Tag: Thursday Thirteen

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Thursday Thirteen: A 21st Century Road Trip


Today I am packing for a long weekend on the East Coast. I’ve done the drive dozens of time growing up and as a 20-something, but this pilgrimage to mecca, the state of my birth, the motherland that is New Jersay is a first for BgK and the children.  I got to thinking that this month marks 27 yrs for my parents as transplants to Indiana, and also the 27th anniversary of driving back and forth. Here are 13 things we’re taking tomorrow that my family didn’t have on that first trek:

1.) Airbags. Ok, we;re nit packing them, Dodge already packed them for us in the van we’re renting. Not an option on the ’76 Buick Skylark back in the day.
2.) A booster seat. By today’s standards, my brother probably should have been in one in 1981. MAM is in one now, so obviously, it’s hitting the road with us!
3.) An Ipod. The Buick had a lot of features, but only an AM/FM tuner. As a special surprise, my parents bought me and my brother tape recorders for the trip. This was before the popularity of Walkmans, so picture one of those heavy-duty dealios–needing 6 C batteries, and weighing more than any laptop today. We listened to Grease and Disco Mickey Mouse til the batteries were dead!
4.) An I-PASS for drive-through tolling. Mom and Dad had to actually stop the car and pay the attendant in Ohio.
5.) A GPS unit. Mom and Dad had to carry a cumbersome map!
6.) Bottled water, juice boxes, milk boxes. I have no memory of what we drank on the trip, but it certainly wasn’t any of those things. Of course, there were no cup holders, so maybe we only drank when we stopped?? I have no idea.
7.) A laptop (or two). Obviously, we’ll need the laptop…
8.) A digital camera (or two). Back in ’81, I believe it was 35mm all the way….
9.) A CellPhone (or two). Holy cow–can you imagine embarking on such a trip without a cell phone?
10.) A Radar Detector. Um, yeah….I think it was our job to look out for “bears”. (eventually we got a CB radio…who needs an Ipod when you’ve got truckers to listen to???)
11.) Portable DVD player. Watching a movie in the car? No way!! They could only do that on the Jetsons in 1981!
12.) Purell. The skankiness that is highway rest stops makes me ever so grateful for this fine modern invention. I think in 1981 all we had was soap…..
13.) A Flat Iron. Flat hair was so not the goal in 1981!
Happy Thursday Thirteen!
UPDATED: Comment #2 KILLS me!! Can anyone top it with another trip down road trip memory lane?!?!
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13 Reasons I Haven’t Posted



1.) The Sickness– MAM was home sick Thursday-Tuesday. As she perked up, I went downhill fast. It didn’t last long for me, but it just sort of threw off a week’s worth of “to do” lists.

2.) Playing Catch Up-between MAM being sick, and then me getting sick right after, I hadn’t run a single errand in a whole week.
3.) Shopping for Birthday Presents-two nephews whose parties we missed, a niece and a nephew havign their party over the weekend….fun at Toys R Us for me!
4.) Securing Baptismal Clothing for Junior-we got the largest infant outfit JCPenney’s makes!
5.) Celebrating 105 yrs of Birthdays-the aforementioned neice and nephew, and my 95 yr old Grandma all rolled into a weekend of fun with both sides of the family.
6.) Figuring Out What to Do With 20lbs of Apples-my father in law so kindly distributed apples at the family birthday party. I wasn’t expecting that.
7.) Ordering the food for the Baptismal luncheon-YUM!
8.) Ordering the Cake -Double YUM!
9.) Enjoying a belated birthday lunch with girlfriends-it took til October, but two gal pals hosted lunch for me and another friend who have September birthdays. I never turn down a chance for birthday cake!
10.) Getting MAM something to wear for the Baptism, and an upcoming wedding. The girl is tall. Like size 5 tall.
11.) Making arrangements to travel to said wedding, we leave a week from tomorrow!
12.) Storing away any and all clothing that’s smaller than 6 months, and really evaluating those 6-9 month sleepers. The boy is a growin’.
13.) Doing all of the above, with my right hand man, Junior. All SEVENTEEN POUNDS of him! 🙂
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Coming out of the Political Closet TT#14


NOT! Have you noticed the lack of politics on this blog? I have to say I’m more engaged in this election that I have been in a long time. Here are a few of my thoughts, favorite links and observation on the whole thing, keeping me busy as I make up my mind as to whom to believe :

1) The barriers that this election have broken down are historic, and will benefit the political environment in America for the rest of time. The fact that my daughter will have more opportunities because of Senator Clinton and Govenor Palin makes me happy. 
2) Does either one of them (or both) make you snicker, pull out your claws or judge? Consider this: when my great grandmother was my age, she couldn’t vote. Why? Because she was female. The fact that women have, in the past 90 years gone from not being able to vote to contending for the highest levels of elected office is something that shouldn’t go unnoticed.
3) On the flip side, the SNL skit with the two of them? Made me laugh and laugh, and I’ve watched it over and over….
4) The amount of money both major-party candidates are spending makes me sick to my stomach. . 
5) The biased media (mostly biased toward the left) is ridiculous. The tone of some AP articles are so ridicuously slanted toward the Democratic party they may as well have been written as press releases by Obama’s staff. 
6) The advent of hulu and youtube make catching all of the speeches by all of the candidates so easy to watch–I’m hoping this year’s voters are more informed than ever. 
7) The amount of advertising in Indiana I think is unprecedented–is it possible the Hoosier state will go blue this year?
8) I’m appreciating the Indy Stars “Just the Facts” feature, which sifts through all of the mudslinging and attempts to get the facts straight.
9) I’m also appreciating unpartisan.com –I find it’s set up unique and helpful in attempting to see both sides. 
10) To see John McCain’s Senate record, try this Washington Post link
11) To see the same info on Barack Obama, use this link.
12) Not many of the blogs I frequent have gone very political, and there are far more bloggers that I read than those I know IRL. To get to know you better, please take my poll of to the left.  
13) Both Obama’s website and  McCain’s give information on how to register to vote. If you haven’t yet, REGISTER ALREADY!! Depending on where you live, the deadline may be approaching to register in order to vote in this election!
What are your thoughts on this election “event” ?? No need to come out of the closet…I haven’t!