Kratzen vom Rathaus

So That Didn't Take Long

I've been putting off this post, mostly because it's kind of painful, but not in any physical sense. Last Saturday, on Valentine's Day no less, Tony and I were running around doing some shopping when another driver blew straight through a red light and barreled into us as Tony made a left turn. It's almost a week later and they keep finding damage to poor Tiggy. The insurance company is a little coy which makes me think the woman lied- and that burns me more than having my brand new car hit because she didn't give enough of a crap to even hit the brakes. Since I was the impactee, I got a good view of the whole thing and the look on her face told me she wasn't stopping even as she connected. She hit the car and we bounced again on the side because she just pushed through. I think it would have been a hit and run of her front driver's side tire didn't get caged. Her facial expression, her actions and the probability of dishonesty on the report makes me so mad I could scream.

But in the end, we're ok- there was no terrible trauma of us spending the most overpublicized romantic holiday in the E/R. And for now, that's enough. But NEW CAR, dammit. Why couldn't she have hit the Jeep?

You Can Get Anything at Costco

I often joke about picking up a set of tires when I go to Costco to buy something, but now I realize I just wasn't being ridiculous enough. Maybe they're just being honest about those giant size bags of junk food they sell back in the grocery section. I knew they sold stuff like this online, but I was kind of unprepared to stumble across a full-on casket display nestled between ones for garage doors and window coverings .

Winter in the Valley

I love going to Pleasanton when it's been cold enough that there's snow
blanketing the peaks to North around Mt. Diablo and to the south around
Mt. Hamilton. I dunno why, but the sight of it makes me happy-
particularly from a nice warm car or a hiking path.

The Wonderful Thing About Tiggies

So, just in case you read my Jeep post last week and wondered how it all fell out, Chrysler did call back with an offer. They told me they could do it for 'wholesale cost' which was about 3 grand instead of 4. Yeah, don't do me any favors. In fact, does ANYONE believe that wholesale is 75% of retail cost? If that was not a load of complete bull then no wonder the automakers are in such trouble. They don't even know standard business practice. Needless to say I didn't take them up on their largesse.
Instead, I dragged Tony out to the car lots. I had pretty much made up my mind that any import was fine but Tony accidentally set the final nail Wednesday night when he mentioned some VW drivers refer to the Tiguan as a Tiggy. Squee! He should have known better. Plus, I really liked the cuteness of the Tiguan, so I test drove one Thursday on my way home from picking up our poor Jeep. It was not a *fast* car, but it was zippy enough, and could tow despite having a turbo. More importantly, it had a sunroof that was pretty much the entire roof of the car. Really. I was a bit embarrassed how taken I was with a cosmetic feature, but it opened the car up to make it much less claustrophobic than most others. (There's a reason bikers call cars cages.) Boy, did I want that sunroof. And the car underneath wasn't bad either. Meanwhile, Tony did a fair amount of research and decided on a few models he wanted to see. I was all for research but was pretty much gung ho about taking action as well so I dragged him out of his workspace Friday to go look at 'just a couple.'
Because they were right next to each other we went to check out Nissan and VW. Tony wanted to look at the Murano first. So we did. It was big. So we test drove and it was really big. It was cushy and soft. It was like being in a cloud with no actual interaction with the outside world. I hated it. Tony liked the engine, but also didn't like being so cut off. Also, the HMS Murano just screamed entitlement. it was awful. I like luxury at least as much as the next person, but I have no interest in sacrificing my soul to get it.
Still trying to shake off that slimy feeling, we went next door to VW. Compared to the refinement of the Nissans, the VWs made you look for the roof crank. But they were all lined up cute and Jim, the guy who came out to meet us, was very cool. We decided to do a test drive even though I had all but sealed a really low price at the other VW dealership. But I wanted Tony to drive one and we were already there. So the three of us went out for a ride, and we all chatted while Tony drove. Seriously, we took a half hour plus test drive partly because Tony didn't seem to mind driving and partly because we had a good conversation going. I had to steer things back to the car on occasion, because our salesman was actually a very genial guitar player who only sold cars to support his music habit. Yeah, of course we bought the car from him. I think we probably paid a little more because I really hammered the other place badly, but we didn't feel too bad about it because Jim was so friendly.
Anyway, we're proud to introduce our new Jeep replacement. Everyone, meet Tiggy: she's young, cute and long may she run:

