You Know What Really Grinds My Gears? Now with 3x more gears...

[Shazam]

Originally Posted by Cappy

I truly don't get it.

sure, maybe an intersection isnt timed, so you have a button saying "i want to walk" but the walk sign should not be tied to hitting that button. it should always be on.

Most are gone, but there are still a few, which is actually really annoying because now you have to look carefully to see if it matters.

[TorqueDog]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

When I said I can feel the breeze of the car behind me I'm not kidding so maybe my wording was a little off but at best I'm in the middle straddling the lanes so it's kind of in that grey area of what's allowed vs what's safe. I've also been cut off at the middle as well where the vehicle just turns in front of me. I don't expect a car not to turn when I'm well in the other lane but some of these drivers cut things very close. We were always taught that drivers were to wait until the pedestrian crossed the intersection but it appears that may be outdated now.

Yeah, I was banking on your statement being hyperbole, but with that said, coming *that* dangerously close to a pedestrian in your car would very likely break another law anyway.

Originally Posted by fotze2

Its when it s a very large intersection it becomes silly. Like an old lady pushing a walker through 6 lanes. She isn't going to turn on a dime and start sprinting back to where you are waiting.

Suddenly, a huge gust of wind from a chinook sweeps the old lady back into your lane, and you hit her. WHAT THEN.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by TorqueDog

Yeah, I was banking on your statement being hyperbole, but with that said, coming *that* dangerously close to a pedestrian in your car would very likely break another law anyway.

I had no idea the laws let cars in the intersection after the driver crosses a lane so I gotta take the loss there. I guess I've been giving pedestrians too much leash over the years when crossing. Still I will probably wait until they are well established in the opposite lane before turning.

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by Cappy

I truly don't get it.

sure, maybe an intersection isnt timed, so you have a button saying "i want to walk" but the walk sign should not be tied to hitting that button. it should always be on.

The one I mentioned has a longer cycle if you hit the walk button. I know a few of them, like 16th ave and 6th st NW. The car triggers a super short cycle.

[Ashartus]

Originally Posted by topfiverecords

The only place they should be are places that rarely but occasionally get pedestrians so that cross streets can have a quick signal change for the one or two cars, but a pedestrian crossing would be egregiously long because it's 6-8 lanes designed for semi traffic. You don't want that long enough for pedestrians to cross every single time when there aren't any, but when there is one they need time to do so.

I don't think it is that rare, there are lots of intersections where the button changes the timing of the light to either change the light sooner or have a longer light for crossing, common when one of the roads is much busier than the other.

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by DownInFlames

It GMG that so few people honk. Half the time I’m honking at #### drivers 2 or 3 cars ahead because the people directly behind them won’t. Either they don’t think the idiot isn’t doing anything wrong or they’re ok with it. Ponderous.

Because if you honk, people freak out and go slower looking around aimlessly or slam on their brakes to ask why they were honked.

If I can avoid further inconvenience from someone, I'll honk them (ie: can go around, they're going in a diff direction etc.). But generally, honking them just makes the whole situation worse.

Last time I honked, I was perpendicular to some jackass blowing through a crosswalk where someone was crossing. They literally were a foot or two of almost clipping the pedestrian because the pedestrian was basically at the lane dividing line. 5 cars stopped in all direction, the jackass that needed to stop the most blew through. Honk caused the pedestrian to jump as the truck blew through. Dude actually slowed down and his passenger rolled down the window to give the one finger salute. Absolute entitled dumb #### with zero awareness.

[fotze2]

Originally Posted by DoubleF

Because if you honk, people freak out and go slower looking around aimlessly or slam on their brakes to ask why they were honked.

If I can avoid further inconvenience from someone, I'll honk them (ie: can go around, they're going in a diff direction etc.). But generally, honking them just makes the whole situation worse.

Last time I honked, I was perpendicular to some jackass blowing through a crosswalk where someone was crossing. They literally were a foot or two of almost clipping the pedestrian because the pedestrian was basically at the lane dividing line. 5 cars stopped in all direction, the jackass that needed to stop the most blew through. Honk caused the pedestrian to jump as the truck blew through. Dude actually slowed down and his passenger rolled down the window to give the one finger salute. Absolute entitled dumb #### with zero awareness.

I actually got pulled over in that Garrison area at 20 St 42 Ave SW in fornt of the ice creme Shoppe. I was going south and some guy going north slammed on his breaks thinking it was a stop sign so the guy behind him honked. Cop behind him waved me over to stop.

I pull over next block. He comes up. You went through the stop sign. I said there isn't a stop sign, I've driven this 1000 times. Ohhhhhha. Then why did you honk? I didn't, that was the guy in front of you honking at the guy stopping at the non-existent stop sign.

