The recurring dream episode:
During last summer and fall I had this dream several times. It was not exactly the same each time, but the theme and setting were the same.
I would find myself in the city were I spent my high school and early college years. It’s also where I first went to work in radio. I lived there from 1966 to mid-1975. It’s the city where my parents grew up. Their houses are just a block and a half from each other. I actually pulled up the houses on Google Maps Street View a few months ago and they look the same.
Back to the dream – I always find myself going to the house we lived in. I go inside and look around. I also move through some of the city, but mainly the house.
So, my plan is this – in the near future get together with my son who is the filmmaker and have him (plus whoever else wants to come) travel with me to the town and film me as I show him around and describe the events I remember from those years. I especially want to go to the house and try to get permission from the current tenants to go inside and film. I can tell them the history of the house and the changes we made when we lived there. The house was built during Prohibition by people manufactured moonshine in the basement. I know this because the cement vat was there built into one of the corners.
I am thinking that if I can’t arrange this within the next couple of summers I will do it when I retire in 2014.
Now to something work related.
On any given week at dispatch I see several people with revoked drivers licenses due to drugs or alcohol. Why are these people still behind the wheel? After all, driving is a privilege NOT a right.
So, I have an idea for dealing with drunk drivers.
If you are arrested for drunk driving you car is normally impounded. Rather than release the vehicle I would keep it impounded until after the driver has appeared in court and been either acquitted or convicted. If convicted then the vehicle would then be seized by the agency or jurisdiction of the arrest. That way the drive would lose his/her vehicle which could then be auctioned off.
In the case of being convicted of drunk driving in a company vehicle – impound the vehicle but release it to the owning company with the stipulation that the convicted driver loses his/her job with that company.
I think the only way we’re going to curb drunk driving is to hit the subjects where it really hurts – the wallet.
Finally, my OnStar work story.
I received a call from OnStar reporting a vehicle that hit a deer. They gave me the address on a highway from the coordinates they were receiving. I immediately asked them to verify because I know the location they were giving me does not exist on that highway. They also told me the car was in the parking lot of a church in a very small (half-a-blink) community. The highway they referenced does not even go through that community. But I gave the officers everything OnStar reported. I had one go to the church and another check the highway. Nothing.
We then got a call from a passing motorist who was reporting the same accident. It was actually 45 miles from the location OnStar gave me. I got officers heading to the right place and was then told by OnStar that they had contacted a wrecker and it would be a couple of hours getting to the scene. I told OnStar that there is a wrecker service only 2 miles from the accident and they should call that one instead.
Bottom line is this – OnStar is a joke. If I ever happen to buy a vehicle that is OnStar capable I will not only not activate the service, I will have a mechanic rip the OnStar chip out of it!
This is my new toy for podcast recording. It’s the Sony IC Recorder ICD-BM1. The best part is that I got it as a gift! My wife and I were visiting her sister and brother-in-law a week ago and he gave it to me. He had purchased it for a research project he was doing and was finished using it.
