Wednesday, September 27, 2006
Back on the road
Dick Tracy doesn't believe Aldo is dead either. He's still in the "denial" stage. I'm lingering in the "anger" stage. I suppose I'll reach "acceptance" eventually, but I still feel like screaming out his name in the same manner Captain Kirk screamed Kahn's name in Star Trek II: ALDOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
When I got home after work, my wife told me the transmission place called and my VW was ready. We went over and picked up the car, after dropping half the bluebook value of the car on repair costs. Damn, that hurt. I asked the guy why he thought the transmission crapped out with only 42,000 miles on it, if it was the way it was driven by the previous owner, or a faulty part originally installed, or what? His response was that new transmissions suck. He said 80% of the work they do is on newer cars with an average of 50,000 miles on the odometer. He pointed to a Lexus in the lot that just had its third transmission installed at 75,000 miles. Well, at least luxury cars aren't immune to it.
I had forgotten how quiet the engine is in the VW, especially compared to my brother-in-law's car I have been driving since March. (Holy shit, has it really been since March? Wow...). When I got back home, I vacuumed his car so it would be clean when we returned it to him, then my car, since I was already there.
I told Laura the transmission is my birthday present, and she didn't argue. Besides, between her parents and my parents (all of whom spoil us every gift-giving holiday) we're already going to get a lot of stuff we don't really need. Our birthdays are nine days apart, so all the parents get together for a party to celebrate both. I'm not trying to sound ungrateful, because they're all very generous (Too generous. We've reached the age where it's embarrassing to open all those presents like we're six year olds), but it's more fun just to see all the family and share a weekend together. The gifts are secondary. (Wow, I sound so mature, but keep in mind that the early birthday present from my wife was Lego Star Wars 2 for Playstation 2, so I'm not exactly becoming Gandhi.)
Oh, final story: This morning a car was tailgating me, guy was being a real jerk. He finally pulled around me and swerved back into my lane. His license plate read (and I am NOT making this up) ALDO95. What kind of sign could this be???
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