Life With Frenchie

I live in the Mecca for anyone over, oh, let’s say 45! That means, per capita, Florida has more crappy drivers than anywhere on this planet. Okay, so maybe I’m exaggerating, but for anyone who’s driven in the Sunshine State, I’m sure they can feel my pain.

It’s not always the old folks that forget the basics or are just plain braindead when they get behind the wheel. But, for the sake of continuing my ranting about old people and 2 tons of metal on wheels, we’re going to assume they are.

I both live and work in close proximity to a major US Highway that is 3-4 lanes in both directions. The speed limit on this road is between 45 and 55 MPH. The road has a median, sometimes concrete, so that you either have to go to a traffic light or a legal u-turn to reach places on the opposite side of the road.

In my case, I work on the northbound side of this road. Within a couple hundred of feet is a legal u-turn lane. There is another legal u-turn a few hundred feet further north. My problem is the people that are turning north onto the road and then want to make a legal u-turn. These people seem to think that the only way that you can do this is to cross four lanes of traffic at once and that it is way too much to drive an extra 200 feet and make that same u-turn, thereby allowing them to safely, and sanely, make their way across four lanes of 55 MPH traffic! Thus, it often happens that the person desiring to go south on this road sits and waits for ALL traffic to clear so they can make their way across all four lanes. This causes those of us who have more sense and realise it is a lot safer to slowly cross the lanes, perhaps even drive the extra couple hundred feet or, heaven forbid, even go even further to the traffic light to make the u-turn, to wait for minutes at a time…like 5 minutes or more! Yeah, yeah. I’m impatient. I know! But, when you’re talking traffic - rush hour traffic at that - 5 minutes is an eternity! But for anyone who knows these kinds of roads, you know how frustrating it can be to sit and wait for someone who does not understand the concept of merging with traffic and progressing your way across the road instead of trying to take it all at once.

I’m going to have a freakin’ aneurysm driving in Florida!

I’m still a “baby” when it comes to this whole blogging thing and making my presence known out there. Everytime I visit a friend’s blog and jump around and check out others, I start finding more and more things that I have no clue. I am determined to make myself more knowledgable. My current target is Technorati. I have a Technorati Profile but am clueless as what it is for. Some days I just feel so dumb!

Well, we made it home safely from our visit with the family. We got on the road around 5:00 PM Thursday and made it to my father’s house just after midnight. EP made it most of the way to Macon before I took over driving. I was worried at first because I was feeling pretty tired myself, but we stopped for gas and coffee and I was amazingly wide awake once I got behind the wheel.

Friday morning we took our time getting up, having breakfast and getting ready. We spent the early part of the afternoon visiting with my best friend from high school and her family. It was good to see them and just sit back and talk. Unfortunately, there’s so much to catch up on, even a few hours is nowhere near enough time. But still, it was great to sit with them for a while. It was even better to walk through the front door and have their two older girls run up and wrap around my legs yelling “Frenchie!!!” (and yes, they call me ‘Frenchie’)

After leaving their house, we made our way over to my brother’s place. My sister-in-law (SIL) was busy cleaning the house for the arrival of my mother (and for our arrival) and the kids, as usual, were everywhere! I LOVE their home!! We relaxed that evening and just ordered Pizza Hut (which reminds me, I need to submit my complaint to them because it was an AWFUL experience) and watched tv.

Saturday, we were up early to go get my mother from the airport. MAN! Has the Atlanta airport changed, or what? Luckily, we were in and out fairly quickly. The only snag was when we got back to my dad’s side of town, there was a motorcycle parade or something going on, so we got stuck in traffic as cops stopped traffic for, literally,  hundreds of motorcycles! UGH! We visited with my dad for a while then headed back to my brother’s place. EP and I promptly planted ourselves on the couch to watch some college football! He was particularly interested in the SEC Championship game since Tennessee was playing. After the first quarter, we made our way to the Japanese steakhouse where me, EP, mom, brother, SIL, dad, my friend, and her fiance celebrated that most glorious of events (c’mon! If you’ve forgotten already, shame on you!!). I had a great time. After dinner, my dad and my friends went their separate ways and the rest of us stopped at one of my brother’s employee’s house where they were celebrating the christening of their daughter. We left with all these neat keepsakes the mom made which, according to them, is tradition to give to the families that attend.

We left Georgia around noon yesterday and were home by 7:00 PM. We were all pooped, but it was very nice to get up to Georgia to spend some time with my family and friends. Needless to say, my eating this weekend wasn’t stellar. I did do my best, but I came back home two pounds heavier than when I left. I don’t think this week will be any easier with going out to eat with EP’s dad and step-mom and the office holiday party Friday night.

Oh, and yeah, there’s a point to the title of my blog entry…I think I got sick on the trip. My throat has been feeling not-so-happy since yesterday! I don’t want to end up getting sick!!! I escaped it last year when MM & EP both came down with miserable colds when we visited at Christmas. This can’t be my turn!! On top of that, I’m pooped!!