VerseLogic » vehicular

Whacko sister trashes newspaper over glasses

Alan J Castonguay — Sat, 10 Sep 2005 20:41:15 +0000

Ashley, the whacko younger sister of yore, called me up this day. She wanted one of us mobile folk to ferry her, her druggie girlfriend, and her laundry to our parents place, that she might leech water, soap, and washing machine.

Being the only folk around, and under the promice of 10$ to cover some gas, I agreed.

Having arrived at their love nest, I proceeded to stand around in the sun outside whilst they got ready. Once our voyage got underway, I was delighted to hear that they did not, in fact, have ten dollars, and I would have to drive them to the TDBank. Whilst I waited in the parking lot, this adventurous pair of invalids took it upon themselves to liberate a pair of huge, good looking perscription reading glasses from a desk or shelf inside the bank.

Lo, they exclaimed with shock when I explained that I would not ferry their collective asses around until said glasses were returned to their origin, either by their hand or mine. Unsurprisingly, they disagreed with this notion, because what, you want me to pay $110 for glasses?! Psha.. A brilliant reason for thievery, I thought, especially since she doesn’t need glasses.

Thus we camped out in the TD parking lot for a half hour or so, after which I drove to work, resigned to leaving the pair sitting in my car, fully expecting a combination of looting and damage done to the vehicle. When I came to check on the vehicle some 20 minutes later, I was delighted to find mearly a shredded Saturday edition of the WindsorStar newspaper, the mangled remains of said possibly-$110 glasses, and the entirety of my glove compartment and cd wallets strewn throughout the passenger compartment. There were two large foam blocks, smelling of dead rat, in the trunk. Nothing appeared to be missing (though I havn’t actually gone through the CDs), and my class notes were left intact.

I conclude thus: I’m not driving them around anymore.

Canine Impact

Alan J Castonguay — Tue, 28 Jun 2005 12:47:29 +0000

Shannon was with me. We were driving to my parents place, to cool off in their pool, late last night. In an unforseen turn of events, a dog ran in front of my car. I was going 80km/h (50mph) at the time, southbound on Howard Ave, just past 6th Concession Rd. Dark black, it ran from the east. I saw it on the gravel at road’s edge, and hit the breaks. Probably a good thing I didn’t try to swerve, would have lost control of the vehicle. How fast I was going at impact, I doubt I’ll ever know. Definatly not enough to deploy the airbags, though I suspect it was under 40km/h. The dog still lurched somewhat at road’s edge, though did not stand.

A local came forward, and offered no useful information. He had a calming effect, despite. He could not identify the dog, having never seen it before; it certainly wasn’t his he knew. I’m glad he was around. Not much I could do at the site, certainly not call the humaine society at fast-approaching-midnight; drove home warily, woke my father up nearing midnight. Surveyed the damage. Breakage to the plastic front grill. The Toyota logo is long-gone, last seen spinning gracefully off into the night. The plate is mangled, but can be hammered flat. Lower bumper’s decorative strut snapped off. Hood edge is curled inward, will need straightening and a repaint. I found some of the plastic bits.

Greasey Monkey Man

Alan J Castonguay — Mon, 13 Jun 2005 04:57:49 +0000

In yet another episode of growing up, I now know how to change the oil and filter on a 2001 Corolla. It’s a little messy, but less than an hour’s slow work. I commemorated this astounding success by jumping in the pool, and leaving childish messages on Shannon’s voicemail. To recuperate my loss of dignity, I emptied and cleaned the kitch fridge/freezer, forcing my mother to acknolage the presence of, and deal with, several ancient evils.

Google Maps

Alan J Castonguay — Thu, 10 Feb 2005 23:52:33 +0000

Google Maps kicks an amazingly large quantity of MapQuest ass. Part of me doesn’t like the overuse of javascript, but at least Google works to ensure it’s error-free, and functional in various browsers. I’ve always liked Google’s use of in-band signaling for all their query options in the search boxes. It seems they are the closest group to attaining semi-true natural language recognition.

I can see my house from here!

And, for that matter, the route to ACen.

Parking Ticket Redux

Alan J Castonguay — Tue, 08 Feb 2005 18:22:14 +0000

Shannon and I managed to get my parking ticket waived, by way of buying (renting?) a parking pass. 6.25$ is significantly less than 35$. Good deal, yes?

So I have a Guest parking pass usable in Level2 parking permit areas. Effectively, this means around the university, and specifically, on the street in front of Shannon’s residence.