Wednesday Hodgepodge

1. October 21, 2015 is Back to the Future Day. Did you see the movie? The sequels? In the second film, Doc takes Marty into the future to prevent Marty's future son from making a mistake. They leave 1985 and land on a 'skyway' on October 21st, 2015. So tell us, what were you doing in the fall of 1985?

In the fall of 1985, I was in kindergarten.  So I genuinely have no clear memories of anything in particular I was doing.  Filling out letter books, playing on the playground, that sort of thing.

2.  If time travel were possible, would you want to go to the future? The past?

The past.  I love history and I would love to witness it.

3. We're not flying cars, but some of the technology imagined in the 80's film has indeed come to pass in real life 2015-flat screen TVs on the wall, tablets, fingerprint recognition, video conferencing, online banking, 3-D movies, motion controlled video games, drone cameras, and smart glasses (Google glass).  Do you worry technology is growing at a rate so fast we'll soon be unable to keep up with it's demands? Do you think the Internet does more harm than good? 

No, I think any demands technology has will be within our capability to handle.  If not, it's ours to control.  And I think the Internet definitely does more good than harm--it makes keeping in touch with my distant family easy and makes finding out answers to the random questions that my kids come up with easy and it makes finding new recipes easy.  Love it.

4. Your favorite dish prepared in a slow-cooker? Your favorite fast food?

Slow cooker:  tortilla soup.  Fast food:....does Chipotle count?  I'm not all that into fast food...

5. No time like the present, down time, face time, pressed for time, in the nick of time, make time, mark time, or just in time...which timely saying most relates to your life right now? 

No time like the present.  I like to get things DONE so I can relax with my family and not panic, say, on Saturday when the house is still a mess and our friends are coming over to help us eat food on sticks.  (Side note! if anyone has good ideas for what to include on a veggie kabob that doesn't include mushrooms, let me know!)

6. Tell us about a place you went as a child or younger person that's no longer there or is now something else. How does that make you feel?

It's a weird thing to cross my mind, but my mom used to work at this little convenience store when I was a kid.  They moved to a new building, and for a while, the old one was kind of cursed--nothing lasted there for very long before going out of business.  I never knew why.  Then someone came in and opened our little town's only restaurant, and it was a great restaurant.

My first week away at college, the restaurant caught fire.  The owner was undaunted; he rebuilt and reopened with the community's help.  A few years ago, he'd sold the place to a couple young punks who wanted to run it "the right way", and when it caught fire again, they lost their nerve.  The building is still there, though no longer open.

The original owner is still in the barbecue business, and that's a very good thing.

7. Describe your comfort zone.
Someplace where shoes are optional and laughter is abundant.

8. Insert your own random thought here.

Tomorrow we remember my mother, who passed fifteen days after my daughter was born.  She was so grateful she got a chance to meet Sunshine.  I've no pictures of the two of them together, because Mom would not have appreciated it, but I have a very clear memory of Mom lying in bed, with Sunshine in her arms.