Pan Am Conference of 1910

           My brother Steven has always been well read.  Long before Google and the Internet, Steven was avid at finding reference materials.  He read about various subjects until there was nothing left to research.  He has always been well informed about so many subjects – except maybe the Pan Am Conferences of 1910 – not even a subject of his choosing but rather one that had been assigned to him in school.  The encyclopedia included perhaps an entire paragraph for the Pan Am Conference of 1932 or 36 or some year in that decade.  I can’t remember.  But it was a couple of decades after the assigned year which had even less documented.

          I don’t recall what the word count was assigned to the students or if they all had the same topic or exactly how it worked.  Steven was miffed as he’s been required to come up with more information that he could find.  And so he got creative with his report and wrote it in form of a detective novel searching for clues.  In the end his report had more than the required amount – possibly too many words.  I don’t remember what kind of a grade he received, but I think his creativity had worked to his advantage.  I see Wikipedia has much more information that he was able to come with.  But then again, maybe not as over a century of conferences are mentioned – but nothing detailed.

          So what triggered this memory for me?  Richard’s ranting about required writing and using peer reviewed references and language so explicit that even the average professor wouldn’t understand – let alone the common folk that hopefully he will be able to supervise when or before he is through with all this nonsense.  I am a majorly bored sounding board.  But it somehow helps him to think out loud.   I get fed up with professors who nit pick at the format rather than the context.  What are we learning?

I Would Have Rather Gone Through With the Family Outing to the Dentist

           Where do I start on this post?  At the beginning?  I don’t remember when the beginning was.  Sometimes I will see an ambulance parked (but still running) in front of one of my neighbors’ houses.  At least once I have seen a paramedic truck.  I have always wondered why they aren’t sent in clusters. 

          In Utah it seemed no matter what emergency vehicle we would specify, they would all show up.  I hadn’t seen that in Oregon since this post almost a year ago.  Jenna calls it cruel irony.  But let me back up again.

          Roland had an appointment to go to the dentist yesterday.  My appointment is not until July 29 but there was a cancellation for yesterday at 3:00.  How cool is that?  I charged both of my kindles expecting we’d fulfill this outlandish date.  Then they had another cancellation come up and asked if we could bring Jenna.  It was before Roland got off and so we would have to take two cars.

          The Saturn has been jerking and needs a new transmission.  We had even talked about whether to have it fixed or donate for tax purposes or what.  Truth be known, I do prefer driving the Saturn to the Impala.  The Impala really hurts my back and/or legs after a while – not that the Saturn doesn’t.  I guess it is a different pain that I can deal with better in the Saturn.  The Saturn is a city car.  It slows down with each hill it has to climb.

          Anyway, I have been driving the Impala to avoid the jerkiness.  But it was apparent that we would need both cars and so left the sluggish Saturn for Roland to drive to the dentist and thought I would drive it home.  Each of us would have a turn at each car but in different directions. 

          Smiles dental is located in Riddle.  It is about ten minutes away.  Yesterday I was about three minutes away from the dentist when the Impala collided with another car.  I did not even see the car until we hit. The car was silver but three of us had seen white.

Turning onto Pruner Rd. The road the two cars are on change
names at least six times.  The side with the black car is
Pruner Rd (which continues at the turn) while the white
car is on the side called Riddle Bypass Road. 

          I made a U-turn from where I was turning in order to pull off the road.  I did not see the other car again until after it was towed.  I had parked behind a man who hadn’t fully seen what happened but had heard it.  He, along with me and Jenna had seen white.  He made comment about how hard it is to see something white coming from that direction. I saw the car in real life about as well as what is on the above illustration.

         Good Samaritans had stopped their cars to ask if we were okay.  One of the drivers called 911. A volunteer firefighter was at the store close by and arrived on the scene within seconds.  He asked if we were okay and seemed to want to check us outside the car. It wasn’t until then that I realized my car door wouldn’t open wide enough for me to slip through – but he yanked it open.

          I am floored by how quickly and how many emergency vehicles arrived on the scene (and I’m certain that I didn’t even see them all).

 

It’s been less 24 hours and I’m still shaken up about it.  I suppose because I’ve had to recount what happened so many times.  Accidents happen so quickly and in my case I am always asking questions or coming up with “What if” scenarios. 

“Where was my brain two seconds ago?”

“Had I stopped or just slowed down?”

“Too bad we didn’t have the Saturn as it has sluggish problems as is;  I may have avoided this altogether”

“Oh, what would have happened if I had had the Saturn?  If I couldn’t open the door of the Impala I wouldn’t have been able to have been able to open at all.  My legs could have been severed!”

The excessive heat advisory was suppose to last throughout today, but the last two mornings have been so nice.  Overcast and cool.  The way it should be.  Perfect.

How blessed we were that we did not have to wait in the excessive heat. 

How blessed we were that neither Jenna and I were not injured.  The other driver unfortunately did receive pain to her knee.  Paramedics had looked her over, but she declined going to the hospital or other facility to get treatment.

How blessed we are with this community and all of those who volunteer their time and services.

The firemen were grateful to be holding signs and pushing brooms at the scene of an accident rather than being out fighting fires. 

Many blessings really.  Some that we may not even recognize right now, but possibly sometime in the future we can look back and say “I can’t believe the accident was a blessing.” 

I don’t know how the other driver views the situation.  She was worried about her son getting to work on time as she was delayed at getting to him to watch his children.  May she and her family be blessed as well.

Roland came and got us.  The deputy who took our information escorted us across the street to where he had parked.  Tow trucks arrived.  Jenna took several pictures.

our Saturn parked across the road

  

We were not hurt in the car accident, but did manage
to encounter this blackberry bush.  Had we needed
the paramedics, it would have been because of this.

A firefighter took this picture.  Another moment of
"What was I thinking?" as that was not my true
emotion.  Nothing about this photo implies that 
we were shaken up.