From dangerous to safest in 20 miles

It was brought to my attention today while shootin’ the shit with some of the surgery residents that our 20 mile move was actually a much larger one.

The residents were looking up the recently released FBI stats on the safest and most dangerous cities in America. In a quick 20 minute drive up the I-75, we moved from the 2nd most dangerous to the 6th safest. Even a Detroitian can tell you Troy is safer than Detroit, but I never consciously thought that everyday I travel from the top to the bottom, and when I’m not on call, back again.

>> City crime rankings

Weather update

So I was thinking, maybe the last couple winters were a little colder than normal. Maybe the averages were inaccurate. Maybe the weather archives were wrong. Maybe I’m stupid.

Well, the warmth of 60 deg days are over now.

Time for nothing

Surgery is pretty busy and it’s even worse when you aren’t quite sure what you want to do.

But I still found the time to change the hands and date ring on my new watch in time for the time change. Phew, that’s actually more time than I thought.

I chose these hands to look more like the IWC Mark XV pilot’s watch that I like. The quality of the hands are not as high as I’d want, but they are still pretty good.

Moons Over My Hammy

I’m so excited about my new watch. My self-assembled “Omega” is sorta having some issues. Instead of disassembling it again, I’m just going to save it for more formal wear. Besides, I’m scared of losing it somehow downtown. So I set out to find a new beater watch.

It had to be cheap so I looked on TimeZone.com’s Sales Corner. I solicited and got some e-mails. Eventually, I settled on this great, like-new Hamilton Khaki Field Automatic at 38mm. The seller included both a nice carbon fiber water resistant strap and a cool rubber dive strap with a push button deployant clasp. Today, the nice mailman knocked on my door with my new Hammy!

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Pumpkins!

The weather was so great today, a brisk October day without a cloud in the sky.

We decided to go to Plymouth Orchards even though we just went to the cider mill yesterday. It was fun and kind of cool to be around a real, sort of, farm. There were barnyard animals, a pumpkin patch, apple trees, cider, and donuts!

Unfortunately, they ran out of the apples we wanted to buy. Oh well, it was fun. We had a nice wagon ride.

Imminence

Last year, I skated into cross traffic on ice. Not crystal meth or wheels lined with diamonds though, which some might consider unfortunate. But fortunately, for me, there was a break in the line of oncoming cars. In addition, during a couple left turns I would end up in the right lane aiming for the left. Quite scary.

So, this is what Brown left for me today:

Two sets of Dunlop WinterSport M3s mounted on black painted steel wheels. Hubcaps are in the boxes. Hopefully, they’ll handle any storm thrown at ’em because it’s supposed to start getting pretty cold pretty fast.

Obviously, an SUV would make me impervious to the inclement weather, right? I would be able to speed past all the sorry cars struggling to go even 5 or 10 mph. Nothing would be able to stop me!! :jittery: However, one thing that’s sorta amusing is that many of the accidents I see or cars in ditches are SUVs. They go fast, but they can’t turn or stop.

Help me pick a vanity plate

The nice lady took a pair of scissors and cut my identity into pieces. :sob: This is what I discovered today:

Had I been involved in a collision in the past 24 months here in the great lakes state of Michigan, AAA of Southern California would not have covered any claims. Being a “no fault” state, I didn’t want to get shafted.

Esurance was pretty cheap, but it seems like they take your money and run. But not before they raise your rates a few times.

Allstate, AAA of MI, and Statefarm were all so expensive. I really wanted to switch to Statefarm since they took pretty good care of me after I got hit a while back. Plus the agent here was really nice and helpful.

I ended up settling with Costco’s AMEX insurance. Of course, they are changing their name to become a separate entity from AMEX. Yay. Total savings were: $2400 over the next 2 years for both of us. But not before taking it in the butt.

I had to get a new MI license. Easy enough, took about 20 min. The nice lady handed me a piece of my old CA license stapled to a temporary paper license. Those fuckers. I should have given them my old expired one if I knew they would do that. I was like, “Why are you cutting up my license?” I really asked her as she did it. :rant:

The next blow came as the insurance company needs me to kindly register my car in MI. So there goes my cherished CA plates.

I want this plate now:

Here are some others I’m considering.
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To Earth and Back

As he hurls through space, the blue-green planet slowly comes into view. With a flick of the controls, he begins his approach at astronomical speeds. The mission: test out the new navigational system recently downloaded into his ship’s mainframe.

Floating hundreds of miles above the surface, he gently navigates over a funny S-shaped land mass. Midway through his descent, a sign that reads, “Grand Canyon,” suddenly becomes visible. Strange, he thinks to himself…

Seconds later, Las Vegas…then Los Angeles–[pause]

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Click to zoom.

>> GoogleEarth, beta

Katrina Photo Essay

This guy captured about 200 photos of the destruction in New Orleans from the perspective of someone who has actually lived it. This sort of gives a different view of what Katrina did minus all of the politics. :sealed:

>> Katrina Photo Essay