The Long Drive

Yesterday morning (Friday) was my monthly shift to work in the temple. I had previously got up at 5 am and made it to the temple by 7:30, over half an hour earlier than I really needed to be there. So yesterday, in my early morning stupor of thought, I decided I could sleep in a little bit past 5 am and still have plenty of time to make it. You see, I had forgotten that the I-5 freeway south through the Newhall Pass has the truck lane closed due to a horrendous accident from a few weeks ago, which congests and slows the main freeway lanes significantly. In a further lapse of judgement, I decided to avoid a portion of this, and stay on the city streets to avoid the traffic, which slowed me down further. At the point when I normally would get on the freeway, the traffic looked so bad I figured I'd try staying on the city streets even longer.

All of these were huge mistakes -- it took me 1 1/2 hours from the time I left my house until the time I actually got on the freeway -- a trip that normally takes 25 minutes. This conveniently put me going south on I-405 at the height of rush hour traffic, which, interestingly, is this fine nation's worst/slowest freeway for commuting. By the time I actually got to the temple, 2 1/2 hours had elapsed -- a trip that I have made in the best of traffic in under 45 minutes. It was awful.

So on my way, in the very slow, bumper-to-bumper traffic, I decided to start recording the personalized license plates that I encountered on the way. Some describe people's likes, others their self-conceit. For some, it's a business opportunity and yet for others, it's just a matter of expression. I think for some, they just want to confuse the reader. So, for your very own amusement, they are (with my translation, where possible and when it's not obvious):

Those apparently related to careers:
-- C*LLME2 = "Call me, too" or "Call me #2" -- A real estate agent?
-- AG FENC7 = "Agricultural Fence #7" -- it was a truck loaded with chainlink fences on it's flatbed.
-- KIDIDOC = "Kiddie Doctor" -- must be a pediatrician.
-- ALS CPTS = "ALS Carpets" -- truck from a carpet dealer.
-- H2O PSI = "Water Pressure" (PSI = Pounds Per Square Inch) -- I'm an engineer, so I actually got this one.

Here's some lifestyle ones:
-- CLB8 LFE = "Celibate Life" -- a Catholic Priest?
-- N2 LAKRS = "In to Lakers"
-- LOVNG LA = "Loving Los Angeles"
-- 4SHIZAL = "For Shizal" -- uh huh.

Some that were self-identifying:
-- MST4LOU = "Mustang For Lou" -- it was a Mustang.
-- HY-O-MINI = "Hy-o Mini" -- it was a Mini Cooper.
-- R QWIKI = "Our quickie" -- I'm assuming it was the owner's fastest car.
-- KR BMR = "Car Beamer" -- it was a BMW, but that's all they can come up with?
-- 4SOFIYA = "For Sophia"
-- PUGLVX2 = "Pug Love Times Two" -- New VW Bug, but they must really love their pug.

Some that are probably inside jokes:
-- 2TFLU T = "Tootie Flutie"
-- GET FRED
-- NO CHALK = So ... they don't like chalk?
-- ACORN 26 = No clue on the significance here.
-- BLUEMTL = "Blue Metal" -- the car was black.

A few that made me scratch my head:
-- DRAKUL = I was clueless here.
-- XTATANX = Uh ... didn't know this one, either. It was a VW GT.
-- XXFTWXX = Ditto here. It was a Mitsubishi Montero Sport.
-- A 888 W = No clue.
-- IDRESU = No clue.

A few of my favorites, clearly for the thermally-challenged mothers:
-- HOT MOMI = "Hot Mommy"
-- REDHOTMM = "Red Hot Mom"

And my all time favorite:
-- DUKNSNG = "Duck in Song" or "Ducking Song" -- Either they like ducks that sing, or they regularly have things thrown at them and sing about it.