otoh

Today’s theme was “Caution: The Troubles in Your Mind may be Closer Than They Appear.” Beyond the required beginning-of-the-year faculty meetings I was running around all day and didn’t feel like I accomplished much. It would be imprudent to write too many specifics (…yet).

I think I can safely say this much: One of my colleagues is having a meltdown over a class she doesn’t want to teach. I have a class on my schedule that I was not expecting (and am not prepared to teach). And when I finally rolled out of the parking lot (after 10 hours on campus) I couldn’t help but think about how much stress from my day never would have occurred if only there had been better and more timely information from administration.

I’m a department chairperson, but that doesn’t necessarily mean I’m either consulted or informed about decisions that affect my department. My colleague may be stuck with the class she doesn’t want. The class on my schedule is not what it appears. Sometimes the troubles in your mind are closer than they appear. Sometimes the troubles in your mind are just in your mind. But in my experience, they feel pretty much the same….

Technorati tags: Spinnin’ my Wheels~blog~personal~otoh

A couple months ago, around the end of last school year, a classmate in my Tai Chi class said something like, “I’m trying to understand the cycles you go through as a teacher. In the fall there’s all the excitement of the new year, kids running around lost and stressed. Then you kind of settle into a routine. But before you know it, it’s the end of the year. Some of them are leaving and you might never know what happens to them, what they make of themselves or how much influence you had on them….”

That pretty much nailed it. “Sounds to me like you understand it very well,” I told her.

Then she asked which part is more difficult for me. Hmmm, it’s all difficult, but it’s what I do. (Sometimes I even like to think I do it well.) But I said, “The beginning of the year is more physically exhausting, but the end of the year is more emotionally draining.”

My students return in one week. (We’ll be starting later next year, but that’s another story.) I’m entering that physically exhausting phase. I’ll be resetting my internal clock — leaving for work around 6:00 am instead of staying up till the wee hours and sleeping till the crack of noon. I’ll be reconnecting with some colleagues, meeting some new ones, and missing some that have retired or relocated. I’m anxious, looking forward to the possibilities — there is endless potential with a new group of students.

Already there are challenges. One department member decided just last week to take an early retirement. (Interviewing and hiring are not my responsibility, thank god.) We’ll almost certainly have to start the year with a substitute teacher in that position though. All the elective areas have it more difficult now with so much emphasis on NCLB testing. Anything that alters the integrity of my department makes me nervous these days.

I know that I won’t get to do everything that I want to do. Even with being on campus 9 or 10 hours a day and doing some work at home there will be some demands on my time that I can’t meet, some projects that I have to drop, some duties that I’ll wish I could perform better. But it is also that dissatisfaction, in part, that keeps me coming back. I am often frustrated, but never bored. And for the next couple weeks at least I’ll be really tired….

All my life’s a circle;
Sunrise and sundown;
Moon rolls thru the nighttime;
Till the daybreak comes around.

All my life’s a circle;
But I can’t tell you why;
Season’s spinning round again;
The years keep rollin’ by.

It seems like I’ve been here before;
I can’t remember when;
But I have this funny feeling;
That we’ll all be together again.
No straight lines make up my life;
And all my roads have bends;
There’s no clear-cut beginnings;
And so far no dead-ends.

Technorati tags: All My Life’s a Circle~blog~personal~otoh

An email going around a while back was titled “You Know You’re from Louisville if….” A few of my favorites include:

When you think “Kentucky” you don’t automatically think horse racing or fried chicken.
You know all four seasons: Almost Maybe Spring, Summer, kind of Autumn and Basketball season.
You think the rest of the world knows what Benedictine spread is.
You think the rest of the world knows what a Hot Brown is.
“Fixin’ to go” makes perfect sense.
You measure distance in minutes.
You give directions based on landmarks that no longer exist or street names that have changed, but your directions never confuse any of the other Louisvillians.

Even though (as I know I always point out) I grew up in a suburb, these ring true for me. I recently went back to my old neighborhood to see some of the sites from my childhood. All of these are a few minutes walk from my parent’s house.

This was a Convenient Food Mart. I thought the chain had gone out of business, but I looked online and there are still a few of them around.

While they kept the marquee, the theater inside is gone now. It closed many years ago when the first multiplex came to town and then had revivals as a second-run and art-house theater. Recently they gutted the whole thing and turned it into office space. (That first multiplex is gone now too.)

