I've come this far...

I made it to Orlando. All is well, except that I had forgotten how silly my mother is.
I pulled out of my driveway at 9:01 a.m. I walked in Mama's front door at 8:30 p.m. It wouldn't have taken that long, except I'm a shunpiker. I didn't get on the interstate until I was 1.5 hours away from Orlando. The area around Orlando is so built up for miles and miles. Taking the smaller highways means stop and go, traffic lights every few blocks within 50 or 60 miles of this place.

I drove my beloved truck, Manny. He did fine. I don't like to ask too much speed out of him, so avoiding the interstate usually allows me to go at a somewhat slower pace. I tried to be safe. I stopped when I needed to, walked around a bit, had a snack and a bathroom break regularly. I wore my seat belt, I didn't follow to closely and tried not to be followed too closely. That's a bit trickier, though! I let Mama and Superman know my route; I called Superman every couple of hours just to make him aware of my progress. I paid close attention to the traffic and road conditions around me. I have good mirrors on the truck which improves my vision field, and I use my mirrors extensively. Guys, I'm a professional driver. I know what I'm doing. Granted that doesn't prevent other idiots from doing unto me that which will cause damage, but I'm usually pretty aware of conditions and try to avoid situations that could turn ugly. I am not perfect and sometimes do careless or stupid stuff when I drive, but not intentionally, and I fix my attention when I notice shit like that happening. And I notice a lot. It's a Java thing.

Now that she has gone to bed, I'll tell you about my silly Mama. First of all, I had to teach her how to use Google. The woman has had a computer longer than I have. She's an accountant, self employed. She needs the computer for work, and can do that bookkeeping/accounting stuff like a little demon when she gets going. It's Greek to me. However, the internet befuddles her. She's good at email, and last time I was here I taught her about Shanghai Dynasty. Nasty thing. Don't go there. Don't fall in to the trap. Today I taught her how to use Google. We got into the advance search feature and I helped her look up herself online. She typed in her given name, not the nickname she's used since she was in high school. Over 200,000 results, probably none of them her. Not in the first 100,000 pages anyway. Then I had her type in the name she uses every day. Still a bunch of results. Went to Advanced Search, had her add her profession, and we put her name in the "this exact phrase" field. Down to 197 results. Added a couple of the professional and service organizations of which she is a member, and got 6 results! And the first 3 were actually her. I couldn't tell if she was impressed or not.

And I told her about blogs. I told her a little bit about our section of the blogging community. Told her how many new gay friends I have. She's pretty accepting. Don't think the gay thing bothers her much. However, she rolled her eyes at me. I suspect she thinks I've gone a bit overboard with this. Not that it bothers me, mind you. She's my mother. What she thinks doesn't affect much of what I do. (remind me of this next time I get upset about my kids ignoring me)

Thanks to Lewis, I've met a couple of other bloggers from this area. We may be getting together Friday night. Of course I mentioned this to Mama. The first thing she asked me is "Have you actually MET them before?" uh.. not in person. "Be careful!" she says, in that tone of voice. Mama, it isn't like that! I'm afraid the woman believes every urban legend she's ever heard. She forwards all those emails to me. I think I've introduced her to Snopes.com. Maybe we need another internet lesson tomorrow.

Anyway, I had a wonderful day today driving my truck for hours and hours. And I'm in Mama's condo now, and it is clean! (My house hasn't been clean since 1995) Although my darling Superman is 400+ miles away from me right now :-( , my children are 400+ miles away from me right now! :-) And I'm blogging, which always makes me happy. Things are good.

I'll be back when I can get here. I'll be thinking of you all (at least a little bit) when I'm gone. (It has been suggested by those closest to me that I have a problem spending too much time blogging. I have no problem at all. I can spend too much time blogging quite well, thank you!)