All Narfed Up photography and words by Bryan Villarin

California drivers recently rushed to get Bluetooth and other hands-free phone equipment due to a circulating email announcing that new hands-free cell phone laws would be going into effect in the state as of today. Turns out that they have another year to worry about it; California is indeed enacting a ban on cell phone use while driving but the ban doesn’t go into effect until July 1^st … of 2008. When it does happen, it’ll make California the 4^th state (and 5^th area, counting D.C.) to implement the ban; 35 other states are also considering it.

Source: Broadband Reports

Also related, the Snopes.com 2007 California Traffic Laws debunked.

This morning, I was driving my usual route to work on Normandie Ave. Before Beverly Blvd, a maniac driver in a dark green Land Rover was speeding back and forth between slower cars. At one point, he almost changed lanes into a parked car! I did nothing, except to pray for everyone else’s safety in the wake of his path.

When he got a car ahead of me, he cut off a BMW in front of me and got honked at. The Land Rover stopped at the intersection of Normandie Ave and 2^nd St, while the light was still green. I had to stop right behind the BMW and watch the driver of the Land Rover got out of his SUV and proceed to yell profanities at the driver of the BMW, right at the driver’s side window. (My window was up, so I couldn’t hear what he yelled.)

He was a Caucasian with brown hair, wearing black sunglasses, in his mid-20s. It was probably 5-10 seconds of ferocity. Then, he got back into his SUV — but not before giving the finger — and sped away.

One witness was a pedestrian at the crosswalk and the rest were drivers. I couldn’t see the license plate of the Land Rover, especially because at the incident, the BMW was immediately behind him. At Normandie Ave and 3^rd St, he went into the small shopping plaza to turn right, instead of waiting at the red light.

I wished I had a telephoto lens on my camera. Maybe I could’ve gotten out of my car while he was stopped to take a picture. I know I could’ve taken a picture while he was yelling at the guy, but I just couldn’t believe what was happening.

I dialed “911″ and almost pressed “Send,” but I couldn’t do it. I didn’t have enough information. I’m not sure if the BMW got his license plate, or even called the police. I wonder if anybody did.

What do you do?

You’ll laugh at me, then I’ll cry — but I deserve it.

From The Grove (in L.A.), I went the wrong way from the directions I printed out. They showed me from home to The Grove, but I didn’t print any for the return trip.

On Santa Monica Blvd., I drove West instead of East. I wanted I-10 East. Instead, I hit I-405 and went North. Had I drove South, I would’ve hit I-10 East just fine.

• My freeway route: Santa Monica Blvd (2 West) > 405 North > 101 South > 134 East > 210 East
• Quicker route: Santa Monica Blvd (2 East) > 101 South > 10 East

I’ll post a highlighted route from Google Maps, but I need a nap right now. I know it’s 7pm. Oh well. For now, look at it yourself!

If I had my way, I’d have signs posted on main streets that indicate where the freeways are. (GPS systems aren’t ubiquitous yet!) Instead, they’re posted right when you see the freeway. That’s convenient for those who don’t know the area that well. (Sarcasm brought to you by Me.)

Granted, I should have stopped to ask for directions. But, it’s me. At least it’s Saturday, and I’m an idiot!

Was that pretty funny, or just plain sad?

Photo by Trevor DeVincenzi

Since officially starting a part-time business last December (2006), I didn’t realize until a few months afterwards that you can use that as a tax write-off. (I don’t know the politically-correct term.)

Recently, I’ve been writing the odometer reading before and after business-related drives on index cards. Then, I enter it into a memo — using Palm Desktop — in comma-delimited form. Lame.

Lifehacker wrote about BizMile in April 2007, and I haven’t tried it yet.

Are there any other ones you love, or do you just use a spreadsheet?

Before I go somewhere that requires freeways, I’ll now be using Sigalert’s Route Retriever (Beta) to see the fastest way to get there. The site seems really quick, too!

Note: Sigalert is California-based.