Miscellaneous (the word that won me the 4th grade Columbus Elementary Spelling Bee)

I'm really bad at computers. Dur. So, when I dropped the port to my wireless mouse this week, and then my mouse stopped working, I thought "Oh, I broke the mouse". So, last night, on my nightly downtown Target run (now that I've discovered there's a huge, two story Target, on the route of my bike ride home, I've made it a daily occurrence to just wander and shop......I'll quit soon, I promise), I bought a new mouse. And took it home, and plugged it in (while making bacon in the microwave. It was the world's best bacon too, thank you Trader Joes). And in the way everything seems to work in my life, it doesn't work either. Murphy's Law.

So, I pulled out my old "Corded" mouse, and plugged that in. It doesn't work either. Anyone have any suggestions? I'm frustrated. I can see the little cursor, right there in the middle of the screen, just taunting me with it's inactivity and refusal to move. The thing is, most everything can be done on my keyboard. Except Settlers online. I can't play Settlers without a mouse. And it's been three days now. I'm dying here people!

In other news, last night, on the way home, I ran into my arch-nemesis, in the bike lane on 9th. The ever-present, ever-obnoxious, ever-unforgiving Somalian taxi cab driver. I believe (based on my obsession with Heroes) that there is not just multiple Somalian taxi drivers in the Cities, but there is one, really mean, horrible one, and he has just cloned himself, or has the super-human ability to be in multiple places at one time.

Now, I don't mean to be a fuss on this, and I'm really not as filled with hatred as I sound. But I hate those guys. I have fallen off my bike twice now in an attempt to NOT get hit by them. They park in the bike lanes, and then have the audacity to pull out into traffic without looking, screaming and cursing in their native tongue at ME as they almost hit me.

Their driving skills are the worst I've ever seen. At least in Beijing there was a furied rush to the way the taxi drivers whipped through intersections and off of curbs. And to us American tourists, they were semi-apologetic and friendly. These guys though, they get mad at you when they almost hit you. Or as in the case of the one who did hit me on Lake Street a while back, they give you false insurance information as they stand there shouting erratically into their cell phones in their native tongue (which must be a genetic anomaly that only the males in their race have evolved to actually have their cell phones sprouted from their wrists, attached somehow to their ears. Interesting).

So, yeah, last night, I had hopefully what will be my last encounter with this rare breed of male donkey (I think that's called a jackass), on my bike. I'm sure it won't be my last encounter with them for the rest of time, but at least the last time on my bike. In my perfect world, they would all be reduced to having to pull rickshaws, instead of driving taxis. That would be more taxing on their bony little bodies, as well as putting them in the vulnerable position of being on a bike them self. A little bit of poetic justice.

And I say that with the utmost love. Really.

So, yeah, this weekend I'm getting a car. A sweet, pimped out ride. Rims that sparkle, shine and twirl. A sound system that will knock a man's pants off. Paint that shines one color at 6:00 am, another at noon, and yet another color at sunset. Or, as it's known to the rest of all y'all - Rachel's Parents' Car. Sweet!!! I can't wait. It may have wood on the top as a makeshift canoe rack (sweet!). Heck yeah, it may be a station wagon (make out car, here I come!). It may have no muffler whatsoever, thereby rendering me incapable of ever hearing the catcalls that shall come my way in my sweet new ride. But it will be mine! Mine all mine. And it will need a name.

So, in the spirit of needing a name for my new car, I have decided to post a poll. Please vote on what the name of my new car should be. Here's a little history on my previous cars' names:

The Grey Impala - "The S.S. Minnow"
The Green Cavalier - "Vanessa" (not my choice, thank you Nick).
The Blue Saturn - "Betsy" (yeah, pretty typical)

So, check out the poll on the sidebar, and let me know what my new digs shall be dubbed. And thanks again for your support.

Till later, Trin