Wanderlust

Shit happens

So... I guess the photo might explain quite a lot, but unfortunately there is much more to this story. Here's the short version:

I was on my way to work at the store yesterday. We'd been getting snow steadily since the previous evening and the roads by our house had barely been plowed when I left. The Jeep handles well in the snow, especially in four wheel drive. I was taking it slow though. I was running about ten minutes late because of the weather, but I'd rather be safe than sorry.

As I approached a very tight turn by the Ogden Valley golf course El Monte, I decelerated instead of braking to about 15 miles an hour. This is a scary corner and one of the reasons many people don't take this route in the snow. Suddenly, a white jeep wrangler came skidding around the corner traveling in the opposite direction and it was obvious the vehicle was out of control. I braked slightly but realized there was nothing I was going to be able to do. Any counter maneuvers on such a dangerous corner might make the situation worse and I didn't want to involve any other vehicles if I happened to lose control as well trying to avoid the accident. So I relaxed and let it hit me. The impact was pretty hard and both driver and passenger airbags deployed in the jeep. I was surprised and jerked my head back quickly because the bag seemed to be smoking in my face and I was afraid I would get burned. I was a bit stunned but otherwise felt okay. Bessie was not so lucky. When I got out I realized the white jeep had really damaged my front end and I was leaking fluid. Poor Bessie.

The guy who had been following me had pulled over and was asking if we were all right. A young girl (blonde, of course) got out of the white jeep. She was very distraught and admitted that she had lost control coming around the corner. She said she thought the roads were fine and she had taken it out of 4 wheel drive. I dialed 911 right away, then called George and asked him and Larry (in town for a visit) to come pick me up. I was sure the Jeep was not driveable. The white jeep was an older model and heavier than mine, so Bessie had the worst of the damage.

I waited in the parking lot of the golf course for the police. The first officer on the scene arrived after about five minutes. The witness had stayed and was up ahead on the road, getting people to slow down before taking the turn so we could avoid another accident. Several vehicles had navigated safely around the corner from both directions of travel. We were standing safely behind the vehicles in the parking lot.

The officer was asking me a question, but I don't remember what it was now because I never got to answer him. I only heard muffled shouts and someone said "Watch out!" in my ear. I never had time to turn my head. And then something knocked me off my feet hard. I rolled into a ball and tried to fall out of the way, protecting my head. I thought, just for the moment, that this might be it, and I was so angry I wanted to punch somebody. The next thing I know, the blonde is screaming and trying to pick me up off the asphalt. A guy had come careening around the same corner, not heeding the warnings of the witness who was slowing traffic, had managed to slide right past both vehicles and hit me. I was standing sideways and so my hip absorbed the impact (If there is any part of me designed to absorb impact, it would be my hips). Lucky for me, it was a small, compact car and fairly light. I jumped off the ground yelling hysterically and I wasn't sure if I was alright but I was definitely pissed.

I could still walk and the EMT's checked me out at the scene and agreed to let me wait and go to the hospital with George when he arrived. I was aching pretty bad and getting stiffer by the minute. The police officer had tried to push me out of the way and had gotten hit in the shin as well, so there was a lot of paperwork to be filed out. The guy who had hit me with his car had no insurance, no driver's license, and 2 warrants out for his arrest. I had to stay at the scene for about an hour and a half and no one with the city or the county seemed to have their act together. I was very unimpressed.

At the hospital I ended up waiting for about two or three hours in the ER. Once again, not impressed. They seemed shocked at how well I was considering the circumstances, and the xrays showed nothing broken.

So anyway. We'll get the news today about whether or not Bessie is totaled.
A few people told me yesterday how lucky I was. I felt unlucky at the time, to tell you the truth. I guess it could have been worse. I really did think, just for a fraction of a second, that I might not be getting back up again. Its a good dose of reality to remember how pissed I was at all the things I hadn't done yet. I feel lucky today to have the chance to do them.

Happy Turkey Day!

Okay, so I confess. We're not even eating tukery today. Feels a little sacreligious but sirloin sounded much more appetizing. And for just the two of us there didn't seem to be a whole lot of point. I'm not dissapointed though. It will be nice to have a quiet holiday at home. Hell, it'll be nice just to have the day off.

I'll be working in the store all day tomorrow. Black Friday is never a nice day to work retail. Even the health food industry will feel the pressure, especially when everyone is probably feeling guilty over eating too much the day before. We'll have company for the weekend to keep us busy, too. Uncle Larry will be flying in for a weekend visit. Our valley looks a little brown due to an embarassing lack of snow, but the peaks are snow covered so that will have to do for scenic value.

So Happy turkey Day to all, where ever you are! If you don't have plans for Christmas, consider spending it with us by the fireplace. We'll be home and hopefully, it'll be a white Christmas.

Ippnel thos

*The title of this entry has been encrypted for security reasons. Unscramble the letters to find the real title and the way to Toucan Sam's treasure.*

A couple of weeks ago, George and I noticed something peculiar about the traffic to our website when looking over the logs. An extraordinary amount of people were suddenly perusing the wedding pictures. Now I know the wedding was great fun and beautiful and all (I was there), but most of our friends and family have seen those pictures many times already. Perhaps people were feeling nostalgic about the immense hangover they had or wanted to see the shots of the keg stands on the front lawn again just for shits and giggles. But no, that didn't seen to be the case. Upon closer inspection, everyone was looking at the honeymoon pictures. And we're not talking a few people. We're talking immense amounts of traffic for our little homegrown website. George and I were pretty suspicious.

