you are repressed, but you're remarkably dressed

Mainstream media really sucks sometimes.
Take for example the headline from this story, from Reuters:

Sex abuse victim to carry US colors

The story is about Chris Witty, who has been a Winter Olympics mainstay for the US in middle distance speed skating. She's won three Olympic medals, including the Gold for the 1,000 meters in 2002. In that event, she set a World Record time, which still stands.
Also, she has competed in some cycling events in two different Summer Olympics, making her only the ninth American to compete in both the Summer and Winter Games.

She was selected to be the flag bearer for the United States in the opening ceremonies of the Turin Games.

Witty recently announced that she was a victim of sexual abuse as a child. Surely this is a horrible thing, and something that should not be ignored. However, I think Reuters was remiss in their choice of words in the headline. It makes it seem as if they pulled some kid out of an orphanage to hoist the flag. It might also unintentionally shift the focus from "Chris Witty, Olympic athlete" to "Chris Witty, sexual abuse victim". If she wishes to be known henceforth as "abuse victim", that's one thing, but I still think they could have done something like:

US Flagbearer, five time Olympian Chris Witty was abused as a child

Those are just my two cents.

now playing:

The Mountain Goats All Hail West Texas

you're gonna make me spill my beer if you don't learn how to steer

I thought I would get some really negative responses to my "Stanley Cup is greater than Lombardi Trophy" post. Instead, I got some excellent questions concerning the Cup. I'll answer them as best as I know how.

Lord Stanley's Cup was named for its benefactor, Frederick Arthur Stanley, the 16th Earl of Derby. He came to Canada and was Governor general for some period of time. He was always a sports enthusiast, and in his stay in Canada, he became enthralled with ice hockey. He had the idea of having a challenge cup for the best team in Canada. Obviously, in 1893, this meant amateur teams. However, over time, the Cup was given to the team who wins the NHL playoffs. As you may know, there was a labor stoppage last season, and the Cup was not awarded. During the lockout, some citizens pleaded their case in front of Canadian courts to award the Cup to the best amateur team. It came too late, but just this week, the courts decided that the Cup should be awarded to an amateur team if there should ever be another season lost to a work stoppage.

Lord Stanley made many demands when he donated the Cup, which cost the equivalent of roughly $50. Among them was that no team shall ever own the Cup. They shall have possession of it for one year, and they shall return it in good shape upon having it challenged away from them. This is probably the most important thing that defines the Stanley Cup. No team shall ever own it, and it is returned to its trustees after one year.

Another excellent question concerns the names on the cup. What happens when it gets full? The Stanley Cup, as you probably know, is multi-tiered. Under the main bowl are three rings which gradually get larger. After that, there are a series of five rings of equal size. The bottom-most ring is where the newest additions to the cup are. When this bottom-most ring gets full, the top of the five rings is removed and taken to the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto. There should be two more seasons on the current Cup before the bottom-most ring gets full.

Winners do not get a replica or a plaque. They do get a ring, which is pretty cool. And each member of the winning team (including the coaching staff, the equipment managers, the radio guy, etc) gets to hang out with the Cup for 24 hours. The Cup has a bodyguard, who travels with it all the time, to make sure that nothing really bad happens to it.

A question that hasn't been asked specifically of me, but which should be answered anyway is about the authenticity of the cup. There are actually three Stanley Cups. The original Cup, which only lasted a few seasons, sits on display in the Hall of Fame. It was redesigned later on, and there are two versions of the modern Cup. One version lives at the Hall of Fame, and is never passed around. It is free of spelling errors, and obviously free of physical defect. The second is the one that gets passed around and taken to bars, and goes on tour. There are a few physical defects from its misadventures, and there are something like eight spelling errors on that Cup.

For reference, the Cup stands nearly three feet tall and weighs in at 36 1/2 pounds. In comparison, the Lombardi stands just under two feet tall and weighs seven pounds

what a beautiful face i have found in this place

>

So there's a huge basketball game tonight. It's a mismatch in Duke's favor, but both teams always rise to the occasion, so we should expect a close game. It should be fun, anyway. I think there was a football game of some importance the other night, too. That's what I came here to write about. Sort of. Quick. What's the name of the trophy given to the Superbowl Champ? Think you could pick it out of a police lineup? I stumbled on this article, in the McPaper the other day. Yes, the NFL is envious of the recognition enjoyed by, and the mystique surrounding Lord Stanley's Cup. They think that, with the right marketing gurus, they can put it on the same level with hockey's holy grail.

