Getting out of Rhode Island was an interesting adventure. First it was the $125 for the cat to fly with us. A very good and old friend of mine provided there. Then it was luggage – I despise the way airlines are raping the consumer. They agreed to waive the baggage fee but then the bag we checked was too heavy. A bit of scrambling and I got the bag weight to be 8 tenths of one pound under the alleged limit of 52 pounds.

Then because we missed our 6:25PM flight because of the bag weight. They gave us a voucher to pay for a hotel. We get to the hotel only to be told by the clerk there was a $100 pet fee. So we camped in the main room. Until the night clerk came in and said “We don’t take cats”. Now shit like this makes us both a little crazy. Conflicting information isn’t a fun thing.

Anyhow we’re in Lithonia, GA – the unincorporated part. First two things I note it’s VERY quiet around here. I mean no sound of fans running, police and fire sirens all the time and just generally a bedroom community. I kind of like that aspect.

The other thing – it’s definitely the south. Around here the nearest market is 15 miles out. The Trader Joe’s is 31 miles away. Gonna have to buy a car – I want used first. Then maybe look at something new. I do like the Toyota vehicles.

Now we went to this indoor farmers market a distance from here. I was like a kid in a candy store. I mean just the deli section alone  has several different varieties of Italian favorites like salamis, pastrami etc. We got a few just to see the difference with the pre-packaged varieties we used to get in the northeast compare. The result the most exquisite flavors I’ve ever tasted. It’s like my taste buds were numbed from all the salt in the pre-pack deli stuff.

The farmers market also had a wide variety of inexpensive spices, flours et al. I can tell this will be one of my favorite places. It’s run by Ethiopian people and I gotta say it, they’re awesome too.

There’s all sorts of stuff I have to explore. Our friend took us to places she’s lived in the area and she’d refer to them as being in the hood. Now her definition and mine are a bit divergent. My version of hood is housing projects and the like. Hers is the fact the majority of homeowners are African American and or Black. She herself is black. And she is a very old and dear friend of mine. I’ve known her for 18 years – since we worked together at the Rhode Island Attorney General’s office.  We have a storied history when we there. Mostly concerning an older white woman in my unit there. She saw herself as assistant director, I didn’t see her as that. One funny story, they gave her the directors position and quickly found out why I didn’t consider her director material. But the friend we’re staying with I saw her as someday being in a similar position.

We also got to meet her newish boyfriend. He seems like a pretty good and cool guy. I wish the two of them well. He wants to break into the open source community. One thing about me I will expound on the subject to infinitude. The friend whose home we’re staying at, she tells a story about me. When I’m passionate about something I’ll teach it even if people don’t want it. But my friend says she remembers thing I taught her back then that are relevant in her career now.

As I tell anyone who asks me, I don’t give a rats ass what color you happen to be. Black, brown, pink, white, yellow, tan whatever. I tell them first that I find the spectrum of human color to be beautiful and that whatever race or color if you treat me with respect it goes both ways and I’ll respect you too. It’s treated me well in life thus far. And I will see the benefits. As I’ve said in the past I welcome open curiosity about me, and expect they’ll see the same themselves.