All the hits seemed to originate from one photo in the set and then branched off from there. George pulled up the photo from the archives and we suddenly both knew. It was a shot of me in a bikini when we went to a waterfall and did some swimming near Francis Ford Coppolla's lodge in Belize. Let just say the temperature was less than tropical that day and I was pretty cold. I went to Yahoo, entered in the unscrambled title of this post, and there I was on the front page, somewhere between Britney Spears and Elle McPherson. We laughed a bit and then promptly made the photo inaccesible. George said he checked in Yahoo images a few days ago and I was still there. I won't post the photo again here for risk of the same thing happening all over again. But now that I've had my slice of internet fame, I'm not sure what I'll do now. Especially since I think Disneyland kind of sucks.

Hey, has anyone seen our balls?

So the big day came earlier this week for our poor little Timber. He lost his ability to procreate, which is probably good since this is the same dog that thinks the vacuum is his mortal enemy and must be destroyed. I was a bit miffed however, when the vet office called and said that instead of doing the laser surgery as we requested, they made a "little mistake" and cut off the balls the good old fashioned way. Can you imagine if they did that to a person? And they didn't even really apologize... just said that, of course I wouldn't have to pay for the additional cost for laser since it wasn't done. No shit Sherlock.
Timber has recovered quickly and gone back to his pirate ways. I would like to say he has stopped trying to hump me, but that's not really true. He continues to try to challenge Miles for role of top dog and he would have succeeded by now if Miles really cared. But fortunately the only thing Miles cares about is that he gets V8 in his food at night and that the cat that lives down the street never comes into his yard again upon pain of death. It must be nice to be a dog. (except for the castration thing. That probably sucks alot.)

Ode to America

Somewhere during the course of the night on November 2, 2004, I became embarassed to be an American citizen. I mean, I was kind of embarassed before considering our aggressive and insolent foreign policy put in place by a Texas millionaire bully masquerading as a cowboy. But I still had some small kernel of faith that the intelligent people of this nation would come together and see the forest for the trees, so to speak (although understandably there is less forest to see since Bush took office). I feel like a kid who gets told Santa isn't real. I'm wondering if I belong here at all and who took my American dream. My dream of America has nothing to do with the extensive housing developments of suburbia land or scheming housewives with 2.4 children who buy their juice boxes in bulk at Sam's Club. My American dream has more to do with the one our forefathers began, the place where the freedom to practice or not practice religion is extended to all. Where religious values are checked at the door before rolling up your sleeves and delving into politics. The only religion I want to have the right to practice in my America is the religion of personal freedom.
I tried to have faith that the people who live here would see through the propaganda machine and vote for the administration that hadn't lied to them yet. That didn't happen. The power of the Republican machine rolls along, gathering momentum. I am frightened at the results of this election. Afraid of the direction this country is turning and growing increasingly aware that this may not be a place I can live in freedom anymore. Freedom in America has become a hypocritical word, loaded with propagandist sentamentality.
And yet the people who had the most to fear, those whose world was hardest hit by the actions of 911, they voted against the dogma of fear. New York voted for Kerry. I guess I see some small hope there. What is wrong with Middle America?
Cowering in the safety of their suburbia, they voted for church instead of freedom. And we all pay for it in the end.

"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. "

Benjamin Franklin (1706 - 1790)

I voted today

I just came back from voting and to the left is the sticker to prove it. I really like the actual act of voting. There is something really cool about actually getting to decide who governs you.

And I learned something through all of this. It's all about perspective. Living in Morman land and republican land, it's an eye opener to how people look at the world and our country. I've had many conversations about politics at work because everyone knows I'm not LDS and I'm from the East. I'm an outsider to them. My only saving grace to some of them is that I am a GDI (God Damn Independent).

Being that I am a GDI, I tend to look at both sides the same way. I admire the way the conservative are really good at sticking to the talking points, yet I am against what they usually say. While talking to people around me, I notice that most of them base their decisions of who to support on their perspective. I tend to look at everything at a more higher level. I don't want to think about what's going on just around me, but into what place does all of this fit in the world, history, or the country as a whole. Some people are only voting for Bush because of his moral stance, even though they are upset with most everything else Bush has done. Others have only listened and read things the conservatives have said, and then repeat it verbatim instead of reading both sides.

I like to think I have a good broad perspective of what's going on in our world today. I think some people don't do that very well and then vote along those limited lines. Some people say that liberals have a better perspective and hence are more liberal. Some conservatives are real conservatives who want less government, and fiscal responsibilities and then vote Bush. (Even though Bush isn't really any of that, Kerry "seems" to be more liberal.) It's all about how much and what kind of perspective you have. Some are limited, some are broad.

So I hoped you voted today, and I hope Kerry wins. I am so emotionally caught up in this election, I don't know if I will get a good night sleep tonight unless there is some conclusive evidence that someone actually won. We'll see how we, as a nation, wakes up tomorrow....