Actually

I'm pretty sure when the word "actually" is used as a verbal tick (as in "uh", or "um",) it's a sign that the speaker has no clue what they're talking about. Perhaps they use that word to sound like they're knowledgable in the subject, or to kill time for their brain to come up with some other bullshit to spout out next.

Clues like this make conversations easier. For example, if the word "paradigm" is ever used, you're free to let your mind wander until the speaker stops talking... Nothing important ever follows the word paradigm. If you're still reading this, you fail.

No right turns through a parking lot

In the "of course that just happened" category...

I decided to take a different route to work today, and drove up Kirby to 1st to Springfield. (CU is a grid, so there are like 20 different routes I can take to work, none of them really better or worse than any other.) Headed north at the red light at 1st and Springfield, there was a concrete truck, another car, and me. The car in front of me decided not to wait, and instead cut through the Mexi-mart's parking lot to take a right on Springfield. As he did, I chuckled. The light's not that long, and that's such a small parking lot it's obvious to everyone what you're doing.

I glanced back in the rear view mirror and noticed a university motorcycle cop right behind me. He saw it too. I did what any responsible citizen would do, and pulled up, giving him the option of going after the wiley lawbreaker. He did.

Then the light turned green.

So, I followed the legal way ... only to see the stunned cut-through-the-parking-lot-er freak out at the cherries behind him .... and turn south on second street.

Abusing the nearby parking lot to make a right turn at a red light might be forgiveable with a warning. But, turning the wrong way down a one way street when you're pulled over? That's priceless.