Back in Birmingham

I asked Sarah to marry me last week on Wednesday and of course we were asked a couple hundred times when the date of the wedding would be. The answer was always something along the lines of we were enjoying the newness of the engagement and would start figuring it out when we got back to Birmingham. So between Wednesday and Sunday we lived it up with people looking at her ring and congratulating us, all was grand. But don't ya know it, now we are back home and hitting the reality that we have to plan a wedding. I am not worried though. We just got back from Barnes and Noble where Sarah bought a number of bridal magazines. I feel confident that the solutions to our questions are within the cover of those fine publications. Let the good times roll.
The drive from the 'Lands to Birmingham is about 10 hours and can be a pretty rough haul in certain places. Sure we listen to the radio, our MP3 player, and chat it up to pass the time. However, that doesn't mean that I don't look for new forms of roadtrip entertainment. In the past we have put a premium on looking for gas stations that look well kept for pit stops. Now, this is still good policy because those are the places with clean, well-stocked bathrooms because as we all know there is no feeling in the world more helpless than realizing there in no toilet paper in the dispenser in your stall. The only downfall of such quality bathrooms: clean walls.
Before internet message boards where did people in a community participate in written conversations: that's right, bathroom walls. I am not sure what is more hilarious about writing on bathroom walls, but I have it narrowed it down to the following aspects: 1) people find the appropriate medium for their message is a bathroom wall 2) the apparent maximum education level that comes with bathroom wall authors...there is an unwritten rule that says anyone with an education level higher than 8th grade is not allowed to write on bathroom walls...it is the incorrect spelling, misplaced commas in contractions, all of it, just high comedy 3) the people, sometimes numerous people, who respond to the writing or 4) the original author who is writing again to defend his or her original statement that has been argued by the other people that have added to the thread. Again, high comedy for the road warrior. In the choice between clean bathrooms and entertainment the clean bathroom always wins. Unfortunately, sometimes I choose a gas station that has a not-so-great bathroom. When that is the case I make the best of it by enjoying the humor, intentional or not, and reading what the local bathroom laureates have to say.
It was nice to get back home though. I went back to tutoring for the social studies portion of the exit exam. It was nice to see my kids again and even though there are only a few more days of tutoring left it was nice to get some new kids in the class today. Most importantly, it was 35 cent wing day at Fox and Hound, ah good times.