Craptastic Voyage

It rained the entire drive home yesterday. Not just drizzle, but pouring rain. I drove for a while, to give Zach a rest, but he said watching how tense I was while driving was almost as stressful as just driving himself. I'm normally a stress-case anyway, and driving in the rain with the worry of a flat tire didn't improve things, so I only lasted about 2 and a half hours out of what should have been a 13-hour trip. Oh yeah, the flat tire thing; as we left Milan, the flat-tire warning light came on (fancy, I know). It wasn't too low, so we figured it must be a slow leak, aired up, and drove on. I didn't like the uncertainty of such an assumption, but what else can you do in a situation like that?

We were fine for about 10 hours, at which point the warning light came on again. This time, we bought a can of fix-a-flat, did that, and got back on the road. Not 20 minutes later, the light came on again. This time we pulled over at a gas station, and the tire was so low that it didn't even register on the tire gauge. We reconciled ourselves to the fact that we weren't going any farther on that tire (Run-flats are equivalent to a spare--we couldn't go another 200 miles at freeway speeds on it). We called roadside assistance to tow our car to Roanoke where we could expect to wait a day or so for our freakin' super special tire to be special ordered. We were going to have to wait about an hour and a half for the tow truck. Not happy campers. While we were sitting in the car discussing this (in a pleasant and amiable fashion, of course), a middle-aged guy (a local) tapped on the window and asked if it was our rear tire and said he could probably help fix it. We were hesitant to accept his help, but after a while, agreed that we had absolutely nothing else to do for the next hour or so.

He and his friends must have either worked at the gas station or were good friends with the people who did, because they went inside periodically to get cardboard to lay on and dish soap to test the patch with. They helped us identify the leak--which wasn't too hard; once we aired it up, you could hear the air gushing out of the giant hole--and they sent me inside for a $3 patch kit. Then the guy laid on the ground (in the rain) and put the patch in. A couple times, he said if this patch didn't work, he'd run to his house and get his own tools. But in the end, the patch worked, and we made it home (albeit, a few hours later than projected). We were so thankful for this random act of kindness; they insisted it was no trouble, but it meant the difference between us being stuck in Roanoke for the weekend and us getting home that night. Zach got them to take a little money for their trouble, and we're going to send a thank you to Barry's Exxon in Buchanan, VA (exit 162 off I-81, in case you're ever in the area), figuring they'll get it eventually (we didn't even get a name), but it just doesn't seem like enough. I guess the only real way to pay something like that back is to do something similarly nice for someone else in need. Perhaps this was my karmic-repayment for helping a couple friends in need last week. Regardless, my New Year's Resolution for 2008 will be to look for opportunities to help others the way these guys helped us.

Happy Boxing Day, Y'all!

I hope you had a great Christmas and are enjoying a Boxing Day full of leftovers. I've spent most of my week off working out, reading, drinking copious amounts of wine, and baking. Zach's parents had a party Sunday night, and one of the guests wore the exact same sweater I got for the Ugly Christmas Sweaterpalooza (scroll down a few posts for reference, if needed). Of course, I didn't say anything to her--I couldn't think of any way that conversation could go without my either coming off like a jerk who was making fun of her sweater or as a 29-year-old with the fashion sense of a 65-year-old.

I've actually managed to run every day except Christmas, which is good, because my daily pie intake has skyrocketed since arriving in Milan. I've been going to the Y with Josh & Stephanie, who are into working out since they got back from Iraq. Josh said I was in "good shape for a civilian", which I took as high praise. I just now signed up for George Washington Birthday 10K (February 16) and the George Washington Parkway Classic 10-Miler (April 27th). Now I have formal goals, so that should keep me motivated (the fact that I just paid $70 in various registration fees will help too)!

I watched my new DVD of La Vie en Rose last night (Thanks Mom!), which was really good, although nobody else wanted to watch a depressing movie with subtitles, so I watched it by myself. I'm also reading Long Way Gone, which is a memoir of a child soldier in the Sierra Leonean civil war. Again, kinda depressing, but I figured it would be timely since I'm going to Freetown at the end of January!

P.S.--I have also stopped answering to "Stephanie". After so many false alarms for the other Stephanie, I now wait until someone either comes and finds me to see why I didn't answer, or I wait for them to clarify with "Stephanie Beth" or "Stephanie Jo". Note: I only go by "Stephanie Beth" in Tennessee; don't expect me to answer to that anywhere else!

Sweaterpalooza '07

Last Saturday (the 9th) we had the much-anticipated Ugly Christmas Sweater/Our Basement Doesn't Suck Anymore Party. We ended up with more booze left over than what we started with, so I'd say things worked out well! I'd say roughly half our guests had enough Christmas spirit to wear an ugly Christmas garment. Zach's friend, Stephanie (not to be confused with his sister Stephanie or his wife Stephanie; maybe I should have titled this post "Stephaniepalooza"), won the grand prize because she had the only Christmas sweatshirt that also played music. Click on the picture below to see the whole set. You may note that Stephanie (sister) and Josh start out in Christmas finery, but changed part-way through the evening; they were afraid people who just met them would think they were hicks from Tennessee who always dress like that! Dress like what? I thought my sweater was beautiful and festive.

Sheepie Rescue!

Watch this link from the weather channel of an Old English Sheepdog being rescued from an icy pond. Poor thing! But she's safe now!