Being reasonable

One thing I have slowly gotten better at is realizing that trying to get everyone to march to my drumbeat doesn't always pay off.  If everyone is stressed out, then was it really worth going to X or Y?  So I had very, very seriously considered going to Detroit next weekend, but either it means driving slightly over 4 hours each way (and an unknown wait at the border) or taking the train, then a cab to the Tunnel Bus, then the Tunnel Bus (which at least has the advantage of being a fairly predictable 15 minute wait at the border), then probably picking up a ZipCar in Detroit (unfortunately, there are no ZipCar locations in Windsor).  My wife's family all live in the 'burbs of Detroit, and apparently they wouldn't even come into the city to see their niece and nephew.  Fairly lame, I have to say. 

The main reason I wanted to go was to see the Detroit Institute of Arts.  While it probably wouldn't have the kind of crowds you see in New York or Chicago, this would be the last weekend of their Rivera/Kahlo show, and my daughter is not particularly forgiving of me dragging her through crowded museums.  This is where being reasonable finally kicked in.  I said that I've see a small Kahlo show (I believe at the National Museum of Mexican Art in Chicago) and a quite large one at the Tate Modern.  The Rivera murals aren't going anywhere, and we can try to make a more reasonable trip in the fall or early spring (particularly since the art at the DIA isn't going to be sold off due to Detroit's bankruptcy -- that was a small but non-zero threat I was factoring into my decision making). 

So I called the whole thing off, and the money I "saved" will probably go to getting a hotel room most nights I am in Chicago, since I do think I'll be seeing quite a few plays after all on my very short visit.  (I never said I was particularly reasonable if I was the only one being impacted.)

Then I was seriously considering getting tickets instead to the gymnastics competition at the Pan Am Games, but 1) the discount code couldn't actually be entered anywhere on the Ticketmaster site, 2) the times were awkward and 3) the venue is not easy for me to reach and I didn't want to stress out that my daughter would get motion sickness.  I think instead of this we will enroll her in gymnastics class in the fall.  There is a gym that is within walking distance.  If she proves she can listen to and follow instructions, I probably will sign her up for skating lessons in the winter, as they have classes just over at Withrow Park.

Ok, I still have a few things to try to tackle today (including potentially installing a shelf in the office), so I had better attend to them.  More later...