Cause it's creepy

Do you want to know what's always fun?

Looking up and seeing a spider somewhere. Right now there is one on my cubicle wall. It is about 2 feet from me.

What's interesting is the gut reaction you have is always the same. It doesn't matter the size of the spider nor the distance. It also doesn't matter if it is on television or behind a sheet of glass at the zoo. It's a spider.

Spiders eat lesser desired insects, so they can be handy to have around.

But, I'm going to squish this one anyway. Cause it's creepy.

3 Hours and a Piece of Paper

In a followup to my previous post, I was at the Firestone Tire and Service Center near Gallaher View on Saturday. I was trying to get that tire fixed that was punctured earlier in the week. I took my notebook to do a little writing. By little, I mean I had a single thought I wanted to get down. So while waiting on 4 new tires to get placed on my car, I had time to write. I had 3 hours to write. Filling out that thought didn't take that long. I had some mind-numbing 2.5+ hours. I tried to think of more to write, but I couldn't. A man and his son came in and sat next to me. They walked across Kingston Pike to buy some items. The boy had these rubber bands in the shape of dinosaurs. He kept stretching it and they would snap back into the dinosaur shape.

"Is this one a T-Rex," he asked
"Oh, I don't know what this one is, maybe," said the dad.

Actually it was a Sauropod. Geekdom begins with dinosaurs.

They left after a few minutes. So I had more mind-numbing time to myself.

My brain cells were dying, I could feel it. My patience empty, I went to the desk. "Oh it's only going to be a few more minutes to get the
alignment checked."

"Aiiiee!" Some brain cells comitted Hari-Kari.

Finally after 3 hours of being there, I'm headed home. I get home and am so relieved to see my family. There's a message on our answering machine.
It is from today. "Hello, this is Rick McGill's Airport Toyota Customer Service with a follow up call."

Thank you Rick McGill's Airport Toyota Customer Service.

No, I'm not happy.

Monday, I took my car to Rick McGill's Airport Toyota to get the oil changed. I set up the appointment last week. We needed to get it done and they seem to do a good job of it there. So after the oil change, they show me a list of problems that my car has and needs fixed. I'ts nearly $600 for the work. What amazes me is when you tell a mechanic you don't have that money right now. It's like they are genuinely shocked that you don't have that type of cash in your pocket.

If I was a car mechanic and charged people 600 bucks for about 6 hours of work, then I might be able to afford it.

Anyway, I go home and I'm late from the oil change in seeing my son. That is what I consider to be the worse part of all this, but the timing couldn't be helped. We had to get it done sometime.

Tuesday morning, I get up and get ready for work. I get in my car and start to drive away and the car is sluggish. I get out and see I have a flat tire on the rear-driver side. So I back the car up. Go inside and tell Wendy. She tells me to take her car to work so I won't be too late. I went to work. I waited until around 0900 and called the service department at Airport Toyota. I spoke with Paul, the guy I spoke with at the Service Department the night before and told him what had happened. I told him I thought that the flat came from there. He says, "Well we don't use nails, or screws or anything like that in the work area that could puncture a tire." So now I'm really not happy.

I get home Tuesday and start changing the tire. Tuesday evening I have a freezing drizzling rain falling on me. While I was working on just breaking the nuts loose I kept thinking, "My next car will be a Honda." I had to change a tire on my Pontiac once. The nuts were difficult to loosen, but not like this. Some parts of my Pontiac came off on their own, so getting the nuts off shouldn't be a great feat. Back to my Toyota, I had to stand on the tire iron and do little bounces so I wouldn't fall off and hurt myself. I finally get the tire changed. I go inside and wash up. I get to play with Noah for a little while and give him his bath. We gave thanks to God that this happened at our apartment and not on the Highway somewhere. After putting Noah to sleep, I was smiling again.

Wednesday morning, I get up at 0530. I have a Publish today and I need to get to work. While here, I got a phone call from Rick McGill's Airport Toyota. It's their follow-up call on my service experience. She asks me how did the service go. I told her the service part was just fine. The Oil Change part went well. I then tell her about what happened afterward. I told her about my conversation with Paul. She then tells me about her getting a flat at a gas station. When she finished this is what was said.

"In answer to your question, no, I'm not happy. I have a flat tire and I think your service department caused it."
Then she told me "Well I hope you have a nice day."

Thank you Rick McGill's Airport Toyota Customer Service.

For the moment, it is just us.

I had a lot to do this weekend. It’s hard having an awesome family. It’s hard because I want to stay with them all the time. Wendy had a birthday recently. We missed seeing her dad. So we went to look at a house and out to dinner Sunday Night. This took several hours. It’s a long drive out and back, then we have dinner at Texas Roadhouse. I’m worried about our son. We’ll be at the restaurant at the time we need to start his bath routine. He’s almost 10 months old. We don’t go out much. We like to spend time with each other as much as possible. Noah doesn’t see many other people. He’s cranky on the way to the restaurant. Wendy is sitting in the back seat feeding him Cheerios and AppleJuice. She’s also entertaining him as much as she can without feeding him his solids.

We get to the restaurant and is typical for Texas Roadhouse it is loud in there. Noah doesn’t like loud noises. There’s also a birthday party going on right next to our table. Noah burst out crying when being put in the High Chair. There are other infants right behind him. We get his food heated up by a kind waitress (A big thanks to servers out there that help with kids). After his meal, Noah was in a much better mood. He was very patient. Chattering and flirting with girls. He’s checking out the Infants behind him. The servers come over and give the Texas Roadhouse shout out to the people next to us. Hunter was his name. I thought he was so loud it would make Noah cry. Noah never did.

We make it through dinner. As I said before Charlie is great. His wife Joyce is great too. We kid each other some but I genuinely like them.

Kids do surprise you. Noah surprised me in a new way. We were looking at each and he just stopped playing around. My son and I are looking at each other and smiling. The restaurant and noise faded away and all the worries I had were gone. For that moment we were the only ones there.

The Bright Side of a Black Hole

On Sunday, Wendy and I went to look at a house we were considering buying. Wendy's Father came along. Charlie is certainly unique. I don't think I've met someone that is more kind or positive. You know how some men have trouble meeting their girlfriends father. I didn't have that with him. I don't think I was ever more relaxed or welcome than when we first met. He is also charismatic and downright likeable. Has an infectious way of talking about things with a genuine interest that causes you to listen. While looking at this house this weekend I had this thought:

Charlie could see the bright side of a black hole.

I'm not saying the house is a black hole. I'm saying Charlie could find something positive in any situation and while talking about it, can convince you that what he sees is true.

"Well what you got here is a pretty good sized black hole. You put a star near it and I bet you can get a great light show for the Event Horizon. It's in a good location too. I mean you can't move it or anything, but it's not a bad location. As long as you stay away, you'll be ok. Otherwise, it'll be *piff* and you don't want that. Don't try to be above or below it either. These things spit out X Ray's like you wouldn't believe. Yea, this is all great. You need to throw something away, you have the perfect disposal. And if you need X Ray's you got an unlimited supply."

See, Black Holes aren't all that bad.

Here's to you Charlie. I wish I had this view of things.