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An interesting week.

Joined
Nov 17, 2005
Messages
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Location
Houston, TX
First Name
Anthony
Last Name
Martinez
Last week marked my first week as an engineering (mechanical) student in some eight years. That was interesting enough in itself. First off, there are a LOT of women studying engineering now. This was absolutely not the case in 2001. I like that change, even if I'm comparatively ancient where these young ladies are concerned. Secondly, taking Calculus again has shown how little I've actually used anything more complex than basic arithmetic in the last eight years. Relearning Algebra, and Trigonometry has been fun. If you've not ever checked out Wolfram Alpha you should. It's an excellent resource for this sort of thing.

Anyhow, that's hardly related to motorcycling so I suppose I should get to the point. I'm attending the University of Houston, but living (for now) out in Katy with my parents. My classes are at the ever undesirable hour of 0800. All you Houstonians know what that means. I leave the house no later than 0630 to account for, well, Houston.

Motorcycle parking permits at UofH are free, though spaces available for motorcycles are quite limited. I suppose the one desirable thing about having 0800 classes are the empty motorcycle lots at the time I arrive on campus. Driving my truck 360mi a week for school, would be what some might call "cost-prohibitive" so I ride the FJR every day, rain or shine. Lucky for me the Katy Tollway is in HOV status when I leave, and often when I come back. That lets me avoid about 20 miles of insanity each way.

The interesting stuff begins when I exit the relative safety of the tollway. I am glad the FJR has brakes capable of stopping the beast as quickly as it can, and an engine capable of going from legal to warp speeds almost instantaneously. Commuting on a motorcycle in Houston is probably the least sane thing I've done in my life thus far. Yes, that includes enlisting the day before a ground invasion. I do not, in any way, enjoy moments spent on I-45 going through downtown Houston. It is almost as if people throw their brains out the windows immediately upon crossing I-10 if headed south on I-45, and US59/TX288 if headed north. Mind boggling at all daylight hours.

Things I've dodged in the past week:

  • Bicycle
  • Tread of 18-wheeler tire
  • rolling chair
  • F450
  • Porsche Cayman S
  • Audi S5
  • Ford Fiesta (surprised to see that one on the road still)
  • Case of Budwieser

Tomorrow, bright and early, I do it again.
 
Shouldn't this be in the prayer request section? :eek2:


Hang in there, Ant! Good luck with the schooling.
 
I feel for you Mack; I commuted from The Woodlands to I-10 / Bunker Hill for a while. I finally wised up and stuck to the car.
 
Careful out there. I-45 is dangerous.

I recently encountered a pallet, an extendable ladder, and and 18 wheeler tire exploded all over the road.
 
For Bud? Oh heavens no. If I'd been in my truck I probably would have hit it on purpose to keep anyone else from ingesting that gut rot. Good beer only. The entire InBev catalog may have two beers in it worth consuming, and Budweiser ain't one of them!
 
For Bud? !

Obviously the concept of buddy beer is a new to you

Your're drinking you fav premium (insert prefered beverage here) and your buddy or neighbour comes over. Hey doode wanna brew? gee this is my last (insert) here how about a bud...:lol2:
 
Feel ya Mack on the idiot drivers and dodging stuff on that part of I45 but it continues all the way to NASA rd1 I was commuting down to there from up near Willowbrook on HWY249 for 6 months when I first moved to Houston. 54 miles each way of evasive action.. and I don't ride a bike with good brakes or warp acceleration. But the HOV lanes on 45 did offer some sort of protection, however I did get passed in the HOV lane one morning while I was going 70 was forced aside and an *****hole in a mercedes cl55 amg thought he was a more important person then I was to take up the whole (single) lane HOV..:eek2:
But now I work 3 miles from home.. and commute is far less exciting

stay safe out there
 
Right now i'm attending community college for the same reason.. to attain my engineering degree.. right now i'm in my second year. calculus around the corner.. good to know i wont necessarily need it that often after college.. But instead of highways, i think i face a threat just as dangerous commuting to my 0800 classes.. FM 1960. Taking 1960 from basically willowbrook mall to just past 45, going to Lonestar north harris.. it's only about 15 miles each way, but 1960 has so many other dangers.. including grandmothers, grandfathers who just love to turn out infront of people and hit the accelerator up to thier maximum speed of 25 on the way to morning buffet. with the added disadvantage of stop lights.. while in the morning looking directly sun-ward.. most people dont realize that that light that you're stopping at is red and will go right through you. and no HOV either..
 
Obviously the concept of buddy beer is a new to you

Your're drinking you fav premium (insert prefered beverage here) and your buddy or neighbour comes over. Hey doode wanna brew? gee this is my last (insert) here how about a bud...:lol2:

bingo! keep bud in regular fridge so when good for nothing moochers show up that is what they find. keep good stuff in hidden mini fridge in garage.

http://www-garagefridge-com.netsolads.com/?keywords=toolbox%20fridge&creative=2549728298&adGroup=12386
 
Obviously the concept of buddy beer is a new to you

Your're drinking you fav premium (insert prefered beverage here) and your buddy or neighbour comes over. Hey doode wanna brew? gee this is my last (insert) here how about a bud...:lol2:

The friends that feel comfortable enough to look in my fridge for beer wouldn't drink Bud if it were in their either. They'd probably ask if I was thinking of killing myself or something to that nature.

