Thank God for weekends!

By this time of the week I'm usually dragging, and this week is no exception. Still, we're sticking to our plan of doing all our errands before the weekend so that we can do fun stuff on Saturday and Sunday, without worrying about chores hanging over us. Tonight was grocery shopping.

Tomorrow night is our evening out / date night. We've decided on Fireside Pies for dinner (upscale pizza, salad, and adult beverages), then a visit to our favorite bookstore, followed by checking out the happenings right here in our own neighborhood. The sights and sound here on Friday night are usually pretty interesting. *wink*

My treat to myself this Saturday is Coffee & Cars. (Anyone care to join me?) K isn't into any of my car stuff, so I'm on my own for the morning. With nice weather expected I'm looking for as many as 300 exceptionally fine automobiles to be there. I'll share my favorites with you via photos later.

Finally, Sunday: On-line church, the newspaper at Starbucks, and finally grilling steaks and NetFlix movie night. By then I should have my batteries recharged and ready for Monday.

If I can just make it until 5pm tomorrow..... *groan*

S

Plastic surgery gone wrong

Didn't I see this guy featured in a 60 Minutes expose of "plastic surgery gone wrong"? Looks like his collagen injections were done by a beauty school dropout.

Now I guess I'll be on Moammar Gadhafi's hit list, too. Last week I made a disparaging remark about Iran and today I saw that I've had a pageview from there. I must have triggered their secret police's ire. Ya think maybe I'd best scratch North Africa/the Mideast off my retirement travel itinerary?

S

Interesting observation

Well, it's interesting to me at least....

In my previous position I had to be at work very early, so I awakened...er...awoke...er...got up around 5 am, took the dog out for her dootie call, then got myself showered and dressed and off to work. Now that I'm back building custom homes, the same sequence of events starts around 6 am.

By 5:30 am+/- the few cars on the road are either, a: 10 year old wrecks usually hitting on less than their original number of cylinders, or b: the biggest, fanciest luxo-barges made. I'm guessing the former are the minimum wage workers going to work to mop the floors, stock the shelves, etc, before business opens for the day, and the latter are the workaholic top executives getting an early start on out-foxing the competition.

By 6:30 am+/- all the worker bees begin to clog the roads in their Honda's, Toyota's....what I'll call "middle class" cars.

I've found this to be a consistent pattern. Is it like this in your area?

S

Faded glory

Today on my way to visit one of my jobsites I took a road I hadn't been on before. Mainly I just wanted to know where it went. I do that now and then because....I dunno....I'm just weird. Anyway, I happened upon this old wreck rusting away in a field:

The hand-painted "5" on the side intrigued me. I wonder what the story behind the number was? I wonder how many races he won, if only in his dreams, in this fine machine? I wonder where he, or she, is today?

The Poli-Grip Panthers

Politics NOT as usual. That's what the 2012 elections are shaping up to be. Generally, this makes me very happy. I've even heard more than a little talk about hauling away all the lobbyists in chains, abolishing Political Action Committees (PACs), and...dare I say it out loud...putting term limits on Congress. Woo-hoo!

But...there's always a "but"...they're also talking about limiting/drastically reducing Medicare and Social Security. Hold on there, Kemo-sabe. "We the people" have had a contract (some would argue signed under duress) with the government for decades that said we pay now, we get benefits later. Now it's "later", and they're wanting to renege? Better think this one through, Beltway Boyz. All those rabble-rousers from the 60's just might become the new Poli-Grip Panthers.

The Feds don't want to pay me now that I'm on Social Security's doorstep? Fine. They can give me back ALL the money I've paid into those systems, plus market rate interest since I began working, and I'll call the contract off as if it never happened. Cut my SS 25%...then gimme back 25% of what I've paid in plus interest. Fair is fair, Uncle Sam. What's it gonna be?

S

You make do with what you have

Yesterday the weather was perfect....low 80's, sunny, a little breeze. This morning, not so perfect....40's and windy. Still, it's the weekend, so we'll make the best of it.

Last night K and I ventured out on to "Fun Street", the main drag that runs through our neighborhood. Although you can't really feel the vibe on the street from a photo, trust me, things were lively:

There were hundreds of people crawling all over the place, with long waits at most of the outdoor-seating cafes. I even saw numerous hotel mini-busses bringing their guests to our neighborhood for an evening of fun and revelry. It can get pricey, so we usually eat at home before we venture out. We sat outside Ginger Man and had a cold beverage, then the cool front came through, the wind direction changed, and we ducked inside for the rest of the evening. Unfortunately the front brought with it even MORE pollen. Ah-choo! My sinuses are so swollen I swear there are bags under the bags under my eyes.

This evening we've invited my friend Neil over for dinner. Now that I've discovered how nice our outdoor grill setup is here in our common courtyard, I'm itching to grill some cow. Not having my own grill has been one of the most difficult things to get used to since we moved into our comfy little apartment. The menu: New York strip steak and baked potato. (Notice the lack of green vegetables? That's because I planned the menu. *wink*)

Hope y'all have a fun day planned.

S

And you thought you were having a bad day?

Au contraire. You could be CAR magazine writer Jethro Bovingdon who was invited to drive the not-yet-released Ferrari FF. I'm sure he thought he was so cool, one of a select handful of auto writers who were allowed such an honor. So what does he do? He goes out and wrecks it. Watch this.

OK, it was just a wheel he tore up, but a Ferrari wheel probably cost more than my entire car. Ouch!

S