I (heart) Orange County

Good Things About A Painfully Long Drive:

1) The dog staying quiet
2) Listening to all the show tunes you want without complaints
3) Plenty of time for introspection

Bad Things About A Painfully Long Drive:

1) Eating too much junky food
2) Marion County Police
3) The painfully long drive

The nine-hour trip from North Carolina to Apopka took 15 hours. Ugh - we skipped 95 and took the back roads. I was pulled over and threatened by the Marion County Police after failing to stop for a non-functioning stoplight. After making me sit there for a five minute lecture with my window open in the pouring rain, the officer went back to his car to write me a ticket, where he must have made use of his introspection time and realized that coming to a dead stop in a 65 mph zone in the pitch black (10:00 p.m. and no power) on a highway would probably have been more dangerous than not stopping at all. I probably would have fought a ticket given to me for not having the super powers required to see a non functioning stoplight in the pitch black with no flares or flashing police lights (that's right, he was hiding). "Well, your honour, I had misplaced my night goggles and..."

The non-functioning stoplights I passed in Orange County had stop signs, flares, and police cars with the lights flashing. Good for them!

Work is closed tomorrow. I don't know why, really, but I don't question these things. Just as well - I have no way of knowing how long I was without power, but I think it was at least 24 hours, so I had to throw away all my food. The prospect of going out to buy enough food to refill my fridge/freezer and deep freeze is both daunting and thrilling.

Didn't I say the only way to guarantee safety is for me to pack up all my belongings and drag them through four states after cancelling a plane ticket? Take that Ivan - I'll do it again, I swear!

And today I'm happy because of Conan O'Brien's Walker Texas Ranger magic lever. Watch for it. Conan is always a good happy to fall back on after a rough day.