Wednesday, May 30, 2018

New Look!

Okay, yes, I've been playing around again. Partly because I was getting bored with the old look, and partly because there have been a couple of things bothering me about it for awhile. I won't bore you with the details, but I hope this new version will be easier on the eyes, especially with the bigger pictures (which should still load just as fast).

I'm not done making changes (but then, I'm never done making changes), but they will come a little at a time, since both Karen and I are getting into our busy season as school comes to a close. I promise I will do my very best not to break the site as I continue working on it.

The first change coming up is to update the portraits, all of which are at least six months old, and thus remind me of winter, which is the last thing I want to think about right now. Even the snow thrower is completely covered up so that I don't need to be reminded.

Wednesday, May 16, 2018

William on Wheels. Kind Of.

William has a car. It's a 2003 Subaru Forester, and it's actually a nicer car than either of his parents' cars. It even has a sunroof. William just needs one more thing to complete his summer transportation needs: a driver's license.

So why does a 17-year-old young man buy a car (for William did in fact buy this with his own money, earned in a job last summer) when he doesn't have a license? Well, it all comes down to size. Or, more precisely, length.

William is long. We haven't measured him lately, but he's at least 6'3" tall, and that makes it difficult for him to fit into the driver's seat of some cars. Including, unfortunately, my Honda Civic. Now, William is taking driver's education, in the classroom and behind the wheel. But in addition to the time he spends with his licensed instructor, William is required to spend 40 hours on the road with a licensed driver over the age of 25. That would be me.

While he doesn't fit in my car, he does fit comfortably in Karen's Forester. But Karen's Forester is at her work at a large number of very inconvenient hours, and so to get that required experience, William needed something else to drive.

We were going to go to an auction and try to find a midsize. But Karen talked to our mechanic, who also has sold us four cars previously, all of which were good deals, and he said that he had not had good luck at that particular auction. But he did have a good car on the lot that he would make us a deal on. And it was, indeed, a very good deal, and a really nice car with low mileage.

And so now William has a car but no license, to make it easier to get his license so that he can take advantage, finally, of having his own car. And so now, starting this coming week, I will be taking him out on the road as much as possible so that he can get his license soon after the school year ends and finally ease the terrible logistical problems that come from having three workers and only two cars in the family.

Until Danny gets a job. But I don't want to think about that now.