Fool E-ZPass Once, Shame On It. Fool E-ZPass 633 Times, Shame On You

If only Frank Maier wasn't so greedy. If only he had gone through the E-ZPass system without paying 632 times and not 633, he would be sitting pretty. He is the top E-ZPass abuser in Delaware owing $4,748 in tolls and $30,000 in fees that were racked up from January 2005 through October 2007. Maier has nothing on NJ's top abuser Stephen Shells, coming in with 1,444 violations mostly from the Parkway. Shells is on the hook for $1,700 in tolls and $36,000 in fees...something the Dulles Toll Road needed to look into enforcing back in 2005.



E-ZPass works really well...that is when you finally reach the E-ZPass only lanes.

I've enjoyed E-ZPass from the start when I battle the I-95 corridor from Maryland to the NJ 'burbs just outside the City. It makes me feel sort of special when I pass those unlucky travelers who have to fork over cash at one of the many traffic-inducing tolls. Using E-ZPass also lets me forget that I pay $16.50 to go from MD to my parents' home at the end of the Turnpike, and $14.50 on the way back because I don't hand over cash during the drive. There is an alternate route to avoid most, if not all, I-95 tolls, but it'd add at least 35 minutes and 45 miles to the drive.

With the Popemobile (and I suppose the Pope) in town this week, allow me to use this space as a toll abusing confessional for a non-Catholic. I too have avoided paying a toll. During my undergrad days I tried figuring out what to do for a summer job. At my parents' coaxing, I drove down to the Jersey shore for a day of job hunting. What better place to be than the beach with disposable income for the summer? I never did find a job I liked because I didn't want to stir caramel all day long.

Where was this French toll basket when I needed it?

Anyway, at some point during the trip, I was getting off of the Parkway and didn' t have 35 cents in exact change to throw into the toll basket, but the only two lanes open were for "Exact Change." Seeing no other options including this one mentioned in the Times, I just drove right on through, half-expecting a swarm of cops to stop my car on the other side. For the next few weeks I waited to receive a letter about abusing the toll collection system, but nothing arrived (and still hasn't until this blog post perhaps?). The cost of printing and sending such a letter would cost more than the 35 cents anyway.

I have a long way to go I if want to become NJ's top E-ZPass offender. It's always good to rationalize.

Last Few Days To Get The Best Coca-Cola

Only a few days remain for you to get your hands on the best tasting Coca-Cola of the year! In order to be Kosher for Passover, the soda is made with pure cane sugar instead of corn syrup.

This blog explains the ingredient change in far better detail including this nugget and accompanying picture:

Every late March and early April, for the two to three weeks leading up to the celebration of the Jewish Passover holiday season in the United States, Coke fans living in major metropolitan areas with large Jewish populations get their Real Thing, if only for that brief fleeting period. According to Jewish law, nothing made with chametz (any of a number of proscribed cereals and grains, including corn) during passover may be consumed — so in order not to lose sales from observant Jews during that eight day period, a small number of Coca-Cola bottlers make a limited batch of the original Coke formulation, using refined sugar. Needless to say, stocks run out quickly and fans of Passover Coke have been known to travel many miles seeking out supermarkets with remaining caches.

The cap to a taste bud orgy.

For some reason the Howard County supermarkets I frequent do not offer any Kosher for Passover Coca-Cola. They have the usual sampling of Manischewitz food and Dr. Brown's Black Cherry soda (the best ever!), but no 2-liter bottles with yellow caps. Leave it to my old Montgomery County neighborhood supermarkets around Bethesda (the KosherMart in Rockville always has tons available) to bail me out as I just purchased a few yellow-capped bottles of Coke to enjoy soda nirvana.

Don't Play This Guy In H.O.R.S.E.

Seriously, you have no chance of beating him. Sure the ball bounces a lot easier than a normal basketball, but these shots are impressive. I haven't even shot around in a few years so I'm not about to compare myself.

Thanks for the Memories and "What Not"

For the last five years of my working adulthood, my commute has changed in length, time, and route. The only constant for the drive home has been listening to the "Radio Gods" Don and Mike Show on WJFK. Sadly, today is Don Geronimo's (aka Michael Sorce) final show as Mike O'Meara makes it his own on Monday. Before the whole FCC crackdown on language and content, this show was spot on (thanks chef Ramsey). Even after the extremist censoring and Don's wife passing away, Don and Mike were entertaining enough to make my drive home seem less annoying.

