During the last hour of the drive to Michigan, the part off-freeway:

97 For Sale real estate signs. 97.

The usual average is maybe 20some.

Watching the inaugural activities I realized that the last time I'd heard the President's inaugural address live it included the words:

"And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you can do for your country."

Huh. Thinking thinky thoughts.

Tagged by ninerva

List seven habits/quirks/facts about yourself.

1) I like coconut.

2) I 'consume' far more virtual chocolate than I do actual chocolate. Though I must admit I'm much better at taking my daily vitamins now that they make them in chocolate.

3) Despite the inconveniences I find I really do like living in small towns/rural areas more than I do living in big cities.

4) I love planning things out. I hate discovering that my physical abilities just don't match up with my imagination.

5) I changed jobs entirely in my late 30s, going all the way back to an entry level position in the new field.

6) I like exploring new places.

7) I enjoy taking photographs. I don't think I'm an amazing photographer, and I will rarely be in the photos I take. My main reason is to share what I'm seeing with others who are not there to see it. *reminds self about 'photo of the day'*


I was going to say I don't talk about myself much in 'public' but then I figured you already knew that.

*pops in and looks around at f'list*

--without glasses--

Cool.

Flew back to Michigan from Alanta yesterday. Used a plane, two even, much easier.

Changed planes and airlines in Detroit. Had to check the monitors for my gate. Flight not on monitors. Noticed that no flights after 7:25 are listed; mine was at 7:30. Stand in front of monitors for twenty minutes before flight shows up. Note gate, get something to eat. They were out of what I wanted, so I pick something else. Whatever. Gate is in C Concourse. C35. Get to C Concourse, first thing one can't help noticing is the large sign at the entrance stating "No restrooms past this point." Potentially 35 gates (or more) and no restrooms. Yuh huh. Restroom can be found down the escalator. Okay. Fine. Eat while sitting in a seat for C1, then use restroom before heading to C35. Which one can't get to because of construction being done on C Concourse. Which also means that everyone waiting for flights out of six gates are now waiting in what is essentially a hallway. With a couple dozen chairs. Fine. Sit on floor and continue reading Gregory Maguire's "Lost" while keeping half an eye out for a vacated chair. Eventually get one for a couple minuted before it's time to "pre-board" which means lining up in a big bunch. We get the 'go ahead' and get to go outside, walk the equivalent of six or seven gates, past planes with engines (and in some cases, propellors) going. Is very noisy. Finally get to my plane, which does not have propellors, and go up the steps to board. Row 11. Last row, the one with the seats that don't recline. Yay. In the plane with the non-working a/c. Yay. But the little air blower thingy works. Glad it's a short flight. Get in on time. My luggage doesn't. Apparently 2-1/2 hours isn't quite enough time to get the luggage from one airline to another. Sigh. Luckily, I've learned never to put anything important in my checked luggage. But it did arrive this morning, which is good.

The funny thing? Two weeks ago all of this would have irritated me. Last night? I had clean clothes. There was a restroom. The floor was inside, dry and very temporary. The flight wasn't the most comfortable, but it was taking toward and not away from my home. The missing luggage? Didn't make me happy but I have clothes, a house or two, electricity, clean water, food, functional indoor plumbing and my family is safe. A little discomfort and inconvenience just didn't seem like much to get upset over.

Having trawled through my f'list and answered this, it seems only fair to give you all the opportunity to retaliate return the favor. Feel free to rhapsodize. *g*

For those of you who have met me in person...what was the thing that surprised you most about me when we first met? If you do this, post in your journal too.

( Answers inside... )


And in other non-news, I just want to say that I've been avidly reading the 5 question not-meme in everyone's journals and enjoying it greatly, while at the same time not saying 'do me!' because I don't know how to answer half the questions that are asked, and have practically no idea what questions to pose in return.

