Goodbye Paseo, Hello Christopher S. Bond

Road construction on the 29/35 interchange super "We're Gonna Make Nikki's Commute Hell for Three Years" project is starting on April 21st. They're going to start restriping lanes, putting up barriers/retaining walls, paving, and moving traffic all around. (I got all this information at http://kcicon.com/)


You see, MoDOT must have found out that I moved or something. When I first came here they decided to renovate the I-435 bridge over the Missouri River because they knew that's how I got to work. And, being the rockstar that I am, I suppose they wanted to make my commute super nice. However, they made it really annoying for quite a while during the construction phase of the project. But, sure enough, my commute was pretty great after they were done.

Well, since I moved, I don't use I-435 anymore. MoDOT must have found out. And so... being the rockstar that I am, I suppose they want to make my commute super nice... again. Project completion is set for summer of 2011. This is a much bigger project... And will be annoying for a much longer time. (Like a good three years.)

Plans are to widen the road to six lanes, build a new cable-stayed bridge (expandable to eight lanes and capable of accommodating a future bicycle/pedestrian facility) just east of the existing Paseo Bridge, and then tear down the Paseo. Apparently, it's going to look something like this:


I'm thrilled that this is happening. It really needs to because the roads just can't handle the traffic volume. I'm in traffic every morning for a very short amount of time. You see, traffic backs up long before I get on I-35, but I enter the road at the busiest spot: at I-35 and Armour 210. (Mostly to avoid the traffic beforehand.)

This is the first interchange they're going to reconstruct. My entrance ramp is closing on May 12 and won't open again until late summer. (The off ramp to 210 from 35 is staying closed for a full 12 months.) They have an alternate route set up, however, I think that the traffic will be horrible there and it may be impossible to merge onto I-35. We'll see. Oh, also, they're adding ANOTHER light on 210 for all of this. As if there weren't already enough lights on 210 right there. There's three in a row!

I might start driving down Route 9 into the city and getting on 71 south from there, although there's a ton of construction downtown right now, too. And they're offering that up as an alternate route, along with Antioch and Prather, which I currently use. So, no matter which way we slice it, Nikki's commute is going to be hell for the next three years. Hooray! Those MoDOT people should be really happy to know they're doing such a good job.

I guess I could always try getting on 35 right at Antioch and seeing what happens...

But really, what this all boils down to is that I'm going to have to start leaving my house before 7:30am. For three years. Which means getting up earlier. For over three years. Probably starting April 21st.

Siiiiiiiigh. It's hard enough already! This better be the coolest bridge, ever, when it's finished. And make my commute less than 20 minutes. At any time of the day. And it should change the speed limit to 65 mph.

And increase the resale value of my home.

Where IS my flying Jetsons car, anyway?


End Blog.

Nonessential Personnel

I woke up to a snow/sleet/freezing rain mess this morning. I didn't want to drive into work, but I'm a good employee, so off I went. I spun the tires a few times and had to drop the Escape down into a lower gear twice, but I made it safe and sound.

However, about 10 minutes into my commute, I saw this on 35 south right after the entrance ramp from 210 west.

It's an eighteen wheeler on its side with an SUV resting against a set of its tires... facing the wrong way. I'm not quite sure how it happened, but EVERYONE slowed down to look at it. I even had enough time to take this wonderful photo. Camera phones are spiffy.

After arriving at work, they sent us home five hours later. All department members deemed "Nonessential Personnel" were allowed to leave. (That's me.) Sweet! So, I went home after lunch.

On the way, I was prepared. I figured there wasn't much chance of getting that JB Hunt truck off of the road in five hours. I was right. On the way home traffic slowed again, and to my left, they were trying to hoist the truck back to its wheels. I didn't get a really good look at it because traffic was still moving a bit and I was blindly snapping pictures in the direction of the truck. Here's what I got:

The red truck is the one trying to right the fallen JB Hunt truck.

There's the truck still resting on its side.