Here's what they have in mind, followed by what I think of their ideas:

Pigskin Presentation Stand. The league is building a sleek, high-tech presentation stand shaped like a football with a red carpet leading up to it.

Are they serious? Do they really think that anyone gives a rats ass about the podium? Or how it is presented, or who presents it? Since they were the ones to draw the comparison, I'll reference the presentation of the Stanley Cup. When the Cup is presented to the Captain of the winning team, it sits on a fucking card table at center ice. That's about as low-tech as it gets. Sure, the table is draped with a special table cloth, and there is a "Stanley Cup" red carpet, but there's nothing sleek or high tech about it. The commissioner of the NHL hands it over. No celebrities, no hall of fame player. Just the commish. Nobody cares about the table or the carpet. They just want to see the victors hoist the Cup. I would think that the NFL would be wasting their money on a "sleek high-tech presentation stand" that nobody will give a shit about.

Super Bowl highlights. NFL Films will try to keep the crowd around for the trophy ceremony by debuting a 41/2-minute long film featuring highlights from Super Bowls I-XXXIX. The league hopes broadcaster ABC will then seamlessly cut from a commercial break to the trophy presentation.

Yeah the highlights are all good and well for the 80,000 in attendance. But what about the 10 million people watching on television. I seriously don't think this would be in aid of promoting the Lombardi trophy, anyway. The "One Magic Moment" highlight reel does wonders for CBS during the NCAA Final Four, but it does nothing to promote the actual trophy. I couldn't even tell you what the NCAA basketball trophy looks like. I can sing that song word for word, but you could whack me in the head with the trophy, and I wouldn't even know what hit me. Which brings us to the third point...

Hail to the trophy. The NFL is creating signature theme music and protocol for the trophy that Supovitz describes as its own Hail to the Chief for this and future Super Bowls.

Maybe this is the most laughable. Theme music? Yeah, right. I can imagine the following conversation NEVER taking place:

Hey, Chris... Have you heard that new Lombardi Trophy song?

Yeah, dude, that's a fucking jam! I totally have the utmost respect for that trophy now.

Um... right. To my knowledge, this would be the only trophy that has its own gay music. Maybe it'll work, but it seems silly to me.

Here's what might be my favorite part of the article:

"We're building a mythology around it," says Frank Supovitz, the former NHL executive turned senior vice president of events for the NFL.

Building? a mythology? around it?

The reason that the Stanley Cup has a mythology around it is that it is the very same cup from one year to the next. The original cup sits in the hockey hall of fame, and is kinda banged up, but it has been a challenge cup since 1893. By comparison, the NFL manufactures a new Lombardi Trophy each year. The trophy is inscribed with the year, and the name of the winning team. That trophy is the permanent property of said team. The Stanley Cup, however, moves along. It is never the property of any team; they simply have possession of it for one year. The name of every team, and of every player who has ever won is etched on the Cup. And in a tradition that's only about 10 years old, each player gets to do whatever he wants with the Cup for one day. That's part of the mythology. Players have baptized their children in the cup. They've taken it to the boobie bar and let fans drink beer from it. They've thrown it in the bottom of swimming pools. They've taken it on roller coasters, and on mountain climbing excursions.
Before the era of players having personal time with the Cup, there were quite a few tales of mistreatment of, or misplacement of the Cup. For instance, in 1905, when the Ottawa Silver Seven won the Cup, one of the drunken players dropkicked the Cup into the canal on a dare. It sat there overnight, and was later retrieved (a little worse for the wear) from the frozen surface of the canal. So there's stuff like that which can never be part of the "lore" of the Lombardi Trophy.
Players in the NHL get a real kick out of being able to hoist the exact same Cup that hockey's legends have. To have their name etched permanently on the same Cup with hockey's legends. To have in their possession, the very same Cup that (so-and-so)'s dog ate out of. The very same Cup that was accidentally left on the side of the road by the 1924 Montréal Canadiens.

