nothing you have to say can be that important

One of Dan's sisters was hit from behind and pushed into oncoming traffic when driving home from work a while ago. No one was hurt, but someone coming from the opposite direction had to drive into a field to avoid a collision.

My office mate's husband was in a similar accident a couple of months ago. He was the passenger in a car waiting at a red light when they were hit hard from behind and pushed into the intersection. No one was seriously injured, but my friend was bruised and hurt when he was thrown first forward, and then back. He's a big guy. The car seat broke from the impact of his weight. They were lucky no other cars were traveling through the intersection at the time.

Neither of the drivers hitting my friends from behind had time to brake. They didn't even engage their brakes. Why? They were both busy texting.

Tonight when Dan and I were driving to San Jose we noticed an SUV swerving and straddling two lanes on the onramp to 280. As we passed the car I turned around to see what was going on.

The driver was a guy, around 60, and he was operating a smart phone with both of his hands, looking down at it.

He was steering with his knees. He was going 50 mph.

it took for ever to get home the other night

thursday, 1pm

The other day I stopped by 7-11 on my way to work to get some gum. As I parked I noticed a man getting out of his car next to me. I pegged him as some sort of business guy: Dress pants, dress shoes, shirt and tie.

We walked into the store. He headed for the refrigerated section, I for the gum aisle.

We reached the check-out line at the same time. He was getting orange juice and breath mints. Healthy habits, I thought.

Then I realized that there was an air of booze and cigarettes around him. He smelled like a bar.

He probably keeps the vodka in the car.