Goin' South...
I'm in the mid-South tonight. I've got a meeting in the morning. It wasn't a bad drive. It only rained for a little while, off and on. Most of the trip was cloudy, but fairly bright. Then about the time I got to the TN border the sun came out. It was quite pretty.
The world is much greener down here than back home. The corn is about 4-6 inches tall. Winter wheat has heads on it. And the temp was about 15 degrees warmer than at home, which was nice. It was just about COLD this morning. The heat even kicked on.
An odd observation: The guardrails in Kentucky are modified so as to be "softer" in the event you slam into them with your vehicle. The first 6-8 support posts are made of wood, the first two of which are anchored with a metal support which may be a breakaway bracket. The remaining wooden posts are buried in the ground/cement. All the other supports are metal i-beam stuff like is normally used for guardrails and to hold up highway signs. I wonder if the guardrail modification has been shown to reduce injury/mortality in MVAs.
Drove past a carnival being set up. It was a reminder that summer is on the way. Soon all the festivals, fairs and carnivals will be starting. Maybe I'll have to catch some of the local stuff back home.
Getting organized for the trip didn't take me that long this morning, but it still took me four tries to get out of the house. I kept remembering little stuff that I'd forgotten, like to take out the trash. Finally I get on the way and remember that I forgot to brush my teeth. How on EARTH do you forget to brush your teeth?!?!? So I went back to do that after I dropped off my library books and videos. So far, the only thing I've completely forgotten is my hair dryer. Fortunately the hotel room has one built in. :o)
Had dinner at a place called Jason's Deli. I had a tasty smoked turkey panini while I read Arrows of the Queen. (Talia is getting used to life at the Herald's Collegium, by the way.) The young man who made my sandwich apologized for being temporarily out of napkins at the moment. I don't remember exactly how he phrased it, but it was exceedingly polite and regretful. The sandwich was really good, just exactly what I wanted/needed. I'd have told him how delicious I found it, but he wasn't behind the counter when I left. Oh well...
So now I'm back at the hotel, hanging out, surfing the internet and watching Love Affair on AMC. I'm hoping I get wound down soon. It's almost 11pm and I do need to be coherent by 10am. I wonder what sort of cereal and stuff they'll have for breakfast in the lobby.
Commencement Speech:
Today's commencement address at UI was given by Thomas Seibel. Dang, it was good. It'll be archived at WILL in a couple of days. I'll download a copy and listen to it when I need to find my motivation. He talked about what it takes to be successful and about seizing the opportunities you see while ignoring the experts who tell you to stop. It got me all kinds of fired up and ready to take on the world. Now I need to set some goals to go about taking over the world. I joke about being like Brain from Pinky and the Brain. When Pinky asks what they're going to do today, Brain always says "Same thing as every other day, Pinky. Try to take over the world." I like to say that when people ask what I'm going to do. The thing is, there's no reason I can't. I used to think I could make a difference in the world. Then I lost that belief. I think I can do it. And I've got some potential opportunities which would enable me to do that. Opportunities I need to seize and run with. Starting tomorrow.
The world is much greener down here than back home. The corn is about 4-6 inches tall. Winter wheat has heads on it. And the temp was about 15 degrees warmer than at home, which was nice. It was just about COLD this morning. The heat even kicked on.
An odd observation: The guardrails in Kentucky are modified so as to be "softer" in the event you slam into them with your vehicle. The first 6-8 support posts are made of wood, the first two of which are anchored with a metal support which may be a breakaway bracket. The remaining wooden posts are buried in the ground/cement. All the other supports are metal i-beam stuff like is normally used for guardrails and to hold up highway signs. I wonder if the guardrail modification has been shown to reduce injury/mortality in MVAs.
Drove past a carnival being set up. It was a reminder that summer is on the way. Soon all the festivals, fairs and carnivals will be starting. Maybe I'll have to catch some of the local stuff back home.
Getting organized for the trip didn't take me that long this morning, but it still took me four tries to get out of the house. I kept remembering little stuff that I'd forgotten, like to take out the trash. Finally I get on the way and remember that I forgot to brush my teeth. How on EARTH do you forget to brush your teeth?!?!? So I went back to do that after I dropped off my library books and videos. So far, the only thing I've completely forgotten is my hair dryer. Fortunately the hotel room has one built in. :o)
Had dinner at a place called Jason's Deli. I had a tasty smoked turkey panini while I read Arrows of the Queen. (Talia is getting used to life at the Herald's Collegium, by the way.) The young man who made my sandwich apologized for being temporarily out of napkins at the moment. I don't remember exactly how he phrased it, but it was exceedingly polite and regretful. The sandwich was really good, just exactly what I wanted/needed. I'd have told him how delicious I found it, but he wasn't behind the counter when I left. Oh well...
So now I'm back at the hotel, hanging out, surfing the internet and watching Love Affair on AMC. I'm hoping I get wound down soon. It's almost 11pm and I do need to be coherent by 10am. I wonder what sort of cereal and stuff they'll have for breakfast in the lobby.
Commencement Speech:
Today's commencement address at UI was given by Thomas Seibel. Dang, it was good. It'll be archived at WILL in a couple of days. I'll download a copy and listen to it when I need to find my motivation. He talked about what it takes to be successful and about seizing the opportunities you see while ignoring the experts who tell you to stop. It got me all kinds of fired up and ready to take on the world. Now I need to set some goals to go about taking over the world. I joke about being like Brain from Pinky and the Brain. When Pinky asks what they're going to do today, Brain always says "Same thing as every other day, Pinky. Try to take over the world." I like to say that when people ask what I'm going to do. The thing is, there's no reason I can't. I used to think I could make a difference in the world. Then I lost that belief. I think I can do it. And I've got some potential opportunities which would enable me to do that. Opportunities I need to seize and run with. Starting tomorrow.
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