Chronicling First Steps...Times Have Changed

 Grandson started walking this week. Our first two boys were early walkers, both began walking before they turned nine months old. So, as the little fellow got bigger and stronger, we suspected he'd follow (literally...) in his father's footsteps.

It took him a few weeks longer than his dad.

But, he did it.

Yesterday the family got together to celebrate a graduation, and afterward, we gathered for brownies in the parking lot. The rest of the family got to see the small (literally...) miracle of the baby walking on his own.

I remember back when our kids learned to walk. Back then--and it wasn't all that long ago--when babies learned to walk, it might generate a phone call, especially if it's the first child's accomplishment. Oh, we'd brag to our friends at church or whenever we got together. And that would be about it. Eventually, people would know about the child's first steps and life would go on.

Now, well...times have changed.

Now, you can with your phone record the entire event, pre and post. You can send it out to the world for all to see, sort of like what I'm doing right now. If social media were available when my kids were babies, I'm pretty sure I would at least blog about things--I'd blog about each child's first steps, their first words, their first everything.

Yes, our first grandchild is walking.

And now, everyone can know about it.

Madness In March...Yes, It's Madness

 What you seen in this picture is the price of a Wendy's Single hamburger...the price I paid earlier in the week.

It's madness.

It is, in fact, the price thanks to a burger promotion during the NCAA college basketball tournament, better known as March Madness. And it is definitely madness, but the madness has little to do with a basketball tournament, or any sports at all. What's mad is how much that burger costs without the promotion.

It's not just madness...it's criminal.

I haven't visited many fast food establishments as of late. That's not entirely true. I haven't visited fast food establishments for lunch or dinner. My wife and I have gotten breakfast on Fridays at McDonalds and we try to limit how much we spend. We've accepted the fact that our breakfast is going to cost around $10 for two people, a little more if we get extras.

I saw the March Madness promotion from Wendy's, so I downloaded the app and went to the restaurant for a cheap meal. I thought I'd get a combo meal, what they used to call a "value" meal. Those days are gone. The single costs me $1.07. Without the promotion it costs six bucks, and the combo meal was--if I remember correctly--$9. 

Have we lost our minds?

My wife and I used to go out to eat for dinner at least once a week for date night. It was fun--a night we didn't have to prepare a meal or do the dishes. Sometime last fall, we just sort of...stopped. Our weekly tradition ended with little fanfare. I know we can't be alone in this. So, what happens when the food costs so much people just stop going?

Nothing good.

I know talking about this is subjective. People put different values on how far a dollar (or five or ten or twenty...) goes these days. I also understand we no longer live in the same world we did four years ago when food was much more affordable. I also know there are many factors that caused the price to rise so high. All I know is I may take advantage of the March Madness promotion until it's over, then I can't imagine I'll be going to Wendy's for a burger any time soon.

And that's too bad...the burger was pretty good.

Times Have Definitely Changed...

 Today I filled out my ballot, sealed the envelope, and set it on the kitchen table. It's election day and things have definitely changed. In fact, in our little town, there's no open polls or polling station, so for us the only way to actually vote is...

Through the mail.

I'm not a political junkie--I mean, the subject interests me, but it also disgusts me. I want to participate in the process and so I vote. It's an "off year" so the choices for our little town are few. We voted anyway. And I think we're pulling for the underdogs so they probably won't make it. We're relatively new to the area so I don't know the stories behind the names, the histories the locals know.

Even though I complained about long lines at the voting stations in the past, I actually enjoyed seeing neighbors, talking to them, catching up. There was also an excitement in the room, a feeling like the actions had weight, that they mattered. 

I wonder if I'll ever feel that again.

Now, we drop off our ballots in a box whenever we went. We can vote days, weeks in advance all in the name of convenience. We've given up a lot for convenience.

I've long ago given up on some aspects of the political machine. It seems people don't or won't change, which frustrates me, because not enough people think the way I do. Then again, who's to say I'm always right?

Exactly.

We voted this year. I hope to be able to vote next time, too...

No matter how many changes occur between now and then.

Hanging Out At The U...My Alma Mater

This morning I had the pleasure of participating in a high school script writing workshop at my alma mater, the University of Utah. 

Things have changed.

The interesting part was, the building in which we read the winning short scene scripts was held in a building where I actually took classes. I guess that's not that interesting, except there are buildings where I took classes that are no longer there, and there are so many buildings on campus that didn't exist in 1992.

