An Open Letter to Mother Nature

Dear Mother Nature,

I am concerned about your love affair with this Polar Vortex guy you've been seeing the past few months. I get that he's the cool guy on the block, but I think he's just using you to get closer to us. We've made it clear to him that we don't like him, nor do we want him hanging around our homes. He vandalizes the area, leaving behind slick walks and just howls when he sees us slip on them. And don't get me started on the cold shoulder he likes to give when don't pay attention to his antics.

I think you need to move on. I've heard Polar has a twin brother that he doesn't talk to anymore. I've been told he's way hotter that Polar, too, if you can believe that. I think his name is Tropical, though I could be making that up in my own head from things I've heard about him. He's a bright guy that's just a ray of sunshine to everyone he's met. Everyone is greeted with a warm welcome and he makes sure the days are full of fun and last as long as possible.

I've had a few friends sneak off to meet this guy over the past few months. They come back so happy, but Polar seems quick to kill the happiness. He does not like the smiles that Tropical can bring. Is that the kind of guy you really want to hang around? Is that really the kind of guy you want to expose all of us to??

I think Tropical Vortex is really a guy you could warm up to. But you have to leave Polar Vortex behind, first. They don't coexist well. Think about it. I can tell you that we'd love to see you with that golden glow only Tropical can bring... it's way better than the red nose that Polar laughs at.

Sincerely,
Kara

Equality

So You've seen me rant and rave about politics on my blogs. But rarely have I truly gotten on my soapbox about a particular topic. Other than politics and government, in general, are broken. But this is different.

Gay Rights. What the hell is up with some of these politicians out there?? Have we learned nothing from previous civil right fights based on gender or ethnicity??? What are they thinking? I am so ashamed to say that the State of Indiana (where I live) is trying to ban gay marriage in the State's Constitution. And this is despite seeing at least four other states pass laws, banning gay marriage, then have been challenged in Federal Court, where they lost and were told the law was unconstitutional. It's not civil rights... it's freaking human rights! It's about not discriminating!

Why can't people see this is about more than marriage? It about our neighbors being told that they don't have the right to be a family and can't act like a family with all the benefits AND tribulations of a 'legal' family. How is that going to end everything as we know it? It's not. They was to file taxes... together. They want the right to visit their loved one in the hospital... which often they can't do if they're not legally family. They want, and deserve, to be seen as equal in all realms as the person sitting next to them. They're not trying to prove a point. They just want to be treated the same as everyone else. It's about equal rights. That's it. Why is that so hard to understand?

Somehow, another state, Arizona, took the eyes off of Indiana's fight to BAN gay marriage by actually passing a bill that allows businesses to not serve gay people if it's against their belief to be gay? WTF??? Actually stripping away the rights because of beliefs?? That's a straight time machine transport to when Rosa Parks sat in the front of the bus. How can they possibly think that is okay?? Whichever politician even introduced this bill need to most certainly be taken out of office, because they apparently have never read a history book. And we all know, if you don't know your history, you're bound to repeat it.

But then, it seems every generation has to have some huge 'rights fight' about something. Not that it's a good thing to have to have virtually the same fight every generation... same fight, different reason.

Bottom line... wake up, America. Let's try to wrap this one up quickly by actually remembering our history lessons and acting like true civil beings for once. Lets not become the but of other countries' jokes. Let's do the right thing, and move on!

The Ugly Side of Winter

I don't think I need to reiterate how brutal this winter has been. So the past couple of days, when we broke through the freezing mark and started to see the snow melt, I was ecstatic! But after the first day, the ugliness of winter really started to show.

All the plowed piles of snow started to turn a sickly shade of grayish slush as the snow melted, leaving behind the dirt that had been plowed up with it. Sidewalks began to turn black from the same, plus the added road grime. Even with the sun shining, the world looks dark. Driving down the road just becomes downright depressing.

At home, the front of the house hasn't changed much. As we face north, no sunlight is hitting the front yard, so what melting has occurred is solely because of the rising temperatures. There is melting, at least... the lights that were once buried can be seen again. Our backyard, on the other hand, has nearly completely melted, causing it to become a huge mud pit. But at least we can see grass again... I'd forgotten what grass looked like.

Of course, the mud pit was emphasized by the thunderstorms that rolled through today. Not a ton of rain, but when the ground is still partially frozen and saturated with snowmelt, even a little rain has nowhere to go. On the plus side, maybe it washed away some of the black nastiness... we'll see in the morning.

