won the Stanley Cup, yet, or haven't won for a while. I was curious as to how the Vancouver Canucks compared to other NHL franchises. I have mixed feelings about the Canucks' Stanley Cup runs in 1982 and 1994--I was happy we made it to the finals, but I can't be happy that we lost. Despite him being a Canadian, a great player, and an ex-Canuck, to this day I dislike Mark Messier. I dislike him so much, in fact, that I'm not even going to provide a link ;p

Anywhoo, what shocked me was that according to this article the Vancouver Canucks, ignoring 1982 and 1994, have only won four playoff series in 36 years. What's up with that!? Alright, I remember that in the beginning the Canucks weren't exactly stellar, but only four?! This actually dismays me so much that it deserves at least a few more of these: ?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

Oh well, at least this year the Edmonton Oilers made it to the finals. I'm hoping Edmonton will face off (and beat!) the Buffalo Sabres, this year. I prefer the Sabres over the Hurricanes tonight because I think Buffalo deserves a chance at the Cup more than Carolina.

I don't know why these older Canucks logos aren't loading up like the other pictures, but hopefully it will work if you click the following links:
Canucks 1981-1997, and Canucks 1971-1980.