Gonzai Gallery

"LUVAMUTT"

A sentiment I can definitely understand!

I just dropped off the car at the garage for some minor work tomorrow morning. Between the dark, the traffic and the cold, I didn't want to walk back to the house, so I asked my mother to follow me in her car.

Conclusion: she absolutely should NOT be driving.

She could not find her keys. Right in front of her. Lost them again between the house and her car. I gave up and gave her mine (I had a key-only for the garage). She pulled in behind me at the garage, then got out of the car. Huh? I took car of things with the garage, came back out and she was standing in the parking lot with her car door open. I asked if she wanted me to drive. She said no. Then why aren't you in the car? I ask. Aren't we leaving my car here? she says. Oof. She couldn't figure out how to unlock any door except the drivers. She asked how to alert the guy waiting to turn into the parking lot that she was going to turn right. I suggested she try her turn signal. She turned on the wipers. I told her the turn signal. She said this is the turn signal. She didn't have her lights on at all, either, in full dark. I gave up and reached over to turn on her lights and signal. Finally got her out of the parking lot. She turns on the signal for the wrong direction (right) and turns left. She came within an inch of several parked cars on the right. When we got to the house again, she was upset because the key fob didn't lock the car. I pointed out that she had my car keys, not hers. She didn't understand why my keys wouldn't shut down her car.

So, time for the 'you're not driving any more' conversation. Oh, joy.

Sending the Monster on its way started fortuitously - I filled out the form online, and within an hour I received a call explaining the process, how to do the paperwork, etc and was told I'd get a call about arranging the towing, which I did an hour later. Now things start getting wonky. I thought the tow was coming today, and I needed to get home to remove the plates and turn over the title, because the title was at work with me. And I was supposed to stop by the animal hospital to meet with the clinical coordinator after lunch (he said he'd be there until 4). So I fibbed a little on the time to meet the tow truck so I could sneak over to the hospital. (My current job has no idea I'm training in another field, and I'm trying to keep it that way.) But I can't go anywhere unless my supervisor is there, and she had her own errands to run, so we agreed she'd go at noon and I'd go at 2. Well, boss shows up and wants this that and the other thing, NOW, and supervisor can't go until after 2pm. She doesn't get back until 3pm. I bolt straight to the hospital. Where they can't find the coordinator. Finally someone says 'oh, he left at 2 today.' News to not just me, but the receptionists. Terrific. They suggested I come in at 8am tomorrow. I am not a morning person. But I'll have to. I left there and headed for home, but just minutes later the tow company calls. At this point I discover we've had a disconnect in communication; they can't come today, they want to schedule for tomorrow. But I don't have to be there as long as the title is there. If I'd known that...so I schedule for tomorrow, and go back to work because I'm closer to that than home. Sheesh. Adding injury to insult, it was near impossible to get the front plates off the van. My hands are killing me.

I better get a LOT off my taxes for this...

Listening to a car crash. Especially one which involves a lot of braking and skidding before the inevitable thuds. Eek. That's the bad part of having an office 75 feet from an interstate, we've heard lots of speeding and screeching just about every day but this is the first full-blown ka-blam. At least a dozen emergency vehicles, including 2 helicopters, so somebody was hurt. Hopefully the dummy who caused it (by trying to exit the interstate from the far left lane when the exit was on the right).

( Westboro Van's Tires Slashed, No One Will Repair It )
So much to be amused about here...OK, maybe slashing their tires wasn't the BEST approach, but I do love nearly the whole town refusing to repair the van. I am further amused that apparently the WBC gang are so inbred-stupid none of them knows how to change a tire :)

Spent the day fighting it out with the Green Monster. Successfully cleaned it out, repacked, taped the ceiling back together, etc. But...it appeared the battery was dead. Called AAA and they had a guy out in 20 minutes. He confirmed the battery itself is fine and jumped it. I let it run for an hour, then drove it for half an hour. All was well. Needed gas, though, so stopped for that. And the van wouldn't restart. At all. The cashier pushed the van away from the pumps, and when he got off duty a half hour later we tried to jump the daggoned thing. Took 45 minutes, two sets of jumpers and about 20 tries to restart it. Got home and let it run for 2 hours. Turned it off and tried to turn it back on again immediately. No dice. Not even clicking or the teensiest bit of power. Now I'm thinking it's the battery cables, but even that's not an issue until I can get the darn thing to start again to take it to a garage. And I have a show Saturday. Good thing I cancelled today's show after all. Yeesh.

Yesterday I lost Stone Age by 2 points. Today I lost by...1 point. And the player who beat me today is the only one to beat my friend Henry all weekend. But then, in the semi-final, I was put in a group with my friend Eugene, who is the asst GM of Stone Age and the best player I've ever seen at the game. So I was toast, and finished 3rd behind Eugene and a nitwit who apparently entered the tournament to get more quality time with his Blackberry. Sheesh. Another 2nd in Settlers and another one in TTR Europe to round out the tourney. Also got waxed in Lost Cities and scraped out a 3rd in Endeavor in the informal tourney, and concluded the day by thoroughly bolloxing an attempt at a new game, 4 Monkeys. Probably a good one for  some people, but apparently not me.

Also had adventures with Mom, whose car was dead this morning and she couldn't remember what to do about such things; fortunately she called during the only few minutes I wasn't in the signal-challenged ballroom but rather picking up lunch. I walked her through using AAA and they took care of the car, phew.

Last but not least, another second, but not mine. I watched the race. OH, so close! I do think Zenyatta is one impressive horse, although I'm not as sold on her as some - she never raced on turf and except for the Breeders Cup, never outside California or against the boys. Basically, 17 of her 20 races were against mediocre competition. So, a great horse, but not the greatest ever. Would have been something if she'd pulled it off though.

And feeling very fortunate. One of my fellow Soupers, who had parked about 30 feet away from my car, had his car broken into during Soup. It's not a particularly new or expensive car and he had nothing in it, which really made me worry about my poor little car, but no, Baby Blue was left alone. Close call. And one of the few times I'm glad I haven't gotten around to cleaning up the back seat. Dog hair does make a car less appealing to a thief, I would think.

Indoors, I learned Puerto Rico and didn't finish last; and nearly lapped the other players at Ticket to Ride: Europe. The tickets just fell my way, as it were. Successfully made banana bread for the event and it was well-received. Now to putter about a bit before bed.

No, not the one in Boston. The one in my driveway. Someone broke into the van yesterday afternoon, while Mom was at lunch. It's not clear whether the intent was to steal the van itself (there's been quite a few Caravans/Voyagers stolen in my area) or to steal the contents. Either way the break-in failed, the contents of the center console were tossed about but otherwise nothing missing or disturbed. Probably wouldn't have noticed the break-in at all except they left the drivers door open, which makes me think they were interrupted before they could do whatever it was they intended. Fortunately the door wasn't open long enough to kill the battery. Rather ballsy to try it in broad daylight, opposite an open business with a lot of people traffic (I'm suspecting someone going in or out of there spooked the miscreants.) Will be filing an incident report later, just trying to figure out a time I'll be home to meet the cops.

Oh, and it turns out the thermostat is broken and that's why the furnace is spewing heat instead of AC. Last night was no fun. Supposed to be fixed by the time I get home.

On a Camry, MD plates: 

K9SRGR8

I heartily agree/approve.