driving fun

Dear City of Pittsburgh,

I'm not unreasonable; I don't expect pristine roads while snow is actually falling. But you've known this was coming for days, and it's not off hours, and Forbes Avenue is kind of a major road (to say nothing of the lesser roads). I really expected to see some evidence of plowing or salting this morning.

No love,
Monica

Dear driver from Ohio,

You should be familiar with the white fluffy stuff from back home. No one else on the highway is having difficulty maintaining the posted minimum speed of 40mph. If you really think that's twice what's safe, could you at least have the decency to stop swerving between lanes and slamming on your brakes at every little twitter of fear? And maybe consider getting off at the next exit and taking local roads?

But hey, at least I know my horn works now.

What is the law (and etiquette, for that matter) concerning stopping for accidents you witness but aren't in? Ever since I was run down by someone speeding through a red light, and not one of the several witnesses stopped to support my story (or see if I was ok -- I was thrown several feet), I've tried to stop if I actually see the accident and I can. I always stop if I see clear fault (and especially if I think the underdog is going to take the hit unfairly, like when the bicyclist or pedestrian really was being stupid), or if anyone seems to be injured. (Well, unless police or an ambulance just happen to be there...) But I didn't stop for either of the two fender-benders I saw on my way to work today, because they looked minor and what would be the point? It got me wondering about what my obligations are in all of these cases, from fender-benders up to major squishings, in light of my observation that no one else ever seems to stop. Does everyone just assume that the insurance companies, police, and ambulance crew will work it out, and your testimony or other help is irrelevant?

some updates

I do have meatier stuff I want to write about, but things are a little hectic. Sorry I'm not being that interesting right now.

Plans continue for the Purim feast in two and a half weeks. I expect we'll get a bunch more reservations at tomorrow night's meeting. I did a test run of one of the looks-good-but-haven't-eaten-it recipes tonight, and it passed. I'm pretty happy with the way the menu is shaping up. I'm also grateful for the offers of help I've received.

Apropos of Purim (but not this event), I recommend megillah2a to anyone who's either following the Daf Yomi cycle or just interested in some of the talmud's coverage of Purim.

Our associate rabbi is starting a beginners' talmud class. Good! It's during the work day -- not so good for me, but if it works for others, I'm glad. I hope someday to take an evening class from him.

The person signed up to read torah this Shabbat fell ill, and I've been tapped to pull together something. I'll probably read rather than chant because that's faster to prepare, and everyone's ok with a partial reading given the circumstances. A couple years ago I wouldn't have been capable of pulling something together at almost the last minute, so that's progress! (Last time I got one not-too-long aliya up to speed (with chanting) in about six hours of work, and then it was just maintenance from there. I remember when it took six weeks.)

I received a call from my vet's office today. I had the last two appointments of the day, and gee the snow and sleet are looking bad, and if I wanted to reschedule they just wanted to let me know that that would be ok... yeah, I can read between those lines. :-) It's just routine checkups, so I suggested we let the vet and technicians go home a little early.