I first drove to the Union Building--just getting there from the north side of the campus I saw just how much has changed. In the late 1980s there was an actual golf course (nine hole...) on campus, just east and north of the Union Building. It's hard to even imagine that because any place that once was golf course is now building or parking lot for said building.

I needed to drive over to the bookstore and the PAB (Performing Arts Building). No problem, I thought. I drive from the Union north, then turn east, the south, then west. That road will take me to the bookstore. Driving that road gave me a whole new set of never-before-seen-by-me things to see. There's a softball field and a running track that were not there before. They were so foreign, I couldn't remember what was there back in the day. Attending the school from 1987 to 1992, I got to know the campus pretty well. 

The new buildings/sports venues on both side of the street threw me off.

It's okay--I still know how to get to the bookstore. I've attended a U of U football game or two in the past decade so I knew some things had changed, but mostly they were the same. Still, I missed the road going west--I think the Trax light rail tracks confused me.

I eventually made it. The PAB looked the same in many ways, but there were changes in that, too. It's one of the older buildings on campus, not as old as those on President's Circle, but old. One day, I'm sure, they'll tear down the PAB. And when I return in another decade or two, when I look for the PAB, it'll be gone.

Times have...and will continue...to change.

I Guess Things Have Changed...

Years ago I participated in a Ragnar Relay race. This required I get in shape. I had a couple of weeks to prepare and I did the best I could. Instead of joining a gym or running on a treadmill, I chose to go to a local high school on my way home from work and run on their track. It took me back to my high school days.

I wasn't the best runner in high school, but I did enjoy it. I like running on a track because I can gage how fast I'm going and how far I've gone. It's simple--four laps, pretty much a mile. Months ago I had access to an indoor track, but I did not renew my contract so I stopped using it. I also stopped running. I did, however, get in a play that required a lot of dancing. That kept me active for the past couple of months.

I missed running on a track, even an indoor one, but I was excited because just down the road from the indoor facility was a shiny new high school complete with a shiny new track. Last night I thought I'd give the track a test run.

Except, I didn't realize times had changed.

I should have anticipated it really. A brand new multi-million dollar facility will have first-class sports facilities (since that is what we seem to worship in our educational institutions...). It was just about sundown when I arrived. I parked the van and headed toward the football field.

Uh oh, I thought.

The field--and track--was completely surrounded by a high fence. There was no way in, except, of course, to hop the fence, something I wasn't going to do. The high school where I trained for Ragnar was not new--it was decades old. It had no fence surrounding it. Maybe it does now, who knows?

I'm not one to push the "I'm a taxpayer" line when it comes to using the resources that those taxes go to support. I did think, as I stood outside looking in, that it would be nice to be able to use the facilities. But there's too much at stake. They've got too much invested. If it were open to the public, anyone could walk onto the field or the track and do whatever they wanted to do, be it train, or vandalize. It's simply not allowed.

Years and years ago when I was in high school I'm pretty sure we had access to the old track. It was so inferior compared to what's available today. I don't know if people--old people--old runners or walkers would use the track like I wanted to last night. I'd like to think they did. 

Just Hanging At The Mall...

Wednesday night I had some time to kill before our screenwriters group assembled.

So I decided to go to a mall.

I don't regularly go to malls. In the history of malls I'm not one who has spent a lot of time at those malls. The first mall I remember was Cottonwood Mall in Holliday, Utah. It's no longer there--it's been replaced by a big empty nothing, a field where the only things available are weeds.

I guess the 1980s were the malls' golden age, though I'm not a marketing expert so I can't be sure. Maybe I think that because I was a teenager in the 1980s. We moved from Holliday long ago and the the mall I probably spent the most time at in my life was in Layton, Utah. They built the Layton Hills Mall sometime in the 1970s, I believe. We'd go occasionally. My brother even worked there.

I also remember hearing how malls were basically evil. Their existence meant the death of "Main Street" and I suppose that's true, but then again, Main Street probably wasn't doing so well anyway and the malls simply filled a void of what customers wanted.

But, as it happens, things that rise must eventually come down. The dominance the malls once had has been replaced.

By the internet.

Again, I'm not an expert. It's just how I see things. Malls have adapted and changed, stumbled and clawed to keep the people coming through their doors. Walking through the doors of Valley Fair Mall the other night transported me back to those 1980s when girls and boys used to wander the halls looking for an adventure. Of course, things have changed. Thirty years ago, every other store sold jeans, not cellphone cases. But one store at Valley Fair Mall made me smile...it was an arcade with real-live video games. Haven't seen one of those in a mall in a long time.

It's amazing how memories can be triggered by just entering a building. That's what happened to me Wednesday night.