From There to Here

Not even more than 12 hours after I finish this post about the need to test elderly drivers, The Boston Globe reports that this has happened.

An 83-year-old Malden man is facing charges of negligent operation after the 12:26 p.m. accident at Old Cambridge Road and Russell Street, said Woburn Police Sergeant Robert Giannotti. Police will also ask the Registry of Motor Vehicles to determine that the man is an immediate public safety threat and revoke his license.

Giannotti said the man and his 84-year-old wife were in a Toyota Camry that was coming out of Old Cambridge Road onto Russell Street. The car hit a Chrysler Sebring driven by a 78-year-old Woburn woman who was driving west on Russell. The collision was “not head-on but nearly head-on,” said Giannotti.

The Woburn woman was taken to Massachusetts General Hospital with life-threatening injuries. The Malden couple were taken to the Lahey Clinic in Burlington. Giannotti didn’t have any information on their condition.

How many people are going to have to get injured before the legislature passes this through to the Governor? Please, let’s move this bill. I know elderly people vote, but this is becoming an epidemic that needs to be stopped.

I’m rather perturbed this morning before work, and it’s not just because I’m up early and can’t fall back to sleep.

I’m watching a news report on television about the state taking away a license from another elderly person. A 86-year-old driver hit and hurt an elderly pedestrian badly this past week. This is the fourth such accident involving an elder operating a motor vehicle in the past month.

From the same story:

Two weeks ago, the state revoked the driver’s license of an elderly Canton woman after she allegedly struck and killed a 4-year-old girl in a pedestrian walkway in Stoughton. The driver, Ilse Horn, was cited by Stoughton police for motor vehicle homicide by negligent operation.

On June 2, a 93-year-old man drove his car into the entrance of a Wal-Mart in Danvers, injuring six people when he hit the gas pedal instead of the brake. The next day, seven people were injured in Plymouth when a car driven by a 73-year-old woman jumped a curb and ran into a crowd gathered at a war memorial.

I’m concerned about the double standard here. When a Green Line train crashed and injured passengers because the driver was texting, all kinds of new laws and regulations went into effect. The city of Boston banned texting in city vehicles, the state took up legislation to ban texting while driving, etc. From one incident on a train, we have a whole host of new laws and regulations for those driving cars. Meanwhile, four elderly drivers get in car accidents in one month, and nothing happens to elderly drivers.

To its credit, the state is meeting today to discuss having drivers 85 years and older be tested. I disagree with the age limitation — I would push for 75 and over — but I’m happy we’re taking steps to put this law on the books. I’m just confused as to the double standard; if someone driving a train is texting and is in an accident, we have all kinds of laws being proposed and things happening almost immediately for those driving in cars. After four high-profile accidents and the death a child, this legislation is only today being heard by committee.

The cynic in me has it figured out: young people text, old people vote. But I’d like to think that’s not a factor. Have there been other crashes caused by texting that aren’t as high profile? Sure. You can find countless examples all over the internet. And I’m not arguing against the ban on texting while driving. But we need to do something about elderly drivers as well.

It’s the toughest decision a family has to make, and can we really rely on them to make it? My aunt was an awful driver, but we didn’t do anything to take away her license. My grandfather is still an amazing driver; I’m sure the man would ace a driving test no problem. And he probably wouldn’t have a problem with taking one either. My grandmother still has her license, but she hasn’t driven in years. She has no intention of driving. But should she give up the license and get a state ID card? Why not? What’s the harm in that?

If families can’t have the hard conversation — and I can’t imagine ever telling my mother or father that the time has come and they need to stop driving — the state needs to step in and intervene for the sake of public safety. We should depend on the judgment of these families — they’re often the ones driving with the elder and observe them frequently in high-stress driving situations — but that conversation is just very difficult to have. I’m glad this hearing is happening today, and I’m hoping it leads to better regulations in licensing senior drivers so all of us throughout the Commonwealth can be safe on the roads.

Just finished watching TrueBlood with Chris. If you’re not watching this show, you need to be.

I’ve never gotten into vampire shows. Didn’t understand the Buffy craze — in the movies or on the television — and I have no idea what the hell Twilight is about. But TrueBlood has great writing, great characters and even though Anna Paquin sometimes gives laughably bad performances, the show is very good on the whole.

Seriously though, during the summer season without much on, give TrueBlood a chance. It’s always one of the most action packed half hours on television. Love it.

The Cavs traded for Shaquille O’Neal.

The Magic traded for Vince Carter.

The Celtics insulted Rajon Rondo.

Are we the third-best team in the East now? I still like us ahead of Orlando IF (and it’s a big IF) they don’t resign Hedo. But Shaq and LeBron on the Cavs? Might that be what they need to give their perimeter shooters a little more room?

We need to sign somebody, and I don’t want to see this team with Kidd for a MLE unless we can swing that Rondo & Allen for Stuckey, Prince and Hamilton deal we were talking about with the Pistons. If we can do that trade with the Pistons, and pick up Kidd, I’d like that team. We bring back Pierce, Garnett and a much-improved Kendrick Perkins. We add Kidd and Rip to the starting lineup so we’re going Kidd, Rip, Pierce, Garnett, Perk. We can bring Prince off the bench for Pierce, Stuckey off the bench for Kidd.

It should be easy enough to resign Leon Powe, and if we can get Eddie House, we’ll have backups at all the positions. I’m nervous about Baby and how much he’ll cost as a RFA, but if we can bring him back at a reasonable cost, we have our first and second units set. Granted, I don’t know if Detroit would ever reconsider that deal. But it could really set up the Celtics and give them 20 million of expiring contracts into the “Summer of LeBron.”

