Team Chi-Chis did another bicycle ride yesterday. We all took our jackets with us to ward off the rain demons. But we left them in the cars, because no way was it going to rain.
Bad move.
This was probably the only ride I have gone on when I have NOT taken a change of clothes to wear for the trip home.
Another bad move.
We decided to ride the 66-mile route (another bad move?), and only the last 20 were miserable. It started raining at the last rest stop, and then it slacked off a little bit. The rain actually felt good at first. But only at first. Then it felt like needles, and believe me, we don't ride that fast. It was also cold rain. In Georgia. In August. Go figure. Every now and then we would ride through a puddle, and the water in the puddle would be warm from pooling on the pavement. I started angling for those puddles just to get my toes warm.
When the lightning started popping, we knew we'd better take cover. But you can only stop for so long -- the end sure ain't coming TO you. We were only 10 miles from the end (only?) when we sought shelter, but we still had to ride those last 10 miles.
At the last rest stop, I overheard the following from a skinny, fit girl who was talking on her cell phone:
"No, it's okay. Just tell him that I've ridden 81 miles, so I've still got about 22 to go. Oh, and my back is fine."
I hate her.
Monday, August 31, 2009
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Your Tax Dollars at Work.....
Weesa, my step-daughter, got a red light ticket in the mail.
It showed a motorcycle sort of running a red light in a town about 70 miles from us, at 12:18 PM on a day when she was at work.
The pictures taken by the red light camera were included with the ticket.
The motorcycle rider braked suddenly, fishtailed slightly (because you can't always stop a motorcycle on a dime), then backed up. The ticket read "illegally entering the crosswalk" or something like that.
Oh, and the motorcycle rider was clearly a man.
With a different kind of motorcycle from the one Weesa has. His doesn't even have a sissy bar on the back.
The tag number was illegible, no matter how closely she zoomed in. (Apparently there is also a website where she could go to view the pictures.)
She was able to go online and fill out an appeal form, which will be shown to the judge.
But the only way she can get out of the ticket is to show up. In court.
She will have to take a day off from work and drive the 70 miles to this town where she hasn't been in recent memory and appear before the judge.
It would be cheaper for her just to pay the $90 ticket.
Here's what I think should happen:
The judge should look at her appeal form, call her personally and apologize for the trouble, and then go take the amount of the ticket out of the paycheck of whatever dolt sat down with those images and decided that particular letter/number combination MIGHT be Weesa's motorcycle license plate number.
If she HAS to show up in court, I think that government worker should have to reimburse Weesa for her day off from work.
Sheesh.
It showed a motorcycle sort of running a red light in a town about 70 miles from us, at 12:18 PM on a day when she was at work.
The pictures taken by the red light camera were included with the ticket.
The motorcycle rider braked suddenly, fishtailed slightly (because you can't always stop a motorcycle on a dime), then backed up. The ticket read "illegally entering the crosswalk" or something like that.
Oh, and the motorcycle rider was clearly a man.
With a different kind of motorcycle from the one Weesa has. His doesn't even have a sissy bar on the back.
The tag number was illegible, no matter how closely she zoomed in. (Apparently there is also a website where she could go to view the pictures.)
She was able to go online and fill out an appeal form, which will be shown to the judge.
But the only way she can get out of the ticket is to show up. In court.
She will have to take a day off from work and drive the 70 miles to this town where she hasn't been in recent memory and appear before the judge.
It would be cheaper for her just to pay the $90 ticket.
Here's what I think should happen:
The judge should look at her appeal form, call her personally and apologize for the trouble, and then go take the amount of the ticket out of the paycheck of whatever dolt sat down with those images and decided that particular letter/number combination MIGHT be Weesa's motorcycle license plate number.
If she HAS to show up in court, I think that government worker should have to reimburse Weesa for her day off from work.
Sheesh.
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Tour de Pink......
I don't usually use my blog as a desperate plea for fund raising, but my friends VT and Rozmo are already ahead of me in money raised for Tour de Pink.
