AJC > Sandy Springs > Blog > Archives > 2008 > January
January 2008
Let’s cancel winter
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I know we need the precipitation, and I know that I’m the last person who needs to have a hint of dominion over nature, but this recent run of snow, sleet and ice needs to end. Now.
Can we please cancel the rest of winter and move to early spring? It doesn’t need to get into the 60s, just keep things around 38 or so until March.
In the past week we’ve had snow twice and as this is being written the forecast is for freezing rain and maybe some bridges icing up. And I know we need wet stuff falling from the sky, but let’s face facts for those of us living in Sandy Springs - we’re not cut out to deal with this.
Just look what we do when the first few flakes of snow fall. Everyone goes into red-alert mode, rushing to the grocery store. And what do we buy? Milk, bread, peanut butter and beer. Now, I get the first three. If you lose power for a day or so you can make do with sandwiches and milk.
But beer? Do you think downing a few cold ones is going to make that ice storm more manageable? And in my wildest days I never washed down a peanut-butter sandwich with beer. Are you starting to see why I believe we don’t react well to frozen precip?
And while we’re having this chat, let’s talk about winter-weather driving skills. We have none. In part this has to do with the fact we don’t have to drive in snow and ice enough to learn how to deal with it, thank the Lord.
But when the ice does come some well-meaning newsreader will tell us how to maneuver our cars if we hit a sheet of ice. People, I’ve been driving in this town my whole life and we still haven’t mastered right-turn-on-red on Roswell Road - much less how to navigate in hockey rink conditions.
But I still hear people say: “I know how to drive when it get icy.” These are the same people who later ask: “Can you recommend a good body shop?”
No, my fellow Sandy Springsteens, let us take a page from Gov. Perdue’s book and appeal to a higher authority. Any higher authority you choose. Rain, yes. Rain chilled into any form but liquid, no.
Permalink | Comments (5) | Post your comment | Categories: Jim Osterman
Loss of beloved pet still leaves void
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The math is our house doesn’t work.
Three pet dishes are out in the back yard, but there are only two dogs.
There are three large dog pillows in the living room, but only two are in use at any given time.
And in the morning only two dogs come running out of the part of the basement that houses three crates.
On Christmas Eve I fed our three dogs - Jake, Sydney and Molly. An hour later when I whistled them in Jake and Sydney came running. Five minutes later Molly came out the dark, walking as though every step brought pain. It did.
Ten minutes later we were at the emergency vet. And 10 more minutes a sonogram brought the sad report. It was cancer. A tumor that had not bothered her until that might had ruptured. There would be no Christmas miracle and there would be no happy ending.
But there was a blessing for Molly and for us. When she left this world she was surrounded by the four people who loved her best, her family. There would be no more cancer, no more pain and no more fear. We should all be so blessed.
Since that night the house has been slightly out of kilter. As I said, this has been a house for three dogs and now there are only two.
For Jake and Sydney, well, they have not quite been the same. Molly was the alpha dog and no one has assumed her mantle.
And as for us we miss her in a hundred different ways. We not longer hear her sneeze from inhaling dust while searching for crumbs on the kitchen floor. A light rain no longer brings her insistent bark at the back door. A recent trip out of town yielded a smaller-than-usual kennel bill, as two dogs costs less to board than three.
Her leash is still in the car, where it has been since Christmas Eve. There is no hurry or reason to move it.
I know some reading this will be dismissive and will tell me that all this sentiment over a pet is wasted. “It was only a dog,” you might say. And I won’t argue with you, because it’s not important to me that you understand the grief that lingers in the background in our house.
And at night when I bring the dogs in for the evening, Jake and Sydney come tumbling into the house and I hold the door open for an extra second, out of love’s habit.
Permalink | Comments (71) | Post your comment | Categories: Jim Osterman
Tunnel vision
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The topic of building a tunnel to divert some traffic off of Roswell Road has resurfaced, and after mulling the idea over for a year I no longer think it’s a bad idea.
I think it is a bad idea of colossal proportions.
In my time in and around Atlanta I can’t think of a fix for a traffic situation that ever really fixed the problem. Roads get widened and re-routed. New roads get built. Lights are installed. The problem never really goes away.
Part of the problem is that we don’t live in a Lego world where cities can be torn apart and re-assembled in 15 minutes. Problem roads can’t just be rolled up and unfurled where they will work better.
But in large part the problems we complain so bitterly about are of our own making. In this case we’re way too in love with our cars.
Do you know anyone who carpools? I can’t name one person I know who even shares a ride with one other person.
