The Days of the Jeep...

... may be drawing to a close.

On the heels of the battery trouble I noticed a new problem. I jumped in her today to go check on my wife and noticed that I had no gas. That isn't normally a problem except that she had a 1/2 tank just the other day. When I drove back into the driveway and into the garage I hopped out and looked under it. Shit. Gasoline was just pouring onto the ground.

It may be something easy to fix. But it's not getting fixed now. And if she keeps this up, she's going to get the boot.

Life After Michael

Michael Jackson is in the ground. His memorial was yesterday. I did not watch it, but it was only because I was not in a room with a television. It was covered by every network. Seriously? When was the last time that happened? The State of the Union doesn't get full coverage like that. Fox doesn't carry the president's speeches. It leaves those to the big three networks. So what gets that kind of attention? The only thing I can think of is when two little planes rammed into our beloved trade center. And is this really impacting us like that? I mean, seriously... let's not be ignorant (vague South Park joke there) :)

Jooj pointed out that at 12:34PM today it was 123456789...

12:34:56 on 7/8/9

The Kings Island Trip

The kids and my cousin Matt went to Kings Island on Thursday. Wow! It was a blast. We had so much fun. We arrived at the park right at opening and left around 9PM. Here is a rundown of the trip...

Started the day with The Beast
Vortex
Flight of Fear (better than I remembered but kinda lame)
Zephyr (ya know, the swings? So relaxing... love that ride)
Subway ($35 for subs? Ouch!)
Firehawk (WOW!!! Maybe my new favorite!)
Racer (no more backwards Racer??? Lame!)
Adventure Express (lame)
Viking Ship (it was pretty weak... the smaller one at Kentucky Kingdom goes higher)
Invertigo (fun but short)
Flight Deck (formerly Top Gun)
We stopped and had some Dippin' Dots... yummy!
Diamondback (the new coaster... this thing is bad ass!!!)
Hand Dryers (we all went to the bathrooms and the hand dryers in the bathroom were just utterly amazing... you put your whole hand in them and they were dry in a matter of seconds)
The Crypt (Will didn't know what the ride was [none of us did] and he did not like the idea of riding some unknown ride... he freaked a little but it turned out to be a weak ride)
Train Horn (as we left The Crypt we turned a corner and the park train blew its horn... Will jumped high off the ground and suffered his biggest shock of the day... hilarity!)
Vortex
La Rosa's Pizza in front of the fountains
Ended the day with The Beast

Firehawk and Diamondback are two contenders for my favorite right under The Beast. Some of the rides suffered from having the brakes applied a little too much (Vortex and Viking Ship!!!). We didn't have the group's Go to ride Drop Zone or the evil-looking Delirium. Maybe next time ('cause there will certainly be one)...

"Honey, I never drive faster than I can see. Besides that, it's all in the reflexes."

I just dropped a can of Coke. I get on Will about that all of the time. He drops things like it's his job. I don't. But I guess we all have a case of the dropsies from time to time. And, ya know, as I kid, I think I had some grip lapses myself. But I am getting off subject...

I just dropped a can of Coke. It dropped, bounced off my office leather chair, and I caught it in mid-air. Sure, some Coke spilled. A few drips on the desk. Drips on the mouse pad. Drips on the plastic mat. Drips on me. But it could have been a lot worse. It could have been disaster.

But it wasn't because I caught my Coke on the bounce. I feel like Jack Burton in Big Trouble in Little China (hence the quote) after he snatches the bottle that Wang shot his way after his failed attempt to slice it in half. Yeah...

The last day of June

Well, here we are at the last day of June. It's been a fun month. Had my birfday. Skated the new ramp in Jeffersonville, the Barnacle. Had a slew of celebrities bite the dust - Bill, Ed, Farrah, Mike, and Bill. Got good news. Got bad news. Dealt with some surgery. Things in space were going on. Things in the garden were going on. Things in life kept trucking.

It was a good month. And it seemed fairly busy as far as I remember. Do they always seem so busy? Maybe they do.

July, here we come...

Singapore Street Noodles

We're going to PFChang's tonight to celebrate my birfday. And I just thought I'd take a moment to point out how much I love their menu item Singapore Street Noodles. It's just a lovely combination of rice noodles, veggies, chicken, spicy, shrimp, and yummy. I am very much looking forward to it.

On a completely unrelated note, I closed the door to the old office for the last time today. I had been asked to go over to the office to clean up. I suppose the cleaning crew was going to clean if it was cleaned out by me first. That would alleviate the need for a maid service. So I agreed. I threw away a good ten pounds in cables and cords. I turned off the lights, locked the door, and considered it the last time I would be there.

What a(n) __________ day!

"happy" - It was my birfday today! Thirty-five. Yippee!

"stoked" - I skated up a storm this morning. And Nikoli gave me a new pair of knee pads. I even found a new leg of a run that I have found and am excited about trying it out next time. I was going so fast :)

"unfortunate" - The USA played in the finals of the Confederation Cup against Brazil this afternoon in South Africa. They were up 2-0 at the half. They lost 3-2 :(

"weird" - The pharmacist today said that she had a son and his middle name was Brinley. I asked if it was a family name. She said that her husand's mother's maiden name was Brinley. To which I replied that we must be related. Later in the day, while driving waaaay out in the middle of nowhere, we passed a small business called Brinley Financial Services. How odd?!?

"deadly" - Billy Mays dead? Are you serious? Ed, Farrah, Michael... and now Billy? And it is weird how he went. Something struck him in the head, supposedly, after a hard landing in an aircraft. He went home and was later found dead. And what about those assholes as the FAA? When asked about the situation they commented that it is the passenger's responsibility to wear a seat belt. Seriously? I suppose that is what the poor folks aboard that Air France flight failed to do too, huh? Unbelievable!