Tuesday, August 5, 2008

That Explains Everything...

I took a job in Fillmore, Utah the other day. Historic Fillmore. Don't ask me why, the big sign as you enter town just says it's historic.The only thing I can figure is that it still looks like something from history. Whatever the historical significance may be, as I was driving down the freeway coming home, I was stopped by a highway patrol. He said I was going 90 mph! I thought he was a terrific liar. This particular part of the interstate is 75 mph and the whole way up and back along that stretch, as I checked the speedometer, I corrected it if I strayed above or below that speed. I hadn't gone over 80 or under 70 at all.
I was feeling frustrated that even though I was being careful, I was getting a ticket. Sort of shot the whole wad I'd just been earning. Later, I came to a section that is under construction, so I dutifully lowered my speed to 55. Even lower as the traffic ahead started to slow because there was a speed sign, the kind that shows your speed as you go by. According to it, my speed was 67 but my speedometer read 52. That is a 15 mph difference!
So, later that day I was telling Papi about it and asking if there was a way to check speedometers and fix them. He said that one day he drove the van next to his brother on the freeway to check it and they compared their speeds by cell phone. Our van's speed was 10 mph faster. Well, that would have been good information to pass along, wouldn't it? (He easily could have and I just totally forgot it.) In any case, as I thought about it, I had been passing a lot more cars on the freeway lately and getting stuck behind people going 55 in a 65 all. the. time. I was like a magnet for loiterers! Now it all made sense. Amazing what a clearer perspective will do for you. I wondered why the pieces of this picture didn't fit together sooner, but I never thought about them consciously enough to see that it all meant something. Feeling silly here. But I wonder, how often do we miss signs that something is amiss or that our perspective is skewed because our lives are too busy to really notice it or we are too locked in our way of thinking to recognize our error?
In any case, I feel better about paying the ticket now that I realize I inadvertently broke the speed limit more times than I can count in past months. I got off easy.

13 comments:

snaH said...

I recently got a GPS navigator. In one mode it just tells you things about your current position (latitude, longitude, compass heading, town and state, etc.) but it will also tell you how fast you are going. I found out that my spedometer reads high - I'm not really going as fast as I thought I was. Anyway, if you want to re-calibrate your van you might try to find a GPS you can borrow and compare it with your spedometer at different speeds.

Ashley said...

Ahhh, the Utah cops. I do NOT miss them one bit.

Jeri said...

Why is Fillmore "historic?" "For a time, Fillmore was the territorial capital of Utah. The original Statehouse building stands today as the oldest existing governmental building in the state and is maintained by the State of Utah as a historic site and museum."

There you go.

As for the ticket, total bummer dude! I am currently re-reading Stephen Covey's "7 habits of highly effective people" - and he talks about our paradigms, the personal 'lens' through which we view life. Your story is a PERFECT example of how you can be trying so hard to do what is right and best, but if your paradigm (or perspective/ speed-o-meter) is incorrect, no matter how hard you try, you still won't succeed. what a great analogy. I'll have to use it in a talk sometime

Shellie said...

Thanks, Jeri, I knew someone would know why it was historic. You must have had Utah history in school. I can tell you all about Texas and Colorado, though.

Dolly said...

Hey, my pioneer family is from Fillmore. My great uncle, Philo T. Farnsworth has a statue there, I think. (He invented television!)

Cheri J. Crane said...

Sorry about the ticket. =) And I presented you with a blog award. But you'll have to come to my blog to retrieve it:
http://crane-ium.blogspot.com/

(It's one of those copy and paste things. Sorry about that.)

ALF said...

I love the very scientific method they used to determine their speeds! And yes, nice of them to share the information with you.

Burgh Baby said...

Most of the time you can fight the ticket and provide proof that you fixed the speedometer to get out of paying the fine. Just sayin'.

I've been to Fillmore. Historic? Maybe. Boring? YES.

caramama said...

I was totally going to say what BBM said. You just need to go to a mechanic who can check the speedometer, fix it and certify the amount by which it is off. Then just go to court on your traffic day and bring it with you. My husband did this (before I met him) and he said that he just got off.

Definitely don't just pay the ticket! Mechinical failure is to blame, not your recklessly breaking a law!

Karen said...

I'm laughing, but only because that's exactly something that I would do myself. Sorry for the ticket though.

Joanna said...

Ugh! Sorry for the ticket - hope you can get out of it.

debi9kids said...

Great post and wonderful outlook on the whole situation.
How right you are. Wonder how often we do all miss the little details in life???

Carrie and Troy Keiser said...

What a bummer that he was right! I wonder what makes a speedometer decide to gain speed? Yes, I think often we have that stuck in a rut or too set in our ways to see the world around us.