New year, old things
My extended New Year’s holiday went well I would say. Ali’s parents have been down for over a week so a lot of that time was spent doing stuff with them. After work on Friday we ran home, dropped off the dog, and then went right back out to meet them at Watermark for dinner. When we got there, there was a formidable crowd forming and we didn’t see Ali’s parents so we took a buzzer and sat down at the bar and ordered drinks. Shortly after we got them, Ali’s phone rang, it was her parents. They were already sitting down. Haha, they got there 20 minutes earlier than us so they put our names in already, good timing. I had the chicken stir fry. I deemed it a healthy choice but by the end of it I wished I ordered something else. It was good and everything but it basically was very similar to the South Beach Diet frozen meals I eat most nights of the week. After dinner we stopped back briefly at the condo where they are staying to see it.
On Saturday I tried to do the majority of the chores I had planned. Ali went into work for a few hours to try to get more on top of things. I debated if I wanted to take down all the lights, tree and decorations over my four day holiday but decided to leave the stuff up for one more week. Saturday night we had more plans with Ali’s parents, this time going to the Naples dinner theater to see a show called “Sugar”. The food was good and all in all we only moderately gorged ourselves on it. The show was surprisingly good as well. It had a Bosom Buddies type element to it and I found myself laughing quite often. The only complaint I had were the damn chairs. They are just not meant to have a human beings ass sitting in them for the better part of 5 hours. They are very uncomfortable and for at least two thirds of the show I was constantly adjusting to move pressure points around, I was really uncomfortable. I remember having the same issue the last time I was there. It was a late night and we didn’t get to bed till damn close to midnight.
New Year’s eve we originally had plans to go on a murder mystery train in Fort Myers but Ali’s mom wasn’t into staying up that late. It was no skin off my back because the tickets were a ridiculous 125 a head anyway. We didn’t need to burn more cash. During the day, Ali, my mom and her mom went shopping while I sat home and geeked out for the majority of the day. Her dad was driving around Fort Myers in the afternoon. Then everyone except my mom came back to our house for pizza and to watch the Eagles play.
Ali’s mom really like watching the Eagles play even though she doesn’t really understand much at all about football. The game was entertaining to watch. The pressure was off as the Cowboys blew a game to the stinky Lions earlier, locking up the division title for the Eagles. As a result, Andy Reid sat the majority of his starters. Even with doing so they STILL beat the Falcons. It was an entertaining game. Man, things are just going too damn well for the Birds. I can only hope the roll continues this week against the Giants.
Well Ali’s parents weren’t into staying at our place to watch the ball drop, they pulled out around 8’ish. Ali and I were both exhausted from staying up late the night before but we managed to stay up to watch the ball drop. I was motivated to see how Dick Clark was this year after seeing his very sad showing last year after his stroke. I was even sadder to see that he really was no different this year. He just can’t talk anymore and sounds borderline retarded. I understand that it is all because of his stroke and he is trying to prove something by continuing to do the New Years broadcast. Personally I just wish he would bow out. Dick Clark made his mark as being a dynamic and energetic speaker over the last 40 years or so. To see him in his present state is just very depressing. He should gracefully exit. It sucks to see him like that.
New years day was pretty laid back. After Ali got up we went to the track to do a quick 1.5 mile run. Running on the track outdoors with wind is much more difficult than putting in time on the treadmill. The run went well and according to the gps we did like a 9:39 pace, not bad. My knee felt a little tender yesterday but feels fine today. I would like to get my wind up so we can do the Tour de Cape 5k in two weekends but I’m not sure if that will fly or not.
I got a surprise call from the people that called me last week about the van. Evidently even though I cancelled the ad weeks ago, it still is showing up online, oh well. Well anyway, these people were in the area so they asked if they could swing by to see it. They were very nice. The guy was thorough, going over the party van with a fine tooth comb. A little extreme for a vehicle that costs less than the downpayment a lot of people make on cars today. I made no attempts to sugar coat things. I told them what I had fixed on it, any warts I knew of and welcomed them to drive it, which they did. When he came back he had some minor complaints but seemed to be more or less pleased with it. Well then the wife notices some fluid on the driveway. Closer inspection revealed it was red. They guy peeked under and I joined him. It looked like the fluid was coming from the steering box that was replaced twice in the span of a month. I told the guy that it was replaced and I would certainly take it back to be fixed before selling it. Well I think that fluid was enough to turn the tide. He said it seemed like it was priced right and was nicer than others they had looked at but he said he would call me back if he wanted to pursue it further, which translated, probably means “Thank, but no thanks” Oh well, regardless, I have an appointment to take it to the garage Friday to have the leak addressed. There must be a bad batch of steering boxes out there.