First of all, it would take years, maybe decades for the "created" mythology of the Lombardi Trophy to take hold. And the chances of it taking hold are lessened by the simple fact that every year, a new trophy is made. Nobody will ever say about the Lombardi "Wow... I'm holding this object that Bart Starr held 40 years ago." Or "wow, this thing sure has had some adventures, and my kids are eating cereal out of it right now".

My advice to the NFL if they want the Lombardi Trophy to be more famous than the Stanley Cup would be to make it into a challenge trophy. And change the design of it. It's frankly very boring that the football champ gets a trophy in the shape of a football. If you want it to have some of its own mythology rather than some invented mythology, it should be designed such that the winning players can do stuff with (or in) it. It works for the Stanley Cup.

I would also advise the NFL to start handing out more hardware. And speaking of which, "Diet Pepsi Rookie of the Year Award" isn't gonna cut it. That's something else that hockey fans get really pumped up about -- the multitude of different trophies that are handed out each year. Some of those trophies are, admittedly, pretty lame. Most, however are not only beautiful awards, but they have rich tradition as well. I could go into detail about them all, but I'll spare you that.

Now playing:

Drop Nineteens Delaware

screwed up eyes and screwed down hairdo, like some cat from japan

Saturday morning, I woke up thinking about Bauhaus. Specifically, their version of "Ziggy Stardust". About a month ago, I dusted off my "Bauhaus" section of the CD racks and listened to them for the first time in years. That was prompted by a text message from Hans, who recently saw Bauhaus perform in Chicago.

I don't think that was what caused me to wake up thinking about Bauhaus, though. I figure it had something to do with a mix tape that was made for me on my last night at my old job. There's a girl there who I have a crush on. She'd been promising me a copy of her band's CD for a while, and for the occasion of my last night, she made that for me plus a mix CD. As far as her band, I have to give the hesitant thumbs down. It sounds a bit like Bikini Kill but with significantly less talent. Is that mean?

Anyway, the mix CD is pretty awesome, but it didn't have a track listing. I knew about a third of the songs, and I could guess the artist on another third, but there were four or five that I had no idea. With a little help from the internets, I was able to figure them all out. Except one. There's a cover of "Love Will Tear Us Apart" that's almost exactly like the original. I guess it's possible that it actually is Joy Division (maybe some alternate version), but it just doesn't sound like Ian Curtis. Not that I'm a huge Joy Division fan, but I have heard that song hundreds of times, and it sounds different. After all, as my friend Kevin always points out, the beginning of that song marks the threshold between the punk era and the new wave era. You know... when the synthesizer kicks in.

Anyway, I spent a while trying to figure out who it is, and why they chose to do a cover of a great song without adding anything to it. I like it when someone covers a song brilliantly by maybe changing the instrumentation, or the pace of it, or the gender of the singer, or something like that. Or they do something, anything, to make the cover stand apart from the original. Except mess with the lyrics.

All that said, I still think that Bauhaus' version of "Ziggy Stardust" is incredible. It's damn near identical to the Bowie version, musically and lyrically. And even though it doesn't do anything to stand apart, I love it.

So anyway, thinking about the cover(?) of "Love Will Tear Us Apart" made the wheels start turning, and I woke up thinking about "Ziggy Stardust". For your enjoyment, and perhaps your criticism, here's Kate's mix:

1. Mason Jennings -- Nothing
   
2. Of Montréal -- Wraith Pinned to the Mist and Other Games
   
3. Arcade Fire -- Neighborhood
   
4. Built to Spill -- The Plan
   
5. Björk -- Human Behaviour
   
6. David Bowie -- Sound and Vision
   
7. The Amps -- Full on Idle
   
8. T-Rex -- Jitterbug Love
   
9. Modest Mouse -- Interstate 8
   
10. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah --The Skin of My Country Yellow Teeth
    
