Alleged baby bump...

It's Friday!!!
I was a bit of a slacker and didn't go in to work at the beginning of the week, so the result is a Friday work day (but only part of one). For all of you who have to do this every single week, you have my sincerest sympathy. I have to get by some how, so here's how I'm coping as I prepare numerous, numerous documents to be scanned into electronic records....

Listening to:

and


Some thoughts...
Went to a birthday party last night and stayed past my pregnant girl bed time, but here's the thing: usually by 9pm I am toast, but I was so energized, I stayed up until at least 1:30 am and then got up at 5:30 when my body woke up and said "I'm DONE lying here!!" plus the cat came in for a pre-dawn ear scratch and snuggle. He's a little cowed from being chased ALL OVER THE house yesterday after I discovered he'd shredded our leather chair while I was gone that day. He had to go to the laundry room for time out. Today he gets his claws cut off again (we were trying to let him be au natural, but not with the furniture)! But I digress... The point was I had a reminder that I am an EXTROVERT! I get recharged by spending time with other humans and talking, even if it's just relatively mundane conversation! So with a full battery, I didn't need that much sleep. I'm sure I'll have a nap to make up for it later.

Another discovery is that I can feel the little bean on the outside of me and so would the geek if he would wait for it. She can tell when he's looking for her and gets still - she does it to me too! I am starting to finally 'look' pregnant as I approach 6 months, nevermind that she's still behind a nice wall of padding and it's only the padding that is pooching out right now - a wise woman once said "It pays to advertise" and if I am pregnant and I look it, that's fine with me, even if I know what is technically sticking out right now is not necessarily baby. It's still pretty dang cute as I am reminded every day when I hear..."Oh! You are starting to look 'Cute Pregnant,'" as opposed to "you might explode on me pregnant" or "I got the kid, but no signs of it except cankles and puffy cheeks right now pregnant."

I'm sure I'll get some pictures done soon. (Melanie?)

I meant 'As Is'

Just thinking of you today...

For better or worse
Even when the 'worse' is more than I can handle some days and I want to go back to the 'better'. Even when the world seems to plot against us and I want the easy path.

Richer or poorer
Even when the 'poorer' makes the 'worse' sometimes happen and I spend too much time daydreaming about the 'richer' days to come (or not to come)

Sickness or health
I shuffle (soon to waddle) back and forth between these and still you are here. I am grateful. I'll stick around for you too.

To love and to cherish
Cherish:
a: to hold dear : feel or show affection for
b: to keep or cultivate with care and affection
Cultivate:
1: to prepare or prepare and use for the raising of crops; also : to loosen or break up the soil about (growing plants)2 a: to foster the growth of b: culture 2a c: to improve by labor, care, or study : refine <cultivate the mind>
Cultivating requires pulling weeds sometimes. Weeds of doubt, fear, and resentment so the garden can bloom. I gotta work at this. I gotta give love a place to grow. I'll keep cultivating and loving and when I fail at it, I'll try again. I'm glad a new planting time comes every year.

Till Death...
You ain't gettin' rid of me and I ain't gettin' rid of you!! (even when I'm a pain in the tuckus or vice versa)

Ani DiFranco said it so succinctly...
When I said...when I said I'll take you, I meant...I meant As Is.

Time catching up

Time and all the things I've taken for granted are catching up with me in this pregnancy. Here's the list (not for pity, for information)

High Blood Pressure
Nerve Compression problems
Fibroids
High potential of Gestational Diabetes

With the exception of the first one, these are all things that have shown up in the last 5 months and all of them, without exception, can be traced back to one cause. Weight.

Now I've lived with a heavy body since the age of 8 and have thought that if people had a problem with it, they could get over it. I'm strong, active, and not too worried about it, or so I thought. The fibroids is what brought me reeling back to reality. They won't go away, there is no cure, and they are not reversible. I'm stuck with them and, later in life, they could cost me all my female parts, or interfere with future pregnancies. My doctor didn't seem to worried about them, but in combination with everything else I've listed, it seems to me that my body is raising a huge flag and saying, "Stop living this way!! We are falling apart here!"

