Righto, a whole bunch of smaller things to talk about.

The mother and I, jonesing for TexMex in the heat of last Friday, ventured over to Guadalupe Mexican Restaurant; we’d seen it about twenty times and never ventured inside.  It’s rather gaudy on the outside, brightly painted with a big sign advertising Happy Hour from 2-6 PM on weekdays and an All You Can Eat Crab Night.  Needless to say, while I’m a gringa from WI and my expectations are fairly moderate, I was not expecting to be impressed, but in actuality, it was quite good, at least as good as Hector’s on State Street.  I was pleased with their selections and the fact that they put enchilada sauce in their chimichangas, which kept the inside from getting dry as well as was terribly rich and tasty.

So yes, worth a go if you don’t care about authenticity, even if their margaritas are overpriced (but at least not from a blender).  It’s on 114th and Bluemound, next to the Delhi Cafe, which is being turned, sadly, into a piano bar.  wtf.

Unfortunately, Friday was the last nice time of it as then Saturday we got flash floods and tornadoes.  If you live in the US, you’ve probably seen the footage of the house and highway being swept into Lake Delton.  A lot of people here with flooded basements and ruined stuff, and we’re getting hit again tomorrow, apparently; everything smells damp and feels damp, and the humidity does a number on my migraines.  Oh sure, massive man-made climate change is a myth.  We aren’t affecting the environment that much.  Right.

In terms of changing times, my mother made a particularly interesting comment to me the other day, about how she doesn’t think she could handle being without email access for a week at a time.  My mother, who isn’t exactly a wired person, who is completely amazed that iChat’s video function is free and real time, said this to me.

I’m not sure what this says about culture here in the developed world, and our desire for instantaneous connectivity and information access, because it’s in so many aspects of life.  I got my first still-functioning permanent email address ten years ago last month, and I’ve online journaled and/or blogged for eight years.  In that time I’ve seen both things move from geeky fringe to de rigeur.   And as problematic as the Internet and digital media is, I think we could very well be better off with it than without it, for one very big reason: now the whole world really is watching, and there will always be someone, even when you’re hiding under anonymity, who might hold you accountable.  It’s not always fair, and it’s not always justified, but when things fall apart, it is, in a sort of odd way, a comfort to have that kind of global street justice.

I’ve made my peace with that, or I’ve tried to.  It’s unfortunate that a lot of people haven’t.