Indiana Flooding Videos

So, if you have looked at the previous post here, you will know that we've had some pretty severe flooding here this past weekend. Jason and I were fine, but we took some video of some of it. Here it is.

Indiana Flooding

In case you haven't seen the news yet, there is flooding here in Indiana, and especially here in Johnson County. I hope my work isn't underwater. It rained for 12 hours straight here and we got 11 inches of rain in those hours. Jason and I hadn't thought much of it until Larson called us and told us that there was someone kayaking in the street about a block from our place. We piled in the fit and went to look. Sure enough...





They had brought kayaks over from dick's sporting goods. Eventually the police came and told them to leave, but I have no idea why. No fair!

That morning, this was our yard:
What's that in the vegetable garden? A floating radish?
Hmm?
WHAT?


The roads were blocked in a lot of places, but the cats needed food. We made it to the pet store and then made it to some food for us and headed home ad saw all this:


So, the water is really high around here. There's a dam in a heavily residential area near here that has broken. So far, no one has been hurt, but there's a lot of people without power and many people in shelters. We're okay here so far, but there was a LOT of water in the backyard this morning, and some in the ducts in the house, so we'll see how that turns out. Everyone here in the southern central Indiana area needs some help right about now.

Would You Rather Weekend

Would You Rather lie motionless on your back while a fruit bat licks fruit jelly off your face, or while a vulture eats road kill off your stomach?

I would have to go with the fruit bat on this one. I know they have teeth but vultures look so violent when they eat, and fruit jelly is sticky, but road kill is dead. I think a small furry bat would be better than a big pointy vulture. What do you guys think? Let me know!!!!!!

Honeymoon day 11 The Sponge Docks

We had been told that there was a place near where we were staying that was a must visit. It was the sponge docks. Yeah, for sponges that are grown under the ocean! We didn't know where it was, so we drove forever until we got to a AAA. They then informed us that it was about 3 minutes away from the house in the other direction. So, we arrive to see a million people waving flags (okay, like 4) for parking. We drive through and decide that the best parking is right at the front. We park and go!
The whole area is a street lined with shops on one side and shops and docks on the other. The shops had all kinds of cool stuff. The sponging business was mostly run by Greek immigrants, and so there was quite a Greek flair to everything there. The shops sold Greek clothing, handmade soaps and lotions, cool shells and strangely, fisher price toys that speak Greek.We went into the first shop and there were a TON of really cool sponges. There was also a lady selling boat tours. It sounded interesting, so we took a flier. We went and signed up and it was worth it. We toured the shops, looked at all kinds of interesting stuff and then it was time for the nature tour. We and a few other people got onto a pontoon kind of boat and the tour guide told us all about the history of the area, then took us into a bird sanctuary, and an island. We saw all kinds of cool stuff. We saw diving birds, bald eagles, all kinds of fish, dolphins, and just all around coolness. The guide was really knowledgeable, and it was really great. We came back and went shopping for real. I bought a bunch of sponges, Jason got two loooong loofahs, we got some other odds and ends and then last but certainly not least, we got some awesome soap. It's honeysuckle scented and has a little sponge embedded in it. It is really awesome. Oh! Also there was a whole shop filled with hot sauces. Jason got a bunch to complement the collection he had been building. Remind me to post on that later.

At the end of the street was an aquarium. We decided to go in. At the beginning was a talk for you to touch urchins, and starfish. Those were neat. Then there was a HUGE tank full of all kinds of native fish including sharks. I was worried when we went in that it would be poorly kept and grubby, but it was the opposite. The fish were all really healthy and the place was really nice. The employees were extremely knowledgeable. After the huge tank there was a stingray and shark petting tank.


That was really cool too. Even Jason petted stingrays and a shark. The shark's skin was really rough. The rays all had their stingers removed, and the guy had some to show us, but said they could grow back at any time, so there was still a little danger, but rays aren't aggressive. We fed them shrimp. You could hold the shrimp on your hand underwater and they would come suck it off. The next tank also had sharks, but not the petting kind. You could feed them, but had to put the shrimp on the end of knitting needles. It was scary! There were a lot of working boats there. We thought these were derelict, but they were working shrimp boats:

We were tired then, so we went to dinner and it started raining. Pouring really. We decided to go to a movie. We run through the pouring rain and see signs everywhere that say that the power "might" go out, because of the storm. We think they are sissies and go watch Superhero movie. It was funny, but obviously not too memorable as I just had to ask Jason what we saw.

We got back to the house and dried off. EEK!