It was one of those dork british cops we have somehow felt the need to import because we apparently have a shortage of white ######s to fill the police ranks.

He apologized and sent me on my way.

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

Mattress shopping GMG. I'm capable of finding one thst feels good to me in the store, but I have no idea if I'm making a smart purchase or not. Nothing is comparable, every store stocks unique products so there is no comparison shopping, and no one seems to agree on what makes a mattress good or bad, except that there are a thousand opinions about certain brands being crap or "I've had mine for ten years and it's still great".

Which then just leads me to a compromise purchase because if I don't know what I'm doing I'm not spending $3000 plus on something, so I'll get the one I like a bit less to save 800 bucks or whatever.

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague

Mattress shopping GMG. I'm capable of finding one thst feels good to me in the store, but I have no idea if I'm making a smart purchase or not. Nothing is comparable, every store stocks unique products so there is no comparison shopping, and no one seems to agree on what makes a mattress good or bad, except that there are a thousand opinions about certain brands being crap or "I've had mine for ten years and it's still great".

Which then just leads me to a compromise purchase because if I don't know what I'm doing I'm not spending $3000 plus on something, so I'll get the one I like a bit less to save 800 bucks or whatever.

Just remember: at this point, it’s likely your death bed. What are you comfortable dying in/on, and do you want it to be able to sit you up with the press of a button for the long period pre-death where you’re not quite dead but you might as well be?

Pretty simple

[DownInFlames]

Originally Posted by DoubleF

Because if you honk, people freak out and go slower looking around aimlessly or slam on their brakes to ask why they were honked.

If I can avoid further inconvenience from someone, I'll honk them (ie: can go around, they're going in a diff direction etc.). But generally, honking them just makes the whole situation worse.

Last time I honked, I was perpendicular to some jackass blowing through a crosswalk where someone was crossing. They literally were a foot or two of almost clipping the pedestrian because the pedestrian was basically at the lane dividing line. 5 cars stopped in all direction, the jackass that needed to stop the most blew through. Honk caused the pedestrian to jump as the truck blew through. Dude actually slowed down and his passenger rolled down the window to give the one finger salute. Absolute entitled dumb #### with zero awareness.

Today it was a guy who was making a right turn from EB 42nd Ave SE onto Manhattan Rd and stopped even though he had his own lane.


You're right that honking can make things worse, and often makes the other guy get aggressive in his empty Dodge Ram.

[CliffFletcher]

Originally Posted by fotze2

Its when it s a very large intersection it becomes silly. Like an old lady pushing a walker through 6 lanes. She isn't going to turn on a dime and start sprinting back to where you are waiting.

One of the reasons to wait is cars stopped at a crosswalk present a visual cue to drivers in other lanes, including oncoming traffic. Also, it only takes about 4 extra seconds. So there’s that.

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by DownInFlames

Today it was a guy who was making a right turn from EB 42nd Ave SE onto Manhattan Rd and stopped even though he had his own lane.


You're right that honking can make things worse, and often makes the other guy get aggressive in his empty Dodge Ram.

Yeah. I was younger. At the dead of night, my buddy honked a guy in a van sitting far too long at a green (literally like 15-20 seconds) and then drove around. A few moments later, I look over and I see the dude had started chasing us screaming with his window up and shaking a C battery sized Maglite flashlight (basically a baton).

As he followed us for the next 5-10 minutes in that insane manner screaming unintelligible whatever (didn't roll down his own window), my buddy and I looked at each other discussing the fact we outnumbered him and had other stuff in the back we could use a a weapon with longer reach (snow brushes, lol). What's the worst case scenario if we confronted him or tried to talk to him.

As we got closer to home, we decided it would be best to stay away from home, pull off a few quick maneuvers and lose him. We watched him drive past 2-3 times from our hiding spot. Dude was an absolute maniac. From that night, I learned it was probably not the best to rile up people who were potentially completely and utterly unhinged. As far as I can tell, people are even crazier now after the pandemic.


If people honk me though, I just shrug or give that "what???" hand gesture. Two honks though, I like looking at them with crazy eyes and smiling and waving in an exaggerated manner. They usually #### off pretty quickly after that.

[you&me]

Originally Posted by DoubleF

If people honk me though, I just shrug or give that "what???" hand gesture. Two honks though, I like looking at them with crazy eyes and smiling and waving in an exaggerated manner. They usually #### off pretty quickly after that.

If people have honk at you once, it's probably because you're doing something wrong. Don't just give them the shrug and hand gesture; get on with driving properly.

If people have to honk at you twice, it's probably because you're a ####ing idiot and should stay off the road.

[surferguy]

If I use my horn, it’s extendo horn. It means you are an Idiot doing unsafe things and now you are gonna hear about it.

