Another Road Trip

(Should have posted this in the morning, but I'll leave it up for tomorrow too.)

We are heading to my sister's  today for a nice lunch at Bob Evans.  She likes it there.  Then we will head home before rush hour and get back in time to possibly pick up my RAV 4 from the shop.

Saturday morning my husband told me that there was a big puddle under the car, and he was right.  Red in color and oily so that tells the story -- transmission fluid.  Here's why I am so relieved.  I had a bad feeling that the car was going to break.  Don't ask me but this happens a lot -- and I went to Cleveland last week and didn't get home the one night until 10:00 p.m.  I can't imagine how horrible it would have been to have the leak on the way home and maybe at that point even damage the transmission.

So it will be wonderful to have everything back in order.  My mechanic is Ryan who owns Rt. 21 Auto Sales at the corner of Rt. 21 and Butterbridge.  He's fixed my cars for years and years and I do trust him to make good repairs.

So today, what do I want to cover?  I'm getting to a point where we need to do something different, but I'm not sure just what.  There are several things I'm considering and I'll let you know later this week.

I guess one thing that has been bothering me is the Ebola thing.  There is something unbelievably frightening about a disease that hits very suddenly and for which there is no cure at this time (although there are some promising leads out there).  And it bothers me that a person who cared for an Ebola patient has contracted the disease despite wearing the required hazmat suit, etc.  I'm not so quick to blame her as the CDC was for breaking protocol.  Honestly, I don't think we have a clue as to exactly how it is spread, at what point it is spread, and to with what ease it is spread.  So if I had to make a decision on flights coming here from Liberia and Sierra Leone today, I guess you know in which camp I would be.  NO flights, like the French decided.  We do not know nearly enough to pull the old Titanic logic in regards to something so lethal.  You know, "The Titanic is unsinkable," that kind of thing -- "Ebola won't hit the  U.S."

That's where arrogance has gotten us.

You know what would be terribly interesting?  If you took two different prognosticators and had them come up with answers for various situations, like the Ebola one.  Have them tape their comments.  Then wait a while until more information comes down the pike and play their responses.  See who was right, or more right.   We hear from people all the time and they give their best guess as to how something might work in a given scenario, but then we don't revisit what they said again.  It would be one way of figuring out exactly who really does have the upper hand in their understanding of things, wouldn't it?  It could be a couple of years long project and who wouldn't want to know what was going on?  It would be one way to re-energize the American people about the goings-on in the country and bring some of the issues to the forefront without all of the accompanying drama.

I like the idea myself.  I'd pick, say, Charles Krauthammer on one side and maybe Joe Trippi on the other.  Or maybe Allan Combs.  And then maybe two women facing off. 

We get more information than ever in the history of mankind, 24 hours a day, and yet people don't seem to know much about anything. 

I'm doing an absentee ballot because I need time to think.  I can't just march in there and fire off my choices willy nilly.  I want to give it some thought.  So I'm working on the judgeships right now and that is not an easy category.   How do you know when someone is a bad judge?  Or how someone else might be a better judge?  Everyone is throwing criminals in jail these days; this seems to be the most common thread that runs through the campaign literature and that's fine, but what about courtroom ability?  What about working under pressure?

Like being the judge in the double murder case from Portage Lakes?  What evidence comes in?  What is thrown out?  And the gruesome photos and evidence!!  It takes a really special person to be able to do that work on an ongoing basis.

So -- I will do some research and try to find some objective information out there on the judgeships. 

Take care, everyone.  Be careful!  And if you see red, oil fluid coming out of your car, it's transmission fluid.  Oh, wait a minute!!!  This is an update.  Apparently, the red isn't always transmission fluid but might be antifreeze.  I might need a water pump.

Bye for now.