Drag Strip Report

I showed up at work Monday and noticed that I forgot to scrape the numbers off the left quarter glass of the Mark 8. Whups. Oh well, between the numbers and the corresponding ass-chewin'-from-Mom, the whole thing kinda made me feel like a kid again.

My Mom asks if "that's what happened to the transmission in the SHO." No, it's not. Three or four trips down the dragstrip in 1997 is most likely not the reason it has a little slip in second gear eleven years later.

The ol' $300 Lincoln wasn't quite as quick in the quarter as I'd expected; I figured that if the SHO brought home a best time of 15.02, the Mark 8 would at least do that or better, even if I was just guessin' by the feel of 'em in highway traffic. I was wrong by at least a second, but it was still pretty cool to get back out there and make a few passes. I don't think it was faster than anything out there, but I can guarantee ya it was the cheapest thing in the bunch, and hey, that's still sayin' somethin'.

We had a great time at The Duck Drags, and I can't wait to do it again! Maybe next time I'll rent something... Heh heh...

Tired and a teensy bit sunburned in the spots that I missed with the spray-screen, I went up to the wall to shoot just a little more video as the afternoon was winding down.

I was tired, so seriously tired, but when these guys pulled up there and hit the water for a big ol' simultaneous burn-out, I forgot all about my tired achy feet:



It was more than sight, more than sound, like a tingly hum that started at my collarbones and went clear through me; I was standin' there tryin' to hold the camera still but it felt like my whole body was trying to decide between jumping, falling over, or trying to find something that would vibrate just a little longer. It was incredible, and I'm still struggling with finding words to describe it. It was a bit like the first time I started my first Outlaw Stock, which was just amazing -- and it totally surprised me, which was pretty cool 'cause it's been a while since I'd had that feeling.

Usually wordy, I still occasionally find myself at a loss for words...

The pictures that Clay and I took (and a video of my first pass of the day) are on my Flickr.

More Later. _\,,/

Disjointed and Melty...

Last night at Ladies Group, the newest Melissa (who's now one of three) told us that in highschool, she was known as "Mel T' because she was one of several "Mel"s there too.

I smiled 'cause I've had several of my "Melty" feelin' moments over the last few days, and I don't think it's just 'cause it's burnin' hot around here. They're up, they're down, good, or bad, it's good to feel the power of it all, and it makes me thankful for every bit of it.

I only missed a couple Wednesday nights, but being back last night made me realize just how much I missed my group -- I've laughed and cried and cried and laughed... It's always a nice time, it's great to be amongst "my people."

Clay and I are celebrating three years, it's "Anniversary Week." When he sent that e-mail on Tuesday, I got all melty inside. It was a feeling that went clear through me and I'm not entirely sure how to put it into words.

I was standin' here this morning waiting for the webcam auction to start and My Mom walked up behind me and started playin' with my hair. I have no idea why, but that just doesn't happen very often -- and it was nice, really nice. I haven't told her about how I felt like I had that huge relief-related growth spurt right after she got the all-clear from her oncologist, but I'm sure we'll get around to chattin' about it sometime soon.

I know it's a short post, but it's much nicer than groanin' and bitchin'...

More Later. _\,,/

Actual Phone Call...

A phone rings, I answer, the caller asks for a crankshaft sensor for an Oldsmobile Alero.

I tell him we deal with Ford/Lincoln/Mercury and we've never had any Aleros around here.

He says "Oh, so you only handle Ford Lincoln Mercury, Oooohhhh, okay..." There's a very slight pause, and then he says, "Do you have a hood for a 99 Dodge Durango?"

Now I'm the one who's puzzled. "No, we handle Ford parts." Maybe I should've said it slower.

I'm betting he's the same guy who waited in line in front of The Apple Store for two hours holding that broken agitator out of his washing machine and wondering why everybody around there was lookin' at him funny.

Who Says?

The magical world of Computer Science has been a bit disappointing in the Salvage Biz lately... I realize I can't speak for all yards, but around here, we're wondering about that decision we made after the lightning wrecked our old Linux machine. As handy as it is to have all three machines running Windows and fully (or almost fully) networked with internet access and everything, sometimes I wonder if we'd be better off with the ol' inventory-only-and-nothing-else setup that we used to use around here.

With Windows, the daily back-up's are easier, and CDRW's are much easier to come by than the ol' "SuperDisks" or the even-more-obsolete five-inch floppies, but now that we're fully connected to the publishing company via the internet, our inventory, good, bad, and/or ugly is out there for the whole internet readership to see.

That might not be such a problem for some yards, but our inventory was a bit of a mess before the lightning bricked the Linux machine -- the two-day-long conversion process to make those files available to the new Windows system boogered it up even more, and there's just no easy way to go through and check all those numbers. We've been stumbling onto Ford part numbers with Toyota names hung on 'em, and other numbers that just seem to have come out of nowhere.

Now for the fun part... Those people who seem to want to call and talk to me like I'm the stupidest person they've ever dialed up are saying things like "Well, the internet says you have this..."