Feel ya Mack on the idiot drivers and dodging stuff on that part of I45 but it continues all the way to NASA rd1 I was commuting down to there from up near Willowbrook on HWY249 for 6 months when I first moved to Houston. 54 miles each way of evasive action.. and I don't ride a bike with good brakes or warp acceleration. But the HOV lanes on 45 did offer some sort of protection, however I did get passed in the HOV lane one morning while I was going 70 was forced aside and an *****hole in a mercedes cl55 amg thought he was a more important person then I was to take up the whole (single) lane HOV..:eek2:
But now I work 3 miles from home.. and commute is far less exciting

stay safe out there

I rarely make it far enough south to notice the traffic out that far, it certainly opens up in terms of flow as soon as I pass the 288 exit, and stays that way until at least Spur 5. Thankfully, that's as far as I need!

Right now i'm attending community college for the same reason.. to attain my engineering degree.. right now i'm in my second year. calculus around the corner.. good to know i wont necessarily need it that often after college.. But instead of highways, i think i face a threat just as dangerous commuting to my 0800 classes.. FM 1960. Taking 1960 from basically willowbrook mall to just past 45, going to Lonestar north harris.. it's only about 15 miles each way, but 1960 has so many other dangers.. including grandmothers, grandfathers who just love to turn out infront of people and hit the accelerator up to thier maximum speed of 25 on the way to morning buffet. with the added disadvantage of stop lights.. while in the morning looking directly sun-ward.. most people dont realize that that light that you're stopping at is red and will go right through you. and no HOV either..

Just make sure you keep up with the math while you're still in. If you don't understand the Calculus well enough to explain it while you're learning the science, you don't understand the science either. It's all coming back to me now, but I've had to work harder at it than I did many years ago when I was doing this the first time.

bingo! keep bud in regular fridge so when good for nothing moochers show up that is what they find. keep good stuff in hidden mini fridge in garage.

http://www-garagefridge-com.netsolads.com/?keywords=toolbox%20fridge&creative=2549728298&adGroup=12386

What actually started my beer snobbery were the moochers in the Army that'd come in and say "hey I'm gonna grab a beer." I started drinking darker beers and noticed that the moochers would still come by, but be scared by the absence of "regular" beer. The more exotic (to them) the beer, the quicker they'd shut the door. The same held true at Texas State last year, unless I had my fellow beer snob friends over. Of course, if that was the case they typically brought at least two different six packs to do a beer tasting marathon.

Nope, ain't keepin' no gut rot in my fridge. Maybe Lone Star, because if I'm going to drink an American Lager it might as well be a Texas brew - and if that's the case I'm probably headed for the river to float (and couldn't find any Dale's Pale Ale).
 
Another I 45 commuter here, but the Dakar and using the HOV makes short order of my journey from Conroe to Bellaire. It doesn't hurt that it generally is only 3 days a week that i have to venture there. No need for an Ipod enroute, some of the other driver's antics are entertaiing enough :eek2:
 
Southwest Freeway for me, every work day. But I am blessed in that I can get on the HOV lane as soon as I get on the Freeway (out in Fort Bend County) and it exits about 3 blocks from my office.
 
You describe exactly the reasons I quit commuting in DFW, I just couldn't justify the risk of bodily harm to save a few bucks on the freeway with the idiots I had to share the road with.

Don't get me wrong, I love riding but like you said.... insanity.
 
I've felt your pain. i tried going to UH for one semester as an engineering student after I go out of the army. I hated it. It was more impersonal than the army and on orientation day, we were told that there would be no time for any extracurricular activities for the next 4 years with the 16 hour days we would be putting in as students. I was living with mom only 10 miles from campus, and living miles from base in the army; with little in the way of traffic had spoiled me. It took a minimum of 1 hour to commute to campus, more on bad days.

In my calculus class, we would never finish queries about the previous assignment before the next was assigned and class dismissed.

I decided after that, that getting out into the workforce was a priority. The army had shown me that there were alternatives to urban warfare, so I went to TSTC (then TSTI) in waco instead to get hands on experience.

Tuition was half of UH, and as promised on the first day we had hands-on training, and 18 months later I had a degree and job.

Only problem was living in waco, but if you happen to be a deeply religious right wing wacko you should get along fine with the natives.

P.S. Try to avoid living in hewitt if you can.
 
Only problem was living in waco, but if you happen to be a deeply religious right wing wacko you should get along fine with the natives.

P.S. Try to avoid living in hewitt if you can.


