Sunday, October 19, 2014

Family circus driving #12

It has been a while since one of these was posted since for the most part, I stopped caring about her driving but this time I was forced to intervene. One of the only good things about having to move into an apartment was needing to get rid of the cat. Though occasionally it was tolerable the constant vomit, shedding, scooting and mostly urinating made the house uncomfortable. I was considering "accidentally" dropping a bowling ball at the wrong time as trying to find a "no kill" place for that cat that nobody we knew would take was difficult and wasting time that should have been used for packing. After we had moved and the cat was STILL IN THE HOUSE, I attempted to grab it to drop it off at the pound but was unable to do so.

Anyway, a place was finally found and my wife with my daughter headed there. You can guess what happened:






When my daughter called me, they had just crossed into INDIANA 25 miles from where they needed to go. After guiding them to the place and then home (5 hours after they left) my daughter stated she was using the GPS on her phone until my wife grabbed it from my daughter (who was pleasing with my wife to listen knowing they were going the wrong way) and threw it into the dashboard causing the battery to dislodge. My wife gave her phone to my daughter a half hour later to call me.

From what I could ascertain, my wife was looking for the Harlem exit off I-294 and since it does not exist and neither my wife nor daughter saw the sign stating they were crossing over Harlem Ave, continued driving another 15 miles before exiting and then heading east on 159th st. One would have to exit at 95th street and head east a couple of blocks to get to Harlem. Also on the way back, they missed the 95th street exit and had to drive a couple of blocks north to turn around to head back to 95th.

Thursday, October 16, 2014

Game 64 (2014 edition)

It feels like not that long ago I posted about the games played between the Chicago Bears and Miami Dolphins since 1985 just before the teams played in 2010. As I anticipated the injuries suffered by the offensive players of the Dolphins the Sunday before and then during the Thursday night game showed as the Bears (whose defense that week was on my fantasy team) won 16-0

So what about this Sunday in Soldier Field? Both teams finished 8-8 last year having issues with a specific part of their team missing out on a playoff berth by losing their last regular season game. In each team's first five games this year both teams lost to Green Bay and Buffalo as well as a surprise 2013 playoff team (Carolina/ Kansas City). Both teams also beat a very bad team (Jets/Oakland) as well as a team that lost last year's conference championship (49ers/Patriots).

One would think reading that both teams are similar and the game will be close. This is why not. The NFC over the last couple years has been better. Also the Bears did play a 6th game and looked as well as they have all year since their early season injuries to many offensive players have mended for the most part allowing the team to gain timing in practice. Last Sunday it was 88 in Miami for their afternoon game which they lost giving up a touchdown with 3 seconds left.

I was looking for stats related to how well teams have played the week after playing in extreme conditions (heat, cold, snow) to confirm my observation that they generally don't but could not find any.

I did considered the possibility of the Dolphins defensive line causing havoc with Cutler creating turnovers or even an injury or Tannehill being able to exploit the Bears D but don't see either as likely especially with Tannehill slowed by an ankle injury and their #1 RB Moreno out for the season after last Sunday.

This looks like the type of game where the Bears can score early as the Dolphins are still reeling from their loss last week causing the Dolphins to start to press, panic, then quit (similar to the Broncos last Super Bowl).

Score: Chicago 31, Miami 7.

P.S. I hope I'm wrong.

Monday, October 13, 2014

Columbus Day is NOT a holiday

Multiple times over the previous three days I had to tell people I have to work on October 13th which is Columbus Day in the US and Thanksgiving in Canada. I stated though schools, the government, and stock market are closed today, things in the real world are open.

This morning at 5:35, I was surprised to hear the train crossing and then panicked when I discovered there was a freight train stopped on the tracks on the street just east of where I now live. When I left the driveway, I realized others have the same issue and my normal 8 minute commute took 25 minutes and I was late for work. Here is a map showing my route (normal in orange, today's in green, and the X marked where the train made the crossing impassable.)

 
 
Note: I am travelling east to west or right to left on the map and this only shows the first third of my commute.