A book review from my mother

My mother is unimpressed:

I have started the book by the Danish author living in Dublin, called The Exception. I'm sorry to say that so far I am not the least bit interested. I haven't read enough to connect to characters or plot, and I'm being held back by the exceedingly dull writing style. It's that Danish simplicity-and-realism stuff. Here's a sentence from page 8: "Iben and Malene hang up their coats in the narrow passage of Sophie's flat. The air is heavy with the smell of fried food, wine, and people." From page 70 (which I haven't reached yet): "Anne-Lise sits down. Iben looks in her address book and realises that she has the wrong number for Anne-Lise." Page 371: "Malene looks around the room. The remains of her supper are on the coffee table." See what I mean? I doubt that I'll finish this book. In fact, I may not go any farther at all. It's just tedious.

Thank you, AATA!

Dear Ann Arbor Transit Authority,

Thanks for eliminating the Airport Blvd. bus stops on Route 6 in Ann Arbor. Since my closest stop will now be 20 minutes or so away from my work, on foot, and since that really isn't feasible as a long-term arrangement for getting to work, I am going to drive to work like all red-blooded Americans.

This is actually a good thing. The bus system was always so convenient for me that I never really bothered to learn to drive since arriving here in 1988. Removing my public-transportation options almost 20 years later has actually forced my hand. Now I have to learn to drive!

So - thanks! Just think: I probably would have kept right on putting money every day into your buses' fare boxes if you hadn't left all of us in the industrial complex around Airport Blvd. stranded. Sure, some of those sad sacks will be forced to grit their teeth from the corner of Ellsworth and State to their workplaces, arriving with sweat pouring down their faces in the summer or their noses frostbitten in winter. But not me! I bet I'll love driving! I bet I'll wonder why I wasted all that time on buses!

Pfft. Buses are for wimpy Europeans, not free-wheelin' spirits like me. Thanks for making me realize that.

This is going to be awesome!

Gratefully yours,

Red-Blooded American Me