I Promised Myself

I just feel too tired to post today. So, naturally, it is time to push ahead.

No post yesterday because I was driving all the live-long day. I took a 12 passenger van of movie folks out to Olympia [~6 hour drive turned to 7 because of snow] to speak to our Senators and Representatives in support of renewing/increasing the Washington film incentive. It's a make it or break it situation for our industry here in Spokane. If this bill does not get passed, there will be no more movies in Washington. Heck, we already lose most of our business to Canada and Oregon, both of which have much better incentive packages than Washington.

The drive out was not too bad. We had to chain up to get through the pass as it was plenty snowy and icy up on the mountaintop. Actually, for the morning drive, I think I could have made it all the way through without chaining, but I wasn't the only driver in the caravan and really, better safe than sorry when all is said and done. The chaining process along with the coffee/bathroom breaks (we left at 5am) turned the trip into a seven hour affair, meaning we barely arrived on time (12pm).

The "day" consisted of making our presence known in the Senate Ways and Means Committee, to show that there are many many people in this state who are deeply affected by this bill. This was followed by a round of meetings with Senators and Representatives. Our Representatives were out that day and our Senator does not participate in this particular committee, so we simply left some informational packets at the Representatives' offices. Then we went back to do short video interviews about what the incentive means to us.

Essentially everybody said the same thing as me:
"The incentive means that I have a job and can support my family"

The road back was worse. The pass was actually about the same, although it was dark. My van's chains broke about 3/4 of the way through, so we ended up having to fix them on the side of a narrow mountain road. It was... dangerous. Then onward we went. By the time we passed Sprague, WA we were right in the middle of last night's blizzard. So, we spent the last hour of driving in complete white-out snow. No, I am not exaggerating. The other vehicles disappeared and I couldn't see more than 15 feet in front of me. I drove the rest of the way at 40mph which is waaaaay too fast for the conditions, but everyone was more than anxious to get home.

God got us there safely.

Man was I happy to see my wife, son and bed last night.