My Olds Is OK; It's Me That's Nuts

My Oldsmobile is OK. I just forgot that I gassed it up two weeks ago and didn't drive it for ten days. I noticed the gauge did seem to be a mm below the full so I gassed it and it took all of 3.5 gal. Now the gas gauge needle is about 3 mm above the full mark. Now I was all set to do the odometer thing, but the A/C problem still had me wondering whether I should get the nativity scene and chi-chi balls and sell it. Today I got the A/C fixed for $140. They had to convert it to Al-Gore-Freon and fill it. It won't be as cold as it used to be with Freon-12 but hopefully it won't leak out before next November. I just have to schmooze that leaky muffler through one more inspection (the mechanic has been looking at it for the last four years and shaking his head).

That little blue beauty above is Ben's Mini-Cooper Romano-Edition. In two years he will bring it back to the U.S. and maybe give it to me. I hope it survives the Rome traffic, which I hear is like a video game. You see if you live long enough, your children eventually give you stuff.

A Miracle

Now that gas is about $3.50/gal my Oldsmobile has solved my problems. My gas gauge has been on full for three weeks. It's like a miracle from Peter Popoff , the widows oil that never ran out. I wish it was, but it's probably a short to ground since the needle stays pegged on full. So I guess I can keep going and just use the 1960 VW gas gauge; just keep tract of the mileage on the trip odometer .

What's worse is that the temperature is getting into the high seventies and I already miss the A/C which was the Oldsmobile's best feature. I can't believe how hot it is in this car without A/C. I even use a sun-shade when I park it and it still is like a dutch oven. That along with the need for a muffler makes me think it's time to sell this money pit.

FOR SALE CHEAP

SE HABLA ESPANOL

A Smart and Witty Polemic

After reading the Millennium Trilogy and giving up on the apocalyptic "EMP bomb hits Mayberry" novel I'm now reading a "smart and witty polemic". It's about how snarkiness is replacing wit and satire in the internet age. I'm trying to grasp his argument, but it sometimes eludes me like music and foreign languages. I'm sure my literary daughter and son-in-law would understand it perfectly (like the way I understand the autonomic nervous system).

I'm about 40 pages into this 120 page essay so there is hope. I'm thinking snark is sort of like the cheap shot. The lazy person's attempt at humor combined with an element of sadism.

I'm thinking it relates more to shame where a person's value is demeaned, not just their speech and behavior. Whatever it exactly is, it flourishes in the internet wasteland of Facebook and Twitter. I'll try to get through the next eighty pages, but perhaps it would be easier to mail it to Marianne and David and have them tell me what point the author is making. It all started with Lewis Carroll's "The Hunting Of The Snark."

Stay-cation 2.1

I can't believe what I heard on the radio today. Volvo's heavy equipment headquarters is moving out of Asheville. Now Volvo has been pulling out of Asheville for the last five years in installments, sort of like Kodak leaving that socialist hell-hole called Rochester. Volvo is moving the rest of its operation to Pennsylvania. How bad does it have to be in western N.C. for a company to move to PA? There will be a loss of about 230 jobs. The kicker is that the director of economic development said, "on the brighter side there is a large facility available now for another business". That person should be fired just for saying something that stupid. Then there would be another office available for another bureaucrat to move into. This reminds me of Obama telling a crowd there is no inflation because the price of the i-pad has gone down. Someone in the crowd yelled out " I can't eat an i-pad."

Well I survived my root-canal. I guess it was a challenging one. I really did have some dental PID (pus-in-dare). I was in the chair for for an hour and forty five minutes. I probably slept for an hour of it (I always fall asleep at the dentist). I figure it cost me about $24 per minute. I must be slipping, I only charge $4 per minute. So far I only have lost one tooth. I stopped getting my teeth cleaned because I always get the chubby hygienist.

On Easter Babba is making his musical debut. I am to accompany Carol the violin virtuoso with my Irish Bodhran. It will be a duel of who can play the softest. I look at it this way, it's just another instrument to fail at.

Just four more days of stay-cation. I can do it, although CP has started taking Lyrica.

Stay-cation

I'm on a forced vacation. It's use it or lose it. Since March isn't a big vacation month I'm just going to stay home and take care of business. Today I renewed my driver's license. I usually move before I have to do this. It's not due for a few months ,but they sent me a reminder card. This being N.C. where everything is a royal pain, I thought I better get this done while I have a full day to commit to the DMV. I called to make sure I didn't need my Social Security Card, Birth Certificate, Proof of Insurance, Passport, Credit Report, Proof of Vaccination, Background Check and latest Colonoscopy report and T.B. Test. I was surprised to find out all I needed was my present license and cash.

They did tell me to try to come in early because it tended to get crowded after ten AM. So I set off with a granola bar and a book; I figured I was in for a siege. When I arrived here six years ago and went to get my license the place was packed with more Mexicans than Home Depot. I thought I was at INS instead of the DMV. So I arrived ready for the usual bureaucratic inertia and was surprised to find three people ahead of me. It took less than ten minutes. I recognized the signs and could read the second line without my glasses so the state has granted me the privilege of driving for eight more years.

I happened to bring with me that book (One Second After) my coworker lent me about terrorists setting off an electro-magnetic-pulse bomb (EMP) in Black Mountain, N.C. The EMP bomb knocks out all computers and electronics in the south east. In effect, anything that uses a computer, including cars, cell phones, power plants, etc are toast. I didn't want the examiner to think I was one of those foil-hat wearing survivalists, so I turned it over on the desk. Now a book about Armageddon written by a local college professor that takes place in our area does get attention. The examiner tells me to sit in the chair for my new license photo, then he says "I'm going to take your picture, unless an electro-magnetic-pulse knocks out my camera." Imagine that, a state employee with a sense of humor; I shouldn't be such a stranger to the DMV.

Tomorrow, day two of my stay-cation, I'm getting a root-canal; WHOOPEE!

Baby Laughing Hysterically at Ripping Paper

Can someone hand this baby the Health Care Reform Bill. In a week he could shred all 2,700 pages.

Anaesthetists Hymn

I'm sitting home on a rainy weekend with a couple of books I don't feel like reading. I went on line looking for a logo for my new company. It didn't take long to find one. I also found this video that described my job prior to before Fun-Suckers in Washington took over.