Just in case you weren't around for "Car Chat" on AOL way-back-in-the-day, here's some news for ya: The Internet can say anything, anybody can type anything that may or may not be true, and it may not be a good idea to just take anybody's word for it. Saying my car cost $300 might sound like bullshit, but it's not, so I guess that line could go either way -- but if I said that it gets 62 miles per gallon, surely you'd know that's bullshit, right?

Anybody can write anything on the internet -- "Post this comment on sixteen other videos or you'll die tonight. Bullshit. "Forward this to thirty people and a gift certificate will print out on your computer!" Bullshit. "Send to five friends and the answer to the riddle will pop up on your screen!" Bullshit. "Bill Gates is tracking this e-mail and he'll give a dollar to a dying toddler for ever address you fwd it to!" Bullshit. "Tom is checking to see who uses there MySpac3." There? THERE MySp@ce? Bullshit, bullshit, bullshit!!!

Link to me and I'll make a gift card pop out of your floppy drive!!

(yeah, that's bullshit too)

Back.

Last night I got the most amazing night's sleep, and I woke up thinkin' I'd write about what a fascinating dream I'd had... But... I guess turning the TV on was a bad idea, 'cause now my mind is a bit polluted from Comedy Central and that wonderful dream is sooooooooo far away.

The 4th was nice, we had a great time with the folks and nobody called anybody stupid this time. Heh heh. We had a lovely, quiet hotel room with an excellent shower and a crummy bed, but isn't that always how it is? It seems like I never sleep the first night anywhere, which means if there's only one night, well, that's what ya get. By the time we got home, I was achy and sore, but it made for a great nap.

The three-hundred-dollar car got about twenty-and-a-half miles a gallon, as figured when Clay filled it up to head home. When we got back to the house, it showed a hundred and fifty-some miles and was only down a quarter of a tank. A hundred and fifty miles on the top quarter of a tank -- if it'd get six hundred miles on a tank, I'd be so happy I wouldn't know what to do.

Still waiting for the silver Matchbox Hearses to turn up, we managed to visit two Wal-Marts on this trip. I know that sounds crazy, but hey, there's other stuff we need there -- like Diet Dr Pepper, Chex Mix and cheesy popcorn. Oh, and also a remnant of fur that looks a bit like deep-pile shag carpet, and a bit like really long possum fur.

Since we were that far from home, what's another half hour... We went to Hobby Lobby in Springdale, and I was quite pleasantly surprised! The Hobby Lobby in Springdale carries a little different stock from what's on the shelves here at home in Tulsa -- I bought my first real-deal ball of sock yarn, which I grabbed even though I didn't have a coupon, I was willing to pay full-price because it was the first time I'd seen sock yarn in a store. Just as soon as I round up some US2 needles, I'll be givin' that a shot, 'cause Robin said it'd be real easy if I'd just give it a try -- so, I'll knit my first pair with this "Cotton Candy" colored yarn from Hobby Lobby, and then once I'm sure I can do it and do it right, then I'll knit a pair with that lovely soft hand-spun, hand-dyed beautiful yarn from Robin's last Boob-Ha-Ha Auction. I am so not worthy of that yarn, it's so pretty, I don't even want to unwind it from its fluffy ball.

I really shouldn't be trying to write while the TV is on...

What else was I going to say?

Oh well... It'll come back to me... Maybe.

More later. _\,,/

Disjointed?

I know, I know, it's been a while. There just hasn't been much of anything to write about, I guess.

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The McD's just North of here finally got some English-speakers on staff, but apparently they can't count to three.

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Yesterday I took a call asking if we "took cars." When I asked where it was, she answered "It's out here at my house." Since I was trying to stifle the laughter, I handed the phone off and it turned out she really didn't know her address, and attempted to describe it with phrases like "out that long straight road."

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The Mark 8 is making a "first road trip" of sorts for Independence Day; if you can call an hour and a half an actual road trip. Since last year's Fourth was blog-worthy, maybe this one will be amusing as well -- since it's billed to feature the same cast of characters. Heh.

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My "stressful situation not to be mentioned in the blog" has calmed down considerably, and I think I'm seeing that relief-of-stress extreme-spurt-of-hair-growth much like I saw after getting away from "that college experience not to be mentioned on the 'net." It's kinda nice; being relieved and havin' my hair suddenly grow out a bit -- but I'm probably still in need of a trim.

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A few weeks ago, a friend of mine announced a pregnancy via a MySpac3 bulletin, so I pulled some yarn out of the "stash" and started knitting that very night. Don't look at me like that -- I knew both parents in-person before I had a MySpac3. This is my first knitted baby gift that is not a sweater -- but it is the same brand/type of yarn that I used for the pink & black sweater, the one that got mailed to Corpus Christie. Come to think of it, maybe a sweater isn't the best of ideas for the Corpus Christie Bay area, but I'm told it was a hit anyway.

This blanket is from a pattern I found on the 'net, and it's my first. I'm thinkin' it might be turning out a little bit thick and stiff, but that'll be alright -- if it's too heavy for a blanket, it'll make a nice playtime mat, don't ya think?



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I guess that's all I've got... Maybe it's the heat...

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More later. _\,,/