Two years ago I actually participated in one of their contests and of course failed. You were given a random topic and had to talk about it for 30 seconds without pausing. I took a chance and got through. After remaining on hold for a good 10 minutes, I was suddenly on air and told to talk about Riverdance. Immediately I talked about its surprising popularity. That idea lasted for maybe five seconds before I thought of extending my talk to other popular forms of dance. About 10 seconds in they hung up on me because I had paused too long trying to transition from line dancing to the macarena. For a moment we connected.



So long, farewell, Auf wiedersehen, goodbye,
I leave and heave a sigh and say goodbye.

Now my drive home becomes less enjoyable when I get north of Route 198. It's at that point that I would switch to 105.7 for the show's simulcast as 106.7 becomes static. But I won't get to listen to Mike's new show because 105.7 now plays the Ed Norris show or Orioles games. No thanks. Plus, 105.7 won't even play the last hour of Don's final show today because of Orioles pregame. Just pathetic.

Back on point....I'll definitely miss Don and give Mike a fair chance on his own...that is until I'm north of 198.

Sportstalk 980 Updater - Al Galdi - Is Annoying

I've talked about my dislike for almost all of Sportstalk 980 (WTEM) because it could be so much better, especially if the general manager started by removing the inane John Thompson. (Did you hear him talk over (and ruin) the play-by-play call of Mario Chalmers' 3-pointer in the championship game?) During my morning drive, I flip between the Junkies and Steve Czaban's show. It helps that I fit both demographics and tend to agree with a lot of Czaban's arguments. However, the second he goes to a sports update by Al Galdi, I change the radio before Galdi utters his first syllable because I can't stand his voice. If Bergenfield's resident coach John Minko did the updates, I wouldn't change the station.

I find it hard to describe Galdi's voice, which I suppose makes it unique and why he's on the radio. I'll give him that much. But it's its uniqueness that makes me want to drive into a Beltway median. The first thing I notice is that he sounds out of breath, only speaking for 3 seconds before breaking for air. His speaking never gets into a rhythm or cadence because of the frequent breath breaks. When he does speak, he sounds like a robot with a cold speaking through its metallic nose.

"I love Al's voice, but then again I am a robot," said Nintendo's Robotic Operating Buddy.

Just as my Carl Kassell post has become a sounding board for his dislikability (work with me) with 15 comments, this post serves to vent my general annoyance with Galdi. I would love to look, I mean listen, past his voice because he's a fellow Terp alum, but he is on the radio so all I have to judge him by is his voice. He does a fine job writing the sports update and I understand he has to talk about anything Redskins whenever possible, but maybe someone else could read what he wrote.

New Layout...Do You Like?

You may notice a few changes around these parts now that I finally took the big leap into an easier to customize template. I kept the basic layout, but made the font darker and bolder. I also gave myself an original title picture at the top. Thanks to the programming folks at blogger, no longer will I have to do some heavy duty HTML work when I want to change something in the sidebar. Nowadays the blog looks best using Firefox.

Do you like? I sure do.

The Cleanest Bathroom You'll Find

I arrive for work early. I mean really early. As in before sunrise if I get myself out of bed before 5:45. It lets me beat traffic on Route 29 and usually lets me deal with Beltway slowdowns before they become Beltway stoppages around Georgia Avenue. I'm one of the first people in my office and almost certainly the first male on the floor.

One of the perks is being the first male is I get to use the uber-sanitized men's room every morning. It is by far the cleanest bathroom I get to use during the day. Granted, the bathroom at home is clean and I know the only other user, but it's not bleached, chlorinated, and nuked with cleaning supplies every evening. Plus, the home bathroom's daily quality naturally goes down because of my presence.

I like Mr. Bean's bathroom layout in case of blockages. (YouTube clip)

The early morning men's room smells clean, looks clean, and feels clean (or was that too much information?). It's nice knowing I don't have to worry about bathroom disease horror stories to start the day. I don't take the low amount of germs for granted because I still follow good public bathroom sanitary safety, but the chance of getting sick is at its lowest each morning. Of course after 9 AM all bets are off. At least this bathroom doesn't put me in situations where I have to walk around with my pants down just to see what I'm doing.