Yet, as always, my habits don't match up with my goals. I do what is easy, rather than what is good for me. I either obsess or put on a blindfold and deny. One day it's carrots, bell peppers, hummus and water for lunch, the next day, a cookie. Changing means thinking ahead, doing what I don't want to do in the moment because my health and the health of my baby depend on me! I have 6 weeks until my OB does the test for diabetes (it doesn't show up until 24-28 weeks- I'm only 22 weeks) and my goal is to cut all processed sugar out of my diet by then and regulate my carb intake to make sure I am not overloading my system with sugar (either direct or indirect). It means grocery shopping differently, it means eating differently, it means paying attention when I want to veg out.

On a scale of 1-10 in terms of will power, I have about a whopping 2, at best, 0 when I'm having a baby moment, so support would be great!! This is a terrifying and yet humbling place for me. I know I don't have the strength to do it on my own, but know there is one place I can turn to. I just gotta keep going back there, every day, every time I want to choose the easy path. I know there is healing for the things I cannot change, but God gave me a brain and a will and even though he may have the power to make me a size 8 in a moment, He won't (at least I'm pretty sure he hasn't done it this way for anyone else). I gotta bring that brain and will to the table (literally) and do for myself what I am able and count on him for the rest.

Rick (not rolled) - a tribute to my youth

I'm very behind the times, but I today discovered the practice of Rickrolling someone (on youTube) but the ironic thing is, I used to LOVE Rick Astley, so when it came on, it was a lovely surprise! I just thought he was the dreamiest thing and had a great voice. I wore my cassette player out listening to him!!! Mock me if you will, but I always was a sucker for those baritone boys. Tenors are all showy and flashy, but give me a baritone any day! I did a little googleing and found out he's still around, singing, and making music but not like in the old days. He's 'thickened up' a bit since the days when he was this skinny red haired nerd, but still it's him. I listened to an audio clip of him being interviewed and was surprised to her him say that 1. He was 42 years old (EEEK! That makes me so very old!!) and 2. He had the thickest accent that sounded to me like a Liverpudlian. I never guessed that. After some more digging, I found I was right (actually a small town outside of it called Newton -Le-Willows.) That makes another favorite musician from that area of England. (I'm such a nerd and sucker for the Beatles)

OK, so this is just a little glimpse of how big a geek I was and I hope you've enjoyed it. Check out that red hair, crooked teeth and sweaty pompadore! Man he could sing! OK. I'm done. Cue the laughter. :) PS, gotta run. The bean just KICKED my bladder!! She'd better cut that out.

Dichotomy

Today I spent several hours cooking, cleaning, reading a book written in the 30's, scanning over the farm blog and getting twitter updates!

One one hand, the world of L.M. Montgomery seems so homey and lovely with life revolving around the family unit, the warmth of the kitchen stove, and nature. Then add to that the simple life of the farmers who, every Sunday, supply me with fresh fruit, veg, eggs, and meat from their hand tilled land. I long for the simplicity of it all, with perhaps not the added burden of having to make and wear those classic blue dresses. It just all seems so sweet. Yet, the romanticized version leaves out the tremendous amount of hard work that made my current state an often dangerous one for women at the turn of the century, (I can't speak for current Amish families giving birth to their babies).

And then there is my little world here in which I sit perched on my couch, blogging and getting updates from friends around the world via my cell phone. My handy vacuum cleaner in the closet, my new fangled car outside, and sweet, sweet air conditioning. (not that on a clean, rainy day like today I need it) I don't mind it. In fact I enjoy it.

But to pursue one life is to lose the benefits of the other and in this moment, I want the benefits of both. I want the simple natural life of living on a farm, without having to milk anything or pull weeds, but I would feel cut off from the world if I didn't know what the world was like outside my little fences. I want to have all my modern conveniences, but often I feel like my modern conveniences are making my life busy and filled up with stuff, noise, confusion, deadlines, and eye strain!

I have never been a good one for balance but I am hoping to learn it. Perhaps there is a way to both slow down and keep up. For today I can just revel in the moment, accepting where I am, the state of my body, mind, heart, and laundry and just be here. My little girl is wiggling and sqiggling all over the place inside me, my bigger and bigger cat is sleeping in a fuzzy spotted ball in the arm chair across the room, the dog is curled up in her cave (ie, her crate with a big old couch cushion and comforter in there), summer sounds of cicadas singing on the trees, the rain brought cool sweet air today and will bring even more fresh food from the farms, and every day, my hubs and I are finding sweet, quiet moments in which to grow deeper in love, friendship, and relationship. That's pretty good when you think about it and so, I am content.

