Brakes are waste, but not a waste.

I've mentioned the notion of automotive brakes as waste in the past.  If you think about it, braking is used to reduce the velocity of your vehicle.  Reducing your speed inevitably requires a subsequent acceleration which is fuel consuming....waste.

Considering the thermodynamics (unavoidable), basically you are turning the energy in the fossil fuel you pumped into your tank into heated rotors instead of energy to get you to a place.  Deming would call that waste.

Instead, I like to drive as a trucker.  Anticipate the stops and starts.  According to Bill Beaty,  you can personally reduce traffic and improve your game by just following a couple of east steps. Check his site and the YouTubes.  Interesting stuff.

Stay off the brake, stay off the accelerator, stay away from the pump!

Some things you don't notice until you're not driving

On the positive side, there are a lot of fun things to observe when you are not focused on driving.

Being a passenger sheds a whole new perspective on mundane road projects.  Actually there are a number of these "crossings to nowhere" along our route.  I think this is simply good civic planning.  Someday the cars will be gone.  ...but we'll still have two feet, right?

Groundhog Antics - Need Suggestions....Are they good to eat?

Sometimes the drive elicits random thoughts.  Lousy Groundhogs.  I thought all they did was eat.  Can we eat them?  Anyone have a recipe?

If my assessment goes up due to the groundhog's home improvements, I'm going to be pissed.

Why is that Owl following us?

I don't know exactly how many days in a row now, but Joe and I have been seeing an OWL (capital letters) in or around Joe's neighborhood. We have spotted it several times just sitting there, watching the road for some reason all it's own, and apparently quite contentedly staring down cars. It is kind of creepy as owls (lower case), don't usually come out in the daytime. Nor do they in my experience make suggestive eye contact with people in cars. Today we saw it again for the Nth time and I swear it looked deep into my soul with eyes that seemed to ask "Going my way, stranger?". Needless to say, I was terrified for the long moment, I hope we don't see the Owl (upper and lower case) again.

It doesn't matter who's driving most of the time

When this venture started, there was this implicit need to be equal.  "OK, so if I drive M, W, F this week, you can drive M, W, F next week and things will be even".  Interestingly, we never really talked about that, but the thoughts were out there, at least in my head.

What we came to recognize within a few days was the fact that our commuting expenses ( which can be calculated by some really smart web apps) were being reduced by half.  Of course if Dale drives more, my expenses are further reduced, wink-wink.  But even so, Dale has significantly reduced his expense albeit to fund some of my savings.

What matters most - especially at the onset - is if there is a brake pedal on the passenger side of the commuting vehicle.  We all have a different mode of driving.  The person on the right will have a tendency to push on the floorboard more than once.

We're not smart enough to be spies. We're just carpooling.

One of the treasures of driving home each day is the opportunity to see our friends at Bottom Dollar Grocery.  Our relationship started in an unusual fashion.  Can you imagine that Frank, the produce guy thought that we were spies from another grocery?

Photoshop Silliness - Potholes

These would be fakes based on the shadow in the second image, eh?