It's a bicycle ride in Atlanta in October, and the purpose is to raise money for the fight against breast cancer. That cause is particularly meaningful to Katydid and me, because we have a first cousin and two maternal aunts who have suffered from this disease. Most of us know someone who has been affected in some way.
Hop on over and look at our page by clicking on the link below. Even if you decide not to make a donation, take a look at our awesome picture.
If you DO decide to donate, there is a drop-down menu at the top (in the pink bar). I don't really care which team member you decide to donate to.
The ride length varies from 1 to 100 miles, and I won't say at this stage of the game how far we will choose to ride that day. It depends upon many things: how cold it is, what time kick-off is for the Georgia game against Vandy, my general feeling of well-being (or not), my attitude, and what the route looks like.
Our team name is "Team Chi-Chis", and I will cheerfully reveal the meaning of that team name to anyone who makes a donation to the cause.
It's a bicycle ride in Atlanta in October, and the purpose is to raise money for the fight against breast cancer. That cause is particularly meaningful to Katydid and me, because we have a first cousin and two maternal aunts who have suffered from this disease. Most of us know someone who has been affected in some way.
Hop on over and look at our page by clicking on the link below. Even if you decide not to make a donation, take a look at our awesome picture.
If you DO decide to donate, there is a drop-down menu at the top (in the pink bar). I don't really care which team member you decide to donate to.
The ride length varies from 1 to 100 miles, and I won't say at this stage of the game how far we will choose to ride that day. It depends upon many things: how cold it is, what time kick-off is for the Georgia game against Vandy, my general feeling of well-being (or not), my attitude, and what the route looks like.
Our team name is "Team Chi-Chis", and I will cheerfully reveal the meaning of that team name to anyone who makes a donation to the cause.
Friday, August 28, 2009
One-Night Stand......
Hubby and I are in a hotel (?) in a very small town in South Georgia. We made the 3 1/2 hour trek down here after I got home from school today. That is such an unnecessary sentence that any English teacher worth her salt would strike through it twenty times with a red pen.
The purpose of our visit is to look at a motorhome that Hubby found for sale on the internet.
It's NOT like one of these.
Unless we win the Mega Millions lottery tonight, with a jackpot of $333 million. I'd settle for just the 3 on the end of that number.
More like one of these.
And while I would like to say that I will post photos of the REAL motorhome we are going to inspect tomorrow, that won't be possible because A) I left my camera at home; and B) the battery in it is dead anyway. I may be able to take one or two pictures with my Blackberry.
Then a 60-mile (?) bike ride on Sunday with Katydid and the rest of Team Chi-Chis. And sometime this weekend I have to find time to buy groceries and grade the bazillion assignments that my online students have managed to turn in just today.
Damn these over-achievers!
The purpose of our visit is to look at a motorhome that Hubby found for sale on the internet.
It's NOT like one of these.
Unless we win the Mega Millions lottery tonight, with a jackpot of $333 million. I'd settle for just the 3 on the end of that number.More like one of these.
And while I would like to say that I will post photos of the REAL motorhome we are going to inspect tomorrow, that won't be possible because A) I left my camera at home; and B) the battery in it is dead anyway. I may be able to take one or two pictures with my Blackberry.
Then a 60-mile (?) bike ride on Sunday with Katydid and the rest of Team Chi-Chis. And sometime this weekend I have to find time to buy groceries and grade the bazillion assignments that my online students have managed to turn in just today.
Damn these over-achievers!
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Psycho Parents....
Not my own psycho parents. That's for another blog day.
Just kidding. My mother definitely is NOT psycho. She has her issues, but she's not psycho.
Even in the virtual world, teachers have to deal with psycho parents on occasion.
We are three weeks into the fall semester in my virtual teaching job, and I had a parent call me tonight. I'm still not sure exactly what she called FOR.....
