Yes, I am Alive

I have spent the last couple of weeks

A) being sick

B) getting my parent's kitchen ready for the remodel

C) coming home from work exhausted from moving crap around for our "remodel"

and

D) obsessing over the excessively geeky Dr. Reid, played by Matthew Gray Gubler, from Criminal Minds

I was planning on writing a semi-decent post today. However, yesterday morning, about an hour before I needed to leave for work, I discovered that someone had incapacitated all three of the cars in the driveway. Two had two tires slashed each. The other car only has one damaged tire, but two of the side windows were shattered. The best part? Two of the cars belong to my parents - who happen to be in freakin' Alaska on a cruise at the moment.

So - I spent today trying to at least get mine fixed so that no one has to drive me to work and back and I don't have to try to take the bus. (I'm all for mass transit, but this is So Cal - the mass transit here sucks and should be avoided whenever possible.)

It's like one of those riddles. You have three cars that don't work. You have very little money in your account. Most of it is being taken out on Monday to pay for one of the cars. The rest was saved up to buy books during employee appreciation days - which ends before you get your next paycheck. It's the weekend and the only people picking up at the insurance office have no idea how the insurance money gets doled out. How do you get at least one car in working order in time for work Monday morning - without spending so much that you bounce a check or can't buy yourself some books as an early birthday present? Remember that simply putting the spare on and driving to Costco Tire center won't work because you have two damaged tires and the spares for one car won't fit on the others.

Apparently, the solution to this particular riddle is a very nice older brother; a pair of level headed parents who call from Alaska to suggest putting the spare on, leaving the other end jacked up, and taking both tires to Costco in the trunk of another car; and a half-forgetten credit card that was never activated because credit card debt is bad (and you have enough of it already anyway).