Knitting Cybrarian

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

The Good

• On my way to rehearsals last night, I saw 8 deer (not all at the same time), a gaggle of wild turkeys with a male displaying his wondrous tail, and two molting peacocks (what else COULD they have been).
• After rehearsal, Portia the Cat and I went out on the deck to listen to the peeper frogs sing for love and to watch the rabbits eat grass.

The Bad

• I realized that I handled about 8-10 matters on as many subjects/committees/organizations in 30-40 minutes today.  And I wondered why my head was spinning.
• I knitted half a round on the Koolhaas hat (see my previous post) in the wrong pattern.  Ripping back was a pain because I did the wrong cable pattern, hence working with three needles to rip back every bloody stitch.  That will teach me to think I've got a pattern memorized. 

The Ugly

• I'm leaving Sunday for a leadership development program and returning late Thursday.  I'm driving (2.5 hours).  Gas prices just hit $3.32/gallon.
• However, there is a bright spot.  I won't be commuting every day.  I'll be there, parked.  Hmm.  There may be a bright side to that after all.

Rental car saga continues

Enterprise car rental called this afternoon.  The Chrysler 300 with HEMI I'd been driving?  It'd been sold.  Could I bring it by this afternoon?  I filled it up, dropped it off and got.... another Chrysler 300.  Sans HEMI.  Sans seatwarmers.  Sans satellite radio (I think, haven't tried).  Sans automatic lights.  Sans automatic rear-view mirror night adjustment.  Sans automatic side mirror night adjustment.  Sans temperature control for driver and front passenger.  Sans automatic seat adjustment.  But still leather seats, nice roomy interior.  Different color.

I view this as a transition to my Corolla, which I hope will be ready Tuesday or Wednesday.  Which has automatic somethings, but not automatic everything.  But great gas mileage!

I'll take good news where I can get it

Two pieces of good news came in yesterday:

• 'lil Red (my poor Corolla) should be ready to leave the body shop on Tuesday.  I'm more than ready for my 32-35 mpg.
• as I wondered about where that $500 deductible will be coming from, Joel called me at the Studio to tell me that he took the liberty of opening a piece of mail from Nationwide.  It had the $500 reimbursement check.  Whoo hoo!

I've still got the rich-old-man-mobile (or the pimpmobile as some of my friends call it).  That would be the Chrysler 300 with a HEMI.  My mother said, "You don't like riding around in luxury?"  My response was along the lines of, "It's just not me."  Yeah, I'm liking the seatwarmers, the automatic everything, the leather seats.  But I feel really obvious in it, especially given part of my route to work.  I don't like getting under 20mpg either. 

But it was fun when several of us went to lunch the other day and we rode in the pimpmobile!

how long

I stopped by the car repair place authorized by my insurance (who will collect from the other party's insurance).  The staff person checked over my vehicle, took many photos and then we talked turkey. 

I'm bringing the car in Thursday and a rental will be ready for me.  How long will the repairs take?  "At least three weeks" she laughed.  Three weeks? 

Whoa. 

Photos of the damage

As you can imagine, the driver's side door is hard to open, hard to close, and is leaking cold air.  Sigh.

Can I just start today all over again?

Today:

• Open mouth, insert foot.  I sent an e-mail last night or early this morning telling someone I don't know very well that I was sending them good thoughts.  It was not received well.  Okaaaaay.  File that under "good intentions pave the way to..."
• Snow started falling and did I get on the stick and get out the door early?  Noooo, I had to finish reading the paper.  So by the time I got out the door, there was some accumulation, which slowed things down.  And by the time I got out to the highway, I had that sinking feeling that perhaps I had left the garage door open.  I went back home, and of course the garage door was closed.
• Thankfully by the time I got out to the highway again, the salt trucks had run and the highway was in better shape.  I was running late, but I didn't risk driving too fast because of the roads.  I kept seeing cars off the road and there were some major backups.
• I was within 10 minutes of work (on a normal day's drive) when I saw flashing lights and backed up, swerving traffic ahead.  I slowed down and still had plenty of room ahead of me.  Good thing because I got rear-ended.  And my car spun out and I got hit again by the car that rear-ended me.  Thankfully other cars were not involved and neither one of us were hurt -- I may be sore later tonight, but no injuries with broken bones, broken skin, etc.
• The rest of the day was ok.  A few things were irritating, but I'm just chalking that up to dealing with the residual from the morning.

So tonight I'm watching a movie, knitting, and doing laundry.  Hunkering down, you might say.

and it keeps getting better

because the dipwad who rear-ended me doesn't show up in American Family Insurance's database.  Grrr. 

And, there have been two unauthorized debits from my bank account paid to AOL.  I don't use AOL.  My bank is starting the appropriate processes to dispute, stop payment, and investigate.

Grrrrrrr.

Yeah, I'm crabby.

So what about it?

Started out when I went to a meeting this afternoon where folks hadn't digested the agenda.  And the person who ran the meeting really hadn't informed folks, I don't think.  So the presenter did a great job, but folks had a hard time keeping up and it was clear their technological expertise was not quite there at times.

I got crabby in the meeting because some people seemed to love the sound of their own voice and didn't add content to the discussion. 

I left that meeting early to go to another meeting.  I hadn't had lunch yet (which contributed to my crabbiness), so I went to the McDonald's drive through to pick up some lunch.  Some dipwad rear-ended me in the drive through.

Yes, in the drive through.  How hard is it to drive in the drive through?  Apparently pretty hard for some people.  She didn't even realize she hit me.

I've made one car payment and my bumper is now scratched.  Got her license, her name, her phone and the name of her insurance.  Don't know what the response will be.  It's enough damage to be annoying, but not enough to rock the world over.  But still.   Will call her insurance tomorrow.

So yeah, I'm crabby.  Don't call me, as I'm not answering my phone tonight.  I'm crabby and liable to say exactly what I think without my usual tactful filter.  Dangerous stuff.

What would you name...

  car 002 
  Originally uploaded by lauragayle.

this lovely new vechicle?  I finally took a photo yesterday morning.   I've not officially named it, but I did refer to the car as "Lil' Red" in a conversation with Mom on Friday.  Please, suggest a name for this ride!

Drumroll, please

Several of you have asked me (by phone, e-mail or comments) what kind of vehicle I bought. 

A 2007 Toyota Corolla.  Power windows, power locks, remotes, got a cargo net and floor mats thrown in.  Has a six CD changer and 6 or 8 speakers -- nice sound.  New car smell.  Beige interior.

Drives great, just sips the gasoline and it's soooo easy to park. 

And it's red.