I had to run out to the store tonight to pick up some things for our family outing tomorrow — I’ll be participating in the Rugged Maniac obstacle run. One of the errands I had to do was to fill up the minivan with gas for the trip.

I went to the convenience store/gas station just down the street from our neighborhood where I usually fill up at least once a week. As I pulled into the lot, I noticed it looked like the outdoor and inside lights were out. The sun wasn’t completely down yet, and although it was very cloudy and raining, the lights being out didn’t make the area black like at night, just dim. As I pulled up to the pumps next to the store, I saw a man standing just inside the glass door. He waved to tell me not to stop, and to move on. The man had on a red toboggan, and he wasn’t wearing the uniform the workers in the store usually have. I thought that was odd.

But I didn’t stop at the pumps, and just kept coasting through. I saw at the pumps farthest from the store was a big black pickup truck, and a man was standing behind it, with something in his hands pointing at the store. I was still driving through the lot, and the outdoor light was dim, and it was raining, so I couldn’t identify what the man was holding. But the whole scene just seemed very weird.

Sure, there are several explanations for why a 24-hour station might be closed, but taking in the strange bits all together, it made me suspicious. So instead of driving on home, I pulled into the car dealership lot next to the gas station, parked, and took out my phone. I called 911. The line rang more than six times before the operator answered. (I almost hung up before the answer.)

“911 – what is your emergency?”

“Well,” I started, “I’m not sure.” I described the scene and the men and how although I couldn’t say anything bad was definitely going on, it just seems suspicious.

The operator put me through to the local police department. When the police operator answered, I repeated my description, adding, “I just thought it might be a good idea to have an officer cruise through and make sure everything is okay.” The operator asked for my name and phone number, and although I gave both to him, I said there’s really no need to call me back because I won’t be at the location. (I was going to drive away after giving this phone report.)

The police operator said he’d send someone out to check it over. I hung up and drove on to another station to fill up with gas. I have no idea what was going down at that first station, and I probably will never know, although I’m terribly curious. I’ve called 911 a few times over my years to report a suspicious scene, and I’ve never heard the results of any investigation. I don’t need to hear back, as I’m just doing what I feel is my civic duty as a good citizen, but my mind always conjures up some really exciting scenario. And then my rational side waves that off and assures me that it was probably nothing sinister, just people going about some perfectly mundane activity — I probably wasted a cop’s time. But, even if so, I feel better for reporting something and having the police check it out rather than not reporting something and letting something bad possibly happen.

When I got home, I told Wifegrit and our sons what I saw and did. I figure it can serve as a good life lesson for the boys. When you see something that just gives you a gut feeling that something isn’t right, err on the side of caution and report it to authority. Who knows, someone doing that might save a life or something.

Bullgrit

I shaved for the first time at 15 years old. The occasion was my grandfather’s funeral. My step-dad showed me how to do it, and my mom took the photo, (much to my disapproval). This is a bathroom of 1983:

Now, shaving didn’t become a regular process for another couple of years, (at least) — it’s not that I was showing anything that would pass as a beard at 15 years old, but a boy has to start at some time. I don’t remember exactly, but the second shave was probably months later. At one point in my early 20s, I experimented with a beard. It lasted a couple of months.

Actually not very impressive. Kind of scraggily. Now here’s my best beard:

(That’s a bathtub of 1975. Yes, I had very blonde and straight hair as a child. Puberty’s a hell of a drug.)

Anyway, getting back to modern times. . .

Looking closely at that first-shave picture, specifically at the razor in my hand, I see that I’ve been using the same style/brand razor for 30 years: the simple Gillette Good News — a cheap, disposable plastic thing. (This is not a commercial post for Gillete.) Over the years, I’ve occasionally tried other razors. Just recently I bought a fancy-dancy pivoting thing with four or five blades, just to try it out.

Surely something that costs 12 bucks must be better than something that costs less than 60 cents. Surely? I gave it a few tries before passing judgement, but my final thought was that the fancier/expensive razor doesn’t shave any better than the cheapo thing. It was no closer, and no easier to use. In fact, I found the pivoting head rather annoying. I mean, having been shaving for 30 years, I know the shape of my face perfectly, and I can run a sharp steel blade over it quickly and closely without needing the tool to adjust. Heck, half the time I shave I don’t even use cream. I just wet my cheeks and neck with a splash of water, and run the razor over that. Quick, easy, and with sufficiently smooth results.

