"The average person spends two weeks over their lifetime waiting for the traffic light to change." -Tom Waits Watching drivers, for the most part, ignoring the rhythmically changing red, yellow and green colors of the traffic light at the intersection near the coffee shop recently reminded me of a trivia tidbit.

"The first electric traffic light in the country," I informed my fellow caffeine consumers, "just marked an anniversary. It was installed at the corner of 105th and Euclid in Cleveland, Ohio, on Aug. 5, 1914. Read that in an article in Hemmings Motor News." They chuckled as I recounted a line from the story, something about how, "As near as can be determined, the noteworthy anniversary of traffic signal lights used at intersections was duly celebrated with the majority of American motorists continuing their recent tradition regarding traffic lights - ignoring them." I recently acquired an old traffic light; it was retired from Nacogdoches, according to the antique dealer who sold it to me.

It now hangs from the ceiling in a corner of my "no stress zone" where it displays all the right colors, just like it did when it was commonly ignored and abused by drivers in a hurry to get nowhere.