Emily Bloss

Today, Bleys got his drivers license… yay!!! He passed his test with flying colors. I asked if he’ll be excited or nervous on his first trip alone and he said “Yes.”

Click the picture to see Bleys making cappuccino to go with his congratulatory cake, which was delicious! In the background, you can see a computer monitor, in which I’m editing this very post!

Venice, Florida is the shark tooth capital of the world, according to some. Today we made the trip down there to hunt for teeth. We did pretty well! We found two and a half fossil teeth and two modern teeth. Plus Trav found a big hunk of something fossilized, we’re not sure what yet… it looks like the tail of a crustacean. And we found several pieces of some other fossil stuff. I’ll do some research to find out what it is. Click the picture to see what we found!

Today was a really, really great day. Woke up nice, left on time (10am), had fun at the beach (got a sunburn and sore arm, plus some neat fossils!!), listened to the Cowhead radio show on the way home, ate leftovers for supper (Aunt Susie made this killer artichoke salad), and watched American Idol (where miraculously, our favorites got through). And then to top it all off, as I grabbed the Yahtzee game, I said “The only way this day could get better is if I got high score.” And guess what - I did!! 466. Sweet.

The other day I read an article on CNN about how very zealous TSA is when people are entering the country. Apparently, as you’re going through customs, they can look at anything on your computer or cell phone, without any suspicion of wrongdoing or anything like that. Here’s a quote from the article I find particularly chilling:

Russ Knocke, a spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security, equates searches of electronic devices to those of papers in briefcases. “You forgo your right to privacy when you are seeking admission into the country,” he says. “This is the kind of scrutiny the American public expects.”

Huh???? That’s not what I expect. I expect people to be treated with dignity and respect, especially when they’re entering the country. What kind of message are we sending to the world? Oh wait, yeah, it’s “If you’re not white, you might be a terrorist.” It doesn’t even matter if you’re already a citizen, you’re still a suspect.

Somehow we need to find a balance between safety and privacy. Things have gone way too far in the name of safety. Can we ever go back? I think not. And I think the terrorists are probably satisfied with their progress in destroying the American way of life. But they can only do it if we let them. Who will take a stand, I wonder?

Today we went to Hudson Beach Park, for a picnic lunch! It was yummy. We had barbeque pork sandwiches, potato salad, artichoke salad, strawberries, carrots and banana bread. Way too much food for 4 people! After lunch we went for ice cream at a place we found just down the street. It was DElicious!! Dad, next time you come visit (soon?:)) we’ll go to this place. You’ll just love it!

To me, geography is fun. I like to dream about visiting all of the exotic places in the world. Yesterday a found a site (via Gimundo) which donates water for every location you can pinpoint on a blank world map.

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