Quite possibly the ugliest fashion brought to you by the most tasteless purveyor of clothing

Yes folks, this is, in fact, a dress. The not so recent wake of clothing purveyors who use sex to sell clothes has produced my least favorite, which I will not even name because you might in fact, cruise on over to their website and thereby unknowingly contribute to their empire built on pushing teen (or at least what is made to appear to be) 'soft porn' on the masses. I have noticed that since the viewer of said advertisements is often too accosted by exposed flesh or by distracting poses that would best be showcased around a pole in some seedy smoke-filled back room, they often fail to pick up on the fact that these clothes are, in fact, a hideous collection of uncomfortable crap, usually colored in shades more often found in my old 80's wonder palette of eyeshadow than on humans. But they go to far with this. It is equal parts hideous and comical and I dare say I would have a hard time not bursting out laughing if I saw them on a human girl out and about town. Aptly named 'figure skater', but I have to say the last time a figure skater wore this ugly an outfit had to be at least...what...1972? To make the best outfit ever, you must pair it with their other offering...Because no outfit is complete unless every single inch of you shines like the top of the Chrysler building. Seriously.

Lucky me

This has long been my favorite medium for griping to the world or taking a small stand against the injustice of the world, even if only my friends read it, but I have been thinking how I hardly mention the good things. I do that with almost every element of my life. It's like the splinter in my finger that I can't help picking at, even though the rest of me feels fine. So here's a list of things I am grateful for today. It is by no means comprehensive!

1. A wonderful husband. Hands down the best man in the world for me who loves me through my baby induced mental breakdowns, works hard at a job he hates, takes care of his family, is smart, funny and loving, and for whom I'd stick around while he built a rocket.
2. A wonderful baby. I still hesitate to call the baby 'she' but since the ultrasound said it's pretty likely, I'd better get used to it. She wiggled all night and I am so glad to finally feel her squiggling around in there. It was a bit disconcerting for half a moment and then I realize what it was!
3. A house to keep me warm, dry, and safe.
4. Friends (like you) who listen when I talk and who share my life with me making the burdens a little lighter and the joys even sweeter, even when I forget I have friends and go have a good baby induced cry on my bed because 'I have no friends.' It's pitiful really. I need a list by the fridge of people I can call when I forget I am loved.
5. A job. Not that it's the most exciting thing on the planet, but it pays the bills and the people are wonderful to work with
6. My health - I can still walk, talk, breathe, sing, swim and though I have little things (like the 'splinter') that irritate me, I am healthy and I am grateful for that.
7. Music. I got to sing this weekend at a conference with some friends and loved it. There's something about being on stage. Perhaps that's the showoff in me, but I am grateful none the less.
8. Sunshine. I love sunshine. I miss it when it's gone. Seriously. I get crabby.
9. Family - they make me insane, but I wouldn't trade them for anything! As I learn to let go, I enjoy them more. So they aren't the Cleavers, but they are pretty cool.
10. Sleep. I am about to miss this like crazy in a few more months so for now, I am grateful for 6-8 hours
11. Peaches - the CSA (community supported Agriculture) brought us sweet peaches this week and I have to say, I never really liked peaches before I tasted them fresh from the farm and not fresh from the refrigerated truck where they've been for a week or 2!
12. Freckles - my sweet pup who has been with me forever and still loves me when I am too tired and/or lazy to take her for walks. (she doesn't rank 12th in my heart, it's just how it came out. I like her more than peaches...well...sometimes)
13. Naartjie (pronounced Narchie)
my bug who runs like a champ in spite of being older than me!
14. the steps...all 12 of them, and the people who help me climb them, one at a time.
15. Jesus. Nuf said, since there aren't words for me to say how grateful I am.
16. Gizmo who provides us with unending entertainment and missing fridge magnets.
17. Swimming pools
18. Ears to hear with
19. Eyes to see with
20. Hands to hold with
21. A mind to learn with
22. That I don't always have to be right. A wise person once asked me if I'd rather be right or happy. I'd rather be happy and let everyone else try to be right. Being right never makes me feel good. Just like a know-it-all, or resentful when everyone else doesn't see how very right I am.
23. My guitar who's case is currently in need of a fresh application of duct tape (200 mile per hour tape) to keep it together, but still sounds as sweet as the day I paid way too much for it seeing as I was a beginner!
24. The interwebs! at least the good parts
25. Moleskin journals that smell new, to write in with archival pens so my journals won't be erased by time and random water leaks
26. For endings to things so I can look forward to the beginning of something new.