11. Fugazi -- Bed For the Scraping
    
12. Tiger Bear Wolf --You Play Guitar
    
13. We Versus the Shark --The Graceless Planet
    
14. The Faint --Glass Danse
    
15. Tom Waits --Hoist that Rag
    
16. Pixies --Here Comes Your Man
    
17. Johnny Cash --I Won't Back Down
    
18. ????? --Love Will Tear Us Apart
    
19. Kill Creek --Colors of Home
    
20. Neutral Milk Hotel --In the Aeroplane Over the Sea
    
21. Stellastarr --Pulp Song

Quick notes on some of the ones I didn't know:

Tracks 12 and 13 are both very mathy and they're by bands that I hadn't listened to, but all of the indie kids around here talk about. To be honest, I'm not that into either.

Kill Creek. I didn't recall ever hearing this band before, but a quick look at their website told me that they've been around for quite some time, and I recognized one of their records from having been in heavy rotation at WQFS back in the early 90s. Back then, they sounded like they were trying to sound like Superchunk. The song that's on Kate's mix sounds like they're trying to sound like Rainer Maria.

Stellastarr. Can anyone say PiL? I actually had to go to their website to make sure is wasn't really John Lydon.

It had probably been seven years since I've listened to the Amps, so that was really neat to have that song on there.

I don't care if you call me a fag, but I really like Mason Jennings. He keeps showing up on mix CDs, and I don't own anything by him, but I like everything I've heard. Say what you want.

I've got something in the works for a Tuesday afternoon post that will be full of arrogance, snobbery and holier than thou-ness. Tune in later for that.

A sneak preview: Football is inferior to hockey.

Now Playing:

Hayden Elk-Lake Serenade

If only I was sure that my head on the door was a dream

Once again, I need to congratulate Kevin for another outstanding performance at a Scrabble tournament. He went down to Charlotte and came back with a nice chunk of change in his pocket for winning his division. He was 13-1 and won most of those games with ease.

With that in mind, I wanted to share one of our recent games. We've been doing that Wednesday night thing, and we had a really good game two weeks ago. Because the board was so pretty, I reconstructed it later and I'm sharing a picture of it here.

Here's how the plays went:

David 1: BLAME ..........24 (24)
Kevin 1: ENVIOUS.......73 (73)
David 2: AY ..................22 (46)
Kevin 2: REMANDED......86 (159)
David 3: BIO ............5 (51)
Kevin 3: RAKE ..........30 (189)
David 4: IsATINE ........67 (118)
Kevin 4: TINNY ..........18 (207)
David 5: EX .............52 (170)
Kevin 5: WRY ............18 (225)
David 6: FOP ............21 (191)
Kevin 6: QUILT ..........28 (253)
David 7: LORE ...........18 (209)
Kevin 7: FEZ ............30 (283)
David 8: JoWS ...........63 (272)
Kevin 8: SWATTER ........74 (357)
David 9: COVER ..........30 (302)
Kevin 9: OHO ............35 (392)
David 10: FOH ..........13 (315)
Kevin 10: COATI ........20 (412)
David 11: PAL ..........10 (325)
Kevin 11: DIG ..........11 (423)
David 12: RECOVERING ...48 (373)
Kevin 12: SILEX ........29 (452)
David 13: BAUD .........28 (401)
Kevin 13: ET ...........18 (470)
David 14: TUG ...........4 (405)

Kevin had three points (A-E-I) remaining on his rack, so I got six for that, pushing my total to 411 to his 470.

I really liked this game because despite starting off in a huge hole, I managed to crawl back and make it close. Kevin had three bingos to my one. I got both blanks. Kevin got three of the four esses. We split the "power" tiles; I got X and J while Kevin got K, Q, and Z. All told, the tile gods were pretty fair. "ENVIOUS" was a great find by Kevin. I liked my "RECOVERING" a lot because it isn't often you get to play a ten letter word, and although it wasn't a bingo ("COVER" was already on the board -- I simply added the RE- and -ING hooks), 48 is nothing to sneeze at.

One of us hitting 400 is pretty normal, but it's rare for both of us to hit that mark.

Kevin had 13 plays for 470, which is an average of 36.15 points per turn.
I had 14 plays for 411, which is an average of 29.36 points per turn.

