6:30 in the morning. last day of the bar ahead. more essays and another performance test. i'm having a hard time seeing what about california's board of bar examiners, besides unrivaled arrogance, makes them think they need to stretch this crap out over three full days. i mean, i did this in colorado and, in two days, took the MBE, answered a bunch of essays, and took a performance test.

oh well, enough bitching. last day. time for some coffee.

good good good. feeling good! woke up this morning and had that old singing-in-the-shower, screaming, hooting, hollering, grabass, jumping up and down energy. feeling good. both feel fine about the MBE, having done it before, and better in general about the whole proposition. i really don't much care if i pass or not, since we're likely to be fleeing the golden state for the grand canyon state in a matter of a couple of years anyway.

breakfast now!

too tired, and lazy, to write much original, so i'll reprise the only e-mail i sent out tonight, other than complaining about a skunked beer. (ArrBas of all things!)

one day down, two to go. this bar stuff is hard enough to deal with when you really want to pass, and since i don't much give a damn, it's even harder. makes it kind of amusing to sit there, though.

today was 3 essays (securities; constructive trusts; and evidence: trial objections), and a 3 hour performance exam. tomorrow is MBE all day, then thursday is 3 more essays and another performance exam. ugh.

the chief announcer was an obnoxious, sarcastic jerk that talked down to us almost every time he got on the mic. well, i guess we are a bunch of snot-nosed 18 year olds. or not.

had a nice dinner of pasta (complex carbs: brain food!) and veggies sauteed with red wine, and now that it's about 8:20pm, i'm about ready to go to bed. maybe or maybe not more tomorrow.

bar tomorrow. ate mexican food tonight. worried. contemplated. got a little bit of an adrenaline rush (odd.) was in the bay area over the weekend. nice. drove. nice, but scenery, not so stimulating. observation: not nearly as much crap on the roads outside of the san diego area (in fact, nearly none.)

Ballast Point Big Eye IPA now, chasing a benadryl for sleep. nightie-night.

7/23/2003 8:58 AM: northbound I-5 at Gilman Drive: truck tire tread in the roadway

it's a chilly morning here in coastal san diego, but feels like a good one. yesterday the entire female wing of my mother's family was down for a visit (mother, grandmother, aunt), including a big lunch and lots of beer. need to study more today, but it just... feels like a good day for it.

two quickies:

7/23/2003 8:58 AM: three large bags of sawdust reported to be in the lanes on I-805 in National City.

7/23/2003 7:18 AM: Type: Traffic Hazard - Debris/Objects: SINK OR SOMETHING IN THE WB LANE
Location: GOPHER CANYON RD AT E VISTA WY

went to the San Diego DMV this morning to register the car (a Civic Hybrid -- ask if you want to know more about it -- in short, avg MPG is ~47!). got there at 7:03am, got in line (i was about 15th in line), the office opened at 8:00am, and i was walking out to get cash and take the plates off at 8:19am. by the time the office opened, the line was around the building on three sides.

cost was $149 total. there has been a lot of carping lately about the VLF (Vehicle License Fee) being "tripled". well, i had a nice chat with the DMV clerk who helped me, and she explained that it wasn't exactly that: in the salad days of 1997/98/99, they consistently reducded what the VLF had always been, such that it is now 33% of what it used to be. so what is actually happening (as it's now being called a "foregone conclusion" in the media) is that it's being restored to the original level, not raised. ummmm, a pretty significant difference in phrasing.

and today's road hazards are pretty significant, too:

7/22/2003 9:56:03 AM: Traffic Hazard - Debris/Objects
Location: WB SR52 JEO CONVOY
9:51AM - PALLET, STYROFOAM IN #3 LANE

7/22/2003 9:57:37 AM: Traffic Hazard - Pedestrian on Freeway
Location: NB SR15 JNO NB I-805
9:49AM - MAN RUNNING IN CD

7/22/2003 9:58:57 AM: Traffic Hazard - Animal
Location: 3134 OLIVE HILL RD
9:08AM - ONE HORSE CORRALLED AND THE OTHER IS BEING ROUNDED UP NOW TO GET BACK IN FENCE
8:59AM - NEED HORSE TRAILER FOR OLIVE HILL AND AQUA HILL
8:59AM - NEG 1125 HORSES, THEY ARE QUARTERED IN A PASTURE
8:51AM - RP #2 CHECKING WITH NEIGHBORS TO SEE WHO HORSES BELONG TO
8:50AM - OTHER CALLER TRYING TO BLOCK THE HORSES WITH A BLK FORD MUST
8:43AM - 2 HORSES
8:42AM - UNK IF WAS TC , BUT HORSES ARE DOWN
8:42AM - INJURED HORSES IN THE ROAD

and on the 163 NB ramp to I-8 westbound, i personally had to avoid a t-shaped piece of white steel, which looked like it was probably part of a bedframe. sweet!