While I'm thrilled to see all this snow that had us buried for over a month go away, I hate the dirty process it takes to get there. And for as much as I'd like to say, "this is it for winter," I can't. No... because we're supposed to get more snow this weekend. But I'll take what I can get, for now.

Valentine's Day (almost) FAIL

Let me preface that while weather is talked about and played a big role in the outcome of this day, this is NOT a full-on weather blog.

That said, today quickly took a turn for the worse in the weather department when is started snowing... a little before noon where I was (north side)... but I heard it was even earlier elsewhere in the metro area. Once again 'they' said we would get about one to two inches (as of last night... but they seems to continually change their forecast today the snow accumulated at greater amount. We ended up with 6" when all was said and done. Six inched of very while, fluffy, snow. Of course, a majority of this fell )heavily) during the afternoon rush hour. Why not, right??

I did make it home, though, and once again, it paid to have the reverse commute that I have. I had to make sure I have time to get ready and bake Eric his Valentine's gift (a heart shaped pan of brownies). Eric and I had made plan to attend the Indiana State Museum's Art Fair opening, which included dinner in the Tea Room. We were looking forward to it, as we typically don't do the 'get dressed up and do Valentine's Day dinner out' - we've always stayed in and cooked a special meal together. Which has always been nice.

Well, the slight delay in getting did cause a bit of a rush on my end. But then, to boot, Eric was running a little late getting home from work, himself (not because of weather... just typical work pile up for him). So I had that stress going for me. But he did finally make it home, with beautiful flowers, I might add, and, since he's a guy, was able to quickly get ready. But this was the last of the positives for awhile.

As we were getting ready to walk out the door, we wondered if we were supposed to have tickets for this event. We did some searching, and as we could find nothing of the sort, we headed over, assuming they had a list they just checked off.

Some foreshadowing for you... as I mentioned, we were dressed up. Which meant some nice heels for me. I did wear some snow boots to get to the car, but they came off once in the car, because we were parking in a parking garage and going directly into a building.

So continuing on... we get to the museum and go in, and when we told them we signed up online, they sent us over to the will call desk. No big deal, right? Yeah... that's what we thought. They could find no sign of our reservation. They continued to tell us that they have had some problems with this online service they had used. This is about when Eric's temper started to kick in. If you've never seen it, be happy. I did my best to keep him in check - he finally just walked away and I talked to the guy at the desk. I could tell he felt bad and he was searching and calling people to attempt to resolve this issue. He finally finds the manager or someone who can actually make things right... but by this point, when I tried to tell Eric what I thought was good news, he decided he was done and insisted on leaving.

And not quietly, unfortunately. The poor coat check guy thought he did something wrong. I was just thankful nothing got broken along the way. Including the parking gate in the garage. I was ready to just go home, at this point. Eric was clearly upset, and I wasn't dressed to walk around anywhere that wasn't enclosed... which was the rest of the City. But he seemed determined to find a place to eat... on Valentine's night. He finally called one of our favorite restaurants, and while they had nothing immediately available, things started to clear up on their reservation list around 8:45pm. He seemed content with that, but I hate eating that late. So I find another place using the app, Open Table, that had something available within the next half hour.

He tried to make it easy for me by dropping me off as close to the front door as possible... which isn't really possible along a street with parking. There was ice along the walks, too, that made it a tedious process, regardless. But I got inside while he went to park the car. Then I got a phone call. He got stuck on a side street and had to shovel out his car. Great. This'll help his mood. But he finally made it and we sat down to eat.

Ultimately, he calmed down and we actually had a nice dinner. The food was good, the server was excellent (one of the best I've had in Indy), and we even had dessert. So Valentine's Day dinner was salvaged. For the most part. I guess the night wasn't over yet.

As we left, Eric went to get the car since he was parked so far away. I hate doing anything on Mass Ave for this reason... the parking sucks, both in layout (function) and in number of spaces. I, personally, avoid doing much of anything on Mass Ave, if I can help it. Especially with my larger vehicle. But I digress.

Initially, he said he'd pick me up where he dropped me off, which would've been fine. Except that the valet was now using that area to stage peoples' cars as they left. Do I had to cross the snowy, icy, slushy road to get to where he could pick me up. Did I mention I was wearing 4"-ish heels? Ironically, I was fine in the slushy shoulder area... but the drive lanes... they were sheets of ice. About two steps, and I lost it. Down on my knee, hard! I tried to regain balance, but I think that just made it more awkward going down. It was more of a struggle standing back up. I was within moments of taking my shoes off and just walking through it all with no shoes. But I stabilized myself and got to the side of the road, just as he pulled up. Oy, vey...