Another great thing about this game is that there isn't really anything fancy there. None of my ridiculous triple-triples. With the exception of my "JoWS", the triple word squares weren't really a big factor.

Back in the day, we'd take way more turns and get less total points, so we've both improved drastically. I'm still planning on getting back into the tournament fray, and thankfully when I do, Kevin will be in a higher division than I. Athens GA is a possibility. February 25-26. The 'Canes will be off for the Olympic break, so I don't have to worry about a game interfering. I won't be able to watch the medal rounds on TV, but I'll be okay with that.

Now playing:

The Dandy Warhols Come Down

Fill our Christmas socks with whiskey drinks and chocolate bars

So here's the thing.

I'm not really into making New Year's resolutions. However, I did recently set some goals for myself to reach this year. Some of them are general in nature, some more specific.

One of the more general ones was to be better to myself and to take days off work when there's something I want to do. So far, I've been doing that. There's an out of town hockey game that I'm going to this weekend. I've never allowed myself to go to things like 30th birthday parties or concerts or MLK weekends or cd release parties because I made myself work. But I'm trying to change, and taking the weekend off to go to a hockey game in DC is a big step in the right direction.

Another step in that direction, one that I'd like myself to make this calendar year is to find a job where I don't work weekends anyway.

On those same lines, I had a #1 goal of getting out of my current job before St. Patrick's Day. I work in an Irish pub, and St. Patty's is so completely retardedly busy that everyone wants to kill each other when it's all over. Last year, almost the entire staff worked 13 hour shifts, both in the front and the back of the house. That was my #1 objective, and I've succeeded at reaching that. I'm going to work at a different restaurant (bar/grill, really) that was recently bought by a friend of mine. He'll pay me better, but won't be able to offer benefits right away. I don't care about that because this is a guy I've known and worked with for seven years, and I'm doing it as much for him as for me. I was delighted to be given the chance, and I jumped at it. I start in three weeks. The horrible part is that the owner at my current job is such a nice (and gorgeous, to boot) lady. I've known her long before I started working there, and we've always gotten along well. It broke my heart to tell her, but I have to do it.

Other goals: get (and keep) a girlfriend, go to a few more rock shows, try to get back in the indie-rock loop, take control of my finances, things like that.

Also, going hand-in-hand with allowing myself to do fun things is that I want to play in some Scrabble tournaments this year. The first obvious choice for that is a big tournament in Charlotte at the end of January. Unfortunately, it interferes with a hockey game that I would otherwise skip if not for the historic importance of it. It's the day that the Hurricanes will be retiring the #10 sweater of Ron Francis, who is by anyone's account, one of the 10 greatest players of all time.
I'll think about going to the Pigeon Forge, TN tournament in April, which is a mammoth tournament -- a four day affair.

Other things that aren't so much goals as HOPES. If one of my sports teams could win a championship, I'd be totally thrilled. My Panthers are one game away from the Superbowl, so that's a good chance. My Hurricanes are presently the top team in the NHL, with a little less than half a season to go. So that's looking good, too.

Anyway, I've accomplished one of my goals already, even if it fell into my lap. I'm working on some of the others.

now playing:

Magnetic Fields 69 Love Songs, part 1

Before we begin operating, would you like these instruments to be washed in elevator juice or hospital equipment-washing stuff?

Just to prove I'm still alive.

So I'm minding my own affairs, reading the online version of the Raleigh News & Observer.

I came across this article about Duke University Health System. It caught my eye because my good friend Amanda is an RN at Duke. The article had nothing to do with her or her ward, but I thought I would read up about the goings on over there.

Turns out, they fucked up really bad, and have come forward to apologize for it. In a nutshell, what happened is that some maintenence folks were draining hydraulic fluid out of some elevators as part of routine elevator maintenence stuff. The fluid was drained into some empty detergent barrels, and were presumably set aside for disposal. Somehow, this fluid was recirculated as "cleaning agent", and lots of surgical tools were "sterilized" using said elevator juice. Some 3,800 patients at two hospitals were operated upon using the tainted equipment.