must be something interesting:
7/21/2003 10:54:57 PM: Traffic Hazard - Debris/Objects
Location: Westbound State Route 54 just East of I-805
10:23PM - UNK OBJ IN SLOW LANE, ABOUT 5 CARS ON RIGHT HAND SIDE CHANGING TIRES

7/21/2003 1:58:07 PM: NB SR125 JNO JAMACHA RD
1:39PM - LUMBER IN #1 AND 2 LANES

7/21/2003 1:58:45 PM: Traffic Hazard - Large Object northbound I-805 at 43rd Street
1:33PM - ladder in the #3 lane

came home long enough to make a sandwich (sourdough, cheddar, grey poupon, onions, onion sprouts, spinach, and pesto spread) and a margarita (cuervo, fuzzy water, and lime juice on rocks w/ salt). lo and behold, the first traffic report i hear on KPBS consists, in its entirety, of hazards on the highway

KPBS 1:03 pm:
northbound 805 @ la jolla village drive:
some wood and a blue tarp in the roadway

and looking for it on the CHP website (didn't find it) did find another pedestrian wandering around on the interstate:

7/21/2003 1:07:54 PM: Pedestrian on a Highway
Location: EB I8 JWO JACUMBA (just west of Jacumba)
1:05PM - CHP Unit On Scene

i've decided i need to enter shorter summaries, otherwise this blog is going to get out-of-control-unreadably-burdensome.

and since no blog is an island, here's a few other thoughts while i eat my sandwich:
(1) you know more than you need to about the sandwich's contents; rest assured it's tasty.
(2) the margarita is a little strong and a little sour, and it tastes good too.
(3) went and studied (for the bar, more later) on the OB Pier, the longest pier on the west coast, right here in my lovely little hometown, the People's Republik of Ocean Beach, USA. the pier is reported, at 1,971 feet, to be the longest pier of any kind on the west coast, and the longest concrete pier in the world. (if anyone knows better, i'd love to hear: d j g 92107 aat ya-hoo!).
(4) there were two little kids not getting nearly enough supervision from their asshole adult companions: they took a recently caught, still alive fish, and were deriving great joy from slamming it down as hard as they could on the pier by throwing it, and gleefully giggling as it skidded on the concrete. why are kids so damn violent sometimes? (i can only guess it has something to do with the four adults they were with, who didn't seem to think this behavior was worth comment, i.e., not newsworthy.)

back to studying. bar is in eight days. ick.

more random shit in the roadways

:

ummmmm... just a "large object":
8 East at Lake Jennings Parking Problem Road
Traffic Hazard - Large Object 9:35 AM
Thomas Guide Map Coordinates: Page 1252, Grid 1D
Ukn Lane 9:35 AM
CHP Unit Enroute 9:37 AM

I previously wasn't going to count (ostensibly disabled) vehicles as traffic hazards, but when it's a charter bus, and especially when traffic is "still coming in hot"
52 East to 805 South Connector
Traffic Hazard - Vehicle 8:35 AM
Thomas Guide Map Coordinates: Page 1228, Grid 6G
Roll Unit for Traffic Control 8:35 AM
Charter Bus Traffic Hazard #2 8:35 AM
Message/Item Delivered Star Towing 8:38 AM
CHP Unit on Scene 8:38 AM
A Lanes is Being Shut Down, Traf Still Coming in Hot 9:00 AM
The Tow is 97 9:00 AM
CHP Unit on Scene 9:09 AM

and, sheesh, if a charter bus on/in the highway is a traffic hazard, surely a pedestrian is:
Incident: 0301 Type: Pedestrian on a Highway
Location: SR54 ONR TO WB I8 Zoom Map: 1251 4J
Info as of: 7/21/2003 9:52:21 AM
54 East
54 On Ramp to 8 West
Pedestrian on a Highway 9:30 AM
Thomas Guide Map Coordinates: Page 1251, Grid 4J
CHP Unit on Scene 9:46 AM
RESPONDING OFFICERS STATUS
9:46AM - CHP Unit On Scene
ADDITIONAL DETAILS
9:49AM - SO FAR UTL, NOW CHECKING OTHER ONR

and if you don't buy a mere pedestrian, how about a juvenile on a bicycle?
Incident: 0293 Type: Traffic Hazard
Location: NB I215 JNO NEWPORT RD Zoom Map: 868 2E Info as of: 7/21/2003 9:54:23 AM
ADDITIONAL DETAILS
9:23AM - KEEPS GOING INTO RT LN
9:23AM - JUV RIDING BIKE ON RS
RESPONDING OFFICERS STATUS
9:24AM - CHP Unit Enroute

and here's the best (?) thing i've found so far: a judgment by the CHP that none of the above is particularly newsworthy:

