Worst. Weekend. Ever.

I don't want to use this space to write out bitching sessions, but the events that came to pass this weekend have to be recorded so that I can look back on them later and laugh. Probably after I get this month's credit card bill paid at the earliest. Last weekend started off well enough with a happy hour Friday night with some coworkers and hanging out with some people I haven't seen in quite some time.

I went to an event Saturday night north of downtown St. Paul to take pictures for campaign literature. I asked to borrow my moms car as my Saturn was not running so well and I knew wouldn't make it. Drive to the event, do my thing and head out to leave. I stick the key in the ignition and it wouldn't turn. I realised I had stuck the key to my Saturn into the Mazda ignition. An hour later and the key still hadn't come out. It was well stuck in there.

So... WTF?! I get picked up and head to dinner to think about what we can do and to make arrangements to get this situation sorted (wrong key stuck in ignition, gear shift locked in park, steering column locked) so my mom has a car to drive come Monday morning. I google and find a board with someone asking about what to do when his wife stuck her Saturn car key into his Mazda tribute (ding ding ding!!!). Of course, there was no reply and the Internets didn't turn up much else.

My mom and I went back Sunday morning with tools and a few ideas (and a AAA card) to try getting this key out. I used some pliers, a screwdriver, pulled some fuses, disconnected the battery. Nothing worked. A couple hours later we were heading home in a borrowed car while the Mazda was being towed to a dealer in White Bear Lake. Forgot to mention - the AAA tow truck driver snapped my only key off in the ignition, so now my car sits locked on the street at my mom's house with snow in the forecast. Dealers of course aren't open Sunday. I continue borrowing this car while the car's owner carpools. I stay at my moms, get up early to drive her to work, then drive myself to work (for the first time I have worked at HGA this go-round!). Work, pick my mom up, drive to WBL, where the Mazda remains in disrepair, acquire a loaner, drive back to Bloominghood, get clothes, supplies and bicycle and go to lovely girlfriend's apartment in mpls so we can both get to work in the morning.

Today, the correct parts arrive at the dealer and hundreds of dollars later it's fixed. Well goody, the Saturn is still immobile. I get a lift in the newly repaired car to the Saturn dealer, title in hand, and have keys cut from the VIN. $15. That is about the only good thing that has come out of this weekend! I think (pray, hope) this chapter has closed.

But let's go back to before the beginning. Saturday afternoon. The Saturn was still sitting at the train station from the previous day. I had a flat front tire on my bike so walked to the bike store, bought a few spare tubes for my bikes and fixed my flat. I ride to the station to get my bike when I notice I have another flat tire. Shove bike in the car, drive home, inspect wheel, discover piece of glass on the inside of bike tire. Damnit! No time to re-do the flat as I have to go render two cars useless by sticking the wrong key in the ignition!

Fast forward through the bullshit to Sunday where I have to take care of the domestics and have a bit of time to kill (waiting for laundry, etc.) so I work on the flat front tire. Swapped tubes, started pumping, pump, pump.... BOOM! goes the tube. Sigh. 3 flats and 2 useless cars in a matter of days.

Everything I touched I destroyed. Had I known this about myself I could have had a key position in the Bush administration.

Back At It

I have the internets once again and am slowly writing up some posts on energy. Thought I'd have a bit of time to write at work but it has become a slog that I no longer care for. From the time I started this job I would have to step out and look at the big picture of what I did/do, laugh about it and then go back to it, focusing more on the noise (I have a feeling that is what Metal sounds like to most people) emanating from my headphones more than anything else to simply retain my sanity. I felt way more stressed at work starting about mid-January than at any other time and its beginning to wear on me. This all means much less time for reading The Oil Drum and thinking about energy and economic issues. In summary, hey - someone else that hates their job... big woop.

In other news, my room is blue! There is no other activity that makes me more OCD and anal than painting - and I don't know why. It is finished and looks damn good IMHO though so I leave it at that. The house is still a bit of a mess - our lounge is more a storage space than anything else, and most rooms remain unfinished (read: need paint). But it is well livable and I look forward to the others moving in.

