Shawsville (7/24/2014)

Taught two courses at different sides of the state this week.  Kind of like a traveling salesman.   I drove to Fairfax on Tuesday evening after having an MRI of my head (boy that was a different experience).  The MRI itself was absolutely not as bad as everybody had warned me about.  But then, I am convinced that all my yoga practice helped with it.  Shavasana really helped.

Then it was down to Wytheville after a full day of teaching in Fairfax.  I left around 4 pm on Wednesday and got in around 9 that evening.  After teaching again on Thursday I stayed overnight to recuperate and took it easier going back on Friday.   By taking it easier I mean not going 8 or 10 miles an hour over the speed limit, trying to make some time, kind of in the frame of mind of "hurry up to relax."  This probably is a contradiction, and I am not sure if it works anyway; you area kind of wired after a five hour rat race on the interstate at 80 mph.  So on the way back I made sure that I consistently only exceeded the speed limit by 4 miles per hour (if that) and I actually got off the highway for a while.

So I got of the interstate in Christiansburg and actually rode highway 11 down the mountain.  Highway 11 is a nice twisty (down the) mountain road that is actually really quiet with some nice vistas.  I am sure it does not put many extra miles on the vehicle but it is away from the rat race of the interstate.  I took the picture below in Shawsville. No idea what I took a picture of, but is was a pretty farm building.  Wikipedia does not tell me much about Shawsville either; although I am sure it has a rich history, in addition to being wiped out by the Shawnee Indians in 1756.

Eventually I got back on the highway and joined the rat race back to Richmond.

One of the things I taught my students Thursday was "to think outside the box," while understanding that most of the time they will need to enforce the law and regulations.  Yes, there may still be times that they can, may and even should improvise, even though they are restrained by those darn laws and regulations.

Think outside the darn box!

Well that's what Friday felt like.  I think it felt like that for everyone; for me, kind of obeying the speed limit and getting of the main road and driving the back roads, at least for a little bit.  For other it seemed that they were all living in the left lane on Friday.  It was amazing here I was driving 70 (which was the speed limit) and I was passing people in the right lane.  I even had people moving over to the right to let me pass and then more back to the left lane.  It was so bad that I adapted the Beatles tune Yellow Submarine into "We all live in the left lane."  Guess even they were thinking outside the box, but I'm not sure if that was the right thing to do.  We learn in traffic school that most fatalities happen in the left lane (but that would be thinking inside the box).  Oh well.

Getting back to Richmond, even a transformer thought outside the box.  It seemed that it exploded underground, just outside our offices.  All traffic lights were out and our building only had emergency lights and was evacuated.  Dropped the car off and continued my road trip home.  A busy week indeed.

I-81 near Christiansburg (3/24/2014)

Maybe a strange picture today, but I am a teacher in erosion and sediment control for the state.  On my way to western Virginia to teach one of my classes I drove by this and felt the need to take a picture of it.  This is a prime example of how not to do erosion control.  It is one of the first things we say and still people do not listen.  It is somewhat infuriating, knowing that the soil that runs of this hill will end up in a stream and then we complain that the streams have cloudy water, and that the fish cannot live in that stream any longer etc etc..

I realize that I am over simplifying things a bit, but all these little things impact the big picture.  That is what we call cumulative effect.  If we do not do anything about these little things, eventually it is all going to multiply and become a big thing.  But that is what we call the tragedy of the commons; shared resources are abused. The theory is that shared resources such as air, water or grazing grounds that are owned by society are difficult to protect; because if I don't pollute them, or if I don't over-graze, my neighbor will, so I might as well do it now.  I am tired while writing this, it has been a long day, but it is so important and to me it often seems to be the crux of our troubles.  Kind of like "great that you are driving a Prius or another fuel efficient vehicle, because that gives me more gas for my Hummer.  I know this is much more complex, but that is how I feel tonight.  I'll write more about this one of these days.