Pushy or desperate?

After a great day out on Derby Day Perry and I returned home. We were tired and exhausted. We grabbed the mail and walked into the house thinking only of bed. Then we looked at what exactly we had received in the mail.

Earlier this year and late last year, we had gotten rid of two of our cars and added two new cars to our insurance. This meant multiple changes to our car insurance policies since we didn’t do these transactions all at the same time. But we have kept the same insurance company through out all these transactions (actually pretty much since we’ve been married…I went with Perry’s insurance company).

Since December, when the first of the cars was decommissioned and the first insurance change, we have received phone calls and mailings from State Farm Insurance. I even called back once to tell them that we weren’t interested (partly because Vincent said the phone calls were keeping him from getting class work done…I wasn’t going to give him any excuses).

Well, Derby Day, State Farm showed how aggressive their marketing campaign really is. I received six different quote offers and, since Perry has a different last name, he also received six different quote offers. That means a total of twelve different envelopes and twelve different letters. That is a lot of trees being killed…even if we do recycle.

I was a little concerned about the flood of marketing. I called State Farm to be removed from their mailing lists. I did tell them that I understand that in this bad economy they are looking for people who can afford their insurance but this marketing ploy makes me wonder…Do I want to be insured by a company that is that desperate or pushy? How financially sound is State Farm if they have to resort to this kind of marketing?

The answer is…I’ll keep my own insurance company thank you. Even if I were looking for new insurance I wouldn’t go with a company that is giving off the vibe of being financially unsound and desperate for my business.

Sorry State Farm. This was a bust marketing ploy.


---- Stephanie

Congrats, Rachel!

The 2009 Kentucky Oaks, the all-fillies version of the Kentucky Derby - that takes place at Louisville's Churchill Downs, on Oaks day - Derby eve - took place late Friday afternoon. Rachel Alexandra - ridden by jockey Calvin Borel, rider of Derby winner Street Sense a couple of years ago - took the lead coming out of the final turn.

She ended up winning by 20 lengths - a record margin of victory - and - had Borel pushed her - might have set a track record for the distance: 1 1/4 miles. Horse people might be leery about racing fillies in the Derby, after the death last year of Derby runner-up Eight Belles (also a filly), but Rachel Alesandra's owner said he thinks the Derby should be all-stallions.

We ended up being invited to no parties and - partly to avoid a friend of ours - are heading up to Northern Kentucky/Southeastern Indiana for part of the day. We haven't decided whether Frisco is coming with us. Vincent - we last heard - was slated to come back late from Marietta College late and was to stay with the Davis family last night. I don't know about Vincent, but hopefully Stephanie and I will get to watch today's (probably rain-soaked) race on TV up there. Click here to watch Friday's amazing Oaks race: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZmGzFD-k8c

-- Perry

Parade video

Click on play below to watch a fun video from Thursday's Pegasus Parade - of of a disabled (and moving target) basketball game .

Vincent's Derby weekend?

Vincent’s latest plan: Drop off a job application at the 4th Street Live Borders Books and Music store Thursday. Meet his friend Alex and go have dinner with Alex’s family at their home near Holiday Manor. Get up early Friday (Oaks Day – still a day off in the Jefferson County (KY) Public Schools and go over to his friend Samantha’s to help her clean her room (We’ll see if he did his weekly chores and laundry and cleaned his own room before leaving for Borders.)

The next part becomes fuzzy in my mind: At some point Friday he hopes that he and Sam can connect with his father, said to be on his way from Florida to Ohio. Later in the day – or first thing Saturday morning, after spending the night with the Davises? – he’s going to travel with them to Marietta, where some of my maternal ancestors are from and which Stephanie, Vincent, and I visited 11 years ago this month, to pick Sam’s sister up – after the end of spring semester – from Marietta College (pictured above) (where our counselor 11 years ago had gone).It’s unclear to me when they’ll be back. I guess Vincent won’t be going to the Pegasus Parade with us (weather permitting) this year. Our Derby Eve/Derby plans still aren’t clear.

P.S. Some changes in plans: It turns out that what Vincent was going to do with Alex tonight (although we still think Vincent is meeting people too close to school and then also coming home smelling like smoke from hanging out with smokers) was something we approve of. Alex, a friend of Vincent from last summer’s Denmark trip, went with another friend with whom Vincent hasn’t hung out yet to see another friend of Vincent – who he has also not seen much lately – get awarded his Eagle Scout paraphernalia at a nearby synagogue. We definitely approve of Vincent reconnecting with old friends (friends who we mainly like). Vincent had told his friend – not really joking – that he might not go because he didn’t believe in the Boy Scouts (and not so much because of their sexual orientation discrimination), even though Vincent was once a Tiger Cub.

Also, it turns out that Vincent is going with the David family to Marietta relatively early Friday morning. Because his father wasn’t due here until later Friday, he fibbed and told his father we were going to see one of Vincent’s maternal grandmothers in Ohio – because Vincent didn’t want to tell him that he was choosing going on a trip with his girlfriend instead of seeing his father. Vincent’s father stops by so rarely and Samantha goes out of town so rarely that it’s kind of too bad. I know he was looking forward to them meeting each other – but that wasn’t going to work – it turns out – no matter who he chose to hang out with because – unless their cars cross between Lexington and Cincinnati – the girlfriend and father were to be two different places Friday. We’ll see if this puts pressure on us to offer to bring Sam with us if we go to Ohio for Memorial Day weekend.

-- Perry

Extra signs

More signs of spring: Stephanie brought home from Day 2 of Crescent Hill church's up-scale plant sale, tea, and art sale (UPSTARTS) Sunday some more plants, adding to a bevy of plants she has installed. By Tuesday, flowers we'd been watching around the tree in the front yard of our rented St. Matthews home had bloomed (below).

