Since you wrote such a marathon of a post, Sam, I'm just going to reply as I read though it.

"The exit numbers aren't sequential: the exit number corresponds with the kilometer marker, so an exit number at marker 20 would be exit 20, and the next exit might be 35 or something."

They do this in Oregon and it has its advantages and disadvantages. They have markers for every mile, so your exit won't catch you off guard. However, that does make it really hard to remember which exit is which.

"At some point during our initial idle chatter, Dave turned to Wolf and said, 'Well, they're not axe murderers.'"

No, that's where I come in. Remember, I am in my 30s, I carry a bazooka, and I put arsenic in my cookies. By the way, when do I get to meet you, Sam?

"When ordering steak or burgers from a restaurant, Leen likes hers medium and I like mine on the far end of medium well."

Has this been a reader poll? If not, you'll need a category for me that reads, 'Cooked so much that it has shriveled up to nothing.'

"...I installed AIM 4.0 for Wolf. Their ADSL company appears to block a lot of stuff, including voice communication, apparently because they're also a phone company, so we couldn't get the voice communication to work."

I'm having the same exact problem, and my ADSL is also through my phone company. However, I think it depends on the modem. My fiance has the same ADSL service that I do, but he has a different modem. It works for him, but not for me. That makes sense since of course, because he despises AIM and has deleted it from his computer both times I installed it...

"Don't they teach people up there that you don't change lanes until you can see both headlights of the car behind in your rear view mirror? Actually, I guess they don't. Getting a driver's license in Canada, I was told, requires that you take a series of tests but NOT that you take a driver's ed class.)"

[Insert sarcasm here.] Nah, waiting until you can see the car leaves too much time. Just move over whenever you want to because the other car will just HAVE to let you in. And don't get me started on my extremely stupid and pointless driver's ed class in high school.

"I pray that God would help me see even the possibility that there is anything worth salvaging in such people."

Well, you never know what this man might be facing in life right now. Perhaps he was just faced with a terrible tragedy, or maybe he just lost his job over something that was not his fault. Of course, this does not excuse his road rage, but at the same time, I'm sure part of him is worth salvaging.

Okay, it has taken me forever to post this message, and now I see that Wolf has posted her version of the adventure. I think I'll just post this and see how redundant it really is. When all is said and done, I think we learn a lot about each other just through other people's observances. I can't be there for these RinkMeetings, but I enjoy reading about them. If anything extremely interesting happens to me, I'll be sure to make my own "Adventures with Ellmyruh" post.

Ell"I think I've rambled for too long"myruh