Speed Limits, Anyone?

I don’t think drivers pay any attention to the posted speed limit any more.

I’ve noticed in my travels that when the speed limit changes, from say 65 MPH to 55 MPH, most drivers don’t bother to slow down at all. This would be a trifling issue if these drivers were obeying the speed limit, but in most cases they are exceeding the posted limit by at least 10 miles per hour. So when the speed limit drops from 65 to 50 MPH around Worcester, MA, these drivers who were doing 75 MPH are now exceeding the limit by 25 MPH.

This makes for some exceedingly stressful driving for those few of us who obey the law and never (really, I mean it) exceed the speed limit.

For example, imagine you’re driving along in a Miata at 50 MPH. The top’s down. Vintage Tom Waits playing on the stereo. Suddenly, an 18 wheeled monstrosity comes barrelling down on you from behind at 70 to 75 MPH! In England, these things are aptly called Juggernauts. What makes this so frightening is the driver will slam on his compression brakes — drowning out even Tom’s gravelly voice and rattling your fillings — because maybe he couldn’t see you? maybe he’s just an asshole and wants to scare you? Whatever the reason, it makes me wish I had a rear-firing missile launcher built into the Miata. But then I’d have even less trunk space.

Update on Towns in Massachusetts

After driving through the downtown Lawrence, MA area last night, I can state for the record we won’t be moving there. While I’m certain many people happily call Lawrence home, I won’t be among them. It’s just a little too run down for my taste.

On the other hand, I drove up to Lowell — just 10 miles away — this afternoon and found the downtown core charming. I’m told there are regions of Lowell that aren’t quite up to par, but that only serves to keep real estate prices reasonable. The stately homes along Rt-133 down to Andover were quite impressive. The word mansion comes to mind, but then what would I call the ones in Andover?

I’ll be heading back to the Hudson Valley Friday afternoon. While it might be nice to explore the area without the burden of work, it’ll be even better to see Anna and the kids again. Augustus must be ready to burst a seam because he hasn’t had a real walk since I left (I should be fair to Anna, she’s willing to throw mushrooms at the squirrels to scare them out of the trees into Augustus’ waiting claws, which I’ve never been comfortable with).

Time to Go

Today I drive up to Andover, MA. Tomorrow I start my new job as Sales Engineer for Sentillion.

I’m just a little apprehensive. I’ve done the whole move thing countless times before. And I’ve started quite a few new jobs in my day. However, I’ve never done it quite like this: I’ll be living out of a hotel for the first month of work. Granted, I’ll be able to come home on the weekends. And we’ll be joining he Watkins Clan in Cancun for the Family Reunion the first week of November. But it all seems a little overwhelming.

On the positive side, the research I’ve done about some of the surrounding towns lead me to believe we’ll be pretty happy there. One of the apartment complexes that we like (at least from their Web site) is Museum Square. Within one mile of the complex, there are 16 pizza joints, 2 public libraries, a bookstore, and a half-dozen brew-pubs. It’s also within walking distance of the Massachusetts commuter rail station, from which we can catch a train to Boston. On the other hand, I’ll need to walk two or three blocks to get to a park to walk Augustus–I’m not fool enough to think he’ll give up his daily walks.

As soon as I get a new mobile phone, you can count on an email with the phone number. But until then, I’ll be largely incommunicado: my service plan doesn’t cover Massachusetts, and I’m unwilling to pay the horrendous roaming charges. Email, however, will still work fine.