winter obsessions

Last weekend it was the two state search for the perfect duffle bag. I covered over 100 miles of malls and stores looking for it. Didn't find it, either. Color wasn't important as long as it wasn't black. Size and shape mattered more, and quality to some extent. Finally ordered one from ebags. Then, there was the tote bag search. Most of the searching was done on line. I got really, really hung up for two days at the llbean website where you can design your own canvas tote bag. You pick pocket or no pocket, zipper or no zipper, one of four sizes, and then colors. Oh MY GOD! the colors. Color for handles, then color for gusset, then color for main part of bag, and the color for the pocket, and the color of the bottom part that curls up the side. The potential and combinations are vast. I spent hours (HOURS) creating bags from ugly to lovely. I couldn't decide. So while I was looking at duffles across two states, I took ganders at totes. Ended up ordering it from ebags also. It came in the mail already, and I like the material, color, features, but it might be too small. If it stays cloudy and cold much longer, I guess I'll be back at the llbean website admiring ugly but unique bags again.

And now for this week's obsession...........(drumroll.......)......a scanner radio. This is commonly known as a police scanner. I impulsively decided that it would be a good thing to get to listen to trains. (Believe it or not, a lot of people apparently listen to train chatter on one of these scanners). The one that was on sale was the NASCAR version, which means it is red, has a little cute nascar logo, and has the frequencies of nascar drivers pre-programmed into it. I guess people go to races and listen to the drivers and crew talk. I even got a list of drivers and their assigned frequency. But, that's not why I got it. I got it because it does the same thing as the radios that cost twice as much and aren't as cute, just so I can listen to trains. Except, this radio is not user friendly. It's not intuitive. I'm fairly good at these electronic devices, but this one is beyond me, so far. I haven't given up, and I"ve listened to enough to whet my appitite for more, but I'm far from proficient. What I've learned so far...

Everyone but me has a gun. People walk around all the time with ball bats and pipes. The police give out your driver's license number, name, car tag number and your social security number over the airways everytime they stop you. The dispatchers are all calm, all the time. There's a lot more going on than I thought in the world of crime in my little area of the world. I have a pretty low tolerance for the anxiety that is produced by hearing about people they can't find, fights among spouses that get physical, suicide attempts and fires in houses filled with drugs. I have to turn it off after a little bit of listening.

And so far, I've only heard one train.

cultural differences

I've had several occasions recently to work with families who speak languages other than English. It's really not that common where I live, but has suddenly become common and problematic. I have responsibilities to insure that the families receive translation services, if needed, and to have written information in their native language, if possible. It hasn't worked out too neatly because of a lack of resources and (IMHO) a lack of initiative on the part of the higher-ups, but we try to provide. This has led me to thinking about cultural differences, too. And some of my travels have exposed me to different cultures here in the U.S. of A., for example, Navajo traditions and ways. In one of my email discussions with a colleague, I was rambling and it occurred to me that in some small ways, I was culturally different. Before that revelation, I hadn't really thought of myself in those terms.

Although I was born in the east, I grew up in the west. Serious western desert. 120 degrees every day in the summer. Low desert, not far from Death Valley, Mexico, California and the Colorado River. The Colorado was only 6 blocks from my house. By the time it reached that part of Arizona, it was a trickle of water, what we would call a stream or creek in the east. We could easily wade across it and not get our shorts wet. When I was 12, we moved to North Carolina. The first school I attended was in a town called Bridgton and it sat on the banks of the Neuse River and some other river that joined it just before they flowed to the ocean. The water was deep, fast, choppy and brackish AND IT WAS AT THE EDGE OF THE PLAYGROUND! I don't know if you can imagine what it's like to go from desert to lots of rain and a huge river. I didn't know the natural properties of water, so as far as I was concerned, that raging river was liable to jump it's banks at any moment and wash me away. I was terrified to go on the playground and couldn't imagine why a school would be built next to such a dangerous thing. I wasn't afraid of water in general and was actually a good swimmer, but I knew I didn't stand a chance if that water came after me.

Well, that musing led to some other things that I remember being ignorant about. I remember seeing tree branches touching overhead while we were going down a road (in Arkansas). I thought it was really cool that this tunnel of trees had been designed. It took awhile before I caught on that trees just grew and weren't shaped deliberately in most cases. I remember going up a mountain and thinking that we were just going to fall off. It was a small two lane road that twisted and turned and it seemed like we would slide off like dirt, or rocks or water. I didn't know what a gymnasium was. I had read the word in books, but I had never seen one. (In the desert you just play outside all the time because it doesn't rain. None of the schools I had ever seen had a gym). I couldn't imagine what "overcast" referred to. Again, I had read it in books but it didn't have meaning. My parents tried to explain it to me, but I couldn't picture it until we were in Texas and my mother pointed to the sky and told me that it was overcast.