Do you know anyone who rides the bus? I don’t. We all have excuses why we can’t use public transportation. We’re too busy to ride the bus. We’d rather waste our time in traffic, I guess.
And while we’re at it, I can’t recall the last time I saw a crowded school bus. There are plenty of kids on the bus routes to fill the yellow monsters, but too many kids “have” to be driven to school. Or they get to be 16 and their parents add one more car to the busy streets.
Gas has nosed above the $3 per gallon mark, but I don’t a push toward conservation by using our cars a little less. Years ago when gas prices went up the used car lots were dotted with gas-sucking muscle cars. Now sales of big-engine vehicles continues to rise, and few are getting left in the driveway.
Do we walk or ride our bikes to get around town? Not that I can tell. We “need” to get where we’re going and can’t be bothered.
So now we have an atrocious traffic problem and we’re looking for the politicians to fix it so we don’t have to change anything we’re doing. Perhaps we’ll spend millions, build a tunnel, get a few days or weeks of relief until a few months later when we’ll be stuck in traffic once again.
What do you expect from self-imposed tunnel vision?
Permalink | Comments (40) | Categories: Jim Osterman
Tunnel vision
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The topic of building a tunnel to divert some traffic off of Roswell Road has resurfaced, and after mulling the idea over for a year I no longer think it’s a bad idea.
I think it is a bad idea of colossal proportions.
In my time in and around Atlanta I can’t think of a fix for a traffic situation that ever really fixed the problem. Roads get widened and re-routed. New roads get built. Lights are installed. The problem never really goes away.
Part of the problem is that we don’t live in a Lego world where cities can be torn apart and re-assembled in 15 minutes. Problem roads can’t just be rolled up and unfurled where they will work better.
But in large part the problems we complain so bitterly about are of our own making. In this case we’re way too in love with our cars.
Do you know anyone who carpools? I can’t name one person I know who even shares a ride with one other person.
Do you know anyone who rides the bus? I don’t. We all have excuses why we can’t use public transportation. We’re too busy to ride the bus. We’d rather waste our time in traffic, I guess.
And while we’re at it, I can’t recall the last time I saw a crowded school bus. There are plenty of kids on the bus routes to fill the yellow monsters, but too many kids “have” to be driven to school. Or they get to be 16 and their parents add one more car to the busy streets.
Gas has nosed above the $3 per gallon mark, but I don’t a push toward conservation by using our cars a little less. Years ago when gas prices went up the used car lots were dotted with gas-sucking muscle cars. Now sales of big-engine vehicles continues to rise, and few are getting left in the driveway.
Do we walk or ride our bikes to get around town? Not that I can tell. We “need” to get where we’re going and can’t be bothered.
So now we have an atrocious traffic problem and we’re looking for the politicians to fix it so we don’t have to change anything we’re doing. Perhaps we’ll spend millions, build a tunnel, get a few days or weeks of relief until a few months later when we’ll be stuck in traffic once again.
What do you expect from self-imposed tunnel vision?
Permalink | Comments (1) | Categories: Jim Osterman
Do we need a new library in Sandy Springs? Do we use the old one?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
There’s quite a fuss being raised over our library. According to current plans, some cities in Fulton County will be getting new facilities while we’re in line for a renovation.
On one hand it would be nice to have a new building. The current Sandy Springs library was where I did research for my high school term papers, and that was back when Watergate was still news.
[Note to reader - if you don’t know what Watergate is, go to the library and look it up.]
But do we really need a new library? I know there are a lot of Sandy Springsteens who want a new facility, but there is a huge gulf between a want and a need.
And I have to ask because I wonder if libraries are as vital a part of a community as they once were.
I can’t recall the last time I was in the library other than to vote. I don’t think I could find my library card on a bet. Thanks to the used book section at Goodwill, I’m backed up 10 deep in books waiting to be read. Thanks to the Internet I no longer have to leave home to do my research.
When our kids where finishing their last years of high school the library was not a necessary stop for them to gather information for term papers and research work. They also had access to the ‘net, not to mention the encyclopedia that came with the computer.
So I have to ask, do we really need a brand new building? Is the demand for library services here in town taxing the current facility beyond its limits?
If not, why spend the money and resources to put up a brand new building when it’s not needed?
Before we start pounding the table and demanding a brand-new building we need to make sure we can make a case that it’s a need and not a want. I’m not saying the library has gone the way of black-and-white TV, but where does it fit into our community?
Permalink | Comments (33) | Categories: Jim Osterman
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