Her daughter got a late start in the class no one told her she was going to need books and where is she supposed to get them you can't even afford the library these days because who can afford late fees and why did her school just sign her up for this course and then not tell her anything she is at a real disadvantage here but she loves to read and she basically has to teach herself because teachers these days just don't care and the principal doesn't do anything about it he just says we have RESA people in observing but observing what not teaching no one does anything my daughter had to go to summer school and what are they going to teach her in summer school in eight weeks if they couldn't teach it all year last year when she was in ninth grade only one person in the whole class passed and that was only by one or two points and everybody else failed and she's always had a problem with math ever since sixth grade you would think there would have been one teacher in all that time who cared but no and I'm trying to get my daughter graduated from high school early in three years because I work down at Hartsfield-Jackson airport from nine thirty in the morning to seven o'clock at night but tonight I had a day off and I can't ever get in touch with anybody at her school to tell me what's going on but she's smart and she started late but she got caught up and I got this email telling me if she doesn't get the work turned in by Friday she won't get credit for it and she gets an assignment every week and she gets it done but it's just very unorganized how the people at her school do stuff and people are just trying to make ends meet and I took her to Sylvan Learning Center and she didn't have any trouble there, she doesn't have a problem learning, but who can afford sixty five dollars an hour never mind how much it costs just to get her there and she does her work thank you for listening to me bye.
Father in Heaven:
Please don't let this woman be an air traffic controller.
Amen
Just kidding. My mother definitely is NOT psycho. She has her issues, but she's not psycho.
Even in the virtual world, teachers have to deal with psycho parents on occasion.
We are three weeks into the fall semester in my virtual teaching job, and I had a parent call me tonight. I'm still not sure exactly what she called FOR.....
Her daughter got a late start in the class no one told her she was going to need books and where is she supposed to get them you can't even afford the library these days because who can afford late fees and why did her school just sign her up for this course and then not tell her anything she is at a real disadvantage here but she loves to read and she basically has to teach herself because teachers these days just don't care and the principal doesn't do anything about it he just says we have RESA people in observing but observing what not teaching no one does anything my daughter had to go to summer school and what are they going to teach her in summer school in eight weeks if they couldn't teach it all year last year when she was in ninth grade only one person in the whole class passed and that was only by one or two points and everybody else failed and she's always had a problem with math ever since sixth grade you would think there would have been one teacher in all that time who cared but no and I'm trying to get my daughter graduated from high school early in three years because I work down at Hartsfield-Jackson airport from nine thirty in the morning to seven o'clock at night but tonight I had a day off and I can't ever get in touch with anybody at her school to tell me what's going on but she's smart and she started late but she got caught up and I got this email telling me if she doesn't get the work turned in by Friday she won't get credit for it and she gets an assignment every week and she gets it done but it's just very unorganized how the people at her school do stuff and people are just trying to make ends meet and I took her to Sylvan Learning Center and she didn't have any trouble there, she doesn't have a problem learning, but who can afford sixty five dollars an hour never mind how much it costs just to get her there and she does her work thank you for listening to me bye.
Father in Heaven:
Please don't let this woman be an air traffic controller.
Amen
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Favorite Song Lyrics Part One.......
I've been making a list of my favorite lines from songs. I was going to wait until I had a longer list, but I thought I would go ahead and share some of them here tonight.
Reason #1: A list of any length would be mostly Billy Joel songs.
Reason #2: I am having a hard time coming up with anything resembling witty repartee for tonight.
The songs represented here cover a wide range. Some of them are meaningful and make me think of particular people. Others are just funny or poignant and I just like them.
From Julianne Hough's "Hello" -- "But if you're gonna keep fishing in a pool of shallow water
You can't give the fish all the blame."
From the song "Funny Honey" from Chicago -- "With just one more brain what a half-wit he'd be."
From Billy Joel's "Only the Good Die Young" -- "I'd rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints. The sinners are much more fun."
From Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's "Stand a Little Rain" -- "If we're ever gonna see a rainbow, we have to stand a little rain."
