Geraldine

This is my last required post for English 226 and I would like to dedicate it to Geraldine--my grandmother. Because of stubbornness in my family, I did not know Geraldine. Now it's too late. Geraldine passed away Wednesday November 10, 2010. I've been told that she visited me after I was born, but of course I would not have known this. Three years ago, my sister and I convinced our dad to take us to meet Geraldine. She was in the hospital and looked very ill. We promised to write and call, but we never did. Now she is gone.

Geraldine--Grandmother--I hope you can forgive my dad and grandfather for preventing Courtney and I from knowing you. But most of all, please forgive me for not calling or writing you, once we had met. Rest in peace and know that I will miss you. Love, Tiphanie Rimsky, your granddaughter.

Remember the Ticket?

A few weeks ago I expressed my distaste for a ticket I got in a 'phantom' school zone. I did some research, which began with trying to find out what law I had broken. One thing I learned from my Criminal Justice class, is that there is no crime without Law, and no punishment without crime. So I asked the Lewisville Police Department what Law I had broken. There was a four digit number on my ticket, but it did not relate to any Law. The clerk's office told me that the four digit number was an internal code, and the actual Law would be in the State Statutes. I found it odd that the clerk could not find the Law.

Next, I searched the State Statutes for school zone laws and what I found was ironic. Each county or municipality shall hold a meeting, each year, to request a reduction in the state-set speed limit--35 mph--for any road they deem necessary, for the safety of others. There was another requirement I found interesting. The reduced speed limit must be within 500 feet of the school property.

To date, I have not been able to find any records that Lewisville Texas has held such a meeting as described above. However, I did measure the distance from the school, to the bridge--over interstate 35--where I was stopped by the officer. It was 1632 feet, thus proving the ticket was bogus.

The next time you get a ticket, do some research. You may not be guilty!

When is Halloween?

Everyone knows Halloween is October 31, but the day to trick-or-treat has caused some confusion in Dallas. Blogs are blowing up with comments about a news story this week, concerning the day to take the children around the neighborhoods. Some parents think we should celebrate Halloween today, Saturday October 30. Comments include things like, "Don't come by my house Saturday. I will be watching the Texas Rangers play in the World Series," and "Halloween is not on Saturday, it's Sunday. Why should we change the date because parents don't want take their kids on Sunday night?"

I personally don't care. I am too old to trick-or-treat, and I don't have children. I have, though, been surprised by the conflict this have caused in our area. The mayor of Dallas finally announced that the day of celebration would be decided by each town. So basically, children can go to Grapevine on Saturday and on Sunday, cross the street to Flower Mound and score some more candy.

Now that I have blogged what's on my mind, I would like to send you to slate for another article related to Halloween; http://www.slate.com/id/2272751/. This is an adult article, so please sensor. Happy Halloween.

Cinderella

I just left the Texas Ballet Theatre in Fort Worth, Texas. Cinderella was performed. I know that I have dished this art appreciation class in the past, but none of the prior performances come to close to this ballet. The ugly step-sisters were played by male performances, and they were hilarious. Cinderella and the prince danced a pas de deux in the final act. It was absolutely beautiful. I am actually looking forward to the Nutcracker ballet in November. Maybe some sophistication will rub off on me after all.

School Zone? Really?

I'm driving home from work, minding my own business, when I see police lights behind me. Sound familiar? I still think it's the pink LSU emblem on the back of my Jeep. The officer walks up to my car, asks for my license, and says, "Do you know you're speeding?" I was driving 32 mph in a 35 mph zone. I was not speeding. The officer proceeded to tell me that I was in a school zone and the speed limit was 20 mph. Excuse me! I was traveling on Interstate 35 when I exited onto Corporate. I was on the off ramp, which is a loop around that circles and then goes up a bridge and over the interstate. My first question was, "Where is the school?" Suspended in air? Seriously. I'm on the exit ramp from the interstate! I doubt that anyone built a school here. The officer's response to my questioning was, "What can I say? I'm just one of those cops that writes tickets." I'm furious. I circled back around to see of there was a school zone sign, or even a school. There was, but not where anyone coming off the interstate could see. The sign was on Corporate, on the other side of the bridge. I drove past the officer and saw him giving another person a ticket. Unbelievable!