See dis? I feel dis.

Imagine if this (dats a grapefruit people) had been implanted inside your abdomen and every time you rolled over in bed, you felt it. Now try to get some sleep. Sheeyeah. Right.

Back at work. Made a new door sign!

It's so hard to come back after nearly a month off! I'll regale you with stories later, but for now, I wanted to show off my new office sign.

Wimpathon...2008

I am steadily becoming the wimpiest version of myself. I've always been the 'Can-do' girl. I've moved furniture, done construction, hiked, biked, canoed, swam, cooked, cleaned, plumbed, invented, and watched other people's kids while doing all of that!

Now I am finding at a mere 16 weeks along, I am a weenie. I kind of ignored that rule about not lifting more than 20 lbs while pregnant, a lot, and it's finally catching up with me. There's a reason they tell you not to, but I am a know it all and figured, "I'm tough, I can do this occasionally." Like carrying an 85 lb canoe with one other person this past weekend. The result...painful cramps where there should NOT be cramps, just a baby, having to go to bed while we had company over and letting the guests and the geek shift for themselves on Father's Day, trouble sleeping, swollen fingers, feet and knees (I'm sure other places, but these where the ones I noticed) and lots of other little worrisome pains here and there internally. The trouble with me is, I used to be able to work like a horse and when I was done, sleep and feel refreshed. Any aches and pains were canceled out with a few handy ibuprofen. Now, I find my self wiped out before I even begin to do anything! Then if I press on, I'm over-doing it. I can't seem to find this balance!

The geek is not used to the changes either. He's always counted on me as a strong partner in any undertaking and now he's getting the brunt of the heavy lifting, so to speak. It's a bit of a strain on him though he takes it with more grace than I'd be able to muster. His first Father's Day and I'm in the bed! It sucked, but he was kind and caring and I am grateful. I never understood how people could get divorced while the wife was pregnant, but now I'm beginning to understand. Without grace, understanding and a willingness to put up with my (closely spaced) bouts of insanity and emotional breakdowns on the part of my sweet geek, we'd be through! I'm hard to live with. I can see that very clearly. I hope to find a more balanced place and learn to let go and trust.

We had an great example of that on the river the other day. I was tired before we even put the canoe in the water and due to some previous mishaps on that river with another friend, not trusting of the Geek's ability to steer us through the rougher parts to safety. Any of you who have paddled down a river will know that you can't steer from the front of the boat, but I was trying! Or at least trying to boss the Geek at the rudder. He finally pulled over and we had a mini 'discussion' about who was in charge of the boat and would I let him be the biggest and the strongest and trust him? It ended amicably and I realized I was not even upset about how we were going down the river, I was fearful about being out of control, worried that I was already too tired to be able to go down the river, and upset that I'd had to hike back to the car to get the forgotten life jackets and paddles. When I said all that and admitted where I was weak, it was easy to let him be the boss of the boat. I ended up having a great time and letting my nephew paddle in the front while I relaxed in the middle like the queen on Sheba on the Nile! It was great to see what a great man that the geek could be when I get out of the way, and let him wear the pants (or steer the boat). The geek always has this joke that he wears the pants, I just tell him which ones. Like the woman in "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" who says "The man is the Head (of the family), but the woman is the neck and she turns the man whichever way she wants" If I'm the neck, then who is my husband following? Not God. And I don't think I'm a reliable source to follow. So in my wimpiness, I'm asking God to teach me to let go and let my hubby follow the One who has a WAY better plan.

Sweet, Sweet interwebs!

