Geeking along on the backwoods 2-tracks of the northern Great Lake State

Actually that was last weekend. And yes, we were really listening to Casey Kasem re-runs on satty-lite radio. I remember when I was all snobby about satty-lite radio. I don’t need no stinkin’ satty-lite radio. Of course, I am lucky if I can figure out how to *work* a car radio or climate controls or whatever. One of my claims to notoriety was when I was driving the Uncly Uncle’s caddy-lac and I was futzing with the temperature thingy and accidentally called the OnStar operator. Yikes, sorry ma’am, no emergency here. “No problem,” she said, in her gorgeously smooth voice.

What I liked about today? It snowed! Really. I mean I really liked it, not that it snowed in April. We often get snow in April around these parts. Today was one of those gray, bone chillingly cold April days when the sky spat snowflakes at us all day long. It is actually close to 40 degrees but feels colder. A day when it would’ve been nice to veg out and read a book under a quilt with a faaarrrr going in the faaaarrrplace. Or hang out in a cozy little dog-poopy cubicle.

What I didn’t like about today? What the heck is up with all of the road construction all of a sudden? I mean, I know it is the season but all last week my little 8-mile commute was just about as smooth as it could be. This week? OMG. MDOT: Unexpected lane closures *anywhere* on South State Street are going to create major backups. A little more warning please? It’s gonna get worse. They’re building a new Costco on Ellsworth (that’s near where I work). I do not know why we need yet another big warehouse-type store in that area. It is going to turn a busy-but-tolerable traffic situation into a nightmare. And then there’s the round-about “they” are planning for the Ellsworth-S. State intersection. Don’t ask. You do not want to know.

The first entry in the “I want to call my mom but I can’t” category? Her granddaughter Valdemort has won the “Biggest Female Nerd Contest”. This thing is sponsored by George Takei. Apparently he was a Star Trek actor? (I know the name Takei because my aunt R’s husband was a Takei. She is very proud of the fact that he was from a samurai family and would go on and on and on about it. Is he related to George? Oh, who knows…) Anyway, this stuff is all playing out on facebook so I can’t really link to it but we are proud of our own Valdemort for her 15 minutes of fame and I hope she has many more of those 15 minuteses.

Alas, during the last year of The Commander’s life, this kind of news would have been very hard for me to convey to her so that she could understand it. She did *not* have dementia. Not at all. She knew darn well who her grandchildren were and what they were doing (well, at least as much as *I* ever knew and maybe sometimes a bit more…). She was exceedingly proud of all of them until the end. But there was much dysphasia (spelling?) the last couple years and it was often excruciatingly difficult to find the right words to share family news with The Comm.

At any rate, I’m sure that wherever The Comm is, she is very proud of Valdemort and, although I think Val was the best candidate and won fair and square, I can’t help but wonder if The Comm slipped a few extra votes in there from the other side. The Commander was computer literate almost up until the end of her 91 years. Grandroobly and The Engineer may be driving the Edmund Fitz around but I’m sure the Comm is running all the computers.

One Response to “Geeking along on the backwoods 2-tracks of the northern Great Lake State”

  1. Margaret Says:

    I used to have OnStar and it terrified me; I also hit the wrong button several times. Congrats to Val!! George Takei was Sulu in Star Trek, silly. My husband and I are big fans. 🙂