Incident: 0110 Type: Media Information
Location: DAILY LOG Zoom Map: Click Here Info as of: 7/21/2003 9:56:31 AM
ADDITIONAL DETAILS
9:08AM -
9:08AM - BUSY COMMUTE WITH SEVERAL COLLISIONS, HOWEVER, NOTHING PARTICULARLY NEWSWORTHY
9:05AM - =======================================================

When I was driving in to San Diego about a month ago, on I-15 south near Escondido, I looked over and saw an accident that had just happened on the northbound side. I saw a man who had, for unclear reasons, gotten out of his car, and apparently been hit by another vehicle. I saw gray matter. (If you don't know what that is, you probably don't want to know.) I looked and looked for news reports on this, but didn't find any: apparently this was also deemed a not particularly newsworthy event.

JUST REPORTED on KPBS! Eastbound 8: tree trunk in the roadway
ack! I'm looking for a report on the above mentioned tree trunk, and can't find it, but I did find this:

Incident: 0334
Type: Traffic Hazard - Pedestrian on Freeway
Location: SB 5 JNO THE BORDER (that's southbound I-5, just north of the border at San Ysidro)
Info as of: 7/21/2003 9:59:48 AM
ADDITIONAL DETAILS
9:59AM - FEMALE RUNNING INTO TRAFFIC

still nothing on the tree trunk, but already processed building materials provide a nice substitute, right?
Incident: 0336 Type: Traffic Hazard
Location: WB SR78 JWO NORDAHL RD Zoom Map: 1129 1C
Info as of: 7/21/2003 10:03:38 AM
ADDITIONAL DETAILS
10:02AM - RTH TO CD CT 97
10:01AM - 4 X4 IN 1 LN, NEED UNIT FOR TRAFFIC BREAK
RESPONDING OFFICERS STATUS
10:01AM - CHP Unit On Scene

and finally, although it's not San Diego, this is such a unique roadway hazard that it bears brief mention, in Riverside (~1.5 hours north), at Hwy 60 & I-15:
Incident: 0531 Type: Traffic Hazard - Debris/Object
Location: WB SR60 TO NB I15 CON
Zoom Map: 643 6F
Info as of: 7/21/2003 10:07:09 AM
ADDITIONAL DETAILS
9:51AM - HAZMAT HAS ETA OF 30 MIN
9:48AM - ISSUE SIGALERT AND CONTACT SGT
9:45AM - BOTH LANES IN BOTH DIRECTIONS CLOSED
9:14AM - CHEMICAL CONTAINER IN THE RDWY-- WITH SMOKE COMING OUT OF IT

i was about to sign off for the morning when this gem came up:
Incident: 0347 Type: Traffic Hazard - Debris/Objects
Location: NB I805 JSO EB I8
Zoom Map: 1269 2E
Info as of: 7/21/2003 10:12:13 AM
ADDITIONAL DETAILS
10:10AM - SURFBOARD MIDDLE LANES

and just for the record, to try to introduce some perspective, I just checked the CHP traffic incident site to see if this stuff is happening all over the state, and I'm being histrionic about San Diego's roadway hazards.
Bay Area: Golden Gate Communications Center
Number of Incidents: 0
Last Updated at: 7/21/2003 10:16:23 AM
No Current Incidents Available.
Sacramento Communications Center
Number of Incidents: 4
Last Updated at: 7/21/2003 10:16:23 AM
none are hazards in the roadway.
Los Angeles Communications Center
Number of Incidents: 19
Last Updated at: 7/21/2003 10:18:03 AM
19 incidents, and plenty of stalled vehicles, but NOT A SINGLE foregin object.

man, KPBS is really dialed in -- here's another hazard not reported by the CHP or signonsandiego:
10:22 AM: "if somebody is missing their surfboard, it's on the northbound 805 at the 8"
10:28 AM: oops: it looks like KPBS really isn't dialed in after all. I just realized that this had already been reported above by CHP, at 10:10AM: Location: NB I805 JSO EB I8: SURFBOARD MIDDLE LANES. Too bad. But, uhhh, is the surfboard still there?

okay, this getting slightly addictive. gotta go.
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San Diego. Sunday. Traffic reports 7 days a week. Bad.