From Eagles' "Do Something" -- "Don't just stand there takin' up space / Why don't you do something? . . . Do something / Do something / Don't leave it up for someone else / Don't feel sorry for yourself / Why don't you do something?"
Reason #1: A list of any length would be mostly Billy Joel songs.
Reason #2: I am having a hard time coming up with anything resembling witty repartee for tonight.
The songs represented here cover a wide range. Some of them are meaningful and make me think of particular people. Others are just funny or poignant and I just like them.
From Julianne Hough's "Hello" -- "But if you're gonna keep fishing in a pool of shallow water
You can't give the fish all the blame."
From the song "Funny Honey" from Chicago -- "With just one more brain what a half-wit he'd be."
From Billy Joel's "Only the Good Die Young" -- "I'd rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints. The sinners are much more fun."
From Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's "Stand a Little Rain" -- "If we're ever gonna see a rainbow, we have to stand a little rain."
From Eagles' "Do Something" -- "Don't just stand there takin' up space / Why don't you do something? . . . Do something / Do something / Don't leave it up for someone else / Don't feel sorry for yourself / Why don't you do something?"
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
My First Blog Award......
Not that the comments left behind on my blog (and those given to me in person) aren't enough, but I have received my first blog award.
It came from my friend Maggie O'Sullivan over here. I don't remember how I stumbled upon her blog, or if she stumbled upon mine. But we have some things in common (in spite of the 11 year difference in our ages), and I started following her blog back when she still lived in the Wild West.
I sent her an illegally burned DVD of an episode of Moonlighting written almost entirely in iambic pentameter. If you don't know what Moonlighting is (was), it's past your bedtime. And go do your homework.
Therefore I know Maggie's real name. And if she ever wins the lottery, I'm going to blackmail her with the knowledge. Because somewhere in there is a deep, dark secret that I'd love to know all the juicy details about.
Some of the things we have in common:
It came from my friend Maggie O'Sullivan over here. I don't remember how I stumbled upon her blog, or if she stumbled upon mine. But we have some things in common (in spite of the 11 year difference in our ages), and I started following her blog back when she still lived in the Wild West.
I sent her an illegally burned DVD of an episode of Moonlighting written almost entirely in iambic pentameter. If you don't know what Moonlighting is (was), it's past your bedtime. And go do your homework.
Therefore I know Maggie's real name. And if she ever wins the lottery, I'm going to blackmail her with the knowledge. Because somewhere in there is a deep, dark secret that I'd love to know all the juicy details about.
Some of the things we have in common:
- We both have an only child.
- We are/were teachers. [And you will be again, Maggie, I just know it.]
- Both of us wish we were . . . um . . . a different size?
- We both wish we could have just shot our baby-daddies when we were through with them. Okay, I may be projecting my feelings onto Maggie, but I think she feels the same.
- We both hate ignorance, especially on marquees and advertising.
- We both love to read, but there's no way I can keep up with Maggie's pace. Because I also love to crochet. And I go to bed when it's still daylight.
- We work more than one job.
- Both of us have been to Italy.
- We have sad/hilarious/pitiful/angry stories about the exes in our lives.
- We have not always chosen men who were good for us. [It took me a few tries, Maggie, but I finally found him!]
- We both like to do crafty things. Crafty as in making things, not as in clever and sly. Although that might also apply in some situations.
- Depression sometimes overtakes us.
- Maggie is single.
- Maggie's father is living, but her mother isn't. Just the reverse of me.
- She has a boy; I have a girl.
- Shoes are Maggie's things; gadgets are mine.
- Her favorite color is pink; mine is yellow. Bright yellow. Sunshine yellow. Not that wimpy pale pastel anemic yellow.
- Maggie has picked up and moved across the country on a whim. I still live within 25 miles of the hospital where I was born. Good Lord, that borders on pathetic.
- Maggie appears to be completely at ease expressing herself, whereas I am slightly more reserved. Cautious. Chicken.
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