Working From Home, Dreaming of Crazyland
Yesterday afternoon, e-baby had some yellowish goopies in her eyes and the teachers thought it could be conjunctivitis, so she had to be taken home and medicated for 24 hours before she is allowed back. I don't think it's pink eye because she has been in the jogger for 30 minutes twice a day all week going to/from work, and I suspect that the wind and springtime pollen is taking its toll. But, pink eye is contagious and the health policy makes sense so I'm not complaining. Last night she had a bath and started a round of antibiotic ointment (the same stuff Goofch would get- awww, isn't that sweet?) and there have been no signs of goopie since.

All of this means that I'm working from home today. Today I also leave for Miami. Which means SNG will be working from home later on this afternoon. Tomorrow night around midnight my flight comes home from Miami, God willing.

Do you remember what I think of Florida a.k.a. Crazyland? Do you?

The quintessential Crazyland story was from a business trip I took to Ft. Lauderdale once. It takes place on a Tuesday 8pm-ish, on the expressway. I had merged onto the freeway a mile or so earlier and was in the right lane, going 65-70mph. There was little traffic on the road. Just then, a car came up behind me, going about 90 mph (in the right lane) and at the last second, zipped around me on the left, pulled up next to me, laid on the horn and held up his middle finger at me while obviously screaming something venemous in my direction. I waved back, and raised an eyebrow as if to say "Hello, Crazy man, I'm sorry you're having such a bad day but please go away now" and he turned back to the road and sped away. All of this at highway speed. That was it. I never saw him again, but I figure his ex-wife must have driven a rental-car-burgundy Buick and I reminded him of that pain.

Another time I was in Crazyland driving on a 6-lane divided street (3 lanes in each direction separated by a dirt median). When the traffic was heavy, people would drive on the median in both directions, a real-life game of chicken, to get by the slower cars. Oh, and this wasn't just when cars were stopped. If traffic flowed at 25 mph, the median zig-zagged and dodged at 35mph. You could almost hear the Blue Danube waltz playing over the madness.

I have read that more than half of the nation's ten most dangerous cities for pedestrians are in Florida. It's not that crowded of a place, it's just that the drivers claim right-of-way on all surfaces, paved or not.

I haven't been to Miami since I was about 6 years old, but I remember not liking it much. At least I'll have a coworker with me to share the misery and to help break out of the trunk of our rental car as it sinks to the bottom of a lake somewhere.