Friday, March 22, 2013

Friday Flex Time


The time when I blog short bits about stuff that's bugging me, or has delighted me, or is just plain what I want to write about. Anything goes...

Teaching a 15 year-old to drive really is fun.
I'd thought it would be this big, scary thing, but I guess I'm lucky. The Transporter is so good, mostly what we talk about is various routes to places. He's excellent at knowing where places are around town after spending most of his teen years using his bike for transportation with his buddy, SkinnyBoy. However, cutting across parks and driving the wrong way down alleys is generally frowned upon when in a motor vehicle, especially when it's the big, blue, prison van, which has been my mode of transport since my lovely lady (1994 Volvo 940, smoke grey, and the youngest in our fleet) died on me over a month ago.

I miss my girl, and her turbo, but I do feel rather tall in the van (something this 5'4” girl doesn't feel very often) and invincible since it seats 12 and is 8 cylinders and a 350. Parking that behemoth is another story. Of course, The Transporter is an excellent parker too, which he never fails to tell me...

Good news is, that after the all the fixes that DIDN'T solve the '94's problems (though they were quite necessary, just not enough) THE problem has been identified , and as soon as we have a Saturday without snow I'll have my new fuel pump installed and be all set. So in other words, not this weekend.

I get totally irritated when those signs where someone in the establishment has control over the letters and changes the signs SPELLS THINGS WRONG.

This irritates more than just the fact that the sign MAKER can't spell. It means NO ONE there, NOT EVEN THE OWNER, can spell, or they'd get that sign guy out there to fix it. Either that, or everyone is blind. Or they've looked at it so many times they don't notice. Whatever the reason, if you want to showcase your stupidity for weeks on end, be my guest. I'll eat/shop/give someone else my dollars who CAN spell. Does this bother other people or is it just former English teachers like me?

We Coloradans joke that if you don't like the weather, just wait 15 minutes.

That couldn't have been illustrated better than today. I was outside after lunch checking in my backyard in prep for spring, and it was sunny and warm and I realized I'd have to change to shorts from capris before I went for my walk. So I sunscreen, I change clothes, I fill a water bottle, put the bare essentials in my pocket, and leave the house.

It's now a grey, cloudy, extremely windy day, and I'm very glad I grabbed a long sleeved shirt on my way out. I'm not deterred though, because I'm feeling good enough to drive to the park to do laps, thereby getting to walk further without a big commitment. This is necessary when your lungs are healing and you never know when they're going to scream “done”. Well lo and behold, they are nowhere near done when it starts to rain! I still ended up walking 50% further than any walk since my slow recovery started, though. So though this is a weather story, it's also a contentment update. Go me! I walked for 35 minutes. That seemed impossible in August when I couldn't even do the stairs.

What bugs you? How did it go teaching your child/children to drive? Does your place have weird weather? What are you content about?

~Tina

P.S If you haven't heard about The Blog Blitz yet, click on the badge to the right to learn more about this totally cool way of spreading some bloggy love.  The idea is from DL Hammons of Cruising Altitude 2.0.  You have to be signed up as a blitzer if you want to GET blitzed, and trust me, you do :-)  Not talking drunk.  Go check it out!

19 comments:

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Teaching a teen to drive - a joy I'll never have to experience!
Yes, misspelled signs annoy me. If I make a typo in a comment, I delete it and write a new one.

DL Hammons said...

I've taught both my son and daughter how to drive, and I'll say this, boys are definitely easier!

Thank you for the Blog Blitz mention! Our first blitz is coming up really soon!! :)

Have a nice weekend!

Brian Miller said...

luckily we are not at the driving stage yet...though i will enjoy that...i have taught several of the kids i worked with how to drive...

Jo said...

Yes, spelling or typos drive me crazy. And even pointing it out doesn't always help.

Brave, teaching a kid to drive. I wouldn't want to do it.

JO ON FOOD, MY TRAVELS AND A SCENT OF CHOCOLATE

Jolie du Pre said...

We didn't teach our kids to drive. Our kids took drivers education. After they learned how to drive, it was one of the best things for them and for my husband and I. We no longer had to drive the all over the place.

Lisa said...