And here's the side of the truck as I passed. You can see the chains wrapped around the middle of the trailer.

Anyway, this was my entertainment for the day. I got home slightly before 2pm and let all the dogs outside. Remy's a much bigger wuss about the cold and snow than our visitors are, but she wanted to play with them a lot more than they wanted to play with her.




You know, even though this weather got me out of work early, I am still really sick of it. I'd really enjoy it if we could get some warmth soon. I'm super tired of the 19 degree weather. I mean, I still haven't taken down my Christmas lights because it's been just too damn cold to do it.

I'm sure I should probably do something productive with my newfound time off, but I think I'm going to take a nap. Because I can. And I'm that lazy. And it's freakin' freezing outside and too crappy to really go anywhere.

So... Happy snowy Thursday, everyone.


End Blog.

The Vampires Saved My Life!

I'm writing this blog because Brenda told me it was due. Apparently I now have deadlines or something, and am responsible for entertaining people at least on a monthly or biweekly basis... or... some sort of time period.

Last night I saw a piece on the news that said Kansas City was at a critical shortage for blood, especially O negative and B negative blood. So, being the upstanding fine citizen that I am, I thought I'd go out to the Community Blood Center and give them my blood tonight after work. I somehow conned a coworker with O negative blood to come with me.

On the way there, there must have been some sort of multicar vehicular insanity happen on the road because they closed both lanes of traffic. We took some random made up detour where I guessed a lot. (Yes, I do think your Garmin is brilliant and I do want one, okay?) But, we eventually made it because my sense of direction is so keen. (I hear you laughing.)

We go in, fill out the paper work, and get to givin' ye old blood. And because I know you're interested, my temperature was 99.1, my pulse was 72 and my blood pressure told them I was dead (or 102/68). But they took my blood anyway. And my hemoglobin fell at 14.7, so that was good because it has to be between 12 and 18 and women usually fall on the lower end of that range. So, I guess I'm in relatively good health. Because I pretend that's a physical.

I have to tell you though, that needle is way bigger than I remember. I gave the 500ml of blood relatively fast for me, and when I was done I hung my legs off the side of the cot thing and felt fine. Then I sat down and drank my apple juice and had a cookie and a half waiting for my coworker... and then... I felt odd. All of a sudden. And I got all hot and sweaty and just didn't feel right, although I can't really describe exactly how I felt. Just that it was "not right". So, I put my head down and felt myself sweat... a lot. Like, summertime running outside sweat when it all drips off your face. Apparently I sweat so much that it went through my shirt and left a nice wetness on the back of my chair.

Coworker made me look at her, noticed that I was YELLOW, and asked a nurse for help. FOUR nurses rushed to me, picked me up off the chair, laid me down on the floor, and propped my legs and feet in the chair. When asked how I was doing, I replied, "I don't know." And then I said, "Really hot."

They broke open four of those instant ice pack things and put one on my forehead, one on my stomach, one on my neck, and one on the back of my neck. I was cooled off pretty instantly and started feeling better within a few seconds. They made me drink some RC Cola (That still exists?) through a straw... which... was interesting. I was sucking on the straw but getting little fluid through it, which made me laugh and wonder if the straw was defective or if I was an idiot. I'm still not sure of the answer to that. (I also don't need your input on the matter.)

I laid there for a while, sat up a little, drank the soda from the cup, and was totally fine. Then I got fun questions I had to answer for the nurse and she wrote some things down on my chart thingamabob. Fun times!

I got a free long sleeve t-shirt (large) and a sticker for my ordeal! Oh, and some apple juice and RC Cola and Oreos.

I'm not really sure what happened or why because I had a normal lunch, drank 3 bottles of water today, and had a "snack" of a package of crackers and a Snickers bar before I actually gave blood. Maybe something in that combination was a bad idea. *shrug*

Either way, I'll totally do it again. My little inconvenience is worth it if I can help out someone else in need. Yay for B negative blood and the other 2 percent of the population that has it! Don't worry, I'm here for you!


End Blog.