Oh how I've missed thee, interwebs. My nephew (a small clone of my big brother) is visiting for the next week (a total of 2 weeks) and we've been running around doing things fun for an 11 year old. The list so far:

Friday - his first plane trip ever! He loved it.
Saturday - worked at the ice-cream shop - the wee clone was my sample man and raked in the tips! (all of which I handed over to him)
Sunday - Sounds game - spent a zillion dollars on crappy hot dogs and icees, but it was fun and HOT. Sadly I got a little ill and we had to leave in the 5th inning. I have lost the ability to regulate my internal temperature lately and can't take the heat. It never used to bother me!
Monday - rode bikes to the Y and swam for several hours and then rode home. (with plenty of water breaks)
Tuesday - picked up the bug (all fixed!! Horray!) from the shop - by way of a 40 minute walk and a bus ride. After I shorted out the dash we nipped down to Autohaus to pick the brain of my friend BMWnerd who is a whiz with car electronics. Turns out I needed just a fuse!
Wednesday - went to the lake with Freckles!
Thursday - went dumpster diving for cardboard boxes and built a giant fot in the the wee clone's room!
Friday - lumped around and had a Harry Potter movie marathon. My friend Steph from way back came up to visit and spend the night.
Saturday - canoing in the Harpeth (yes, again - we like it)

New pregnancy symptom - check out the posting time for this blog. I wake up SO hungry and unable to sleep in the middle of the night. Hate it! I know I'll be so tired later (like when we are on the river) and there will be no chance for a nap! Sheesh. Wish I could sleep, but once I'm awake, I'm hot, figitey and the geek's snoring (albeit more gently than ever in the history of our marriage) keeps me awake and thinking about random stuff like home repairs. I'm sure I'll hear from all the experienced mom's "you just wait, it gets worse." Why tell me stuff like this? I don't like to be prepared for the worst! Let my cup stay half full and quit trying to drink it!

By the way, for those who are keeping up: I'm 15 weeks and the bean is about this size:

News you can Yews

This is a yew branch and has nothing to do with this post.

Summer is heating up and I am so glad to have a little time with no 'work', none that I get paid for anyway. My nephew is coming up to visit for 2 weeks (he's 11 years old) and then we both go to Texas to go to the same camp that I've been attending since the age of 6. We have lots of adventures planned for our time together, including another brave attempt at the Harpeth. I might bring someone bigger and stronger than me this time, if he agrees to it.

Working at the Creamery has been an adventure. Oddly enough I am not overwhelmed by cravings of ice-cream. The trick is to be lactose intolerant and to know the impending intestinal havoc that will follow if I give in. That being said, I'm a huge fan of the Trailer Trash 2.0. Trailer Trash is the owner's handmade vanilla ice-cream with every added chocolate candy bar you can think of. Trailer Trash 2.0 is that, but in her amazing Chocolate ice-cream. I gave in a little bit. Not overboard. Still paid for it in the end (pun intended tee hee!)

I am officially in my 2nd trimester and so far am just as tired as I was before. So much for that wave of energy I was supposed to get. I wonder it it has anything to do with working 2 jobs and swimming 3 days a week....nah. The first signs are there. I wore a skirt, that had been quite comfortable about a month ago, to work last week and ended up having to unbutton, unzip and pull my shirt down far so no one could tell. I just tucked in the flapping button ends and went on! I have still not learned totally that this is not a time to pretend like I am my old self. There is some pressure to continue with my old way of operating, but when I do act like I have all the energy and strength in the world, it catches up with me and I'm in the bed with a headache for the whole next day. I'm a smidge hard headed. What can I say.

The best news is that we are using our economic incentive to fix the bug, so the geek can have his own car (and space) back and I'll be cruisin' in my sweet tangerine super beetle! Just in time for escalating gas prices! Wow, ain't we lucky.

Thats all for now folks.

Police Mopeds - exception to the rule!

I spotted this on my way to work and had to pull over, stand in the street during morning rush hour and take a picture. It looked like some nerd version of a biker gang, but then I realized they were Police mopeds AND they were parked illegally. (See the 'no parking to corner' sign that they are ALL on the wrong side of?) Hilarious!

Near drownings on the Harpeth!