Dance Appreciation

I love to dance and I love to cheer, so why do I hate my Dance Appreciation class at UNT? I need a three credit course to satisfy the art credit for my degree. Unfortunately, LSUS doesn't have a three credit course in dance--or cheerleading for that matter--and I do not want to take an art class. For these reasons, I thought I would take advantage of my Fall semester at UNT, and take a three credit dance course. I should have known it would not be that simple. Signing up for the class, and getting approving my Dean at LSUS wasn't a problem, but the class is. I also should have known that a class named Appreciation of Dance as an Art Form would not be a blow-off class. So far, I have attended a ballet, a musical, and I don't even know what to call the performance I just left. We are assigned seven performances this semester and attendance is mandatory. Then we must write a four-page review of the performance. How can you describe costumes, dance moves, and set in enough words to fill up four-pages? I should be appreciative that I get to attend such performances in Dallas, but I just can't get into it. I hope The Nutcracker performance in November will spark my interest. Otherwise, I am stuck writing creative non-fiction for more than one class this semester.

Crying at a Wedding

I just left my cousin's wedding. It was beautiful, but simple. There was laughter and humor, even from the preacher, but my mom and my aunt were crying--during the ceremony. Okay, I understand when a mother cries because her baby girl is getting married, or, even a son, but, neither the bride nor the groom belong to my aunt or mom. So my question is--Is it okay to cry at a wedding? A wedding is supposed to be happy, joyous, jolly...not weepy! I realize that my cousin lost his dad three years ago, and, maybe it's okay to mention this loss during the ceremony and the reception toast, but crying at a wedding just seems...wrong. My mom says I will understand when I get older. Whatever! On the upside--there was a cash bar, so I doubt that tomorrow, anyone will remember the blubbering little women.

Can Profiling be Harassment?

Maybe I have the wrong definition of profiling and harassment, but here is my theory! I'm driving home from work, it is late, and I see police lights behind me. Both of my parents are retired police officers, so I have respect for them. At least I did until this night. I realize that it's late, but I work at a sports bar and restaurant, not exactly an 8-5 job. I pull over, roll down my driver side window, and hand the officer my license. I'm wearing my uniform shirt, black with the logo in bright yellow, and my name tag. It is obvious I have just come from work. The officer asks from my insurance card, which takes time to find because my mother had my car detailed yesterday. Once the officer completes his interrogation, yes, interrogation, he returns my license and insurance card and asks, "Do you know why I stopped you?" By this time I am irritated and answer, "No, do you?"

Before I tell you what he said, let me give you a few more details. I'm a white chic, driving a black SUV with subs, and I have LSU in pink across the rear window. I don't know, maybe he's not an LSU fan. This is Flower Mound, Texas--one of the top ten towns to live in this country, according to some survey--maybe he's a Longhorn fan. Anyway, did I mention it is late?

 Okay, this is what he said. "You have a defective light on your license plate." I swear that's what he said! He pulled me over, wasted twenty minutes of MY time, because I have a 'defective' light on my license plate. Really, dude, you can't think of anything better than that?  "What kind of defect?" I ask. He replied, "Just defective. Maybe it has mud on it." Remember me saying my mother had my car detailed yesterday? Yeah! So what do you think?

Have You Ever..?

Have you ever lost a document you were working on? It sucks! I was in Moodle and was working on a post in a forum for my criminal justice class. I spent six hours working on that post. My butt was sore, my legs were cramped, and my stomach was growling; as a matter of fact, so was I. My sister came into my room to borrow a pair of jeans and I snapped at her. My mom brought me food and... let's just say, if I wasn't twenty years old I would be grounded. After hours of writing, rewriting, moving, deleting--you know what I'm talking about--I finally had a completed work of art. I was proud of it. I knew I was going to get an A. Then it happened. I clicked on 'Post to Forum.'  What did I see on the computer screen? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. The screen was blank. No smiley face. Nothing! After another hour of trying to recover my work of art, I called my uncle--he is a computer wizard--and do you know what he said? I was SOL. Apparently, if you are logged in to a site that will time you out, you will lose all your data if not saved before getting 'timed out.' Six hours on a Friday, wasted. If you have ever had this happen to you, you can relate. If not, I sure hope this post will save you the heartache.

Star Gazing

I look up in the night sky and wonder what's out there. Are there other planets with life? Are the stars planets? I suppose I will learn this next semester as I plan on taking Astronomy. What I do know is that a star shines, is magnificent to look at, and seems to give me some comfort as I gaze. For this reason I took the plunge and bought a star today for my boyfriend. His birthday is September 26 and I intend on surprising him with a framed certificate of the star. Deciding to purchase a star was easy, deciding on a name, not so much. After tormenting my mom, my boyfriend's sister, and my dog, Toto, I finally named our star 'yia navta mazi' which is Greek for 'forever together.' From this day forward, when I look up into the night sky, I will think of him.

Hi

Hi, my name is Tiphanie Rimsky and I am currently enrolled in Kathleen Smiths english course. Any questions about me just ask....