Almost next door to the Vogue theater was a Woolworth’s Five-and-Dime and a Taylor’s Drug store. Those were torn down and these stores built several years ago.

A little further down the street was a White Castle restaurant. It was closed years ago, but the building has remained. It’s about to be torn down finally and a bank built in its place.

Around the corner was an Ehrler’s Dairy. This location was mainly an ice cream parlor and all three of my older sisters had jobs there when they were in high school. I looked onlne to see if any of the Ehrler’s stores still exist and [I swear I didn't plan this in advance, but I wish I had] I found this headline:

CVS to begin construction soon on store at former Ehrler’s site

It’s not this store, but you gotta love the description of the site as “a building that once housed an Ehrler’s ice cream store, then a White Mountain Creamery…”. I know just where that is!

Technorati tags: There are Places I Remember~blog~personal~otoh

How this ends is how this begins….

My longest post to date includes people and events associated with the day July 24.

1487 - Citizens of Leeuwarden, Netherlands strike against ban on foreign beer
1847 - Richard M. Hoe of New York City patented the rotary-type printing press
1901 - O. Henry is released from prison in Austin, Texas after serving three years for embezzlement from a bank
1910 - James MacGillivray publishes first account of Paul Bunyan in the Detroit News
1925 - Scopes guilty of teaching evolution in a Tennessee High School, fined $100 and costs
1935 - The dust bowl heat wave reaches its peak, sending temperatures to 109°F (44°C) in Chicago, Illinois and 104°F (40°C) in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
1938 - Artie Shaw records his now-classic, Begin the Beguine
1938 - Instant coffee invented
1946 - U.S. performs atmospheric nuclear Test at Bikini Island
1956 - At New York City’s Copacabana Club, Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis perform their last comedy show together which started on July 25, 1946
1959 - 500,000th Dutch TV set registered
1965 - Bob Dylan releases “Like a Rolling Stone”
1967 - Beatles sign a petition in Times to legalize marijuana
1969 - Apollo program: Apollo 11 splashes down safely in the Pacific Ocean (carrying the first men to walk on the moon four days earlier)
1974 - Watergate Scandal: The United States Supreme Court unanimously rule that President Richard Nixon did not have the authority to withhold subpoenaed White House tapes and they order him to surrender the tapes to the Watergate special prosecutor
1987 - Hulda Crooks, at 91 years of age, climbed Mt. Fuji. Hulda became the oldest person to climb Japan’s highest peak. When she got to the top, she was heard to say, “Hey, dudes — how do I get down from here?”
2005 - Lance Armstrong wins his seventh Tour de France

Births
1783 - Simón Bolívar, South American liberator (d. 1830)
1786 - Joseph Nicollet, French mathematician and explorer (d. 1843)
1802 - Alexandre Dumas, French writer (d. 1870)
1842 - Ambrose Bierce, writer (Nuggets & Dust)
1897 - Amelia Earhart, American aviator (disappeared 1937)
1899 - Chief Dan George, Meti actor (d. 1981)
1900 - Zelda Fitzgerald 1st wife of F Scott
1908 - Cootie Williams, American trumpeter (d. 1985)
1933 - John Aniston, actor and father of Jennifer Aniston
1936 - Ruth Buzzi, American actress and comedienne
1942 - Chris Sarandon, American actor
1946 - William “Junior” Campbell, singer/guitarist
1947 - Robert Hays, American actor
1949 - Michael Richards, American comedian
1951 - Lynda Carter, American actress
1952 - Gus Van Sant, [no relation] American film director
1957 - Pam Tillis, American singer
1963 - Karl Malone, American basketball player
1968 - Kristin Chenoweth, American singer and actress
1968 - Laura Leighton, American actress
1969 - Jennifer Lopez, American actress and singer
1970 - Stephanie Adams, American model and author
1982 - Anna Paquin, oscar winning actress (Piano)

Deaths
1862 - Martin Van Buren, eighth President of the United States (b. 1782)
1980 - Peter Sellers, British comedian and actor (b. 1925)

Holidays and observances
Ecuador - Simón Bolívar Day
Utah - Pioneer Day (1847)
Venezuela - Birth of the Libertador (Simón Bolívar Day)
Astrology: First day of sun sign Leo
Roman Catholicism - the feasts of at least 9 saints:
-St. Lupus
-St. Saint Christina the Astonishing
-St. Francis Solano
-St. Kinga/Cunegundes
-St. Lewine
-St. Romanus, 2nd bishop of Rochester
-St. David
-St. Wulfhad
-St. Ruffin

My longest post to date includes people and events associated with the year 1959.