Since my attempt to list my 20 30 40 50 60 70 600 favorite books was foiled as usual by my "But I love them all!!" tendencies I instead tender for you perusal my list of "20 Not necessarily 'favorite' books but those that had an impact in on way or another":

1. Chinese Medicine :The Web That Has No Weaver by Ted J. Kaptchuk


2. The Other by Thomas Tryon


3. The Jungle by Upton Sinclair


4. Pooh and the Philosophers by John Tyerman Williams


5. A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking


6. The Earthly Powers by Anthony Burgess


7. Aztec by Gary Jennings


8. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and sequels by Douglas Adams


9. Captains Courageous by Rudyard Kipling


10. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte


11. Sunshine by Robin McKinley


12. The Forgotten Beasts of Eld by Patricia McKillip


13. The Fionavar Tapestry trilogy by Guy Gavriel Kay


14. The Glory and the Dream: A Narrative History of America 1932-1972 by William Manchester


15. The Essential Ellison: A 35 Year Retrospective by Harlan Ellison


16. The Collected Fictions of Jorge Luis Borges


17. Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Heinlein


18. Battle Cry by Leon Uris


19. QB-VII by Leon Uris


20. The Last Hero by Leslie Charteris

( The Complete List )

There's been a fair amount of discord lately among people I like to consider my friends...persons with bright minds and sharp wits, strong opinions and forceful characters, who are sometimes both too alike and too different to mix well. Not an unusual circumstance, really. I think we all have groups of friends that we know don't fit together, yet we seem to fit with them all. At least, enough to be comfortable if not part of a central core. Sometimes things happen that bring these people into contact with one another and sparks fly, then the groups close ranks to support their own members. This, too, is quite natural. Eventually, time passes and people whose feelings ran hot don't so much forgive and forget, as choose to move on. Being someone who can see both sides, and where and how the hurts are inflicted and returned and perceived by others isn't an easy position. But again, with time the conflicts subside, although often not resolved and the hurts remain, but life goes on.

Life outside the internet. For all the conflicts and arguments and kerfuffles that can occur here it still remains a relatively safe place to be. Recently, I was in Florida for two weeks. (Okay, I was at Disney World). Went there the weekend before Thanksgiving. While I was there, I was online and IM'd by a friend in Maryland asking if we were okay and safe. I was a little confused, until he told me about the shootings that had been reported along I-270 which circles Columbus, Ohio. Afterward, I started searching and didn't have to look very far to find online articles (from all over the world) about it. One woman killed, and possibly 9 related shootings. No, make that 11. Hold on...14 now. Wait, 15, no 16. Two other online friends asked if I was okay, one in PA and the other in Amsterdam. Both were relieved that I was in Florida, not Ohio. As was I. Kept looking because the location where the woman was killed was only about 5 miles from the freeway exit to my home, and most news reports were describing the area for the shooting as either a 5- or a 7-mile stretch of I-270. 17 web sites later, I found a map that showed the area as starting about 2 miles from my exit and stretching in the opposite direction. Found my self somewhat guiltily relieved.

After returning home to Columbus, I came up to my place in Michigan (not liking to leave it unattended for long periods of time) and have been happily watching the snow fall outside while I'm all snug and comfy inside with a fire in the fireplace. And trying to decide how deep I want to let the snow get before going out to clear it. Then yesterday afternoon, I was talking in IM with my nephew-in-law who is in Kentucky, and he asked if I knew about the closing of all the Southwestern School District schools. "No. What?!? Why?" I replied. He tells me that two of the schoolbuses were shot. Whoa. And that so was the car of a friend of his. (The bullet bounced off the front hood, and wasn't found). So again, I'm looking for detailed information and manage to find the actual (though approximate) locations of the new shootings. One of them is an intersection that is less than 1/2 mile from my house. Go south from it, make the first right turn and follow the street around the curve and there I am. An intersection that is used every time I go somewhere (or at least 99% of the time). The schoolbus could easily be one that carries the kids on my street. I daresay it isn't necessary to say this, but that is not a comfy thought.

I've been trying to figure out what this person is trying to accomplish. Unlike the MD/DC/VA snipers, he (will use 'he' for simplicity) doesn't seem to be trying to actually kill anyone. Almost as if the woman who was killed was 'bad aim'. Shooting at hoods, and back bumpers, a school in the middle of the night, the back tail-lights of the school buses. In a small but widespread enough area that no one can really narrow it down. Trying to get people scared? Certainly. Wanting news stories about himself all over the world. More than likely? Intended to find himself facing, most likely, a murder 2 charge? Somehow, I don't think so. But he will be when he's caught. Whatever his original motives might have been, he's now a killer. And murdering someone didn't stop him. I'm likely not alone in saying I want him stopped.