Superbowl Sunday

Despite the slight annoyance about the sham singer, I've got to say that was pretty much the best game I've ever sat (mostly) through. In fact, the only other positive football moment I can think of was munching on a pizza in Windy City and managing to look up at their tv just as this guy runs the length of the field and winds up climbing over a dog pile of players who tried to tackle him to reach the end zone. That was good, too. But that was several years ago. Normally, I think of football as a game where refs blow the whistle any time the guys on the field actually start playing.
Making the game more fun was the fact we had a bunch of friends over. I invited everyone over on the assumption that nobody I know is really into football except maybe Ceej and even she probably likes video games better. I honestly figured everyone would play rock band all day instead. Then I got stressed last week over the Jeep. I took it out on my kitchen by making way too many things and pretty much ignored all party preparations except cooking. So when people arrived Tony took over (as usual) but surprisingly no one left the living room. Everyone watched the game. Including me. The flags were dropped on every play and we started making fun of that. Ceej mentioned she'd never seen a safety in the Superbowl about two minutes before the safety happened and we all wondered how the bookies in Vegas were handling the forth quarter of the game.
Lynn came over first, bringing with her ice, creamed corn (which I emergency called for and then didn't use), and Erin's husband Sean who got put to work slightly since I know he can cook. Ceej & David and Colleen & Dan came just in time to finish up pre-game puppy bowl festivities and start watching the other bowl game. Kim had to arrive later- which was slightly amusing because I'd made a flourless chocolate cake especially for her but had given up and served it less than five minutes before she arrived. Ooops. Ah well, happy belated birthday anyway, Kim! Erin had to work, so she missed most of the game, but fortunately she and Sean hung out after everyone else left. She and I chit-chatted until our husbands physically had to separate us what with it being a school night and all- which I think is awesome because it's been a while since I've had a friend that I could accidentally talk all night to. (Tony probably doesn't find it quite so awesome, what with that being diurnal and all.) Anway, we had a bunch of fabulous friends over, almost all the food was a hit, and the items that weren't were only mild tweaks off- which is one of the reasons I love to make food anway. We never did get around to rock band or card games, but that seems just as well.
All in all a happy time. I'm really glad I have friends who like to come and hang. I think it only took about twenty years to get that kind of college social group dynamic back. Of course, things are a little different these days, what with more upscale tastes and three loads of dishes to do- but unlike college I also have a dishwasher. I hope we have many more opportunities to drag people out in the future.

Being There

Turns out the babe who sang the anthem at the Superbowl lip synched because of emotional duress and people are thinking it was the 'right thing to do under the circumstances'. And a couple of weeks ago at that big party in DC, the classical quartet played along to a pre-recorded tape because it was the 'right thing to do given the temperature.'
See, when you do something without pre-recording, it turns out that things might happen which make them less than 100% optimal. Yeah. That's what makes something real. I don't know about you, but I'm not interested in any perfect, plastic simulations of life- I want the real thing. If the singers voice had cracked because of the stress of singing at the biggest sporting event while she was still in mourning, then yes, that might have been a shame. But it would have been real. If the violin had gone slightly out of tune because the bow was stretching the strings in 20 degree weather, that would have been a slightly sour note. But it also would have been real. Just like life. Which is why they call these things live performances. But these imitations that they're promoting? They're as real as the set of a sitcom, and I'd rather not see them at all then bear false witness to something passed off as history.