On the move...

It's been noted by others (as well as my own self in my head) that we've been on the move quite a bit this summer. Generally not trips that cost any more than the gas, but it's still a little ironic that (f)unemployment is what it takes to be able to have the freedom to get around. Tomorrow I drive to Minneapolis in order to catch a flight to Phoenix at 7am Tuesday morning. Then I drive my rental car to Flagstaff and stay at the Ramada until Friday when I come back to Phoenix and return to Minneapolis. While in Flagstaff, I try to find us a place to live and try to replace my generalized anxieties about the unknown with particularized anxieties about the barely known. Then I spent a couple of days in the Twin Cities, hanging out with my family, etc. before heading to a cabin with Kristina and her little family (hello qt with my favorite kindness-child) as well as her mom and stepdad. Then back to Madison. Meanwhile, Charlie makes his way to Anchorage for a wedding and then to Tucson for the bar. I am getting better at spelling Tucson right on the first try. We meet back up in Madison late next week and head up to the Upper Peninsula with the d-o-g to camp for a couple of nights here. No, it's not the "bar trip" of some of our peers-- a month in Italy? A tour of southeast Asia? But we're not that fancy. And we're broke. But he's been working hard and deserves a mini-break someplace pretty with his girl and his dog.
It'll be nice to have him back, mentally, and start being able to really work together on this big move. Plus it's been pretty boring being a bar-widow.

Highlights of this weekend include figuring out how and using food stamps at the farmer's market and grilling ostrich burgers (& filets) with friends on the deck. Last week also enjoyed an epic 25 mile bike ride around Lake Mendota, watching Bruno at 2-4-1 student night and noticing the hot peppers in the deck farm are growing after all! Yes, it's a quiet and domestic life here... wait, did I mention burning 5 audio books to my computer for the move-drive? Um, right, still quiet and domestic.

Levee Ride

I went for my first bike ride in New Orleans today. It was 91 degrees, I was out for about an hour and came back wondering if I was dead. BUT, it was very nice. There is a bike path that runs along the top of the levee along the river. The New Orleans streets are so shitty and pot-holes and full of clinically insane drivers... that riding on the street is stressful and rather slow. So it was great to get up there and just ride, and not even have to stop. This city also doesn't really maintain public anything-- parks are threadbare and scary and obviously we know about silly things like schools and hospitals. But it was great to be on a rather nice road, ride along the river and explore. I passed countless bullhorns, elevated houses along the river, ports, families out riding.

On my first trip here, a speaker referred to the need to return to ones roots, especially those who "grew up drinking the water of the Mississippi." Well, I was also raised drinking Mississippi water... although long before it made its way all the way through the country. And I've been to the mouth of the Mississippi and grew up riding my bike along the very same river, 1200 miles north. So I had a very nice time, riding along, sweating profusely and thinking about all this and more.

Proof the Baby Jesus Loves Me... And is a Socialist.

So the thing about states like Wisconsin (Minnesota USED to be much more this way)... is they love poor people. Ok, no one in America really LOVES poor people. But these socialist-leaning states provide a lot more social services-- health care, housing and so on than do many others. Taxes are higher, yes. But people value libraries and parks and childhood nutrition. The campaign in Minnesota a few years back sums it up perfectly, "Happy to Pay for a Better Minnesota." Raise my taxes, please, and give me schools and park board sports for my kids. Now, lucky for me, taxes are for people who make money.* In Wisconsin there is this homestead credit for renters. You file for this with your state taxes and it's supposed to give some money back to low-income renters. Great, awesome. Even if I didn't qualify, I would love this idea. Well, I do qualify. Heck, I paid $6000 more in rent last year than I earned (thank you, Uncle Sam.) So I file for it... and get $1150 back. Um, whoah. Awesome. This further relieves the stress of paying more or less for two apartments this summer in an unpaid internship AND... well... allowed me today to buy a new bike off craigslist. She is so beautiful. And so fast and fun and who ever knew how crappy my old bike was until she came along. She is this one, although the 2005 model. And bright red. Ooh la la. She also came to me from a woman in Monroe, WI with both a "ten commandments" and a Ron Paul sign in her front yard. An the most incredible added bonus? Upon getting her home, I found this:


Yes, that's right, the metallic baby jesus rides with me. And so I think I am totally converted... Obviously the baby jesus created the Wisconsin Homestead Credit so that I could get a new bike and see how much faster and cooler I could ride with him on my side. My left side, to be precise. So, baby jesus... THANKS!

If

His bootstraps story weren't enough reason to vote for him. Here are some other good reasons. Click on them.

Update

The bike continues to go well. I have a cooler helmet, so it looks like I mean to wear it, not like my mom makes me. Someone broke or stepped on or ran over my rear wheel. And then I got it fixed. And I've been enjoying riding the bike in a skirt, it makes me feel like a slut. No, I am not a slut, just an inconsistent blogger.

Things are busy and little blog-worthy is happening. Except for the riding the bike in the skirt, of course. We went to grandma's house last weekend, I got even more tan. I still spend a day a week in prison, my clients stories make me sad a lot. I have been working for weeks on a letter to a man about why he will never get out of prison. I wish I were wrong, but I don't think I am. I am looking forward to the upcoming fun, all of it.