10-14-2006 Cruisetoberfest IV

[MDenn1213]

Interesting article...

http://www.usatoday.com/money/autos/2005-03-02-teens-cars-main-usat_x.htm

Question for our non-residents--what are the driving ages in your areas?

When I learned to drive, NJ was 17 (not even a permit until then!). Now they've got so many rules, I can't keep up. I think the driving age here is 16, but they can get a permit at 15 1/2. And then they can't drive with more than one other teen in the car, and they can't drive between the hours of something & something, etc., etc., etc.

I guess I'd better bone up on my driving rules. Heidi's 13 already!

 

[MDenn1213]

Never hurts to send over a real mail letter to Apple (maybe with visual damage pictures included) explaining the situation and say that it worked first time you opened it up. Some tech companies suck up this kind of stuff to show how great their products are. You may/may not get something in the return mail but you never know until you try.

Jim.

Jim--
I agree. Companies LOVE that stuff!

David's full name is David Thomas Zapp, so I wrote to Dave Thomas at Wendy's & told him I named my son after him. I actually got a coupon for free food!

And I had a fire in a T-Fal pot back in 1994, a pot which I'm still using. Come to think of it, I never did write to them Maybe I should.

Marianne

 

[jeanniec]

Arlene -- Hope your mom recovers soon and isn't in too much pain.

Mike -- What a horrible feeling that must have been to see all those things fly off the top of your car. And how great that you were able to recover everything and that the computer still works!

Chris and Denise -- Where did you stay in Chicago? What did you see besides the Blue Men? And how lucky you were to have such mild temperatures in Chicago this time of the year! Glad to hear that you had such a good time in our hometown.

 

[WDWCrazzyCunninghams]

Just wanted to pop on and said Hi! You can add me to the list of sickies! Connor had it last week, had Colton to the Dr. yesterday with an ear infection and as of last night, I CAN'T BREATH! That's what we get when we have 60 degree weather on Sunday and Monday and then Tuesday we wake up to 2 inches of snow! Ugh. I just wish spring would come already!
Since I am sick, I decided to wait on making the souffle. I don't want the others to get sick and I want to be able to taste it!
Hopefully, I will be over this soon, as we are going to a WV State Park this weekend with the car club and I am the hostess! We have 18 families with 55 people joining us! It is potluck, so the cooking is minimal, but I want to have a good weekend and not be stuck in the corner blowing my nose the whole time!

 

[fridayfun]

Jeane - We stayed at the Renassaince(sp?) on Wacker Dr. Missed it the first go around as I drove forever on the lower level and didn't know there was an upper til we were on the other side of downtown! The hotel was beautiful. We didn't do a lot (in my opinion) the Blue Man group, aquarium, and planetarium, and walked some of the Magnificent mile. Didn't do any shopping - to my dismay (next time!).

It is winter again here too! At least no snow. Chris has to pick up some frozen dog poo that has been unearthed by the thaw! At this time I am grateful I do cats and he does dog! Today is our last day of vacation and have LOTS of laundry to do. Hope everyone is doing well and has the same lucky star that Mike does! Denise

 

[MDenn1213]

It is winter again here too! At least no snow. Chris has to pick up some frozen dog poo that has been unearthed by the thaw! At this time I am grateful I do cats and he does dog! Today is our last day of vacation and have LOTS of laundry to do. Hope everyone is doing well and has the same lucky star that Mike does! Denise

Denise--I cannot stand Spring for that reason. Our backyard smells to high heaven when the poop thaws. The kids aren't going to be happy with me this year. Oh well.
Marianne

 

[Viking]

Interesting article...

http://www.usatoday.com/money/autos/2005-03-02-teens-cars-main-usat_x.htm

Question for our non-residents--what are the driving ages in your areas?

When I learned to drive, NJ was 17 (not even a permit until then!). Now they've got so many rules, I can't keep up. I think the driving age here is 16, but they can get a permit at 15 1/2. And then they can't drive with more than one other teen in the car, and they can't drive between the hours of something & something, etc., etc., etc.

I guess I'd better bone up on my driving rules. Heidi's 13 already!

Over here minimum driving age is 18. You may start driving in a driving school at 17 1/2. You have to be accompanied by a professional instructor in a specially equipped and marked car with an additional set of pedals for possible interference by the instructor. You have to have at least 20 hours with the instructor driving city streets, country roads, and Autobahn. Additionally you need at least two hours driving in the dark. THen there are another 20 hours of school learning all the rules, regulations and laws.The exam consists of a written exam lasting about 90 minutes and a drive in an unmarked car with your instructor and a DOT-official. Average time to obtain a license: 6 months, average cost: €1500/$2000.
The first two years after your exam you are driving under probation. Running a red light or speeding get you back to school immediately or may even cost you another exam. Only drivers over 25 are exempted from teh probation period. Just recently two states started a project called 'Driving at 17', where 17year olds are allowed to drive with an approved guardian - of course afting having passed aforementioned education.
All this sounds harsh, but since the Seventies we managed to lower casualties on the roads considerably: From 22,000 per year in the early seventies to 5,844 last year. I read in the Car-and-Driver-Magazine that the US DOT is proud to have accomplished a levelling of casualties since the Seventies at about 40,000 per year. They even consider this as an success as the average annual mileage per person has quadrupled in this period. The same has happened over here, but nevertheless we reduced fatalities by nearly 75%. Our intensive driver's education is one of the main reasons for this accomplishements - even though most teenagers think this sucks due to the high cost

 

[Viking]

PixieDust to all our sickies ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Over here it's getting warmer, so the precipitation is at least liquid now

 

[Viking]

We just saw the episode of ER in which Weaver's partner, the firefighter died I guess that's old news for you, but we're usually a year behind you when it comes to American TV-series.

