Goodbye old friend

Today I waved goodbye to the first car that was really mine. The first car that I researched, picked out, bought new, financed, and paid off.

It was a 1995 Ford Explorer with over 150,000 miles - most from the first 5 years. I had a couple of cars before it that were registered in my name but they were family hand me downs and I do not think we ever even changed the title with those. The Explorer was picked out when I was doing a lot more road trips and camping with friends. It also helped me move 4 times, made many trips to the hardware store for my dad, transported a lawnmower between homes for a summer, and it survived - with only a little body damage - Hurricane Fran trying to hide it under 4 trees.

It served me well but we finally reached a point where it would cost more to have it fixed than it was worth as a trade in. It no longer wanted to let me move the gear shaft into place (it was a stick) and it seemed that the clutch was not disengaging the transmission so it might not cost much in parts but the labor costs alone would exceed the trade value.

I donated it to Habitat for Humanity. I hope they can make some money. It should have some good parts or maybe it can be fixed up easily enough to sell.

-SML

Everything is bigger in Texas

Everything is bigger in Texas. That is what they say isn't it? Well my week can definitely contribute to that at least some of those theories.

The roads are bigger and the cars are bigger and the traffic delays are bigger.
It took 2 hours to go about 25 miles on Friday afternoon trying to get to the airport. That eliminated any chance of getting on the earlier flight....

Getting on the earlier flight probably would not have happened anyway since there were cancellations yesterday due to the storms including the afternoon flight to Raleigh. I am sure they are still trying to find seats for all of those people...

Yesterdays storms were actually Wed afternoon to Thurs afternoon storms. Lots of rain, lots of flooding, lots of wind, lots of damage. Some news reports mentioned "worse ever".

By the way - it is not fun sitting in a car in traffic and jumping out of your skin in surprise when the town tornado sirens go off. I managed to wait out the worst of the storm in the Whole Foods Market eating dinner but I had to fight some strong wind in the parking lot and the power went out briefly just after I got inside. I got a little wet going to work the next morning too.

Despite the hot but otherwise very nice weather in TX tonight, I am sitting in the airport waiting for my flight home that is now almost 2 hours delayed. At this point I won't be home until tomorrow, at least technically.

One thing that was NOT bigger this week was the training room. We crammed 15 people in elbow to elbow to use the laptops on a desks barely deep enough to hold everything. Some very bright guys in this class though.

-SML

You have got to be kidding!

The only direct flights from Raleigh to Newark are on Continental!
I used to take the AA flight. Nothing like downsizing for the economy.

-SML