Tag: cars

Virginia is the worst place in the country to drive

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment
Whatever a traffic sign estimates in Virginia, assume it to be double, for accuracy.

Typically, whenever I visit my old stomping grounds, I fly into whichever Northern Virginia airport has the most availability (usually DCA), and then I’m at the mercy of whomever is willing to give me rides or let me borrow cars, in order to do my business or get from point A to B on my own volition.

Over the span of the last year or so, be it for a myriad of circumstances, I’ve grown really weary over the notion of traveling in and out of the greater Washington D.C. area airports.  Old convention doesn’t seem to apply like it used to.  I honestly can’t remember the last time I had a trip where I didn’t get tragically locked in place in some leg of my trip.  Demand to or from D.C. is unpredictable and completely without logic, and I’ve had flights that looked open fill up at the drop of a hat due to weather, or some giant student group being unaccounted for until it was time to board the plane.

Needless to say, I took an opportunity to try something new during my last visit up to Virginia, because in theory it seemed like a very good idea: fly into Richmond, pick up rental car, drive to NOVA, Charlottesville, NOVA, Richmond, and leave from Richmond.  Richmond has direct flights to and from Atlanta, is a smaller airport with a smaller demand to and from Atlanta, and with a rental car, I wouldn’t have to inconvenience anyone for rides, or take time away from them.

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The answer is always yes

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

In moments of frustration, have you ever asked the types of rhetorical questions that are directed to people responsible for said frustration, regardless of if they can even hear you or not?

“Is _____ really that difficult?”
“Is your job really that difficult?”
“Is driving a car really that hard?”
“Is it really that difficult to use your turn signal?”
“Is it really that difficult to re-rack your weights?”
“Is it really that hard to wipe down that bench?”
“Is parallel parking really that hard?”
“Is parking really that difficult?”
“Is it really that hard to check your email?”
“Are you really that stupid?”
“Are you really that dense?”
“Are you really that oblivious?”

And the list goes on and on.  I ask these kinds of things often.  Sadly, it’s taken me longer than it probably takes other people to realize that in 100% of these inquiries, the answer is always yes.

So lately, whenever I reflexively blurt out these questions, or ask these things in my head, I actually have to consciously remind myself that the answer yes.

When it comes to the rhetorical questions, inquiring about the difficulty of common human behaviors, the answer is always yes.

That being said, I am apparently very good at many, many, many difficult things.

Knowledge is horsepower

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Conversely, that means a lack of knowledge means your car might be slower than it should be.

Long gone are the days when I used to relish in the occasional red light skirmish; trying to get to point B from the green light faster than a car in an adjacent lane.  But nowadays I’m older, I just don’t really care about it anymore, and frankly the cost of fuel is more than justifiable enough to not hit 6,000 rpm in first gear and second gear, just to prove that my car is faster than another.

But when a 3rd generation Mitsubishi Eclipse deliberately pulls up next to me with the intent of attempting to pass me on an upcoming merge point, so that they don’t have to wait behind the three cars behind me, I decided that could turn the clock back a little bit.

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We’re number two!

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Source: Atlanta drivers are the second-least courteous drivers in the United States. Such assessment based on a survey claiming statistics of “road rage” characteristics.

Although I don’t refute that Atlanta is a city that most certainly fits the bill of being full of discourteous drivers, and its share of bad and/or idiot drivers, I don’t necessarily agree with AutoVantage’s criteria of what is considered road rage. When I hear the term “road rage,” I’m picturing people demonstrating acts of retaliation when they’re cut off, or people getting so angry with one another that they mutually seem to agree to pull off to the side of the road, and get into an actual physical altercation. Some of the things that AutoVantage surveyed people on, well, aggravating or foolish as they may be, not all of them I’d agree are necessarily acts of road rage. Rage-inducing, sure, to some capacity, but definitely not contextually correct.

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I enjoy reading about car restorations

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

A long time ago, when I was way into Initial D and import cars in general, I often dreamed about getting a Nissan 240SX, and doing everything necessary to it to essentially turn it into a Nissan Sil-Eighty, a Frankenstein of a drift car that merged the front end of a Nissan Silvia with the body of a Nissan 180SX.

I thought, and still kind of do think, that it’s an awesome car, and that it would be real peachy if I could ever get my hands on one at any point in my lifetime.

Long gone are those boyhood racer dreams for the most part, although I wouldn’t not entertain the idea of still getting an old Nissan 240SX and restoring it to some degree of hotness, but perhaps without the need for an SR20 turbo engine, or any major super-expensive part that needed to be imported internationally.  Regardless, it’s safe to assume that those dreams of becoming a legendary drifter are long in the past.

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Doesn’t calling him a vigilante admit he’s upholding the law?

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

vig·i·lan·te, n.

  1. any person who takes the law into his or her own hands, as by avenging a crime.

So, some guy in Florida (of course) was busted by the FCC, for having a signal jammer in his car, that effectively made it impossible for surrounding motorists to use their cell phones while in the moving range of his signal jammer.  He was fined $48,000 for interfering with wireless communications

Translation: some guy, tired of people ignoring the oft-unenforced cell phone use while driving, took the law into his own hands, and used a signal jammer to make it impossible for motorists within his vicinity to fuck around on the cell phones while driving, thus making them safer, less-distracted motorists.  He was fined a large sum of money for doing what the law wouldn’t do: something about it.

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Proximity lols

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Long story short: Porsche is preparing to open their new North American headquarters in Atlanta.

However, it’s actually in Hapeville, a sub-city known for high crime and with the reputation of being somewhat “urban,” which is the politically correct code word for “it’s a ghetto.”

I get why they say it’s in Atlanta, and in all fairness, Hapeville falls into that umbrella that would be “Metro Atlanta.”  Technically, I don’t live within Atlanta proper, and my home mailing address does not say Atlanta, but I’m also still a part of the Metro Atlanta region.  After all, whenever I get jury duty every three fucking months, I have to report into the city of Atlanta.  This is obviously a common practice, because Atlanta is a fairly well known city, and for the sake of simplicity, people and businesses slap that nametag association because it’s just easier, than having to explain where places like Chamblee, Forest Park, Union City and Doraville are.

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