holy cow.

Every morning, or close to it, I drive down Interstate 580 West, to Interstate 238 North, to Interstate 880 South, to Route 237 West. The drive usually lasts about an hour, because I don't go during rush hour. It's a really pleasant way to start and end the day, smooth pavement on wide banked curves that support high speeds, and CHP doesn't really bother with it. Today was hazy, I couldn't see the Peninsula hills, and the air smelled bad.

The ramp from 238 North to 880 South is an expansive curve, at least a half mile long, two lines wide, and (at least in my car, a '95 Saturn SW2 with some sort of higher-performance tires) comfortable at about 65mph. Typically most vehicles go slowly in the left lane, so it's perfectly reasonable to pass them in the outside, right lane, then carefully cut over and join the main flow. Up to that point, it's a nice, easy drive.

I just did my taxes using the TurboTax Web App, and while I need to confirm a couple things, it looks like I get giant whopping refunds from the state and federal governments--enough to pay for the upcoming travel in the next couple months, plus one or two months' rent.


Chris