Boring Postcards from My Hometown (and one interesting one)

The monkey ship at the zoo! I remember there being alligators swimming around in the water under the monkeys, but I think I must have made it up, because who wants to take the chance of seeing a little monkey get eaten by an alligator?

Walking

Yesterday, I called our insurance company about switching our apartment insurance to the new place (since we're responsible grown-ups, we have apartment insurance these days), and after being asked a bunch of building infrastructure questions I didn't know the answers to (Knob and Tube, or Romex?), the agent said she noticed that they weren't insuring "our car". Of course, we don't have a car, and have never had one.

The lady I talked to seemed to have a hard time understanding how you could get by without one, an opinion shared by about 90% of people in the U.S. It was funny when she said "So, do you just...stay around...where you live?"

The answer, is yes, sort of, but we live in the middle of the city, and most things we ever need are within walking distance, so we don't need to get in a car to do any normal activities. And I think the thing that most people don't realize is that they're not going to great, otherwise-inaccessible places in their vehicles most of the time. If I'm not driving to a big suburban shopping center or eating at a chain restaurant off the highway, isn't that a good thing? Most people don't really use their cars to (as Beebo says) "go into nature" and get away from overdeveloped cities and suburbs. They just spend a lot of time on highways and in giant parking lots. And I have a feeling that if I did have a car, I would restlessly get in it and drive extra miles to do shopping, just because I felt like I could.

Getting back to my conversation with the insurance lady--the funny thing about living in 2010 in Seattle, rather than 1992, is that people now feel compelled to congratulate you for your small carbon-footprint lifestyle, since people have gotten the message about all that ecology stuff (thanks Al!). Under the surface, however, I know they're still thinking "I would hate to have to live that way!" But the woman from St*te F*rm did talk to me (she was chatty) about her brother, who had moved to a neighborhood in town and hardly ever used his car anymore, choosing to walk and take the bus. He'd lost weight and was in better shape than before, and he loved his new routine. Which I guess indicates that more people are changing their minds.

I think the test to see if you're truly a walker is: do you walk to get places, or just as a recreational exercise? If you think of it as a valid means of transportation, then you're a real walker in my book.

Superman's carry-on

As seen on the Las Vegas strip.
I assume he can get it into the overhead compartment without assistance.

Mars

I'm not against trying to go to Mars. I mean, why not? I say, let's go there and feed all the starving people in the world. It doesn't have to be an either/or, does it?

I would be a lot more excited if there was a guarantee of giant monsters, or at least the ruins of a dead civilization. But as everyone knows, all the sexy space maidens are on Venus.

Back from Vacation

Time to unpack!

Traveling Cheers'N'Jeers

Cheers! for going home. Jeers! for 8 hours of traveling.
We're now in the Pensacola airport (free wi-fi!) waiting to board our plane to George Bush (senior?) airport in Houston, and then on back to Seattle. We had a great time on vay-cay, but are now dying to get home to Deebo and an environment that we can control.

Mem-Phis

We are now in Memphis, staying in and avoiding the St Paddy's day celebration on Beale Street. We had a fun day, though!

First, we drove out of Nashville and ate at the Loveless Cafe,

and then spent a few hours in the car listening to trucking music
and trucking to Memphis. Our hotel is swanky (but we got a good rate), and we've gone out and had barbecue at the Rendezvous restaurant.

We also stopped at the Lansky Bros store in the Peabody Hotel, and Beebo got me a version of this super-cool Elvis jacket from Speedway--a jacket I had long admired in photos. Thanks, Beebo!

Music City - Day Two

The Ernest Tubb Record Shop -- I spent $92 here. A really great selection of classic country music! It's been a while since I've had such a satisfactory Cd shopping experience.

The inside of the E.T.R.S..

Buck Owens' guitar, from the great Country Music Hall of Fame.

Betty Boots--a shop with a name that sounds a lot like the name of a certain someone I know...

We R Music City USA

After a long and arduous journey, we have arrived in Nashville! We were too tired to go anywhere but the Flying Saucer Draught Emporium, where we had a nice meal and a few beers. Smoking is still allowed in bars in Nashville--seems odd to us! They even had a vintage 70s-style cigarette machine in the lobby.

Travel Tips from Telly

Trans-Siberian Express

(click to expand)

...as featured in the film Horror Express:

This tour sounds like fun--but I really like trains. I might be disappointed if nothing horrific happened, though.