Matt Jones' Random Acts of Verbiage

So apparently I deleted the wrong database when backing things up. So all my posts after May, 2010 are gone. Oops. Well I don’t think there were actually that many posts, but still, stupid mistake.

I am slowly adding them back using the Internet Archive (the “Wayback Machine”) but all of the comments are lost.

Welcome to Matt Jones’ Random Acts of Verbiage. I appreciate the visit! Due to personal reasons my blog is on hiatus for now. It is my hope and desire to write again, but I do not know when this will happen. You can still follow Matt Jones @ Twitter or check out Matt Jones @ about.me. There are other various ways to contact me, feel free should you have the desire. I will still be monitoring things here but do truly hope to blog again. Thanks for being a reader!

While you are here, please visit Matt Jones’ Random Acts of Verbiage Archive Page to check out my past posts!

A few of my favorite pages and posts:

So take a look. Categories listed to the right. Browse around. Donate cash. Whatever.

Keep Right Except to Pass

Now I don’t want to get off on a rant here…

If you don’t want me to insult you, please stop reading here because there is a pretty good chance I will. I do apologize for this, but I just have to get this off my chest!

I commute around 30 miles every day. I hit both I-5 through downtown and I-90 over Lake Washington (and occasionally SR520 but really, that’s a nightmare). I see a lot of drivers. Most of them I do not like. Sorry Seattle, but you just don’t know how to drive. For some it is because they are jerks and just enjoy pissing people off but for most it is general obliviousness to what is going on around them. Regardless, it is selfishness.

Here is Washington State law:

RCW 46.61.100
Keep right except when passing, etc.
(2) Upon all roadways having two or more lanes for traffic moving in the same direction, all vehicles shall be driven in the right-hand lane then available for traffic, except (a) when overtaking and passing another vehicle proceeding in the same direction, (b) when traveling at a speed greater than the traffic flow, (c) when moving left to allow traffic to merge, or (d) when preparing for a left turn at an intersection, exit, or into a private road or driveway when such left turn is legally permitted. On any such roadway, a vehicle or combination over ten thousand pounds shall be driven only in the right-hand lane except under the conditions enumerated in (a) through (d) of this subsection.

Got that? For ANY road (and I would say especially for a highway) that has two lanes in the same direction, you drive in the right-hand lane. I would estimate that there are at least 5 times in my weekly commute where it is faster for me to drive in the right-hand lane because slow people are in the left-hand lane. That isn’t right.

I understand that with the sheer volume of cars on our roads, traffic is inevitable. Fine, I can handle that. What I cannot handle is the fact that so much traffic is caused because of slow people driving in the left-hand lane and blocking traffic behind them. If I can see where the wall of traffic starts, there shouldn’t be traffic: It is being caused by YOU (you know who you are… well you should anyway). I am consistently amazed when I see someone get on the freeway below speed and instantly move to the left lane; there is no reason to do that, at all. If there isn’t anyone in front of you for a decent distance, move over. If you see multiple cars (actually, even if it is just one car) behind you, regardless of your speed, you need to move right. The amount of traffic we have is completely avoidable.

Figure it out Seattle! You are driving a large hunk of metal down the road; you should not be oblivious to anything. Pay attention to your surroundings. Let traffic flow.

Ready for the rule of thumb that we ALL need to follow? Move to the right!

All that being said, Seattle? At least you aren’t Oregon drivers. 

Driving Flow Chart

Since my blog was being neglected for so long, I decided I might give it a face-lift to enter in the new year. Some previous themes I have spent many, many hours on and I really liked how they turned out. While I have put a decent amount of work into the new look, I didn’t want to have to edit and change as much code as I have done previously. This theme from NeoEase called iNove was just the thing I needed. I like the look and feel of it and the stuff I did want to change was fairly easy to do. I have also added in a few new plugins (including a Facebook “like” button and new photo gallery, ask me if you want to know about any of them) to add to some of the functionality.

I would love to get any feedback you might have to offer. Did it load in a reasonable amount of time? Do you like the look? Anything I should add? Take away? Any feedback would be greatly appreciated, I can take the criticism.

Remember, feedback is about the design, not the content. I don’t expect people to like that anyway. 

Wow. It was recently pointed out the me that it has been 6 months since my last update. That is just pathetic. I thought I was going to post a lot during the summer and keep moving strong into the fall. And here we are at Winter’s doorstep.

Lots has happened in these 6 months! Most notable: my sister got engaged and will be married in 2 weeks! Pretty crazy and awesome! Congrats to Erin and Darrin! 

School has also started back up and we are already a quarter and a half in! Wow, the year is going by fast! I have taken on an extra class so am teaching 6 instead of 5: 4 7th grade science and 2 8th grade physics classes. I am really enjoying having more 7th graders this year. They are a great group of kids and are a lot of fun. I have tried to start a webpage for my classes as an extra resource. It is in its early stages, but if you are interested, you can check it out at mrjonesscience.com [no longer exists]. Our 8th grade physics classes have also been using our physics blog at tillicumphysics.com [no longer exists] if you want to see what our students write about what they learn.

Anyway, there’s an update. I am hoping I will actually remember to blog more regularly… you know, when I’m not grading papers or playing Reach….

I just realized that last Wednesday, May 19th, was the 6th anniversary of starting my blog! Hard to believe it was that long ago that I started letting my thoughts explode into 1s and 0s on teh interwebs. For good or bad, you’ve got 6 years of my inane verbiage for you to ingest, I wonder how long I will keep this up. My first post, which is largely devoid of content: Why am I here? and another post because I was recently asked about my thoughts on the issue: Sex sex sex!

Related to that, does anyone have any thoughts or opinions about posts such as that one on such a public forum that anyone could see (like employers or even students!)? It is a fine line and it is always hard to know how much to share on the interwebs. I know some think things should be completely private, others think we should be completely free to share our voices. Comments? Thoughts?