Sallie Mae!

Who knew they had a straight answer in them!?!?

Thank you for your inquiry and for your business with Sallie Mae.

If you are submitting a payment via Online Billing that is equal to two or more monthly payments, you will be directed to a page where you can choose whether the payment is to be used to prepay the principal or to pay your account ahead.

If your extra payment does not equal a whole payment, it will automatically be applied to the principal balance if all of the accrued interest has been paid.

If we may be of further assistance, please visit our Web site at www.salliemae.com.

Sallie Mae?

So, today I sent them the same question that I can never get a straight answer to. It seems simple: How can I make a principal only payment? I've got no answer yet, but I'll let you know if I do. Before they've given me a ride around the block in response.

Crush Or Flush

Well, okay, you all know that Jason and I met online. So, I'm always into people finding some love online, and while it's never easy, this site sure tries to make it so. Its called "Crush or Flush" and you can meet people, chat and generally get yourself out there. My advice is, as always, take some chances with love. Not with your safety. You don't have to reveal any personal info to people on this site. So, if you're looking for love, click on the word "chat" and start crushing.

Honeymoon day 9 and 10 St Pete!

So, I don't know if I ever said, but this whole honeymoon was really built around 2 races. We thought it would be fun to go to Homestead for the season opener and St Pete, the week after. The rest of everything kinda fell into place after that. The cruise was at a perfect time, the house we stayed in was an awesome gift from someone that Jason barely knows. It was a very generous thing for him to do and it was really great. So, back to the races:

We had been to homestead, and the cruise, and it was time for the race in St. Petersburg. It's a street race there and in the middle is a park, and a baseball field. Jason went down to check things out on Saturday, and I joined him on Sunday. There was a ferris wheel and I think I have my mother's facial expression in this picture.
Jason saw some funny stuff. Like a stop sign on the track, and people sitting in trees to watch. The whole thing was near the strangest looking yacht club ever.


We had grandstand seats, and in front of us there was a giant TV on a truck. It wasn't working. There whole grandstand cheered and jeered when the guy came to fix it, and had quite a bit of trouble at first. The seats were right at a really sharp turn, and we got a lot of action there.

The rain. It rained. A lot. We sat in it. There was no where to run, so why not. We got a little wet, but I was dry again by the time we left. I wish they would have let them run in the rain, but no. So, when the rain stopped the race was on.

We did have good seats. Danica lost it twice right in front of us and forgot she had a reverse gear, and also sadly, while Vitor was doing really well, he got put in the tire barrier right in front of us. I was sad. While it was nothing like his launch this past weekend, it was depressing. We were excited for Graham to win, and after the race we walked back to the buses, they shuttled us to our car, and we went to dinner.

We had seen a restaurant in our driving called Famous Dave's. It was a barbecue place. It was so good. I wrote a long review on their comment card begging them to come to Indiana, and then surprise surprise, we see one coming in just down the street from us. HA HA HA

That's it! Tomorrow, the sponge docks!

Woud You Rather Weekend

Would you rather have to kill Winnie the Pooh or Bambi?

So, if I had to kill a Disney character, these two probably wouldn't be my first choices. It would probably be whoever decided that making endless sequels was a good idea. But, if I had to choose one of these two, it would be Pooh. I'm sorry bear, you were cool in the beginning, but since I've seen you on 5 billion walmart sweatshirts, I've grown weary of you. You are over-marketed. So, bang. Plus, Bambi has big antlers and sharp hooves, and you are the wimpiest bear ever. I wonder what bear meat tastes like? We just had some AWESOME pork chops (oops, Babe isn't Disney).

Honeymoon Day 7 and 8!

Wow! Two days in one post! Only because there isn't too much to say about our last day on the cruise. We were at sea, Jason was in pain, and we had honeymoon package stuff to do! We attended a "cake party" and had some cake with a couple from Scotland whose clothes had been lost by their airline. We received some gross canapes in our room, and for dinner, we were off to the fanciest restaurant on the boat: Le Bistro. It was French. If you know Jason and I, our taste runs more to the barbecue than the haute. But, it was part of our honeymoon package so we went for it. I wore a black dress and when we were seated, I was asked for the first time ever in my life if a white napkin was okay, or if I would prefer to have a black one. Ummm, white was fine, I didn't need to match my dress... So we looked at the menu. There was NOTHING on there that looked good. So, we just went for it. I ordered escargot. You all know what that is, right? Then I also chose duck al'orange, because it sounded palatable. Jason got some cheese thing and a stuffed chicken with those mushrooms that creep me out. The shape and sponginess are repellent. I know people like them but eeeeeeeew. The part I was looking forward to was dessert. I had ordered freedom pudding. Remember when they were re-naming french fries in the capital's cafeteria? At that point Jason's step-mother wanted a torch for Christmas to make creme brulee. Jason thought that was too French and that it should be called freedom pudding. Thus, a legend was born.

