Happy New year / 2009 so far ...
Happy Belated New year to all. I hope all of your new years eve's went well and that your January 2nd's were better than mine. I had a good new years eve, Krystal and I hung out at my parent's beach house near long beach. By the time we both got there it was too dark go out to the beach. But we had a good time talking and catching up, since we had not seen each other in 2 years. On New Years day, we searched the beach for interesting things and found 4 whole sand dollars and a really cool looking shell. Then January 2nd came, trip to the beach house ended mid morning and I drove back towards my parents house in Renton (~190 mi drive). There was a small amount of snow on the way back and that slowed the drive for a bit but once I got off the coastal highways I figured that it would be easy sailing from there. Well that was very wrong, because ~ 3.5 miles later the car broke down and my younger brother had nothing in the way of motor oil, tools, or any thing else in the way car repair or maintenance related. So I jogged/walked back to Montesano (~3.5 mi) on the way I came across a State Patrol Officer at a weigh station (along with a person working the station) and explained my situation to him and he told me there was a gas station ~ 1 mi ahead (it was more like 2 mi) and then resumed what he was doing. So I continued and made it to the gas station then bought a bottle of motor oil and a bottle of water. Called my parents from a pay phone as my cell phone was dead and they called AAA for me as I walked back to the car to meet the tow truck driver. The truck passed me about half a mile from the car, So I ran as the tow truck operator hooked up the car and arrived as he was finishing. My parents arranged for a tow from where the car was to Renton (~90 miles). So, I had a long ride with the tow truck driver. When I finally got home and had dinner I checked my e-mail and found out that my application to attend a scientific conference in Ventura, CA had been accepted, so that was a good end to the day. So my 2009 has been a mixed bag already.