Musical Motels

I'm sitting in a hotel room finishing up the movie "Titanic" - probably not appropriate viewing the night before you're supposed to be boarding a large boat. On the other hand, I somehow doubt we'll encounter many ice-burgs in the Caribbean.

Robin and I are spending tonight in Miami and tomorrow we board our cruise. We are not at Ocean Surf, the hotel we had reservations at. We are almost positive that hotels.com told us there would be a shuttle from the airport to the Ocean Surf hotel. As a point of fact - there is no shuttle. Not to that hotel.

Instead we hopped a shuttle to a surprisingly nice Days Inn. I was sad at first because I couldn't see my relatives in Miami, but as my aunt was stuck in an early voting line all day I suppose I wouldn't have seen her anyhow. My mother also informed me that she read an online review of the Ocean Surf hotel which proclaimed it to be like sleeping in a dorm room with rough sheets, a hair on every pillow and surly staff.

So maybe it's all for the best.

In today's news

A while back I posted about a lady sentenced to public humiliation for stealing from Wal-mart.
She had to hold up a sign proclaiming her theft.

It's happened again. Except this guy rammed his car into a close gate while drunk. He has to hold up a sign saying, "I was stupid."

Debatable Debates

I'm watching the candidate debate right now.

I'm pretty pleased with what McCain has to say, but I think it would be more interesting if I had someone to watch it with. I'm recording it, so maybe I'll turn down the volume and read a book!

Mini Road Trip

Yesterday afternoon I took off for the midde parts of Indiana.

For a while I drove between cornfields thinking how pretty Indiana farm land is. Those thoughts stopped abruptly when the road turned the gravel and began to lack proper signage. When I got close to my destination my googled directions stopped making sense any left over admiration for the landscape was swept away with a phonecall in which even the people I was trying to get to weren't quite sure of their location. It turns out that they live on a corner of their county - and it connect with another three - which confuses google...and me.

When I arrived my friend, 'Chel, apologized and reminded me that she hasn't lived in Indiana for three years. Her roommate, Sonya, pointed out that in Deleware the roads so as to avoid this sort of confusion.

We went antiquing, which mostly consisted of browsing in one shop that was already closed and another in which the old man kept us an extra half hour talking about nothing and how much we would probably like to escape him.

Dinner was comprised mainly of food that I hate. Fish and sauerkraut. And a layered salad, but I like salad. It was all delicious. The fish was Alaskan Pollock - I have no idea if it was the type or the flavoring or the fact that it was grilled over the fire, but it was so good. The 'kraut was ok because we put slivered almonds on top to kill the bite.

Afterwards we watched 'Chel's brother turn buckets into shrapnel with homemade fireworks while the rest of us gathered around a campfire with a "chimney". A campfire chimney is a hollowed out log that is placed on top of a fire. The suction makes the flames shoot out the top. It's spiffier than it sounds.

Then we burnt a huge pile of tree trimmings and that was pretty much amazing.

It was a good time. Plus, I'm pretty pleased that I was able to talk to everyone easily enough. Normally I do badly with new people, but it was fun.

Long Weekend. Long Day.

I got Monday off because of my birthday (yes, kids, my boss is still the best). I got Friday off because it was July Fourth. Three day work weeks are the best, ever. I may not go back to the regular sort.

Friday was a weird sort of day, but I spent a lot of it asleep, so I'll count it as a good one.

Today I got up super early (or 6:50 am) to buy stuff I needed & clean out my car. The latter action being completely unnecessary for today, but probably beneficial in the long term. I have to have deadlines to get anything done. If I don't have a reason to do something (aside from an arbitrary rule like "cars should be clean") it doesn't happen.

It was a perfect day for the canoeing & the river was beautiful. Jon thinks I didn't enjoy myself and Emily thinks she ran us into too many tree branches, but they're both wrong. I had a great time and the only real problem we had with trees was when I unwittingly left my oar in one.

Afterwards we had a fastfood picnic and then we all went home to sleep...except that it's my weekend to mow the lawn...so I did that instead.

All that and I still have the joy of knowing that tommorow is not Monday!

Mayfest...you should be there

If you're in Indiana, Michigan, or Ohio you should make your way to Shipshewana, May 2 or 3 and enjoy the excitement of a Fest that isn't named after food.

The 2nd is not quite as exciting. There are story tellers and a jazz band and a pizza eating contest. I'll probably pop over to take some photos of school children field tripping there, but that'll be about it.

