Today’s Republic showed the 1950 GM Futureliner being driven to its new home in Chandler. This was the bus-thing that sold for $4.1 million at the BJ auction this past week. Where does one get insurance to drive a $4.1 million bus on the highway? My mind reels.

I love seeing signs like that. (That particular one was on the entrance to Paul’s Ace Hardware, in case you and your dog need to visit the hardware store.) I liked that store to begin with (staffed by exceedingly friendly, helpful people — one of them solved the mystery of my leaking sink for me) but now I really like it. I wish there were more places that welcomed well-behaved dogs. So does our dog :)

I just came back from the Gilbert Pow Wow and it was exhilarating. Partly because Gilbert is cold. But mostly because of the energy and spirit of the Pow Wow. I can only explain it this way. If you have ever been to a touristy hula show in Waikiki, then experienced the Merry Monarch Festival in Hilo. This was the Merry Monarch…

You have two more days. What are you waiting for.

We love Frank and Charlie’s Wood Fire Grill. They’re always sending us discounts in the mail for free dinners and birthday surprises and whatnot. We’ve got some card that earns points too, and I think that gets us even more dinner surprises. They’ve even got a free coupon online for 15% off your total bill. The waitstaff are completely honest and personable as well. It’s like our secret neighborhood dining establishment. All the food is homemade and amazing. They’ve got all you can eat snow crab on Mondays and shrimp on Tuesdays and two-for-one specials at happy hour. Literally, you can’t beat this place.

They’re everywhere BUT tied around the old oak tree these days. Actually, they seem to mainly be slapped on the back of SUVs. (But maybe that’s just because I drive a tiny little car, and it’s hard to see anything but the back ends of SUVs.)

Anyway the magnetic yellow ribbons are all sort of blurring together. There’s Support Our Troops, God Bless America, Bring Our Troops Home, Pray for Our Troops, etc. (I can’t help it, whenever I see “Pray for Our Troops”, I think “but what about the other side? shouldn’t we pray for them too if we’re gonna pray?”.) And I’ll admit it, I have a magnetic ribbon too. But mine’s on the refrigerator, and says “Support Individuality”. I got it because it made me laugh. And I do “support individuality” — enough so that I’m not slapping that on my car.

I like bumper stickers better, because there’s more room for expression. Also, it seems like stickers are slightly more committed than magnets. (Although I always worry about the people that have bumper stickers with tiny print — I imagine them being constantly tail-gated as people try to read them.) The other day I saw one that said “My president can beat up your president.” Written in French, which cracked me up.

So, do you have a magnetic ribbon on your car? Why or why not? And did you know you can get custom made ones? Some of the recently made ones on a site like that read “EMPTY GESTURE” and “STOP MAGNET ABUSE”, but many were more personalized variations of the Support Our Troops theme.

My husband suggested “Support the Constitution” as an answer to all the Support Our Troops ones. I’m all for that one.

Weekend freeway construction drives me nuts. Literally. There is nothing worse than zipping around town running errands on the one day of the week you have free, or driving to meet friends for dinner, and then all of a sudden BAM! - you’re sitting traffic for 30 minutes. I realize there really isn’t a good time for road construction, other than maybe between 1 am and 5 am. And I’m not holding my breath for that to become standard operating procedure anytime soon. So in the meantime, I just discovered two resources for planning around delays. The first map shows where there are current road closures and restrictions. The second map shows how fast traffic is moving on major roadways. Happy Motoring.

A few weeks ago I was remarking to a buddy of mine that I could not believe that season tickets are still available for the upcoming season. This is the NFL. This is a brand new stadium. This is the chance to claim a seat forever. Anyway a few weeks ago I was remarking to a buddy of mine that I was going to snag one of those season tickets before they were all gone. How can the gorgeous new stadium NOT sell out? He tells me to not overestimate the apathy of the Cardinals fan. I met a couple over Christmas dinner. Natives, not a newbie like me. One was a Niners fan and the other a Cowboys fan. So anyway, a few weeks ago I was remarking to my buddy, and I still have not bought those tickets. Get some while you can…

The annual Barrett-Jackson car auction, held at WestWorld in Scottsdale, opens to the public tomorrow and runs through next weekend. If you are a classic car buff (like my dad) or related to a classic car buff (like me) or just generally interested in watching as cars are auctioned off for hundreds of thousands of dollars, then this is the event for you. Last year the highest bid for a car was over $3 million. The last two days of the auction are when things get really crazy and they bring out the big ticket items, but it’s also the most crowded on those days and it can be hard to get a seat - or even a place to stand - in the auction room. The event is also covered on the Speed Channel if you want to watch from the comfort of home. And if your goal is to avoid this event and the traffic, then you might want to avoid Loop 101 between Raintree and Hayden next weekend. Here’s a link to a map that shows the area affected by this event.

Sorry, but this will be my last entry for quite awhile. It’s not that I don’t want to post anymore — I still do — but I find myself without any time at the end of the day.

Just in case I decide later that I can post again, I will.

I had some colleagues in town over the last few days for a team retreat. Instead of meeting at a hotel, we decided to have our meeting in one of the classrooms at the Desert Botanical Gardens. If you ever need a place to hold a meeting or some sort of event, I would highly recommend DBG. The classroom setting was comfortable and worked well for our purposes. There was a little patio off to the side of the classroom where we could have lunch outdoors. And during our lunch break, we arranged for a guy named “Cactus Jack” to take us on a 30 minute tour of the gardens which was especially great for the out-of-towners. The staff at DBG was very friendly and easy to work with. I highly recommend the meeting facilities at DBG for anything from team retreats to receptions to reunions.