This is a post about catalytic converters

I wonder how many people will read this post thinking it is about catalytic converters, or how many people will not read it for precisely the same reason. Or how many extra blog hits I will get by people searching for something related to a catalytic converter. Well, that would be an improvement over the other search hits that I get - if you search for things related to cat pee, a miserably horrible childhood, or death by alcoholism, I think you find me, among other searches. I need to broaden the range of topics - throw some random ones in there. This isn't really a post about catalytic converters.

Last night I was going to post - I want to make sure that I post during this trip to Michigan - mainly because I want a record of the visit - something tangible to remind me besides just the memories. I want to savor everything about it. My nephew - he's so cute and I want to be present for every second of it and remember it. Sometimes though I spend so much time worrying about whether I am enjoying something enough that part of the experience is lost.

The time I had last night to post I spent researching Massachusetts emissions law and the legality of removing the catalytic converter on your car. No, I am not planning to drive a car to Massachusetts and then remove my catalytic converter. And no, I don't just search for random things for fun. I was helping my brother with a legal question actually. It's like looking for a needle in a haystack - I'm still not satisfied with what I found but I am resisting the urge to do more research - even though I know I can find the exact answer to the exact question - with just a little more time. But - if you did land here because you had a question about removing your catalytic converter - well, basically, you are violating the law if you remove it.

I am trying to think about what free thing I can give away on my blog. I keep signing up to get free stuff from another blogger - so I think I should pass it on. My brother said I should give away free legal advice because everyone always wants that anyway. Ha ha - he was kidding of course. I can't tell you how many random questions I get and how many times a friend or family member, or a friend of a friend, or a friend of a family member, or a friend of a friend of a family member's friend, or even a complete stranger - has wanted to "run something by me" or flat out get some free advice. I don't mind - usually. Sometimes Id o mind. People assume you know everything about everything, and it isn't true. I do something pretty specific, and it will never come in handy for most of you.

Once coming through customs in Chicago the border patrol agent kept me standing there for 10 minutes asking me questions about his divorce and alimony and his pension. I was like uh, sounds like you got screwed. My mom once wanted me to research Indiana and Michigan law on cigarette taxes because she thought it was unfair that she has to pay so much more in Michigan for cigarettes and wondered why Michigan could get a way with that. I refused to answer such a silly question. A stranger at the courthouse (when I represented myself during my divorce from my "husband") wanted help with her child support. (The filing clerk did tell me that I should take on uncontested divorce cases for $500 a pop because my papers were in such great order when I filed). My favorite, for sure, was when my mom's friend called me to ask me this: "If your boyfriend dies, and he had a boat, and the title was in his name, would it be illegal to sign the title over to yourself and sell it so you could get the money? And, what if there is 500 dollars in his bank account, would it be illegal to forge a check to get the money? Because I don't want his mother to get it." I felt like saying, are you kidding? Did you really need to call and ask me that? The answer to any question with the word "forge" in it, probably contains "illegal." I said, "no, you can't do that. If you are asking me to tell you that you won't get caught - that I can't tell you." (Because you know that's what she really wanted to know. People don't really want to know the answer to the question, they really only want to know the liklihood of getting caught). Sometimes I wonder about people.

Anyway, this was supposed to be a post about day one of my holiday, not car parts and weird people. My holiday started Friday when I picked my brother up very late from the airport in Chicago (delays due to weather) and we drove to the farm in Indiana. We didn't get there until 1:30 a.m. Lise (sister-in-law's mom) made my favorite farm thing for breakfast, biscuits and sausage gravy. Yum. And I've also had a lot of cookies. Then yesterday we drove to Michigan - dropped my sister-in-law's sister and family off at her in-laws and proceeded to Ann Arbor. We got in at 7 p.m. had some dinner, my dad came over and we hung out. I guess all in all, there hasn't been much to report. I'll have lots of photos to post hopefully. I'll post about today, later.