For starters, the best thing Google offers is e-mail through Gmail. Gmail has a smart and simple interface, grouping e-mails into conversations, so a series of e-mails appear together. The editor has all of the features basic e-mail requires, the spam filter is 99.99% effective, and it offers a search feature that is still the only way I can find most of my passwords. Storage is lavish, sent messages are saved, and older messages can be archived: what more can one desire?

Closely integrated with Gmail is Google’s calendar feature. Events can be listed as one-time or recurring, and have a reminder option that shoots an e-mail off at the time specified by the user. Just about any religion or nation’s holidays can be displayed as well. The share feature is a nice way to keep in touch with family, friends, and co-workers, especially when the calendar is embedded into a web site or blog.

Word processing and spreadsheets are also included in a Google account, and can be accessed online simply by logging in to one’s account. Most of the features from Microsoft Office and Open Office are present, and just like the calendars these documents are open for collaboration and viewing by other users.

The list of benefits continues with Blogger for a free blog, a free web site under the Google domain, and a customizable home page that can display Gmail the inbox, RSS feeds, weather, and the day’s news. 

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During lunch many of us were wrapped up in a discussion of the traffic problem in Manchester. If you’ve ever been through Manchester, you’re probably familiar with the intersection of 11/30 and 7A, known by locals as “Malfunction Juction.” A mere flashing yellow light warns travelers on 7A that travelers on 11/30 are sitting at a flashing red light, trying to turn or cross the road into a parking lot.

It’s a messy spot, and nobody likes it much. The debate lately has concerned what exactly to do about it.

Some favor putting in a circle. With Federal funding available, the huge project that will occur only in the off-season during the evening will take 2 years to complete. It will also eat up a lot of land occupied by local businesses, and will be quite an engineering feat with part of it suspended over a stream. The idea is that the traffic on both roads will always be moving and hassles will be minimized. Of course this fails to take account of the hundreds of pedestrians who will try to cross this intersection. . .
Others favor putting in a traffic light that will cause backed up traffic on 7A, but will be a lot less invasive and expensive.

What I find here is that you have two mindsets. One is trying to keep the traffic flowing, keep things like they’ve always been. The other recognizes that times have changed and we need to put up with some inconveniences, a traffic light of all things, and move with the times.

You can probably tell where I’m going. Let’s face it, Manchester is not a small, cozy New England town. It has gone the way of outlets and commerce. It cast its lot with the city folk who want fancy restaurants and tons of selection. If you go that way, you’ll have to make some concessions to accommodate them.  You can’t keep things as they were and try to support major commercial ventures simultaneously.

The funny thing is that a simple traffic light would not be very hard to install for a trial period. It doesn’t have to stay there if it doesn’t work. Perhaps if some side roads were developed a bit more, the congestion could be relieved a little.

The fact is that no one really knows what kind of effect a traffic light or circle will have on the town. What I can say is that most businesses want foot traffic. As a former resident of New Jersey, I can tell you that a cirlce or rotary is not conducive for foot traffic.

Circles work best in the boon docks where two major roads intersect. The busier an area gets, the lest helpful a circle will be. And if you think you have accidents at the intersection now, just wait until you get a bunch of hurried folk on vacation from Connecticut or New York zipping around the circle in their SUVs. Have I convinced you yet???

Here’s a thought. Try out the light. See what happens. If the town begins to suffer economically, then give the cirlce a go. If you try the circle first, it will be much harder to reverse your decision.

I honestly do not have a bone to pick with tourists at large. Vermont depends on them. Maple syrup and milk can only do so much for your state’s economy. It’s a certain group, perhaps even a breed that draws the sharp point of my pen.

It’s hard to make a blanket statement for this tribe, but I think you’ll know who I mean. In oversized, gas-guzzling SUV’s, they zoom into the state, tail the unfortunate ones in their path, and pass with an obnoxious roaring gusto whenever they fancy. Their hulking vehicles will bear Ford, Chevy, or Toyota logos, but will more often have Lexus, Infiniti, or Cadillac. More often than not, their plates will be New Jersey yellow, New York/Connecticut blue, or Massachusetts white. If you see them coming, pull off the road, step away from the sidewalk, or just let them merge in front of you, they’re just going to do it any way.

Back off, slow down and leave us alone! Better yet, hurry up, spend your money, and then leave as fast as you came. Please do not afflict us with your impatience and constant hustle. Vermont has enough of its own problems.

Perhaps I am suffering from a type of reactive or passive road rage. While I am not tearing around town, flipping the bird, or tail-gating, I am grooming my own peculiar breed of intolerance and impatient anger. My road rage grows in silent anticipation while the SUV approaches. It stews as a silent victim. While my rage is as real as the bumper not two feet from my own, you will never see it. It is an anger that lacks a feasible outlet, stuck in a perpetual round about. Perhaps my rage is only manifested with a feeble toot of my horn at the SUV that slices in front of my little sedan.

And now I confess that I have been dedeated. I have allowed my peace, tranquility, and slow pace to become the roadkill of out-of-state SUV’s. Their infectuous hurry and anger has seeped into my physche, revealing my own intolerance and rage. It’s not pretty to see who I am. I am perhaps little more than the same person with a less competitive driving style. I cannot expect them to be curteous, to obey speed laws, or to pass safely. But I can become as flexible and giving as a tire that negotiates bumps, rocks, and pot holes with a sturdy softness. There is no need to explode when slamming into the rough and unforgiving. Perhaps the only way to navigate the infuriating antics of this tribe is to become more forgiving and less resistant. Like a gently sloping speed bump, letting them pass over me without a fight.