Stephanie also got to fulfill her outdoor grillling dreams from the weekend, on a day when rain started to threaten for much of the rest of Derby week. On the menu were smoked turkey sausage and vegetable kabobs (Frisco got much of the veggie kabobs!), grilled half cabbages (!), and rice. It was the first time we've grilled this year.

Two danger signs for spring/Derby week. Good for alleviating my allergies, but bad for enjoying Derby week outdoors - Rain expected to continue this week, possibly on the Pegasus Parade tomorrow and on the races Friday and Saturday. Surprisingly, the rain let up today helping the local favorite "Belle of Louisville" "beat" a new Cincinnati-based rival boat in the Great Steamboat Race on the Ohio River. Also: Last year we went to Derby-related parties on Friday night and Saturday afternoon and - as of yet - we've received no party invitations (including for the annual Friday night party we usually go to). Trouble in the Chang/Mathews/Gregory family's Derby party land?

-- Perry

Thunder Over Louisville

Thunder Over Louisville is a big fireworks show (reportedly the largest in the country) and air show extravaganza that essentially opens up the two-week Kentucky Derby Festival each spring in Louisville. Sometimes - due to trips out of town, Vincent’s big 16th birthday party, bad weather – we’ve skipped it. But this year – with Vincent linked with us for at least three more days- we essentially reprised what we did three years ago. In both years – with good weather – we parked our car in front of my old Phoenix Hall apartment, walked the 1 ½ miles to the Presbyterian Center, retrieved some folding chairs I’d stored in my office (having paid $30 in advance to be able to get into the office – most importantly to use the bathrooms), and sat out on a blanket and chairs and watched the air show, wandered off to buy food, and then watched the fireworks. Frisco accompanied us both times (even though he doesn’t particularly like the air show’s loud noises). This year – as I was aware of – we had less of the Center’s lawn to work with. Of course, we ran into some Center people. And – inevitably – we ran into some other people (when there are close to 1 million people, on both sides of the river) – including Vincent, who is of course not allowed to stray from home or us and not allowed to run into friends intentionally. Above is the view of the 2nd Street bridge - closed since Thursday, where some of the fireworks were to be fired from, and behind it the $500 million indoor sports arena being constructed. Below, Frisco and Vincent have already settled on in our front lawn spot, with the Center parking garage (which obstructed our view from this particular perch) in the background.

Stephanie took some pictures with the digital camera, including this one (below) of me looking up into the sky during the air show.

Vincent (who had to be with at least one of us at all times - I even walked to the bathroom with him) and I went down to the Chow Wagon, even closer to the Waterfront, to buy food. We bought extra Pegasus pins and got a bunch of not so good for us fair food to bring back.

We reprised the dish Stephanie had gotten last summer at the state fair, hot beef sundae (pictured below).

Frisco only got a few scraps.

Vincent tried some of the blooming onion (which we weren't able to finish).

It's hard to capture ths air show - hard to even snap pictures of the planes, hard to capture the experience without the loud noise - but a few pictures are below. There are loud, fast supersonic jet fighters, lumbering transport planes, biplanes and other prop planes, and even helicopters. A Facebook friend of mine protested the military nature of the air show, in that some of these air show planes essentially mimick bombing runs similar U.S. government planes make in Iraq or Afghanistan.

The four of us walked briefly along the river - from which many more people would be watching the fireworks than on Witherspoon Street - and we got a hint of the throngs that constitute that 1 million people figure.

On house arrest, Vincent is forced to do things with us if he is going to get out of the house. After getting us to take him to a movie last night, Vincent did some of his laundry and chores this morning, came closer to finishing up his on-line social studies class, and then headed off to Thunder with us, late. Later he did something he hasn't done with me in years: threw frisbee and (even later) a football. My back/shoulder/neck hurts, which limited my football throwing range.

While Vincent and I were back again at the Chow Wagon, buying dessert, Stephanie snapped some more air show pictures

As darkness began to settle, we got a little punchy.

Eva was one of my Center colleagues and - in this case - church mates we talked with (a couple of hours after seeing and talking with her children).

We tried going up to a rooftop stairway landing/patio, but it was too crowded. So, while Stephanie watched the fireworks from another landing, Vincent and I stood and sat on the proper observation point at the front of the building. Not only is the display (at 30 minutes) singificantly longer than most and not only do you have a great physical and cultural environment for the show (the Ohio River) but also everything happens in double during the shows - there are two identical, parallel, and simultaneous displays - less than half a mile from each other, on the river. I got pictures of fireworks coming from the western end only.

During the long walk home, we met more acquaintances of Vincent - in this case, a former school mate).

Just to give you an idea of Frisco's ability to bark at all flying objects click on the video below.

Spring is coming

After all the strange weather events we have had in Louisville this past year when we finally had a nice sunny, if cool day, Perry and I walked the dog together. We marveled at the blooms on the trees that have just opened up in the past day or two. We kept hoping that spring is finally coming and no more cold weather (or odd weather events) kill of the beautiful blooms.

Frisco had renewed vigor in smelling every little thing. The walk that usually takes 45 minutes stretched into over an hour. Perry and I stopped to snap photos of some of the more amazing trees. This tree (pictured above and below) is in front of a wellness/natural healing center much like Penny and Serge have in Virginia.

One sure sign that this is spring in Louisville and in no other city is the signs for Derby preparation. The newspaper has had articles now for several months, but the hat shows, dress shows, and fashion shows are starting to really gear up. This sign just a block from our house shows just how full swing the Derby preparation is.

This is a photo we took walking past some of the boutiques in our neighborhood. While there may be a recession in the rest of the country women all over the world are picking out their Derby hats. Derby may be in May, but the season starts early here. Hmm, I wonder where I'll get my hat this year?

--- Stephanie