2001-02-21 - 22:37 MST

February 21, 2000

Party Day - No. Two

Guess old man Bastion in talking to self says something like this, "Ya shudda titled this one, "DUH."

Not only is this wonderful Kaycee in remission, but in her entry today she shows that she knows all the ins and outs, the things she must do without revolt to allow her immune system to regain a normal state, regain some strength. Above all that, she knows what remission is, inside and out. And is happily eager to proceed with her life.

What a stalwart Warrior she is.

My day other than the trip to Costco for necessities and Kaiser for prescriptions and a bit of minor house work has been spent in rejoicing by e-mail with many of Kaycee's rooters.

Aside from the uplifting news, the world goes on as usual, the dumb and humdrum routine. People backbiting each other, groups the same. Pollitics as usual -- tearing down what has been accomplished to erect an American Tower of Pisa ? Probably leaning further on its axis at the time of construction while still new than the old Tower of Pisa can ever do.

Here and there are a few glimmers of common sense. Denver is beginning to put its video trailers in residential neighborhoods to record and send tickets to people speeding there. Wise move, spring break ahead, and summer vacation down the road a bit. Most every one, even a young kidlet knows that the traffic on the through streets is fast and vicious, but does not take into account the some idiot can come roaring down a residential street with no warning and kill them.

I would be all for a cop with a radar, backed up with a fleet of motorcycle cops to immediately chase down and issue ticket to the red light runners. In my mind that would be much more efficient.

Along with that I could see jacking up the price for risking the life and limb of the populace by speeding and running red lights.

I remember my trips over seas as a tech rep, how the traffic was controlled on military bases, the speed limit was, what? 15 miles per hour, and it didn't take but a few seconds longer to get from point a to point b. Traffic moved in a sensible fashion, no hassles, stop signs and lights religiously heeded.

Much better than listening to the crash and rending metal, knowing there are humans in there, we see all too often.

Another sensible thing is that there is some attention being paid to the usage of hand held cell phones and the distraction to the driver that is caused. Guess maybe I am beating a dead horse, but if enough of us raise our voices maybe common sense will come back into being on the streets and highways, by law if necessary.

I know I am old and slow, but seeing cars on a 30 mph street doing 45 or more makes me gag. Tailgating, cutting each other off, making wild left turns from right hand lanes or same on right turns from left hand lanes. Sometimes the turns are across four lanes of rush hour traffic, if an idiot sees a tiny gap to wheel through.

After reading some authoritive articles on speed in towns I did my own experiments, several times. I would travel familiar streets, at my regular times going to and from my home. One time I would bust my buns squeezing into impossible holes, tailgating, speeding, doing California stops, the full bull. The next time I would try to observe every rule and recommendation that I had heard of or knew about. The times from a to b and later from b to a were so close to being the same that a cup of coffee couldn't cool for drinking between the two.

I am not trying to pull a holier than thou bit. Before I gained sobriety, in such a big hurry to go nowhere I would grossly violate speed limits, cut in and swerve, tailgate and be totally frustrated with the world. I was as criminally negligent as all the other crazies out there. What is the old saying, "The Lord protects fools and drunks, but first the little children." But little children are still the innocent victims now.

Life in all its unpleasant aspects goes on.

But it is a very happy time for Kaycee and her family and well wishers. So, thank God, this is Party Day - No. Two . . . . . .

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