Saturday kicks off with a pancake breakfast, but I recomend giving that the slip and heading over to The Garden Gate or Only By Grace for breakfast. Only By Grace has coffee and some awesome Amish-made cinnimon rolls. Everything at the Garden Gate is delicious, but I recommend the Mango-Breakfast/Dessert-Pannini.

For those who like their mornings early the 4 Mile Road Race, 1 Mile Walk, & 1 Mile Fun-Run start at 8:00. There's also three-on-three basketball, but it's too late to sign up for that.

Shopping starts at nine, the parade starts at ten. Other random activities are sprinkled throughout the day: face painting, tractor pulls, kids games, clogging, pie-eating, a bake off and other things that aren't as interesting.

I'll be wandering around taking photos of everthing...and shopping. There's a list of activities and store specials at http://www.shipshewana.com/, but mostly it's just fun to wander around.

Oh Indiana

I put off writing about the taxi meeting because I haven't had time to do it justice.

When I got to the meeting the parking lot was full. Inside were about a million (or thirty) state troopers in the hall. First thought, "Are they expecting a riot?"

Given Senator Meek's opener of, "Some people said there'd be shouting, yelling and throwing stuff at this meeting. So before we start I just want to say, this is Northern Indiana! We don't do things like that here!"

Yeah. The naivety was just that adorable. And in a sea of men wearing flannel shirts and trucker hats, adorable was in short supply. It wasn't upped much by the smattering of soccer moms and Amish men. That's ok though, there was plenty of hilarious.

The first fellow to talk started off by joking about the crowd's "Hello" being about as responsive as Sunday morning. He then explained that he leads worship at his church. I can only assume that this was to let us know he's a good Christian man and that when the chair throwing started he should not be considered a valid target.

They asked everyone to keep their questions till the end, so for the purposes of my blog post almost nothing interesting happens again until then.

People were generally frustrated because most of the presentations had wildly missed the point. They kept talking about the required insurance the companies need to have and how the DOT has to be on each vehicle and they need to test all their drivers. The "companies" in question are almost exclusively middle-aged couples who have one mini-van. They probably don't make more than $30,000 a year. Aside from hundreds of dollars in one time fees for licensing, their vehicles must be insured for $1.5 million dollars.

The lady from the Department of Revenue told them, "We want to put you in business, not out of business," but by the end of the meeting, no one believed her.

There was scattered clapping when it was announced that a moratorium had been placed on tracking down drivers who are in violation. There had been a lot of confusion before and a lot of people had believed they were in compliance when they really weren't. They have 51 days to get legal, but for a lot of them it won't even be an option.

To start the questioning, Senator Meeks announced that he was retired from the state police and even he found the session confusing - so none of us should feel silly if we didn't understand.
They understood. With the exception of the moratorium the rules were just as unforgiving as they'd originally thought them to be.

He asked a question about the insurance and was told it was a federal requirement.
"Federal requirement? We've got too much government haven't we?"

Lots of applause from the crowd. Awkward looks from all the other government officials. Meek's laughed and said he'd said it before and wasn't afraid to say it here or anywhere else.

A lot of the questions were technical clarifications or concerns. That audience was enthralled, but I doubt you would be. Others were more accusations that questions.

George of Goshen wanted it to be known that he frequents the toll road and that, while he has seen many semi's tipped over, he has never seen a van in a ditch.
No one knew why this was relevant.

Another man urged people to contact their congressman to get the federal insurance regulations changed. One couldn't hold in his anger and declared, "That [insurance is] where this is raping us!" Limited applause. This is Northern Indiana, we don't just toss around words like "rape".

Finally one lady asked if the rumors of the Amish being stopped by the state police for a horse being lathered up, was true.

The government officials were adamant that this was only a rumor and that the state police did not and would not do such a thing. So...would the regular police? I didn't ask. It seemed touchy.

Some one else was angry because they're cracking down on the Amish but there are hundreds of illegal immigrants right down the road. Judging from the earlier cheers when a rule that, "A driver must be able to read/speak English" I'd say this view was shared by many people in the room. To me the Amish and illegal immigrants are the same. Neither one claims any responsibility to this country. At least the immigrants don't ruin the roads.

A person who I have labeled in my notes as "Angry Man" got up for the second or third time and declared that the new rules were going to put the drivers out of business and that then there would be 600 buggies on the road, which would create far more safety problems than un-insured drivers would.

