Start Me Up
Happy Birthday to my brother Greg! He just turned 24!! woo hoo!! 
So… today I woke up to one of the most beautiful days I’ve ever seen here in Houston. high 60’s and not a cloud in the sky. slight cool breeze that made it feel almost cold in the shade, but wonderfully comfortable in the sun. I was on my way out the door and thought that since the only place I had to go today was to the bank, I might as well take a trip to the park… rollerblade some… maybe just walk around and enjoy the weather.
I made it two blocks… and my car broke down as I was turning north onto Fannin from Holly Hall. (Thank goodness the rodeo was over or else this would have been a much worse day than usual).
I didn’t really panic when this happened… though I thought I would. I just sat there trying to start it, but what I was more concerned about were the people that were driving on Fannin that I was pretty much blocking. It was a little rough. There was a taxi cab right behind me as we approached the light… there was no-one in front of me. As soon as my car putzed out, I didn’t think at that very second to turn on my hazards. I did in about 2 seconds, but no more than 2 seconds after that did the cab driver honk like shit at me as if I was purposely trying to stall him. I went and got out of the car, since trying to start it was useless, and as I waved the cab to go around me (and in VERY light traffic too and no-one around him) the guy gives me some rude look and gave me some sort of inappropriate hand gesture, as if I purposely broke my car down and slowed the guy down by, what, 15 seconds?? Geez… I’m not one of those people who goes around big cities complaining like “boy, the people there were just rude…”. But this guy… oy! He ticked me off. But actually not at the time he screeched by… but later on while I was waiting for the tow truck and had nothing else better to do but reflect on the morning so far. At first when it happened, I just felt more embarrassed and less threatened. I just felt bad that I was blocking everyone and it happened so fast.
Eventually, after traffic had cleared some, I got a couple guys to help me back it up the road into a gated exit to an apartment complex that was about 100 yards back. The traffic was too busy and the road conditions are just not good enough in that area for me to try and push it back the two blocks to my apartment complex. So I just sat there at the exit waiting for my tow truck to arrive.
By the way… all the way back in August of 2006, I was signing up for my new cell phone through Verizon. Never before have I done this, but I noticed they offered a roadside assistance deal that was an add on for my plan at a rate of an extra $3/mo. I have to go back and check, but it’s really not much additional at all. I am very thankful I had my big wallet with me (with all my extra cards and things) and had the roadside assistance card. They offer free towing up to 10 miles, bring you gasoline, battery jump start, tire pump… basically anything that you desperately need if you’re stranded. I am just so thankful I had that service. 2 blocks or 20 blocks… I got a free tow out of it. Talk about lucky. The city rate in Houston is a around $140 flat rate, no matter what the distance. I talked to a guy on the phone who was going to charge me $125 and told me I wasn’t gonna find a better deal in Houston. Well, shit! I’m gonna have to ask all my Verizon wireless users out there to sign up for this service. You might not think you need it, and I only paid for it for 19 months before finally having to use it. Maybe it paid for itself after all this time, but who cares…. I signed a piece of paper when he took me home and never had to pull out my wallet.
It was a boring wait though as I waited for the tow truck guy. Thankfully I was able to get a hold of Cathy and she helped get me some numbers of other companies that were really no help in the end. But I’m glad she was there and actually able to answer her phone. I called at least 15 other people out of my contact list and no-one answered. (If I called and didn’t leave a msg, sorry about that). It was rough….. but I got through. I rolled up my sleeves, layed out on my trunk and made the most of it by turning the radio on and getting my tan on. ha! it was a unique was to “lay out” but what else was I gonna do?
Well… my car won’t start now. Which is okay with me, strange enough. I have a bike… I can get around on it just fine (if I can friggin’ fix my damn brakes, which are all a mess at the moment) and so long as I got good weather I’m fine. Another plus to this happening is that with gas prices rising, I’m gonna save a fortune on gas. I’m not saying I’d rather be stranded and limited to only my bike, but c’mon folks… seriously, are we gonna have to pay between $4 and $5 for gas soon? wow!
Something I have been contemplating lately is to just go for broke and buy a motorcycle. I have a few friends I told that to that jumped down my throat saying how ridiculous that idea was. Okay, I understand where they’re coming from, but buying a motorcycle is something I have dreamed of for about 8 years now. I remember being in NY and with Blast at the time… I was thinking of buying a bike there in NY and was actually in the process of saving cash to get one. Then I ended up leaving the show and that dream got shot down hard core. 
No biggie though… I ended up going back to Michigan, where having a motorcycle would kinda be a waste of space anyway… at least for 8-9 months out of the year. But in TX, I could get out every now and then and get places with less of a hassle and it would just be bad ass! I don’t know how or when this happened, but I am just fascinated with being a guy on a crotch rocket and tearin’ it up. Okay, okay… don’t worry, I’m not gonna be some dangerous freak like some people out there… I’ll be safe. Trust me… I’ll take it seriously and it’s not something I will take for granted and always assume I’ll be okay. But I will take whatever classes they offer (at Stubbs, perhaps) and make sure I don’t do anything stupid. But it sure would be fun, eh? I think I’m gonna do it. I’m gonna get a motorcycle!
But why the motorcycle if I don’t have a car? I don’t know… I’ll figure something out. The cycle may not happen of course… but I can dream, right?
Anyway, we’ll leave it at that for tonight. Tomorrow isn’t as much of a ‘busy’ day as it is just to make certain arrangements to get a few places on short notice. Joe Aicher has his senior recital tomorrow at UH and I really want to go. Well, I’ll make sure I make it out there but I just might have to work some magic. I could just bike all the way there… it’s only around 5 or 6 miles, I think? Yeah, I just looked it up on my iPod and it tells me 5.3 miles. That might change depending on the route I take by bike because I can’t necessarily get on 59 north on my mongoose! hahaha! It looks like Almeda to OST to Scott and I’m basically there. That works. I’ve never timed any of my trips by bike. I wonder how long it’ll take. Hmm? Oh well.
Okay, time to really go. I just wanted to end this by saying that talking to Cathy today really made my day and I’m just glad she was around to help me out. It’s been a rough couple days for me (for whatever reason) and I’m glad I have friends like her that are in my life.