Rui Correia wrote:
Whatever happened to car pools???? That way, the driver could drive, without slowing down traffic, there would be less cars on the road, the others could eat their burgers, brush their teeth, talks on their cell phones. Downside would be there would be less interesting spectacles to observe by those not otherwise occupied, as drivers would no longer be required to juggle, car commands, ice cream sundae, cellphone and watch other drivers
. Rant follows (and I WILL get to the "blonde on the phone"): There were vanpools running over the hill from Santa Cruz -> Silicon Valley at all times of the day and night (Private hires by 'high-tech' companies) during the dotcom/computer boom. Mostly vanished now. As I've mentioned previously MANY people who are computer industry related moved over the hill after the crash to be closer to the jobsite when the boss called. I rented a room from one of the founding employees of PeopleSoft a few years back. A nice house in Felton... Santa Cruz mountains, where he used to party when he was a kid. He doesn't live in Felton anymore, sold one of his 2 houses there, is in the proccess of selling the other, and his cell phone is *never* off. Scotts Valley, the used-to-be bedroom community in Santa Cruz to those folks (and at one time, the HQ for many of the seminal computer companies like Victor), has a high percentage of HUD section 8 housing now, which is most likely the reason that many of the mortgage holders of housing there aren't down at "Hippie Corner" munching the pastries I leave and staying at the Armory/Homeless shelter. The federal government is subsidising their mortgages indirectly. IMNSHO, financial insecurity drives much of the workforce in Silicon Valley, because every single one of the highly over-paid corporate worker-bees, admin assistants and other (snicker) DISPOSABLE (as in replaceable by a motivated welfare mother), wage-driven-clones are so financially over-extended trying to maintain the lifestyle they expected when they got their Bachelor's degree in ...Cisco router management, or some other temporal pursuit of $$$. The image and accoutrements neccesary to fit-the-corporate-mold don't come cheap, and the car that won't stick out as the "junker in the parking lot" is important (really, it is! You don't want to be the clone who sticks out...). It would be laughable, if it wasn't pitiful, what people will do to keep a job when they are financially in-so-deep that they need a snorkel to keep breathing (and spending). The blonde with the cellie? Whoever said the quip about "His Car" won't be new for long is spot on. She's married to the hypothetical guy I just described, she's another accoutrement, as are any children they breed. I was seeing her on the side for a while. She drives like she wants to die... 100mph up the freeway to San Francisco, when she isn't busy slamming on the brakes... Her Dreamcatcher will protect her, but NOT his car. Her kid was raised on fast-food and psychological abandonment, and is a little... slow. Doctor prescribed "fat pills" (Methylphenidate (sp?), Speed), for her self-esteem, even though she isn't fat. Another biker speedfreak boyfriend on the side (her wild side) whose in jail. I could go on! Pamela, where are you? --End Rant-- Leigh http://leighm.net/ "The crippling of individuals I consider the worst evil of capitalism. Our whole educational system suffers from this evil. An exaggerated competitive attitude is inculcated into the student, who is trained to worship acquisitive success as a preparation for his future career." -- Albert Einstein.