I was glad he brought it up, because that's one of my main concerns. I don't know if it was just because of the weather or if the Amish were all out in protest, but when I drove home that evening there were more buggies on the road than I've seen in a long time.

Indifference

There are a lot of police out on the streets of the city I live in. They've been all over the place lately and they're completely worthless.

Robin and I were walking home from downtown. We started to cross a four way stop at the same time as a white car was slowing down to stop. We were almost across when the white car sped up and swerved to hit us! We ran out of the way, but Robin got the license plate number and we thought to note the street names and time.

When we got home we called the police. I told the woman that we'd got the license number. She asked where it had happened and the type of car. I told her the intersection and that the car was white but that I didn't catch the make and model.

She said, "Ok, well we'll put out patrol cars," and then she hung up.

Robin and I saw no less than four patrol cars on our walk. I don't see how they could put out more or what good it could possibly do. I wanted to give her the plate number, but she didn't take it. I wanted to call back and say, "HEY, we got the license number! Take it and run her plates!" but I feel a little weird about that.

Why do we have so many police out if they're not going to do anything?

Idol Gives Back?

I haven't been that excited about American Idol this year and Idol Gives Back turned out to be an extra bummer because Michael Johns got kicked off.

I didn't really watch Idol Gives Back, last night. As a matter of fact, I made plans for the evening specifically because one year of watching Paula, Randy, Simon, and Ryan pretend to care was enough. But, last minute changes in plan found me at home when the last half of the show was airing after all.

This year American Idol execs planned better. Most of the songs actually had to do with caring for people rather than reveling in our apathetic tendencies. The people who were sent to Africa either actually cared...or they have better acting experience. The point is, as a viewer at home I felt like they care - and that's what keeps people phoning in their pocket change, yes?

There are only two bits of the show I really payed close attention to.

One was when the Idol contestants sang Seasons of Love. I like that song. Yes, I know. RENT is an evil movie created for the sole purpose of corrupting good Americans like you and me. The song is still pretty.

Ironically a, somewhat anti-Christian, idol-blogger, Rickey Yaneza, and I were upset about the same part of the show. The finale. Idol contestants came back together with a gospel-type choir to sing Shout to the Lord.

Rickey is angry because,
"Shout to the Lord...is one of the anthems of the born-again movement in the world — a movement which does not support contraception and is intolerant towards gays and people with HIV/AIDS...Saving children in Africa and New Orleans has nothing to do with the Christian god. What were they thinking? Bah!"

My roommate and I were horrified because...it's a worship song. And it wasn't even one of those songs about God's love for the earth or how God takes care of His children or how we're His hands and feet. That could have been appropriate. The whole song is about how glorious God is and about how the whole world recognizes it. The point is to worship God for His greatness...and they used it as a display case for pretty voices. It wasn't about God at all.

I don't expect the majority of the Christian viewers to be bothered. I rather imagine that they will be tickled that a song they sing Sunday mornings was on American Idol. That their importance as viewers has been noticed. I imagine the same people will have been offended by Carrie Underwood's rendition of Praying For Time (which I loved and thought was incredibly appropriate). That's not to take a swing at anyone who feels that way. I'm imagining having this conversation with my parents and how perplexed they would be at my opinion.

Don't get me wrong, I've always said that Idol execs need to get their act together and realize that a majority of their viewers (and probably contestants) are church-goers. I was thinking more that they should just refrain from offending the living daylights out of us - not that they should hold us a service.

In the end though, I don't think it would matter what they sang. I'm never going to help people through American Idol. Ever. I much prefer to know where my money is going and what it is doing. I can't help thinking that the money Idol Gives Back has gathered will primarily go towards paying for "promotional materials" or to pay for celebrity appearances.

Crisis in Amishland

The community I work in has three types of people. Amish people, English people who like Amish people and English people who don't.

(note: despite the fact that we aren't English, that's what Amish people call us. Maybe because we speak English instead of PA-Dutch?)

On Friday a Pro-Amish guy was by the office. He was ranting and raving about government oppression of the Amish.

Amish people drive in horse-drawn buggies (or pony drawn carts, or on horses, or on bike or they walk - but mostly the buggies). The obvious disadvantage to buggies is that it takes a lot longer to get places so a lot of times Amish people hire drivers to take them to Wal-mart or anywhere that's a couple towns away. There are a lot of people who make side money "Hauling Amish" - or they used to.

