stories

Didn't Go To Jail

Mon, 24 Aug 2009 09:12:49 -0500

I was driving home late one night, around 11:00, on I-244 in my Eclipse. I had just added a variable boost control, so I had the boost pressure cranked to about 25 psi. The highway was desolate, there was only a Camaro in front of me, so I floored it. I quickly left the Chevy in my wake & was screaming down the road when...

I looked in my rear view & saw the lights which were pretty far behind me. I took my foot off of the accelerator & glanced at the speedo, where the needle was dropping to 130. I was screwed! I pulled over & pressed the hazard button, got out my license & insurance, put my hands on the wheel & waited. And waited. And waited. It took the cop a little while to get to me, but he finally did.

"Have you ever had dealings with the law?" I will never forget those words he said to me. My mind went blank, "Dealings with the law?" I muttered back to him. He said "I clocked you in excess, AND I MEAN EXCESS of 85 miles per hour!" I told him that I knew exactly how fast I was going. He glanced around the inside of my car, took my license & registration, then told me to wait right there while he went back to his car. I sat there for what seemed like an hour, sweating, nervous, no sounds except the occasional car & my breathing. I knew I was going to jail, I just new it. And why not, this was a clear case of reckless driving. How could there be any other outcome?

Then came the other outcome.

I almost went into shock when the next set of words came out of this guys mouth. "I'm going to let you go with a warning, but slow it down." A warning? Not even a written warning, a verbal one. What the hell? I was counting my blessings & wondering if this was some sort of dream, and then it hit me. He was a gear head! He was looking around my cockpit at all of the cool white gauges, red trimmed panels, control switches & he was thinking, "this car is really fast, this guy has an awesome ride". Yea, he was thinking that. As he looked the car over again he asked me "You have this thing tuned up pretty good, huh?", and I replied "Maybe a little too good". And that was it. He gave a little smirk and drove away. I was off the hook.

Six Flags Trip

Mon, 24 Aug 2009 08:46:27 -0500

I bought a pool, it's just one of those blow up pools but it has been so much fun. Speaking of stress, we just got back from a one day trip to Six Flags over TX. Several friends went, we had 2 vans & my car.

Day 1: Left 2 hours late, spent an hour in Dallas traffic, the person leading saw a ferris wheel to the East & led us the wrong way (it was the Dallas fairgrounds), got to 6 Flags: lines were long, sun was hot, patience was thin, took a van to the hotel to check in, transmission went out in the middle of an intersection, AAA towed us to the hotel 1.5 hours later, hotel had no pool (they lied to us), while everyone argued about switching I went back to 6 Flags & had some fun.

Day 2: the people in the other van said they would tow the broken van back & fix it, bad idea; I rented a Uhaul & tow dolly & took it to Kevin in OKC to fix it right, funny how a Uhaul is $19.95 in town & $320. to go somewhere, oh well stuff it on the Visa, got it to OKC, spent the night with dad.

Day 3: Made it to within 18 miles from the end of our journey when a guy in a Dodge Ram 4x4 decided to take a nap & drive it up into the back of my uhaul at 90 MPH. After 3 hours, tow truck, fire truck, highway truck, water dept. truck, semi truck, ambulance, carload of people from Montana, a Highway Patrolman with a gun fetish & life flight chopper(for the guy who hit me’s wife) helped us out we made it to the Uhaul place to drop off their truck (minus the rear door). That's when they wanted to charge me for the tow bill for bring the mangled car tow dolly back. Screw you guys, I'm going home. Back to my pool where I should have stayed in the first place.

Stress, Ha! I laugh in the face of stress.

larae is yelling

Sat, 15 Aug 2009 21:31:56 -0500

this day has been a major suck fest. from stupid customers, to the end when my wife was yelling at me. the only thing left to do is go to bed & hope tomorrow is better.

My Leaf Blower

Tue, 11 Aug 2009 15:46:25 -0500

Today was a pretty good day. I managed to get through it with very little pain. It’s 10:00 & I still feel good. I’ve upped my dosage of gabapentin to 4 pills per day & it seems to be working so far. I’ll five it a few weeks to even out & see how o do. Today I went to Walmart & used my $50 gift card Leslie gave me to buy this cool leaf blower/vacum. It’s awesome. Spent some time with chris, we played with the blower & he fixed the tailgate on my truck. I’m sure gonna miss him when he goes away. Oh well, live for the moments we have now. I’m off to bed.

fixing the toilet

Sun, 9 Aug 2009 21:40:40 -0500

The valve in the toilet was leaking a slight amount of water into the bowl. This wasn’t a big problem, but it was wasting water. I got a new valve to put in, simple enough. Shut off the water, remove the vavle, new valve goes in, on with the water. Leaking on the floor, tighten, leaking still, tighten, leaking still, Christopher gives it a try & snap goes the input fitting, whoosh goes the water. So we go & get a new hose, put it on & you guessed; LEAKING! I mess around with it for a while & get it pretty good, I am afraid to go check it again to see if it is working.
Fairly sore & stiff today, took 3 GP 2 PK 2 MR.
Just checked, it’s still leaking.