So I ended up tossing the “pro” razor in the trashcan. My little plastic toys have proven perfectly efficient for 30 years, and I figure they’ll continue to serve me well for another 30.

Bullgrit

I’ve been considering running an obstacle/mud run for probably a year, now. At last, I’ve signed up for one nearby — the Rugged Maniac run in Asheboro, NC, on April 20th. A 5k (3.1 miles) run with 20+ obstacles sounds like it’ll be a ton of fun. My family will be going with me to cheer me on.

But I find the signing up process a bit . . . underhanded.

The price to sign up increases as the date nears the race day, and that makes sense. It’s cheaper to sign up early. No problem with me there. But once you go through the signing up process, you come to a point where you have to buy insurance ($9) to participate. This is a mandatory “option” — you have to check the box for this charge to complete the sign up.

If this charge is mandatory, why isn’t it just included in the price of the registration? Registration is $78. Why not just make it $87 with this insurance included if there’s no choice in the matter? Doing it the way they do, (“forcing” you to click it during the registration process), seems cheating.

And then once the registration is complete, and it’s time to accept the charge to my credit card, I see in the line item list, a “processing fee” of $11.64. What the hell?

Excuse me. At this point in writing this post, (at 9:15p.m.), I just had to respond to a cry out from Calfgrit8. He threw up in his bed. So I had to console him and help him clean up. I then had to change his sheets and blanket, clean up the bed frame and the floor and his trashcan. He’s now back in his newly cleaned bed, hopefully to sleep through the night, (though I doubt the night will pass without another incident.) Parenting — it’s a messy job. I expect to take him to the doctor in the morning.

Anyway, where was I? Oh, yeah, a processing fee. A processing fee? Basically a charge to take my registration payment? Really? What was originally listed as $78 turned out to be almost $99.

The only thing that kept me from saying, “Kiss my ass,” and not finishing the registration was that I had already spent a couple of weeks, (if not a year), psyching myself up for doing this run. This little underhanded gimmick, this addition to the registration process is straight-up dishonest bullshit. Yes, I paid it. I’ll admit to being a sucker for working myself up to accepting this. But I’ll also announce this surprise in the registration process to anyone thinking about signing up for a Rugged Maniac run. And unless this experience is just over-the-top fantastic, I’ll not do another RM run. They’ve turned me a bit sour to their organization with those surprise fees. So they have a much higher bar to leap to make me happy about the end product, (the obstacle run experience).

Bullgrit

We just got back from our third-annual mini vacation to the Great Wolf Lodge. We needed this. The boys needed the chance to swim and slide and play and get a lot of “track out” energy spent off.

And Wifegrit and I needed some peace and relaxation and alone time, (while the boys played without our complete attention every minute). It was a chance for all of us to spend some time together away from home responsibilities and distractions. We were all able to reconnect a bit as a close family.

Unfortunately, the outdoor temps were lower than the previous years we went there, so the pool water wasn’t quite as comfortable as we, (we = Wifegrit and I), wanted and hoped. So we parents did little swimming and sliding, (although we had to do the Howlin’ Tornado once). The temp didn’t matter at all to the boys.

As this was our third time at the resort, we got a free upgrade for our room. In previous years, (and planned for this year), our room, though very big, was one open area. We had two queen size beds, (plus a pull out sofa that we never pulled out). But our upgraded room actually had a separate “master” bedroom with a [lockable] door. Very nice :-) It was great that Wifegrit and I didn’t have to lay still and quiet after putting the boys to bed at 8:00. Plus, having the extra bedroom meant it was an extra bed, so each boy had his own queen size bed to himself, while we adults got a king size bed.

All in all, this was a very pleasant and relaxing few days out of town. It was good for recharging our physical batteries and rejuvenating our mental stability. Tomorrow the boys go back to school for their last quarter before grading up in the summer. It looks like spring is going to be a good new start for everyone.

Bullgrit