what's up?

oh my

i went to my mom's the other day after work. she was sitting at the kitchen table chatting with my brother, who was sitting opposite at the table. the day's mail was strewn about on the table in front of them.

my mom must be on someone's list. she gets tons of catalogs, especially when the holidays are coming. you know the type: miles kimball, lillian vernon, sharper image...? so there's several laying on the table.

i'm just standing nearby, leaning on the kitchen counter, listening absent-mindedly to their conversation, while flipping through a magazine. don't even remember what they were talking about, and it really doesn't matter.

i happened to look up at some point, took a minute, before saying, "what the eff mom, what kind of catalogs are you getting now?" they stop talking and look at me.

i point at a catalog laying open in front of her. the two page spread displays a selection of 'muscle relaxers.' no, those are definitely an assortment of dildos, vibrators, and cock rings.

she looks at it and sort of shrugs. she doesn't really get what she's looking at...ya, she is that 'innocent.' my brother, though, he starts giggling and goes off on a routine of jokes, totally leaving whatever topic they were discussing in the dust.

grabbing the catalog, we realize it's just those two pages. the rest of the pages are filled with kitschy junk you would expect. after explaining what they are to her, she was just like, "oh my!" as she realizes pretty quick what they are selling.

my brother meanwhile starts talking about the various models, and for some, starts rotating his body, in a rendition of whatever movement is promised by said model. he's very good at physical comedy.

at some point we tease that maybe she thought they were just dog toys...at which point my brother starts running around, a perfect portrait of my daughter's doberman, who'd just been there for the past week. he's a teenage dog, tall, gangly legs, long head and strange eyes. the dog bounded about the house, not quite able to put on the brakes on the linoleum flooring, or getting all up in the food on the counter, as yes, he is that tall.

my brother skittered across the kitchen and bumped right into my mom, still playing the part of the dog. it was just a bizarre scene and turn of events, and definitely livened up an otherwise boring day.

nice back end of a classic ford, back from the beginning of the year. clouds are sort of similar to what's floating outside right now. i should have gone out to a show somewhere, but i've got other things on my mind just now.

flight of fancy

awesome. work server is down, might as well post a picture. and i got a rush job to do, so extra special awesome.

worked over the memorial day weekend, so now i gotta pick another day to take off. better half's mom has a cold, and he needs to take a business trip, aside from being busy himself, so i guess a long weekend escape is off the table. guess i'll just stay home and take care of stuff i like to put off vs going to a car show.

found this hood ornament on a car from last year's whittier area church show. making me think about traveling. need to decide where to take our anniversary trip this year. already know it will either be a month early or a month late, because his coworker's spouse will be popping a kid around that time, so my better half has to be there to support east and west coast offices.

haven't been to san fran for a while. east coast weather has been a bit dicey the last few years, but maybe dc or florida.

i know for sure it will be somewhere. maybe just throw a dart at a map?

’stang

i'll throw this one up here. something different. shot it because it wasn't surrounded yet. and maybe somebody out there likes them.

dodge

so just running virus scans and doing copyright filing, looking through old pictures. i kinda like this one. not the whole car, which was kinda frankencar, just the front here.

holy hell

i'd seen this truck several years before. didn't have as much fun with it then. mostly shot the details for the texture. such fun.

here, at the fourth annual whittier community church car show, the owner was standing nearby, and came over and told the story of how he aquired the truck, and the story behind it. the little bit i remember, it had been in a flood, i want to say in alhambra, or some other city that started with an a. was fully submerged for a long time, and abandoned out in a field.

he said he'd bought off a guy, who had been preparing to restore it, with a new paint job and all. thank goodness he got hold of it, and has kept it as original as he's been able. he's only replaced what needed to be fixed to get it running, and mostly with as close to original period parts he can find.

it has a spotlight that works, but so often people would turn it on and play with it at car shows, then leave it on and walk away, that he'd return at the end of the day to a dead battery. so he's left that disconnected.

the wood in the truck bed was rotted out, so he'd replaced it with wood from an old boat deck, and plugged the screw holes with more of the same.

he's worked on it with his son, and also, the cars on either side. very nice man, lots of stories. unfortunately, we still needed to get moving along before the threatening rain, and he needed to go walk around with his son.

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i dog-sat friday night, then took my car in to the dealer for some regular maintenance. tried to drop it off real early, taking the dog with me. had hoped to walk him home and wear him out, before the sun got too high.

the line was too long, and not moving, and besides, i had made an appointment for later, so i took the dog over to the park to run around a bit instead. he found a playground/four-square type ball, which he promptly started trying to get his mouth on, so he looked like he was playing soccer more than anything. it had too much air in it, but he did get his mouth on it for a short time. almost thought he'd got a tooth stuck, or that he wouldn't be able to let it go, but i somehow got it away from him, and he spent the rest of the time just kicking it around. very funny to watch.

then i left the dog at the house a little later, telling him i'd be back in a bit. heard him crying all the way out to my car. hate doing that. dropped the car off and got the courtesy car back home.

spent the day waiting for my kid to come home from san diego. i could tell the dog was anxious because his 'dad' hadn't been home yet, and here i was still hanging out and playing with him.

