Day: April 5, 2018

Maps

I had an interesting conversation with someone the other day. She was lamenting the younger generation’s dependence on GPS and/or their phones to get them places. “Remember road maps?” she asked.

Of course I remember road maps. I have a file folder full of them. I used to keep a couple in the glove compartment of my car. I have an ancient road atlas somewhere in which I would highlight the routes I’d traveled. One of the reasons I once belonged to AAA is because of the Trip Tiks (personalized maps) they offered.

Maps are a handy tool for an author. When I was writing Moonlight Serenade, the state of Montana sent me a free road map.

One thing about roadmaps: they can be a challenge to refold. My dad wouldn’t let me get my driver’s license until I could prove to him I could refold a roadmap.

Happy #ReadARoadMap Day!

Peaceful Places

This week’s #UpbeatAuthors topic is “a place that gives you peace.”  I really had to think long and hard about what peace means to me. There are many kinds of peace. Different places offer different types of peace.

One such place is my bed, which offers me peace from the crazy scary world in which we live.

I have an extra firm mattress (which my husband hates), and an extra thick box spring, so the bed is higher than a standard bed. Being short, I love the feeling of elevation.

We recently purchased new bedding. The debate over color took several weeks. We settled on this, and we both like it.

Have you ever heard the phrase “bedgasm?” This is exactly how I feel every night when I crawl into bed. And while I am a morning person, that doesn’t make leaving my bed any easier.

So yes: my bed is my place of peace.

Helping Others

My Day Job has come up with an interesting way to encourage employee giving: wearing jeans to work.

  • Every home game for one of the local university’s men’s basketball team, donate $2 to a specific charity, employees can wear jeans and university logo clothing to work.
  • Donate at a certain level to the Thanksgiving Turkey Drive, wear jeans between this date and that one. Level 2, the window gets longer.
  • Donate to the 1st responder fund on 9/11, wear jeans to work!

And so on.

Some may consider this bribery. But if it helps us to give back to our community, then I’m all for it.

Even if I do think my “work” clothes are more comfortable than jeans.

#UpbeatAuthors

 

 

 

Goodbye DST, Return to Real Time

Most people love Daylight Savings Time because it “gives them an extra hour.” Well, no, it doesn’t. DST simply rearranges time in an official way so businesses adjust hours of operation without appearing to do so. And the weekend we change from standard to daylight savings time we actually lose an hour our lives. We got that back today. It’s not a gain of an hour. It’s a return of an hour we lent to DST.

Standard time is real time. The sun is directly overhead at noon. Which begs me to ask: when experts say to avoid lying out in the sun between 11AM and 1PM do they mean daylight savings time or standard time? So during the summer, when the US is mostly on DST, wouldn’t the hours be 10AM-12NN?

Another oddity about the time change: I have a deplorable habit of waking up at 4AM. It doesn’t matter whether it’s 4AM EST or 4AM EDT, it’s always 4AM.

If you’re interested in the pros, cons, whys, and wherefores of DST, this website lays it out in an understandable manner.

 

Commuting

I am not a commuter.

I’ve been very lucky in my day jobs. I had to commute ten months for my current Day Job, but I knew we were moving into a new building less than two miles from my house when I accepted the position.

I’ve recently had some issues with commuters.

One night, as I was driving to critique being held in a northern suburb, I was in the middle lane of the interstate, going 65 miles per hour. That’s the speed limit. Did I mention I was in the center lane? There was a line inching to get off at the next exit in the right lane. Traffic was backed up at least a quarter of a mile. The idiot in front of me came to a dead stop. In the center lane. He turned on his right turn signal hoping someone would let him merge at the exit. And he was on the phone. Being on a cell phone in my state is illegal unless it’s hands free. His was not hand free usage. I was lucky I didn’t rear end him.

The next night, I needed to drop off a dress at a seamstress’s house. She lives 3.4 miles from my Day Job, in a nearby suburb. O.M.G. If I had to deal with that traffic twice a day–to and from work–I would be a violent, unhappy woman.  Thirty minutes to travel 3 and a half miles. The tractor trailer drivers who decided to turn left on yellow lights then blocked intersections where traffic was already backed up  did not help.

I COULD HAVE BEEN WRITING!