I was driving to Tennessee today and something strange happened. My mind has been really negatively preoccupied for the past few days. In order to combat the obsessive thoughts, I turned the new Sloan CD up loud and I started singing along. I also started driving much faster, much much faster, than the law allows.

For the past couple of months as I've driven to Tennessee to visit the family there has been this one billboard that everytime I've driven by has given me chills. It's a picture of a pair of missing children, and offers a $15,000 reward.

I've been noticing it every week. Seeing it always reminds me about how cruel, random, and unfair the world can be. I hope those kids are still alive and I think of the desperation the parents must be going through. It makes me feel really sad, and I know there is nothing I can do about it but feel sad.

I saw it today then maybe a minute later I past by a TN State trooper, who as I passed turned on his lights and started to give chase.

I'm starting to think that I'm fucked. How fast was I going? I don't remember. I know I had slipped up to ninety a few minutes earlier. Not on purpose mind you, but somehow my speed had matched my mood. Then I was singing along, trying to escape my thoughts. Now I was speeding along hoping to escape the cops.

Turns out, I saw that billboard at just the right moment. I saw it and it brought me down emotionally and in turn I took my foot off the pedel and slowed the car down physically. The trooper flew right past me.

Close call, eh?

What have I learned from this?

Slow down, buckle up, don't drink and drive, and... and... that it's okay to feel sad and dissapointed in the world at times. If that's what's called for at a moment then maybe that's what keeps people from getting into more serious trouble.

Or more likely,

I just got really lucky.

My passport came in the mail today. I'm going to Peru in three weeks.

So I'm going to Cusco, Machu Pichu, and Lake Titicaca. This is going to be a trip via boat, plane, and train. It seems like there are a lot of fun things to do and see.

I got to thinking that I had better read up on where I'm going, so I found out all this from the U.S. State Dept.

SPECIFIC HEALTH RISKS: Visitors to high-altitude Andean destinations such as Cusco (11,000 feet), Machu Picchu (8,000 feet), or Lake Titicaca (13,000 feet) should counsult their physicians. Travel to high altitudes could pose a serious risk of illness, hospitalization, and even death, particularly if the traveler has a medical condition that affects blood circulation or breathing. Several U.S. citizens have died in Peru from medical conditions exacerbated by the high altitude.

In jungle areas east of the Andes mountain range (cordillera), chloroquine resistant malaria is a serious problem. Cholera, yellow fever, hepatitis, dengue fever and other exotic and contagious diseases are also present.

Peru is an earthquake-prone country.

Inter-city bus travel is dangerous. In 2001, several inter-city buses were held up at night by armed robbers, who forced passengers off buses and stole all their belongings.

Bus accidents resulting in multiple deaths and injuries are common, and they are frequently attributed to excessive speed, poor bus maintenance, and driver fatigue.

That happened yesterday, Peru bus crash kills 37.

But I won't let little things like the potential for death keep me from having a good time. For example, this looks safe.

you’re going to fail.

That's why for a limited time, I'm offering a class demonstrating special relativity only for cats. Note to Scientists: this is not Schrödinger's famous cat paradox.

First you need to get yourself a cat and put it in a bag. Then get a lot of yarn, in theory string will work, and then tie up the bag with it. This is to make sure that the cat doesn't get out of the bag. Now introduce a state of spin, and accelerate. Once proper velocity has been reached... release. Now there is a 50 percent chance that the cat will land on it's feet, and a 50 percent chance that it will land on it's head. Of course this is all speculation, as we won't know which will happen until we obsevere it. But this is a moot point, as we are throwing the cat into the river.

Now repeat the experiment with a small dog, maybe a terrier.

Given enough time the atoms of the cat and the dog will reach the ocean. Then solar rays will excite the atoms (simmer for about six months) and they will evaporate into the atmosphere.

Now if a butterfly flaps its wings in Peking, then in Central Park you get rain instead of sunshine. So Relativity dictates that leash laws have little impact.

Note to the Human Society: no cat or dog will be harmed in this experiment with any more certainty than quantum physics will allow.