time came and went that my car should have been done. making an appointment at a dealer really doesn't mean diddly squat as far as priority. called and inquired. they called back and said in about half an hour, so i had them send the car to pick me up.

kid got home about that time, so the dog wasn't alone, but still cried when i left.

back at the dealer, they said it was almost done, was getting washed, so i went ahead and paid the bill. then waited. and waited. and waited. service guy came over and asked if it has been having any issues with idling and stalling. nope. i guess they had it in the wash and it had stalled out, and hadn't been able to get it going reliably again. closing time, but they promised they'd get it figured out, or get me a car to use. couldn't let me leave with a car that was stalling, wouldn't be safe.

so here i am at home all weekend with a brand new loaner car, and no where to go. was too late to go to the gents' show on saturday, and didn't get going for today's shows.

took my better half out for lunch. his favorite part was the back up camera that showed the picture on the center console. had me put the car in reverse while he stood behind the car [behind a block, with my foot on the brake, of course]. he danced around and moved his face right up to the lens on the camera. that was funny. almost thought he was going to recreate the scene from 40 year old virgin in the video store, but no...

then i've just otherwise been busy all afternoon. made banana bread. then made a bunch of meatballs. and just now finding time to think up what to write here. freaking time change, it's almost time for bed.

another busy week ahead. wondering about that work/life balance they like to banter about. too much work, not enough time. they should just hire somebody already, not just hand off easy jobs to a temp. so i've spent the last few weeks juggling a big workload, prioritizing, slipping quick jobs between bigger, complex work, and tending to the squeaky wheels.

i've put in extra hours, hoping that it would help meet some more critical deadlines, but really, unless i give them an extra week of time, it isn't making a difference, so i'm trying to not get so stressed over it now. driving the freeway is bad enough.

so, dropping off the new car tomorrow, unless they can't fix my car. then dog watching tuesday. probably not back home to play with pictures until wednesday...oh well. something's gotta give, and this is it.

Update on 2015-03-10 03:31 by kathy

turns out the technician had left a hose disconnected when he changed the air filter. no charge and i got to tool around in a new car for a day. i think i got the better end of this bargain.

sunny with a chance of rain

supposed to rain at the end of the week. i think the weather guys are mostly just getting paid to guess. they always seem to be wrong on their predictions.

i bought a new umbrella that has a handle like a samuri sword, that fits in a case that slings on your shoulder. i've been waiting a month to use it. the couple of days i carried it when they predicted rain before, i got a lot of double-takes by the security guys in the office. so that's fun.

so i'm gonna put off washing the car. again. well, i basically don't bother until i really can't stand it. or until i take it in for an oil change, and they do a free car wash.

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found this neon orange ford in an upper lot at the show. so early, no other cars were around it. i like the contrast of the orange and the blue sky. and that the hood was down. bonus.

out early

here's another cadillac king. guy said it was the oldest in the club. i just know i like it.

yet another reason to get out of bed and to a show early. only way to catch that light. but so hard to leave a warm bed...

he is a king

i arrived at the car show at the whittier area community church around 7am. had to, as i had to be out by 10 and somewhere else at 11. the guys at the entrance to the parking lot were stopping cars, checking to see if they were vendors, participants, or what. i shrugged and said i just wanted to take pictures, wouldn't be there long. they looked at each other and said ok.

i parked nearby, and quickly got going. as i walked about, i heard guys talking and one said they had originally limited it to 300 cars, but then found 50 more spaces. i enjoyed the early morning, seeing the show growing busier. got to some cars before they were packed in tight, before the crowds.

my better half really wanted to be there, but he stayed home taking care of his mother, still recovering from breaking her arm. guess it will be that way for a few more months.

down in the lower lot, came across the cadillac kings car club. this one belonged to one of the only guys that bothered to talk to me. so i'll start with it. beautifully polished, it reflected the sky so wonderfully.

blaze of glory

you know, it's really hard not to notice this one. especially when i'm driving around town, and i see something orange out the corner of my eye. snap my head in that direction, and yep, it's usually this car. if you are a frequent, and long-time visitor here, you've seen it before.

shout out to the tribe...where you guys been? hoping to see you all in whittier in august, early as usual. you should update your website once in a while. it ain't xmas anymore, unless you ask my better half...he'd have the xmas tree up all year, like he used to in his old apartment, if his mother didn't make him take it down.

home again

i survived my week in washington state. didn't want to disappoint the kid, so dutifully marched all over the place, or rather gimped. by the end of the week, though i had to nix the three hour car ride to hike in a rain forest. did the space needle instead. just got back to the car when it started to rain, then hail...so that was pretty cool. thunder is very loud over puget sound.

she thought i'd enjoy the lemay auto museum, and it was really interesting, but as they all go, no tripods allowed, and stuff is roped off, so i mostly focused on hood ornaments. i don't know when i'll find time to go through all the pictures i took.

i'm running on four hours of sleep, and getting home after getting picked up from the airport is a story in itself. and a panic run to the tax preparer and race to the post office to pay uncle sam. and i still don't feel much better than when i left on the trip.

anyway, here's another truck. found it on the fringe of a car show; i hope only because there were no spaces available in the main lot. nice ride. like the pinstripes.