Dayton, Ohio

 This Labor Day weekend I visited Dayton, Ohio. It is about a two and a half hour drive away from my current home of Greencastle, Indiana. I drove my new 2018 Chevrolet Equinox by myself. The kids were at their mom's house and Geoff had work. 

I got some ideas for my roadtrip from roadsideamerica.com I stopped in New Castle, Indiana to take a picture with a giant "shoe" which was outside the Steve Alford hotel. (this is apparently a famous basketball person) This town is also home to the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame. I didn't stop there this time. The Quality Inn next door to the Alford hotel advertised rooms for $54/night. 

Next, I stopped in Richmond, Indiana to see a restaurant with a double decker bus inside! It's a Pizza King and apparently you used to be able to eat in the bus but that stopped after the pandemic. I just stopped in for a quick pic, but I read that you can still go in the bus. 

I crossed over into Ohio and saw this welcoming sign.  I know Ohio gets a lot of flack, but I was excited to be on a road trip and seeing a different state. I've only been to Ohio once before and that was for a day trip with a group on meetup.com Also, that was several years ago. 

While driving in Ohio, I came across a Big Boy restaurant. I was really excited to possibly take a picture with a Big Boy statue, but alas, there was no statue to be found. Bummer. 

By the time I arrived, the museums I wanted to visit were going to be closing soon, so I decided to go shopping. I went to one of the few thrift shops open on a Sunday, and started my hunt for treasures. American Thrift Stores did not disappoint. They take debit/credit cards but have a $5 minimum and at first I was worried I wouldn't find $5 worth of stuff. Ha! I got a cartful for $30. I was especially impressed with the way they wrote the waist and length sizes of the men's pants on the tag. So easy to find what I was looking for. I stocked up for Geoff and Luke. By the time I got out of there, it was too late to make it to another thrift store, so I headed to my next bargain hunting favorite place - Walmart. I found all kinds of clearance there, but I'll spare those details for now. By the time I got done at Walmart, it was nearly 9:00 pm and all the restaurants I could find were closing soon. I finally settled on Dublin Pub. 

Dublin Pub is ranked as one of the top ten Irish pubs in the USA. I know this because they have a sign hanging above their stage. There was no music when I was there. I was happy to see fries on the menu done Irish style, but once they removed the bacon, it was just cheese, which was kind of a bummer. And they were ten bucks! The pop was fair at $2.25 and free refills. Across the street from the pub is a boarded up building and there were unhoused people walking down the street with their belongings. You would never realize it from inside the pub, though. 

I decided to try my hand at another Walmart after leaving the pub, but when I arrived, it seemed very desolate and it was late. Being a woman traveling alone, I tried to be mindful of such things. I decided not to go in and headed to my place to sleep for the night. The cheese fries didn't fill me up, so I did stop at Taco Bell on my way to my lodging. 

Lodging - I stayed at an Air BnB. I had to sift through dozens to find one without an outrageous cleaning fee added to the total. I found one in West Carollton, Ohio, just outside of Dayton. It was $25 plus a couple bucks for the service fee. You can see it here. There were two pugs; one fawn, one black - just like Sherman and Licorice! They were very affectionate and licking me all over the place. It was a small room inside a home with an elevated air mattress. I was happy with my choice. There was even a mini fridge to put the rest of the Taco Bell I didn't eat. Unfortunately, I forgot it there. D'oh. The host didn't seem upset when I messaged her about it. I had packed bottles of water and other snacks in my suitcase as well. As you can see in the picture, there was a fan in the room, so I didn't need to bring in the small one I brought with me just in case the room was too hot. Once the pugs got bored of me and left the room, I was able to get changed and go to sleep. The air mattress was elevated off of the floor and had a pillow top thing on it, but it was still a bit low for me. I'm not as limber as I once was! It was okay, though. 

I am not an early riser, and I thought check out was at 11 am so I set my alarms. I was out of there by 11 only to find out it was at noon! Oh well, better to get an earlier start. I had two goals of what I wanted to see today: Carillon Historical Park and the US Air Force museum. I did visit both of them and even got in one more thrift store. 

Carillon Historical Park - apparently, the structure in the picture above is a Carillon. This rich lady, Mrs. Deeds, saw them in Belgium and thought Dayton needed one, so she had it built. It plays music. It didn't play any music while I was there. So this has like a main building and then you go outside and there's this replica village and you can go into all the little buildings. I went to the Wright Brothers Museum where you can see items from their bicycle shop and then walk through a few buildings and see the original 1905 "plane" they made. I never knew that they started out with bicycles and the link between bicycles and planes. 

Here, I also learned that Dayton, Ohio is where cash registers were invented. There is a room filled with cash registers in the main building. You can push a button on a screen and it will tell you all about that specific cash registers. I never thought about it, but cash registers were the precursor to the computer. This marker explains how the cash register designers worked with the military to figure out how to crack secret codes.

National Museum of the US Air Force could be a post, or several posts, all by itself. But I found a few interesting things that I'd like to share. Admission and parking is free. There are some "simulators" that cost extra, about ten dollars each, to see what it is like to fly. 

The first thing I saw that was interesting was Military Ballooning. I never knew that was thing. Apparently they used balloons in the Civil War and then the Spanish American War. 

I also saw a dog with a parachute. 

A pigeon used to deliver messages. 

And a few mentions of the role of women in the Air Force/Space/War. 

You really could go to this museum several times and see something new each time. My favorite picture from this museum, though, is me on the "chopper" used in recruitment for the Air Force. I think I look pretty tough. Too bad my feet couldn't reach the pedals! 

After the museum, I hit one more thrift store, which just so happened to be having a Labor Day Sale where everything was 50% off. I only did eight dollars worth of damage there, but I was happy with my finds. This one was Valley Thrift Store in Kettering, Ohio. 