US President - Dwight D. Eisenhower
US Vice President - Richard M. Nixon

January 3 - Alaska is admitted as the 49th U.S. state
January 7 - The United States recognizes the new Cuban government of Fidel Castro
January 8 - Charles De Gaulle inaugurated as the first president of French Fifth Republic
February 1 - A referendum in Switzerland turns down female suffrage
February 3 - The chartered plane transporting musicians Buddy Holly, Richie Valens, and the Big Bopper goes down in an Iowa snowstorm, killing all four occupants on board. The tragedy is later termed “The Day the Music Died,” popularized in Don McLean’s song, “American Pie.”
February 6 - At Cape Canaveral, Florida, the first successful test firing of a Titan intercontinental ballistic missile is accomplished
February 18 - Women in Nepal vote for the first time
February 22 - Lee Petty wins the first Daytona 500
March 8 - Last television appearance of The Marx Brothers, in The Incredible Jewel Robbery
March 9 - The Barbie doll debuts
March 17 - Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama, flees Tibet and travels to India
March 31 - Busch Gardens in Tampa, Florida is dedicated and opens its gates
April 9 - NASA announces its selection of seven military pilots to become the first US astronauts (see Mercury Seven)
April 9 - Frank Lloyd Wright, arguably the most influential American architect of the 20th century dies from an abdominal obstruction
July 15 - Steel industry strike in USA
July 24 - At the opening of the American National Exhibition in Moscow, US vice-president Richard Nixon and Nikita Khrushchev have a “kitchen debate.”
August 14 - Explorer VI sends the first picture of Earth from space
August 21 - Hawaii is admitted as the 50th U.S. state
October 2 - Rod Serling’s classic anthology series The Twilight Zone premieres on CBS
October 21 - In New York City, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum opens to the public. It was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.

Births
January 16 - Sade, Nigerian-born singer
January 17 - Susanna Hoffs, American singer (The Bangles)
January 24 - Nastassja Kinski, German actress
January 27 - Keith Olbermann, American news correspondent and sportscaster
February 16 - John McEnroe, American tennis player
February 22 - Kyle MacLachlan, American actor
March 6 - Tom Arnold, American actor and comedian
March 8 - Aidan Quinn, American actor
March 16 - Flavor Flav, American rapper
March 22 - Matthew Modine, American actor
April 3 - David Hyde Pierce, American actor
April 10 - Brian Setzer, American guitarist (Stray Cats)
April 22 - Ryan Stiles, American actor
April 27 - Sheena Easton, Scottish singer
May 20 - Bronson Pinchot, American actor
June 11- Hugh Laurie, British actor and comedian
June 30 - Vincent D’Onofrio, American actor
July 11 - Richie Sambora, American musician
July 11 - Suzanne Vega, American singer
July 26 - Kevin Spacey, American actor
August 10 - Rosanna Arquette, American actress
August 14 - Magic Johnson, American basketball player
August 21 - Jim McMahon, American football player
October 3 - Greg Proops, American comedian
October 15 - Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York
October 15 - Emeril Lagasse, famous chef and restaurant owner
October 23 - “Weird Al” Yankovic, American singer and parodist
October 25 - Nancy Cartwright, American voice actress
November 28 - Judd Nelson, American actor
December 21 - Florence Griffith Joyner, American athelete (d. 1998)
December 31 - Val Kilmer, American actor

Deaths
January 21 - Cecil B. DeMille, American film director (b. 1881)
February 3 - The Big Bopper, American singer (b. 1930)
February 3 - Buddy Holly, American singer (b. 1936)
February 3 - Richie Valens, American singer (b. 1941)
March 3 - Lou Costello, American actor and comedian (b. 1906)
March 16 - John B. Salling, disputed last-surviving American Civil War veteran (b. 1846?)
March 26 - Raymond Chandler, American-born novelist (b. 1888)
April 9 - Frank Lloyd Wright, American architect (b. 1867)
June 16 - George Reeves, actor famous for T.V role of Superman (b. 1914)
July 17 - Billie Holiday, American singer (b. 1915)
October 14 - Errol Flynn, Australian actor (b. 1909)
November 21 - Max Baer, Heavyweight Boxing Champion/Actor (b. 1909)

