Seriously? Geez…it’s not an E ticket ride at Disneyland, people! Cutting into a funeral procession is all kinds of rude, and in most cases makes you look like an oblivious fool.
Looks like Dad and Grandpa’s markers are OK. My sister went out this morning to check them and she said there was a lot of damage throughout the cemetary but their section was pretty much untouched. I have friends who have family buried there as well, no word on them yet.
There’s a special circle of Hell for whoever did this.
Showing your age? I wouldn’t have marked you down as old enough to know what one of those was…
ETA: Glad your relatives’ markers were unmolested, Dr. GF.
I’m 40, but I’ve heard the phrase quite a bit from older relatives and syndicated reruns of older sitcoms.
Maybe they were foreigners from a place where those funeral processions aren’t normal. In Spain for example, funeral processions are supposed to behave like anybody else when it comes to letting other join the traffic and whatnot, and they don’t go slower than the rest of traffic: for us, an American-style funeral procession is both recognizable (from movies) and exotic (we’re not home any more, Toto; in fact, we may even be in Kansas!).
Good. Having to check something like that sucks, tho 
I accidentally ended up in a funeral procession a few months ago. :o I turned into the next parking lot after I realized my mistake. And did a lot more of that :o ing.
In my defense, funeral processions are no where near as obvious as they used to be, now that almost every car has its headlights on all the time. If you’re in an area where the traffic tends to be tied up and slow all the time, and you arrive at the side street after the hearst and limos and '‘marked’ cars are already past … Well, it’s very easy to merge into the traffic without realizing it is even a procession.
I didn’t think of that, it was just weird when stepmom said someone was filming. The oblivious people giving dirty looks as they tried to cut in were worse though. I know funeral processions aren’t all that common nowadays (I’ve been in two and never seen another) but it is in the books as to what to do around them and part if what you learn as a driver. Even if you don’t know, a line of cars playing follow the leader, all with their blinkers flashing, might give a clue that something is up.
And today I nearly got rear ended by an idiot following too close when I had to hit the brakes thanks to the guy ahead of me. It’s that time of year for me to be paranoid because apparently a silver car and early morning light are nigh invisible (even when I turn on my lights) and every year for the last two since I got this one I’ve been rear-ended when the light gets like this.
Glad your relatives headstones are ok Dr GF, people who do that have no respect.
I live near one of the biggest funeral homes in my town, and walk past it twice a day on my way to and from work. I also live within easy walking distance of a few large churches. I’ve lived in my house over a decade. I don’t remember seeing a single funeral procession during all those years. So either funeral processions aren’t common around here, or they really are hard to spot these days! (I’d probably gawk if I did see one, now that I think about it.)
That would be easy with just headlights on. We all had our hazards on though, which is a bit better clue I think. A dozen cars with hazards and moving slow is more easy to tell something is up, even if you don’t exactly know what than just headlights.
They don’t hand everyone a sticker for the front windshield that says “FUNERAL” any more?
They didn’t for us, so I don’t know. Like I said, I’ve been in a grand total of two processions so I don’t know what is common just what was in the drivers ed book (which wasn’t that long ago for me). We followed an SUV with flashing purple lights (like a police car, but purple!) and the hearse and the rest of us. Actually it was less than a dozen cars, most people piled in together and some went different routes and met up at the cemetary
Our school board just appointed a new (interim) superintendent. They did this without a search, without advertising the job opening, without even interviewing a single candidate including the very person being appointed. Aside from the violation of a board policy which states that the position of superintendent must be filled after a search is conducted, it really just makes sense to determine what candidates are out there and who is best qualified to lead the district.
But whatever. It was done.
Then there was a school board meeting last night. The first since this decision was made and after two front page articles in the local paper trying to make sense of what happened.
The meeting was opened up for audience comment…and no one said anything. No teachers, no students, no parents. No one said a single word about a complete lack of public input on a decision that will affect the district for at least the next three years.
Maybe everyone agrees with the decision and there was nothing more to say. Maybe. Personally, I’m chalking it up to a lack of community involvement in what’s happening in the schools. It’s disappointing.
Did YOU say something?
Quite vocally, yes. I’m on the board. 
So I had the opportunity to speak to every single school board member, the current superintendent, the PTA, and the local paper of record.
It’s just that last night was the public’s opportunity to speak to the board and no one said a word. Quite disheartening.
Back in June I was griping that Southworth no longer made round-cornered stationery, something I like to use for resumes.
Recently I decided to try to “roll my own”, since I’ve been finding die cutters that might actually be worth buying (as in, not exorbitantly pricey, can handle multiple sheets, reputed to be sturdy), but I needed to know the radius before going too far.
I wrote to Southworth to ask if they had the information. Yesterday I got an email back that not only gave me the radius (1/2" for those playing along at home), but told me that the paper had proven popular enough that Southworth is bringing it back!
White and “ivory fleck” <side note: what?> go on sale next month, and 3 new colors come out in the Spring. The old paper was 28lb, and the information I got was that they’re likely to use that weight again.
I may still look for the die cutters, if only because I recently found their 32-lb resume paper, which has a lovely, lovely feel to it (yes, I geek a bit about stationery. I’m a writer, I do that), and I think the combination would work well.
ETA: I start a 3-month gig this coming Monday, with possible extensions. The interviewer is a writer and also a scrapbooker, and we had a lovely conversation about stationery and how it adds to the overall presentation. She liked the round corner paper, too.
My Corolla is also silver - I drive with my headlights on ALL THE TIME because so many people treat a small silver car like it isn’t there (we call it “Driving in stealth mode”). I have wondered if it’s legal to outline my car in reflective tape or something so people will actually notice it.
Thanks for all the suggestions about kitty’s treatment - we do have a drug plan, but it never occurred to me that the vet could write prescriptions that we could have filled at Safeway. She seems to be eating the pill crushed up in a bit of wet cat food - fingers crossed.
It really chaps my ass when people play the religion card when they do something that should just be a matter of course. I was on my way to work this morning when the car directly in front of me abruptly ran off the road, up a hill and crashed into a bunch of bracken. I turned around (I was already past the accident on the highway) and came back to make sure the guy was ok and call 911 and, if necessary, tell the police what had happened. There were a couple of people there, one of whom was a woman who kept saying, “I’m a Christian. That’s why I stopped - I’m a good Christian woman. I just felt I had to.”
Ok, explain to me how this is relevant. The guy got into a fucking accident. Right in front of us. If someone may be hurt, you should stop and make sure they’re ok, right, regardless of whether you’re Christian or vegetarian or Rastafarian (yes, I’m being facetious)? Right??
Well, if you’re a Rastafarian, you definitely should stop since you might be able to share some weed with them.
But I agree with your rant - some of us do the right thing because it’s the right thing, not from some religious prompting.
I’ve decided my next vehicle will be a bright red truck. Like my Dad’s but a smaller version. Maybe people will see me then, and if they don’t, well too bad, I’m bigger (most of the time). Think that will work?
Glad to hear kitty is doing well.
overly That is so annoying. Even during my more religious phase of my teen years I found that irritating. Set an example by deed, what you are religiously has nothing to do with it.
I stopped to help someone who’d had a problem. After I’d got her mostly taken care of, she started saying what a good Christian I was. I let her ramble on for a bit, and I finally had to say “Actually, I’m an atheist, and I’ve been an atheist ever since I was a teenager.” As you might imagine, this about blew her gaskets. I could SEE her thinking “But atheists are evil and selfish!”