So that was probably the one and only Valentine's Day we'll try going out. It sucked. We never had issues doing our own thing... but it was just one thing after another tonight. But, at least the dinner was good, the flowers we pretty, and the brownies turned out perfect. If we could've skipped the museum fiasco, the winter weather, and the bruised knee, it would've been a great night. But I still love my Valentine, regardless. Y

Too. Cold. Can't. Handle. Any. More!

I've been in Indiana since 2001. Summer of 2001. I was lucky enough to have a mild winter that year, so I stayed. But this winter... this winter is seriously having me think about up and moving back to FL!

Normally, when we get snow, even if it's a few inches, it's gone within a week. This year, we've had snow on the ground since December. I've forgotten what grass looks like. Some of the piles in parking lots will last well into the spring they're so big! The roads are finally clear, after we had bout after bout of snow... and the sun's even been out for a few days now. But the temperatures...

We've had twelve days, so far, that took our lows to the sub-zero mark. And a couple of those days didn't even have highs above that point! And just from my recollection, I think we've only had two or three days where we even broke the freezing mark! Hence, the snowpack on the ground, covering everything that hasn't been shoveled or plowed since Christmas.

But I *think* we're about to see the light at the end of the tunnel. They are showing 40's in the forecast for early next week. Of course, that's nearly a week out... but that could mean I get to see my grass again soon, even if it is dormant! Or maybe dead?

But the bad news is, with this ultimate thaw comes some ultimate potholes. They've already starting popping up on the roads, and some of the ones I've already seen are craters! It's going to be a rough spring on the roads... and public works has already spent part of the pothole budget on additional salt, so that'll get interesting, real quick!

Need to plan a vacation... SOON!

Selfish

When did America become so self absorbed and out right selfish? Wait... scratch that. I guess it's not the United States of America that's changed... it's 'Mericuh!

So one of the commercials that aired last night during the Super Bowl has stirred up a lot of controversy today. Coca-Cola had a commercial where 'America the Beautiful' was sang in multiple languages, demonstrating the multi-cultural country we are. There was nothing inappropriate about it. Yet, today there are people up in arms that it wasn't just sung in English. Really??

Now, I'm not going to take the side of 'We're all immigrants to this country' because I don't believe that's true anymore. Generations have been born here, and the mixture of heritages is what has made us the UNITED States of America. While there still are immigrants coming to the country, to say that we all are is reaching. So... for the song to be sung in multiple languages... why is that an issue? It's not our National Anthem. What's wrong with people singing it in another language (or multiple, in this case) - I think that speaks volumes for how people see the US... a beautiful country.

The issue just goes so much deeper, I think. So many people have taken on this 'hic-ish' attitude (for lack of a better term) that has us building a moat around the US and raising a gun at anyone who doesn't speak pure English, whether you've lived here all your live, just moved here, or if you're just visiting. I'm not saying people shouldn't learn English if they plan on taking residency in America, but the kicker is that I've known people to get upset when someone doesn't speak English to them in a foreign country!! In my travels, I'm thrilled to death when someone in a foreign country even speaks broken English... but I sure don't expect it.

It's especially disturbing, as we have slowly been giving our power away as a country. Manufacturing jobs have been moving out of the country, outsourcing of technical helplines has become the norm, and as a whole, we've shown weakness as a country as our economy has gone down the toilet since the turn of the century. What right do we have, as a country, to demand even more from these foreign countries, especially when they have no dependency on us? Or even if we depend on them?? While it's good to be "Proud to be an American" and have a great love for your country, do you not think others feel the same way about theirs?

It goes back to just general issues we seems to have nowadays... just a straight lack of respect. Respect for others, in the form of culture, religion, age, education, etc. The fact that we're bringing up a generation of idiots that think their entitled to everything the guy next door has without working for it. It seriously scares me to think what this country will be like once this 'entitled generation' is actually running things. I'm sure that gets said about every generation... but maybe rightfully so. Look at the decline in this country since the Great Depression era, which is the generation that has been dubbed the Greatest Generation. That generation learned the value of everything... a penny, family, culture, etc. Now, kids are told are told they can have whatever they want... but they don't learn the value of what they want, or even more importantly, what they need.