So we are sitting there drinking our free wine and waiting for our free escargot and stuff. Here's a summation:

Escargot are kinda good if you can stop thinking about what you are eating
yuck
yuck
yuck
yuck
HOLY MOLEY It's on fire! (the set the duck aflame at a nearby table)
yuck
yuck
yuck
yuck
Creme Brulee is great!

The end. Overall, I'm sure tons of people enjoy French food. I just happen to know two who don't. It was edible, sure, but it wasn't anything I'd ask for again. Except the creme brulee. Yum.

The next morning we were set to get off of the ship. We had chosen the "express" option, to take our own luggage. It was quick and easy. Customs was a cinch. By 8:45 we were in the car and on our way to: UNIVERSAL STUDIOS!

We arrived there and parked in a huge garage that had ET to help us remember where we parked. As we got out of the car, we realized that the overhead speakers were playing the ET music. That was genius. There were a million moving sidewalks that took us to the "City Walk" a place with restaurants, and a big movie theater, and a sunglasses stand that for some reason I now needed (oops). Then we headed for the part of the park we wanted to see most, Islands of Adventure. Before I go any farther, I want to explain that we had tickets for the Blue Man Group show that evening, and therefore a severely limited time in the park. We would really like to go back for a longer time, like a week. Islands of adventure consists of a bunch of smaller areas that are themed. The first one we went to and my obvious favorite was:


Marvel island.



We got there and the first thing we saw was a gift shop. I got a squished penny with Rogue on it. I am such a dork. We wandered around taking pictures of everything and decided to go on the spiderman ride. The wait was short, and then we got some 3D glasses and got on the ride. It was really cool. I'm pretty sure that the actual real space for the ride was small, but it felt big. Plus, there were effects like water spraying on us, and fire heating up our burnt faces. It was superfun. We looked a little while longer around Marvel Island and since the only other rides were an Incredible Hulk coaster with a long line, and a Storm teacups ride, we moved on through a cartoon island to Jurassic Park.


Talk about cool. There were jeeps and all kinds of props and stuff everywhere. We decided to go on a river ride, and this next part is going to get kinda depressing and soapboxy, so watch out.

So, there we were, standing in line, and Jason and I saw a little lizard. Nothing scary or poisonous, just a little anole or skink, or whatever. We were looking at it, but in front of us in line were this bunch of terrible, low class loud people. You know the type, loud, scantily clad, and annoying. Well, they see the lizard, and they are scared of it. A tiny harmless lizard. One of them tries to kick it with their shoe, and another one "accidentally" stepped on it and killed it. I was really upset. That poor little lizard, just walking along when these unreasonable people kill it. I was almost ready to get out f line, but there was really no way out unless we fought our way through a huge line. So, we stay on, and I'm really upset. The mean people go, and we get on the ride. As we sit down, we see another lizard and another person behind us sees it too. What is their choice? They spit on it. Never have I more wanted to excuse myself from the human race in general. I know I've killed my fair share of bugs etc, but they were so callous. It was awful. As the boat pulled away, I decided to get over it and enjoy the ride. I was able to for a minute, but I'm still upset by those people to this day.

So, soapbox put away. The ride was fun. I knew it was a log flume like ride, but I sure didn't expect it to drop when it did. It was fun. After that, we walked on through the rest of the islands and since we were short on time, we moved on to the actual universal studios park. There we walked through a nickelodeoney area, and made our way to a cool fake street, where there were blues brothers, and singers. A lot of the store fronts were from movies and stuff. It was really cool. There was a guy fake playing the saxophone and a woman who was really singing. Charlotte had told us not to miss The Mummy ride, so we made a beeline.

Even the line for the Mummy was cool. All of the rides we ad gone on had interesting things in the lines, like models of the cars, or other interactive stuff. The ride itself was AWESOME. It went all around and the best part was when we stopped and the ceiling was ON FIRE. It was really good. Then it was time for Blue Man.


The show was different than the ones we had seen previously, I'll write a full review later, but it was really fun, especially the paper part! We tried to go to hard rock cafe for dinner, got terrible service and decided to leave. We made our way to the house we were borrowing and crashed. Whew!