Sometime last year the government started threatening fines on all the Amish Haulers who weren't properly licensed and insured as commercial drivers. The thing is, the licensing and insuring would cost more than these people make off driving. A few people went through the proper channels and started hauling again (I guess they had enough business), most stopped hauling, and others kept hauling illegally.

Well, according the the Pro-Amish, man the government has been staking out Wal-mart and stopping vans of Amish people as if they were checking the border. If the driver isn't legal all the Amish people have to get out and the driver has to leave them there. The Amish people asked what they're supposed to do the government officials have said they don't know and don't care.

Here's the thing. Yes, the driver is breaking the law, but the law in there to protect the people he is driving. If I went to a nail salon and it turned out the manicurist wasn't licensed (yes, you need a license to slap on some nail polish) they wouldn't be hauling me away (or ripping off my acrylic nails!). It isn't my job to check that the person is running legally, when a person hangs out their shingle the customer assumes that they are legal unless they're selling crack or something. So why are they punishing the people who the lack of insurance leaves at risk?

I'm not pro-Amish en-mass (though there are Amish individuals that I like), but this just seems absurd. Pro-Amish man went on for quite some time and told us another story about family's who'd gotten in trouble because their horse was foaming. People sweat, horses foam. Evidently this is abuse. Another time a horse had icycles hanging off its nose because it was cold out and the foam had frozen. Again, abuse.

So - no drivers for the Amish, but they can't use horses either.

The Amish people asked what they were supposed to do and the police officer told them they should change their ways. Probably this is not a government attitude and the police officer had simply had to dodge one too many buggies. Everyone has those days - even so.

Drivers, Amish, and businesses are upset about this. Wal-mart probably doesn't care, but Aldi and other stores have seen their profits fall. So there's going to be some sort of meeting with government officials to discuss the situation.

We were telling out boss about all the drama (and petitioning him to let us report on the meeting) when another guy came in. He was not pro-Amish. He doesn't see a problem. After all, why should the state change the rules for just our county? We should we have special priviledges?

My boss mentioned that the drivers are being charged more than drivers in the city (who make more and have a higher accident risk). I just think there should be rules for this situation. Other counties don't have Amish so of course they wouldn't have rules providing for them (though many Indiana counties do have Amish communities).

I'll you know how the meeting goes.

Yukon Ho!

The Yukon Song

By Bill Watterson

My tiger friend has got the sled,
And I have packed a snack.
We're all set for the trip ahead.
We're never coming back!

We're abandoing this life we've led!
So long, Mom and Pop!
We're sick of doing what you've said,
And now it's going to stop!

We're going where it snows all year,
Where life can have real meaning.
A place where we wont have to hear,
"Your room could stand some cleaning."

The Yukon is the place for us!
That's where we want to live.
Up there we'll ge to yell and cuss
And act real primitive.

We'll never have to go to school,
Forced into submission,
By monstrous, crabby teachers who'll
Make us learn addition.

We'll never have to clean a plate,
Of veggie glops and goos.
Messily we'll masticate,

Using any fork we choose!

The timber wolves will be our friends.
Well stay up late and howl,
At the moon, till nightmare ends,
Before going on the prowl.

Oh, what a life! we cannot wait,
To be in that arctic land,
Where we'll be masters of our fate,
And lead a life that's grand!

No more of parental rules!
We're heading for some snow!
Good riddance to those grown-up-ghouls!
We're leaving! Yukon Ho!

I've been really happy with the past few days of comparative warmth, so when I went over to Kiran's today I was completely ready to agree to a walk. Ours was really a treck through fields of bog and ice. Rubber boots may be the most brilliant invention ever, with them I managed to make it through our walk without getting soaked at all. Kiran had a hole in one boot and is singularly gifted at finding the deepest spots of the bog. She did not make it through the walk dry.

I really wish I'd brought my camera. I mean, I would have feared for it's safety at every second, but there was amazing light out there and some spectacular pictures just waiting to be taken.

We came back and watched August Rush. I enjoyed it while I was watching it, but you walk away feeling it's rather odd.

But, the little boy (Freddie Highmore - Finding Neverland, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) is cute and if nothing else Jonathan Rhys Meyers, who you will remember from...well, nothing, has the most amazing accent ever.