We lived near a marine air base and an army proving ground. I thought everyone got knocked out of their seats at school regularly by sonic booms. It was a long time in the east before I thought, "Why don't I hear those anymore?" We didn't have air conditioning or a shower in our house, so those were new experiences. I must have been in my teens before I took a shower.

On the other hand, I knew how to avoid getting stung by scorpions, how to live with and watch out for the black widow spiders that were inside and outside of our house, how to catch big lizards, which cactus I could touch and which ones to give a wide berth to, and all about Mexican food. (Taco Bell had not come east in 1966 and few people in the east knew what a taco was). I knew a little Spanish, how to recognize the sour oranges on the trees, and how to grab limes from the trees in the school yard. I didn't know about lightening, though and it was years before I wasn't terrified of it.

trains

This scene is only about 15 minutes from my house. It reminds me of a scene you might see from a train but I saw it from the road. It's in a little cove community called Falling Water. It's relevant today because I spent a good part of the afternoon reading about Amtrak. We have booked our train trip, but decided to go on into Montana and stay at East Glacier Park instead of staying in Minot, ND. We'll leave from Memphis, go to Chicago and change trains, then on to East Glacier. Total train time about 40 hrs. We will stay in East Glacier for a couple of days, rent a car and drive around, and then take the train back. We have sleeping accomodations the whole way, which makes us First Class passengers. Cool. I never get to be first class anything! We get the use of the special lounge in Chicago for First Class passengers, we get meals included on the train, a newspaper daily, plenty of fresh coffee and someone even makes up our beds at night. Plus, we get to lay down on a bed (of a fashion) and maybe actually sleep. I think it will be fun.

In reading up on the trains, I've found websites and blogs from some serious train freaks. For some reason, trains seem to attract a large OCD crowd. One guy has made a point of visiting and taking pictures of every Amtrak station in the country. Someone else has drawings of the inside of the trains. Other people have info about particular train cars, so I can look up the train we've been assigned on a specific leg of the trip and find out a whole lot about it...which bathroom has the best water pressure, where that car usually is along the line, which bedroom has the window that needs a piece of wire to close it to keep it from rattling, etc. I guess my OCD tendencies match up pretty well, since I've spent several hours now, reading about all this trivia. Whoooo Whooooo

this weekend's movie reviews

The best day of the whole year to go to the movies is on Superbowl Sunday. No one goes. It's also a good time to go to a restaurant. So, today it was dinner and movie day. Yaaaahhhh! Today's movie selection was "No Time for Old Men". Coen brothers. Excellent movie. I did have to close my eyes a few times because of gore, but the acting, story, etc. was great. Cormac McCarthy novels translate to movies well, in my opinion. I've never been able to read one of the books...too dry, but the visual details are so rich on the screen. Tommy Lee Jones played himself, as he usually does, but he's endearing, funny and smart, so it works.

Last night's movie was "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly". Whew. Take some extra zoloft before you see this one. Some people see it as an uplifting movie. I didn't see it as inspiring, or uplifting or redeeming. It's like I remember "Old Yeller" from when I was 5. It's just tragedy all around.

That's the report. And if you disagree, keep it to yourself. I've heard enough opinions on everything from politics to race relations to movie selections in the past few days. I need a little break.

sometimes life ain't a bowl of cherries

I feel like I've spent the past couple of days inadvertantly pissing people off. Oh well, some days are like that. At least it's Friday.

I'm trying to plan a trip for our 25th wedding anniversary coming up this spring. We have camped for 25 years, but that's not an option right now, so alternatives are coming to mind. Planes are no fun. Time will be limited to a week. Neither one of us cares for the idea of a big cruise with thousands of others. One of us likes the idea of a small cruise, but the other one is less than enthusiastic about all that time on a boat. So, we're looking at Amtrak. The preferred route at this stage of the planning would be to take a train from Atlanta to Minot, ND. What's in Minot, you might ask. We don't know. Never been there. Never even been to N.D. It's just seems like a cool place to go. The current plan is to spend 3 days getting there, one day there, and 3 days to return. Bingo. Instant trip. Includes beds, meals, entertainment (looking out of the window), plus we'd get to see a big chunk of the country via D.C. and Chicago. And they give us bottled water.