Category: Things with Motors

Sundry and various

A Social Network my dad can get next to.

Thanks ScaryClown.

Don’t click on this link unless you are prepared to see what happens when you combine alcohol, a wardrobe malfunction, heroically bad martial arts chops and a friend with a digital camera.

ScaryClown sent me that one too.  It’s a truly amazing picture, and I feel sorry for the poor bastard.  Really.  Why is he still wearing a tie?

 How to make boats more environmentally friendly.

Forwarded from Peter T.

Grrrr

It seems like every time I come back with the CAN car I have to deal with a never ending parade of people who can’t read the sign (Dear Blithering Eejit, don’t stop, park, unload or stick any kind of vehicle here!)  So I sit in the car and curse until people move, and then move the car, or park it down below, since I have access to the visitor parking.  I bailed on church (mostly because I was too angry to sit through another minute, and unfortunately “If you can’t say something nice, keep cakehole in down and locked position” applies in  this case).  And I made biscotti for afters too… Grr.  But then I had all this time with the car and Paul called and we went through what appears to be the last draft of the separation agreement although I am NOT Alicia (that was a funny typo!).  I got to see Keith, briefly.  I learned what happened to my recipe book, copied or took what I needed, and had a good visit with Paul after we got the paperwork squared away.  I’ve been thinking a lot over the last week about “what went wrong” so a lot of our conversation consisted of him listening to me say what I thought I’d screwed up; because, you know, he’s a really great guy and he deserves as much as anyone else to be happy, and there was no way, considering how perma-cheesed I was for the last year, that he could have been happy living with me.  He was very kindly about the whole conversation and we got in a good walk and I finally have decent rice, I can’t believe how much I missed having proper Indian basmati, which I am to the point of thinking is the only rice.
Grr.  Grr.  Then my mood lifts abruptly when I find out that Katie K is going to take me to either Dosza Garden or Simba’s – two of my fave eating places….  So this afternoon I have one last crack at various projects before work commences, and then food, and then hopefully home early, to bed early, and with any luck my migraine will be gone.  It’s not a big one, but it’s dreadful not to be enjoying sunshine…. it’s really another glorious day.

CAN car meshuggas and Happy Family News

I booked the CAN car – the charcoal Prius parked at my door, don’t you know – from 10:30 to 1:30 so I could shop for the extremely large toilet paper package I like so much (okay, I bought other stuff too…) and also to have enough time to hit the office and call RobofNine and ScaryClown down to admire the vehicle.  As could be predicted (ScaryClown being about 12 in terms of psychological age – maybe 13) he said “People must have been ****ing back here, look at the stains” as he got into the back seat.  Thanks, kiddo.

Today I bought eggcups (leering eggcups frustrate my amnesia – R. Needham); a set of stacking coffee cups which I have coveted for about two months now; much food (I’m feeding Katie K tonight – and probably watching Red Shoes again…); a wall calendar, suction cups (none of which suction to the walls, Tammy, I think I’ll have to make holes now); and did I tell you I drove a Prius for the first time?  I nearly broke my neck trying to figure out how to take the parking brake off and when I went to show off to the guys I couldn’t get it started ’cause I didn’t put my foot on the brake, so RobofNine kindly pointed out my error.  Then when I got home some ****wit in a Honeywell service truck was parked in the CAN car spot so I had to park it in the visitor lot, but as soon as I unloaded my groceries, the spot vacated and I ran like the hammers down the stairs to shift the car, all of which went well and I didn’t have to parallel park, may the saints and angels be praised.

OOOOOOOO Squeeeee!!!! phone just rang – it was daughter Katie and she GOT THE JOB.  In three months benefits; in six months a raise – and the company discounts are great and she’s working 8:00 – 4:30 M-F.  I said, “Welcome to the working poor” and she said, “I don’t care, at least things are moving in the right direction. Big Ten Four to that.

I have learned three new chords and booked the CAN car Prius for a little tour

Tee hee.  Wish me luck on both; I am NOT enjoying Eb dim, and by the way Peggy that’s actually D dim, no matter WHAT your chords for “Absolutely Bonkers” say.  It just doesn’t sound right otherwise.
Now if I can just remember how to get into the car.

May a special spot in a government lineup be reserved for the guy who keeps smoking in his apartment without turning the fan on.  I keep telling him, and telling him.  But does he listen? What an ageist old sow I’m turning out to be.  God knows – and to the eternal disgust of my non smoking friends and family – I enjoy the occasional foray into tobaccoland, but I really try to take other people’s feelings into more consideration.

Ferries break down.

I think it’s wonderful that BC Ferries decided to take the Queen of Alberni out of service on the third busiest long weekend of the year.  I mean, it was wonderful that I wasn’t there in the line up.

Also, I think it’s wonderful that the rain held off until this morning.  That hardly ever happens, especially on a long weekend.

I am working on Tom’s resume.  Man, you’ve done a LOT of WORK in your life.  Just doing the functional summary is breaking my brain.

More on Pride

Met up with Al Sather, the minister’s husband, on Robson, more or less by accident, after Patricia said farewell (she went to the beach to do yoga, healthy chica that she is). We sat in the wrong spot for a while and then joined with the rest of the U*U’s. Peggy and I and some other woman – me and my distinctly dopey inability to get names at appropriate junctures – carried the Beacon banner. Then the Parade was so late getting going that Al had to jam to go pick up Katie Sather from the airport, as she was returning from being with her father at the close of his life. I light a candle for Katie and her family.

There was a large, active and CELEBRATORY bunch of U*U youth there, who kept up the energy level in the mindblowing heat. Fortunately the breeze kept up for most of the parade. Katie K, who went through at float 28 (we were back at 128) was done by one, but I didn’t get to sit down and relieve me feet (among other portions of my anatomy) until 2:52. Continue reading More on Pride

Lady Miss Banjola is a hurtin’ unit

She broke some bones coming off Jake (her scooter) but is expected to make a full recovery.  Dr Filk has flown to her side to render aid and comfort to the stricken. And make sure she takes her irony supplements – without which, life is completely meaningless, hein?
I am at Planet Bachelor (Paul and Keith’s new digs) for supper, having trundled Keith’s B-day prezzies over here, and we are anxiously awaiting Miss Katie, who’s off work now.

I am still in a very thoughtful mood.  Watching the sun go down yesterday felt really good, and I, like a fool, have commenced the deep thinking that accompanies the start of a new, long poem.

There’s Katie, gotta run.