They've come forward to apologize, and apparently they are protected from litigation. North Carolina has recently joined many other states in enacting a mea culpa law that states that as long as they admit fault, AND apologize, people cannot come out of the woodwork to sue. If they have legitimate health issue stemming from this aggregious act of negligence, then they can sue. I can understand the logic, which is to prevent silly litigation. However, there has to be some provision for a case like this.

This part of the article actually made me laugh:

One study confirmed that instruments were clean of viruses, bacteria or fungi in spite of the hydraulic fluid on them, easing concerns about infections. A second study, which Duke commissioned from RTI International in Research Triangle Park, analyzed the chemical composition of the used hydraulic fluid and determined how much was left on instruments. RTI reported that about 1/2000th of a drop of fluid coated the instruments -- an amount so small that Duke has argued it was harmless.

James A. Bond, a toxicologist and editor of the journal Chemico-Biological Interactions, reviewed RTI's full report and said the amount of fluid on the instruments is important because risk depends on the dose. The smaller the amount of fluid, Bond said, the smaller the risk to patients.

But he notes that, despite RTI's findings, there is no way to know exactly how much hydraulic fluid came off into patients' bodies. Further, if fluid did come off, there's no way to know how much each patient absorbed.

Here's my whole thing. Agent 007 doesn't think that anyone should be alarmed. "Oh, c'mon. It's just a few drops. You'll get over it". I'm not as qualified to comment on the toxicoligy of it, but I would loudly scream that any amount at all, whether it's one drop or one gallon or 1/2000th of a drop, is WAY too much hydrolic fluid to wash surgical equipment with. He seems to be taking the "It's not that bad" route instead of the "Wow! That's really fucked up" route.

Mmpfh.

people say she's bad, but they don't see the way she is with me

I'm not dead. I'm just a little .... underinspired. Is that a word?

I've sort of crawled into a corner ever since my accident. Yes, I was uninjured, but I haven't done anything remotely social or extracurricular since then. Hockey games don't count. When I go to (or even watch on TV) hockey games, I'm actually "working" for my non-paying job. That, coupled with the onset of Festivus, which always puts me in a strange mood, has meant that I haven't had a whole lot to say.

One thing that I have been doing with regularity is playing real life Scrabble. Every Wednesday, my friend Kevin and I get together at a neighborhood watering hole for a few games and a few libations. Alcohol and Scrabble are a terrible mix, and there are way too many distractions (ie girls), which would suggest that it's a terrible idea to play there, but we've had some really good games. I may have mentioned this before, but Kevin is a much better player than I am. Out of every 100 games we play, he beats me badly (more than 100 points) 15 times, beats me "soundly" 50-100 points) maybe 20 times, beats min a "close" (25-49 points) 35 times, beats me in a "tight" (less than 25 points) 15 times, and I'll beat him in close games 15 times. He insists that we're more evenly matched, but he only says that to make me feel better.

Here's where I get to brag.

In one of our recent games, I had my highest single word play I've ever had in over-the-table games. By "single word", I mean that only one word was scored. No hooks, no overlays. Just the one word.
Through a Q that already existed on the board at A 12 (four spots up from the bottom, on the left edge, on the double letter score space), I was able to play from A 8 and get a triple-triple on

ANT0QUES

wherein the blank is an I. The word itself would be 16 points straight up, but since I hit two triple word score spaces, I get to multiply it by nine. That's 144. I also get to add 50 for the bingo (using all seven of my tiles in a single play). So for that single word, I got 194 points. I once got 212 for a single word (QUEUEING), but that was in an on-line game.

For the record, the highest single word score possible would be 392 points for

CAZIQUES

provided, of course that the play was made from one of only four possible places: 1 H, 15 H, A 8, O 8. Pops and buzzes, I know. If you're curious about it, nobody has ever made that play in official tournament play, and it is a noun (plural). A cazique is a tropical bird, which can alternately be spelled CACIQUE.

Anyway, like I said, a bar seems like it would be a bad place to play for sooooo many reasons, but it's actually gone well. In addition, the bartender loves the fact that we're there and actually wishes that more people would follow our lead. Also, over the weeks, we've got some little groupies. Sounds funny, but it's true.