Prices
Bread - $0.20/loaf
Milk - $1.01/gal
Eggs - $0.88/doz
Car - $2,250
Gas - $0.30/gal
House - $18,400
Stamp - $0.04/ea
Avg Income - $5,976/yr
Min Wage - $1.00/hr
DOW Avg - 679

Top Songs
Lonely Boy by Paul Anka
The Battle of New Orleans by Johnny Horton
The Three Bells by The Browns
Smoke Gets In Your Eyes by Platters
Venus by Frankie Avalon
Heartaches By the Number by Guy Mitchell
Mack the Knife by Bobby Darin
Stagger Lee by Lloyd Price
Come Softly to Me by Fleetwoods
Sleep Walk by Santo & Johnny

Hot New Toys
Troll Dolls
Risk
Barbie
Chatty Cathy
Game of Life

My longest post to date includes people associated with Louisville, KY (either born there or lived significant part of life there).

Terry Adams ~ Musician (NRBQ)
Muhammad Ali ~ Heavyweight Boxing Champion
Ned Beatty ~ Character Actor
Louis Brandeis ~ Justice of the United States Supreme Court
Foster Brooks ~ Actor & Comedian
Lance Burton ~ Stage Magician
George Rogers Clark ~ The preeminent military leader on the northwestern frontier during the American Revolutionary War
William Conrad ~ Actor and Narrator
Tom Cruise ~ Actor
George Charles Devol Jr. ~ inventor of the first industrial robot
Irene Dunne ~ Actress
Thomas Alva Edison ~ inventor
Bob Edwards ~ Radio Broadcaster, National Public Radio
Jimmy Ellis ~ Heavyweight Boxing Champion
Steve Ferguson ~ Musician (NRBQ)
Dian Fossey ~ Ethologist interested in gorillas
Fontaine Fox ~ Nationally syndicated cartoonist, creator of “The Toonerville Trolley”
Heather French ~ Miss America 2000
Billy Gilbert ~ Comedic character actor, voice of Sneezy in Disney’s “Snow White”
Sue Grafton ~ Author
D.W. Griffith ~ Film Director
Lionel Hampton ~ Bandleader and Jazz Musician
Mildred & Patty Hill ~ Composers of the song “Happy Birthday To You”
Telma Hopkins ~ Singer & Television Actress
Edwin Hubble ~ Astrophysics, Lawyer
Henry Hull ~ Stage and film actor
Ken Jenkins ~ Stage and film actor
Tom Kennedy ~ Game show host
Victor Mature ~ Film Actor
U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell ~ Majority Whip
Jack Narz ~ Game show host
Joan Osborne ~ Singer and Songwriter
Greg Page ~ Heavyweight Boxing Champion
Pee Wee Reese ~ Professional Baseball Player for the Brooklyn and Los Angeles Dodgers
Don Rosa ~ Illustrator of Scrooge McDuck, Donald Duck and other Disney characters
Rudy Rucker ~ Computer scientist and science fiction author
Col. Harland Sanders ~ Founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken
Diane Sawyer ~ Television Journalist
Nicole Scherzinger ~ Actress, singer and dancer
“Papa” John Schnatter ~ Founder of Papa John’s Pizza
Zachary Taylor ~ U.S. President
Hunter S. Thompson ~ Journalist and author
Mary Travers ~ Folk Artist Peter, Paul and Mary
Johnny Unitas ~ Professional Football Player from the 1950s through the 1970s
Gus Van Sant ~ Film Director, Photographer, Musician, and Author
Wes Unseld ~ Former basketball player and coach in the NBA
Jack Warden ~ Actor
Dr. Jeffrey Wigand ~ 60 Minutes Tobacco informant
Sean Young ~ Actress

How this ends is how this begins….

My longest post to date includes the intersection of July 24, 1959 and Louisville, KY because that’s when and where I was born.

