Dropped by Traveler’s
I consider myself a good driver, but I do tend to drive fast (i.e. 10–20 miles over the speed limit), and I have an unhealthy contempt for bad traffic-flow control (i.e. no-turn-on-red signs at 1 in the morning; traffic lights that are set with a fixed timing and no sensors… at 1 in the morning). So in the past three years, I have gotten two tickets. The first was for speeding (80 in a 55 zone. Ouch. Too fast even for me). The second, just this past February, was for “Failing to Heed Traffic Control Device,” or somesuch, by which was meant I turned right-on-red at 1 in the morning on an empty stretch of road that just happened to have a no-turn-on-red sign.
I could get into this more. There is nothing that animates me more than a discussion of stupid traffic laws. But I have a bigger fish to fry.
Traveler’s Auto Insurance.
Traveler’s is dropping my fiancée and myself because of these two tickets. Our insurance agent told us that Traveler’s was canceling our policy, which was an unfortunate wording, because by New York State law, Traveler’s cannot cancel the policy, not for these two tickets, anyway. But what they can do is not pick up the policy when we go to renew it, which is what they’re doing. What bothers me is that on January 1, 2008, the first ticket, speeding, will go off my record. And between the two of us, we don’t have any other marks on our licenses. Traveler’s told the insurance agent that it was specifically the speeding ticket that prompted them not to renew our policy, but that ticket is basically four-years old. Older, in fact, than our policy with Traveler’s. I went into the policy with that ticket.
Bah! I say. Whatever!
Traveler’s wasn’t cheap. The deductible was large. They would never allow us to get a year-long policy, only six-months. The only reason we went with them was because we had another insurance policy with them for something unrelated, and they gave us a break on that second policy. When the time comes, I think, we won’t be picking up that policy with Traveler’s. It seems they yielded when they should have come to a complete stop.
Posted by Jonathan at 01:53 PM, 31 May 2007 | Comments (1)
Russell’s Rule of Long Island 7-11 Placement
The vast majority of 7-11s on Long Island are on the north or west side of the road. A corollary to this rule: I am always traveling east- or northbound, which forces me to make a left turn/u-turn to get to a 7-11. Although I’ve only been to Orient Point once, I am apprently always headed there.
Posted by Jonathan at 04:36 PM, 29 May 2007 | Comments (0)
Food Review: Trader Joe’s Spring Onion Rice Noodle Soup Bowl
At a recent visit to Trader Joe’s, I purchased a Spring Onion Rice Noodle Soup Bowl. The packaging made it look like a step up from typical dried brick-style Ramen noodles. (Always note the words “Serving Suggestion” on packaging. There are no peas, corn, carrot shavings, baby corn, or basil leaves in the soup.) These soups come in their own bowl, which makes it easier to make (no dirty pots), and adds significantly to the waste. While one can conceivably keep the plastic bowl, there is a cardboard outer-package, the bowl is wrapped in plastic, there are three plastic-wrapped flavor-packets within the bowl, and these are wrapped in a larger plastic wrapper. Cardboard can usually be recycled, but my town does not want cardboard from food containers. The plastic bowl is numbered 5, which my town does not recycle, and it doesn’t come with a lid, which makes it usefulness, after using it for the soup, limited.
But enough of the waste. How does it taste? Pretty good. Sweet for a soup. Peppery, too, which gives it a bit of zing. The noodles, despite what it looks like on packaging, are not long noodles. This soup must be eaten with a spoon. Those that like to ruin Ramen noodles by breaking up the brick will appreciate the length of these noodles; I, however, do not.
One problem with rice noodles is that they continue to suck up any liquid long after cooking. The instructions indicate that soup can be microwaved or cooked by adding boiling water. Either case, it takes about 3 minutes. That’s fast soup. But as the soup cools, the noodles increase in width until it’s hard to find any free liquid. The noodles never become too spongy in texture, though.
A clear benefit of this soup over Ramen noodles is the amount of fat. Like Ramen noodles, one package is two servings. Also like Ramen noodles, eating half of it is a joke. It does not keep well. But the entire package of Spring Onion Rice Noodle Soup Bowl is only 4g of fat (2g saturated), where a typical package of Ramen noodles is 14g of fat (7g saturated). It’s not much better sodium-wise, however: 1250mg vs 1600mg. Pre-packaged food rarely stacks up in this case. But I often add other flavorings to Ramen noodles, and I don’t have to with this one, so I’m still better off since I’m not adding more salt.
Finally, the other major difference is price. Ramen noodles can be found for little more that a dime per package. This bowl was 99¢. Not that big of a deal, but still, 900% more expensive. It would have been tough justifying this extravagance in college.
Posted by Jonathan at 03:03 PM, 04 May 2007 | Comments (1)
Greenshines
Steve Jobs just put out an open letter laying out the plans for Apple to become more environmentally-neutral. It’s an interesting read, and it’s great to see that Apple has worked and will work to get a lot of the poisonous garbage out of it’s systems.
There were a couple of things that I did not know before.
If you bring your old iPod to any Apple Store to recycle, they’ll take off 10% of a new iPod. They’ll be extending that program this year by allowing you to mail it in.
Apple pretty much eliminate lead from it’s manufacturing chain by eliminating CRT monitors.
This one is obvious, but it never occurred to me before: lighter machines mean less waste. As items get smaller, not only do they take up less material, but they also leave less of a footprint on the environment. Sure this one is kind of a duh moment for me, but I just hadn’t considered it.
This was basically a way for Steve to tell Greenpeace to shove it. They’ve been singling out Apple for not being green, and letting other computer companies with future plans for reducing waste to slide. I can’t wait until someone else pisses off Steve.
Posted by Jonathan at 06:02 PM, 02 May 2007 | Comments (0)