It’s a strange time to be a Celtics fan.

I may not update terribly frequently here, but that’s because I’m busy on social media platforms. If you want breaking stuff, really — try following me there because I post — especially on Twitter — much more frequently.

So, if you want to see what’s really happening, here’s three links for you.

Follow me on Twitter
Join me on LinkedIn
Read my reviews on Yelp

Since yesterday I spent my time making fun of LeBron and Kobe for being egotistical jerks, I kind of feel hypocritical for being one myself today.

But it’s on a much smaller scale, one where LeBron and Kobe have already succeeded many times over: Google suggestions.

You know how if you start typing in the Google box, it will suggest what you might be looking for? When you get to “Bill Yel,” it assumes you’re looking for me (after four other options, including Bill Yellowtail, a politician from Wyola, Montana, *and* Bill Yelverton, a concert guitarist and a couple others). Yes, I know that’s most of my name. And most people don’t have a last name starting with “Yel,” but I’ll take what I can get.

Three t-shirts for you today. No words necessary.

I was sitting around the apartment earlier channel surfing with Chris and Mike when “Joe Buck Live” rolled by on the on-screen guide. Either Chris or Mike — I forget which — urged me to check it out.

I’m glad I did.

Not because Buck had a sit down interview with Bret Favre and talked about playing football again. Or not because Michael Irvin and Chad OchoCinco lended their incredible insights. But because Artie Lang pushed the limits of HBO and made a complete and utter mockery of Joe Buck’s first attempt into the late night circuit.

Let’s make one thing clear: before Artie Lang appeared on the show, “Joe Buck Live” was a complete trainwreck. I’m probably one of the few who really likes Joe Buck for baseball (you remember the guy when he has some of your all-time favorite calls, like in Game 4 of the 2004 ALCS — “We’ll see you later tonight!” Awesome), but this show was a complete disaster. He was horrible, from beginning to end. His last little stand-up monologue — something where I can’t remember the title of it so much as the pulsating “I” that was moving around behind his talking head — only got one or two polite chuckles from the crowd. They were exhausted from laughing and gasping from air at Lang’s performance.

And Lang performed. He completely hammed it up for the cameras, and while he’s usually a disgusting slob — I mean that in the most endearing way — he found new depths on Monday night. I disagree with Lang. I think some of his comments are completely unfounded. Some people play a character on TV, but not Lang. For better or worse, this is who he is.

The interview included:

- Making fun of Joe Buck saying he liked TMZ and asking him if his other website, was — I’ll put it nicely — inhaling-rooster.com.
- He looked right at Michael Irvin, telling him he hates the f—ing Cowboys.
- He told an inane rambling story about Buck’s father.
- Talking about rhyming Tony Romo’s name in unflattering ways.
- Making mention to going home and pulling a hamstring while performing a certain act on himself.

I’m sorry to make you read through all the subtlety, but I’m not just writing half the stuff Lang said on the show on my website. I don’t agree with almost any of the points he made — although I do hate the Cowboys — and he went for the cheap laughs at other people’s expense a lot. But he did ensure one thing though: we’re sitting here late on Monday night talking about Artie Lang’s appearance on a talk show that almost no one would hear about if it wasn’t for crass humor.

And Joe Buck — stop being so pious. If it wasn’t for Mr. Lang, I was changing the channel as soon as OchoCinco and Irvin finish their segment. He was the only thing stopping people from completely slamming your horrible hosting of an awful show. At least now, they have something else to talk about.

As I got off the T today after a long day at work, I was accosted.

Not really. But I was stopped not once, but twice, by people pitching the Mountain Dew Energy Drink “Amp.”

I have no idea why this is happening now. Amp has been around forever. In college, I got through finals sophomore year living on nothing but Amp, Cheddar Sun Chips and Metabolife for three straight days. So when I’m offered Amp after a day of work, I’m turning it down.

“No thanks,” I reply to the girl trying to delicately place a can of Amp in my hand. I walk about 10 feet before a different girl asks me if I want to get “Amped up.”

Thanks, but no thanks.

And who’s distributing a caffeine-infused, horrible-tasting, soda-like energy drink at 6 p.m. on a Monday? I can’t possibly think of a worse time to try and give people this. You know when I could have used this? At about 8:30 a.m. today when I was walking like a zombie through South Station after five hours of sleep from a long weekend. But no. So I went to work and had the standard coffee, much like every other commuter — many of whom might have given Amp a shot had it been placed free in their hand during their still-half-asleep state. Who the hell is the marketing genius behind this?

“Yes, we’ll market it when people are coming home from working in Boston all day. That’s a much better idea than going to one of the biggest train stations for commuters in the morning, like Part Street or South Station, and marketing it between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m. They’ll want to Amp Up after work!” Judging by the number of commuters walking by and headed home, it’s a strategy they might want to rethink.

I’ve become ridiculously obsessed with Yelp. I don’t know if it’s an opportunity to write more or to write about subjects, but I completely love using it.

I’ve started updating it basically every Sunday night/Monday night with everywhere I’ve gone on the weekend and other places that I’ve been to during the week. I’ve talked about this over on my work site, but if you want to follow my reviews on Yelp, you can check them out here.

We’ll see what happens this weekend. Heading to the Kinsale tonight, so I’m sure there will be a review about it up there later!