Technorati tags: July 24, 1959, Louisville, KY~blog~personal~otoh

“…I really didn’t see that coming.” La Petite said with characteristic grace and understatement.

Ironically, when another blogger that I regularly read recently changed her blog’s name so employers would have a more difficult time associating the posts with her identity I thought she was being overly cautious. Maybe not.

This time it’s happening in France and I’m not familiar with the applicable laws there. I’m watching and hoping for the best.

Read Petite Anglaise here and the news story here. And remember, Grand Frère may be watching you.

Technorati tags: La Petite — Dooced!~blog~personal~otoh

National Public Radio’s All Things Considered recently reported on a political science survey during the 2004 U.S. Presidential election season that concluded

…that participants exposed to jokes about George W. Bush and John Kerry on The Daily Show tended to rate both candidates more negatively…. Moreover, we find that viewers exhibit more cynicism toward the electoral system and the news media at large. Despite these negative reactions, viewers of The Daily Show reported increased confidence in their ability to understand the complicated world of politics. [and...] Although research indicates that soft news contributes to democratic citizenship in America by reaching out to the inattentive public, our findings indicate that The Daily Show may have more detrimental effects, driving down support for political institutions and leaders among those already inclined toward nonparticipation.

You can listen to the brief NPR interview with one of the authors here and read the published study here or here [at least temporarily].

The study singled out “young viewers” (ages 18-24), nearly half of whom watch the show at least occasionally and may be more negatively influenced by it. I’m well outside the target demographic age for this study, but I know that in my case I watch The Daily Show more often now because I’m cynical and not vice versa. If you understand statistical math (or if you don’t and want to risk giving yourself a headache) it’s worth reading the report. Then you can debate whether the study really proves a causal relationship between Daily Show viewership and cynicism.

For many, it’s a classic chicken and egg problem. In my book, John Stewart is a pretty good egg because he sure as hell is no chicken. [Mmmmhhhh... I really strained reaching for that one.] It’s worth noting that “hard” news sources can contribute to cynicism too. Stewart frequently ridicules these on his show and the conclusion of the survey reprints this (classic) exchange when he was a guest on CNN’s Crossfire:

Stewart: In many ways, it’s funny. And I made a special effort to come on the show today, because I have privately, amongst my friends and also in occasional newspapers and television shows, mentioned this show [Crossfire] as being bad…. And I wanted to — I felt that wasn’t fair and I should come here and tell you that I don’t — it’s not so much that it’s bad, as it’s hurting America. So I wanted to come here today and say… Stop, stop, stop, stop, stop hurting America…. What you do is partisan hackery…. You have a responsibility to the public discourse, and you fail miserably.

Tucker Carlson [Crossfire cohost]: Wait. I thought you were going to be funny. Come on. Be funny.

Stewart: No. No. I’m not going to be your monkey.

God, I love that. To be fair, I have my own reasons for thinking that Tucker Carlson is an idiot that exaggerates to the point of lunacy and if we can’t get CNN to take him off the air (do we still call it “on the air” when it’s on cable?) then we should at least be able to poke him with sticks at every opportunity. In the meantime, I’m getting nostalgic for Paul Simon’s lament, “I get the news I need on the weather report….”

Technorati tags: Danger! Post Contains High Levels of Cynicism~blog~personal~otoh

Like a lot of cities, my ersatz hometown (I really grew up in a suburb) of Louisville, KY has been trying to revitalize its downtown area. For Louisville, this has included development of Waterfront Park along the banks of the Ohio River. It really is a nice park with children’s playgrounds, walking/jogging trail, spaces for outdoor concerts and other festivities, fountains, and more. But it’s one of the fountains, with large pools of water, that has become a problem.

Residents like to use it to cool off and, despite posted No Swimming signs, allow young kids to swim in it. Since it wasn’t designed as a swimming pool (an obvious oversight), bacteria levels can get dangerously high.

So what does a beleaguered executive director of a Waterfront Development Corporation do to try to discourage (mis)use of the pools? If you’re David Karem (the executive director in question) you put up more signs like this:

According to a story in the local newsrag, the Louisville Courier-Journal,

Karem said he was counting on a lack of understanding about water’s chemical makeup, and he thought that suggesting a link to one of the world’s most dangerous weapons — the hydrogen bomb — might keep them from jumping in.