There's a big tournament coming up in Charlotte at the end of January, but I won't be able to go because of a very important hockey obligation I have that weekend. And speaking of hockey obligations, I plan on traveling to our nation's capitol on Saturday January 21 for a Hurricanes road game against the Capitals. I've made good friends with the couple who sit next to me at the games, and we're trying to organize a big group to go up there. If any of you dc-ites are interested in going to the game and/or hanging out, please let me know. As far as I know, our plan will be to drive up there that morning, go to the game, spend the night, and head back sometime Sunday.

On another note, I got everything resolved on the insurance settlement for my car. They gave me significantly more than I was expecting. They even gave me a lot more than what I was hoping for. That should help me to breathe a little easier.

Right before, or maybe right after the new year, I'll post a list of goals/wishes/resolutions for the new year. One of them is to write in this blog more frequently.

Now playing:

The Shins Chutes Too Narrow

first gear, it's alright....

This whole ordeal with the car wreck has been a pain in the ass, but I've got a few parts of it resolved.

One, the insurance company from the other driver automatically assumed liability and automatically assumed total loss, so they're going to (eventually) write me a check for what they think my car was worth. I figured as much, but it was still nice to know it for a fact. No word yet on how much I'll get or when I'll get it.

But the thing that's way more exciting than that is that I bought a new (to me) car on Friday. Nothing fancy. An '02 Civic. I love it, though. I wanted to get that chapter of this story closed as quickly as possible, so I decided against waiting around for the insurance check. I put some money out of my own pocket, and I'll use the insurance check as a big payment/restock of my bank account.

One slightly funny thing about my car buying experience. I pretty much knew that I wanted a Honda. I loved the one I had a while back, and I wanted to get something that would last a long time, would be reliable, and cheap, and with inexpensive maintenance. Honda or Toyota is the way to go there, and like I say, I loved that Accord I used to drive. So I took my first large chunk of free time and looked at their used lot. The date was Wednesday December 7. Pearl Harbor Day. A lot of old-timers would gasp at the thought of setting foot on a "Jap car" lot on Pearl Harbor Day, but I needed a car, and I don't take patriotism that far.

I found two that I liked that were essentially the same. Just different transmissions. Although the automatic transmission one had fewer miles, the straight drive has a cd player, and I found the color of it to be more appealing. When I went back on Friday, the automatic was gone, so it made my choice a little easier. So that's the one I went with.

That Pontiac I had been driving was really advanced for its year. Although it was a '94 model, it had keyless entry, power everything, the seats were computer controlled and adjustable in like 8 different ways, photosensitive headlights, etc. etc. etc. I'll have to get used to not having those luxurious things. But I do have a cup holder!

I don't have a title for this

Dang.

I was just involved in an automobile accident.

I'm totally fine. My car, on the other hand, will never see the light of day again.

I was headed west on a boulevarded street. Minding my own business. A car in the eastbound lane was attempting to turn left. We both have green lights, but she did not have the arrow. She turned anyway, and before I could react, the airbag was in my face. Front end totally crushed, all the lights and plastic bits smashed to a million pieces. Windshield shattered. Driver's door panel slightly crushed. I don't know if any of you have ever been in an airbag-deployment accident, but the smell is horrible. Thank goodness they worked, though. That's all I have to say. I was only going about 30mph, but I'm sure I would have been injured without them. That's the good thing. I'm not hurt, and neither was the other driver. It's a pretty cut and dry issue of who's at fault, so I'm not really worried about that.

Here's the misfortunate bit. It's the weekend, and I don't use one of those 24-hour insurance companies. I'll have to wait until Monday morning to file a claim. I'll also have to wait until Monday morning to get a copy of the accident report. I'm not totally sure whether my insurance policy allows for a rental in this situation, but I could actually function without a car for a little while. I can walk to and fro work. I don't have any hockey games to go to for two weeks, so I don't have to worry about that either.

I guess I'll have to get a new(er) car, and that sucks because I've never had a car payment in my life. I guess that means I have to start getting serious about finding a different job.

Dang. I was really hoping I could make it my whole life without totaling a car.