Ugh, I have a 15 year old who technically is able to begin drivers training, but she hasn't bugged so I'm not pushing her!

I followed behind a van the other day with a magnet ad for a photographer on the tailgate. I decided I would never patronize anyone who specialized in "wedding's / graduation's / anniversary's".

That makes me wonder about the ad company, too. Do they just blindly print whatever the customer sends?

JoJo said...

I think everyone has weird weather. I see the same 'if you don't like the weather here, wait a minute' from a lot of people in all dif. states.

I get really annoyed with the misspellings on Facebook, esp. when people are sharing pre-printed messages on photos. But when I see people using 'your' instead of 'you're', it drives me crazy. I always have to hold myself back from correcting them.

Anonymous said...

Ah, how well I remember teaching my kids to drive....milestone moments and memories galore! Your weather sounds intriguing. Ours is much more consistent. Best of the weekend to you!

Hilary Melton-Butcher said...

Hi Tina .. I learnt at home at 15 - driving backwards and forwards up and down ... experiencing all the changes etc ... but not on the road til 17 ..

I taught a friend to drive .. we did it and she passed ... I think she's forgotten now!

Those were the days - freedom and the car ... not sure about prison vans though!

Congratulations on that extra air that's accessibly now ... good for you - and long may it last ... the weather really does put me off!

Cheers for now - Hil

Hilary Melton-Butcher said...

Forgot the spelling bit - hate it ... even your American spelling can drive me nuts! But that might be a nut too far ...

Valerie said...

My girls are 10 & 6... And I dread the day that ill have to teach them to drive. He'll, I dread the day that they become teenagers!!

Hugs!

Valerie Nunez and the Flying Platypi

Graciewilde said...

I actually enjoyed teaching my daughter how to drive - we would take leisurely practice drives very early on weekend mornings - nice alone time with her. She was very apprehensive and needed a lot of low key experience. At almost 26, she is a conscientious and capable driver.
For the most part, the weather her in coastal NorCal is fairly predictable. No matter what the time of year it is on the cool side :(

Jenny said...

Teaching someone to drive.

Ummmm.

Gulp.

Ghadeer said...

15 seems way too early! 18's the driving age where I live, and they're considering pushing it up to 21.

Annalisa Crawford said...

I've had a display on the wall at work for a couple of weeks, and only yesterday did I realise I'd spelt eggs as 'bggs' - okay, not a spelling error, but a typo, BUT I didn't notice and no one else pointed it out either... Perhaps they were all just laughing at me behind my back?

Rachel said...

Hi! I'm Rachel. I'm doing the A-Z Challenge this year, so I thought I should stop by to introduce myself.

I've never taught anyone to drive but thats probably because I don't have a license.

Those signs bug me too. I can't stand them. I haven't figured out why nobody goes to the sign maker and says, "dude, you can't spell, please fix it".

Ida Thought said...

I have taught a few teenagers to drive, the first thing I share is if they want a good life then they should never let another driver upset them, especially if they do dumb things, otherwise they might as well put their angry head on for the next 60 years, coz someone always does something stupid - and sometimes we are the dummy too - I still switch on the wipers instead of indicating. I live abroad in Denmark now (a huge climate difference from where I was born - Melbourne Australia) I love the Danish saying ' There's no such thing as bad weather - only bad clothing" :) Good luck with your challenge.

Robin said...

People who can't spell on a sign annoy me, too. And it really bugs me if the sign stays that way for a LONG time. Morons.

Haven't had the pleasure of teaching a teen to drive....hehehe.

klahanie said...

Hey Tina,

A lot of stuff you mention here. And what irritates me is signs and spelling spelt incorrectly, also. Such as people who misspell words like "colour" as "color" and "neighbour" as "neighbor" etc. Sorry, ignore me.

Yes, all these blogfests and blog hops. And D.L has a most worthy one. Along with the amazing alphabet challenge you're involved in. As you know, my satirical slant on the A to Z actually promotes it. I don't mind doing that. So, I've no doubt you will give my alternative a mention on a posting :)

Seriously, you be well and have a peaceful weekend. If we don't like the weather here, we just watch television and see places that actually get sunshine!

Your friend,

Gary :)