Fuck Off / Fuck You Means Brother in Japanese.
Posted by Erik | Filed under Uncategorized
Update time! I haven’t written a damn thing in over a month and time certainly flies. I shall endeavour to send this update into the cyber bitstream post haste, tout de suite, on the double, immediately if not sooner.
Back in May, I asked my mom where she would like to go on a trip or vacation and I would take her anywhere. The point was it was supposed to be my gift to her for her birthday. Mom’s a slot machine addict, so the only place she wanted to go was Laughlin. So guess where we went? In the middle of July when it was 119 degrees, we were in the southeast Nevada desert. I burned a couple vacation days for it but it was nice to be away from work a bit. It worked out well for me, as at one point I had an extra $2400. I lost a little of that but still came home with more than 2 grand, plus the original $300 I started with. How’s that for profit? Paid of the remainder of my new roof replaced in February.
Near the end of July, it was time for me to move into the digital age. I now have a Hitachi 50 inch plasma and a Nintendo Wii. I got the Wii specifically so Martina and I could play together. It’s a blast playing bowling and playing tennis on the sports game, and I’ve got a silly WarioWare game full of five second microgames that’s fun too. And now I have a web browser on my TV thanks to the Wii, and that’s convenient for geeky me. I want an Xbox 360 but pretty much for one game only - Grand Theft Auto IV - but since it’s been pushed back to spring 2008 I don’t need to drool over that for some time yet.
I must say that NBC sucks ass, or at least the president does, for believing people will watch their shows whether in HD or not. Bullshit. Only 25% of their summer lineup is in HD, far less than the other networks. Boo! Cox also sucks, having a crappy HD lineup. I’ll switch to satellite after I see what kind of response they come up with to the new channels DirecTV is pushing this fall. Cox spends so damned much time promoting their digital phone service which I do not want and seemingly little time on digital TV upgrades. Boo!
Early on July 27th, I woke up and thought I was hearing something awkward. This is impressive since it didn’t wake up Martina and I’m the one with moderate to severe hearing loss. I didn’t pop in the magic ears (hearing aids), and simply went back to sleep. Later that morning when I got up, I realized no air was pumping out from the AC though it was on. Kicking myself for opting not to renew my home warranty for another year at $400, I called a maintenace company and was thrilled they could actually send a tech out that day. I wouldn’t have to fork out for a night in a hotel then. I had my AC motor replaced for over $1100. Oh the joy of home ownership!
Moving on then. On August 13th, while driving to work on one of the few days a week I don’t work from home, I had the misfortune of rear-ending an F-150 on the freeway. I was paying more attention to an SUV in my rearview mirror that didn’t seem to be stopping and didn’t notice I was too close to the truck ahead of me until it was too late. I braked but hit the left side of the bumper - and mainly the extended trailer hitch - with the right front of my bumper.
As at-fault accidents go, I lucked out. We pulled off to the shoulder and the driver of the truck looked at his bumper, saw no damage, said he was fine and was ready to drive off. I was shocked, but not going to complain about that. I gave him my name and number but didn’t get his, and we didn’t swap insurance info either. A DPS officer arrived within 2 minutes. The other driver said he had no damage and we explained our intentions. The DPS officer said as long as we’re ok with swapping info, and if my car was drivable, he was fine with that and said goodbye. So while I caused this stupid rear-ender, there’s no ticket and no claim against my liability or property damage.
So my car’s in the body shop and has been since the 14th. The downside is I do have a $1250 collision deductible. I did that on purpose as it keeps my rate lower and I earn interest on the difference. I have a crappy Chevy Cobalt rental in the meantime and I was told today I’ll probably have my car back early next week. I miss my in dash linux MP3 player, radio sucks!
This week was the first week of classes for universities and community colleges - and so found Martina and I at MCC. She’s taking some computer courses this semester and together we’re taking SGL101 - American Sign Language I. It’s fun so far, and I’m really excited to be able to converse. I hope to complete at least 3 semesters but no less than 2. Our instructor teaches at a high school and at MCC. He’s actually deaf and I’m thrilled about that. I prefer a more immersive style of learning, I enjoy mental challenges even when they frustrate the hell out of me. So the first night, he’s explaining that ASL is American only and not at all usable in other countries. Nearly every country has its own version actually. British Sign Language is distinctly different than American (even the alphabet is done with two hands versus one), which is different than Irish, which is even different than Northern Irish. To illustrate, he used a few signs and wrote what they meant in other countries. Flipping someone off is essentially the Japanese sign for brother. That’s fun. 
Tomorrow night, Martina and I are going to go hang out with Beth & George. We’ll go have dinner and then have a Wii party. I haven’t played four player doubles tennis yet so this should be fun!
As far as travel - I hate the fact I have no plans to go anywhere right now. School has thrown a monkey wrench into that since I’m back on the long, drawn-out 17 week semester schedule. I’m hoping to take the six days I’ve got and take Martina with me to Germany, Switzerland, Czech Republic or anywhere we can find some awesome Christmas markets - Christmas has a much better feel on that continent, at least until the EU I actually love manages to ruin it anyway.
And that’s all she wrote for now…
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My name is Erik Heinz and I am the ArizonaGuy.