“I thought that with the word … maybe people would not go there,” he said.

Unfortunately for Mr. Karem, some people in the area actually know that water is naturally two parts hydrogen and one part oxygen. (And I suspect they are telling the ones who did not know that….)

Karem acknowledged that he might be fighting a losing battle.

“I could go out there with stun guns,” he said, and it would do no good.

I’m so proud….

Technorati tags: Danger! Decisions Contain Low Levels of Intelligence~blog~personal~otoh

(OMG! Two pop-culture-related posts! I must be out of my mind!!!! Nah, just trying to ignore the fact the freaking WWIII seems to have already started….)

When VH1 broadcast I Love the 80s, I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would. As I recently pointed out I’m not really into the pop-culture thing, but I liked the mix of music, movies, fads, and fashions (OK, not so much that…). When they began advertising I Love the 70s I was looking forward to it. And then… I hated it. HATED IT! Hated it SO much that I couldn’t watch all of it. I couldn’t bear more than a few minutes of I Love the 90s or any of the various sequels. [When the 90s version was advertised I remember thinking, "What next, I Love Yesterday?" Sure enough, along came Best Week Ever.]

Before my interest in the series ran screaming out of the room, I had a glimmer of what might have salvaged it for me: a new cast. When they’re opining about riding a Big Wheel it makes sense to have someone that was three years old at the time they were popular. But why should I listen to lame-ass jokes about what high school and college were like being told by someone who was half-way through grade school at the time? I found Michael Ian Black, Mo Rocca, and Hal Sparks especially annoying in that role. (Yes, I know they have legions of loyal fans that I have just alienated. I’ll live.) A little older cast for the 70s and a younger one for the 90s might have been able to sell it. (Assuming they hired older and younger writers respectively too.) Of course, I’m no expert….

Technorati tags: I Hate the ‘I Love the…’~blog~personal~otoh

I recently stumbled across The World Series of Pop Culture on VH1. I really like the low-key delivery by Pat Kiernan and I find the show entertaining, but not engrossing. That means I might watch it instead of a rerun of something else, but I won’t schedule my life around it. (I have the TV on way too much of the time, but I watch either what happens to be on or something on DVD.)

Watching it though has underscored something that I already knew: I’m getting more and more out of touch with pop culture. I don’t watch reality TV shows. I see fewer movies each year and then usually not until they come out on DVD. I don’t read magazines or “news”papers that peddle celebrity gossip. (I think celebrities really do deserve to have a private life and the only reason I don’t advocate shooting paparazzi on site is because they are egged on by a mass of inhumanity throwing money at them. Well, that and I don’t advocate any kind of violence….) I have moved well outside the target demographic of “popular” music.

And because my individuality is more important to me than being a mindless lemming, I’m really OK with it.

Technorati tags: Another World Series That I’ll Never Win~blog~personal~otoh

I was reading the newspaper recently in one of the communities I visited. There was a brief article about a police officer that was responding to a call for back-up outisde his regular patrol area. Because it was not an emergency response, he did not have lights or siren on. He inadvertently turned the wrong way down a one-way street. Some four city blocks later he realized his mistake and turned onto another street colliding with another vehicle and injuring its occupants. The spokesperson for the police department stated that the incident was under investigation, but that the officer apparently did not violate departmental policy. (I’m paraphrasing all of this because I was too lazy to copy it at the time….)

When I first read that I thought, “Hmm, so there apparently is no departmental policy that prohibits going the wrong way down one-way streets? Or even generally following posted traffic signs?” After giving it a little more thought though, I realized there shouldn’t need to be a policy for that. In our over-regulated, lawsuit-happy, moron-maintaining, CYA society my immediate response was that it had to be in writing because anything not in writing doesn’t exist. But we shouldn’t need to put common sense into writing. McDonalds shouldn’t need to print a warning on its coffee cups that the contents are hot and may cause burns. Plastic packaging materials and dry-cleaning bags shouldn’t need to be labeled as not being a toy.

I can understand why the public statement erred on the side of caution and support for the officer. But maybe they should simply state that the incident is under investigation and leave it at that. And I hope that officer’s supervisor was considerably less understanding in private. After all, when a large part of your job consists of driving on public streets, do we really need to tell you how to drive?

Technorati tags: Departmental Policy~blog~personal~otoh