OK. So the title was for shock value. I went canoing on the Harpeth River this last week with my friend and her 4 kids (age 10-4) and we had a few tip overs, but all it all it was fun and no one drowned. The geek and I planed to go again on Monday, but we woke up to storms. Boo. Happy Memorial Day all! I am thinking of my little brother who is still in Marine training out in California. He's bound to be shipped off soon and I hope I don't have to remember him on Memorial Day, just Veterans day.

electric skin

Everything is irritating me today, even the clothes I have on! I suppose this is just another one of those mysterious side effects of being pregnant, but I do not like it! It makes everything green (this is the color I've always associated with prickly feelings on my skin - like when I'd wake up in the night with a dead hand from sleeping on it.)

I am wiggly

i am: wiggly
i think: like I am in a fog – thanks little one!
i know: I am loved, but don’t always remember. (kinda like times tables)
i want: to go get in the pool
i have: work to do, but don’t remember to do
i wish: i had no more debt and didn’t have to worry about bills.
i hate: the smell of humanity, the unwashed version.
i miss: being able to work harder
i fear: being left alone forever
i feel: physically refreshed, but mentally tired. I also feel content and happy
i hear: the white noise of the office AC unit
i smell: cubicles
i crave: sunshine
i search: for my water bottles, I have three and still they elude me
i wonder: what my baby’s face will look like
i regret: not being a better friend over the years
i love: so much it hurts sometimes
i ache: because my blood pressure is a little elevated today
i care: about my neighborhood
i always: loud
i am not: shy anymore
i believe: that Jesus is the best thing that happened to this world
i dance: to Sixpence when I wash dishes and to Jazzy favorites with children
i sing: without knowing I am
i don't always: pick my clothes up off the bathroom floor
i fight: to protect the helpless and innocent and for the ones I love
i write: because I cannot help but write. It comes out on whatever is handy
i win: radio station drawings for uncool prizes and become ineligible for the cool ones 2 days later!
i lose: my keys
i never: have returned to my birth country
i confuse: others around me, at work apparently.
i listen: to the sound of summer
i can usually be found: never in the same place for longer than a few hours
i am scared: sharks, for no good reason. I wish I could stop being scared.
i need: time, affection and attention (not the bad kind)
i am happy about: the bean being as big as a fig and the geek coming back from ‘Man Camp’ excited!

you?

First Mother's Day!

Sunday morning I woke to a sweet 'Happy Mother's Day' from the geek, who then rolled out of bed to make me bacon and eggs - except we were out of bacon AND eggs. So cereal...out of milk. This whole making breakfast for me for Mother's day was starting to look grim, but then, I remembered the $20 in tips I got from the ice-cream shop the night before! We quickly dressed and headed to Noshville (our favorite Sunday morning restaurant) for ham and eggs and griddle cakes! We didn't get to sit at the bar with Linda (our favorite waitress) but it was good all the same and we enjoyed the food immensely (until I ate the silver dollar potato latkes, which were fried, but I've never had trouble with them before - guess babe doesn't like grease in the tummy)plus I got a little corsage to wear! Happy Mom's day to all you moms and moms to be!

Ummm...I gotta go practice.

Yuto Miyazawa - 8-Year Old Japanese Guitar Phenom! from Metal Edge TV on Vimeo.

Remembering the light - Dawn at Miami Beach

It’s dawn on Miami Beach. The sun is rising without much pomp or circumstance, much as it does every day around here. The sand, still littered with last night’s seaweed from high tide and last night’s trash from high life, stands nearly empty of people, cool under my feet in the gray light.

There is an older woman, stocky and large of bosom, dressed in what must only be called a bathing ‘costume’, for she wears what appears to be a shapeless green and blue dress, thick black stockings, and a turban. Her movements are awkward in the shifting sand close to the constant rhythm of the waves. She sits down at the water’s edge and is surprised by a larger wave, a herald of the high tide that is coming.

Aside from the seagulls, there is one other person, a young guy, dressed in a black tank top with close cropped hair, who keeps, like me, taking snapshots of the horizon and gazing back at the boardwalk as if waiting for someone.

The night still hides in the hollows of all of yesterday’s footprints, purple and fighting the dawn, while the crests of the hollows become tinged with orange. The sky is painted the same color, as the sun plays coy for a few moments. At the horizon the clouds make cities with peak and towers against a blood red sky. In a moment, the blaze of the sun peeks over the edge and in a moment more, it sends its light in a fiery band across the waves to me, here with crossed legs and squinted eyes, trying to capture the beauty of something so mundane, but so exquisite.

