I am so done with winter ( Read more... )

It was the best of times, it was the... well, not the worst of times, but there were parts of 2013 that weren't so good.

( The year in review... )

As it started to get dark Wednesday night, I happened to glance out my front window at the truck and noticed that the right rear tire didn't look quite right. Closer inspection confirmed that it had lost quite a bit of pressure. Usually in these cases it takes time and a soapy sponge to locate the leak, but this time it was obvious. The head of a 2 ( Read more... )

Rode my bike home from work today, the first time I've ever done that. That wasn't Plan A. I was originally going to drive home, then go to the bike path and ride later. Unfortunately, that got the kibosh applied to it when the truck wouldn't start at lunchtime. AAA came and, after I had the presence of mind to grab the bike from the back of the ( Read more... )

The Machinamobile needed some serious engine repairs, so I've been driving a rental for the past couple of weeks. I got the truck back Thursday, and I returned the Ford Fusion to Enterprise yesterday. Nice car, although it felt weird driving a sedan. OTOH, it had a six cylinder engine, so it had way more zip than I'm used to. It also had a stick ( Read more... )

I'm sitting here with my coffee while waiting for the feeling to return to my toes. I rode my bike this morning, even though it was below freezing outside. It wasn't really my choice. I had to drop my truck off at the shop for some work (the heater stopped working this week, natch, among other things), and rather than hang around the waiting room ( Read more... )

It was an expensive evening. Drove up to Sears and got new tires, a new battery, and an oil change. The one plus was that my five year-old Die Hard was warranted for seven, so I got $36 bucks off the new one. I hadn't had my truck serviced at Sears since I got the battery. I used to go there all the time when I had my Subaru, mostly because the Sub ( Read more... )

...my mind is on the blink.Last Sunday it was cold and snowy. This weekend it was in the sixties and sunny (mostly ( Read more... )

I just went the entire month of January without ever seeing even a bit of my lawn. I can't ever recall having snow on the ground for an entire month. Coastal Rhody gets snow storms in winter, sure, and even an occasional blizzard, but the snow cover never lasts more than a couple of weeks. The temperature creeps up over freezing for a few days, ( Read more... )

It's snowing again. At least the temperature is back up in the twenties.

Sunk costs: costs that cannot be recovered once they have been incurred.

( Note to self: Never pre-register for a con until you get a look at the program, no matter what the discount is. )