the collector Archives - Memos and Mirth

Being “that guy”

August 1, 2009

Rainy day / city in rain photo by Rowan Heuvel via Unsplash

When Jill and I left work today it was pouring. Jill’s car was closer than mine, so she volunteered to sprint through the downpour, fetch her car, and then drive me to mine.

How did I thank her? Well, 10 minutes later Jill and I were driving our cars down the highway and the rain became blinding. Of course this happened when the road curved so I had my face up against my windshield trying to figure out where the raised median was.

Suddenly Jill’s car was behind mine – I had drifted into her lane and cut her off!

At the next light I rolled down my window and apologized profusely. Jill said “don’t worry about it” which is Minnesotan for “you crazy asshole!”

I was officially that guy.

1L summer

The headlight & horror movies

July 30, 2009

Man on laptop at cafe by Tim Gouw via Unsplash.

I just finished a 10-hour shift at work.

I’m pulling three 10-hour days to make up for my absence from the office during finals. And although the longish hours aren’t ideal for the dog, the hours are compatible with his strict-bed bed rest requirements for the heartworm treatment. ¹

My first official day² of summer started at the auto-parts store. One of my headlights died last night, and Gibs offered to install it for me so I wouldn’t get ripped off by my Nissan dealer again – Gibs was horrified to hear that last month I shelled out something like $40 to get a headlamp replaced at the dealer.

The $40 charge seemed less outrageous when I watched the ordeal Gibs went through to replace the lamp. Apparently the owner’s manual suggests taking off the bumper to replace the lights, but instead of dismantling my bumper, Gibs unscrewed the coolant tank, which was blocking the back of the headlight.