Month: January 2002

Damn, I Hate Umbrellas

OK, I complained too much about the sun and now it is GONE. Cloudy and misty on the way to work, cloudy at lunch and cloudy and drizzly on the way home. I had to run an errand at 7:00 PM, Weather.com said it was 67 degrees out. Cool, I drop the top and back out of the garage. To quote Frank Barone, “Holy Crap!” The fog was thick as pea soup. Ran the errand slowly and when I got back, left the car in the driveway and snapped some photos.

This morning as I got into the car my wife asked, “Where is the umbrella?” I shrug, go back inside and grab one from the corner. She pops the trunk and I hop down the 2 steps to floor level and as I go to put the bumbershoot into the boot, I mis-judge the distance and place a 3″ long scrape on the back of the car. Yikes! Took the top layer of paint right off! That is the second time I have done that with an umbrella. The first one is not so bad and is really only noticeable if you know where to look. Or the light is just right. This one is pretty obvious, even to the most casual observer. Damn, I hate umbrellas.

Squirmy Rubber

Darn, this is getting tiresome, upper 50’s and sunny for the ride home. 🙂 Top down of course.

Managed to hit the traffic just so, so that I could run the one ess turn in town at a pretty good clip. Found out that the sidewalls of the new Bridgestone RE-930 tires are not nearly as stiff as the old RE-71’s, lots of squirm and scrub noise. I’m going to have to practice this maneuver more. Plus I might add a couple more PSI to the tires.

Eleven Holes

Mother-in-law decided to change from a green to a yellow color scheme in the bathroom. She bought some matching curtains, shower curtain, liquid sop dispenser, waste basket, etc. Also bought a new shower curtain liner. All this stuff was purchased at the upscale department store in town, not Wally World, so I was surprised when… While hanging the shower curtain I noticed the distance between the first and second holes was different on the liner than on the curtain. Huh! The distance between 2 & 3, 3 & 4 were OK, it was just the shower curtain had about an 2″ too much between hole 1 & 2. When I got to the end of the shower curtain I still had one hook and one hole left in the liner. What the? I guess no one told the maker of this particular shower curtain that the standard was twelve holes not eleven.

Nice Day

Sunny and lower 60’s for the drive home today. Turned the usual 6 mile commute into 25 miles of a top down, tunes up cruise. 🙂

Smokers

I’m an ex-smoker so I know what they are going through and I can sympathize with them, but why is it they have to stand right near the door? Whenever you leave or enter the building it is like running the gauntlet of smoke. It is even worse when it rains, nothing is worse than the smell of a wet ashtray…

Wrong Way Brian

Sunny and lower 50’s today, so when we got home from a bike ride we went for a car drive. The car was firing on all 4 cylinders, unfortunately my brain was only firing on 3. We took a drive to a friends house and I totally spazzed on the turn down their road. No problem, just go a couple of miles further and catch the next right. Only problem is we don’t come in that way often, so I cruise right by their driveway. No problem, just get to the next street and do a U-turn. After the visit we headed home and I had no problem finding the way to my street, but for some reason drove right by my driveway. I think I was keying in on my neighbor’s mailbox, we both have reflective house numbers on our boxes and 780 looks a lot like 778 when you ain’t paying attention.

$77 Cars

Are the people who buy used cars that gullible? The local Toyota dealer frequently runs this ad in the Sunday paper. Here are some quotes:
“One of Georgia’s largest Toyota dealers has been ordered to conduct…”
Ordered by who?

“…every car is on sale, first come-first served, and no auction bidding is required.”
Darn, I so wanted to bid.

“Be there early, because last time another dealer outside our city limits conducted a sale like this, they had over 400 respond by 8:00 PM and some actually camped out on the public sidewalks…”
Probably the same guys who are waiting in line for the next Star Wars.

“Don’t forget some will actually be sold as low as seventy-seven $77 dollars!”
Huh, seventy-seven seventy-seven dollars dollars?