Skipped a day, No Country, Was it a Mexican???

Yesterday I was at the county tax certificate sale.  It is being held at a new location this year in the school administration building.  This building was constructed several years ago and has been nicknamed “The Taj Mahal”.  This sarcastic name is due to the extravagance of the facility.  Much of the local citizens scoff at the building as a testament to reckless, senseless spending that the school district has become famous for.  Well after stepping foot inside I can attest to it’s title.

Everything was spotless.  When I stepped into the conference room it felt like I was instead walking into the U.N.  Wow education evidently is big business.  I couldn’t believe how nice it all was. 

The tax sale is an annual event our office holds to sell certificates to unpaid taxes.  People that bid on these certificates stand to make as much as 18% on their money.  It was interesting to be there for the first couple hours or so, after that it became pretty much of a drag.  The sale goes on for four more days yet, thank goodness I am back at the office now.

So on Tuesday I got a call from Ali, she uttered the words you never want to hear “I was in an accident…”  she quickly clarified to say it wasn’t serious but someone bumped into her from behind while she was stopped at an intersection.  Instead of my first question being “Are you all right?” (which I later apologized for), my first words were “Was it a f’ing Mexican??!!”  It was a reflex reaction based on my getting rear ended twice already at intersections by mexicans since we moved to Florida.  If it was a mexican it opens up all sorts of additional complications since most of them don’t have insurance and you may as well flip a coin if they have a valid driver’s license or not.  Well it wasn’t a Mexican that hit her, it was a middle aged woman.  Her explanation was she was on her cell phone, not paying attention, saw the left turn green arrow flash up, and inadvertently interpreted that as a green to go ahead.  By the time she realized her f up she had already bumped into Ali.

Well I was pissed of course.  The roads down here are filled with so many bad drivers ranging from illegal aliens driving rolling piles of junk that can’t see over the wheel , old people that can hardly see the road, to the idiots that have a cell phone permanently super glued to their heads.  The woman felt bad about the accident that was 100% her fault.  Ali asked me what sort of info she should get.  I told her to get everything she could, including the woman’s license plate and driver license number.  When Ali got home that night I inspected the damage.  There was some white residue on the bumper that seems to wipe off as well as several small chips in the paint on the bumper from where the woman’s front license plate bracket hit our bumper. 

It’s not horrible but I still would like to get it fixed if the woman’s insurance company is cooperative.  If I would be forced to go through our insurance it wouldn’t be worth the time since the repair would probably be less than what our deductible is.  Whatever the outcome is, it will likely require dealing with more annoying shit.   I can hardly wait.

Tuesday night I sat down and watched No Country for Old Men.  It was another one of those films that Ali didn’t want to watch.  After viewing it I agreed that she probably wouldn’t have liked it due to some of the violence to animals and tons of violence to human beings that is throughout the movie.  It’s too bad though, if she could get by that she would have seen what was a very compelling flick.  The film is something you don’t see much of anymore, something that relies on great acting and plot to entertain the viewer instead of using CGI effects and explosions. 

The lead bad guy in this film is one of the creepiest bad guys I EVER have seen in a movie.  You have to see it to believe just how dark this character is.  It has some name actors in it, including Tommy Lee Jones and Woody Harrelson.  The film is not predictable at all, I enjoyed every minute of it. 

Ali came home as I was watching the last half hour or so.  She tried to engage me in some conversation as I was watching it but she quickly realized I wasn’t interested in talking, I was that into the film.  I see why it was up for Academy Awards.  It paints a pretty gloomy picture of the world which sadly seems to be pretty accurate.  As long as you are ok with with seeing lots of people bite the dust, I would highly recommend the flick.  It gets an A at least, maybe deserving of A+. 

I have been so tired the last few days.  I have been asleep by 10pm the last couple nights but still find myself drop dead beat by the time I get home from work.  It sucks.  My latest after work productivity project involves converting a spare brush deck I have for my 535 Roomba to use ball bearings to seal off the gear case to prevent hair from getting into the gear box and wrecking the gears.  It’s a  bit of a tedious process that requires some precise shaving and sanding of a couple surfaces to accommodate the bearings.  It’s a spare deck so if I f it up it isn’t a huge deal.