Check Stop

Yesterday I was in the city for a haircut after taking pictures in the park. I got my haircut, I have memorized the face, she will not be allowed near me again. After washing my hair it became apparent her mind was not on what she was doing. I have the start of a mohawk on one side and not on the other side. I am un-balanced.

I wen to the Druid and wrote my blog, I had a couple of Guinness's and some food. Then I went to Woodys, I was just seeing who was there and then either heading home or to a movie. My buddy Chris was there, he asked if I wanted to play pool. Normally I am not into playing pool, but, well it was Chris.

I was on top of my game, I had some runs and in one shot where almost everyone in bar was watching, I sunk a ball, looked down the table and saw there was a group of balls, bit now possible called shot. I just took a shot to break them up, two of my balls split and headed to each corner.

I wound up playing pool for about 3 - 4 hours, about one beer per hour. After I finished playing pool, I switched to water. I think I stayed around for an hour afterwards and then decided to drive home. I was not feeling drunk, and my reactions were good. I was headed out of the city on a main highway. At one entrance an unmarked police car came on. My heart rate went up. I was going a bit faster than him, and at a light, he had to stop at the light, I kept going.

Up further ahead I saw blue & red flashing lights. I went by them, they had a guy stopped. As I got around a corner, there were about 6 police cars and I got pulled over.

My heart was beating like crazy. The officer was professional, he asked the usual questions. I told him I had some beers earlier and had not had any for 2 hours. He went away and came back. I had to do the roadside test. I was kind of nervous, I knew i was not Criminal Code impaired 0.08, but I was not sure about Alberta - 0.05. After blowing, he was like a cheerleader...blow.blow.blow. I got a green - 0.029 - I swear he was going to high five me.

I had a discussion on Twitter about the new Alberta limit and tweeting check-stop locations. I had a choice about which way i could leave town. I just rolled the dice. I didn't check twitter.

My heart rate died down about half way home. I was thinking about what would have happened if it went the other way, a red light. My pacing of drinks must be in tune with the law. As I said, I knew I had been drinking, but I was only around halfway to the limit.

As a first responder, who has been to numerous collisions where alcohol has been involved, I guess some people out there say I should not been driving. The law is the law, it is not zero. I could see no error in the officer's administering of the law. He read some card, which is probably the result of litigation. It gave you an option, but really there was only one option. Blow. The refusal to blow is far worse.

I did not feel impaired. The only danger in this is I tend to be pretty controlled, conservative in fact. No one more for the road for me. I know my judgement was safe, proven by measurement. Just one thing, I don't think I would have been driving if my blood alcohol level was anywhere near the 0.05 measurement - I would have thought I was drunk.