Pre-Trip Tune-Up

I'm getting ready for a trip.

When I was younger, a trip meant checking the air in the car tires, getting the oil changed, packing some clothes in a suitcase. These days, the car will tell me when it needs air or clean oil. But at my age, preparing for a trip always seems to involve a trip to my primary doctor so that I know I'm capable of making the trip. "Check my ears, Doc; make sure they aren't plugged up, because that's a big pain as I drive through the mountains. I'll need refills on these 6 prescriptions, and how do you suggest I deal with..."

After my checkup (instead of the car's checkup), then I have to pack. Clothes into this suitcase. Medicines are too numerous for the health & beauty case, so that's become another suitcase, and still has room for a book or two. Now the nighttime oxygen machine, the laptop, a few CDs for my listening pleasure...

And don't forget planning the route, including where to stop for the night, making sure I have the reservation information for when I actually get where I'm going, making sure I have (some) cash, so I don't have to dig out the credit card every time I want a drink along the way.

It's a lot of work! So, ... why do I do it?

It beats staying home.

Warren Buffet Says...

I vaguely remember a series of commercials about some suited men gathered for lunch, talking about business, the stock market and what not, and they ask one what he thinks. As the man opened his mouth to answer, the entire restaurant stopped what it was doing to listen. That man was supposed to be a particular stock broker, and the implication was that anything that stock broker said would be gold, something the others could take to the bank.

Since then, I have heard about Warren Buffet, but only because he lives in the same part of the country as I do, and his annual stock holder meetings bring some needed 'tourist' dollars to Nebraska. For a long time, all I really knew about him was that he was a very rich, self-made man. I could admire his abilities, even though I knew I did not have those abilities. And since I would never have $100,000 – or even $10,000 – to invest, I didn't think he had much to say to me.

Others, of course, listen to every word he ever utters about choosing stocks and investments, rather like that guy in the commercial I mentioned. Those guys probably already have more money to their name than I will make in my entire lifetime, but they want even more. Sometimes I wonder what they plan on doing with all that money. They can't take it with them, so it will probably get passed on to relatives.

I've heard more about Mr Buffet the last year or two. He is a rarity, with an astounding understanding of the working class. And even he says the rich class is fighting a war against the other classes.

But comments like that have nothing to do with making more money for the rich cats, so I doubt if they listen to those statements.

Put On Your Big Boy Pants

I knew there was a reason why I don't make a habit of watching the news. I caught a bit of it the other day, only to discover that the President and Congress were STILL fighting over the deficit. Hadn't made a single step of progress since I'd last heard about it, a couple weeks ago.

Now, as I remember my civics lessons from long, long ago, these people have to be 36 years old before they can be voted into these offices. It wasn't specifically said, during those civics classes, but I always figured the founding fathers felt that at that age, men had some bit of wisdom in their noggin, and yet, they still had some good years in them, and would not yet be in their dotage. (The average lifespan of a country and time is often skewed by a high infant- and child-mortality.)

It is so sad to see that our forefathers were wrong. Even though they are past that 'magic' age of 36, our elected representatives are spending their time making childish demands, digging in their heels and pouting.

HEY! Idiots! Put your big boy pants on and do the work that everybody ELSE in the world knows needs to be done!

Street Closed Forever

I'm sure it happens in other cities, and that it bugs the people in those cities as much as it bugs me. Maybe more, if it impinges on their life more than it impinges on mine. 'It' is a street that seems to be perpetually closed or at least, under construction for repairs. In my town, that street is 114^th, between W Dodge and Pacific.

It didn't bother me too much until a year ago, when we discovered a new restaurant, now our favorite eating place, just off the corner of 114^th & W Dodge. I could get there on Dodge, but I seldom drive that section of Dodge; it's a busy, busy street, and I would rather drive on less-busy 114^th. At that time, it was under construction for repairs, but that is such a normal circumstance in our town, I didn't think much of it.

Maybe it is our favorite restaurant, but in this economy, we don't go that often. We went about a month ago, figuring the repairs were done, but no, they weren't. In fact, at one point, this fairly major street was down to one lane. That was a little bit odd, but surely it wouldn't last long, right?

Yesterday I was headed to the same area (not for the restaurant, but for another business in that area), and 114^th Street was completely closed! In that neighborhood, the back streets wander all over the place, and if you don't know them well, you could go in circles for the rest of your gas. I continued along Pacific to 120^th, only to find it was also closed as they repaved the surface. I gritted my teeth, turned around and headed back along Pacific to 102^nd, which was not closed, and I got there, eventually, a bit late for my appointment.

Some cities charge the construction company fines when street repair or construction takes longer than the contract allows. But this city has its own 'street repair crews', who seem to delight in tearing things apart all over the city in the spring, then I guess they all go on vacation for the summer, and sometime in the fall, they might start fixing things again. And sometimes, a particular street will take far longer than 1 year to get back to normal. It ought to be a crime.

Fourth of July Memories

I like fireworks as much as the next guy. As a kid, I shot off bottle rockets, waved sparklers around in the air, lit the little round pellets to watch little black snakes of ash emerge from the smoke, and even if it wasn't July, I was known to buy caps and set them off with a hammer on the sidewalk. (I loved the smell of gunpowder, and the noise was gravy on the biscuits.) When dad – or the neighbors – got ready to set off a small supply of roman candles and fountains, I was happy to sit on the ground and watch the pretty colors.

I was a kid. Fireworks happened once a year, so such a display was exciting, an experience I certainly didn't have every day. I don't remember having that experience before the age of 8, but my memory has been developing holes lately.

Since then, it seems like fireworks have become an everyday thing. Sure, they're sold on every street corner just before the 4^th of July, but they're also set off at every theme park. I've heard of them being lit after a night game, at wedding receptions, parties... They aren't a rare experience anymore.

For the past week, the neighbors up and down the street have been setting them off. I could hear them in the morning when I got up, and they continued long past dark. I can't imagine the noisy fireworks are as much fun during the day as they are after dark when you can clearly see the colors, but they shoot them off anyway. How much did the neighbors spend on fireworks this year?

And when are they going to stop? The dog has been hiding under my chair all week.

Sanity in the Courtroom

I was running an errand the other day when I heard a couple news stories on the radio. I guess that's not too surprising, since the radio was on.

The first story was about the economic situation in Greece, and one statement that was made was that there was no longer a middle class in Greece, only the rich and the poor. I'm guessing there's a whole lot more 'poor' people than 'rich', so we can't be too surprised if the poor, down-trodden, huddled masses are revolting against austere measures that will probably only affect ... them.

The next story was about the results of the first legal challenge to 'The Obama Health Plan'. The court rejected the challenge. There was far too much analysis of the politics involved; the political leanings of the judges, the response to the ruling by the two parties.... I really didn't think all of that was necessary. Or interesting.

All I really took away from this second story was that somebody in the judicial system was willing to do something to help a huge group of people ... Americans. Not just rich Americans, or poor Americans, not just white Americans, black Americans or purple Americans ... all Americans. Now, if we can just find a few more people in high places that are not at the beck and call of big business and rich businessmen, we might just manage to shore up the middle class before it dissolves into a lot more poor people.