Lunar Stroll

Last night my roomy, her dog, and I took a walk so we could see the lunar eclipse. It was freezing cold and totally worth it. The sky was really clear so we could see lots of stars and a really gorgeous moon. I would need to own a superior camera to be able to bring your photographs worth looking at.

By the time we were done I couldn't feel most of my face. Surely I've lost my mind to be outside in subzero tempatures enjoying a walk and the moon, but I did.

Hidden Expenses

Comcast

I stole disturbing picture from MSNBC. In between projects I read a story there about hidden fees in various bills. I'm not exactly overwhelmed with shock. I mean, when I was a kid this kind of thing struck me as incredibly unfair.

Comcast

Why should a store be able to advertise candy for 99 cents when the truth is that to purchase said candy one would need a dollar ten? Or for that matter why should Comcast be able to advertise phone, cable, and internet for $99 when I'll really be paying well over $120 every month - before the promotional period ever ends?

c

- Oh, and by the way Comcast, you tore up our house when you installed the cable, you left cords hanging down all over the place in our basement, and the installer was rude. False advertising mayhaps?

Comcast

Comcast

When you're a little kid trying to buy a candy bar and coming up short because your weekly allowance didn't take taxes into consideration all of this seems a bit traumatic. Now it just seems annoying.

Comcast

What particularly interested me though, was that companies don't report the hidden fees, which makes it look like inflation is lower than it really is. It's also why budgeting still leaves you in the red. It doesn't matter that Comcast (yes Comcast, I am a little angry with you and so are other people) has an advertised deal that fits into your budget, because the real deal is $30 more than you can reasonably spend.

Comcast

Not that I personally have this problem, because I don't really budget, I just get feel for what I can buy in a pay period. If I notice that my bank account is getting lower instead of higher I cut something out. It works for me, but what about all those people who work so hard to be good and still end up being bad? Seems like a bummer.

Hide & Seek Fog

Vicki Austin walked through the fog of New York pretending she was a Bronte in the English countryside. When I first read The Young Unicorns (Madeleine L'Engle) I had no idea who the Bronte sisters were (even though I'd already read Jane Eyre), but I love fog so I figured Vicki, Emily, and Charlotte must be ok (I changed my mind after realizing Charlotte Bronte was responsible for Jane Eyre, I hate that book).

It is really foggy today and I'm hoping it lasts through my lunch break. The fog is one of the things I love about Indiana. In Ohio the fog doesn't last, there might be little wisps of it in the morning, but by 8 or 9 they're gone. In Indiana there's always the possibility the the fog will hang on till evening when it is most fabulous.

Rescue 911

We noticed it last Saturday sitting under the pine tree in our backyard (it's trimmed underneath so people can sit under it). I don't like animals in general. They annoy me. But I love rabbits, I think they're adorable. Smarter than dogs, sweeter than cats. So I joined Robin in her, "Aaaw, a bunny!"

We've seen rabbits every now and again so we didn't think too much about it. But the fact that it was a Rex kinda snagged in my head.

When we were back outside a few hours later the rabbit was in the exact same spot. Not normal. We stood there looking at it and the rabbit didn't tremble in fear or bolt. We worried that it was hurt, but it was healthy looking. It had a huge dulap (roll of fat under the chin, cute on rabbits, real gross on humans).

So we started wondering if it is a pet rabbit that was abandoned and made it's home in our backyard. It just sits under that tree all day - the way a rabbit in a hutch sits and doesn't do much. It doesn't seem to understand that it is supposed to have a burrow, which worries us because that tree won't be shelter from the increasing cold.

Well, today I went online to find out how to tell the difference between a wild rabbit and a domestic one. Sometimes it's real obvious. Angora bunnies do not live in the wild. But a rex looks similar to a wild rabbit. Except...not. In my defense, there are experts who have trouble telling the difference. But the truth is...there's no way the rabbit under our tree is wild.

According the websites wild rabbits don't accept domestic rabbits as rabbits and they can't interbreed, so when a domestic rabbit is set loose it's a pretty bad thing for it. It will have trouble finding food and it might do something stupid like make it's home under a pine tree.

So, armed with this information and a paragraph about how to make friends with a rabbit, Robin went out to start our mission to save this bunny from a frozen death.

She has a very promising start of having chucked some apple slices at it. We're hoping if it realizes we're good for treats it will warm to us faster. She also put a box with a towel in it under the tree. If the rabbit gets the hint it will make this it's new (warmer) home. Also, it'll make us easier to catch the poor thing.

So...wish us luck.