And then I headed home. It was a great trip and I am so glad I went on this little adventure.

Law School, Finally

October 19, 2017, Montgomery, AL

I can’t believe I’m writing this, but I’m in law school and I’m living in Alabama. It all happened so fast. Life is funny. It’s like I got a 2^nd chance. I was accepted into University of Alabama for college and my parents begged me not to go, so I stayed home and ewent to Purdue Calumet. I ended up droppinmg out twice before I finally got it together and transferred down to West Lafayette.

                Anyhow, circumstances prevented me from going to law school for so long. Some real, some imagined.

                Finally, 17 years after graduating college, I took the LSAT. I took it in June, the last possible chance for the coming school year. My original plan was to go to IUPUI in the evening and keep my teaching job. That seemed the most sensible and required the least amount of change. I would have had to go to class M-F 5:30 – 7:30 pm and some Saturdays. I began to worry that it might be too much for me. I asked Mr. Gavia last year for his advice and he said that working full time and law school is doable – but not teaching full time and law school. Teaching is a whole other ball game.

                Speaking of ball games, the Cubs lost tonight and are out of the playoffs. They made it pretty far, but no back to back championship.

                Anyhow, back to law school. I applied to IUPUI in April, around the time I registered for the LSAT. They said they wouldn’t be able to make a decision until my score came back in July.

                Now that I was registered on LSAC (Law School Admission Council) I started to receive recruitment emails from schools all across the country. The key word that interested me was, “scholarship.” A couple of schools offered up to full tuition, so I applied there. One was Barry in Orlando, Florida. My brother, Brian, had just moved to Tamp with his family, so I thought it might be nice to be down there with them. In addition, my boyfriend, Geoff, was being (or attempted to be) persuaded by his ex to move to Florida because she wanted to move there (and the kids, of course). I thought it was kismet. Then on LSAT message boards, I saw Barry being ridiculed and found out they had some bad stats on bar passing and work. In the end, they didn’t offer me a full scholarship, so I definitely wasn’t interested.

                Another school in Arizona offered scholarship. My cousin, Teresa, lives in Arizona, so I thought thatmight be nice. After a google search, though, I found that thy were on the verge of losing their accreditation. That was a no.

                The LSAT scores came in. I got 156. It was about 67% percentile if I remember correctly. I thought it was just average. Apparently, it was better than I thought.

                I got an email from a school in Alabama with the magic words, “up to full scholarship.” Of course, I have family in Alabama. This school was in Montgomery, which was far from family (l further south) so that was a little disappointing.

                However, I had come to visit Montgomery earlier this summer during my road trip. I went to the ADAH (Alabama Department of Archives and History) for genealogy research. I only briefly drove through the town, but I thought it was nice enough. Definitely a better impression than I got of Birmingham.

                So I did a google search and there were no scandals, ridicule or accreditation issues. Their rank was lower than IUPUI, but the stats for post grad employment and bar passage rate seemed comparable.

                I emailed the place back. “Tell me more about the scholarships.” I got an email back from Director of Admissions, telling me to give him a call to discuss. So I did. 

                I remember lying down on my bed in Beech Grove (Indianapolis) during our conversation. I grabbed whatever I could to take notes. Based on my stats he said I could qualify for a full scholarship! What about living expenses? You have to take out loans for that. Oh L

                I was REALLY hoping to have room and board included like they do sometimes for undergrads.

                Full scholarship is still good, so I apply.

                I’m still waiting on IUPUI.

                Faulkner gives me the okay! Full scholarship - $39,000 a year for all three years. Awesome!

                But then panic. I have to quit my job and move over 500 miles away in less than 3 weeks! And I have to take out EVEN MORE student loans. I already have undergrad and Masters loans.

                I’m hoping IUPUI can match it. They finally admit me and give me the number - $3k scholarship of $11k tuition.

                Wah wah.

                I had already explained to them that I had another offer. When I wasn’t happy with $3k, they asked me to send them a copy of my offer letter from Faulkner so they could, “see what (they) could do.”

                There’s some back and forth and they offer $10.5k – but not of 11k – it’s for about $20k. It ends up being about 50%. This is their final offer.

                I. Am. Torn.

                I absolutely can not imagine packing up my entire life in my 2008 Dodge Caliber and moving to Alabama.

                I really don’t want to take out loans for living expenses.

                But I’m going to have to take out loans either way.

                I talk to my boss, Tamara. Her niece just graduated from IUPUI law school. She calls her on speaker to ask for her take. “Got with the full ride,” she says.

                Then my parents weigh in. Just as they did 22 years prior, they beg me not to go. My dad even texted me about it. It pushed me to the edge. I sobbed. I was completely torn.

                I remembered how I missed the chance to go to University of Alabama before. I remembered flunking out of the “safe school” I remember the unhappiness.

                So I quit my job. I packed my car. And here I am. 

Dangerous Minds

I got the teaching job!  Now my brothers are calling me "teach" and asking if it is going to be like the movie, Dangerous Minds.

I will be teaching at a high need school in the inner city. Training starts in June. There is still a ton more I need to do before training, like testing and what not. I will also be taking classes at night for my master's degree, which is part of the program. I am super excited, overwhelmed and a little nervous.

If I received a certain score on my high school SATs, I would be exempt from certain tests. Considering it has been seventeen years since then, I went and got a copy of the results and I am just shy of the score needed. D'oh. The tests cost over $100, which is not an amount of  money I have handy right now. You could apply for waivers, but you had to apply before February. I didn't get accepted into the program until March. D'oh.

Amazing some times how seemingly little things can just throw a wrench in your plans. Just have to keep moving forward. And in the mean time, be excited about getting into this fellowship program, woo!