[squiggs96]

Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague

Mattress shopping GMG. I'm capable of finding one thst feels good to me in the store, but I have no idea if I'm making a smart purchase or not. Nothing is comparable, every store stocks unique products so there is no comparison shopping, and no one seems to agree on what makes a mattress good or bad, except that there are a thousand opinions about certain brands being crap or "I've had mine for ten years and it's still great".

Which then just leads me to a compromise purchase because if I don't know what I'm doing I'm not spending $3000 plus on something, so I'll get the one I like a bit less to save 800 bucks or whatever.

I have never understood why people cheap out on a mattress. You sleep on it for, hopefully, 8 hours each day, which is 1/3 of your life. A good night's sleep is imperative to performing well the next day. If you spend $3,000 on a mattress and use it for 10 years, that works out to $300 per year or $0.82 per day. That seems worth it to me for a good night's sleep. I bought a king sized Westin Heavenly bed in 2019 for about $3,500, including mattress, box spring, shipping, and taxes. It was worth every penny. If I were to buy a new mattress today I'd probably go with the Ritz Carlton version, as it's just a bit nicer.

Now, compare the mattress purchase, which you use every day, to a car. Many of the same people that won't spend money on a mattress, will have no problem spending $60,000 on a vehicle. You spend an hour or two in a vehicle each day and sometimes it just sits in front of your house for a week without moving. You have to fill it with gas, maintain it, and buy insurance.

For 2-3 months payment on that vehicle, you could get a top of the line mattress. Or, you could buy a mattress that isn't great, and you wake up with a sore back every day. You don't need the best mattress out there, but it's such a weird spot to cheap out on, with how much use it gets, and how much money gets spent/wasted elsewhere (e.g. set of golf clubs, vacation, TV, computer, art, bicycle).

[TorqueDog]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

Just remember: at this point, it’s likely your death bed. What are you comfortable dying in/on, and do you want it to be able to sit you up with the press of a button for the long period pre-death where you’re not quite dead but you might as well be?

Pretty simple

IIRC Corsi is a mid-80s kid so he's likely got at least two or three more mattresses in his future unless he's the sort to look at his phone while crossing the street. Mine is nearing 15 years old and the time to have replaced it with a new one was easily 6 or so years ago. They really only last a max of ten years and that's for spring mattresses, with other memory foam and pillow-top options running their course much sooner than that.

[ResAlien]

Originally Posted by TorqueDog

IIRC Corsi is a mid-80s kid so he's likely got at least two or three more mattresses in his future unless he's the sort to look at his phone while crossing the street. Mine is nearing 15 years old and the time to have replaced it with a new one was easily 6 or so years ago. They really only last a max of ten years and that's for spring mattresses, with other memory foam and pillow-top options running their course much sooner than that.

You misunderstand. That wasn't an observation by Pepsi, that was a promise.

[fotze2]

Originally Posted by CliffFletcher

One of the reasons to wait is cars stopped at a crosswalk present a visual cue to drivers in other lanes, including oncoming traffic. Also, it only takes about 4 extra seconds. So there’s that.

That is true is some cases for sure.

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

Originally Posted by squiggs96

I have never understood why people cheap out on a mattress. You sleep on it for, hopefully, 8 hours each day, which is 1/3 of your life. A good night's sleep is imperative to performing well the next day. If you spend $3,000 on a mattress and use it for 10 years, that works out to $300 per year or $0.82 per day. That seems worth it to me for a good night's sleep. I bought a king sized Westin Heavenly bed in 2019 for about $3,500, including mattress, box spring, shipping, and taxes. It was worth every penny. If I were to buy a new mattress today I'd probably go with the Ritz Carlton version, as it's just a bit nicer.

I completely agree with you about it being a purchase worth spending money on, and I'd be happy to do it, if only the process could inspire me with more confidence that I'm actually getting the right thing for my $3000. You can go and lay on a mattress for 5 minutes in a store, and then narrow it down to a few options across a couple of stores and lay on them for 15 minutes, but that's not going to tell you how it'll perform over the course of six weeks, let alone 3 years, let alone (hopefully) 8-10 years of service. All that will do is tell you if this mattress is too soft for your preference.