Hey Eric, I grew up down there in wacky Waco. Joined the Marines in `61 and vowed never to live there again. Moved to Houston after I got out of the Corps, but had relatives in wackytown that I would visit from time to time. After living in Houston, visiting Waco was like stepping back into the fifties. I think most Wacoans want it to stay there. Pace is way too slow for me.
 
I decided after that, that getting out into the workforce was a priority. The army had shown me that there were alternatives to urban warfare, so I went to TSTC (then TSTI) in waco instead to get hands on experience.

Tuition was half of UH, and as promised on the first day we had hands-on training, and 18 months later I had a degree and job.

Only problem was living in waco, but if you happen to be a deeply religious right wing wacko you should get along fine with the natives.

P.S. Try to avoid living in hewitt if you can.
I went to TSTI. Aviation Maintenance.:thumb:
Hey, I liked living in Waco. Had everything the big city's had but without all the traffic and noise!!!!!
 
I commute every day on my bike from Katy to downtown Houston during rush hour. I have had professional drag racers asking me if I'm insane. The HOV is wonderful, but outside of that, it's like traveling through the depths of Hades. People are just itching for a reason to slam on their brakes. Since school has started, the traffic has quadrupled and I would be 30 minutes late to work if I didn't use a generous amount of lane sharing.
 
My niece is starting to ride. I just finished rebuilding her Buell Blast (it was a very low mileage, yet abused bike). I took her out so I could see her "in action". I stopped at an empty parking lot and she got some lessons from her uncle. I had her promise me she would practice her riding skills a lot more before taking the bike out on the major roads of Houston where she lives. Her mom and dad (my brother) are going to kill me should anything happen to her on the roads down there in Houston. As an experienced rider, I've always had to be on my top game. I can't imagine being an novice rider there. This post bears that out.

Wayne
 
I went to TSTI. Aviation Maintenance.:thumb:
Hey, I liked living in Waco. Had everything the big city's had but without all the traffic and noise!!!!!

I think Waco has changed a lot since my sister moved there in the early 80's. Today when we go visit my mom, who moved to Hewitt two years ago -- after 20+ years in Florida, or my sister in Waco, I think it's turned into quite the small city. Way beyond what it use to be back in the 80's.

Wayne
 
I've felt your pain. i tried going to UH for one semester as an engineering student after I go out of the army. I hated it. It was more impersonal than the army and on orientation day, we were told that there would be no time for any extracurricular activities for the next 4 years with the 16 hour days we would be putting in as students. I was living with mom only 10 miles from campus, and living miles from base in the army; with little in the way of traffic had spoiled me. It took a minimum of 1 hour to commute to campus, more on bad days.

In my calculus class, we would never finish queries about the previous assignment before the next was assigned and class dismissed.

I decided after that, that getting out into the workforce was a priority. The army had shown me that there were alternatives to urban warfare, so I went to TSTC (then TSTI) in waco instead to get hands on experience.

Tuition was half of UH, and as promised on the first day we had hands-on training, and 18 months later I had a degree and job.

Only problem was living in waco, but if you happen to be a deeply religious right wing wacko you should get along fine with the natives.

P.S. Try to avoid living in hewitt if you can.

Yeah, I feel sorry for the majority of my fellow classmates. They a) lack the discipline required to study properly, and b) have to take far heavier course loads than I if they wish to graduate in 4-5yrs. Luckily, I'm already finished with all the core classes they stack in with the engineering work, so I'll be taking roughly half the load all the way through graduation.

jbobiccus - I left the house at 0730 this morning. The latest I've left yet. I still made it to UofH in under an hour. If I leave at my usual 0630, I really only encounter a bit of traffic as I merge onto I-45S. It's coming home in the afternoons on Monday that I've deemed completely pointless. My Chemistry lab lets out at 1700, and I could probably run from UofH to Grand Parkway faster than I can drive it at that time. I just ride to a friend's place in the Medical District and hang out there until 2000 or so and enjoy a cool and uneventful ride home.

wbrisett - Good advice to the niece.
 
It's coming home in the afternoons on Monday that I've deemed completely pointless. My Chemistry lab lets out at 1700, and I could probably run from UofH to Grand Parkway faster than I can drive it at that time. I just ride to a friend's place in the Medical District and hang out there until 2000 or so and enjoy a cool and uneventful ride home.

Have you tried 59 to Grand Parkway and then Grand Parkway to I-10? I never have any problems making it from the Montrose to home in New Territory, whether I leave at 1730 or 1900.
 
Darn you guys and your military time. How dare you make me think for half a second longer.
 
Have you tried 59 to Grand Parkway and then Grand Parkway to I-10? I never have any problems making it from the Montrose to home in New Territory, whether I leave at 1730 or 1900.

I've done it once, still ran into a lot of traffic around 59 and 610, and again at 59 and 6. I don't mind hangin' out w/ Heather though, so it's not really a problem :)

Darn you guys and your military time. How dare you make me think for half a second longer.

I actually started using 24hr time long before the idea to enlist even popped into my head, like.. a decade before!
 
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