So for those of you who may be unfortunate enough to drive in southern Phoenix anytime soon, you should know that there are two freeways called the 202, which goes around the bottom of Phoenix. They run parallel. Why didn't they name the second (more Southerly) one the 303?

I got lost today. Thoroughly lost - like, wandering through neighborhoods while trying to find a freaking freeway lost. And as I came through the suburban Hell, we randomly went across what turned out to be the 60 ... but there was no obvious way to get onto it. No on-ramp, nothing. It was just taunting me. This is already after like 3 hours of driving in rush-hour traffic. I wanted to kill someone, preferably whoever decided 303 was a bad number. As I drove over it, I turned to my wife (who was also in the truck at the time though much more amused by the situation) and said,

"You know, if this truck had better suspension, I think I'd just drive right off the bridge."

And I was completely serious.

Currently listening : I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning By Bright Eyes

Labels: driving, joke, Phoenix, truck

For some reason, I remember his book (he wrote it) on physics and how it was amusing that he put a list of examples of Decibel levels. I will put it here for your and my amusement - sounds you can barely hear to sounds you'll hear just once...

15 dB - Lower limit of hearing
30 dB - Quiet library, whispers
40 dB - Living room, refrigerator
50 dB - Normal conversation
60 dB - Sewing machine, A/C unit
70 dB - Vacuum cleaner, hair dryer
80 dB - Alarm clock, garbage disposal
90 dB - Subway, lawn mower
100 dB - Chainsaw, pneumatic drill
120 dB - Rock band at the speakers
130 dB - Pain threshold
140 dB - Gunshot, jet plane
160 dB - Instant deafness
180 dB - Rocket launching pad
190 dB - Violent rupture of the eardrums

I... sometimes grin at the last one. I am probably disturbed, but it amuses me to no end. The idea that Spinal Tap really could've found the '11' that actually made their audiences' head explode.

Currently listening : Witching Hour By Ladytron

Labels: Brophy, high, physics, school, teaching

I decided recently that I'm still a pretty big slacker. So I'm trying an experiment. I'm letting myself slack to an extent, but I'm limiting my options to "acceptable" ways of slacking. I've decided that all of these things are ways I can allow my self to slack off:

• Post a MySpace blog.
• Play guitar and work on Ignition (my new album).
• Dream up new Art class assignments.
• Consider and note new ideas for my car.
• Update my homepage.

I'm hoping that by doing this, I'll either stop slacking or at least, have a good blog, finished album, an interesting Art class, an awesome car, and a cool homepage by the time I learn not to slack.

To clean the apartment to help prepare to move; I've already fixed a toilet and am about 7/8ths of the way through re-organizing and going through all of our files (W2's, reciepts, titles, etc.).

This also has other, cooler things I can do with a week of time on my hands. I inherited a pile of about 300 CD's from Maloney's when they went with an all-Mp3 based system. A lot of them are crap, and a lot of them are scratched, but I figure this is as good as any an opportunity to add to my Mp3 collection.

I can attempt to give Rachel a functioning computer (again). I even have a legit copy of XP to use now, too, so that'll save some headache.

And to plan for the rest of the semester at school. I really jumped into the semester but had a lot of problems with organization. Now that I'm more or less caught up with that part (heh, though I still have a huge pile o' grading to do yet), I can start planning lessons a bit better, maybe through the whole year (I hope).

Currently reading : Silverlock By John Myers Myers

Labels: BASIS, blog, cars, Ignition, Maloney's, mp3, MySpace, school, taxes, teaching

"I bite what I fear,
I suck what I love."

Currently reading : The Eyre Affair By Jasper Fforde

Labels: joke, Rachel, stories, true