1. No store that sells mattresses sells the same models as any other store in Canada - sleep country, the brick, ashley, etc, may sell the same brands (Sealy, Kingsdown, Stearns & Foster, Beautyrest etc) but not the same models. There is no way to comparison shop. The guys at mattress stores who are giving you their opinions are not exactly dishonest for the most part but also aren't really hiding the fact that they're motivated to sell the thing you're laying on to you as quickly as possible so you have to take their advice with a very large grain of salt.
2. Every one of those brands refuses any semblance of transparency about what the density of the foam they use or what materials are being used or the design of literally anything, so you have to guess about quality. They tell you the coil count, but in some cases that's inflated by micro-coils, and even the salesmen will tell you that after a certain point (i.e. above the cheap stuff) coil count is basically irrelevant and if you go too high the springs get smaller and cost you longevity... As far as I can tell the best indication available to the average consumer about whether a particular mattress is well made is how much it weighs. That's insane.
3. Then you go online, and mattress review sites are CLEARLY bought and paid for by certain makers, to a point where different sites will simply trash different brands and brazenly say "We recommend you buy a Logan & Cove / Douglas / etc etc instead, it's the very bestest best!"
4. Then you read consumer reviews, and literally EVERY MATTRESS company or product you can find a decent sample of reviews about has a proportion of them that say "this thing started sagging in 6 weeks, what a piece of trash!" and you cannot tell if they simply misused it.
5. Then you look on forums or subreddits and the like to get input and basically all of them have advice that is inapplicable because the American mattress market is apparently totally different from ours, and because they're basically all niche promoters of niche brands you can't even buy up here.
6. Then you look into warranties and the things they cover in terms of beds sagging or shortening their lifespan are so subjective that there's no reason to be optimistic you could ever actually get a claim to go through.
7. And on top of all of THAT, most of the things you buy here are made in the same couple of production facilities in Calgary and Edmonton, so there's not even necessarily a difference.

So yes, I would 100% be willing to shell out for the right mattress if I actually had any confidence that doing so guaranteed results. But it's a crap shoot. You can spend $5000 on something and have it turn to trash within 18 months. In that circumstance, it makes more sense to go in the mid range (i.e., the 1500-2500 range) and buy twice if your roll of the dice comes up badly.

What we actually ended up doing is buying the hgihest-end return model / floor model we could find in a bed that works for both of us, and figuring that if it doesn't work out we can throw it in the spare bedroom and try again since we got a good price on it. Which is not exactly where you want to be after making a purchase like that, but I would bet that it's a pretty common one.

Originally Posted by TorqueDog

Mine is nearing 15 years old and the time to have replaced it with a new one was easily 6 or so years ago. They really only last a max of ten years and that's for spring mattresses, with other memory foam and pillow-top options running their course much sooner than that.

Yeah I'm a few years overdue on this as well, but it's because mattress shopping sucks so I put it off for as long as possible.

Originally Posted by ResAlien

You misunderstand. That wasn't an observation by Pepsi, that was a promise.

Unfortunately for me if Pepsi ever gets good at geoguessr he can easily find me and take me out given all the evidence I've posted in the Home Improvement thread about where I'll be. I suspect that's why he tried to get me to install a salmon coloured door... I'd be a lot more concerned if it was someone like Locke, though, to be honest.

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by you&me

If people have honk at you once, it's probably because you're doing something wrong. Don't just give them the shrug and hand gesture; get on with driving properly.

If people have to honk at you twice, it's probably because you're a ####ing idiot and should stay off the road.

I dunno man. If I'm doing something dumb, I know when I deserve to be honked. Some people honk for inexplicable reasons. I presume I have enough self awareness and intelligence for knowing when I'm wrong and when someone else is just being unreasonable. Have I been honked appropriately a few times? Sure. I'll do the "my bad wave" and continue driving properly.

I frequently shrug at people honking when going below 40 kmph/playground or 60 kmph construction zones or at a full stop. I guess my existence means I'm an idiot and should stay off the road? I'm not driving speed limit in broad daylight. WTF you want from me?

I once got long honked by someone literally blowing a 4 way stop. I'm full stopped, I start rolling to turn and some lady 10-20 feet from the stop sign starts laying the horn and blows through the 4 way stop going speed limit. Blasted horn instead of touching brakes once. Why wouldn't I give a wtf you doing shrug?

I've been honked a few times when passing people who are going below the speed limit and floating close to the line. They then speed up and start honking. I didn't honk them, so I guess I hurt their ego by driving faster than they could handle. Why wouldn't I give him a "why you hefta be mad" shrug?

I get honked by people when I stop at a crosswalk with a pedestrian crossing. So I shrug. WTF am I supposed to do, hit them?

Last week, I got honked at Beacon hell when some guy decided to go into the oncoming lane, where I was, to try and go around someone he deemed slow rolling over the speed bump. He then honked me when he was the one who went over the yellow line in the oncoming lane. Especially this scenario, why wouldn't I give an Obama shrug? He's facing oncoming traffic.

I got honked like crazy by some guy in a truck who was mad I was driving speed limit with others in a construction zone. He drove over pylons to go around us. I don't think I'm wrong for that one either.