Pi Day

Today is Pi Day, March 14 – 3/14. I’m looking for Pi Day deals. Got two slices of RaceTrac pizza pie for $3.14, plus a large Coke Zero for a buck. Guess I missed the annual Pi K Road Race down at Tech. I need to run that bad boy one year.

SOAPBOX: so many guys these days take the time to back into parking spaces. “Makes it easier and safer when you pull out. And safer” they claim. For sure. As if safety were really their concern. But what about when they pull in? There’s less room for error when you are backing into one small parking space, so it takes longer. When you back out of a space, you have the whole wide open parking lot to back out into, so it takes less time.

Less times means you’re burning less gas, which is better for that environment that people say they are so concerned about. Less time means you are holding up others less, which means you are more considerate to others. Not sure about these days, but that used to be a good thing. For many guys, backing in to a space seems to be a power / macho thing. When I see this debate on social media, the macho guys belittle opponents: “What’s wrong? Can’t back in?” Sad that macho is still a thing.

Safety? When you are backing in to one parking space, that’s where your attention is directed – not on what’s going on in the rest of the parking lot, where there’s other cars and people walking. When you are backing out of a space to leave, your attention is on the rest of the parking lot, so you’ll be better able to see other cars and pedestrians. Backing out is best. Case closed.

To run the whole parking topic into the ground, what’s best is to be able pull through the first space on to the space in front of it, so you can pull out instead of backing out. I like to park by a curb, so no one will be parking on one side of my car – giving 50% fewer opportunities for dings. There you can pull over to the far side of the space, further away from the car next to you.

I hate it when people say “Now I’ll get off my soapbox”. Most kids today probably don’t know the origin of the phrase.

Not much news on my end. Worked till 545 yesterday. Drove home and took out trash, folded clothes, and did other housework until supper at 730. Grilled chicken, grilled okra, roasted potato wedges, farm fresh green beans.

Skipped the gym and drove in to work early. A guy was supposed to pick up a piece of furniture at the house this afternoon, so I left work early. The five coworkers who sit nearest me all worked from home today. Nice to have some peace and quiet, but the work was chaos as usual.