random thoughts

(My dream house at Christmastime)

A few years ago, Glynn and spent a night in Astoria, OR during the Christmas holidays. The main street of the downtown area was festively decorated like a downtown should be during the holidays with garlands draped across the street, adorned with a large red bell and twinkling with lights. Over sized, plastic candy canes were mounted on light poles and Christmas carols were heard playing over a loud speaker.

not Astoria - a random town in Sweden

somewhere in Maryland

Cartier's: NYC

Anytown, USA

The pinnacle of quintessential downtown perfection: Main St., Disneyland

Sadly, although holiday light displays are still present, the LED revolution has all but obliterated the warm, happy atmosphere of many downtowns across America. This technology apparently helps reduce energy costs. Beneficial, yet. Festive and fuzzy? Absolutely not. The color emitted from these lights is cold and harsh.



While driving through downtown Olympia last night I sadly observed the stark, extra-terrestrial white/blue glow emitting from giant snowflakes attached to street lamps. It feels like the inside of a hospital operating room. It's a sad, sad day....

....which has absolutely nothing to do with my next topic.

The governing assemblies of Thurston county have deemed it vital to traffic safety to convert major intersections into round-abouts. Initially I was vehemently opposed to the idea. However since being forced to utilize them, I grudgingly concur that they do seem to enhance the flow of traffic (unless one is hit by an idiot who is texting on her cell phone while driving, thus clogging the round-about with a fender bender).

My favorite aspect of our new round-about paradigm is that tingling bolt of power that surges through me when I have the right-of-way in the round-about forcing oncoming cars to pause and merge into traffic behind me. I've got the power!