Just a Quick Trip to the Sonic for Ice Cream......

After dinner, Scott suggested that we go out to the Sonic for ice cream. It has been a perfect autumn day - crisp, sunny, wear your jeans and a long sleeve T-shirt kind of day (and VERY comfortable riding in the convertible type of day to boot). So it sound like a very nice, relaxing family outing and a very nice way to start off the evening.

We took the Tahoe (Scott wanted enough room to spread out) and listened to 80s tunes on the CD player in the truck while we enjoyed our ice cream. We were there for maybe 30 minutes when Scott started to power up the car and (insert sound of a motor winding down). Hmm..... sounds like ...... (trying to start car again - insert dead silence) ...... dead battery!

We start through our options - well, there are plenty of other cars around, maybe we could ask one of them if they have jumper cables and wouldn’t mind helping us jump the truck? Scott’s not so keen on that option. OK, so we call one of our co-worker friends who lives just a mile or two from the Sonic. We haven’t seen Geary for probably 3 months, as he has been in Germany on a work assignment and he has been back in town for maybe one day now, but hey - he’s a sport and comes out to help us.

Erica and Brian just LOVE ‘Mr Geary’ - they think he is the coolest because he is a complete Star Wars geek and he has helped them win the Star Wars trivia game. They are completely wound up with ice cream, the situation with the car and now the prospect of seeing Mr. Geary, so they get busy by bouncing up and down in the back of the truck, screaming and being generally noisy. Fortunately, you can’t really hear screaming kids when the windows are closed!

Long story short, the jump start doesn’t work, so we leave the Tahoe in the Sonic employee lot (a couple of guys from the Sonic helped us push it out of the customer bay). Scott thinks that the battery could be so dead that the jump start didn’t work. Geary thinks it could be a dead starter. So we’ll try again tomorrow with a new battery and go from there.

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No Consequences (but plenty of conscience)

I have been very delinquent in my participation of the ScrapShare Blog Challenge, but I am hoping to get back on track with this week’s entry. Here is this week’s Challenge:

Q: If you could live one day without consequences, what would you do? Would you get a tattoo just to see what it was like? Would you skip work or school and sleep all day? Would you have a one-night-stand, or would you buy a yacht, or would you tell your parents what you REALLY think of them? If you could live one day without consequences, what would you do?

Hmmm....interesting question...my initial thoughts were centered around the purchase of physical items - stuff I have been coveting, for example. Then I thought about it some more and realized that I can go out and buy “stuff” any day, and the question doesn’t indicate that you have other magical means at your disposal (like unlimited money)..... so I decided to limit my answer with the assumption that at the end of the magical day, items purchased would disappear......I also decided that money spent on the day’s activities and food don’t count though (gotta make this a little fun!).

First of all, I would definitely bag work (heck, on a normal day, there are very little consequences with not showing up to work for one day) and charter a flight to California’s Wine Country for a nice breakfast. I would rent out the Nikon lens I have been eyeing, and use it to take fabulous pictures (these I would be able to keep - they are just digital files, after all).

Without physical consequences to hinder my activities, I would partake in what I would normally consider to be ‘high risk’ - these are activities very much outside my current comfort zone. This would include sky diving and bungee jumping (really, anything involving heights!). I would also arrange to go horseback riding at full gallop along some scenic setting and maybe even try a bit of surfing. Then I would step the activity level down a little and experience some pampering at a pricey spa - minimum of a massage, facial, manicure and pedicure, along with a gourmet meal.

I would wind up my day with my family in a fun-oriented activity. Maybe a group horseback ride or some rock climbing. Oh, and a group bungee jump off of some high cliff! We would all enjoy dinner and everyone would get plenty of dessert....

As much as I’ve thought about what I would do, I have also considered what I wouldn’t do, even under the magic of the no consequences rule. For example, I wouldn’t consider extorting or stealing large amounts of money for future use. And while a steamy tryst with a hot Hollywood star might sound tempting, I doubt I could really choose to engage in such an activity. I bet when I look at others’ responses to this week’s question, I won’t find a truly ‘bad’ action. I guess that even in the absence of consequences, we are all still guided by our consciences and the concept of right / wrong and of personal commitments and priorities......

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