>>>>>>>I have just been advised for about the 7th time to leave and UT and am finally going to heed it. It's not a UT problem, it's a Mike problem. Whiling away the hours in chatter is not a good use of my time. Most of you are fine and it's been a pleasant pastime. For me it is just not healthy. I have drinking and depression problems that have not gone away and need to focus on that. So for once in my life I am going to listen to reason.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>Michel, please shut me down for my own good. I will be glad to talk to anyone, and I will not do so drunk.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>Mike
>>>>>>>mbeane@inbox.com
>>>>>>>847-707-6123 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting              847-707-6123      end_of_the_skype_highlighting
>>>>>>>847-270-0301
>>>>>>
>>>>>>Good luck. Become a C# guru and crank up your Strataframe !
>>>>>
>>>>>Thanks for the good wishes.
>>>>>
>>>>>I have changed my mind. Michel, please consider my request to be blocked dropped. (Can someone please forward this message to him? I can't seem to find a Contact Us link). I can control myself. I definitely plan to keep a very low profile in the chatter threads, at least the political ones. It's kind of a waste anyway, isn't it? Our positions are all so well known all you have to see is the thread title and the name of the poster and you know about what they're going to say. I do, however, want to keep access to the .NET and SQL Server sections.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>Ummmmhhhhh
>>>>
>>>>Its a film.
>>>>
>>>>Its three words.
>>>>
>>>>I know. Its The Long Goodbye
>>>>
>>>>Hey Mike
>>>>
>>>>I just fitted one of those little trip computers on my daughters bike. I'm going to get one for myself. Speed and distance etc. I may be really sad and keep a log. :-)
>>>
>>>Not as sad as me. I've got a Garmin 705. Not just the simple stuff like average speed. I get
>>>Cadence, Gradient, Total Ascent, Total Descent, Calories burnt, ETA at destination, Elevation, Heart monitor and goodness knows what else. Usual SatNav stuff and it will later show the route on Google Earth.
>>>
>>>Only used the heart monitor once to see if it worked......
>>
>>Don't steer off the road watching all those monitors ;-)
>One page has a little arrow pointing in the direction you should go. You can ride with your head down and will only very rarely veer onto the wrong side of the road :-}

You know the stuff better than I do but that doesn't sound like a chance I would want to take ;-)

It has gotten to be a fairly big topic here in the past year or so about drivers (cars, trucks even more so) talking on their cell phones or texting while driving. The statistics are staggering. A car driver talking on the cell phone -- sorry, the mobile -- is 7 times more likely to get in an accident. Texting is worse, and driving a huge truck -- sorry, lorry -- while doing either one is worse yet. But you still see people doing it all the time. My guesstimate is any time you encounter another driver doing something exceptionally stupid or dangerous you get a look at them and there the phone is to their ear, chattering away. Texting is a particular problem with young drivers, who live in a world where texting is a more preferred form of conversation than doing something as old fashioned as speaking into a telephone. An increasing number of U.S. locations have made it illegal to do either thing but it is still common. "Drive defensively" is an increasingly true cliche.