How many sunrises must the world have seen by now, yet each one seems miraculous in and of itself, as if, in our hearts, we forget what the day is in the dark hours. But soon the dark will have nowhere to hide, not even in the hollows of footprints, as the sun makes it’s daily sojourn to the top of the dome of heaven.

Way to deal with the BIG issues...

This was my letter to the editor of the Nashville Scene:

"In the face of city-wide hearings to possibly cut multiple bus routes and limit AccessRide (disability services with MTA ), and with MTA facing a budget shortfall of over 2 million dollars due to the price of fuel, I pick up a copy of the scene to fine the riveting headline story of...a Burger Contest?

Come ON! How is this news? Maybe the Scene got big advertising bucks for this story, or some food critic got to eat burgers at a ton of cushy joints, but with gas prices rising this summer and the city in DESPERATE need of a greener and cheaper alternative to everyone driving individual cars, one would think that the Scene, usually the champion of the these 'big bad city plans to screw the little guy' type of articles, would pick up on this. No, it’s not the typical Scene reader that will be affected by these cuts, but it should be. What better way to encourage all of those environmentally concerned, carbon footprint reducing readers to help both the city’s growing smog and transportation issues than to make an appeal to the readers to show up at those hearings, make their opinion know, perhaps get ON the bus themselves and see what they can do for their city.

If that’s of no concern to you, how about the City council’s plans to close the only public pool in the Cleveland Park neighborhood that sits between Dickerson and Ellington Pkwy? Plus the removal of the ONE bus route that could actually bus the children of the neighborhood to the closest pool (East Park), the # 30 line, which is on the docket to be cut. Hmm. These issues seem way more important than whose burger tastes the best and which of your employees got to clog their arteries by feasting on ground beef. How about paying a little attention and not sitting silently by while the city’s children, disabled and people of lower socioeconomic status get the shaft?"

OOOOooo. It burns me up sometimes! If you have an opinion, please attend these public hearings:

*NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING*

The Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) will be holding four Public
Hearings on the following issues:

* Fare adjustment for MTA regular and AccessRide services. The
Metropolitan Transit Authority is currently considering five possible
scenarios for fare adjustment ranging from a 5 cent to 25 cent increase to
the base fare as well as associated increases in other fare media and
passes.

*Possible removal or reduction of some or all of the following routes:

· Route 13 – Sylvan Park

· Route 31X – Harpeth Valley Express

· Route 1 – Vine Hill

· Route 45X – Oak Hill Express

· Route 16 – Madison – Old Hickory

· Route 30 – McFerrin

· Route 37X – Tusculum Express

· Route 8 – 8th Ave. South

· Route 41X – Golden Valley

· Route 18 – Airport Express – Elm Hill Pike

· Route 2 - Belmont

* Possible reductions in service on all MTA routes, including the
elimination of night service, Saturday, Sunday, and Holiday service, as well
as the Night Owl service.

* Possible reduction of the ADA AccessRide service to areas within 1.5
miles of regular service routes.

The public hearings will occur at:

6:00 PM, Monday, May 5th, 2008 at the Rochelle Center – Building-A
Conference Room, located at 1020 Southside Ct.

12:00 (noon), Tuesday, May 6th, 2008 at the Downtown Library,
Conference Center, located at 615 Church Street.

5:30 PM, Tuesday, May 6th, 2008 at the Downtown Library, Conference
Center, located at 615 Church Street.

6:00 PM, Thursday, May 8th, 2008 at the Madison Branch Library,
located at 610 Gallatin Pike.

* *

Additional meetings may be held and will be announced at a later date.

* *

Please note that attendance at these meetings is not required for comment.
You may also mail your comments to MTA Planning Department, attn: Public
Hearing Comments, 130 Nestor St., Nashville, TN 37210, or fax your comments
to 862-6208, or email them to mta.publichearings@nashville.gov. Comments
will be received until May 14th, 2008.

For ADA accessibility information contact:
ADA Coordinator
130 Nestor Street
Nashville, TN 37210
(615) 862-5950