Time Flies

In addition to being a sweet hardcore band on Indecision Records in SoCal, this is pretty much what has happened over the last year. The last time I experienced an October 24th was in 2005. Last years was gobbled up by the flying spaghetti monster who lives at the International Date Line. A year ago yesterday I was on my way to Australia for my second working holiday and just the same as London, a year later seems only a few weeks later. I can constantly remind myself with memories, products (ginger beer!) and photos from this era, as well as getting ready for Pat to come visit soon enough. And facebook, sweet sweet facebook.

A time to catch up. The first weekend in October is Marathon time for the Twin Cities. I ran the TCM for the first time and had an absolute blast. While not being able to sleep in on a Saturday isn't the best way to start a weekend, all was made well while 7 thousand people ran screaming underneath the Gov't Center building in downtown Minneapolis. I saw my family and friends, live bands and spectacular views of the TC. I had trained all summer (and had been running in London and Sydney) for this. I finished! That was the utmost goal. And with a time of 5h20m. I thought I would do a bit better, but given the conditions of that day, I am more than happy. Upper 80s and 88% humidity. It seems that everything that could go wrong during the race did, and a lot of it happened for the first time: the top of my left foot hurt like hell, I developed massive blisters on the balls of my feet at my 13, I cramped up at mile 16 and walked almost the entire length of miles 17-25. Once I hit that last leg down John Ireland Blvd. I had the biggest, goofiest smile on my face and could not have been happier.

The next weekend took us down to Rochester, MN to visit a friend. What can I say about this? We watched MTV and went home. Gossip Girl! Like OMG LoLeRz! OK, there was surely more than just that. Hit up some bars, went out, played soccer, talked sports, politics, people, etc. I had the opportunity to get pregnant. I think it happened at the Aquarius when I was dancing on one of those elevated platforms above the dance floor with some girl. Pure sleeze fest... but fun! One other interesting anecdote: my very own automobile made it there and back without breaking down! I'm beginning to even out the number of times broken down outside the city vs. made it back in one piece.

Last weekend saw me at the other end of the state: Jay Cooke State Park. Went camping with some friends and had a weekend of high fives, beer drinking, hiking, sleeping on the ground, camp fires and trail mix. We had been intending to go all summer but never made it. An open weekend for all of us came up and away we went. I've recently read in the paper that the Superior National Trail is nearing full completion of its 239 (?) miles. After walking the Overland Track, walking from (basically) Duluth to the Canadian border has its appeal. As does the Appalachian Trail. (And many, many walks in Aotearoa =))

One of the bits about the post summer/fall season is league ultimate. I play on a fantastic team I wish I could take with me wherever I went. For three years it has been awesome watching us grow from a mostly inexperienced group of people struggling to even have a full line in bottom brackets to an athletic and focused team. While we have less than a winning record (3-4) we have played like a team 7-0, competing against the top flight teams this year. There have been weeks where all I wanted to do was make it to Sunday and play, then spend the rest of the week going over that weeks game and thinking about the next. Frisbee-centric? Maybe.

Now my options grow rather than shrink. As previously blogged a few months back I was thinking NYC or NZ as the next move. Perhaps I will stay around in the TC? Maybe start planning those walks mentioned above (they have been in the back of my head for years now). Perhaps back to Australia with the new Visa laws in effect? What an amazing quality of life there. (Never mind the increased coal and uranium mining, wheat harvest shortfalls, petrol shortages in Victoria, severe drought, water shortages for 98% of the people, etc.) Vancouver? Somehow back to London? We recently took Myers-Briggs tests for work, and while not having changed personality preferences since the last time I took the test (college), one particular pitfall/weakness caught my eye. It basically said something that I fail to "close the book" on my decision making process. I keep things open too long as I gather data to make decisions on plans of action, and therefore may pass up potential opportunities. I am also poor at setting goals and at making plans of action to achieve a goal I do happen to set. I read that and think it is spot on in all aspects: work, life, relationships (girlfriend(s)!). So there is a goal. Figure shit out! But do I really have to? I've got it pretty cushy (though not ideal in terms of my beliefs) at the mo. Aside from the lack of health insurance.

Did not expect to ramble on this far, so good for me! I do eventually intend to get around to following up on some of the other items from below. Soon!