Later on New Years the whole gang met up at my mom’s for New Years day dinner. Mom did the conventional pork and sauerkraut thing with some soy braut for Ali. Mom’s place is small and it was surprising the 5 of us could fit around the table. There was just enough room for the plates and silverware, most of the food was stationed on a nearby bakers rack. It was a good meal. Mom doesn’t have a dishwasher which would equate to a real pain in the ass cleanup in my eyes. However mom ripped through the dishes and had most of everything done before we left. We got back home and were exhausted from the 2 prior late nights. I still stayed up late working on a couple things I wanted to get out of the way so my Tuesday chores were lighter.
On Tuesday Ali had to work but she left Nicki home with me. I had a list of things to do, most of them involved running errands. I figured Nicki would enjoy the ride so I brought her along. It wasn’t hot out so she would be fine hanging in the truck for a little bit. First we stopped at the gas station. I needed to put air in my tires and I was lazy and didn’t feel like washing the truck by hand so I ran it through the carwash there. Nicki gets a bit freaked out by the sights and sounds of the carwash and she hid behind the seats on the floor. I didn’t realize that the station was a Mobil until we put the receipt into Quicken that night. Exxon/Mobil is on the top our hit list as far as gas stations to never patronize. They are as ungreen and greedy as you get in the oil business.
The next stop was the bank. I needed to do something very simple, exchange a twenty dollar bill for smaller denominations for Ali to send to her best friend’s daughter for her birthday. To go out and run my errands I simply threw on a baseball hat. As I was standing in line becoming mildly annoyed when I realized they have ONE teller working, handling both the counter and drive up, I saw a sign posted in front of each teller station that went something like this:
In order to better assist our customers and provide better security we ask that you remove the following items when entering the bank.
– sunglasses
– hoods
– hats
also please do not use cell phones.
I think I am missing one thing on the list, but of course my eyes focused in on hats since I was wearing one. I immediately got angry. How is this serving me better by the bank making the assumption that I am there to rob them, so I need to remove my hat so they get a clear mug shot?? Of course I immediately felt like my dad when he had his personal crusade against teller rope systems. He took offense to be routed like cattle and refused to frequent a bank that used them. Well anyway I am running scenarios through my head. Was the teller going to refuse to serve me until I removed my hat? I had the speech mostly written in my head that was I going to use if she had the guts to ask me to remove my hat. I finally got to the teller and all my angst was for nothing as she changed out my 20 and didn’t mention my hat. It’s still a really stupid policy. Next they will be telling you to turn your pant pockets inside out and stand in line with your hands over your head.
So I was off again. After a quick pit stop to drop off one of the live Christmas trees at my mom’s I stopped at the dealership to cancel my extended warranty. Again, I had some scenarios acted out internally where I would be interrogated about why I was cancelling and I would smugly reply that I never would have thought about until the dealership gave me a hard time about 76 bucks. I would tell them to thank Miguel for opening up the possibility to me. Instead, I found the woman I talked to last week about cancelling. She was a nice young girl who was very polite and professional. She asked why I was cancelling, I told her I could get it cheaper elsewhere and that was the end of it. She filled out the cancellation paperwork while we made small talk and efficiently handled everything. I was out of there and none of the original culprits were any wiser. I am looking forward to their commission checks getting adjusted. I also discovered today that I can actually wait a couple years until I even have to worry about picking up the exteded warranty. As long as I get it before the factory warranty expires, I am good to go. So it is a win/win/win all the way around for us, thanks Miguel!!!
After a brief stop at Sam’s we were back on the road to home. Once I was there I attended to the other things I wanted to get knocked out and then vegged most of the rest of the day playin wow. Happy 2007.