Blinker Battle

The Battle of the Blinkers

We had the opportunity to head South to Utah’s Dixie for a few days this week. Monday I worked long enough to make sure that the Payroll processing was done, then I left work.

My first stop was the Ford dealership. The turn signals (on my 2003 F150 Pickup) hadn’t been working properly the last few days. I had a couple of light bulbs replaced, but that still didn’t solve the problem. It had been acting up on my way to work that morning, but of course, as I left work and headed over to the dealership – it was working just fine! The service writer -- After checking the light bulbs (they were all working) said: “Well, there’s not much we can do right now, unless it’s acting up. Come back again when the problem is happening, and don’t turn the motor off, then we can get an idea of what to do.”

I mussed, half to myself, and half to the service writer, “I would really like the turn signals to be working, because I am driving to St. George tonight.” I climbed back into the truck, and headed toward home. In fact I called Dawn Ann on my cell phone and told her I was on my way home.

Of course, then, after I was headed AWAY from the dealership, and had made all these arrangements to be on our way – only THEN did the turn signals start acting up again. I was about 3 miles away from the dealership by then. So I flipped a U-turn as quickly as possible and headed straight back to the service department. I did not turn off the motor, (did not pass go, did not collect $200). The same service writer who saw me before, saw me coming again. This time I was able to demonstrate that I was not, in fact, off my rocker!

They took the truck, ran a few tests on it, and found that the turn signal switch in the steering column was the culprit. They replaced the switch, and about 30 minutes later I was on my way, with a working turn signal system.

After I got home, we packed our things into the truck, and headed South.


Oh, I Wish I Were in Dixie

St, George is sometimes like a whole other world. The change in climate between Salt Lake City, and St. George can be remarkable. We had spent the previous few days locked into a temperature inversion. The daily highs were in the high 20’s, and the lows in the teens. Fog would roll in at night, and toward the end of last weekend, it was staying through much of the day. Fog and cold can be kind of depressing. What a welcome relief it was to bask in the St. George Sun, and experience temperatures in the high 50’s. It was great to feel the sun again, and be able to walk around in shirt sleeves once more!

We spent Tuesday Visiting with Dawn Ann’s parents (Grandma and Grandpa L.) and with her sister Tina, and her boys (her husband, Brent was away working in Las Vegas, while we were in town.)

Lemony Snicket Movie

Tuesday night, was Girls Night Out. Dawn Ann, Tina, and Grandma L. went out for “Brown Toppers” (chocolate dipped ice cream cones). This is where they get together and catch up with what is going on in each other’s lives. While the girls were out, the kids and I (the mice) went out to play! We decided to go to the Lemony Snicket’s, "A Series of Unfortunate Events" movie (based on Vols. 1-3 of the book series). The kids had been begging me to go see it (they have already read most of the books the movie was based upon, and naturally wanted to see the movie). However, other commitments had kept me from taking them to see the show. Now that we were away from home, I was out of the grasp of other entanglements, and we could finally go to the show. Now, after having seen the show, it would appear that the series of entanglements that had previously kept me from viewing this movie, were in fact, a series of fortunate events.

For me, however, the show was kind of disappointing. First of all, I find Jim Carrey hard to take sometimes (and this was one of them). At times this movie seemed more like a vehicle for Jim Carrey to show off, rather than the telling of a story. Second, the entire movie was very dark and dreary. People were being bumped off like flies (even though the violence was off-camera). I didn’t like the casual disregard for the value of life, and the seeming lack of consequences for those who take lives. There were a few moments of comic relief, but they didn’t make up for the lack of any kind of redeeming value.

I don’t mind seeing a film that depicts good and evil, but the lack of accountability for evil doing, and the dearth of examples of how good can and should overcome evil was distressing, if not depressing. I guess one can always sum up whether or not you would recommend a movie to someone else by asking yourself: “Would I want to see this movie again?” In my case, the answer would be a definite "No"!