It all started about three weeks ago, when the morning traffic report in San Diego on KPBS reported that there was a traffic hazard. Not just any traffic hazard, though: 74,000 pounds yes, seventy-four thousand pounds) of CHICKEN FEED had spilled out of an overturned truck.

I had already noticed the apparently significant quantities of foreign objects on the freeways around San Diego since moving here (recently. Just out of a slight defensive impulse, I feel the need to note that I was born and raised in California, albeit Sacramento, which is a whole another discussion. But it's not like I just wandered out here in search of an endless summer from some small, dead-end midwestern town. Or worse, New York. OK, I digress. Ok, often.)

Now, let's think about this just for a second. Any object laying about in the traffic lanes of an otherwise normal freeway is, by definition, a foregin object. ( see, e.g., www.m-w.com : 4: alien in character : not connected or pertinent ).

And for that matter, significant is relative: more objects in the roadway than, say, one a day, is a little abnormal. But San Diego's freeways are out of all proportion for this, as anyone listening to the morning traffic reports can learn. (Remember, this is Southern California, where The King isn't ablubbering rocknroll icon, or a shitty, watery, fizzy-yellow beer, but The Car. Nowhere is the more true than in San Diego, where the people are truly addicted to their freeways.) Cars and using them are so pertinent to daily survival here that people will sit in parking lot-style traffic on I-8, where they can occasionally look over to Friars Road and watch the traffic roll by, on an almost precisely parallel route, at 50-80 mph.

See, I think it's like this: Southern Californians, and especially San Diegans, love the potential of being able to go 90 mph on the freeway, even if that's rarely the actual case.

When I started thinking about this, here's the radio report that caught my attention today:

Sunday 7/20/03, 10:46am: 5 South at Del Mar Heights Road, reports of a "traffic hazard": a filing cabinet in the middle lane .

While sitting here and writing this, the following traffic report came on the radio: In Alpine (so ostensibly I-8, there is a FIRE licking onto the road, and here's what seemed to concern them most: no access to the Casino from the westbound side. Here's what Caltrans has to say about it:

Incident: 0670 Type: Structure or Grass Fire Location: VIA LA MANCHA AT WILLOWS RD Zoom Map: 1234 6F Info as of: 7/20/2003 4:15:16 PM

ADDITIONAL DETAILS
4:07PM - PER 63, TRAFFIC BACKING UP EB AT E WILLOWS OFR // BCG
3:28PM - W WILLOWS TO THE CASINO IS GOING TO BE CLOSED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE
3:28PM - THE FIRE IS MAINLY CONTAINED ON THE NB SIDE OF THE RESERVATION
3:02PM - 1039 TO STAM FOR XTRA UNITS
3:01PM - PER 83, COORDINATED W/S/O SGT // THEY HAVE UNITS ENRT OR 1097, JUST NEED 1-2 MORE, S20 COPZ ENRT
2:58PM - DIVERT TRAFFIC OFF FROM EB // REQ ADDTL UNITS
2:40PM - 1039 HEARTLAND
2:39PM - MALE SITTING AT BUS STOP CLAIMS HE STARTED FIRE WITH CIGARETTE
2:36PM - BRUSH FIRE JNO 8

RESPONDING OFFICERS STATUS
2:44PM - CHP Unit On Scene
3:24PM - CHP Unit On Scene
4:12PM - CHP Unit On Scene

Then I decided to look for it on Caltrans' CHP Traffic Information site, http://cad.chp.ca.gov , and found these additional examples:

Border Communications Center
Number of Incidents: 14
Last Updated at: 7/20/2003 4:13:53 PM


University Av On Ramp to 163 North
Traffic Hazard - Debris/Objects (3:20 PM)
Thomas Guide Map Coordinates: Page 1269, Grid 5B
Couple of Wood or Bamboo Room Dividers in Road (3:20 PM)
CHP Unit Assigned (3:31 PM)




5 South Before Clairemont Dr
Traffic Hazard - Debris/Objects (3:42 PM)
Thomas Guide Map Coordinates: Page 1248, Grid 7E
Surfboards 2-3 Lanes (3:42 PM)
CHP Unit Enroute (3:44 PM)
CHP Unit Assigned (3:44 PM)
Trfc Heavy Where Mission Bay Comes on-Traffic Hazard May Be There-Trfc Slow 3:47 PM

IT'S SUNDAY AFTERNOON. Do you know where your surfboards are?
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