Lessons Learned in the First 22 days of 2008

So its been a few days... or weeks... or months since the last post. But its a new year and one of my many new years resolutions is to become a posting machine. But early on into 2008 I have had what many might consider a year's worth of lessons learned. I will highlight a few here:

1. It's winter. Which means its cold. Which means sometimes, it snows. Which means drivers in the Metropolitan DC area are likely to win the award for worlds worst winter drivers once again. Listen, I get it. We aren't in Colorodo, or Canada etc. But lets take a few steps towards the understanding that yes, even here in the mid-Atlantic it will snow a couple times a year. But 2-4 inches of snow does not, and should not necessitate the world coming to and end. I mean seriously, roads shut down, cars in the ditch, people driving 10 MPH with their 4-ways on. Pull it together; drive slower (but not that slow), realize that having 4x4 does not help you stop any faster and perhaps most importantly, take a look at the northern 1/3 of the US who gets plenty of 2-4 inch "storms" and manage to continue to function, its not rocket science.
   
2. When it comes to Craigslist, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Recently, I purchased a mountain bike off craigslist. I noticed the bike and thought to myself "wow, what a deal this is like a $1500 and they are only asking $300". I had some thoughts that it might be stolen, or "hot" if you are as familiar with street lingo as I am, but as I pulled up to a very nice condo in the 'burbs I thought that perhaps this lovely mother and son who sold me the bike really just didn't need the $$$. So I took it for a spin and happily forked over $300. Long story short, I got the bike home only to find all the serial numbers had been filed off.... But on the bright side, my street cred has been drastically increased now that I own stolen goods.
3. People who are not on fire should not be extinguished. Have you ever wondered to yourself, what would happen if I shot a fire extinguisher off at one of my friends? Yeah I know, haven't we all. But as the lucky recipient of a shot to the face with a fire extinguisher I can tell you it is a bad idea for a number of reasons: A. People do not like when you put out a non-existent fire in their house during a party. In fact, they seem to hate it. B. When you deploy said fire extinguisher, dust, smoke and powder will go everywhere. People will still be pissed, even if you were the recipient of said extinguishing. C. Fire extinguishers are fucking expensive, like $140 dollars. All that said as the person would had to shower to rid himself of said extinguishing, as opposed to the person who had to fork over $140 dollars, it was totally worth it.