In case you don’t follow me on Twitter, or if you are not my friend on Facebook you probably haven’t heard my latest tale of woe.
On Friday morning I was driving to get breakfast in Boulder and suddenly the Jackmobile started to act oddly. While pulling up to a red light it bucked a couple of times, and then the Check Engine light illuminated and the D (Drive) on the dashboard started flashing. If I’ve learned one thing from Car Talk is that the Check Engine light means business and one should pull over immediate when it illuminates. So I did, and then I called AAA to get the car towed to a garage.
Diagnosis: I need my transmission rebuilt
Cost of Repair: ~$3500
Estimated Repair Date (taking in to account it was Labor Day weekend): late Wednesday
Fuck. Me.
Vacation Interruptus
As you read this I am supposed to be headed back to Atlanta. Instead I’ll be working in Colorado for a couple of days and then (hopefully) heading home on a (hopefully) fast and uneventful journey.
I have had my sights focused on this trip for about a year. This trip was supposed to relax me, bring peace back in to my life, provide an escape from my day-to-day life, and help me try to forget about all of my personal shortcomings for a couple of weeks and until Friday morning it was doing just that.
For the optimist, spending a few extra days in Colorado while forking out around $3500 for the joy of getting the one’s transmission rebuilt wouldn’t be too bad. For me however, it’s been devastating. What was supposed to be a joyous weekend at the Colorado InviHash has turned into a stressful affair of figuring out the logistics of getting a rental car (where/when to pick it up, getting one large enough to hold all of the shit I packed for this trip — including my bike, when to return it), and shifting hotels so that I can work in Colorado instead of burning vacation days (so that I can burn those vacation days on what will become a nervous long drive home) — all on Labor Day.
Today I will going out to buy some clothes since one of the work-related tasks in which I’ll be participating involves a meeting with company big wigs, so my casual vacation attire will not suffice.
For me all of the fun of this vacation went away in a matter of seconds. I recognize that things could have been worse, like having the transmission die during the many days I was in the middle of nowhere with no cell service. But what could have been doesn’t outweigh what is.
And, I realized today that because of my bad luck I probably won’t make it back to Atlanta in time to attend the Food Bloggers Forum seminar on Saturday. That seminar, which will be held at a restaurant about a mile from my house, is an all-day event related to food photography followed by an after party.
ITP Flickr Pic
Next to the hash hotel exists an extremely mediocre “Thai” restaurant.
While eating my pad thai on Friday one of my chopsticks snapped.
A Somewhat Fitting End To My Weekend
The hash itself was a blast, though noticeably smaller than the two previous Colorado InviHashes that I’ve attended.
I ran the “Eagle” trail on both days and yesterday’s trail took us up some beautiful, and difficult to navigate, countryside. Post-hash circle yesterday I found myself joining people in the pool, clothed mind you. After swimming (and countless beers) I made it back to my hotel room to clean up for dinner. While showering I whacked my head on a metal handle in the shower while trying to pick up the soap with my eyes closed (don’t tell me you’ve never done this) and cut a small gash over my right eye. I managed to get a band-aid on my eyelid and then must have decided I needed a nap, because the next thing I experienced was waking up at midnight. I briefly thought about going to the hashpitality suite looking for midnight pizza, but I decided I’d already done enough damage to myself and went back to sleep (briefly, because as I write this it’s nearly 3:00am MDT on Sunday).
What’s Next?
Good question.
Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – broken
Current Music – listening to a music podcast
Website Of The Day – Channel Flip is yet another good source for online entertainment.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – n/a
Exercise (b)Log – hashing all weekend, about nine miles worth
Morning Weigh-In – couldn’t check
Pages Of 1001 Paintings You Must See Before You Die Read – 77
Monthly
Foot Mileage – ~9 miles, Wheel Mileage – 0 miles
Pushups – 0, Situps – 0
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) – 0 (0)
Vegetarian Days – 0, Carnivorous Days – 5
Marta Rides To Work – 0
Bike Rides To Work – 0
September Goals
– Not to get sick for the entire month
– Not get fired from my job
– Ride my bicycle no fewer than 250 miles
– Determine the fate of Sharpened Stone, LLC
– Complete at least one iPhone application (seriously, this needs to happen)
– lost five pounds
– eat vegetarian at least one day a week
2010 Goals
– Reduce my weight to 185 pounds (starting weight was 198 pounds) [update: On July 1 I’ve sadly gained weight; I’m at 203 pounds]
– Completely read the book 1001 Paintings You Must See Before You Die
– Earn at least $150 through photography sales in order to cover the cost for the renewal of the Sharpened Stone.
– Save $500 for the sole purpose of donating to charitable organizations of my choice
– Attend at least one professional photography workshop
– Enter no fewer than three photographic competitions / gallery showings
– Get the Black Sheep stats out of Excel and online
– Ride in no fewer than two 50 mile or 50K bike rides
– Complete my Taco Mac Passport requirement of 125 beers
The Unmeasurable
– Continue backing up all data, including the off-site storage
– Become a proficient programmer in PHP and CSS Objective-C
– Do not create a solution for something which is not a problem
Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]
Sounds like you had fun at the hash if you are hitting your head on things 🙂
I really had had a decent time, though I wish all that I was doing today was signing up for 2010, packing up the Jackmobile, and heading home.