 

[papa]

Eric they have driver education classes here in the high schools that help with the insurance rates and such. They had to cancel them this year though as they needed the cars for the sex education classes!

 

[fortierv]

OK, I'm finally getting caught up after vacation. I came home to a new boss, and possibly a new position at work. The DBA (data base administrator for non computer geeks) in my shop got moved to the Service and support Chief over our shop, the help desk and the visual information section. He has asked me to move to the DBA slot which means my training curve will go verticle again but I get the job I wanted when moving out of networking three years ago. Our Directorate has approved it so I just have to wait for HRO's blessing.

Jeannieg- Great article on your daughter. Kylie's favorite event is the 200 breast.

We didn't have the greatest results at state. Kylie swam in three of seven finals but was tired. Snow days catching up on conditioning and her coach is making some tweeks to her strokes so I kind of expected it. She is at the bottom end of her age group 13 in the 13-14 group so next year should be much different. She had TWO lifetimes bests in the mile. She took the first 500 out 10 seconds faster than she'd ever swam the 500. And also took 1:21 off her mile time. Elyse had fun with her friends and is enjoying being back in the pool.

My boys trip to NASCAR was amazing. Our friend came through with "Hot Pit" passes which means we had nearly unlimited access to pit road, the garage and ever the track on Sunday morning before the race. I got some great pics with my friends in the infield and even one standing on the start/finish line. We even got to meet Chip Ganassi in the pits during the Busch race.

AVE- I got some pics of MM if you want them. One in victory lane after the Busch race and some great pics of his cup car when they were lined up for one of the practice sessions.

Hope everyone feels better, we've got the sniffles going through our house again but at least we have nice weather this week.

Talk to you all soon,
Van

 

[Twinave]

Nancy, Yes the Spring Break maddness has started. No balcony falls yet.
Van, Thanks for the offer of the MM pics. But sister Mary and her DH are the Mark Martin fans. But I'm married to a Mark, so I am a M fan.
Mike, Glad your laptop survived. Is Stitch OK?
Horrible day at work today. 34 y/o woman with metastatic brain cancer. We got the MRI back yesterday. Had her come in with her husband today. They have 3 young children. Sometimes this nursing thing really stinks.
Later,
Avé

 

[jeanniec]

Ave' - How sad (the 34 y/o with met brain CA) and 3 little children. It is really hard to be a nurse sometimes. I remember back before they shipped everybody out of the hospital as soon as possible, we had many patients who stayed with us for quite a while and died with us. So much harder when you get to really know them and their families.

Denise - Funny about you being on lower Wacker Drive (well, not funny to you). I lived in Chicago all my life and never knew there was a lower Wacker Drive until I met Sam. He used to drive a cab when he was in college and used lower Wacker as a shortcut a lot of times to avoid the traffic above. I was amazed to find out that there were 2 Wacker Drives!

 

[Viking]

Eric they have driver education classes here in the high schools that help with the insurance rates and such. They had to cancel them this year though as they needed the cars for the sex education classes!

Strange
I saw on TV that nowadays in the USA the only sex education the kids get is: Abstinance!!

 

[cdnmickeylover]

Am feeling better today. Did go into work yesterday although left early again partly because I wasn't feeling well and partly because we were having computer problems. Turns out we were having internet problems because of a problem with the router (computer geeks feel free if I've used the wrong word). Anyway my computer ended up directly hooked up to the modem and thus I didn't have a computer all afternoon. Hopefully it will all be fixed today.

It is cold here again and we got a little bit more snow yesterday. I have to admit I'm tired of the cold. Want some warmth please.

The driving age here in Ontario is 16. There's a written test first of the rules of the road and then you get your G1. This allows you to drive in the car with a licensed driver of at least 4 years with you. You have to have your G1 for a year (or 8 months if you taking driving classes) before you can take your G2 road test. If you pass your G2 road test then you have to wait a while again (not sure of the time) but you have 5 years to take your G test and then you have a full license. During this time there are restrictions. With the G1 you can't drive on any '4' series highway, you can't drive at night and you can't drink any alcohol. When you have your G2 you have a lower limit for alcohol and you are still on probation. We have a point system where everyone has I think 15 points but as a G2 you only have 9 points. The system has cut down on the number of accidents that teenagers have as it's a much longer process.

Fiona

 

[Viking]

We have blue skies right now, temps still in the one-digit-range (Celsius, of course = 30ies in Fahrenheit), but nevertheless the top will definitely come down on the way home

 

[fortierv]

Sorry Eric, we're forcast for a high in the 70's today. WOO HOO, wearin shorts today!!

 

[MDenn1213]

Hey Fiona!! What gives? Can't Canada keep their snow!?!?!

It's snowing here again. We just had enough rain to wash the junk away, and it's restocking.

Oh, well. It is March in Chicagoland. What else should I expect?

 

[dan and scott]

just stoping in to say hi!

Looking forward to cruising with you all.


Dan

 

[cdnmickeylover]

Marianne - we are just sharing our snow! Canadians are just so generous.

It is nice and sunny now but still cold - below zero on the C scale. We are supposed to get more snow tonight. Yuck.

According to the Farmer's Almanac the weather is supposed to suck for the month of March so I vote we ditch March and go straight to April.

Fiona