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The High Price of Bad Assumptions
Life Lessons The real reason why you shouldn’t store water in gasoline containers Image by Iván Tamás from Pixabay My translator’s mother, who had a broken leg at the time, hops into the small Russian made car, which looks like a cheap ripoff of a 1970s Toyota Corolla. Her grown daughters also make their way in. We pull out of the parking lot and fifty yards down the narrow snow-packed road, the engine stops, and I know why. At this point, the oldest daughter informs me, in her direct I-will-kill-you Russian way, to make the car “go.” “Make it go American!” She motions with her arm to make the car go…
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That Time We Almost Got Killed at the Gas Station
Life Lessons Although MythBusters said it couldn’t happen, I still don’t recommend this activity Photo by Jay Skyler on Unsplash I’m probably 15 or 16 years old riding around the metropolis of Saraland, Alabama with two guys I knew from our neighborhood. While I don’t remember the exact car we were in, I do remember that both Jerry and Derek were hotrod aficionados. And they were really into fast cars. Probably a 1970 Chevy Nova or something like that. But it really didn’t matter because in a matter of seconds neither we nor half of the county would be around to tell our children the difference between a 350 short block, a…
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When the Mean U.S. Embassy Worker Wouldn’t Give Us A Visa
Living With Russians How patience paid off when we decided to get married Image by Julius Silver from Pixabay For a long time after the American Embassy in Moscow denied her request for a visa, I thought about getting my fiancé (somehow) to Mexico and then crossing the southern border into Texas — um, legally — illegally — I didn’t care. Only because I didn’t know. Really! Then we could get married and everything would be perfect.I don’t know how I would have gotten her to Mexico.I don’t think I gave it a lot of thought. I had fallen in love with my translator and had asked her to marry me that same year at a place that was…
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What Breaking My Leg Taught Me About Priorities
Life lessons How using crutches had unintended but beneficial consequences Photo by Sergio Rodriguez – Portugues del Olmo on Unsplash The impact threw me from the motorcycle into the air in the opposite direction of the way we had been traveling. Physics is funny like that! I landed on my right leg, which snapped like an unlucky baseball bat in the hands of an angry Bo Jackson who just struck out. Things were worse for my friend Tim, who lay screaming on the ground because the car’s chrome trim had peeled off and sliced into his right leg making just a big mess. Let me back up a bit: We’re in…
