My Own Worst Enemy

Yesterday was:

• A trip to the Garden of the Gods, where we found out that cute little bunnies, like the one below, have the plague. (click to enlarge)
• A visit to Manitou Springs for Mallory's first taste of Manitou water and a look in at the local cult scene
• Bacon cheeseburgers and some much needed encouragement from Bob and Virginia at the Corner Cafe
• Searching the newspaper for cars and kittens
• Finding out there there are actually no pets at Petsmart
  
• Nearly taking advantage of the Border's 25% teacher discount
• Nearly adopting a kitten from the Humane Society
• Great food and great wine (homemade chicken alfredo and a German Riesling)
• A walk downtown to find a local brewery
• One beer turning into two beers and a couple games of pool (after finding out there was a $10 minimum on credit cards
• Two beers and pool turning into several beers and singing along to a cover band that played exclusively 90's alternative rock (a-mazing)
• Fighting a rabid weresquirrel on our walk back to my house
  
• Sleeping long and well before church

And your Halloween video of the day:

On The Radio

I still have my rental car. I called my mechanic again last Monday to ask what decision had been made - was my car totalled, or was he going ahead with the work - and, flabbergasted, he responded that he had called my claims adjuster half a dozen times, only to find out that he was taking a week-long vacation.

So, that means that a verdict will come in on Gretchen, at best, by this Tuesday (the adjuster has to come down from Denver to look at her) and if she's dead I'll have a week and a half more of the rental to find a new car, and if she isn't I'll have at least a week and a half of waiting for her to get fixed. What I like to call a "groundhog situation."

The DL on XM

A couple weeks ago I was super excited about the fact that my rental came with XM radio, and strangely I found that the "'40's" station could hold my attention the longest, with "Nashville" coming in a close second. At first I was super-impressed by XM. The 90's station wasn't playing songs like "Jenny From The Block" or Inrique Iglesias' "Hero," it was bumping jams like "One Headlight," "What I Got," and "Gettin' Jiggy Wit' It."

By the same token "Nashville" wasn't playing "Redneck Woman" or "Save a Horse..." it was playing "When You Walk In" (early Lonestar) and "Indian Outlaw" (early Tim McGraw).

But, as fate would have it, my XM was only a trial and ceased to function on the same day that I found out I would be driving my rental for another two weeks.

I love resources like Pandora and XM because they prove that somewhere it is in someone's best economic interest to produce a quality product, and to cater to a group other than the "I Kissed A Girl"-loving multitude.

Also, I love that someone is trying to improve radio, while still holding to the principles that make radio great. While I know that at any time I begin a roadtrip I could use my iTrip to blast "Life is a Highway" and start things off right, I would much, much rather have "Life is a Highway" come up randomly on the radio 1 in 1000 times and know that the powers that be have blessed my trip.

The radio is beautiful because it is random, whenever I go back to it I'm always happy I did, and I feel a little guilty that I've had the mp3-player-strangle-hold over my musical life for so long.

So, let loose today, turn on the radio and hear the soundtrack to your life that you've been ignoring.




Also, I want ya'll to know that I came across my old CD wallet this week and, for the first time since freshman year of college, actually had a CD player. So, I've been listening to:

1. The Remix (a great CD Pat made me in high school), highlights: "Hot Stepper" and "Sundown"
2. High School Soundtrack (a CD I made for my walk to school senior year), highlights: "Authority Song" by Jimmy Eat World and "Fire Escape" by Fastball
3. Senior Year (a perfect mix of songs, none of which I can actually listen to because the emotion is still too raw), highlights: "Told You So" by BNL and "Champagne High" by Sister Hazel

That Green Gentleman [Things have Changed]

Yesterday was our first foray into the mall-scene of CSprings, and, though most of the success of the day had little to do with the bounty of the mall itself, it was a decidedly successful trip. We began with only one mission objective (finding Leroy a new shirt for an upcoming wedding) but Chapel Hills had more in store (a pun!) for us. Our first, and to my mind our greatest, find was this:

I watched this video on an in-store TV, waiting for the artist/song information at the end while Brad tried to decide which beaded bracelet made him look most like a surfer. I couldn't have been more surprised when I found out that it was Panic at the Disco. Turns out even a tool store like Aberepublic or Bananazombie or wherever we were, and even a teen-pop band like Panic at the Disco, can really brighten my day. I think that Steve and Barry should enlist the help of the Old Navy and having traversed the Gap under the watch of Pacific Sun declare war on the Banana Republic (two words? I'm not even willing to google that). Notice that in the previous sentence I mentioned those stores (probably all owned by the same company) in order of increasing quality of their sweat sho... I mean textiles. Anyway, that song will make your day.

We also took the time to watch a round of American Idol tryouts that were going on at the mall all afternoon:

Plus we uncovered yet another example of corporate underhandedness. In a store which shall remain nameless, I found the very shirt I was wearing. The funny part is the shirt I was wearing was purchased about a year ago from Express. The shirt we found is made by "The Beverly Hills Polo Club" and is being sold for what I conjecture to be about 1/4th of the price of the Express shirt.

Once again the Old West isn't afraid to add insult to injury. Even when it means making me doubt the integrity of the very shirt on my back.

More on the mall later.

Also later this week: another in memoriam, a post about food, and something about politics.