London Calling

It seems everywhere I turn I am seeing Europe lately. I want to travel Europe very badly. Very Very badly and there seems to be a reminder that I am not going to do that any time soon every where I look. Take for example Baz's Blog where he tells of readjusting to life abroad as he goes to school in England. Or pictures from Dylan as he tells of his time in Spain. The latest movie Kate and I watched was Before Sunset with it's train rides through Austria. Most of my calls today have been for the Frommer's guides to Paris, or Germany and it is making me so anxious to go. Someday I will travel with Kate, Europass and passports in hand where ever the European winds carry us. Someday.

I need to consult Earl on this one….

So as you may have read yesterday I didn’t stop to help a guy late at night on a deserted side road and I felt bad about it but concluded it was the right decision. Having Bing and Baz confirm that carries a lot of weight because one is getting an advanced degree in Theology and the other is freaking Superman. Well last night after closing down my computer at work I went out into the parking log to find a flat front tire. It was about 20* with winds up around 25 MPH so I threw on a toque and some gloves and set about putting on the little donut spare so I could get the other tire fixed. I got that done and headed over to Sears.

When I walked into Sears with the flat tire in my hands the guy behind the counter said “Looks like we go another Oil Change.” Stupid joke that I bet he uses 20 times a day but he made me laugh. Well done Sears-Auto-Behind-the-counter-Guy! The tire will take about 30-45 minutes so I got in the car and slowly went to the other side of the shopping monstrosity to Best Buy. Put the finishing touches on a blockbuster deal with Mark in our Basketball league and browsed flat screen TVs that I can’t afford. Back in the car and heading back to Sears I feel the little donut tire go flat and here the rim grinding on the ground.

I get out of the car and start the trek across a huge mall parking lot in the freezing wind and then into the far side of the mall. After about 15 minutes of walking I made it to Sears and picked up the tire for the 25 minute trek back to the car. You get a lot of strange looks carrying an old tire through a mall. I had to switch hands every 10 steps and the workout I did at lunch didn’t have the same positive affect now as it had earlier in the day. I made it through the mall and into the large parking lot and the Mall Parking Security guy in his SUV passed me about 10 times as I walked with the tire. Right towards the end with the car in sight I found a Best Buy shopping cart and pushed the tire in the cart the rest of the way.

Back at the car I jacked up the car, swaying now in the wind gusts that were sending debris everywhere, and got the flat donut off. I put the fixed tire back on and finally got into my car to drive the 30 hour home. Only one person offered to help me and that was in my work parking lot as I was bolting up the donut. Nobody else said a word to me as I carried this tire. I don’t really believe in Karma but the Earl Hickey might be on to something.

Pregnant Barbie and Winter Ken

"The baby wants a white russian!"

Nervous Samaritan

Last night I had to work from 5 to 11 PM to cover a shift for someone I made a trade with while Jesse and Carly were here. The person I traded with didn't actually work for me and I got in a bit of trouble but that is nothing new for me. I seem to be the King of minor workplace trouble no matter where I am. Kate came in with me and played a lot of solitaire while I chatted with less then bright students about how to register for their class "Click on the word register!"

As we were leaving at about 11:20 we came across a truck in the road with his flashers on, door open, and lights on. He was on the road that leads into the business park where ugly office buildings replace trees and they try to convince you that it's a park, not ugly office land where souls come to be punished. My first thought was to stop and help this guy get his car out of the road and see if he needed a ride somewhere but then I thought about Kate, and the baby in her stomach. I thought that it is not the safest move to stop late at night on a hidden road. The guy was sitting in the cab with a zip up hoodie covering his head and his beat up truck circa 1983 lent a sort of ner-do-well vibe to the situation.

Well I didn't stop and I kept thinking about it last night as I was trying to go to sleep. If this guy was pulling some scam and trying to take advantage of others he picked the wrong road in Indy. A car goes by there maybe once a night. The hood had more to do with the 20* temperature then any sketchy thug costume and criminals are a lazy breed and would not sit there and freeze for the tiniest chance that someone would stop. As I came into work this morning I saw the truck on the side of the road and felt bad once again that I didn't help. But here's the thing: Knowing all that I would probably not stop if that same scenario presented it self again. I notice in the story of the good Samaritan there was no pregnant wife with him at the time he picked up the stranger. Right or wrong Kate's safety meant more to me then helping that guy. There was only a 10% chance that this guys was up to no good but that was too much for me gamble on.

I know tricks too

"I can sit, and speak too!"

Ask and you shall receive

"Hi Bing! Aren't I cute?"

Recent Home Improvement: 1230 Woodlawn

Below you will find the latest news and pictures from 1230 woodlawn. Thanks to Carly we have recent pictures of the all the changes in the house and the biggest change is that there is no longer a house to the left of us. That brown space was where our neighbor was but now it's just dirt. Hope you enjoy the pictures and thanks again Carly for getting them to me.

Recent Home Improvement: Entry Way

Here is the room that caused a small bit of tension with Kate and I last month. She asked if we could paint the entry and the dining room and then went shopping while I painted. You can also so into the Library and the living room and see the cool couches that Kate re-upholstered.

Recent Home improvement: Library

A look at the intellectual center of the house with Jesse reading about early American Frontier history and me playing Free Cell. Well we can't all be geniuses can we? The Library is a great room to watch the neighborhood from and from time to time to read in.

Recent Home Improvement: Kitchen

Here is the latest iteration of our kitchen with Kate making lunches for us. She has had a rough go of it lately in the kitchen with hot oil as you can kinda see on her shirt. Those bottles of wine up in the top right corner were emptied last Saturday night and somehow a Ford F150 ended up parked on our front lawn in the snow. Oh Fountain Square!

Recent Home Improvement: Living Room

Here is the girly living room that Kate has made. I think this collor has been seen before but the layout of the room is changed a bit. Sadly you can't see the whole layout of the room but you can see a great piece by Casey Roberts called Smoke signals appropriately enough above the fireplace that doesn't work. Also you can see a ceramic doll that showed up on our mantel on the night of our Christmas Party and has stayed there ever since.

Recent Home Improvement: Dining Room

Here is a look at a recent project that Kate and I haven't quite finished yet. We painted stripes int he dinning room. You can see above the door to the kitchen that there are touch up spots that we need to hit and the stripes aren't exactly perfect but it is a cool look to a room that I am liking more and more. (thanks to Carly for the great Pics)

Jesse in the Library

Everyone knew Kate was Pregnant right?

Friends

This past weekend Kate and I had the pleasure of entertaining our good friends Jesse and Carly. We were excited to have them come to get a chance to catch up with them and to show them the little gems we have found in the circle city. We got hot chocolate on the circle, bought music on Mass Ave., and even walked through the snow to Bud’s for a bad avocado and some milk. I feel like they got a good feel for our city and I got to spend some time my favorite person, not named Rohl, in the world. Thanks for coming kids, I hope you had a good time and look forward to the future visits.