Looking Through a Straw

Forgive me if this first post seems like rambling, but I'm just getting my feet wet here.  

Winter weather has finally come to Ohio.  It's been pretty balmy in this part of the country until a couple of weeks ago and it still wasn't bad until last weekend.  This evening, we actually had to shovel snow--lots of it. 

My wife's uncle died last week and the funeral was yesterday.  My wife was asked to drive her mother and sister to the funeral and her minivan was just developing some service issues so we decided to rent a car for a couple of days.  Now that we have 10" or more of weather covering the ground, the rental's all-wheel-drive came in pretty handy so we're keeping it another day.  I don't think my Miata would have made it home from work this evening.

I work with a fellow named Mike who seems to always be having financial problems and in-laws who's pictures are in the dictionary under co-dependancy.  He needed a ride to work this morning so he could drive his van home after work.  His van has been sitting in the parking lot at work for a couple of months.  He was finally able to come up with enough money to replace the distributor cap and rotor last week.  I picked him up this morning in the rental, a Nissan Murano, and despite the AWD, it took us an extra half hour to get to work with slow traffic and all the snow on the expressway. 

I can't believe how perfectly this is working out.  I would never spend the $32,000 it takes to buy an AWD SUV for as often as AWD is needed around here (maybe a couple of days every three years or so).  I have long believed in buying "Pre-Owned" vehicles with a maximum price of about $18,000. 

 

So, Uncle Gene dies unexpectedly just as my wife's car needs service requiring us to rent something substantial to drive just as the winter storm of the decade decends on our area.  Perfect timing, uncle Gene!

 

I should probably explain the "Looking Through a Straw" title of this blog.

It has to do with my perception of my own point of view of the world.  I feel that I have never been able to to see the whole forrest.  I focus on trees. ...Or more precisely, a small spider crawling on a tiny bud on a twig.  I have always felt that anything covering a wider scope is out of focus.  Don't get me wrong.  I'm not a self-centered navel contemplator oblivious to the needs and wants of others.  (I hope not.)  Its just that I'm always aware of (and plagued by)  the necessity for me to re-invent the world past what I can see through my straw. I have to be forever suspicious of my own conceptual machinations and have to test them when it is convenient. It isn't always convenient or possible.  I'm hoping this blog will enable me to establish footholds for my thoughts that tend to fade all too quickly.  Maybe I'll be able to build on them as a result. 

Thanks, Thotman, for the inspiration to start this project.