Things I Don't Understand

There are just some things in life that defy explanation. You try, but it just isn't going to make sense. Recently, we have experienced some of these things and I share them with you now.

Sonic Drive-Thru Math

We in the Rapier household strive to be honest. It isn't always easy. And sometimes the lines on honesty can be gray. For instance, when we moved into our house, we called the local cable company and requested high-speed internet and the most basic television package (13 channels, most local). We lived with this set-up for about 6 months and continually had issues with the internet going down. We called several times and they would come to fix the problem and yet the problem remained. Then one day they came...and magically all was well. About two weeks later, we asked my brother-in-law Clinton to babysit while we attended the evening session of Stake Conference. We came home to find him watching ESPN (not part of the 13 channel package). In my euphoria at what I was seeing on my television screen, I blurted out, "How...Howww...How did you make this happen?"

Clinton looked at me kind of funny and said, "I turned the channel to ESPN."

We thought it might be some kind of promotion so we lived with it for a couple of days and then we called the cable company. Again, we really try to be honest. We reported that we had free cable. They said they would take care of it. About a month later, we tried again and phoned them to report our free cable. I mean, we reeeeaaalllllly try to be honest. After that, we gave up. I suppose if I wanted to be honest beyond belief, I could send extra money each month with my bill or call them weekly to report my free cable, but instead I have chosen to take the approach that at some point, I have done my due diligence. I mean, we cut the cable last year when we were putting in our new sprinkler system and they came and fixed everything up and nothing changed. We are going on five years now. Add to the fact that I have grown addicted to Psych, White Collar and, of course, Sportscenter and really I choose to believe they must not be able to fix my problem. No really, I do believe that. So we co-exist as we do.

Anyway, I share that only to back up my claims that we try to be honest, but we do have our limits. This leads me to our Sonic experience. They have started a summer promotion where you buy one milk shake, you get one free. Even on your next visit (in the form of a coupon). So it is Monday night, we think that is a pretty good deal for the whole family. Normally I would not share that Shannon had already been there earlier that day and so everyone was getting a second shake except for me who felt totally robbed and wanted a shake of my own. But in order to fully understand the story, I have to share that. Because, Shannon told me that her cost earlier that afternoon was $5.39 so if I only had $8, I might be cutting it close. Imagine our surprise when they let me know that my total bill was $5.29. Keep in mind, my order was exactly the same as Shannon's earlier except that I had added a large shake bringing the total number of shakes to 5. Think that through folks. Buy one get one free works best for those with an even number. Let alone, how did we get it cheaper. Well we figured that part out. The promotion is not supposed to include the specialty shakes, but Shannon, always one to accept what she is told, asked if she could have a specialty shake even though she knew it wasn't part of the promotion. They said yes. I, being so concerned about honesty, would never have done that, but I digress. So we are getting 5 shakes (by the way, I ordered a large while the others all got regular, just as they had done earlier. It had something to do with I didn't get one earlier and it wasn't fair so I ordered a large...yadayadayada. Not important, except that it was a full large shake above the order placed earlier that day) for $.10 less than before. I pull up to the window and tell the girl working that I am not sure she charged me correctly. She looks at me funny and shuts the window. A minute or two go by and the window opens and she states that I was right, I had been charged incorrectly and the price is actually $4.79.

I am literally stunned at this point. I get out my money and she hands me the first shake along with the receipt. We get all the shakes in the car and I ask again if she is sure because it appears on the receipt that I am not being charged for the large shake. She takes the receipt, closes the window and goes to talk to who I can only assume is a manager. They converse for a moment or two and she comes back, opens the window, says again that my cost is $4.79 and gives me change from my $5, my receipt and a coupon for a free large shake on my next visit to Sonic as it is a buy one get one free promotion. Some might say that a truly honest man would have parked the car and walked in and demanded that the correct course of action be followed. Me? I rolled up my window and drove away enjoying my shake. I mean, I really tried.

Graduation Happy

Don't get me wrong. I truly enjoyed attending Logan's graduation from pre-school a couple of weeks ago. It was awesome and all of those kids were just cuter than heck. If you don't believe me, check out the pictures. But really, I don't get the graduation thing from pre-school. Ok, I do get it, it is a photo op for parents. But still. They don't really do much. They all get a diploma regardless of how much they paid attention or actually learned anything. The only thing they really remember are the field trips and the experiences where something disgusting happened...You know what, I am wrong. Pre-school graduation is totally legit. I just looked at my reasoning and realized that I could just as easily have been describing most high school graduations. GO PUBLIC EDUCATION IN AMERICA!!! (I realize the irony based on my Prop 100 stance listed below. To my public school teacher friends, I blame the parents.)

Anyway, Logan graduated and was very proud of himself. His teacher read some quotes from the kids and Logan was responsible for at least three of them, including his public declaration that he is going to marry Molly (Brown). My little boy is growing up and headed for Kindergarten next year. I wonder how mom is going to do with that.







Humane Fishing

One thing that makes no sense to me at all is the idea of promoting Catch and Release Fishing. Let's examine. We take a few thousand fish and put them in a lake. We then turn a bunch of human beings loose on them with anything from worms to a unique invention called Powerbait (I cannot for the life of me figure out what is appetizing about that stuff to a fish. It stinks and is flourescent. While that is a great description of my daughters dirty clothes, it shouldn't be a good description of food.) So these fish then eat a meal only to have the meal jam itself into their tongue, throat and or cheek and jerk them mercilessly through the water and out into an environment where they can't breathe. Then some huge entity jams metal pliers into its mouth and removes the gosh awful hook and then tosses it back into the water to be humane and let the fish live so it can go through this whole process again in a couple of days. If I survived treatment like this a couple of times, I can only imagine the fun my therapist would have with my fear of food issues.

As it happens, we in the Rapier clan felt that was just too mean so when we traveled to Alpine yesterday to go fishing, we went with the much more humane "Catch, Release and watch the fish convulse until dead." This is not a commonly advertised approach. (To be clear, this isn't the approach we were trying to take, we just apparently are very bad at Catch and Release Fishing. We tried very hard to help our fish live, but they did not want to play along.) But we sure had a great time. Trip highlights included Braden catching two fish (he was the first one to catch anything), Kate puking in Mule Creek and us realizing we didn't bring any extra clothes, Logan making Shannon follow him up the hill to the outhouse not once but twice and a great dinner to cap it off at the Alpine Grill. Memorial Day was good.

Below we have placed some pictures from this event as well as pictures of Logan's three stich gash on his forehead, Logan losing his first tooth, Abby's team winning 2nd at the knowledge bowl and Braden getting his Bobcat at his first Cub Scount Pack meeting. Busy month.